GRANDCHILDREN OF THE TIELKEMEYERS
PART 4 of our book contains numerous stories about, and photographs of, the grandchildren of Grosfodder and Granny Tielkemeyer. Below we feature just a few.
HOME HILL 1931
Esa holding baby Dell, Frieda, Pauline Vass, Minnie, Frieda and Perk Hall, Carl Vass.
Noel Vass (as yet unborn) and Fred Hall (aged 2) are absent .
LOUISE (ESA) VASS
AND RICHARD GODFREY
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Esa and Dick were married on 11 May 1939 at Home Hill, and made a home on their farm at Kairi.
Their first child, Richard Bruce Godfrey, was born on 7 December 1940. They had 9 more children.
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Over the years, Dick and Esa farmed and purchased additional properties, including ‘Sandlands’ at Kairi and 2 tobacco farms in the Mareeba district. Because of an interest in learning new farming practices, they diversified into various farming ventures over the years, growing corn, potatoes, peanuts, hay and grass seed, and vegetables for the Allied troops on the Tablelands during the war years.
PAULINE VASS AND CHARLES (BILL) ERIC LOWIS
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Pauline met Bill Lowis while on duty at the hospital where he was guarding a prisoner. She was immediately smitten. Although she was in her final year of nursing, with her last exam pending for her Sister’s certificate, when Bill proposed, she handed in her resignation.
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Pauline and Bill married at St Helen’s Church of England in Home Hill on 3 November 1945.
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Bill was transferred the same month to the Cardwell Police Station where they lived for 2 years. Whilst he was stationed in Cardwell, he had a boat built in Cairns and they loved going to Garden, Gould or Hinchinbrook Islands whenever they got the chance. They welcomed their first baby, William Charles on 15 September 1946.
In 1947 Bill was transferred to Croydon Police Station. With a baby and another on the way, Pauline was not too keen on moving to the outback.
FRIEDA VASS AND PHILLIP VINCENT HAMILTON-FOSTER
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Frieda Vass was born in Home Hill on July 13 1926. She was the fourth child in the Vass family, fourteen months younger than her sister Pauline.
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Phillip Vincent Hamilton-Foster was born in Tenterfield on the 25 June 1920. His family lived on a property of about 10 acres where, as a junior farmer, he grew vegetables and raised poultry. His father was a teacher.
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Phil joined the RAAF in 1939 where he trained to be a pilot. His work during WW2 is described in our book. Phil was in Townsville when the war finished. He met Frieda on Magnetic Island, a popular destination for the airmen in Townsville. There were regular dances at Mandalay in Nelly Bay.
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Phil and Frieda were married on 5 January 1946 at short notice, possibly because Phil was to leave Townsville to join the occupation force in Japan. While Phil was stationed in Japan, Frieda lived in Home Hill with her parents.
Anthony Carl (Tony) Hamilton-Foster was born on 11 October 1946. Phil returned from Japan and was posted to Williamstown, N.S.W. on 23 June 1947. John Hamilton-Foster was born in Sale, Victoria, on the 24 March 1948.
ERIC DAVIN HALL (PERK) AND AVIS ISABELLE RAIL
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Perk was born in South Johnstone on 31 August 1922. He attended South Johnstone State School from 1928 to 1936 and completed his secondary schooling at All Souls School, Charters Towers in 1940. He excelled at Sport and received 11 colours for tennis, cricket, rugby union and athletics.
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In 1941 Eric was appointed Clerk at the Innisfail Branch of the Queensland National Bank, riding a push bike the 7 miles from and to South Johnstone each day.
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On 27 January 1942 Eric enlisted as Militia, training at Hughenden, Cairns, Townsville and Cooktown. By 12 January 1943 he had joined the 51st Bn. A.I.F. and spent time at Thursday Island, Horn Island, Merauke (Indonesia), and Dutch New Guinea. He was injured in the Battle of Porton.
In 1946 he returned to Innisfail to his occupation at the Bank. That December, at a Woolworth’s Christmas Party, his sister Minnie introduced him to Avis Rail. They married on 15 January 1948.
DELL VASS AND WILLIAM GREET
Dell Vass was born in Home Hill on 2 March 1931.
From 1949 to 1952 she studied physiotherapy at the University of Queensland, living in University accommodation. In 1953 she worked for the University as a tutor in the Physiotherapy Department.
Dell returned to Home Hill in 1954 to work and save money for overseas travel. In 1955 she married William Greet, postponing her travels for several decades.
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William Greet was born in Rosewood, southeast Queensland, on 2 January 1927. His father was a coal miner.
The family bought Windyridge Farm when Bill was 9 years old. After finishing his schooling aged 16, he entered the Queensland Public Service as a clerk in the Office of the Licensing Commission. His siblings remember him taking his sisters and brothers on hikes, fishing, and shooting in the bush.
When he turned 18, in 1945, Bill joined the Air Force as a pay clerk and was based in South Australia.
The title of this book was an autograph Minnie wrote in her sister Louise's autograph book in 1912. Louise later embroidered these words on a sugarbag apron which won a prize in the Home Hill show.
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May the Cane Prosper captures the Tielkemeyer family vernacular; an acceptance of things beyond our control - like the weather, and cane grubs - and the family's positive outlook on life.