By Irma Walter and Heather Wade, 2017.
Jacob Hawter (originally Haueter) arrived in WA as a young man in the mid1880s, with little more than a sense of adventure, plenty of drive and determination, and skills in horticulture. After many years of hard work he established himself as the proprietor of the largest horticultural enterprise in Western Australia.
Jacob was born in 1863 at Diesback (Diessbach) near Berne in Switzerland, to parents Jacob and Elise Haueter, and was the brother of five sisters. After completing school he served an apprenticeship at the Botanical Gardens in Paris, before being employed at the early age of 19 as foreman horticulturist at the Crystal Palace, London, with a staff of 40.[1]
Jacob Hawter as a young man. (Courtesy of Judy Hawter)
His arrival in WA came at an opportune time, coinciding with an increased interest in the potential of fruit growing in the colony. Although fruit trees and vines had been brought to the colony by early settlers, many of these old trees suffered from neglect and disease. The expansion of fruit growing into a commercially successful industry was hampered by poor public transport and a lack of the expertise necessary for successful cultivation, and the importation of bottled fruits, jam and dried fruits into Western Australia contributed to a significant imbalance in trade.
The gold rush of the 1890s led to a rapidly expanding population, with a growing demand for fresh produce. The expansion of the WA railway system led to the opening up of new farming areas and brought a renewed focus on fruit growing as a potential source of income, especially for small landholders such as those who had acquired one of the Homestead Blocks then on offer.
A Bureau of Agriculture was set up in 1894, following demands by orchardists for specialist advice and better controls over the importation of diseased trees and fruit from other States. Horticultural specialists Bede Christie and Adrian Despeissis were brought over from the Eastern States and toured WA, giving lectures on the potential of fruit and vine growing in WA.
Lauffer & Hawter Nursery at Smith’s Mill.
Jacob Hawter, an ambitious young man, hoped to put his skills to good use in the fledgling WA fruit industry. By coincidence, once onboard the steamer Challerton, he made the acquaintance of another professional nurseryman, Charles George Louis Lauffer, also from Switzerland. The two formed a partnership and in 1887 applied for a 100-acre block of land (Lot 48/30), at a price of 10/- per acre, near the railway line at Smith’s Mill, later known as Glen Forrest, on a branch of the Helena River. Their letter of application, written in 1887 from Foster’s Royal Hotel in Perth, was addressed to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, who recommended that permission should be given, as the two men represented ‘a desirable class of settler.’ Their stated plan was to establish a vineyard and to grow tobacco, but it soon extended into an orchard and plant nursery.[2] No further reference to their tobacco growing plan has been found. They had the right to purchase the block within five years, on condition that the requirement for improvements had been met.[3]
Drawing on their European experience, they chose a property with steep slopes, suitable for growing vines for winemaking. These enterprising young men immediately set to work, clearing part of the block and building a modest house and sheds, then constructing retaining walls and fences. They then set out their seed-beds and planted vines and fruit trees ordered from Europe and ornamental trees from America. After only eight months, their progress report to the Lands Department in 1888 included a long list of improvements, and by 1890 they had established seven acres of nursery, four acres of vines and three acres cleared for hay.[4] At first they were advertising that they could supply four or five dozen eggs a week for sale.[5] The following year they were offering good quality fruit trees and roses, as well as imported vegetable seeds.[6]
The significance of the area (listed as Site 278), is now recognised by the Shire of Mundaring as one of the early orchard and vineyard properties along the river. Their assessment includes research carried out by local historian Edward Quicke:
…What is known is that early in 1887, on both sides of Chittawarra Brook, and adjacent to the Glen Hardey Vineyards (Site 115), two Swiss immigrants, 24-year-old Jacob Hawter and his partner Charles Lauffer were granted the lease on 100 acres (40 hectares) at an annual rent of £50. They also had a right to purchase in 5 years if sufficient improvement were made. On 19th January 1888, the first progress report indicated substantial improvements. These included a house, stables, sheds, wells, dry stone walls along Chittawarra Brook, roads, 3 bridges and fences around most of the property. In addition they had cleared 18 acres (7.3 hectares) of which 2 acres (8,094 square metres) was planted with potatoes. The orchard already had 136 fruit trees, and 10,000 items of nursery stock. It is highly likely that at this time, the Helena River Nursery was the largest fruit tree nursery in the State.[7]
Jacob Hawter kept in touch with his training institutions in Paris and London, ordering seeds and vines through his contacts there. One visitor, given a tour of their Smith’s Mill property in 1888 by Lauffer, reported that they were experimenting with propagating local West Australian plants, especially native orchids, which were of particular interest to botanical institutions and enthusiasts in Europe and England. They had received an order from the Manager of the Crystal Palace Gardens for a collection of native flowers, and another from the Director of the Jardins des Plantes for 100 varieties of native plants.[8]
The young men were soon making a name for themselves among the gardening fraternity of WA, exhibiting and winning awards at various Horticultural Society events. One report described their impressive display of 68 named varieties of potatoes, grown from stock acquired from the International Potato Show.[9]
Not long after their arrival in WA, Charles Lauffer married a French lady, Françoise Martin, at Guildford in 1888.[10] Françoise was to give birth to eight children between 1888 and 1902, three of whom died in their first year. Tragically, another son Charles, aged 8, was drowned while swimming in the Helena River with his brother in 1898.[11]
Darling Nursery at Smith’s Mill.
