Project Description
His father wanted to go on the land so they migrated to Australia arriving in Albany on 8 February, 1922. They spent a year at Korrelocking where his father learned farming from locals. His mother taught 14 of the children from nearby.
In July 1923 they moved to Ambergate Group Settlement 44 near Busselton. They cleared 25 acres of land and burnt the Jarrah trees then ploughed and cultivated the land for clover and rye and milked cows.
Geoff spent brief periods in Kalgoorlie in 1935 and 1936, but otherwise he lived around the Busselton area.
Geoff married Hilda (nee Cowley) on 20 February 1946. They honeymooned in a tent at Hamelin Bay. He ran the family business, W. Lord & Son, on the Chapman Hill farm making money by selling eggs and milk. They had four children: Margaret Alice, born 17 November, 1946, Walter John, born 31 July, 1949 and Dorothy Joyce, born 7 October, 1957 and Mary Dianne born 7th May 1959.
Geoff had a lung removed in 1953. They sold the dairy herd and grew beef and sheep until he retired in 1973. His son, Walter, still runs the farm.
Geoff was involved in running the Acton Park Soccer Club, the Acton Park Tennis Club and Badminton Club. He was a member of the Primary Producers’ Association and the Farmers’ Union. Geoff was Master of Ceremonies at the Acton Park Hall dances for many years then at the Convent Hall. He was District Representative on St Mary’s Church of England Vestry.
After WWII he was involved in organising a district Show near Harris Road and was largely responsible for setting up the Historical Society’s Museum at the Butter Factory in 1975.
Geoff acquired the Group Settlement house, which is among the Museum displays, from Ambergate (Location No. 2329 on Group 44). It originally belonged to Nah Fielder.