Sarah Hall (1859-1954)
Sarah was born at Prinsep Park in Dardanup on 4 October 1859 to parents Richard James Hall and Honorah McCutcheon (reference; reference). She lived in the Bunbury area her entire life (reference). Sarah was the third of ten children (reference). Her siblings were Margaret (1854-1930), Elizabeth Alice (1856-1937), James (1862-1943), Harriet (1864-1952), John (1866-1954), George Edward (1869-1913), Marianne (1871-1874), Richard James (1873-1874) and William (1875-1875). Her father, Richard, was employed at Prinsep Park (reference).
In an interview in her ninety-fourth year of life, she reflected that her childhood was tough: "there was the bread to be baked - and there weren't any stoves like there are today either. The cooking was done on an open fireplace and the bread was usually baked in a camp oven heaped over with coals. All the sewing had to be done by hand and everyone grew their own vegetables (reference)." For entertainment, she rode horses and attended the occasional country dance (reference). Attending the dances was not easy. In 1948 when Sarah was 89 years old, she remembered walking fifteen miles to dance (reference). She would then dance all night with her friends before walking the fifteen miles home in the morning (reference).
Sarah also did not receive much education, having only attended Sunday School (reference). As a result, she never learnt to write, but she could read until her sight failed her (reference).
As a teenager, Sarah moved to Bunbury to work as a housemaid at the Leschenault Homestead for Pearce Clifton while he was the Resident Magistrate of Bunbury (reference). She worked there for four years (reference). During her life, other occupations she held included working at the Rose Hotel, in the fields with horses, and as a boarding house keeper in Wollaston Street in 1914 (reference).
On 29 May 1882, Sarah married her husband, Michael White, in a double ceremony with Michael's brother, Jim, at Bunbury's first Catholic Church (reference; reference). This church was a part of the dining quarters of the convent school in the 1950s (reference). Sarah's wedding dress was made at William Spencer's shop, located where Bon Marche was in the 1950s (reference). Although Michael passed before her, she never took her wedding ring off, and the once thick gold band had worn down into a thread by the end of her life (reference).
Sarah and Michael had seven children over twenty-four years. They were William James known as Jim and Bungee (1882-1908), Ellen Harriet (1885-1923), Mary Ann, known as Tot (1890-1964), Michael John (1893-1937), Thomas (1897-1929), Maud Marion (1901-1929) and Lawrence Leonard (1906-1928) (reference). Michael John, known as Don, drowned in a tragic accident at Turkey Point when his boat capsized (reference). William James also died in a tragic horse-riding accident (reference). Both Maud Marion and Lawrence Leonard passed away at Wooroloo Sanitorium of Tuberculosis. According to the Post Office Directories, their children John and James lived at the family home as adults. John was an insurance agent, and James was a farmer. Sarah and her husband Michael lived in a cottage on Strickland Street, which was still standing close to the Highway Hotel in 1953 (reference). After Strickland Street, Michael and Sarah moved to Eelup Lane, Rathmines by 1918. They then moved to Arthur Street in 1919. After Michael's passing in 1919, Sarah moved to 23 Albert Road in 1923, where she remained for the rest of her life (reference; reference; reference).
Her husband Michael was a mail coach driver, carrying passengers and mail from Bunbury to Greenbushes and Bunbury to Pinjarra, with each trip taking two days (reference). He was later employed in the railway, including laying the railway line between Boyanup and Bunbury and as a railway guard (reference). Michael worked for the railway for 26 years (reference). When Michael died in 1919, he left his money, £349 2s, to Sarah (reference).
She had memories of the early days of Bunbury when most of the town was grazing lands and when at 10 pm every night, a man would walk through the town and ring a bell for curfew (reference). She remembered the convict groups camped out of the town with the warders and worked on the roads (reference).
As an elderly lady of 89, she spent every day in the garden at her home at 23 Albert Road (reference). At her age, Sarah's eyesight was failing her, so her hobbies of reading and sewing were gradually replaced by listening to the wireless (reference). When asked about the younger generation in 1948, Sarah felt that "people are not the same today; the younger generation won't put themselves out to do a good turn for one another (reference)."
Her 94th and consequently her last birthday was "a very happy day" for Sarah (reference). She particularly enjoyed the flowers she was given (reference). Sarah passed away in 1954 at the age of 94 years and 10 months at a private hospital, having outlived five of her six children (reference; reference; reference). Her daughter, Tot, and sixteen grandchildren were left to mourn her (reference). Sarah's funeral took place at St Patrick's church, and she was buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Bunbury Cemetery (reference; reference).
Many thanks to Coleen, Sarah White’s great granddaughter, for her help on this biography and photographs.