Aglimpse of life in the Hatherleigh township in the 1940s drew an audience of 35 to a recent meeting of the South East Family History Group in Millicent.


The guest speaker was Elizabeth Bonney who spent several years in the small township of Hatherleigh with her parents Mr and Mrs Harris-Bodfish and two sisters Anne and Christine.


Her father emigrated from England to Australia under the Big Brother scheme in the 1930s.


He had hoped to make a fortune on the land and then return to the United Kingdom to buy an estate.


It was not to be as his early work was on remote properties on Eyre Peninsula with wheat bags for blankets.


His wife’s family farmed near Riverton in the mid north.


The home for the Harris-Bodfish family from 1941 until 1949 was a stone villa built in Hatherleigh in 1910 with an orchard, vegetable patch and house cow.


They were largely self-sufficient with some goods purchased from a tiny shop within the nearby post office.


“Other supplies were obtained on our three-monthly trips to Millicent,” Ms Bonney said.


“We had kero lamps and wood fires but no phones.


“Mum would make all our clothes.


“There was no Hatherleigh Hall at that time and so the school was used for community events.


“I began school in 1948 when Hatherleigh had one teacher and 18 students.


“Money was scarce and income from the farm was irregular.


“As well as his farm, Mr Harris-Bodfish also worked with local builder Frank Skeer.


“Dad decided to get a job at the Mount Burr Mill and received a regular wage.’


“Later Dad worked with Mr Charles Pawsey at the forest research station just out of the Mount Burr township.”


In 1949 the family moved to Mount Burr where the children attended the primary school followed by Millicent High School.


“Nowadays, Mount Burr is not far from Hatherleigh but in the 1940s it was like going to Never Never Land,” Ms Bonney said.


The Harris-Bodfish family were tendered a farewell by the Hatherleigh community.


At its conclusion, they were placed in the centre of a circle of well-wishers as Auld Lang Syne was sung.


Now deceased, her parents retired to Millicent and had two trips to the United Kingdom.


Heather and Max Skeer (both deceased) bought the Hatherleigh house in 1949 and their daughter Helen Frusher was at the SEFHG meeting and spoke about it.


SEFHG member Selena Smith now lives in the Hatherleigh home formerly owned by Elizabeth’s family and together they have collated an exciting history of the home now called Thyme Cottage.


Along with her husband and her parents, Ms Smith is converting the old stone barn into a gallery, studio and micro-brewery.