RJ’s own account of his life:
‘RJL was born at Fairley Farm Ceres on June 4th 1878 & as a boy attended Ceres State School. In the year 1886 his father Henry Leigh purchased Prospect & the family went ther to live in the old home of John Leigh which was built in 1861. When RJ was 13 years of age he had the misfortune to injure his knee by a kick from a cow called Britannia & for 5 years he had to get about with the aid of a crutch till his Dr Small decided that an operation was necessary to save the leg & at the Geelong Hospital in the year 1896 on Aug 5th the knee cap was removed & the end of both bones of the knee joint were sawn off & the two leg bones knit together & from that time onward he was handicapped with a straight leg with one bone from hip to ankle. Evidently the operation removed fromt he system a germ which was undermining his health for he gained 4 stone in weight within 6 months & averaged between 12 & 13 stone until he was 70 years of age & followed a very active life on the farm & for a few years worked a good deal on a travelling chaffcutter with his brothers.
In 1897 his father died & the brothers worked the farm & gave a lot of time cutting haystacks for Geelong merchants as at that time a lot of hay was grown n Barrabool hills & sydney was a market for large quantities which was sent out there by boats from Geelong. The price of cutting chaff was then 5/- per ton & the owners of the machines had to cart 1/3 of the chaff cut to Geelong free of charge.
At the outbreak of the Boer War in Sth Africa in 1901 hay was required for fodder for the remounts used at the war & the Leighs purchased a hay press at £120 from R.W.Hill of Sth Geelong which required 7 men to work. The price paid for pressing hay was 10/- per ton & by working long hours each day 20 tons could be pressed. The first year we owned the machine we pressed 2000 tons & the wages paid to men who helped was 4d per ton & keep.
The demand for pressed hay ceased at the cessation of hostilities & for a year after only small quantities was required then occasionally a few straw stacks were pressed & hay presses were no longer needed in Geelong district so ours was sold through Harvey Dann & Co of Ryrie St Geelong to go to Wagga NSW for pressing lucerne in that locality as there was being grown there large quantities.
In 1902 we purchased a new chaff-cutter from R W Hill with improved wheel patented by Ronaldson & Tippett of Ballarat which had a change set of knives, easily adjusted so as the engine driver could sharpen one et while the others was at work. This meant a lot of time was saved & more chaff cut in a day.
In the year 1906 our eldest Bro John Walter bought a property at Tarneit near Werribee of 620 acres & got married 19-9-06 to Emily Louisa Heard of Lake Banks & went there to live. This was the begining of a change in the family cicle for chaffcutting was losing its appeal to the other brothers as a means of livlihood so in 1906 four of the brothers viz:AE, Chas, R.J & FV bought 850 acres of unimproved land at Winchelsea 2 miles on W side of the township being portion of Austins propety between Colca Road & Ondit road with the Western district Rly line dividing it into 2 paddocks. On the S side of the Rly line a hut was built by W L Walter assisted by W Summersgill & H E Leigh the latter deciding to follow the occupation of a carpenter at which he has made a success.
The hut was built in 1907 & was 18 ft by 12 with 4 bunks fitted at one end. In the month of June of that year RJ went there tp batch & look after the ewes during the lambing season As we had bought 600 breeding cbk ewes in lamb for 15/- per head & SRJ Mawson loaned us £450 @ 4%. Top price for first clip was 1/1 a lb.
In the spring of that year we had our shearing done at Barwon Park woolshed the contract being 1/1d per head for shearing, classing, pressing etc. During the winter we made a commencement at clearing & plowing some of the land & fallowed it for cropping the next year. The oldest brother Bert spent most of his time at Prospect & Cahs & Fred worked the horses while R J used to help with chearing fencing etc, & spent a lot of his time at Prospect helping there. In our years of batching the work done by our two sisiers Julia & Ede can never be fully estimated for they gave us untold service by cooking for us for years besides doing our washing & making jam etc.
1908 the first crop was cut & in 1909 a lot of the clearing & fallowing was done & crops grew well.
This year Bro Chas decided to start farming on his own & leased land of Dr Brown Colac at Foxhow & during the spring fallowed some & had Clinnick there to help with a tractor. On the 24th of the 2nd 1910 Chas was married to Mary Helen Caldow in the Winchelsea Presbyterian Church & went to Foxhow to live.
The Bros Bert, Fred & R J carried on the Winchelsea stunt till they sold it Dec 1910 to J carter for £6 p a, & on May 13th 1911 bought 612 acres of Marathon Estate 12 miles from Geelong @£6.12.6.
again W L Walter & brother Hory built a hut 12 x 18 to batch in & as there was no water on the place we engaged C Martin to put down a bore which was a slow job & at 220 ft the rods fell into the bottom of the hole & that ended boring at a loss of £130.
In March 1912 F V & R J started to put down a dam & after being at it for 2 weeks W Sharp came to work for us & he helped Fred to finish that job. Plans to build a house were being considered & in 1913 W L W & Hory built a noce home there & & on the 3rd July 1913 F V L married Ethe Florence Heard & the partnership of Leigh Bros consisted of R J & F V who purchased A E L’s interest in the land.