Jacob Hawter, keen to branch out on his own, purchased a block of land a short distance away. By 1893 he was advertising ‘a wide range of rooted vines and fruit trees for sale’, available from his Darling Nurseries at Smith’s Mill, Sawyer’s Valley and Perth.[12]
In 1892 the two men formally ended their partnership.[13] Charles Lauffer stayed on at the original property with new partners, operating as the Lauffer & Co. Nursery. The Mundaring Municipal Inventory records the break-up as follows:
… By 1890, they had trebled the nursery area and added 4 acres (1.6 hectares) of vines and 3 acres (1.2 hectares) of hay. In 1893, when the land was finally transferred to a syndicate including Lauffer, Hawter had left to establish the Darling Range Nurseries. These were located north of the railway line on Swan Location 903, formerly owned by George Smith of Clayton Farm (Site 79), and brother of Alfred Smith who established Smiths Mill in 1877.[14]
A couple of serious events involving the two men showed that living and working alone in areas surrounded by bush was not without its dangers. In 1893 Jacob was confronted by a notorious ex-convict in his own home. The incident was reported as follows:
On April 9, 1895, Mr. Jacob Hawter, who conducted an orchard and nursery at Smith’s Mill, was at work near his house when he heard unusual noises in the dwelling. On investigating he found a man there. The intruder pointed a gun at Mr. Hawter and pulled the trigger, but the cartridge failed to explode. Examination afterwards disclosed that the hammer point had dented the cap. Mr. Hawter rushed the man and overpowered him. The fellow had tied bagging about his boots for the purpose of silencing his movements. Mr. Hawter set off with his prisoner for the local railway station, but on the way another struggle took place, and during it, the man tried to use a revolver which he had stolen from Mr. Hawter’s house and had loaded fully. He was no match for Mr. Hawter, who was considerably younger and powerfully built. Police were telephoned for, and they found that the prisoner was William Burnside. Early in July 1895 Burnside was tried before Mr. Justice Stone and a jury. He made comparatively no defence, but merely called attention to the fact that there was no corroboration of Mr. Hawter’s account of the affray. It was admitted that Burnside was drunk when he attacked Mr. Hawter. Convicted for attempting to murder, Burnside was sentenced to imprisonment for eight years.[15]
[Note: Ticket-of-leave man William Burnside gained more media attention when, following his release from prison, he made a desperate attempt to flee the colony. In 1885 he persuaded an acquaintance, Walter Biles, who intended travelling to Adelaide, to take him along as luggage, sealed in a wooden box. The daring ruse was discovered during off-loading eight days later, when a suspicious customs officer asked to examine its contents. Inside the crate he found Burnside, half-dead from his ordeal after his confinement in the hold of the ship. Burnside faced court and was returned to WA, where he was locked up once again. He was said to have served a total of 58 years imprisonment over his lifetime.[16]]
In 1903 an even worse incident occurred. The whole State was shocked by the sensational news that Charles Lauffer, Jacob Hawter’s former partner, had been murdered at his property at Smith’s Mill. It was revealed that a group of eight French picnickers had caught the train out to the Smith’s Mill area with the intention of spending a day in the country. The five men and three women visited a neighbour’s winery before asking directions to Lauffer’s place, where they hoped to buy some of his wine. Becoming enraged when Charles Lauffer explained that he only had a gallon licence and wasn’t permitted to sell bottled wine, the gang began attacking him, throwing large rocks off the newly-constructed banks and kicking him. The women joined in, attacking Lauffer with sticks. His wife, who watched the dreadful scene, later told police that one of the men didn’t join in the physical attack, but stood at one side, waiting for an opportunity to shoot her husband with a revolver, with fatal consequences. An Italian employee, hearing Mrs Lauffer’s screams, arrived late on the scene, and ran to a neighbour’s property to get help.
