William (Bill) & Elizabeth (Bessie) Wyatt Davenport

My Grandfather William Davenport married Elizabeth Wyatt Price in the Church of England on 12 Jun 1902 at Laidley, Queensland . They had 8 children in all and 7 were living in 1927 when this Silver Anniversary Photo was taken. The eldest child Sarah died in 1914 aged 12. The back row is Marvyn, Claud, Herbert, William and Maud, and the front row is William (Bill), Dulcie, Elizabeth (Bessie) and Jean. At the date of his wedding William was living at Laidley Creek West and Elizabeth Price lived at the Old Township Laidley, Queensland. Witnesses to the wedding were Arthur Wyatt Cook and Emma Alice Collins. Although there are many Collins relations We do not appear to be related to Emma Alice Collins. William farmed the Blenheim property selected by his father Joseph.

William Davenport's Recollections

The farmers had an axe, shovel, hoe, morticing axe, adze, paling throw, cross cut saw, brush hook and grubber and then into the scrub. All stumps had to be grubbed out and before planting a paling fence had to be put around it to keep the wallabies out. Of course the opossums could not be kept out so snares were made to catch them. There was no plain wire or barbed wire. The boundary fences were made of rails morticed into the posts - known as post and rail fences. All the buildings were made with slab walls with shingles on the roof. The floor was made of ant bed, which made a floor like cement. As time went on a corn cracker was invented and people cracked up corn and cooked it for porridge. Later a corn sheller was bought and that made work easy. After ten the hurricane lamp was lit and off to the barn until midnight. The first lamps burnt goanna fat or other animal fat and later on were replaced by hurricane lamps which used kerosene. The only means of transport was on foot and, later on, draft horses could be bought and used to work the farm and ride for pleasure. The first crop grown on the farm was maize. When it was harvested it was put in bags and carried on ones back to the barn. We then got a horse and the brains started to work and a forked tree was obtained and a slide was made to cart things on, which made it easier. After the corn was put into the barn it was husked at night and then it had to be shelled by hand sieved and bagged. When the hands got sore a hole was cut in a block of wood with a morticing axe. A morticing axe is like a big chisel with an eye at one end to fit a handle. A wooden mallet was then used to drive the cob of corn through the hole, thus the grains would fly off and were swept up, sieved and bagged. Corned beef was about four shillings a sugar bag, if you had the money. After buying flour there was not much left so wallaby was eaten. The first bread delivered to the farms cost three pence halfpenny (3cents) a loaf

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