Leo Critch

I have had the pleasure of being involved with, or assisting with the writing up of, many of the Tenindewa.com stories since about 2014 (Tenindewa’s Centenary Year) but the Critch story has been late to appear in the list of stories by contrast to other original settlers such as Meadowcroft, Rumble, Stokes, Fry, Stafford and Brenkley.
The catalyst that set each of the above names and others into the Website’s story-list is the book “To Sow the Barley” written by Doreen Lindsay (nee Butler) in 1988. This initiative by Doreen has created a simple but hugely important manuscript that helps paint a picture of the many lives of the many early settlers in Tenindewa and it has become the springboard for others (offspring) to publish their family’s story .

She writes……

The first farmers came with, as far as I know, a shovel, pick, a team of horses, a drill with two or ten furrows and a cultivator, such as Arnold Meadowcroft, Alex and Nat Rumble, Harry Stokes, Norman Fry, Leo Critch, Henry Stafford and Walter Brenkley, to take up land around the railway line. So started this [farming] era from 1905 on …………

The “Railway Gang” was established long before and houses were built along the line for them (1893). It was [back] then that the little station began to flourish

Doreen (Butler) Lindsay

Further to Doreen’s information, a more uncut and complete feed of historic newspaper articles featuring Tenindewa have been unearthed thanks to “Trove“. These specific articles cover a roughly 20 year (1910-1930) period and they have now contributed to building further the picture of the day to day life in the Tenindewa district in that period. These articles emanated mainly from the “Geraldton Express”, a newspaper of yesteryear that was seemingly rolled into the “Geraldton Guardian” in about 1930, and were penned mostly under the slightly intriguing nom de plumes of “Our Correspondent”, “An Occasional Correspondent” but most numerously as “Our own Correspondent”. What can be concluded on analysis is these three correspondents, are not one and the same persons?
As one of his two surviving Critch grandsons and having a vested interest in all things Tenindewa, something that has always been a nagging is “what happened to Leo?” In as much as Leo Critch was mentioned as an early pioneer in the quote (above) from Doreen Lindsay’s book, reports of Leo’s activities are surprisingly scant in the volumes of “Tenindewa Notes” in the “Geraldton Express” compared to the likes of his immediate neighbors in the Fry’s, Stafford’s, Stokes, Troy and Oldham families?
As it turns out there is, or could be, quite a fascinating explanation which will progressively unfold in this story, but more of that anon.
His early life however, i.e. pre Tenindewa, has always been more traceable and accurate and in summary reads as follows;
Leo was born in Geraldton on the 15th of December 1890 to Francis Henry and Annie (nee Kelly) Critch. Francis Henry would have been a well known name around Geraldton as he was a Town Councilor for a number of years and coupled to this, he had exposure via his various portfolios with the “Geraldton Express” and “Geraldton Guardian. His tenure there was from 1872 to 1924. Over that 42 years with that newspaper he held the positions of printer, editor and manager and sometimes two positions simultaneously which would not have been uncommon with fledgling country newspapers.
Interestingly, Francis Henry worked for a Mr. John Michael Drew who owned the Geraldton Express from 1895 to 1929. It was during this time that the Geraldton Express and the Geraldton Guardian became one newspaper. It officially amalgamated on the January the 3rd 1929 and publications under the banner- head of “The Geraldton Express” ceased. J. M. Drew MLC was a member of Parliament on two separate occasions during which time he held various ministerial port folios including those of the Agriculture Ministry and that of “Colonial Secretary”.

Mr. Drew said of Francis Henry (at the time of his handing over of the combined newspaper in 1924) “On my leasing the “Express” Mr. Francis Henry Critch retired after a long and honorable connection with the paper. For over forty years he had been foreman, printer and filled the position of manager for five years when I was previously in Ministerial Office, discharging the duties diligently and conscientiously.”

For the record, it is worthy of mention that Francis Henry’s eldest son, one of Leo’s brothers in Frank Critch, also served a couple of terms with the Geraldton Town Council because if we fast forward 100 years, Jen Critch, the wife of one of Francis Henry’s Great, Great, Grandsons, namely Tim Critch is a serving councilor in the now, City of Geraldton.

Annie Kelly (Leo’s mother) was the daughter of Geraldton’s first lighthouse keeper but notably, she became involuntarily conspicuous as a central figure in the conviction and eventual hanging of an extremely high profile member of the Geraldton community in a Mr. Kenneth Brown. Brown, was a prominent member of the Geraldton “establishment” and part of the (Glengarry) Brown family but most poignantly, he was the father of Ms. Edith Cowan who is still possibly Australia’s most famous woman politician. Kenneth Brown (click on Kenneth Brown for the full story) was eventually hung for the murder of his second wife. Annie Kelly and one of her sisters Alisia, worked for Kenneth Brown as baby sitters and in home help type roles. It was Annie who gave a pivotal piece of evidence in what was the last of three trials that it took to finally convict him. She testified she had seen him in the act of the disposing of the firearm that was used in the crime.

Later, and from a Tenindewa perspective, Annie also had a quite unique double family connection to the famous Tom Moore of Indarra. The Honorable Tom, a settler who also spent 35 years in politics and farmed locally, tragically lost his first wife Evelyne (Kelly), Annie’s niece in 1925. Four years later Tom remarried, and this time to Evelyne’s youngest sister in Gladys, and obviously, also Annie’s niece.

But back to Leo and according to family oral history, on leaving Stella Maris School in Geraldton, worked weekdays with Green’s Department Store in Geraldton while working weekends on a virgin block at Tenindewa. Further to this and referencing a book titled “On the Road Again” written by one of his son’s Kevin, he Leo, worked in a pastoral property at Tenindewa named Kockatea, which was owned by a conglomerate, Copley Brothers, and managed by a Mr. Norman Fry Interestingly Fry managed this property from 1903 through to 1911 when he then took up farming at Tenindewa on his own account and at a similar time Leo Critch made his start. (Leo would have been 21)

Because of the way things played out for Leo and his family there is a big void in information from the time he purposefully took an interest at Tenindewa in 1904, through to the time when one of his two surviving sons in Kevin, chanced on this place, Tenindewa, to start farming in 1951. This “geo-coincidence” as it might be termed in modern jargon, is also mentioned in “On the Road Again”. Kevin, the eldest of Leo’s three sons, explains in that short story, it was to his absolute amazement some 3 years after his introduction to farming at Tenindewa in 1951, that he discovered he was farming on some of the very land his father had walked off (forfeited his leases) less than 20 years previous. Indeed it was, a one in one million chance.
The term “walked off” (as above) possibly does not mean much to the modern reader but in its time it had heart wrenching connotations. Leo (and his children), and so many thousands of “settlers” like them, right round Australia, had to literally walk off properties they had spend half a working-life-time slaving to create in that harsh economic period we now refer to as the “Great Depression.”

