Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

EDWARD HENRY BELL

My grandfather, Edward Henry (Ted) Bell, was born in 1894 in Bethnal Green, London the youngest of five children born to English parents John James & Sarah Bell. He arrived in Brisbane, Queensland in 1912 with the Salvation Army after a sea voyage lasting 10 weeks on the steam ship "Perthshire”, from the Port of London. He was 18-years at the time. His occupation on the 1911 English Census was ‘Chemist Assistant’.

Ted worked around the coast for a while before heading west and ended up working as a labourer for Jack Hornick at Wallumbilla for some time. Jack owned 600 acres and had 115 acres under wheat. He also had two and half acres under oranges, peaches, plums, figs, grapes, apples, pears, nectarines and apricots so this would have been a great learning curve for young Ted.

Ted travelled (probably by train) to Toowoomba to enlist in World War I on 29 February 1916 the age of 22. He joined the Australian Infantry Force – a Private in the 31 Battalion, 8th Reinforcement, Service Number 3519 and was sent overseas on the HMAT A42 "Boorara" in Aug 1916 and saw action on the battlefields of France. Ted was wounded twice during the following three and a half years, only surviving the first injury thanks to the help of his mates. Their battalion had been told to retreat and leave the wounded soldiers behind, but his mates wrapped injured Ted’s arms round their necks and carried him out to safety. Ted returned to Brisbane after the war and was discharged from the Army in December 1919. He headed back out west to Injune in Queensland.

On the 29 March 1921, as a Returned Soldier from World War I, he selected a block of land west of Gunnewin consisting of 1280 acres and received £200 in the hand as part of the Soldier's Settlement scheme. He called his block "Springbok" after the Parish the land is on. Ted's brother Jack Bell, also a returned WW I soldier, selected a Soldier's Settlement block over the road from Ted's.

My Grandparents, Pat Collins and Ted Bell met when Pat come to visit her sister Molly and husband Vince Creedy. Vince, another returned WW I soldier was living on a Soldier's Settlement block next door to Ted Bell. Vince died in 1921 of TB and Molly married again to neighbour Bill Armitage, another returned soldier at Gunnewin.

After marrying in Pat’s hometown of Dalby in 1924, Pat and Ted Bell returned to live at "Springbok" where their first child Terry was born in 1924 at the Bush Nurses hut at Gunnewin. Pat had a hard time delivering baby Terry and Ted swore that when the next baby was due, she could go home on the train to her family in Dalby ... and so the next seven babies Teddy, Doug, Pat, Daph, Jean, Tommy and my mother Thelma were born in the Dalby hospital. The last of their children Vince was born in 1941, in the Roma hospital.

After a number of years struggling to make a living on their blocks of land, the Commonwealth Bank Manager in Roma called in Bill Armitage, Jack and Ted Bell and told them that they were wasting their time trying to make a go of it on their blocks as they were nearly broke. Bill and Jack agreed with the Bank Manager and walked off their land. Ted asked the Bank Manager could he give the Bell family a place to live and Ted a job if he decided to leave? The answer was "no”, so Ted and Pat struggled on and over the years, eventully took over the blocks of land that Bill Armitage and Jack Bell had abandoned.

Bill Armitage had started up a dairy, so Ted kept it going. He carted the cream into Gunnewin three times a week on a buggy pulled by two horses, to go on the train to the Roma Butter Factory. Eighty cows were milked by hand twice a day.

When the first milking machine was bought, about 1943, the number of cows milked every day increased to 120. Their first refrigerator, which was engine driven, was also bought about this time. This fridge held up to six cans of cream with a small compartment for foods used in the house. The family continued to dairy until the early 1960s when the Injune to Roma rail line closed down.

Pat and Ted taught the older kids at home by correspondence for many years. One of the hardest jobs they had to do! Eventually, Jean, Daphne and Thelma were sent in to board and go to school at St John's Convent in Roma. Thelma was the only one to go from Prep 1 to Junior, a total of 11 years at boarding school. Vince spent a few years boarding with Mrs Edwards in Roma, attending the De La Salle Boys School.

Ted was on a lot of committees in the district; Gunnewin Memorial Hall and the Roma and District Ambulance, were two of the main organisations to benefit from his help. He helped to organise a Horse Sports Day every Easter Saturday at Gunnewin, and the proceeds went to the Roma Ambulance. The Gunnewin Memorial Hall received the money which came from the dance held after the Sports Day. This money was used for maintenance on the Hall like painting and repairs. Ted had a lovely singing voice and often entrained the community, singing along on stage with Dorba Makinson at different functions. Ted and Pat received a Citation from the QATB for services rendered to the Community.

Pop (Ted Bell) passed away on 5 February 1977 in the Roma Hospital, at the age of 83 years young.

My grandmother Pat Bell lived out her last years on "Springbok" and died aged 81, after a short illness on 12 August 1983, in the Injune Hospital.

They lived long, hard and happy lives and are sadly missed even to this day. They are both buried in the Roma Monumental Cemetery. Many of their descendants are still living in the district.

Researched & written by Maree Worland, granddaughter.