Vale – Bill Edgar.

Written by his family and contributed by his son Tony Edgar.

William James Edgar was born in Yenda in the NSW Riverina on 11/11/1927. At the time of his death, he was a father of seven, a grandfather of 22 and a great grandfather of 22.

He has always been known as Bill. His parents were Keith and Magdalen Edgar. His mother was known as Queenie. He had an older sister, Irene. Keith was a returned serviceman and had taken up a soldier settlement block at Yenda growing grapes. When phylloxera hit the Yenda District in the late 1920’s, like many others, they left their block and moved to Sydney. Bill has very little memory of their time in Sydney. They shortly afterwards moved to May Grove in South Yarra to live with Queenie’s family. After a short time they moved to 9 Arthur Avenue, Brighton where Bill lived until he left home at 16.

When Bill was about three or four, he and his mate Jack decided to go down to Hampton St to visit the cannon. They made it to the cannon and climbed on it but couldn’t find their way home. Someone took them home and Queenie was very upset. She took Bill to the local school and asked if they could look after him. Bill said that the school agreed and a really lovely nun looked after him and he loved it. Bill talked about all of the local kids playing out front in the street. One of these kids got polio and couldn’t play anymore.

Bill attended the local catholic school. He had an active sporting life and particularly enjoyed swimming. Summers involved spending a lot of time at the Brighton Baths. Bill had an aim to ride from his home to the baths on his pushbike without touching the handlebars. As this involved crossing a couple of busy roads he rarely achieved this.

In his teens he swam in competitions and at one stage held an under age Victorian breaststroke record. He was also a very good diver and gymnast. Bill was involved in scouting and became a King Scout. The mayor of Brighton who lived in their street told him that he was the only King Scout in Brighton.

Keith, his father, obtained work as a proof reader for The Age newspaper. This was primarily to proof read the advertisements which were in the paper. Initially he would line up outside The Age offices in the evening and hope that he would be selected to work that night. If work was not available he would catch the train home. If he obtained work he would get home as Bill and Irene were heading off to school for the day. After a while Keith got a permanent position, so his children saw little of him as their sleep cycles were so different.

Bill’s mother Queenie was an excellent seamstress and the main breadwinner in the family. Bill talked of hearing her sewing late into the night every night. She had a lady who came in on Saturdays to help with housework. She did work on commission for a couple of shops in Melbourne. Bill recalled taking finished articles to the local train station where they would go by rail to the shops in Central Melbourne. She made coats for General Douglas MacArthur’s children during World War 2.

Bill as a young lad got a Saturday morning job at a local shop to do deliveries. He rode his pushbike and had to be able to give change. Bill was proud of his work and the trust placed in him to handle the money.

Bill applied to enter the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) for the 1943 year. He was unsuccessful and went to school for one more year. He spent this year at St Kevins after having spent his previous years at Christian Brothers College. He had obtained his leaving certificate from the University of Melbourne by passing English, Mathematics III and Physics in December 1942 and French and Chemistry in February 1943.

At the end of 1943 he passed his Matriculation  and again applied to VSF and was accepted for the 1944 intake. This was a three year Diploma Course resulting in the awarding of a Diploma of Forestry (Creswick). There were only 24 students when he started, with twelve in his year.

This number increased with twelve new students in 1945 and thirteen in 1946. By 1946 some of the students were returned servicemen who would have been older than the third year students.

Bill enjoyed his time at Creswick. It was a fairly regimented system, not unlike a boarding school. Students were expected to study at night. Accommodation and meals were provided. Students were required to attend church on Sundays. Most students, including Bill were bonded to the Forests Commission at the completion of their course. Saturday mornings were devoted to field work where students were tasked to various jobs in the Creswick Demonstration Forest.

During his time at VSF, the School entered a football team in the local Clunes League. They had a number of fairly handy footballers, including Jeff Brisbane who had played for Geelong in the VFL. Bill was also among their better players. Years later when Jeff Brisbane umpired a VSF match he told Tony that Bill was a very good footballer.

Bill graduated in 1946 and was posted to Assessment Branch. One of his first assessments was at Connors Plains north of Licola in central Gippsland. Bill tells the story of this assignment in an interview he did which can be found at………

https://soundcloud.com/user-99949261/sets/bill-edgar/s-Y2xax9ibNKz#:~:text=Victoria’s%20Forestry-,heritage,-3%20years%20ago3%20years%20ago

His next postings were to Forest Protection, Delatite, Scarsdale and then Corryong. While at Delatite Bill played in a band as a drummer. It appears that his main task was to supply the whisky. He also played football for Mansfield.