Its appropriate at this point to shine light on those depravations by quoting a part of a most pertinent article written in The Weekend Australian by that renowned Australian “demographer” in Bernard Salt in August 2023.

Every week there seems to be a contribution about the generational divide. e.g. “Our generation had it toughest” is a popular theme. I wonder what drives such thinking. Every generation has had its hardships. But none had it tougher the the generation that built modern Australia- those born in the 1890’s. In their twenties, and with some still in their teens , many signed up for World War 1. More than 60,000 men out of a population of five million died in the name of the British Empire. Many who lived through the war, and the subsequent Spanish Flu pandemic, had to deal with the quiet hell of what what we would now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But they survived (albeit some barely), they married and had children in the 1920s thinking no doubt, that the worst of times was over.
Not so. The Great Depression arrived in the 1930’s when so many had young children, and unemployment peaked above 30 percent. But agin they survived only to make it through to the 1940’s when World War 2 took their sons.
After the war, and by then well into their 50’s, the children of the pre-Federation era would have experienced moments of joy as their (many) grandchildren, the Baby Boomers, arrived. But a long retirement was not for this generation because their life expectancy was less than 65. Often they died at work.

Note; Certainly, in as much as Leo fits exactly into most of the above, and especially him being born in the 1890s, he never saw active service in World War one. However, one of his bothers, namely William (Will), was not only a veteran of that war, but was very possibly another silent sufferer of PTSD given the derelict way he lived post that war, and the stupendous way he lived his final years and eventually, the way he died.

But focusing again on Leo, we tentatively trace back via those afore mentioned “Tenindewa Notes” to the beginnings of his painful misadventure, searching out the even bland snippets in what might be called a “Hanzal and Gretel” type search .

For example the following article appeared in the Geraldton Express in December 1904
So given that Leo would have only been about 14 years old at the time of this “declaration” (see below) clearly Francis Henry his father, and or his elder brothers (the family generally) must have been watching this space with some interest and ambition and possibly one, or more, fronted with the initial financial down-payment that got Leo started?

The “Repurchase” being referred to in the following article is an amazing story in terms of WA’s agricultural beginnings. It essentially refers to a period when the WA Government bought back farmland it had ceded to the Midland Railway Company as payment for building the rail and its associated infrastructure from the then town of Midland to the village of Walkaway (south of Geraldton) in the early 1900s The article reads;

“The repurchase of Wolya Estate (Tenindewa) containing 3,514 acres, is subdivided into 5 lots, which are now open for selection under the Repurchased Estate Act. The Lots have a frontage to the railway at Kockatea Gully [i.e. Tenindewa] and as prices range from 4 shillings and sixpence to five shillings an acre [about $1.25 per hectare] they ought to be snapped up quickly”

Geraldton Express 1904

Another innocuous but convenient newspaper snippet dated 29th October 1913 gives us a fix on Leo’s progress in agriculture. He (Leo) would have been 23 years of age at this stage.

“Leo Critch, (who takes to farming like a pressman to Liqueur Cream) has a good-looking paddock of wheat……etc “

And again, another simple article in the Geraldton Express in 1915…..he, Leo, is now 25 years on this earth. Nothing earthshattering in this article either, but another crumb on the path as we plot his journey and monitor his progress

August 27th 1915

Local and General (Geraldton Express)

Our harvest prospects–Judging by a sample of this season’s wheat yield (now on show at this office) which came to hand a day or two ago (August 20th 1915) from the farm of Mr. L. J. Critch, of Tenindewa. etc…………..
……….. it continues;
At the Geraldton Agricultural Show for 1913, first and second prizes for the best two sheaves were obtained also from a Mr. Leo. Joseph. Critch and a Mr. Norman. Fry respectively, from samples grown at Tenindewa.

After quite a silence, and we are now all the way into 1928, Leo being 38 at this point, three pieces emerge that helps us to, not only further plot Leo’s journey but more importantly, to begin to unravel the puzzle as to who is this “Our Own Correspondent” might actually be.
In as much as the folk that read these multitude of articles as they were published back in the early 1900’s would have surely guessed who these correspondents really were, it seems, especially as the years have gone by, those authors were deliberately disciplined into, not give hints of their identity if they could possible help it. But inadvertently some such clues did emerged and three such relevant slips were made by this “Our Own Correspondent” in the year 1928, and its important to recall, that at the beginning of Doreen Butler’s “To Sow the Barley”, which we might declare as, Tenindewa’s “Founding Document” she nominates just 6 pioneer farmers that started out in (approx)1905 of which Leo Critch was one.

The first is an extract from an article written in the Geraldton Guardian under Tenindewa Notes by “Our Own Correspondent” on July 28th 1928 in which he, this correspondent, writes of himself.

Tenindewa Notes (From our own Correspondent)

Rain galore, and the townspeople are all smiling, because there is a chance of cocky having plenty of spending silver in a few months. The crops around Tenindewa never looked better during the past 19 years to my knowledge, and Tenindewa Siding expects to shift 60,000 bags [5000 tonne] of wheat this coming harvest. Many new settlers have fair sized areas of wheat on and there is not now one vacant block of ground between Tenindewa and the Greenough River (17 miles distant) [28 kilometers].

The second is similar in “Our Own Correspondent” on the 1st of November 1928 in which he writes…

“I am a pioneer farmer on [sic] this area, and have learned a little during the last 20 years, and have much more to learn.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

But the third slip, if we can take it as that, is a rather abstract one but it is the most absolute in terms of nailing the actual identification of the author. Again, its important for the reader to know in advance, of a tragedy that emerges later in this story for this clue to have relevance.
Given it’s 1928, and Leo was 8 years into his marriage. His bride, Mary Malloy a girl from West Wyalong in New South Wales, had been diagnosed in 1926 with terminal cancer and along with their three children, had immediately decided to return home to see out her days with her immediate family.

Given that context we find Leo back on his farm in Tenindewa, early on a Saturday morning in a melancholy moment and reflecting on life. He writes of the birds and the bush and of “mother earth” and the afterlife.

Tenindewa Notes (From our own Correspondent)
July 28th 1928.
I am sitting down writing these few notes (mostly about cockie of course), I can hear the birds joyfully singing hailing the new day, after the rain. The butcher bird and the magpie are the best of singers with no charge to hear them. It is one compensation for living the wild and wooly life of the mulga. Still, there are others. For instance seeing the new ground turned over with nice brown folds and sweet earthly scent, and then to know we shall some day return to this good old mother soil. What could be better? I would sooner do that than play a harp all the time. I have no ear for music. If it was all birds, flowers and fields with a little Kelly thrown in, I would not mind such a heaven.