Meanwhile, the French group covered poor Charles’s face with leaves before proceeding on to the next property, where they sat enjoying a picnic. They were eventually arrested and all were charged with murder. However on appeals, seven of them were freed, leaving just the one man, Frederick Maillat, to face death by hanging. Conflicting views over corporal punishment divided the community. However Maillat was executed on 21 April 1903.[17] Poor Mrs Lauffer received a threatening letter after the event.[18] Overcome by the tragedy, she suffered a mental breakdown and was taken to the Claremont Hospital, where she remained for several months, leaving her two youngest children in the care of a friend.[19] In 1909, when it became known that she had lost the mortgaged farm and was back in hospital, a public appeal was set up to help her and the two youngest children. Jacob Hawter, (by then living at Mullalyup), contributed £10 towards the upkeep of the Lauffer children. Following Mrs Lauffer’s discharge from hospital in 1910, a Mr James Morrison of Guildford offered a small block of five acres for Mrs Lauffer’s use in her lifetime, to be registered in the children’s names.[20]
In 1895 Jacob Hawter acquired land in Mullalyup near Balingup, in the fertile Blackwood Valley, with the intention of establishing a large nursery and orchard there. Clearing of the jarrah forest began soon after, with extensive ringbarking taking place. A fine brick house was built overlooking the property. In 1901 Jacob married Edith Miriam Long in Fremantle.[21] The couple took up residence in Jacob’s spacious new home at his Mullalyup property. He still maintained his other nurseries closer to Perth.
Following the death of Jacob’s father in Switzerland, other members of the Hawter (Haueter) family came to Australia. In 1901 his sister Anna was married at her brother’s Darling Nurseries at Smith’s Mill to a Scotsman, Douglas Strachan, who at that time was employed as manager there. Mother of the bride Mrs Elise Hawter (by then a widow), was present at the wedding.[22] Douglas Strachan later found employment as a Government school-teacher, and his wife, known as Madame Anna Strachan, became a well-known teacher of languages in Perth.[23]
Earlier, in 1898, Elise, another of Jacob Hawter’s sisters, had married John Smith Jefferson, who was also employed by Jacob, as a travelling agent and plant adviser, before gaining employment as a Government Fruit Inspector. For a few years the Jeffersons owned a farm not far from Hawter’s property at Mullalyup.
Sister Emma Haueter also came to Australia, later marrying Thomas Christie McClelland, of the Existing Railway Lines Department, Perth. They afterwards lived in the Eastern States until their divorce in 1937.
Jacob Hawter with sisters Elise and Marie. (Courtesy of Judy Hawter)
Their mother Mrs Elise Haueter passed away in 1921 at the age of 84 years.[24] With the arrival of another sister Marie in 1924, there were four Hawter (Haueter) sisters living in Australia. Marie was also employed as a French teacher in Perth, before her sudden death in 1925.
Jacob Hawter chose his properties carefully, close to the new railway lines which would provide him with transport to many parts of the State. The Mullalyup property was in ideal fruit growing country and the business expanded rapidly. Jacob Hawter earned a reputation for providing quality produce to his customers, by setting high standards of practice within his nurseries.