At Corryong Bill was the Assistant District Forester. He continued his football career. One night after being at the pub, Bill was driving home four abreast in a Land Rover. While going around a corner, the driver’s door flung open and Bill, who was driving, fell out. He broke his pelvis and was taken to the Corryong Hospital where Sheila Drill was a nurse.

Bill decided she was a bit of “all right” and began courting her. Sheila had taken a job at Corryong and had intended to then move to Sydney. Bill proposed a number of times before Sheila said yes to him. They were married at St Ignatius in Richmond on May 23, 1953. Bill’s father in law Leo was not too sure of the relationship as he thought all public servants were lazy buggers.

In November 1953, Bill was promoted to District Forester at Beechworth. As Bill and Sheila did not have a car, Dick Caddell, an overseer from Beechworth drove to Corryong and picked them and their possessions up in the forestry truck.

In Beechworth, both Bill and Sheila became heavily involved with the local football club where Bill was one of the star players. The local doctor was the club President and when Michael was born in 1954 did not tell Bill until after Bill had finished training. Tony and Kevin were born in 1955 and 1956. While at Beechworth, Bill commenced a thesis to obtain a Diploma of Forestry(Victoria). Without either a Bachelor Degree or this Diploma the Forests Commission would not promote anyone past the level of District Forester.

In September 1958 Bill was transferred to the Erica Forest District. At that time this was one of the biggest and most complex Districts in the state. As well as running the District, Bill was in charge of the State Sawmill located in Erica. This mill took a lot of time as it had never generated a profit. Bill had also not yet completed his thesis. He had done the field work but needed to submit it and have it assessed. The thesis was “A Working Plan for the Chiltern Forest”. Bill and Sheila bought their first car at about this time. They welcomed Mary and Brendan into the family in 1959 and 1960. Bill’s football career ended as Erica did not have a team and it would have been too difficult to play with any nearby town.

Bill found the work at Erica quite stressful. He came down with rheumatic fever and was hospitalized for a short time. As a consequence he was transferred to the Nyah District in 1962. The Nyah District extended along the Murray River from Hattah National Park to Swan Hill. Andy joined the family not long afterwards. In Bill’s words, he said he thought that he had died and gone to heaven when he arrived at Nyah, and then they sent me Webby. Webby is Brian Webb and Brian and his wife June moved to Nyah shortly after the Edgars. Bill and Brian were like peas in a pod, as they both enjoyed fishing, hunting and being outdoors. They had drum nets in the Murray River and both families had lots of feeds of fish and Murray Crays. There was also an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables to be had. Bill played golf at the Nyah golf club and lots of summer weekends were spent at Picks Point swimming hole on the Murray. It was while at Nyah that the FJ Holden was moved on and Bill and Sheila bought a Ford Customline.

Holidays were taken during school holidays and were spent at Trentham with Bill’s parents or Hawthorn with Sheila’s. At Trentham, Bill and the family would cut a year’s supply of firewood for the Lux stove in the kitchen. Bill could cut wood quickly enough to keep all of the older children busy stacking.

Hawthorn trips often involved a walk to watch Hawthorn training. Bill switched his football allegiance from Richmond to Hawthorn. It was a terrific decision as Hawthorn have been the most successful club of the last 50 years by a considerable margin.

The next move was to Neerim South in 1965. This was another very busy District which included the Baw Baw Ski Resort which was run by the Forests Commission. While the main office was at Neerim South, the main depot was at Noojee. Bill and Sheila spent a fair bit of time making sure that the local pool was usable. The pool filled from the local creek and had to have the slime removed each year before filling. The water was not treated, so it had to be emptied and refilled.

By now the older children were involved in organised sport. A fair bit of time was needed to cart them around to their various events or to organise a lift for them. Bill was also very supportive of the children joining cubs and later scouts, and he often helped when he could. Bill had a brief, not very successful, cricket career while at Neerim South. Rob became the latest member of the family when he was the last child born in the old Neerim South Hospital. Bill was rung from the hospital to say he “had another little woodchopper”.

In 1968, Bill was promoted to Assistant Divisional Forester for the Western Division based in Horsham. For the first time since having children the family lived in a house without a wood stove in the kitchen. The house was on the outskirts of Horsham and unsurprisingly, life was fairly hectic. The children now ranged from being in Form 3 down to Rob who was still some way off starting school. Luckily, the older children were able to get themselves to many of their activities. Bill and Sheila also did a lot of running around to various events, as they encouraged all of their children to participate in sports.

The ADF role involved quite a bit of travel as the Division extended from the coast up to Mildura. It also included the Grampians which at that stage was being managed by the FCV. There were lots of family trips to the Grampians for picnics and to look at various sights. Favourite outings were  the walk through Wonderland to the nerve test and swimming in the hot pools at Zumsteins. Bill also took up lawn bowls in Horsham and won a few trophies.