Things such as wheat crops and live stock are looking remarkably well etc…….he continuous his article about “cockie”;

Note; Eight months after this went to print Mary (May) passed away
Note Leo’s mother’s maiden name was Kelly

Now back to the search for Leo and as mentioned, for many reasons there has been no effort made to post a story on this pioneer earlier, as the Critch mob generally seemed quite a disjointed and unconnected lot, unlike most of the folk who featured on the Tenindewa site, and thus, there appeared to be very little accessible history and family folklore to accumulate into a worthwhile account. Indeed at the time of the launching of the Tenindewa website in 2014, which coincided with Tenindewa’s Centenary Celebrations, there seemed to be very few current locals and returned locals at that event, who remembered much at all about Leo and of his family even being at Tenindewa!
Two things have surfaced that have alleviated that slightly negative and subjective assessment of the Critch mob are, in the first instance, the emergence of a member of this scattered Critch mob in a Mr. Bill Critch, Leo’s nephew, who materialized in WA in the 1980s. Bill from the United States and a US citizen, was on a quest to gather information regarding the Critch Family Tree in an endeavor to put it into some sort of order and, as he mirthfully suggested, hopefully discover some previously unknown celebratory Critch folk along the way. Bill’s father, William, one of Leo’s four brothers, though born in Geraldton, was the ultimate of global wanderers, who spent much of his life in North America. This fact finding American in Bill Critch, son of Will, had quite an illustrious working life, serving in the American Forces as a pilot and flying passenger jets for Boeing just by way of examples. Late in his career he was in a very senior position with Boeing as a 767 “flight simulator” instructor in Seattle.

As is our nature as tribal homo sapiens, Bill became determined to accumulate and establish a Critch history and especially trace the family’s geneses back into Europe. Bill, who became well known and well respected among his Western Australian relatives, was very well resourced intellectually and monetarily and, most importantly, by then was retired. Bill and his wife Marlene travelled the world and particularly the United Kingdom and did many hours and hard yards in municipal libraries and purveying church parish records and alleluia they eventually managed to strike it lucky in Dover England. Unfortunately, for all the Critch clan but especially for Bill himself, that was about as good as it got, as in as much as he established conclusively that Dover was the launching place of the Australian Critch mob and yes, there was absolute evidence of his ancestors activities there, alas, as he tried to dig deeper and push back further into the past, the resulting search was a shattering washout. The conclusion is there has perhaps been a name change some 100 years previous to the beginning of Australian expedition and the solving of that genealogical mystery and the discovering of our, very distant past, remains perhaps, a work in progress for a member of a subsequent generation.
(And yes that work, with the help of modern technology is continuing)

Ironically and tantalizingly, what Bill Critch did discover or stumble upon, was an English gentleman by the name of John Critch who was coincidently on a very similar mission but frustratingly, not only did John have a similar semi-washout result to Bill, in as much as he similarly could not trace his family back from Dover either, they frustratingly (the two of them) could not, despite the best of desperate endeavors, even connect these two Critch families. What Bill did do however was push the “genealogical interest button” amongst some of his Australian relatives.

The second and most exciting reason for renewed interest, particularly in regard to Leo, is the discovery and identification of that unknown author of those dozens and dozens of, previously referred to articles, under the heading of “Tenindewa Notes” and the possible unmasking of the individuals behind the pseudonyms of, “Our Correspondent” and “An occasional Correspondent”
This litany of articles which spans two decades plus, not only unwinds and highlights for us many of the issues that were the growing pains of a country community in early 1900 but it more especially unwinds for us the very thoughts, aspirations and grievances of the authors. These articles can be viewed by clicking on the blue tab immediately above.
Leo Joseph Critch was named by Doreen Butler in her book “To Sow the Barley” as one of the first of only six farmer pioneers at Tenindewa. He attempt to establish himself on what was called a Conditional Purchase block (a CP block) in Tenindewa starting in about 1910. He had previously worked in the area, east of Tenindewa, on Kockatea Station which was then owned by the Copely Brothers and managed by Mr. Norman Fry at that time. Kockatea Station, immediately south east of Tenindewa was, up until about that time was a substantial lease of about 72,000 acres (28,500 hectares), and was later owned by a Mr. George Shenton after whom, the Shenton Park suburb in Perth, is named.
But a pivotal and absolute piece of evidence linking him to these newspaper articles is also to be found in a book, and this one is written by Leo’s second cousin in Moya Moore. (Moya Morris was her married name) This in-depth book titled “Hearts to Dare” traces her families ancestors, especially the Earls, and their activities in and around the Mid-West from the beginnings of the Colony and thus it includes the Kelly’s’ and it naturally includes Leo’s mother who was one of those Kelly’s’. Towards the end of her book Moya even goes into the detail of what her second cousin Leo Critch got up to in his short life and she writes…*

“About 1911 Leo settled on the farm at Tenindewa, about 80 kilometers from Geraldton on the Mullewa Line. Charlie [his brother] often worked there with him before settling on the Goldfields to seek his fortune. They sometimes contributed news of Tenindewa to the “Express” about activities and people in that area including those of Robert and Tom Moore of Indarra.”

But away from the Kellys and back to the Critches. The entire Geraldton Critch family would eventually consist of, brothers Frank, William (Will), Thomas (Tom) Leo, and Charlie and their sisters Madeline (Mrs. Sonny Collins) Alma (Mrs. Pat Smyth) Grace (Mrs. Bert Collins) and Kathleen who was last born in 1907 and remained a spinster. Sonny and Bert Collins were brothers who married two Critch sisters and were two of the four Collins boys that established Glenburgh Station in the Gascoyne which, is still in the Collins family name to this day. (Refer “Winning the Gascoyne” by R. M. McDonald)

It is worth including at this juncture, an article appeared in the Geraldton Express in May 1923 that was in reference to Leo’s second eldest brother, the afore mentioned William Critch. (His son Bill and wife Marlene are pictured)

Appointment of a Geraldton Young Man

“The people of Geraldton will be pleased to learn that one of the natives of the town, Mr. William Critch, son of Mr, F. H. Critch, of the Express is making his mark in Vancouver, Canada where he now resides. Mr. Critch was recently appointed to the charge of the Spanish Consulate in that great Province etc….”

In reference to the above, Will Critch’s daughter Mary, writes in her memoirs about the period her father spent in Spain leading up to this appointment;

“He frequently wrote home about his admiration for the Latin way of life and the wonderful cosmopolitan atmosphere of Buenos Aires. It was a good life for a young expatriate who was a look-alike for Woodrow Wilson, complete with the Hapsburg chin. Many of his letters were published in the Geraldton Express where his father was now editor.”