During the year 1912 R J was appointed a State Land Tax Assessor for Shire of Barraboll & he completed the job in 1913 & secured a Sworn Valuers Certificat & was sought after for making Probate Valuations in the Shires of Winchelsea & Grant. At the end of World War No ! the Government started Soldoer Settlements & R J was appointed one of the Valuers for properties offered Soldiers which work he carried out in his spare time.
The farm had now developed, paddocks subdivided, land cleared of stone, buildings erected & some good yields of hay & grain obtained. In the year 1923 the Geelong Agricultural Society offered prizes for best farms in Geelong district. Different classe entered into the Competitions & in the class for best mixed farm Leigh Bros, secured first place & the methods of farming was also commented on favorably in the local & Melbourne press.
At that time Roselea had been divided into 14 paddocks & the total area consisted of 1146 acres & an adjoining paddock of 393 acres was leased known as the swamp paddock which was owned by Mr Geo Higgins of Colac & the rent paid was 6/9 per acres. Only about 100 acres of this property was clear for cultivation & two crops were taken from it. Federation wheat grew very well after fallow but that year wheat was only 2/9 a bushel so the owners cut a lot of the crop for hay which sold at £6-15 per ton & proved a better paying proposition. The hay was carted to the chaff mills at Lara as wheaten hay could there be mixed with oaten hay for chaffing. 1922 heavt crops of hay was grown on Roselea. Caterpillars were very prevalent in the early crops this year and played havoc with some of the crops.
In the autumn of 1923 R J made valuatins for State Land Tax & completed Land Tax values for the parishes of Muroon & Whoorel in the Shire of Winchelsea which took about 6 weeks to complete. The following year several big properties were offered the government for Closer Settlement & R J was asked to insepct & report as to their suitability & value for subdivision.
In the year 1926 R J decided to leave Roselea Farm & settle at Highton, having purchased from Dr Hicks hs property of 6 1/2 acres in Roslyn Rd in March of that year leaving his Bro Fred to carry on the farm agreeing to leave his 1/2 share of the money at half yearly interest. On July 8th he was married by Rev T H Indian to Miss Fanny Pannell Linda Hancock only daughter of Mr F A Hancock of Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park, Sth Melbourne, who proved a loving & faithful partner.
At this time Mother & Sisters Julia & Edith were in need of someone to help themrun the old lome at Prospect & R J gave a lot of his time assisting them by attending sales & buying stock for them. After his Mothers death in Aug 1930 her executors viz=Lewis Walter, John Walter & Rowland James were entrusted to dispose of the property & divide as bequested but at that time the country was passing through a depression & land values were so low that the trustees decided to let Julia & Ede stay on at the old home till values improved. Bro Will had made his home at prospect after the death of his wife who was Flo Walter a first cousin, being the elder daughter of Richard Walter or Walters as that Uncle’s family alled themselves. Will died in July 1931 after suffering from diabetes for 10 years which incapacitated him from carrying on his occupation as a State School teacher.
The next change in the Leigh family was the sudden death of Bro Chas at Winchelsea in April 1932. He made R J, his widow Mary, & son Keith his executors, & the property of grazing land was carried on by his 2 sons Jack & Max successfully.
In 1934 Mothers surviving executors J W & R J sold Prospect to Julia & Ede for £24-0-0 per acre which was the best price that could be obtained. as the Sisters were left the greatest interest in the property they borrowede money and made up the balance of the purchase money needed above their legacy & the executors made a distribution of £120 each to the other beneficiaries. It was known to the Executors that the Sisters interest in the estate would eventually come back to the members of the family.
Two events which the writer should have recorde earlier in historical events in his own family is that on April 10th 1927 his eldest girl Francis [sic] Joyce was born & on Aug 1st 1930 the second girl Marion Pannell was born.
The year 1932 was a year of great anxiety for R J’s wife Pannell had a collapsed vertebra & spent the greater part of the year lying a a Thomas’s spint, who Dr Upjohn a bone specialist of Melb & Dr J E Pper had charge of the patient & the family rejoiced that a complete recovery was made after a long period of convalescencing.
The year 1937 was a time when more links of the family were broken. Br Bert who was living at Ceres died 24/2/37 after a year of failing health & distressing illness & was cremated at Fawkner crematorium on 25/2/37.
Later in the same year Bro Jack died at his home Tooan in Valley Rd Highton 31-8-37. His remians were laid to rest in the Highto Cemetery 1/9/37. Bro Jack had a heart turn a week or two before his death & never recovered.
