Our Family Tree

Eulogy for Arthur. Written by his brother Ken Clutterbuck and read at his funeral.

Although this is a sad day for everyone here, this is also a day for us to celebrate Arthur’s life.

Arthur was the second eldest of four brothers – Peter, Arthur, Roy and then myself. We were all born in London, went to Alexander Park Primary School, and then went on to Bounds Green High School. Yes we all went to the same schools, which meant when you followed your brothers, as I did because I was the youngest, you were labeled. In Arthur’s case he was very good at school – he was very brainy, skilled at metal work and also a very good runner (although I suspect most of his training look place running after girls!) so all the teachers presumed the rest of us were also as talented.

By 1966 at the age of 24 Arthur had a lovely wife, Sheila and 4 lovely children Carol, Linda, Paul and Mark and that was when they migrated to Australia. It was here that their youngest son David was born and he was our first true Aussie in the family.

Arthur, Sheila and the children lived in a railway house in The Crescent Midland – a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home, which was fine until the rest of the family decided to come to Australia, with our mum, dad, Roy and myself also living with them for a couple of months - things were a bit more of a squeeze. It would have been worse if our oldest brother Peter was there too, but due to his somewhat checkered past, he was not able to leave the UK with us! Soon our house in Lynwood was built and off we went.

Arthur was a tool maker in England – in Australia it was referred to as a fitter and turner. He came to Australia with a job at the railways and he continued to work at the railway workshop until he retired. By the time he retired he was the supervisor of the workshop, but for some unknown reason his retirement came just short of his eligibility for a Gold Card for the railways. Something he continued to be cranky about for a long while. Linda recalls telling her friends that “Those trains wouldn’t run if my dad didn’t make the wheels”

Arthur had a good work ethic, but possibly even more so when it came to completing “home jobs” at work. One job I remember Arthur undertaking was completely rebuilding my gearbox for me. Thanks Arthur and I guess thanks Westrail. During this time Arthur also was a regular donator of blood to the Red Cross clinic – in fact he was even awarded for donating the most blood. We suspect his real drive to donate was the couple of hours allowed away from the workshop and the free tea and biscuits.

Arthur was very good and very precise at his job. And throughout life he would teach himself and complete renovations and fix almost anything on his own and very precisely. Arthur moved from The Crescent to Kerwin Way where they all lived until Arthur moved to Bayswater where he remained until he retired. Lucky because his home was situated between the Maylands Hotel and the Bayswater Hotel – so he had a few options. Combine with his home brew and there was not much chance to dehydrate.

And we have a few more memories of Arthur and his home brew. Besides everyone commenting that his was the best beer – and meaning it! Arthur has his recipe down to a fine art. On bottling night, all the kids had a job to do, washing the bottles, adding the sugar and the brew into the bottles and then topping them. Then they were stored under Arthur and Sheila’s bed. That was until some bottles started exploding and Sheila put her foot down and the bottles were then stored in the shed. Arthur always enjoyed cooking and he always cooked the Sunday roast. Later in life he became very good at curries, and always put on a big feast. Arthur also loved music – country style music – and the more home brew he drank the louder the music generally got. His preferred drink had recently changed to green ginger wine I believe.

Not long after retirement Arthur relocated to Beverley in the wheat belt where he lived a simple life on his property, happy with his chooks – or “his girls” as he called them - as company and assorted fruit trees. This reminds me that Arthur always had chooks in his life, in particular when we were younger we had a rooster called Sampson. No one could get close to this rooster – it was vicious, but Arthur could pick it up and carry it under his arm like a baby. He was always kind natured to animals and always had a dog too. Arthur enjoyed Beverley – he liked the quiet and the solitude. He had always loved gardening, so this was an opportunity for him to have the garden and veggie garden of his dreams – most of us also benefitted from this too. Recently, Arthur loved Beverley even more as the bakery opened in town. He was delighted that his doctor told him he needed to put on some weight, so he took it upon himself to indulge in his favourite chocolate éclairs – every day. He would go to the bakery to get a loaf of bread and a cake (or two).

Arthur enjoyed his own company but had a few good friends. When he had visitors all were welcomed and you would never leave hungry, thirsty or without full egg cartons and fresh fruit and vegetables when in season.

I shall remember the times with our brother Roy, like fishing trips to Dwellingup, Madora Bay and Timms Thicket. If the fish weren’t biting there was always a flagon of wine and a yarn to pass the night away. Arthur always enjoyed fishing, ocean fishing, reef fishing, marronning and crabbing. We had great family holidays to Dwellingup at Easter, Roy would play guitar and we would have campfires and all join in singing. Arthur also enjoyed holidays to Kalbarri – he would book a railway house for a couple of weeks and head up to fish. Linda and Mark would often join him for a week also.

I love Arthur and Roy very much and both are now sadly missed, as well as our brother Peter. I’m sure we will meet again, and there will be many more tales to tell.