As previously mentioned, other than the reference made by Doreen Butler in her book “To Sow The Barley” there is scant evidence of Leo even being in Tenindewa except for a couple of mentions that emanate from another local and invaluable book “Memories of a Migrant” written by Kathleen (Palmer) Rumble and which recorded her arrival at Tenindewa in February 1914 and snippets of her subsequent life there..

Kathleen writes of their arrival at Tenindewa Siding in 1914. Her father Percy had arrived one year previous.

We walked down to one of the quaint little railway cottages to get our letters. The [Tenindewa] post office was kept by the ganger’s wife, Mrs. Eves. No doubt we were objects of great interest to the inhabitants. The cottages were built mostly of old railway sleepers stood on their end with corrugated iron on the roof. They seemed very small to house a family–mostly just two or three rooms.
By now we were ready to drive out to our “farm”.
Dad drove old Sandy (who belonged to Leo Critch) and Claude mounted Prince also Leo’s.

Kathleen (Palmer) Rumble

The second reference that Kathleen makes to Leo is in the chapter of the same book where she speaks of Leo and his brother Tom and describes a chapter of the book “We Survive a Tornado”. This event took place one year after her arrival in February 1915 where she describes a terrifying February night at Tenindewa surviving what was almost certainly a cyclone. (there was no technology or protocol to forecast or track or indeed name an event of that kind in those early days)

Geraldton Express Wednesday
17th July 1918
Wedding Bells

On Tuesday, July 9th the marriage of Miss Mary Malloy (daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Malloy of Wyalong, N.S.W.) to Mr. Leo Joseph Critch (Forth son of Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Critch of Shenton St Geraldton), was celebrated at the “Nuns Chapel” adjoining the Presentation Convent, Geraldton. The bride was given away by John Kelly sen. (uncle of the bridegroom) and Mr. E. P. Smyth carried out the duties of best man. The Rev. Hawes performed the ceremony. The bride was gowned in a dainty dress of silk, effectively embroidered and studded with seed pearls. The usual wreath and veil were worn, and she carried a bouquet of white flowers and ferns.
Miss Grace Critch (bridesmaid) sister of the bridegroom, wore a cream silk coat frock and a cream velvet hat to match. Miss Eileen Kelly (bridesmaid), cousin of the bridegroom, was dressed in a flesh pink silk crystalline frock, relieved with strappings of the same shade, with white, trimmed with tiny pink rosebuds. The wedding ceremony concluded, the bridal party motored to the residence of the bridegroom’s parents where a cake and wine were partaken of, and the usual toasts (not forgetting absent relatives and friends) were duly proposed, and responded to. Many valuable presents were received. The happy couple left for their home at Tenindewa by train the following morning.

Perplexingly, and in reference to the Leo and May’s tenure in Tenindewa, it is known that they, by 1923 at least, had relocated to Undertarra (as it was then referred to as) or Tardun (as it is now known) which is 30 kilometers south east of Mullewa and established a new home or, perhaps given the emerging information, we might say another home?

The evidence for this evolves from a random letter written to a long-time and well known resident of Tenindewa in Mr. Clem Keeffe it reads in brief:

18 Beltana Road
Pialligo ACT 2609
25th May 2001

Dear Clem,
Herewith is the screed I promised to send you some time ago. Hope you find it of some interest anyway?
My eldest brother, Laurence Percy Eliot, always known as Tom, went onto the property at Tardun, then known as Undertarra about 1923. He was about 19 years of age, having finished school at Scots College not long before.

My father, who had been in the Customs Department all his working life, bough the land as a future for his three sons. When Tom first arrived there he boarded with a family named Critch, who’s land adjoined that of the Saunders’s block to the east. The story is my brother used to ride a grey horse belonging to Leo Critch. At that time the films of Tom Mix and his grey horse were current, so the three Critch children called my brother “Tom” and the name stuck……..
[the land referred to is a few kilometers east of the old Tardun settlement]
Leo Critch and his family walked off their block to the east of Saunders early in the depression. The next owner was Alf Haddy etc…….

Regards
Noel Eliot.

Given that Kevin was (on the left) was born in 1921 it would be fair to surmise that this photo (above) taken in 1925. Mr. Eliot would not have know that soon after their third child Charles was born May (Mary) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Leo and his family’s life unraveled stupendously from about the time May was diagnosed by local physicians with breast cancer (1926) and given a very short time to live. She, as one might expect, requested that she return to West Wyalong in New South Wales to see out the remaining few months of her life, close to her Malloy family.
According to his son Kevin’s account in his book “On the Road Again”, he rarely saw father as Leo found work wherever he could around Wyalong while May lingered on in hospital much longer than the doctors had predicted and it wasn’t until March 1928 that she went to her final rest.
Note; Given that Kevin was very young in his time of exile in the east, given the fact that he mentions he rarely saw his father and given emerging evidence highlighted earlier, it is most likely that Leo in fact returned to West Australian and attempted to hold the farms together.

However on reading through Leo’s contributions to the Express via, Tenindewa Notes, it is clear he spent some of those two years back in W.A. and including at Tenindewa attending to commitments as best he could given the general economy of the time and his personal situation.
After May’s funeral Leo returned to WA with the children but by now the Tardun lease had been forfeited to the [probably the I.A.B.] bank due to unpaid debts.

Son of Leo, Kevin, outlines in “On the Road Again” the course of events that followed

I have no memory of my first five years, however, I know that in that time I had many moves in my life, from Tenindewa to Undertarra (now called Tardun). When I was about 5, my mother was diagnosed as having breast cancer and was told she only had a short time to live. She must have spent some time in Geraldton having treatment as I recall living in a house in Waldeck Street and attending my first school, Stella Maris Convent. It seems that my mother wished to be with her family for her last days and also hoped they would be able to help look after us, so very soon after this we left W.A. for Wyalong.
We travelled to the Eastern States by train and when we arrived Mum went into hospital. Relatives and close friends of Mom’s offered to look after us, and we all went to different homes. The Galvin family took Pat, the Duffy family Charlie, and Mom’s brother Dinny Malloy and his wife Kate took me. Mom lived quite a bit longer than expected but in great pain. I didn’t see her very often because I was miles away at the Black Swan Hotel in Wagga Wagga where Dinny and Kate had the Black Swan Hotel. I didn’t see dad [Leo] very often either as he took any job he could find as this was during the Great Depression……….

Kevin recalled attending his mothers funeral (in March 1928) in West Wyalong at the age of 6 years and of being grave- side. He remembered that day for the rest of his life…. he continues

Very soon after the funeral Dad arrived [at Wagga] to decide on my future. I was given the option of staying with Dinny and Kate or going back to W.A. with Dad. This was a hard decision for a young child. I wanted to do both, but finally decided to go home with Dad.
It took a week to travel back to W.A. and when we arrived we stayed with Auntie Alma Smyth (Dad’s sister), in Fremantle for a few days while Dad tried to get organized. The farm at Tardun had been sold while he was away because of unpaid debts and we were left with nothing………..

