Old Collegians Association  

Hi All

As mentioned in the last newsletter segment, I now have stories of past students.

Firstly, Kevin Blakeney, who passed away in Harvey Hospital on 7 September 2020, only a few months before his 90th birthday. Kevin was born in Donnybrook in 1930, later moving to Kalgoorlie and Balingup. In 1946 at the age of 16, he attended Denmark School of Agriculture for the two year course, boarding at a house in town till the completion of the new school in 1947. He excelled in metalwork, woodwork and leather work, receiving the top achievement award in his diploma certificate. 

After leaving school, he worked at the Balingup cheese factory ultimately becoming cheesemaker as well as operating his own farm in the area. Kevin was skilled at football and tennis, playing for Balingup and later, Greenbushes. It was while he worked for Elders Smith & Co. in Perth that he played for West Perth. Other jobs included working with his uncle, Bill Blakeney, in his motorcycle repair shop where he trained to be a mechanic. This led to him being involved in motorcycle and speed car racing at Claremont Showgrounds and winning a number of races.

In 1948-1949, Kevin became interested in religion and was baptised as a Jehova Witness in 1952. In November of that year, he sailed to England and then, in 1953, attended an international convention in New York at Yankee Stadium. 

Returning to Perth to settle, he married Joy Robins on 12 February 1955, a marriage that lasted until his death 65 years later. They had six children 3 boys and 3 girls, 15 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. 

Kevin led a very full and satisfying life, turning his hand to anything that could be made of wood – furniture and wood turning as well as building houses. He was involved in timber work at Greenbushes, Malanda, North Queensland, cattle transport, road construction, machine fitting and mechanics, applying throughout his life the many skills learnt while attending the Denmark Agricultural School. (Information provided by Kevin’s daughter, Lyn Norkett).

Jamie Malcolm Wallis OAM

Award

Medal of the Order of Australia, Australia Day 2021, For service to the mining sector and to railway heritage. On behalf of all Old Boys/Old Collegians members, we congratulate Jamie on his achievement award.

Life Story

Jamie was born on 17 December 1935 at Kalgoorlie. The family moved around the Eastern Goldfields for a time as Jamie’s father worked in the gold mines.  With the onset of war, the family returned to the ancestral home of Walliston, near Kalamunda, where Jamie attended Carmel Primary School (1941 – 1947) and Kent Street High School (1948 – 1950).

After studies at Denmark Agricultural School (1951 – 1952) and Muresk Agricultural College (1953 – 1955), Jamie joined the Western Australian Department of Agriculture (1956 – 1964).  His job saw him travelling extensively across the whole of the South-West of Western Australia while in his spare time he joined The Tenth Light Horse Regiment, Citizen Military Forces (now Army Reserve), rising to the rank of Lieutenant.

In 1964, Jamie gave up both the Department and Regiment to join his father in the Northern Territory starting what would become Wallis Drilling Pty Ltd.  Now based in Midvale, the company employs more than 200 staff, operates over 40 drilling rigs across Australia and Africa, and turns over more than $75 million per year.  Jamie is still a co-owner and Director.

By the early 1970s, the company was drilling for mineral sands around Capel and later Eneabba and Jurien Bay.  It was impossible then to accurately sample in sand below the water table.  After many attempts and several intermediate systems, Jamie and others developed the Wallis Air Core Drilling System that allowed fast accurate sampling in sand. Wallis Drilling has extensively developed and extended the system over the years to now cover all types of drilling work.  As well as being widely used by Wallis Drilling, the system has become the Australian drilling standard for accurate sampling.

Dissatisfied with existing drilling rigs, Jamie worked with suppliers like George Moss and Company to improve their designs for Wallis Drilling’s use.  This strategy led to Wallis Drilling designing and building its own drilling rigs that are the equal of machines anywhere in the world.  In particular, the latest rigs are heavily automated and operated by remote control, allowing the operators to stay safely away from dust, noise, and moving machinery.

Retiring from full-time work, Jamie pursued a childhood passion for trains and joined the Bennett Brook Railway at Whiteman Park in 1994.  Jamie qualified as a fireman and driver for steam trains and a driver for diesel trains. For 15 years (2001 – 2015) he chaired the board of The Western Australian Light Railway Preservation Association that ran the railway.  In 2009, the Association made Jamie a life member for his “outstanding contribution to, and continued support of, the Bennett Brook Railway”.

Jamie was married to Iris for 12 years and with whom he had 3 children: Frederick, Jane, and Edward.  Later, he was married to Jill for 36 years, adding 2 stepsons to the family: Graham and Andrew.  Jill passed away in 2019.

Pottering on his Stoneville hobby farm now claims Jamie’s attention.  The farm needs remediation after the 2014 Parkerville bushfire burnt out the trees and sheds with its collection of historic cars and tractors.

Vale Ken Stirling (1954-1955 past student), passed away recently. May he rest in peace. Deepest sympathy to his wife, Margaret, son, James, daughters, Helen and Alison, and families. Step-grandchildren, Lloyd and Lucy Dunham, also attended WACOA Denmark as students. 

Also waiting for details of Roly Patterson’s (past student 1944-1945) life from his son, Dawson. We extended our sympathy to his wife, Muriel and family previously. His son, Warren, attended Denmark Agricultural School in 1966-1967. 

I am making arrangements to meet with Leo Cox (past student 1943-1944).

I will be meeting with Kevin Male (past student 1957-1958) for the first time later this week. Kevin has just bought a house in Millbridge and I’m hoping he will join us for our group’s reunion in Pemberton in October.

For other groups having reunions, please let me know so that I can tell your story through this newsletter.

The 80th anniversary reunion is due in 2022. It is expected that this will be a daytime event, possibly in March, with the venue yet to be decided. The invitation will be for everyone from DSA, DAJHS, DADHS, DAC and WACOA – Town and Aggies – including descendants of the deceased.

Jean Jones, wife of Warwick (1953-1954 past student) and my partner, Sylvia, have both had hip replacements recently. We wish them well in their recovery. My hands have become soft after all the housework – normally rough and cracked!

I sent an email to Terry Redman’s office on behalf of the Old Collegians on Sunday 14 March, after watching the election results coming in on election night where ABC political analyst, Antony Green, declared that the seat of Warren/Blackwood would be won by the Nationals. I was shocked to hear later that, after all the votes were counted, Terry had in fact lost his seat.  As a former principal of Denmark Agricultural College and WACOA (Denmark), as well as living in Denmark, we have been accustomed to meeting with Terry on many occasions and he has become a friend of all Old Boys/Old Collegians Assoc members.  We wish Terry, Marie and family all the very best in whatever they participate in after politics and of course look forward to catching up with him again. Also our best wishes to Terry’s electoral officer, Jeanette Trent, who has now lost her position with the office being closed. Jeanette’s husband, Philip, attended Ag School in 1967-1968.

We are still taking names for membership and for the town and college gazebos name plates. Contacts are: Wendy Sutton 0419 048 694; Marjorie Morrison 9848 1633; Delys Ravenhill 0427 408 051 or myself 0428 526 398, email: hisylvi@bigpond.com.

Until next time

Don McCausland

Chairperson