Wilberforce Elson

Wilberforce Elson

Wilberforce was born on 17th March 1862, the fifth child to be born to William and Frances and the first of their children to be born in Port Lincoln.

He helped his father to collect the mail from Adelaide by carrying the post up from the mail boat, the Post Boy, to the post office. At sixteen Wilberfoce, Midford and Joseph travelled by bullock wagon to the are around what is now Cleve.. Wilberforce, Midford and Joseph worked as farmers and grew the first crop of wheat to be sold in the area, despite the fact that an earlier crop was burnt by the local Aborigines.

According to a list compiled by Mr. L.H. Scholl, the Government Statist, based on the census of 1891, Wilberforce had a farm including a vineyard at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula in the Hundred of Koolywurtie at that time.

He married Ada Mathews at Minlaton in 1892 and they had 12 children: Christopher, Earnest Roydon(Roy), Irene Ruby, Gertrude Pearl, Walter Mathew (Wally), Ilene Naomi, Doris Beryl, Laurel Emily, Thomas William Bert, Ronald Cecil and Allan Lyle.

In 1904 Wilberfoce took his family to Highbury, Western Australia where he grew wheat for four years. In 1908 they returned to South Australia living in Adelaide at Knightsbridge and Plympton as well as Port Lincoln before settling in Cleve in 1912.

He studied geology, prospecting and mining from books and was very keen on finding underground water supplies. He worked with the Cleve Progress Association to have Polda water brought to Cleve and found water for people on both the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas. He was secretary of the public school committee and the family regularly attended the Methodist Church and some members taught Sunday School.

Ada Wilberforce was very keen on gardening and handicrafts. She lived until she was 92 years old.

Earnest Roydon (Roy)

Earnest Roydon (Roy) moved from Port Lincoln to Cleve in 1912 and worked on the Elson Brothers Farm which was owned by Frewer at that time and after Frewer's death by George. In 1914 Roy enlisted as a soldier and did not return to Cleve until 1918. He married Gertie Nitschke from Kapunda after the War and they had five children: Len, Max, Sam, Dorothy and Jean. As a returned soldier he was able to purchase a block two miles out of Cleve on the Verran Road which was part of the soldier settlement in the district where he bred draught horses, pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry.

Wally Mathew (Butty)

Wally came to Cleve in 1912 with his parents and was the first pupil enrolled at the Cleve School. At the age of 13 he went to work at Buttrose's shop in Cleve where he worked from 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am to 11 pm on Saturday with Wednesday afternoon and Sunday off. During this time he gained the nick name "young Butty" and later Butty.

Wally had the Cleve to Arno mail contract from 1922 to1925 and also ran a car hire service for the Eyre Peninsula. He also discovered a copper outcrop on the Elson Brothers Farm which led to the opening of the Poonana Mine which his father, Wilberforce, undertook on a contract basis. Wally was also contracted to sink test bores in the Lock area for coal deposits for an Adelaide syndicate.

In 1930 he married Rubina Plane and they lived on a scrub block near Kielpa where he was employed as a wheat lumper for John Darlin & Sons and various other firms. After lumping over 2 million bags on his back he retired at the end of the 1960-61 season.

Wally played in brass bands as a child in Port Lincoln and in Cleve at concerts, socials and dances. He died in Cleve in 1994 at the age of 94.


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