Jacob’s wife Edith is said to have found life difficult at first, living in a house surrounded by a forest. In the early years she would go and stay at Bovell’s Mullalyup Inn when her husband was away attending to his other properties.[25] However she soon settled into the local community, joining social groups and frequently entertaining visitors at the property. She became the mother of five sons, Kenneth, Edgar, Fred, Lyall and Clive, and one daughter, Phyllis.
Harvey Citrus Nursery
Never one to miss a business opportunity, Jacob took advantage of the ambitious citrus-growing project being developed from 1896 at the Korijekup Estate in the Harvey area, buying 22 acres of land close to the Harvey Station in 1903, for the purpose of setting up a branch nursery to provide citrus stock direct to growers. This report shows that good progress was being made by the following year:
At Harvey the oranges and fruit trees look well, the citrus looking particularly healthy. From what one can see of the citrus trees in this locality, it should become before long a great orange producing centre. Close to the railway line at Harvey is Mr. J. Hawter’s citrus nursery. Mr. Hawter has established a nursery in this district for the express purpose of raising citrus trees, grape vines, and roses, which, he thinks, do better here than anywhere else. He has an excellent display of roses, and no less than 300,000 young citrus trees almost ready for distribution, as well as a large number of rooted vines.[26]
Although there were other small plant nurseries established in Harvey over the years, by far the vast majority of the fruit trees planted in the area in the early years came from Hawter’s Nursery. Managers included Alfred E Stanford, employed from around 1908 until 1915.[27] Thomas Latch was manager for a period of approximately ten years from 1922, followed by Daniel George Fielder in 1933.[28] Daniel was still employed there as manager in 1937,[29] and probably remained until he enlisted in 1942.[30]
Thomas Latch & family, 1907. (Courtesy of Harvey Historical Society)
Several people trained by Jacob Hawter set up their own nurseries. One was Charles Horace Fielder, who after leaving Hawter began his own nursery in Knowles Street, before moving to Fryer Road, where he grew roses and fruit trees to supply Dawson’s Nursery in Perth. He extended his land holdings to Herbert and Hocart Road, employing locals and migrant workers. Another nurseryman was JJ Hepton of East Korijekup, who, on returning from WW1 in poor health, purchased a couple of small blocks and set up his own small nursery at East Korijekup. In 1929 he was described as making a good living from his three acres.[31] Hepton was still advertising gerberas for sale in 1946.[32]
Jacob Hawter was well-known for his generosity in assisting new fruitgrowers with advice on planting methods and orchard maintenance. He regularly spoke at meetings and gave demonstrations on tree-pruning. He employed agents such as GG Gibbs, based at Bunbury and Harvey, as salesmen who also gave advice on soil preparation and growing techniques.
Hawter’s nurseries provided employment to a lot of men over the years, with many of them trying to establish their own small farms. Work in an orchard or nursery was hard manual labour in those days, but it is said that Hawter looked after his men well, providing them with a good meal at dinner time.
Workers at Hawter’s Citrus Nursery at Harvey.
Includes M. Fryer (left back), JJ Hepton, and AE Stanford, centre front.
Jacob Hawter was known as an innovator. He recommended that certain fruit varieties thrived when there were mixed plantings in orchards, rather than a single variety. As early as 1905 he drew attention to the necessity of planting a variety of male apri figs alongside Smyrna figs, as host for the Blastophagus wasp needed for cross-fertilization. Several batches of the wasp were imported into WA from South Africa by the Department of Agriculture from 1910, in an attempt to get the insect established here.[33] Jacob was also the first orchardist to build a cool-room in WA in 1908, to prolong the condition of picked fruit.[34]
Growers and gardeners looked forward to Hawter’s annual catalogues, which contained not only comprehensive lists of trees, vines and shrubs, but also useful advice on choosing, planting and caring for plants. These catalogues are collectors’ items these days, with present-day horticulturalists in awe of the wide range of stock held in his nurseries.
Jacob was tireless in his support of the WA fruit growing industry, attending meetings as a representative of various agricultural and horticultural societies.
Harvey Citrus Society Committee, 1907. (Courtesy of Harvey Historical Society)
Back Row: (L to R) A Jenkins, W Fisken, G P Charman, J Handley, T Sharp, A Logue.
Second Row: G Horrocks, Cowan, J Hawter, O Rath, C Leitch.