The next death in the family was Sister Julia. She had a stroke early in 1937 which incapacitated her from leading an active life & she eventually became an invalid & was nursed by Sister Edith at the old home ‘Prospect’. She lingered till the year 1941-2-4th & after much weakness & weariness entered into life eternal on April 2nd. Edith continued to live at Prospect after Julia’s death but did not enjoy good health & the following year har eyesight failed & she had to have a cataract removed from her eye in melbourne by Dr : Mitchell. This had the effect of underminig her health more, & with blood pressure causing her doctor much concern. However after the years of nursing her sister & the operation for eye trouble the family noticed her strength failing & on Jan 15th 1943 at 5 p.m. she suffered a stroke & died four hours later.
This necessitated the sale of the farm Prospect & the executors E R Grills, H E & R J Leigh disposed of it privately to Freda merritt at a satisfactoty price viz £28.10 per acre. a clearing sale of the furniture was conducted by J F Frier & Co on March 13-43 after which the new owner entered into possession.
At this time i had trouble with my legs which were always feeling weary & on May 3rd I consulted Dr Piper & he traced the trouble to diabetes & a week later went in to Kardinia House for treatment. It was then I discovered that a shock would cause diabetes & recalled that at the end of the year 1939 I had bought a second-hand Dodge Sedan Car & the last day of that year when leaving the church the car got out of control owing to different gears which I had not got used to & the car crossed the road & crashed into tthe fence. At the tim e I had 6 aboard, Joyce, Pannel & self i nthe front seat & Louie, Marion & Miss Elsie Lawry in the back seat. I had a slight concussion & was laid up for a few weeks whist the others suffered from shock & abrasions.
The treatment in hospital for diabetes in 1943 meant injections of insulin & a special diet which I soon became accustomed to & for years I continued to live a actiive life though my energy was limited. The next setback I had as double hernia & had to go to Kardinia House again & undergo a surgical operation the last day of the year 1946. Dr Burger & Dr Piper werer the surgeons & the operation proved successful.
In Oct 1946 our property of 1146 actes known as Roselea Farm 12 miles NW of Geelong was sold to J F Guthrie, at £9 per acre. This was the best offer we could get & R J knew F V was anxious to discontinue as it was getting beyond him to carry on & agreed to the sale at that figure though conscious at the time it was below a fair market value considering all the improvements that had been added. At that time all sales of property had to be based on 1942 values which were then low during World War 2. after F V had held a clearing sale of stock & implements he decided to go to Barwon Headds to retire & did not settle in Hightonon hs property there where it was understood he intended to do if the farm was sold. This was a great disappointment to R J as for years he had longed for his brother Fred to be near him again. “Still as one writer has said, We have to let old sorrows go, perhaps ‘twas best, we do not always know, new joys will come again.”
During the years 1945 & 1946 Joyce was at Janet Clark Hall Melbourne studying for her Arts degree & during 1947 she stayed at home as R J was recovering from an operation & her help was need & Dr piper advised to relax a year from studies would give her a better chance to pass the following year which advice proved correct for at the end of 1948 she passed with honours her degree of B.A. In 1949 she began teaching at the c of E Girls School “Korowa” Malvern.
1950 was a year of many events which brought trouble into many homes of the Leigh family. On Sunday Jan 8th Bro Hory died suddenlyon the Barrabool road near Prospect gate about 4 p.m.. He & Auntie Jean were driving along the road on their way to their son Ron’s home at Highton & as the car was not going A1 he stopped & looked under the bonnet & after he got back in car behind the wheel he collapsed & never spoke again. He was the youngest so of the Prospect family aged 62. He was buried in the Highton Cemetery the following Tuesday & a large gathering assembled at the graveside.
On May 22nd R.J took Pannell to Dr Berger as her heart was palying up & diagnoseed the case as Cardiac paryxim [sic] & ordered complete rest & tablets to be taken. Weeks went on & after a few visits Dr arranged with Dr Agar a heart specialist in Geelong to take a cardiograph to see if any angina trouble but it revealed that it was the nerves affecting muscles of the heart which caused her such distress. On 27th June at midnight her illness reached a climax & we had to get Dr Berger out to see her. After that visitors were only allowed to see her a little while for weeks & then she began to improve slowly.
On July 5th Bro L H died at Colac Hospital after a brief illness of pneumonia & heart trouble. He had been ill 12 months previously & then Dr did not thik he would recover but he did & was able to get about again. He attained the age of 77 years & was creamated at Springvale on Julky 6th, Bro T H Indian conducting the service.
During th ewinter months RJL suffered a lot with his feet due to diabetes & which made it difficult for him to move about. The climax was reached when early in Sept he had to take to bed & have complete rest for Dr feared gangrene trouble in the toes. This meant getting rid of my cows & reducing the number of fowls. At such times we learnt the value of friends & relations for their help made it possible for Marion to carry on. Joyce let herself out to come hme each week-end & do the washing & help & at the end of the year we looked back & marvel at the way we had come through. Then R J jad not recovered & his best effirt was to get fro bedroom to sunroom on crutches as circulaton was bad in feet & toe very tender. Pannell was now able to get about a little each day & gave evidence that the road to recovery was gradually opening. 30 - 12 - 50
TO BE CONTINUED RJL