Bill and the family liked to frequent Op Shops when holidaying in Melbourne. Bill found a very expensive Rolleiflex Camera on one of these visits and became quite a good photographer.

Bill had a large vegetable garden at Horsham that extended into the neighbours yard. Vegetable gardens were a constant at most places he and Sheila lived. Bill was always on the lookout for free food. All of the family were involved in collecting foods such as tabbies, blackberries, apricots, walnuts, almonds, asparagus, mushrooms, plums, figs, mulberries and apples. Bill and Sheila made blackberry jam, tomato sauce and tomato chutney most years and shared them with their family.

Bill was an excellent shot and often took the whole family rabbit shooting at dusk. He would shoot rabbits from the car window after they stood when captured by the headlights. At times he would try to get two rabbits with one shot. Rabbit casserole was often on the menu, particularly at Neerim South.

Bill was promoted to Divisional Forester for Southern Division in 1972. This involved packing the family up and moving to Traralgon. By this stage Michael had left home to attend Monash Uni and Tony was about to do the same. Up until this stage in their marriage Bill and Sheila had always lived in houses provided by the FCV. As a Divisional Forester, Bill would not get a house so they had to buy one. In their usual methodical manner, Bill and Sheila listed what they wanted in a house and Bill travelled to Traralgon and in a few days bought a house which best met their needs. This was quite a challenge for them as it meant going into debt. They borrowed some money off Sheila’s dad, Leo, so that they could buy the house at 4 Charles St.

Southern Division included the Neerim, Erica, Heyfield, Maffra and Yarram Districts. This was one of the busier Divisions. The APM paper mill was in the Latrobe Valley and many of the Districts had active plantation extension programs. The Yarram District included the Strzeleckis where the FCV were buying farms to plant pines or eucalypt plantations.

Fires were also fairly constant with multiple lightning strike fires being a common occurrence. Bill had a radio installed at 4 Charles St so that he could listen in to the chatter from the fire towers during summer.

As a Divisional Forester, Bill was part of the FCV Central Council which met in Melbourne regularly. This was an event which he did not enjoy and for which he was always well prepared. Bill often enjoyed travelling to some of his old haunts to see how things had changed. Over his career and into retirement seeing the reforestation and silvicultural treatment of the Strzelecki Ranges and other areas such as Boola Boola State Forest gave Bill enormous satisfaction. He got quite a kick out of seeing areas which had been treated silviculturally thriving.

Bill and Sheila had always had a very strong involvement in the Catholic Church. All of the family attended Mass on Sundays from when they were babies. In Traralgon this involvement became stronger. After retirement Bill and Sheila usually attended mass daily. They also involved themselves in many church committees and projects.

While Bill has since lived in Sale for a short while, the majority of his and Sheila’s life continued to be lived at 4 Charles St until not long before Sheila’s death.

Bill had a significant health scare in 1980. He had a heart attack which culminated in a triple bypass at the Alfred Hospital. This operation was quite risky at the time, with the chances of success being put at about 50%. The operation was successful and about three months later, Bill was back at work. Bill liked an occasional menthol cigarette, a beer in the evening and he loved a bit of Devon Ham, none of which are great for your heart. He improved his diet and started to exercise more. If he strayed with his diet, Sheila would make sure he got back on track.

Bill remained as Divisional Forester until the creation of the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands in 1982. The new Department had 18 Regions and Bill applied to be the Regional Manager for the Traralgon Region. For the first time in his career he had to be interviewed for a job. He took a lot of time putting his application together and was quite nervous about the interview. He was offered the role as Regional Manager at Yarram, which was at a higher level than the Traralgon role. The Yarram Region included the Wilson’s Promontory National Park and also had an active plantation extension program on farmland which the Department purchased. Bill remained in this position until his retirement. Bill enjoyed running the Region but struggled a bit with some of the politics which were inevitable at this senior level.

During this time, Mary and Paul were building a rock house at Seaton. This was going slowly, so Bill took three months long service leave and he and Sheila drove out to Seaton each day and laid rocks. Bill has often said that he got a great deal of pleasure from doing this. The work he and Sheila did made a huge difference to the time it took to finish the house.

Bill remained Regional Manager until retirement at age 57. He took most of his superannuation as a pension, but also took a lump sum payout. From the lump sum he purchased Rocky and a boat. Rocky was a yellow Daihatsu four wheel drive and it gave him the freedom to take day trips through the bush or go fishing. Bill took great pride in being self sufficient financially in retirement. He had a small share portfolio and closely followed his investments. He kept meticulous financial records recorded in an exercise book and did all of his own tax returns.