Sitting: E McLarty (MP) K Gibsone, F Becher, H Venn (MP).
He was constantly on the look-out for new stock, better suited to WA conditions. In 1907 he was recommending a promising new apricot, ‘the Dardanup Favorite’, from a chance seedling found growing in a couch paddock, as well as a new apple, known as ‘the Western Belle’, raised at the property of well-known Donnybrook fruitgrower JS Parke, and described as follows: ‘the most vigorous and profitable in Mr. Parkes’ orchard, is blight proof, very hardy, and bears abundantly fine large, even-sized fruits, well coloured and striped all over. The flesh is crisp, well flavoured, and it ripens after the Jonathan, and keeps well.’ That year Jacob Hawter was exporting his trees to South Africa, Java and England.[35]
In 1916 Hawter acquired another small nursery business at Dinninup, the reason being that the Chidzey brothers were both off to the War.[36]
Over the years the fruit growing industry had its ups and downs. The period which included two World Wars and the in-between years of the Great Depression saw difficulties, with declining exports and little expansion of the industry. Predicting the needs of growers two seasons hence was a problem facing all nurserymen.
In 1920 an Orchard and Vineyard Employees’ Union was formed, demanding a long-overdue increase in the pay-rate for orchard workers and fruit-packers. An increase in wages was granted in 1921 in the State Arbitration Court, setting basic pay rates for the various age groups and different skill levels.[37] As a result Jacob Hawter pulled out half his fruit trees, turning 80 acres over to pasture for sheep. He declared that the decision to cut back on fruit growing was due to the increased wages granted to orchard workers, leaving him with no option but to cut back on staff.[38]
Years of hard work and dedication to his community took its toll on Jacob Hawter’s health. In 1926, at the age of 64, he passed away in the Greenbushes Hospital. His funeral at the Balingup Cemetery was attended by hundreds of people from around the State, who mourned the loss of this fine gentleman who had dedicated his life to the WA fruit growing industry:
THE LATE MR. HAWTER (By H.W.)
The death of Mr. J. Hawter just before dawn on Wednesday, May 12th, has removed a striking personality. Western Australia, and particularly the South-West, has lost a valuable resident, one who gave of his best to promote the public good. Heartfelt sympathy from countless friends goes out to the sorrowing family. Mr. Hawter was in his 64th year.
Born at Diesback, near Berne, the capital of Switzerland, on 19th January, 1863, he early displayed marked ability. At the early age of 19 he was foreman horticulturist at Crystal Palace, London, with a staff of 49. Coming to Western Australia in 1882 he foresaw its latent possibilities. Establishing a nursery and orchard at Smith’s Mill, with a branch at Sawyer’s Valley, in the ranges east of Perth, he laid the foundations of his extensive enterprise that now includes the orchard at Glen Forrest, citrus nursery at Harvey and the large well-known nurseries and orchard at Mullalyup.
In 1901 he married Miss Edith Long, and they settled in their new home, Blackwood House, Mullalyup. There is one daughter, Phyllis, and five sons, Kenneth, Edgar, Fred, Lyall and Clive.
A man of many interests, Mr. Hawter had a great capacity for friendship. With Mrs. Hawter he delighted to entertain their friends. Many a visitor has pleasant memories of their generous hospitality. A linquist, speaking English, French and German, widely read, with a deep knowledge of history, Mr. Hawter was an entertaining conversationalist. Besides building up the largest enterprise of its kind in the State, he has for over 40 years rendered continuous public service. Local governing bodies have benefitted by his membership and counsel.
To the Royal Agricultural Society, also the Balingup, Harvey and other agricultural societies his help was ever available. With Mr. A. J. Monger he was founder of the Farmers and Settlers’ Association, now the Primary Producers’ Association. Because of its wider scope and insistent appeal to the patriotism of agriculturists he found in the P.P.A. the greatest opportunity for community service. An ardent co-operator he was a founder and director of the Producers’ Union, Westralian Farmers and Balingup Co-operative Society.