At this point Leo had to make the toughest decision of his lifetime in order to keep his kids healthy and enable himself to find much needed employment.

Kevin expands;

He was able to place me with my mothers relation, Clara Williamson and her family, at Dindaloa in the Chapman Valley. It was only to be for a few weeks until he could find some alternative. I was there for nearly two years. It was the luckiest break of a lifetime that the George Williamsons took me. Patricia and Charlie were not so lucky and had to go to St Joseph’s orphanage in Subiaco. After being there only a short time, Charlie died of pneumonia aged 5 years……….

The marriage of Leo and Elsie Woodthorpe however was definitely a turning point for Leo’s fortunes in 1929 as this most British of British women who was to become not only a devoted partner for the next 17 years but became also the mother of his third son in Barry in 1935. For Leo, as we know, it was his second marriage but for Elsie it was in fact her third marriage.
It has to be said that Elsie, as it eventuated, was shown to be a women of extraordinary resilience and stamina. She displayed wonderful devotion to her 4 sons, but sadly in a way, what made her so extraordinary, is that she was married to 4 different gentlemen, had sons to three of them and comfortably outlived them all.
Elsie was born in 1885 in England and arrived in WA in about 1905 and was married to a Mr. George Wallace to whom she had 2 sons in Allan and Fred. She worked with George, quite often couriering very valuable items in the bottom of a pram, as George, was a watchmaker who operated out of the Boan’s establishment in Wellington Street in Perth. She was widowed in 1921 when George succumbed to Typhoid Fever.
In 1923 Else met a Mr. Arthur Noble, a farmer at Wagin. They married in 1925 and produced a son Norris or “Norrie” as he was affectionately known. Incredibly Arthur also contracted Typhoid Fever and died after a short illness in 1927.
[Note; There is a road, “Noble Road” in the Wagin Shire named after that Noble family]
As we know she married Leo in about 1929, produced son Barry, and was widowed for the third time in 1948.
Husband four was a Mr. Harold How. They married in 1950. Harold had a son of his own in Ernie and a daughter named Louise. Harold had a successful business making pottery which operated in Wellington Street Perth but again tragedy struck when in 1955 Harold was struck down with a heart attack at their home, in Wellington Street, and died, virtually instantly.
Elsie in true British style bravely soldiered on until she too became ill with a kidney complaint and died just a couple of days after being admitted to hospital in 1962 aged 77 years.

But briefly back to the Winchester period and Kevin takes up the story again. (From “On the Road Again”)

Dad remarried in 1931, [actually 1929] they lived mainly at Winchester (now a non existent siding north of Three Springs) until about 1937 when they moved to Chidlow. As well as Elsie’s three boys, in 1935 they together had a son Barry. The farm at Chidlow was a diary farm with an orchard, poultry etc. Because of his health Dad was told to take it easy by his doctor, so he sold the farm and worked for Goldsborough Mort and Co. (now Elders) in Fremantle for a few years as a clerk. When the war finished (1944) they went back to Chidlow to live where he died of a heart attack. (in 1948)

Kevin Critch

Leo’s 3rd son in Barry Critch, who was born at Three Springs, explains that in the Winchester period he, as a young child, lived with his father Leo and his mother Elsie, his half sister Patricia Critch, his half brother Fred Wallace, another half brother in Norrie Noble and finally when Kevin, another half brother, turned up it was certainly a “mixed and crowded house”. “To be honest” says Barry “It wasn’t a house really. It was more like a tent with a tin roof as it had no ceiling, a dirt floor and hessian for walls” and Barry continues “Kevin turned up during that Winchester period because his time at the Williamsons ended due to a hitch in options for education at Yuna“. Seemingly Leo had decided that young Kevin should move to Winchester for further education where he (Leo) was employed by, what was then a fledgling farmer controlled co-operative that we know today as CBH. Ltd.

Kevin explains;

Dad lived in a tent in a reserve near the main road, and my bed was a sheet of corrugated iron on two boxes, with a bag of chaff for a mattress, and wheat bags sown together for a rug. This was living at it’s very roughest and toughest. In those days the Government didn’t give assistance to unemployed people so it was a matter of going out and trying to find any sort of work you could, and if you couldn’t get work you could beg, borrow, steal or starve. Lots of tramps were walking the roads every day in search of work, and I used to talk to them when they came to beg for food, and they used to tell me of their experiences on the road. This life was a good education for me as this is where I claimed I became a “Rhodes Scholar”
(A Main Roads Scholar that is)

[Kevin in fact attended 7 schools and finished his education at the age of 14]

We had very little food ourselves but I always tried to get them something to eat. We were camped very near the wheat stacks (bags in those days) and the spilled wheat attracted hundreds of galahs which were considered a nuisance. I had a Daisy-Air Rifle and a shanghai and I could usually get a galah or two in a few minutes, so as a last resort I would offer them galah and tell them how to pluck and cook them. A lot of people where eating galah during the depression……….

Kevin Critch

With the benefit of foresight we, the reader, know by know Leo has precious little time left on this earth but a second wedding involving his children would have been extra good news for him, regardless. Kevin his eldest son, married Mary Rita Thackray of New Norcia in May 1946 quite soon after Kevin’s release from the military in 1945.
The nuptials took place at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Perth. Mary was attended by her sister Margaret Thackray and Kevin’s best man was an army colleague in Mr. Tom Burns.
The newlyweds moved to a farming area called Yuna at the north end of the wheatbelt to take up residence where Kevin would work for the, very well known and very well regarded, Williamson Family.
The joy would soon turn to utter sadness for all involved and especially for Leo when his first “Critch” grandson in Kevin (jnr.) died just some days after his birth in February 1947. However almost miraculously, given the circumstances, within 12 months Anthony Joseph was born with no complications which very likely consoled Leo by again buoying his hopes and aspirations of keeping the Leo Critch family name on the map.
Leo, despite the fact Yuna was considered a long way from Chidlow in 1948 got to see this surviving Critch grandson but his demise came just a couple of months later.
Leo died on the 23rd of August 1948 at the Chidlow farm and it was reported thus in the Obituary Columns of The West Australian;

Mary and Kevin produced a further three girls children in Geraldine (Eastman), Pauline (Pearce) and Josephine Critch (formally Blatchford)
From Anthony Joseph (Tony) and Judy (Gardiner) there are 4 offspring, Daniel, Penny (Regan), Tim and Jerome who between them have who have produced 14 offspring including a further 5 males with the Critch name to date.

