Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Ross Hunt known as Ross, was born in Beaudesert Queensland in 1921, where the family had moved to a farm and where his father Henry Fletcher Hunt 1889-1968 (known as Harry) had a horse team, which was used to move the Beaudesert Town Hall. In 1924 the family moved to a farm at Upper Kandanga near Gympie. His mother was Margaret Emma Theobald 1889-1926.
The property originally only had a slab hut and the next house they built burnt down but two other houses were subsequently built. Ross attended the Kandanga Valley school for a short period, where he was taught by Miss Princella Bothams, who later became his step mother. His mother Margaret passed away at the Gympie hospital in June 1926 from complications of an operation on her spleen.
Harry married his second wife Princey Bothams in April 1929 and they worked a dairy farm at Upper Kandanga from 1929 to 1931. In Oct 1931, Harry leased a dairy farm at Pinbarren and resided there for 10 years until October 1942.
Before and after school, Ross worked on the farm with his siblings but after the death of his mother, he was sent with 1 brother to live with their grandparents, William and Sarah Hunt at Toowoomba, where they had a lemon, orange and stone fruit farm.

Later on Ross and his brother Noel lived with two other lots of relatives in the area, so both brothers attended a number of different schools. Their younger brother Rex was sent to live with his mother's parents William and Emma Theobald at Crow's Nest near Toowoomba. Their older sister Ruby remained on the farm with their father and met a man and married him but unfortunately, she passed away after giving birth to their first child, who was later adopted out.
Ross returned to live at Kandanga with his father and his new wife in early 1929 and Ross commenced school at the Kandanga Creek school in February 1930 (student no 228) but after about 2 weeks, he was transferred to the Kandanga Valley school. His brother Rex also returned to the farm.
In 1931 the family moved to Gympie where the 3 boys attended yet another school the Two Mile Primary school. The boys later attended Pinbarren primary school and the Pomona Rural school. As Ross got older, the brother of his step-mother employed him on his farm near Gympie, as well as other local farmers before he moved to Brisbane.
In Brisbane, Ross attended night classes at Brisbane Boys Grammar and Stotts College to gain further qualifications to join the RAAF Air Crew, as WW2 had been declared. During this time, Ross worked during the day at Fosters Foundry at Mayne Junction as a Soldersmith.

From February 1942 to late 1943 he served in the Air Force as a Wireless/Air Gunner stationed at Sandgate, Maryborough (Qld), Point Cook (Vic) and Camden Sydney. Ross left for Milne Bay PNG in June 1943. He saw service at Goodenough and Kiriwina Islands and then Milne Bay again. He was posted back to Townsville and Sandgate, where he was discharged in late 1943.
After his discharge he was first employed as an installer at Air Radio in Rocklea and Amberley. His final work at Air Radio was at the Austral Motors war assembly line where he met his future wife Jean Allen. He commenced work with the PMG later that year as a Postal Clerk. Ross and Jean were married in November 1945 and they lived with Jean's parents at Torwood for a while. Ross was transferred as a postal clerk to Eumundi in Queensland in June 1949 where their two children were born in 1950 and 1955.
Ross relieved as a Senior Postal Clerk and Acting Postmaster at several post offices in the Sunshine Coast area. In 1958 he was appointed to Coorparoo post office in Brisbane, as senior postal clerk. They were finally able to move into their own home that they had built at Seven Hills, that had been rented out for 8 years.

Ross was appointed Post Master at Cannon Hill in Brisbane were a man attempted to rob him at gun point. Ross refused to comply and chased the offender and was assisted by the police, who finally captured him nearby. The gun was subsequently found to be a realistic replica. Ross retired in 1981 to travel and play indoor and outdoor bowls with Jean. He completed a qualification as an Apiarist at the Gatton Agricultural College and for many years assisted his son in law David Follett with his bee keeping activites. Ross also assisted people over the years in the removal of bees that had colonised in unwanted places. Ross and Jean were very active in a local garden club and church and enjoyed their garden together. Ross died 31 May 2012 and Jean pre-deceased him in July 2010.