Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

PROMINENT PEARLER.
Death of Mr. V. Kepert.
After having commenced business in the pearling industry in Broome shortly after the war with practically no capital and rising to the position of one of the most prominent and  wealthiest pearlers in Australia in a comparatively short period, Mr. Victor Kepert died recently at Katoomba, New South Wales, after a sudden illness. Born  n Victoria, Mr. Kepert  came to Western Australia and journeyed to Broome shortly before the war, for which he enlisted from Broome immediately on the outbreak of hostilities and while still in his early twenties. At the front Mr. Kepert was severely gassed and was repatriated, going to Broome on his arrival in Western Australia. In 1920 he began work in the pearling industry  with a fleet of seven luggers, which he persuaded Mr. T. B. Ellies—one of the world's best-known pearl cleaners, who died about 12 months ago—to let him have on credit. Owing  to dissension with the pearling authorities at Broome, he sailed with his fleet to Darwin, where the shell was more plentiful. For several years Mr. Kepert worked the pearl beds  near Darwin; but illhealth interfering with his work, he left the business in charge of a manager and entered a convalescent home near Sydney to receive treatment for war troubles. The nature of his illness precluded him from speech and for 12 months he remained silent, during which time he met and proposed to his wife, by using slips of paper.  While he was in the convalescent home his foreshore camp at Darwin was burnt, destroying thousands of pounds worth of stores, material and gear. Shortly after the fire a  schooner which he owned sank in the direct shipping route outside Darwin and, after many fruitless efforts to raise it from the sea bed, he was forced to blow it up with dynamite.  Despite these setbacks and lack of financial support, Mr. Kepert succeeded in making an immense fortune on which he retired a few years back and bought a home at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.
His death recalls the muder of six Japanese by Caledon blacks at Caledon Bay. Mr. Kepert had leased one of his luggers to the Japanese for the purpose of beach-combing, but  while carrying out their work they were cut off from their boat and speared by the natives, only one of their number escaping. During the last few months of his life, Mr. Kepert was contemplating the removal of his pearling fleet from Darwin to Napier Broome Bay in an effort to establish a new port and get away from the industrial strife of Darwin.