Barry, Leo’s third son, married Shirley Rimmer in the Anglican Church in Carlyle in 1962. Barry, being some 14 years younger than Kevin and the product of Leo’s second marriage, also spent time working with the Williamson family at Yuna and he also spent some time working with and share-farming for Kevin in his formative years. Subsequent to that (1960) in the heady days of WA’s broadacre agricultural development boom, in which the State was throwing open a million acres (400,000 hectares) a year and that much and more was being cleared for cropping, Barry found himself in the thick of that action operating bulldozers, clearing scrub and building dams, particularly in the Esperance area. He met Shirley in Perth not too long after she had immigrated from England with her mother in 1950. Immediately after their marriage Barry, with his bride, went back to Tenindewa as a couple, working with his brother Kevin for about two years. Barry stayed in agriculture for most of his working life filling various roles with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture as it was then known.

Although Leo had passed on, there would have been a shout from the grave no doubt when Barry and Shirley produce Craig in 1966 and a daughter Kerrie in 1968.
Craig and wife Cheryl (Wright) have produced Josh and Isabel while Kerrie has produced sons Jason and Nathan and due to circumstance, all the boys carry the Critch name giving strong possibilities that this line could be expanded into further generations.

Post Script

Given that Leo Critch had passed away in 1948 after a lifetime of ups and downs, but with the bias being prominently on the downs, one ponders on the ridiculous, and runs the scenario of, “what if Leo came back today”? Looking back we know reading the above he was a product of biggish family who would not have been considered poor or underprivileged given the period that Leo was making his way in life. But unfortunately for him, and I’m sure he came to the same conclusion, he chose agriculture as a profession and he chose to do it during one of the toughest times in the entire agricultural history of Western Australia. Those pioneers not only had to finance the purchase of the land but they had to equip it, establish dwellings and sheds and do all of the above, and more, all simultaneously. Looking back that 120 years, its so obvious now they were ridiculously ill-equipped in all facets. There was no history to guide them, no paternal blueprint or role model to copy from and if the cards didn’t fall right and the bank manager was lacking the necessary intestinal fortitude the “settler”, as he was termed in those days, was bound to fail.
To paraphrase a term that Leo himself might just have coined, “They were all on a hiding to nothing”
For the record they mostly did fail. In fact by the end of the 1930’s there were very few of them left in Tenindewa and for that matter in much of Agricultural Western Australia, but yet somehow, a few just hung on and hung on, and of those some eventually clawed their way back. Incredibly, but with thanks especially to technology, modern machinery and access to competitive finance, Tenindewa, and most of the dry outskirts of the WA cropping belt recovered and consolidated to the point that in the modern era these areas have grown as much grain in the years 2010 to 2022 as they have in all of history.
By way of example and on reflection its worth noting that the Brenkley family, who would be considered one of the most successful pioneering families ever to come to the entire Mullewa district, were also foreclosed on in that depression-wracked 1930s.
Doug Brenkley volunteers the fact, that Walter, his father, was given the red card (by probably the I.A.B) in that period. As Doug points out Walter tried desperately to sell on three occasions to satisfy the bank but to no avail. There were just no buyers at any price so Walter pressed on despite the Bank giving him the ultimatum to vacate. The plucky Walter called their bluff time and time again and flatly refused to leave. The rest is history.
[The I.A.B. stands for the Industries Assistance Bank and its beginnings and its present are outlined by clicking on I.A.B.]
As mentioned in the beginning of this story Leo was assisting his father and probably earning a few shekels for himself writing a column for his Editor father at the “Geraldton Express” and many of those stories are to be located on this website by clicking on “Tenindewa Notes” .
Its quite fortuitous that if one scans those stories it is possible to virtually read what was going thorough Leo’s mind in those difficult and desperate times. He, as the journalist and representing his fellow “settlers” hits on the I.A.B., he hits on the Railways and he hits on particularly the Road Board (Local Government) time and time again. He virtually takes on the task of “advocate” and “agitator” representing his fellow “settlers” or “cockies” as he terms them in his many, many contributions.
From the point of view of a relative (grandson) and as a farmer that has farmed that very same land one can feel the pain incased in the sentiment he verbalizes to the newspaper. To be fair he does express some elation and jubilation, on behalf of those “settlers” on the occasions that those good times came around.

In reflecting on all of the above, two extraordinary things about building this story have been, that (one) 120 years after Leo began toiling the red soils of Tenindewa it has been possible to ferret very pertinent information from both of his sons that survived to very respectable ages. Firstly via the late Kevin Critch’s book which is to be read on this website titled, On the Road Again, and (two) having the privilege of being able to speak directly to Leo’s generous and alert son in Barry Critch. (born 1934)
Further to this the information gathering and collating of Geraldine (Gerry) Eastman nee Critch (another of Leo’s grandchildren) has, along with the Trove website all been manna from heaven in linking events and dates etc.

Footnote

As a final word on Leo and his connection to Tenindewa it is worth noting that in 1948, soon after Elsie and Leo had sold the Chidlow farm he had spent the last days of his life belatedly fixing up his income tax returns. It was well known he had a great mind for numbers (some say an extraordinary mind for numbers) but he was loath to write them down and tendered to keep them in his head. But as a final post script and just how and why, again thanks to Doreen Butler’s data, we see Leo still held land in Tenindewa right up until 1929-1938 [sic] which would account for his continued interest in Tenindewa and the continuation of articles to the “Express”.

For the record the land referred to here and owned by Charles Joseph Stafford was also eventually forfeited to the I.A.B by the end of the Great Depression. It was eventually acquired by one of the “Depressions” great survivors in the name of Tenindewa’s notorious Harry Stokes. It is important to note that Harry must have been one of the “coolest” of operators in the State of Western Australia in the 1940s and by 1950 he is reputed to have owned as much as 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) stretching from North Tenindewa to east of Mullewa. History suggests that the Bank was (by then) keen to clear the decks of these “nuisance blocks” of land from their books as the financial world was waking from its period of economic horror and Harry, who had a big family, was keen to expand and thus it is reputed he would just patiently and politely keep offering ridiculously low bids to the I.A.B and others until they capitulated!
As this story alludes, a portion of the Tenindewa land belonging to Stokes, which by providence included all of the land originally held and developed by Leo Critch and his brothers, Charlie and Tom, and was purchased from the Stokes family by Kevin Critch, Leo’s son in 1955 and, as the story again alludes Kevin had not the slightest knowledge that his farther had owned it. In somewhat of an accidental tribute to Leo, and for the record, that land is back in the Critch name some 120 years after Leo and Family had originally taken it up.

A couple of Leo’s Classics

Leo, it is obvious, had a dry and bushy sense of humour and often adds a touch of the ridiculous. Following are two articles that typify those points.

