WHEN an elderly person dies, a library burns down – so says an old proverb, its source unclear, but most likely of African origin.
The door has shut on Casterton’s ‘library’ of raw experiences from the Second World War, with the passing of Robert Keith Edwards.
Keith, who served as a Leading Aircraftman in the Australian Air Force in Borneo, was the last living veteran of the conflict in the Casterton area and passed away early last month at the grand age of 96.
Casterton RSL president, Barry Kent said Keith’s death was a significant loss for the community.
“He was our last link with that conflict, so the door’s now shut on that,” he said.
“Over the last few years, we’ve had the last couple (of Second World War veterans) go, most of them in their 90s.
“Time waits for no one.”
Keith’s son, Len, supplied a plethora of stories and photos detailing a colourful life filled with stories, not just from his father’s service, but from the larger part of his life after the war and his own memories tell of a unique character who lived comfortably within the local area.
“He had a mind of his own and that was it,” he said.
“If we were sitting there watching television and football was on … it was football and nothing else … (even) if Mum was in the middle of a movie.
“He never really left this area – he didn’t like going out the front gate unless there was a fox somewhere (or) a football match.”
Priceless war stories
MANY of Keith’s stories from the Second World War – and those of his family members who served prior in the Boer and First World Wars – were shared two years ago in the Casterton News (Hidden treasures reveal priceless Anzac story, 22/04/2020) after Len discovered a ‘war chest’ containing war diaries, service medals and other valuable items from the conflicts.
Len told CN at the time thatKeith had not revealed much of what he did in the war until these artifacts were discovered.
Indeed, it was only when Keith requested his army cap from the box, kept under his bed at Glenelg House, that these treasures and the stories they told were revealed.
Keith enlisted in the air force in 1944, aged 18, and during his time in training he impressed instructors with his accuracy with the rifle, a product of his farming background in which he shot rabbits in the paddocks.
He eventually sailed out of Australia in 1945 and sent to Borneo in modern-day Indonesia, in an 18-day voyage in which the ship transporting him had to take great care navigating mine-riddled waters.
His task in Borneo was helping to repair damaged airstrips to allow Australian and American aircraft to land in the area.
While his experience was not to be on the front lines, with the conflict already at an end around a month before his arrival, his other encounters are their own unique stories.
Keith had told CN of dealing with native people in Borneo, some of whom were hired to assist in the tasks at hand while others caused stirs.
One such story was of the local women who spied on showering servicemen, until one soldier took matters into his own hands and ran out to chase them away in his birthday suit.
Meanwhile, those brought on board to assist developed their own working schedule, disappearing into the jungle as soon as lunch appeared before their eventual reappearance the following morning.
The horrific consequences of the war were never far away – Keith spoke of finding dead Japanese soldiers amongst the scrub and of one fellow soldier whose ‘treasures’ of the war included a skull, painted blue, with a bullet hole.
After the war’s end, Keith was discharged and transported to Melbourne in Douglas DC3 aircraft from Balikpapan, in Borneo’s south-east.
Keith’s honours included the War Medal 1939-1945, the Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 and the Australian Service Medal 1945-1975 with Clasp ‘SW PACIFIC’.
The medals of his great uncle, Robert, and father, Archibald, had also been hidden in the war chest.
Robert was a trooper in the mounted rifles, partaking in the Boer War against republics in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century, when the British Empire’s Australian colonies were on the verge of federation.
Archibald was just 15 years old when he served in World War I – the youngest person from the Western District to do so.
Despite initially reaching the front lines in France and seeing action, his parents alerted authorities of his age and he was moved to undertaking canteen duties.
His belt was among the items in the war chest – it had held memorabilia, medals and insignia which he collected during his time in the war.
Also in the chest were six diaries written and kept by Archibald’s brother-in-law, Walter Taylor, telling of harrowing experiences along the front lines in France.
The historic items are being kept within Keith’s family.
More than his service
OF COURSE, Keith’s life didn’t start in 1944 and his experiences are far beyond what he did in Borneo.
He was one of four children born to Archibald and Daisy Edwards in Coleraine on 10 February, 1926 and raised on a small farm in Clover Flat, halfway between Coleraine and Casterton, alongside brother Albert and sisters Betty and Iris.
He was an all-rounder, playing tennis, cricket, football and various card and board games, as well as being a hunter and fisher.
Keith’s football earned him an invitation to play with a number of clubs in top-level Victorian Football League, including South Melbourne – now the AFL’s Sydney Swans – who he came to barrack for.
However, preferring to stay in the local area over living in Melbourne, he declined and all his football therefore was played at Coleraine with a year at Casterton.
He was part of premiership-winning teams at both clubs but, being in Coleraine’s recruitment zone but wanting to play for Casterton, stopped playing local football by the age of 23.
Keith married Joyce in 1950 and they went on to build their own home on a 160-acre farm in Muntham, with the help of Geoff Harriott.
The chimney of the house still bears the date of their marriage of 2 September, 1950, which proved unsuccessful in reminding him regularly.
They had four children – Len, Sandra, Colin and Barry – as well as eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
He was Muntham’s fire captain for around 45 years and a talented musician who played the Spanish guitar, harmonica and accordion.
He also played bowls and, being the competitive person he was, won many finals playing both at Coleraine and in retirement at Casterton.
Fox hunting was a favoured pastime for Keith – his wool shed held the pelts outside shearing season and he often made more money out of them than he did from the sheep on the farm.
Originally only a means of protecting his lambs on the farm, it developed into his eventual involvement in groups of farmers seeking to rid their properties, and others’, of the pests destroying livestock.
One man he hunted with was Malcolm Fraser, south-west Victoria’s only local to have become the Prime Minister – Keith had exclusive rights to shoot foxes on Mr Fraser’s Nareen property.
They even hunted together on one occasion during his tenure as Prime Minister – on one occasion, the sounds of their shotguns brought Mr Fraser’s bodyguards rushing down, hands on weapons, and subsequent “fast talking” taking place to de-escalate the situation.
Keith knew how to lure a fox – he would make whistles out of beer cans which imitated a squealing rabbit.
Meanwhile, his ute always proved difficult to find.
Wherever he left it when he went hunting, he could walk all over and end up walking up to 30 kilometres back home before it was eventually found the following day.
Even after retirement, he wasn’t ready to give up on fox hunting and became a part of the group known as ‘The Farmer’s Friends’, continuing to protect properties from foxes while helping donate thousands back into the local community.
Various keepsakes of Keith’s life as well as fox pelts and his jumper with its fox emblem were in his coffin with him.