As judge at the fruit shows, Mr. Hawter has adjudicated throughout the fruit areas. A leading member of the Fruitgrowers’ Association, he has from its inception been a notable figure at conferences, also representing this State at fruitgrowers’ conferences held in Melbourne and Sydney. At the outbreak of war, although hostilities would adversely affect his enterprise, his attitude was, business as usual, carry on. No employee was discharged because of war panic. Mr. Hawter has personally directed his ever expanding business and until the last few weeks maintained his keen interest in his numerous public activities. About two months ago illness compelled him to relinquish active work. The malady speedily developed and he suffered intensely. Nearing the end pain ceased and he peacefully passed away. He was laid to rest in the Balingup cemetery amid the hills he loved so well, reminiscent of his beautiful mountainous homeland.[39]
[At the time of Jacob’s death, his foreman was Charles Gubler, a nurseryman who had been born in Switzerland and came to WA in February, 1911 to work for Hawter.[40] Charles went on to establish his own Mullalyup orchard, and his son Henry Gubler later leased Fred Hawter’s orchard in the 1950s. Henry Gubler was prominent in the fruit growing industry, becoming president of the WA Fruitgrowers’ Association and a member of the Apple and Pear Corporation.[41]]
Two years before his death Jacob Hawter decided to cut back on his work and travel, offering his Glen Forrest orchard property for sale, as a whole or divided into two sections.[42] One section, Lot 903, remained unsold, to be offered once again for sale in 1926 following his death, when his deceased estate was being managed by the Perpetual Executors, Trustees and Agency Co. From Perth. The Mullalyup properties, comprising an area of 2628 acres, were offered for auction by the same trustees, as a total entity or split into two sections.[43]
It was not until 1929 that it was announced that his son Ken Hawter had bought the Mullalyup and Harvey Nurseries, carrying on the business under the name of Hawter’s Nurseries.[44] The other Mullalyup property ‘Rualanda’ was taken over by Ken’s brother Edgar (‘Digger’) Hawter, who ran the nursery there before going to war.
In 1934 Hawter’s nurseries announced that it had taken over Albert Haines’s Kirriemuir Nurseries at Greenbushes.
From Sunday Times, 10 June 1934.
In the late 1920s a Centennial Hospital Committee had been formed in Harvey, entrusted with raising funds for a hospital. They were offered a block of land at the corner of the South West Highway, but when a member expressed concern that the block was too close to the saleyards, they sought a more suitable site.[45] In 1932 the Hospital Committee bought a section of Hawter’s land, consisting of just over three acres, fronting onto Hayward and Wright Streets.[46] The Harvey Hospital was opened in 1933.
The Harvey Citrus Nursery block, originally 22 acres bordered by Hayward St, Roy St, Young St and Uduc Road, is now occupied variously by the Harvey Hospital, Bowling Club, town tennis courts and the school oval. The manager’s house, which stood in the area now occupied by the tennis courts, was put to use as the Harvey Kindergarten premises up until c1962, then as the Boy Scouts’ Hall in the 1970s and ‘80s, before its demolition in the 1990s.[47] The only physical record of the once-prosperous business that stood on the block is the name ‘Nursery Road’ near the hospital.
The Second World War claimed the lives of two of Jacob Hawter’s sons, Edgar Horace (in New Guinea, 1942) and Kenneth James Hawter (in Borneo, 1945). Both young men were active in their communities before they joined up. Ken was prominent in the local tennis club and a member of the Balingup Roads Board, while running the nurseries and orchard. He had been married during the year before his death. His wife Jean (née Davies, formerly of Bridgetown) served as a driver in the Air Force.
