Walter Albert Parsons

  General Notes:

Original notes by Sandie (Sandra Marie) Pedersen nee Parsons.
Added to by Bob (Robert George) Clarke, Walter's grandson, incorporating his and his mother, Olive Parsons' reminiscences.

Walter Albert Parsons joined the Navy and, after being part of a crew who delivered a warship to Australia, transferred to the Australian Navy Force. Walter decided to make Australia his permanent home and married Miss Lillian Kate Bolton in 1915 in New South Wales, Australia. He was a Leading Stoker aboard H.M.S. Encounter at the time of his marriage at St Philip's Church of England, York Street, Sydney (cnr Jamieson & Clarence). After the ceremony, his fellow shipmates unharnessed the horses from the horse-drawn cab that was booked to take the happy couple to their wedding reception, and pulled them the length of George Street to the Town Hall, where the reception was held, much to Lillian's delight and embarrassment.

Lillian was the daughter of Alfred and Phoebe Bolton (nee James). Walter and Lillian immediately began raising a family of three children, two girls and a boy, plus another boy (and perhaps another child?) who died in infancy. (According to Lillian, Walter was part of a British naval contingent who marched to the relief of Peking at the height of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, but this information has not been verified. He would have been a month shy of 13 years old at the time of the arrival of the second contingent on August 14. One thing we do know is that he had a life-long antipathy towards the Chinese, unlike the Japanese. He spent a lot of time in Japan whilst in the British and Australian navies, and brought home kimonos, fans, etc. as presents for Nan, who obviously didn't see herself in the role of a geisha girl - she threw them all out or gave them away.

When they were first married they lived at Burwood, then moved to Hornsby. Walter was still in the navy and received the "Gallipoli Star" for his service in W.W.1. A long and successful career, with him attaining the rank of "Chief Petty Officer (Engineer)", and being awarded a silver medal for good conduct, came to an end in 1924, when he bought a banana farm at Gregor's Creek and moved his family to Queensland. I dare say Nan doesn't have especially fond memories of that time - she lost two fingers. One of their workers cut them off when he tried to chop down a bunch of bananas just as she was reaching for them. George shot himself in the stomach shortly afterwards, so the story goes, the second family member that day to need urgent medical attention.

There followed a stint at the mill in Yednia, where Olive Parsons started school, then he took up a soldier settler's block at Stanthorpe, which proved a financial disaster for him and everyone else. They were promised a market for their produce in Brisbane, and instead got bill after bill for transport costs, the government co-op agent claiming he'd had to sell at a loss.

Dad remembers him working at the Evans Deakins dockyards in Brisbane as an engineer stoker during and after the war, while Nan ran a boarding house at Duffield Road, Margate, where they remained until Pop's retirement. He'd catch the train to work in a three piece suit, fob watch and all, carrying white overalls in a Gladstone bag. At the end of his working day, he'd leave the same way, the very picture of an immaculate gentleman from head to toe. Dad also remembers a funny story about catching the train home from work with Pop, who was a heavy smoker. After the war tobacco was hard to come by, and once Pop was comfortably ensconced in his seat he rolled a cigarette, put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it, then went to throw the match out the window. The trouble was, he threw the tobacco out instead! Dad reckons he and his friends had to grab hold of him to stop him jumping off the train after it.

Pop and Nan retired to Hervey Bay in 1954 to be near his daughters and help with Mick, who had been struck with Polio in 1948. I remember he used to make his own fortified plonk by adding Bundaberg rum to wine, which he kept it in stone jars with a wicker basket surround. He didn't like to drink alone, though, so he'd send a message down for Dad to come up and help him cut the lawn. Three runs of the push mower and a few swipes with the scythe was enough to maintain the pretence - they'd sit on the verandah and talk and drink Pop's special brew for the rest of the afternoon. He had a half dozen live mortar shells from WW2. Nan wanted him to get rid of them so he threw some down the pit for the outhouse, but had second thoughts about that. What if they went off under some unsuspecting soul answering the call of nature? He threw the rest into a waterhole down the road from his house in Main Street, which is buried under the road that runs through Pialba's main shopping centre now.

Pop was a great one for tall tales - he told me as a kid that he'd built the bridge between Scarness and Pialba, explaining in great detail how he did it. He managed to sound so convincing I believed him and was most impressed! He loved all new ideas, knew a lot about history & geography and made it sound interesting enough to hold our attention, and was one of the reasons Mick did so well - he had time to talk to him and encourage his ideas about his future.

I have in my care a badly damaged water-colour painting on cardboard he "appropriated" from the wardroom of HMAS Australia before she was scuttled, for which he may easily have been the model, of a sailor wearing "decorations" awarded, such as "ordinary conduct badges", "number of children born since 1914" and a "star for being sick", and others too politically incorrect to mention in today's more integrated world. Every time I look at it I remember Grandad and his quirky sense of humour.

  Birth Notes:

reg. Guildford 2a 78 4th Q. 1887

  Christening Notes:

reg. Guildford 2a 78, 4th Quarter, 1887

  Some facts about his life:

• Occupation: Chief Petty Officer Stoker RAN, timber cutter and sawmill machine operator. ⁵

• Place of residence: UK Census 1891, 5 Apr, 2 Bleak Cottage, Down Rd, Merrow, Surrey. ⁶

Walter married Lillian Kate Bolton, daughter of Alfred Bolton and Phoebe Jones, on 29 May 1915 in St Philip's Church Of England, York St. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.¹ (Lillian Kate Bolton was born on 9 Dec 1897 in Herne Bay, Kent, England ⁷ and died on 1 Oct 1982 in Pt Vernon Hervey Bay, Queensland ⁸.)

  Marriage Notes:

NSW Marriage Certificate, Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. Reg. No. 1915/004485