Geraldton Express; January 10, 1923

Tenindewa

The controversial Mr. Wragge

Thank goodness that dry year of 1922 has gone, and now that Mr Clement Wragge* is dead, he has taken all his forecasts for further droughts with him, so we can start this year, even if we do have a dry spell, without anyone saying “Another drought-Wragge says so.”
The best Christmas Tree ever held here was this year organized and carried through by Mrs. Joe Stafford. It was held at the proper time-Christmas Eve-the children’s presents being well selected and of equal value, thus giving no cause whatever for dissatisfaction or complaint. As Mrs. Stafford took particular care that no adult partook of any refreshments provided for the children, the kiddies thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The Voluntary Wheat Pool, no responsibility, has not been a means of putting too many plums in Mr. Joe O’Brien’s Christmas duff [a flour pudding]. As Joe is the receiver of wheat for the “Pool” at Tenindewa , he is now tired of saying grace “for what I am about to receive etc.”  and so is turning it up [ceasing]. When speaking to him re. the loading of wheat, he remarked that “Jack Major wore the hind part out of three pairs of trousers waiting for the wheat to come in last year, and I have worn my boots out running around the farms to see where there is any wheat to load”
It is an ill wind that blows anybody any good. The drought that we have just experienced (and which is still on) has made most of the farmers pick up a boring plant and prospect for water, with the result that many have been successful. Messes. Oldham, Stokes, Rumble and Stafford all have struck good stock water, the first named farmer watering 500 sheep beside (as well as) his working horses, from a well newly found on his sandplain country. For those poor unfortunate individuals who have tried and failed, it is extremely hard to have to pull water 80ft (25 metres), after waiting their turn from the only source in Tenindewa, were there is a windmill over (collapsed) which if repaired, would save time and labour and money to many in the district. I hope our member [of parliament] will read this, for it is an urgent necessity.
Sorry to learn from Mr. Cid Eves, that his brother Mr. Ernie Eves of Walkaway has just returned from Perth, after undergoing a very serious operation, necessitating the attendance of three prominent Perth physicians. Though very weak I am glad to say he is well on the mend. Ernie Eves it was, who carted all, or most, of that high grade ore for Mr. Dorrie Doolette* of Bullfinch fame.

Mr Dan Clifford, late manager for Mr M.F Troy MLA*, died last week. Hard and game old toiler was Dan.

I nearly turned my toes up myself the other day, fair dinkum, only for being hard in the brain box, [thick sculled] I believe I would have gone. Three days before Christmas, I was carting from Mr. Troy’s dam, when going downhill the shafts of the cart snapped off, throwing me out [of the buggy] and the tank of water on top of me. Further than pulverizing my hat, bruising and swelling my head to four times its ordinary size, dislocating 5 ribs and then putting me in bed for two weeks, I am not much worse off.

Note; Leo’s farm was about 5 klm east from Mr. Troy’s dam. The site of the said “hill” is about half way.

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* Google Dorrie Doolette for a story in itself

* Clement Wragge was the first weather forecaster in Australia. He was disrespectfully known as “Inclement” Wragge. He died in Auckland on the 10^th of December 1923 (google his story)

* M.F. Troy is featured on this website under “People”

Tuesday 2 March 1915.

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A real live hurricane visited Tenindewa on Thursday night last. (25^th February 1915)

Things began to get lively about 9.00 PM and up to 11.00 PM we had just as full and exciting time as anyone would wish and some very close calls to a funeral occurred. However, they say all’s well that ends well and this is so far as life is concerned.

The wind must have reached 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour) and every building I know of must have suffered. To commence with, Mr. Fry’s new residence suffered by the loss of a few sheets of iron and his late residence, a fairly large iron building, was blown to the ground.

Mr. Leo Critch had his house flattened entirely. Fortunately he and his brother Tom happened to be away for the night camped on a job they were doing. At the height of the storm they left their tent [at the site of the “job] and not long after a huge York gum fell right across it, breaking their bunks.

Mr. Sid Green, the railway ganger, [“ganger” denotes the man in charge of the gang] suffered too. A large York gum fell right across his house, on the portion that the Post Office is kept in, crushing it flat to the ground. They were all in the adjoining room and they lost no time in vacating it and passed the rest of the night in the Railway Goods Shed. The Telephone Room at the same place is now standing wrong end up.

Mr. Stokes had to strain all his muscles to hang onto his house all night.

Mr. Tom Shaw had a very trying time too and had just managed to get his wife, who had fainted, from the house when it turned over.(see note at bottom of page)

Messes Palmer and Johnson also suffered by the loss of [roofing] iron etc. Fortunately Mr. Palmer had plenty of assistance so they managed to hold their roof together. Mr. Johnson and his family had to pass the night under his dray and it rained inches (an inch is 25mm) during that time, but all the outhouses were destroyed.

Brenkley Bros house turned partly over and is uninhabitable.

Mr. Stafford lost all of his outhouses and found some of his iron; some he thinks is down Mingenew way and he is not looking for it. A few sheets of iron came off his residence also. All the settlers suffered to a considerable extent, but a few I have not heard from. The creek is running a banker and the ground is very soft.

Hundreds of York gum trees and others have blown down and in some places acres of trees have been levelled to the ground. It is an ill wind that blown nobody any good and in this case I have heard of a man just closing for a 100 acres (40 hectares) clearing contract and ½ his stuff has been blown over. Anyhow we are not anxious for another blow. It is the worst I have ever seen.

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Guardian Note: The storm caused extensive damage to many towns around Geraldton and beyond. Similar stories were received by the Geraldton Guardian from Northampton, Carnarvon, Cue and Mingenew, as well as smaller centers such as Nabewa, Yuna and Tenindewa etc.

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2015 Note: Mullewa, according to BOM records received 70 mm of rain from the 24^th to the 26^th of February and 100 mm for the month: Geraldton very similar: Northampton 100mm for those three days and 140mm for the month and places as far away as Cue with 50mm for the same period. One could imagine rivers such as the Greenough would have run some huge amount of water on that occasion!

Incidentally in roughly same calendar space in 2000 cyclone Steve dumped similar amounts of rain in the area and earlier in the NT and QLD. It was the wettest system ever recorded to affect Australia. (The Tenindewa/Bindu gauge received 100mm from “Steve”)

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Guardian Note: Elisabeth (Kember) Shaw was seven months pregnant with her 3^rd child Thomas when it happened, so no wonder she fainted. Elisabeth’s young sister, Chris then aged 14, was staying with the family at the time and probably helped Elisabeth through the pregnancy.

