Black Marble French Movement Clock

Mr. Harold Carter (Senior), was born at Garton Grange, Yorkshire, England in 1871. He was the son of Thomas and Mary Carter, with whom he came to Western Australia in the sailing ship "Charlotte Padbury", which arrived at Fremantle in Sept 1887.
For three months Harold had a job working in an office in Perth, but in January 1888 he accompanied his parents and other members of his family to Busselton in the steamship, "Rob Roy". They rented a property at Dunsborough, where Seymour’s beach cottages now stand. To reach their new home the family had to board Mr. Robert Smith’s yacht. For the next five years they lived and worked on this property.
In 1893 Mr, Harold Carter and his brother Mr. Percy Carter took up another property at Marybrook, where Harold lived until he retired, leaving his son Bert on the Marybrook farm when he came to live in Busselton.
In 1903 Mr Harold Carter married Miss Mary Eliza Abbey, only daughter of Mr, & Mrs Thomas Abbey of Newtown, Her father was a well-known personality in the district and she kept the Post Office there for forty five years at the old homestead near the Margaret River turn-off from Caves Road.
With the exception of a period of nine months spent at Eucla, where he worked for the late Mr J. B. Locke on the construction of the East-West telegraph transmission station. Mr, Carter spent sixty years in the Vasse District as a dairy farmer and potato grower. To help establish his property he worked for a time for Mr Henry Yelverton on the Quindalup Timber Mill.
During the years of the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s he was a member of a commission, appointed by the Government to examine the Group Settlement Scheme, with a view to retaining the holdings which many of the settlers were abandoning for lack of finance.
In many other avenues his advice was frequently sought as he was recognised as a successful farmer and held in high esteem by all who knew him. He was also a member of the Southern Districts Agricultural Society almost from the time he settled in the district and was eventually honoured by being made a life member of the society. For many years he was a member of the Vestry of St. Mary’s Anglican Church Busselton. When the Quindalup Race Club was in operation he was for many years one of the judges.
Mr Carter died in Busselton Hospital in 1947 after a short illness, leaving a wife, four daughters and two sons. One daughter Mary - Mrs. Laurie Johnstone died in Busselton a few years ago. They had farmed in the Ambergate district before retiring to Busselton. Another daughter Gladys, married William Diggins, who worked for the Agricultural Bank in Busselton, Denmark and Perth. He died in Perth in 1977 and since that time Gladys’s sister Maud has lived with her in Perth. The fourth sister Laura married James Glendon and farmed at Ludlow until her death.
Harold the elder son, married Mabel Barnes and they farmed at Marybrook until he retired. They now live in Duchess Street, Busselton. Herbert the younger son, married a daughter of George Clamp and they still live on the property at Marybrook which was the original property of Mr. Harold Carter (Senior)
BUSSELTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER APRIL 1979