Born and Bred
A Yorkshire Family
Keith William Richardson
My Third Cousin twice removed
Keith's Story
Keith William Richardson was born just before the end of the First World War in 1918 in Launceston, Tasmania. He went on to become a farmer on a Soldier Settlement Property called Carnarvon on the Macquarie Settlement, which is in the Northern Midlands in Tasmania. It is located in the foothills of the Western Tiers beneath Millers Bluff.
In 1936 he married Edith Jones, whom he had known since he was a young boy.
Keith was to see service during the Second World War as a Signalman in the Navy, stationed on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait between Northern Australia and New Guinea. It was during World War II that Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States forces.
As a result of contracting mumps during the Second World War, he was unable to have children of his own and so, along with his wife Edith, adopted two children - Elizabeth and Terry.
By all accounts, he was a very clever man who could do anything with his hands. He farmed 3000 acres of mixed farming, with sheep, beef cattle, wheat, oats and two very large dams that doubled as a place for recreational fishing.
He was a dedicated fisherman, indulging in the "sport" of fly fishing, also tying his own fishing flies. A skill he taught on to his daughter Elizabeth, who then taught it to her eldest son Jeffrey, who was also a dedicated fly fisherman.
Keith loved nothing better than to spend his hard earned spare time in the central highlands of Tasmania with his friends. Camping, drinking, fishing and telling many a yarn.
He also stocked his own dams with fish and was generous in allowing selected people to come and enjoy the fishing there, where sometimes, a trout of up to 13 lbs would be taken. One fish was so large that it became wedged in the outlet pipe as the water was being let run into a creek and irrigation system on the farm.
His daughter, Elizabeth, trained as an artist, specialising in Natural History Art, before becoming an author / illustrator of children's books in Education. She also became interested in researching her family tree and after getting in contact with me, we have managed to piece together what became of Peter Richard and his family after emigrating to Tasmania.