Retirement gave Bill and Sheila the opportunity to travel. For several years they took trips around Australia. Bill never had any strong interest in overseas travel. They did travel to New Zealand and enjoyed this trip. They also particularly enjoyed traveling to northern Australia. One trip was to the Northern Territory and on returning Bill said that he was less than impressed with Kakadu and dubbed it Kaka don’t. Bill and Sheila also visited Andy and Monica in Singapore when they lived there. Bill was very taken with the wet markets.

Bill and Sheila were also happy to help their children. They would travel and stay with the children and loved the interactions with their grandchildren. These trips were to a fair few different towns as their children shifted around. This was also a good opportunity to have a look at cities such as Canberra and Singapore. Bill would always visit his sister, Irene, when in Canberra.

Bill and Sheila also looked after grandkids when Michael and Tony lived in Traralgon. They often did school and kinder pick ups and established really close relationships with the children. Everyone was treated equally by Bill and Sheila and they could always be relied on for help when needed, or they would provide support unannounced.

A constant through Bill and Sheila’s marriage were trips to Cowes. Sheila’s father Leo owned a house at 11 Walpole St Cowes and many holidays were taken there. The house needed a lot of looking after, but this just gave more opportunity to spend time there. While the children were younger, there were often gatherings of the Edgar’s and their cousins the Hampshire’s. When Leo died in 1987 he left the house jointly to Sheila and her sister Kath. Bill and Sheila usually spent at least a month a year at Cowes after retirement and encouraged their children and grandchildren to also spend time there. Card games were played with no prisoners taken, and if the game was 500, Bill’s team nearly always won.

Bill discovered how to collect abalone and found some reliable spots. It became a bit of a ritual to look for low tides and calm weather and take as many people as possible to collect the bag limit of ten per person.

Fishing was a passion of Bill’s. His ex colleagues often mentioned Bill giving them a big wave and a smile as he headed off fishing while they were working. Rocky with the boat on the back was a familiar sight in Gippsland. For a number of years he and Norm Cox and sometimes others would head to Tamboon Inlet for a few days fishing. Bill would save his favourite whisky for this week away and looked forward to it enormously.

For many years, Bill and Sheila volunteered at Vinnies in Traralgon. They were in charge of toys. Their house in Traralgon often had the carport full of toys which they brought home to clean, fix and price. They were both very proud of the amount of funding that their work brought in.

Bill and Sheila enjoyed doing cryptic crosswords. There were always a pile of crosswords waiting to be completed sitting on the table at Charles St. It might take days to complete some of the more difficult crosswords but Bill would persevere until they were finished.

Bill had a number of health concerns over the years. He had a chronically bad back which would occasionally “go” on him. Later in life he showed Rob the spot on a bridge on the Murray River near Corryong where he first injured his back as a young man, apparently diving into the River to impress Sheila. On one occasion Michael and Tony got a panicked call from Sheila to come and move Bill. He was standing in a doorway and was unable to move. He needed to be carried to bed. One way he dealt with this was by walking. He would walk a number of kilometers a day. He liked being outside and the walking helped his back.

Bill had a second triple bypass when he was 80 with the same surgeon who had performed the previous operation. The chances of survival had markedly improved despite his advancing years. The surgeon was very surprised to see that the first treatment had worked for so long.

A few years ago, Bill had bowel surgery. He was in intensive care for quite a while and had a long recovery. Bill realised that he and Sheila could no longer continue to live at 4 Charles St and put the house on the market. They decided on an agent and their price and were really happy when the house sold almost immediately. When he was released from hospital, Bill and Sheila lived with Michael and Cheryl in Morwell for six months until they found a small unit in Sale that really suited them.

Bill recorded a couple of short videos in 2021 where he expressed how grateful he was for the work that Mary and Michael did looking after him and the meals that Andy would drop off, Chicken Cacciatore being a particular favourite.

Sheila passed away in early 2020. Bill continued to live on his own at the unit with Mary making sure that he had everything he needed. Bill missed Sheila enormously. One way he dealt with this was by walking, which helped his back and general health. Bill was still driving until about a year before his death and most days would drive to Lake Gutheridge and walk around the lake.

More recently Bill moved to Margery Cole Aged Care in Traralgon. His health deteriorated and he passed away peacefully on the 25 September, 2023.

Image: Yarram CFL Regional Management Team (RMT). (L to R) Robert (Bob) Niggl – Operations, Ian Leversha – Resource Conservation, William (Bill) Edgar – Regional Manager, Ken King – Public Land Management, Ralph Hubbert – Services. Source: Bill Edgar c 1985