Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Fred (Alfred) was the youngest of eleven children born to John and Lily Cummings on the 1st May 1918 in Goomalling in Western Australia. He was the second of two sons and was much spoilt by his sisters. His parents were a pioneering family who had moved from South Australia during the 1890’s in search of better farming land in the West. Fred’s parents were hard working, clearing land, building a modest home and establishing a property they named ‘Valley Farm’ to sustain them. His parents were instrumental in establishing a school for local children and also provided accommodation for the young teachers.
When Fred was just 17, his father died, aged 71 in 1935. Lily attempted to remain on the farm with her oldest daughter, also called Lily but the two eventually and inevitably sold the farm in 1941 during the war when little extra help was available for hire to keep the property going. The Depression conditions also affected the worth of the property and the feeling that the family had been short-changed by a neighbour when the property was sold to them. Lily and her daughter lived in a very modest (run-down) house in Goomalling. Both sons, John and Fred were serving in the war effort at this time.
Aged 23, Fred married his 18-year-old girlfriend, Margaret Elizabeth Pickering (Peg) in July of 1941. Their first-born son, Walter, was born in October of that year. However, later that year Fred was called up for military service in the general mobilisation of 1941 when the couple had only been married for just 7 months. He signed his enlistment papers in February 1942 at Dowerin (WA) to initially become part of the Citizen Military Force, then the AIF as WX35933 but was able to remain in WA. Consequently, his second child, a daughter Lyn arrived in June 1943. (The young couple subsequently had five children.)
Both he and his 17 years older brother, 40-year-old John Harroldean, served, with John enlisting in April, ’42.
In 1944, Fred’s unit was sent to Bandiana on the outskirts of Aubury/Wodonga where he was engaged as a part of the Troop Supply Company, serving as a butcher at Bandiana from August to December 1945. Having a wife and dependants, Fred was amongst the early discharged soldiers, returning to civilian life on the 14th December 1945. By this time the family farm he had loved was sold and his young children did not recognise him. Times were difficult for all in the family. A third child, Gwen arrived in October 1946.
While serving at Bandiana, Fred also fathered a son in March ‘46 with a young woman, who named their son Michael McKessar, giving him her surname. Conditions at the time and her single status meant she was unable to keep her son, resulting in him being adopted, aged 10 months. His adoptive parents then named him William Francis Clarke. Sadly, William (‘Bill’) did not meet up with either of his birth parents but was able to meet his other siblings in the 2000’s when he met his almost ‘twin’ and extended family.
On his return from the war, Fred attended a farming course for returned servicemen before the family moved to a Returned Servicemen Settlement near Rocky Gully to live in tents while the area was being established. Conditions were primitive with sheds for laundry and outdoor washrooms. Massive clearing of trees was undertaken with chains and bulldozers, with the felled timber being taken to mills nearby. Initially there was no school house for the children, then an unlined, single room tin shed was erected. It was hot in summer and constant truck traffic providing distracting noise. The young teacher had to cater for a wide range of ages, schooling levels and grasp of English as Migrants from Europe were part of the workforce at the timber mills.
In those conditions, families had to make their own fun and work together as the land was slowly cleared and the ex-soldiers chose their plot of land to fence, construct a house and farm buildings before they could add sheep, then a dairy herd. Alf and Lily named their new property Valley Farm, just out of Manjimup and near the Franklin River. Two boys, John and Kingsley (Alfred) arrived in 1953 and 1954 respectively. Fred became an active supporter of local football, holding a variety of positions, including ‘gear steward’, which involved Peg washing and mending two sets of jumpers as well as trying to dry them over the wintry days.
Electricity was eventually provided by a generator but was restricted to essential use. That early tent town soon became a small country town, then a school gradually grew, with an oval and tennis courts added. A Public Hall provided a venue for films, dances and local celebrations.
Fred’s farming ambitions were shattered through an accident when his tractor was towing a roller to knock down regrowing eucalypts. In falling from the tractor, the roller crushed his leg resulting in months of hospitalisation in Freemantle, then in traction and on crutches. The older children cut short their schooling to work on the farm before severe bushfires hit the district decimating the stock and property, eventually contributing to bankruptcy. Fred and the family had to walk away and create a new life, working for other people, firstly in Albany, then on a farm near Goomalling while the children completed their schooling, before moving to Guilderton. Today many of the Soldier Settler farms have reverted to eucalypt plantations, primarily because they were too small to be financially viable.
As with many soldiers, Fred had smoked all his life, a habit that, by the 1980s, affected his health with emphysema ravaging his lungs, leading to his death on September 10th 1988. He was interred with his parents and two siblings at Goomalling.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee (daughter of Stan Cummings) with extra information provided by Bill Clarke.