A shortage of labour during the war years and a lack of demand for new fruit stock led to a slow-down in the nursery industry. Wives and daughters were praised for their efforts in keeping the orchards going by picking and packing fruit, making fruit cases and pruning trees while their men were away. Some complaints were made that fruit was going to waste or was being fed to pigs, so to overcome the problem of a shortage of fruit in the metropolitan area, the Apple and Pear Marketing Board introduced a bulk-handling process, whereby Perth housewives were able to purchase cheap apples in 20lb. lots, which were loaded into their own containers from the back of a gas-powered truck, at a price of 2d. For first-class eating apples, and 1½d. For cooking apples. Two young women in neat uniforms handled the sales.[48]
When WW2 ended, there was a renewed interest in the fruit industry and a resurgence in fruit tree plantings, due to the re-opening of traditional trade routes. Over 30,000 acres of land was made available throughout Australia under the Soldier Settlement Scheme in 1946 for fruit and vine growing. In WA that year it was reported that:
NEW TREES ARRIVE
Those desirous of planting additional acreage, however, have been handicapped by nurseries being unable to meet current demands. It is, therefore, of considerable interest that a truck load of 3,500 young fruit trees, the majority apple, arrive in Manjimup on Friday last, from Hawter’s Nurseries (Mullalyup). Grateful as growers were to receive this consignment, it is a mere drop in the ocean of what is required. Expansion in Pemberton is held up through lack of trees. Nurserymen still state that the supply is far below the demand.[49]
Following the death of Ken and Edgar Hawter in WW2, the two Mullalyup properties, ‘Rualanda’ and ‘Hawterville’, were run for a number of years by two of the surviving Hawter brothers, Clive and Fred. Just when the Hawter nursery business finally ended is not known. It was reported in 1946 that work was underway at Clive Hawter’s nursery, where it was planned to produce approximately 40,000 trees for the 1948 season.[50] Newspaper advertisements for the nursery ceased around this time.
Today Clive’s property ‘Rualanda’ is in the hands of his son Edgar Hawter, who runs a successful orchard business there. Following Fred’s death his son Peter worked the ‘Hawterville’ property up until 2014, when he was forced to sell the farm and retire due to ill health.[51]
[1] AC Frost, Balya-Balinga: A History of Balingup W.A., Donnybrook/Balingup Shire Council, 1979, pp.63-64.
[2] Edward Quicke, The Helena Story, Mundaring WA, 1985, in Municipal Inventory, Shire of Mundaring (1996 update).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Edward Quicke, The Helena Story, Midland Duplicating Service, Mundaring, 1985(?), p.123.
[5] West Australian, 6 September 1887
[6] West Australian, 21 August 1888.
[7] Edward Quicke, The Helena Story, Mundaring WA, 1985, pp. 56-57, 100. In Municipal Inventory, Shire of Mundaring (1996 update).
[8] Daily News, 2 August 1888.
[9] Eastern Districts Chronicle, York, 22 Sept 1888.
[10] WA marriage records, www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au
[11] Daily News, 28 February 1898.
[12] Daily News, 29 Nov 1893.
[13] West Australian, 5 Aug 1892.
[14] Edward Quicke, The Helena Story, Mundaring WA, 1985, in Municipal Inventory, Shire of Mundaring (1996 update).
[15] Daily News, 21 July 1934.
[16] Daily News, 21 July 1934.
[17] Western Mail, 25 April 1903.
[18] Evening Star, Boulder, 19 March 1903.
[19] West Australian, 1 April 1909.
[20] Swan Express, 1 July 1910.
[21] AC Frost, Balya-Balinga: A History of Balingup W.A., Donnybrook/Balingup Shire Council, 1979, p.64.
[22] Western Mail, 29 June 1901.
[23] Daily News, 13 January 1915.
[24] Sunday Times, 20 Nov 1921.
[25] AC Frost, Baylya-Balinga, 1979.
[26] Western Mail, 31 December 1904.
[27] WA Postal Directories.
[28] South Western Advertiser, 7 July 1933.
[29] West Australian, 23 Feb 1937.
[30] War Service Records, National Archives of Australia.
[31] Western Mail, 14 March 1929.
[32] West Australian, 16 March 1946.
[33] West Australian, 28 April 1911.
[34] Great Southern Leader, 14 February 1908.
[35] Western Mail, 11 May 1907.
[36] Southern Argus, 16 June 1916.
[37] West Australian, 17 November 1921.
[38] West Australian, 30 May 1924.
[39] South Western Times, 20 May 1926.
[40] Peter Gubler.
[41] Ibid.
[42] Sunday Times, 16 March 1924.
[43] Sunday Times, 9 January 1927.
[44] West Australian, 2 December 1929.
[45] Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express, 26 August 1929.
[46] West Australian, 31 December 1932.
[47] From information provided by Marion Lofthouse, February 2017.
[48] West Australian, 18 March 1942.
[49] Blackwood Times, 5 July 1946.
[50] Blackwood Times, 23 August 1946.