Wedding (Critch – Norris)
New Year’s Day 1914

The wedding of Mr. Thomas Victor Critch, third son of Mr. and Mrs. F.H. Critch of Shenton Street, Geraldton, to Miss louse Norris, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M Norris of Stoke-on-Trent, England, was celebrated at St Francis Xaviour Church, by the Rev. father Meagner on New Year’s Day.
The bride who was charming robed in a dress of white charmeuse, trimmed with the new white silk shadow lace, draped skirt caught in the centre front, with a spray of orange blossoms and shadowed lace at foot, draped bodice with lace and tiny pearl buttons pointed train with the letter L in orange blossoms and true lovers knot in ribbon. The usual wreath and veil were worn, and a bouquet of white roses, carnations and asparagus fern was carried. The bride was given away by Mr. Frank Critch. (Brother of the bridegroom). Mr. J Kelly (cousin to the bridegroom) acted as chairman. The bridegrooms were Miss Alma Critch (sister to the bridegroom) and Miss Everlyn Kelly (cousin and future wife of Tom Moore) the former wearing a white linen skirt and embroidered coatee, large white chip hat trimmed with tulle and cherries, the latter [wearing a] pretty embroidered dress, white chip hat trimmed with tulle and daisies.
After the ceremony the party drove to the residence of the parents of the bridegroom where the wedding-tea was held, about 24 sitting down with the Rev. Celebrant.
The presents were numerous and valuable.

Wedding (Critch—Egan)
January 22nd 1909

The marriage which took place at St Francis Xaviour’s Church, Geraldton on Wednesday morning last at 8 o’clock, between Mr. Frank, J Critch and Miss Agnes Violet Egan was witnessed, notwithstanding the early hour, by a large number of friends of both brise and bridegroom. A nuptial mass followed the interesting ceremony, the celebrant being the Rev. Father O’Malley, assisted by the Rev. Father Ryan. The bride, who entered the church on the arm of Mr. Critch sen. (who gave the bride away) looked very charming. Mr. Will Critch (brother) acted as best man, and the bridesmaids were Misses, Madge and Alma Critch (sisters to the groom), Miss Ethel Egan (sister to the bride), also accompanied the bridal party. The bride was attired in a handsome empire gown of cream Chinese silk, trimmed with real lace and Brussels net and silk tassels, the underskirt being embroidered trimmed with medallions of lace, the usual veil and coronet of orange blossoms were worn. In her hand she carried a prayer book. The bridesmaids, Misses Madeline and Alma Critch, wore —the elder–a pretty dress of cream silk trimmed with Paris lace and insertion, and a white crinoline straw hat trimmed with chiffon and plumes and gold buckles; the younger wore a dainty dress of cream silk and white leghorn floral hat. The bride’s “going away” gown was of eau-de- nil Sicilian cloth, the coat being made with in Ditectoire style, and white and black chip straw hat, trimmed with tulle and black plumes.
After the marriage ceremony the bridal party and friends partook of breakfast at the residence of the bridegroom’s parents. Among those present were:- The Rev. Father O’Malley, Mr. J. M. Drew, MLC, and Mrs. Drew, and Mr. A.E. Goodison, Mr. and Mrs. J. Kelly, Mrs. Commerford and Miss S. Commerford, Miss E. Kelly and Mrs. F. Pead. The toast of “The Bride” and Bridegroom was proposed by the Rev. father O’Malley, and responded to by the bridegroom: [The toast to] “The Bridegroom’s Parents” by Mr. J. M. Drew and responded to by Mr. Critch (sen) and [The toast to] the Bridesmaids by Mr. A. E. Goodison and responded to by Mr. Will Critch.
A Social gathering in the evening for the younger friends of the newly married couple, brought a very happy day’s festivities to a close.
The following is a list of wedding presents:–
Mr. and Mrs. Critch, house linin; Mr. Will Critch and Miss. M. Critch, dinner service; Mr. Tom Critch, table; Grace and Kathleen Critch, prayer book; Miss Egan, wedding outfit and bedspread; Miss Ethel Egan, tea pot and milk jug; Mrs. Lynch (Frem), cheese dish, sugar basin, specimen vases; Mr. and Mrs. Chapman (Frem), panels, pickle jar and ash tray; Mrs. Ellis (Vic Park) ornaments; Mr. and Mrs. Drew, cheque; Good Shepard Nuns (Leederville) tray cloth; Miss Madge Poulsen (Bunbury) entre dish and cigar case; Miss Burton, bread-fork; Mr. C and Miss V. Hepburn, (E.P.) jam dish; Mr. and Mrs. Goodison, silver egg cruet; Mrs Craig, pair of vases; Mr. and Miss D Craig, afternoon tea cups; Mrs. Commerford, case of carvers; Miss S. Cummerford, (E.P.) butter dish; Miss U. Stone, honey jar; Mrs. and Miss Read, glass salad bowl and comport; Mr. and Mrs. T. Houlanhan, gents gold dressing ring and silver serviette rings; Miss E. Morrissey, pair vases; Miss A. Connet, cut glass and silver saits and spoons; Mr. W. Earl, silver service rings, Miss Taylor, butter knife: Mr. J. and Miss Kelly glass dish and comport; Mr. R. Hutchison (jun) water jug and glasses; Mr. Dudley Pope, (E.P.) jam dish; Mr. C. Malley and Miss. Dornan (E.P.) butter dish and knife; Miss E. Kelly, pillow shams.

Wedding (Critch–Malloy)
Extract Geraldton Express
!7th July 1918

On Tuesday July 9th the marriage of Miss Mary Malloy (Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Malloy of Wyalong, NSW) to Leo Joseph Critch (fourth son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Henry Critch of Shenton Street Geraldton) was celebrated at the Nun’s Chapel adjoining the Presentation Convent, Geraldton.
The bride was given away by the Mr. John Kelly. sen. (uncle of the bridegroom) and Mr. E. P. (Pat) Smyth carried out the duties of the best man. The Rev. Father Hawes performed the ceremony.
The bride was gowned in a dainty dress of white mere silk, effectively embroidered and studded with seed pearls. The usual wreath and veil were worn, and she carried a bouquet of white flowers and ferns.
Miss. Grace Critch (bridesmaid), sister of the bridegroom wore a cream silk coat frock with hand embroidered finishings and cream velvet hat to match.
Miss. Eileen Kelly (bridesmaid and cousin of the bridegroom) was dressed in a flesh pink silk crystalline frock, relieved with strappings of same shade with white net hat trimmed with tidy pink rosebuds.
The wedding ceremony concluded, the bridal party motored to the residence of the bridegroom’s parents, where cake and wine were partaken of, and the usual toasts (not forgetting absent relatives and friends) were duly proposed and responded to. Many valuable presents were received.
The happy couple left for their home at Tenindewa by train the following morning.