The following embedded videos are tributes to my late parents, Bill and Flo Weatherall. I miss them.
God graciously blessed both Mum and Dad with long and productive lives. They left a legacy of love in their 7 children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They were quiet, clean-living, hard working, morally upright and honest people and sought to set a good example for the family and community. Dad passed away in March 2019 at the age of 102 and you can read an historical summary of his life below. Mum passed away in July of 2022 at the age of 101. Both had sharp minds right up to then end. I invite you to watch the videos below and join with my family in giving thanks for their lives and the blessing they were to so many others.
Download the handwritten Memoirs of Bill Weatherall's early life and his recollection of the war years. Click here
Eulogy for Mr William (Bill) Henry Weatherall
Delivered by one of his sons, Stan Weatherall, on Friday 22 March 2019.
William Henry WEATHERALL was born at Tapanui in New Zealand on the 18 February 1917. He passed away at Bendigo on Sunday 10 March 2019 at the age of 102.
Up to a week prior to his death he had been living with mum at their home in Castlemaine, and had enjoyed relatively good health. He had been able to manage to continue to live independently at home with only a small amount of assistance from the local health service and family despite becoming increasingly frail and his hearing becoming increasing worse. Dad had good vision and mum good hearing so they were able to positively support each other.
Dad had become an enduring paternal iconic figure in our lives and a benchmark for many great qualities and standards of living. He was fiercely independent (Mum would say stubborn) and a person of great fortitude. It had seemed at times that he would live forever. - with his reasonable health, a sound enquiring mind, and optimistic outlook, and a string of projects ahead on his “when I get around to it” list. Despite living through periods of hardship and adversity he believed that he'd had a lucky life.
Dad’s grandfather had moved to New Zealand from the Bendigo goldfields in the early 1860’s when Dad’s father was only seven. Dads father spent most of his life in New Zealand but moved back to Australia in 1923 and settled at Lyal (A locality between Kyneton and Bendigo on the Coliban River) on a property owned by Dad's mother’s family. Dad's father passed away when dad was only 7, leaving his mother to fend for her family in very harsh and tough conditions. Dad was the 4th child in a family of 5 which included to 2 older sisters, an older brother and a younger brother. Adding to this difficulty the building they were living in (the old Lyal Hotel) had burnt down a year or so before and the accommodation they were living in at that time was only a temporary shelter. So it was a matter of all in the family contributing in order to survive.
Dad was educated at the small Lyal Primary School and then the Castlemaine High School. Although his mother and sisters apparently put some pressure on him to become a teacher, his love of country life and working the rural industry won through. Up until he went into the army he worked on his mother's farm, other district properties, mining, rabbiting, and also learnt to shear. Dad was a crack shot with a rifle and the only chance for any rabbit was coming within range of his rifle was to run – and sometimes that didn't save it.
During this time and prior to getting his first vehicle (a Model T Ford) he could tell of riding his bike from Lyal to Castlemaine and on to Fryers Town to attend a weekly dance, and then do the rturn trip to Lyal – a round trip of around 130km over the extremely poor standard roads of that time. I believe it was through his attendances at district dances that he eventually struck up a relationship with Mum.
Dad became an excellent shearer, shearing up to 180 sheep per day in different sheds around Western Victoria and Southern NSW. During 1939 and 1940 petrol was in short supply and he designed and built a gas producer for his car of that time (a 1924 Buick) that it allowed it to run on charcoal. This earned him the nickname of 'charcoal' from his shearing mates.
By 1941 Dad had commenced training for the army. In an extract from his memoirs of the period in early 1942 he writes, “I had chosen a girl who would share my future life and we had decided to marry at Easter...” but as Dad's enlistment and pending transfer moved very quickly it was agreed to move the marriage forward.
Dad and Mum were married at the Presbyterian Church in Castlemaine on the 3rd February, 1942, and therefore had achieved an amazing 77 years together. When Ken, my brother, went to apply for some certificates around the time that Dad turned 100, an extra hand-written box had to be drawn on the form to indicate length of marriage, so obviously a milestone seldom reached. Add on another 2 years and how much more significant is that?
The next phase of Dad's life revolved around his 4 years of army service. Over the last couple of years Dad made several attempts at writing his memoirs but these works were never completed. However, a scanned copy of the uncompleted works in his beautiful copperplate writing will appear on the website given at the back of the Order of Service in the next week or so. The writings of his time in the army appear to be complete and anyone interested will have the opportunity of viewing these writings until the website is closed around the end of April. Dad obtained several military Service Medals for service in war zones but chose never to wear them at any service he attended, saying in his humble way, “There were plenty of others more deserving than me”.
During the Second World War his younger brother, Victor, a cousin, and several close associates, were all killed in service.
The next phase of his life covered the period of his return from the war to rural life around Lyal and then the purchase of, and move to, an orchard at Harcourt in 1949. Russell was born in 1948, I was born in 1950, Ken in 1951, and Kaye in 1955. This was followed in 1956 by the purchase of the farm between Redesdale and Sutton Grange under the Soldier Settlement Program. Mum believes that this was Dad's happiest part of his life. This property he names “Sundene” and set about doing the massive job of turning the property from its undeveloped state to a viable farm. The last three of my siblings were born during this period. Gayle was born in 1957, Stephen in 1958 and Allan in 1961. There were miles of fencing to be erected, wells dug, dams made, sheds built, sheep and cattle yards to be constructed – all within a relatively short space of time. This was in addition to having to attend to stock, planting crops, harvesting, hay cut and stored, etc, along with the annual shearing. Us older boys idolised Dad and spent many a long day with him working around the farm. Dad's capacity to do physical work was enormous. He seemed to be able to cope only 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night during busier time of the year. Eventually the hard work and long hours started to take its toll and in 1973 Sundene was reluctantly sold and Dad and Mum and the younger members of the family still living at home shifted to their new home in Castlemaine.
Dad had a number of great loves in life. Obviously Mum and the family were his great love, but coming a close second was fishing. Whether it was in his little tinny, or along the riverbank along the Murray somewhere, it was like heaven to him. As a symbolic recognition of this great love we have placed one of his rods and fishing bag in his coffin to be buried with him today.
Another great love in his retirement was his garden, which he attended with love, even up to a short time before his death. He great joy in being able to provide produce from his garden to family and friends who visited. He managed to frighten to neighbours on a number of occasions by climbing to precarious heights in his fruit trees to prune them.
Another great love of Dad's was talking to people, particularly in a one-on-one situation. In his older years he could recall memories of almost 100 years ago and added interest to any conversation. He was always interested in hearing what you had been doing and what plans you had for the future. Although not one to give out advice without being asked for it, it was always a ice to get his tacit approval to any plans shared with him. He was an avid fan of the 'Australia All Over' radio program and seldom missed having his scratchy old portable radio on first thing Sunday morning. This was followed by the Songs of Praise television program later in the morning.
He had always loved visits to the farm from from extended family members, but as years went by he looked forward more and more to visits from family and family functions and especially his many grandchildren and great grandchildren. His hospitality was second to none. Anyone who stayed at the house, would be familiar with being woken by the clickity click sound made by the combination of his walking stick and gammy knee as he made his way down the passage to prepare breakfast and lay out the table for his guests.
In the end he showed us how to die by gracefully recognising that his time was up.
