Wiadrowski, Anton

KEITH’S BELOVED KANGAROO ISLAND

Keith Wiadrowski was born, with the help of neighbour and midwife, Mrs Elizabeth Rowsell, at his parent’s house on a 300 hundred acre scrub block at MacGillivray in 1920. His parents were Herbert Julius Wiadrowski (1882 – 1957) and Emily Mary Wiadrowski (nee Heynen) (1882 – 1967) and they had settled on the Island in 1904. Keith Wiadrowski had two elder sisters, Doris Effie Wiadrowski (1906 – 1925) and Phylis Mary Wiadrowski (1908 – 1987)

In his early years, he attended the Wattle Grange School, about a mile from his parent’s home. The school consisted of one room, one teacher and up to nine children, all six grades in together. Often the school teacher would board with Keith’s family. Educational opportunities were limited and Keith’s parents hoped he could win a scholarship to further his studies after primary school. Money was short, this being the years of the great depression, but too many distractions and a self-confessed ‘lack of application’ on Keith’s part resulted in no scholarship being awarded. Future education did not seem to worry Keith as much as it worried his parents, and accordingly, he left school in 1932 at the age of 12 years. Keith’s driving ambition was to own a horse, saddle and bridle, a repeating rifle and a kangaroo dog and did not take him long to achieve this.

Keith was always grateful to his parents for the hardships they had endured, firstly being flooded in 1910 followed by a wheat growing failure. As a result, their property ‘Claremont’ in Haines was sold up by the bank in 1911. [Note that in 2014, the large salt lagoon in Haines, close to where his parents first settled a hundred years earlier, was named “Wiadrowski Lagoon”. This was a result of local area research and discussions with Keith by Sharon Simons]. His parents made a new start on Section 14 in MacGillivray, and it was here that Keith was born. Keith described his mother as a vigorous person, always wanting to get the job done. She was also very good with horses and would ride through the bush collecting native ferns for her garden.

So in the early years after Keith left school, when he wasn’t helping his father on the property, he was out cutting yacca gum, eucalyptus leaf, or in the winter months, snaring and hunting native animals for their furs and skins. Keith always expressed his gratitude for “the generosity of the bush” and it certainly kept him going in the tough years. He also came to know the Island well after spending many months each year traversing it on horseback, trying to earn a living. This travelling also developed his keen observational skills and he quickly began to appreciate the varying environments of the Island.

Despite his limited education, Keith went on to become an astute reader, developing his intellect and interests in many subjects. In his teenage years, he was attracted to the writings of the Australian bushman, Ion Idriess and this sparked Keith’s desire to work in the outback.

Accordingly, Keith set off in his early twenties, with swag and stockwhip, and spent almost a year away working as a drover in outback NSW, Queensland and SA. The outback droving trip had a profound influence on Keith and after he retired, he wrote up his adventures with the clarity of yesterday, complete with photographs.

In his late twenties, Keith took over the property from his father. The first shearing of 350 sheep and lambs produced nine bales of ‘foot pressed’ wool. About this time he borrowed £1,400 to purchase a new ‘crawler’ tractor. In addition to the normal farm activities, he also distilled eucalyptus oil for FH Faulding. This activity had also been undertaken by his father.

With friend, Gordon Turner, Keith travelled to the Riverland attending rodeos and exhibiting his skills as a young buck jumper. Here he met Gwen Maslen and after a flourishing romance they were married in Adelaide on 19th August, 1950.

After their marriage, farming was tackled in earnest with the need to build a house and support a family that grew to include three children. Some years could be tough as any farming family knows, with equipment breakdowns, poor seasons and predators, but Keith met all challenges with invention and innovation. Their farm included an impressive orchard and Keith’s horticultural skills enabled him to continue his tradition of generosity by sharing his fruits around the community.

Keith had a strong passion for the environment and after the early clearing of the scrub to make productive pasture, he felt that he may have cleared a little too much land, and to rectify this, he undertook some intensive tree planting, by propagating seed from roadside vegetation. He soon became a mentor for some of the younger farmers in the district.

Later in life, after his children had left home, Keith and Gwen made several extended trips around Australia in the classic Combi campervan. Keith particularly enjoyed the exciting fishing in the north west of Western Australia. Reluctantly, at the age of 89 years, Keith gave up farming and moved to Kingscote. At Kingscote, he was able to pursue his passion about preserving the island history and he spent time researching the early newspapers.

Keith served on many community bodies and committees, including the Agricultural Bureau , School Council, the Anglican Church and he was a Life Member of the National Trust. He was especially fond of the MacGillivray Cricket Club and during the time he played, described himself as a reasonable ‘tail ender’. To commemorate the Club’s 75 years, he presented them a story he had written, ‘The Secret’.

In a life spanning almost 94 years, Keith believed he was truly fortunate to have lived his life on his beloved Kangaroo Island.