User:Pamelavgclark/sandbox

Arthur (Artie) Christopher Valentine Krafft (Born 1910) spent much of his life as a timber cutter in the New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu, on the most- southern populated island of Aneityum (also known as Anatom)

Early Life

Krafft was born on the 15 May 1910, the eldest son and second child of Karl August Wilhelm Krafft and Rose Emily Hughes. His older sister was Mary, his two younger brothers were William (Bill) and Gordon, (unsure of Gordon's position in the family, might have been the eldest child) who was killed in a motorbike accident when he was 21. The youngest member of his family was a girl,Thelma. His father was born in Germany and came to Australia with his family when he was six years old. (siblings and parents details?)

His parents were Charles August William Krafft, a coal miner and Victoria Rose Emily Hughes, home duties. Three of his grandparents were of German origin, his paternal grandfather was from Berlin.

Family

Krafft left school (Scots College in Queensland) when he was 10 years old to work with his father, who was a timber cutter in Queensland and North Western New South Wales. Krafft had little education, but had a natural aptitude for figures and sport, particularly swimming, athletics and wrestling. Krafft's parents had separated, the boys lived with their father, the girls with their mother. Krafft and 'the brother Bill' worked with their father and pulled logs out of the bush with a bullock team.

Career

Krafft left Queensland in the 1930s after working with his father and went to Sydney to find work and to help with the war effort. He worked for CSR, which involved sinking pylons into Sydney harbour, he worked in a quarry where he learned to handle gelignite/dynamite (is there a difference?) and a munitions factory.

His logging experience in Queensland enabled him to get a job as Bushman on Aneityum in the 1940s.

His experience on Aneityum, which included building roads using bulldozers and dynamite to access difficult areas to access kauri pine trees. His skill with a bulldozer blade and maintaining and repairing heavy machinery became legendary in the New Hebrides.

The 1940's

At the munitions factory he met a woman called Vera, who was also a friend of Yvonne Grose, who worked in the fur trade. He courted Vera, then later Yvonne, Vera and Yvonne were to become life-long friends.

Krafft and Grose married in October (long weekend) in 1941. Krafft had bought two blocks of land in a suburb of Western Sydney called Bass Hill (or Yagoona), later he sold the corner block and proceeded to build a house on the remaining next door block.

On 17 October 1944, his daughter Pamela Victoria Grace was born and as the house wasn't habitable, she was brought home from hospital to a tent. The Krafft family soon moved into the half-built house as building materials were difficult to access during the war years.

In 1946 Krafft applied for a job as Bushman to a French company who were logging kauri pine on an island in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), the Krafft family rented their half a house in Sydney and went by ship on the Burns Philp inter-island trading vessel Merinda (there was a sister ship, the SS Portia to the remote island of Aneityum, the trip taking six weeks.

Krafft's job involved finding appropriate trees and then work out the logistics of how to remove them from the bush to ship as whole logs to Sydney. The machinery was American and left-over from the second world war, the bulldozers were 'Allis Chalmers' and the trucks 'Whites'. At this time there were about 20 expats including their partners, working for the logging company. Grose's brother Ronald and his wife Molly, her father James (Jim) and his wife Madge were among the expats.

The Krafft family moved into 'the round house'. Malaria was a problem, Grose hand-sewed a room-sized mosquito net to enclose the family's bed and cot to try to escape from the malaria-carrying anopheles mosquitoes.

Burns Philp ships called into Aneityum every six weeks, weather permitting, the ships bringing supplies and treats for the expats (and one child) and took away the rafted logs in their holds.

In late 1947 Grose was pregnant and had to return to Sydney (with Pamela) to give birth. A second Krafft daughter, Toni Jean, was born on 19 March 1948 and they all returned to Aneityum by ship, several months later.

In 1949, the Krafft family of four returned by ship to Sydney.

The 1950's

Krafft bought a bulldozer from Conquip and started his own earth-moving business in country NSW, mainly around Condobolin. He bought a Morris Commercial truck and a caravan and worked on site, then home, in six week blocks. When he returned to Sydney, he worked on finishing the house he'd started to build in the early 1940s.

Tom Finlayson - just remembered the name of a land owner out Condo way, who gave dad a lot of work, need to google him, Mum and I flew in his tiny plane

In 1951 Grose became pregnant and gave birth to their third daughter - Sue Elizabeth on 8 February 1952.

Krafft was doing well financially in the early 1950s, he was putting in airstrips for large property owners, sinking dams, made an Olympic swimming pool in Condobolin.

Pamela started her private schooling at Meriden in 1951, after one year at the local Bass Hill primary school, Toni and Sue also started at Meriden in 1952 and 1956 respectively.

In the early 1950s a 'credit squeeze' was in progress in Australia and Krafft started to struggle with a tax burden. By 1955 the logging company on Aneityum had failed and the timber rights were up for sale. ???? Hardie (yes, the wine family, can't recall his christian name right now) approached Krafft and offered him a six week trip to Aneityum to check on the state of the machinery and if the business could be viable again. He left Sydney by plane in October 1955.

Krafft was waiting in Port Vila (on the island of Efate) for transport to Aneityum, he met a photographic team from National Geographic magazine and was invited to travel with them to other islands in the group, a once in a life time opportunity. (the feature was in the mag the following year I think, about the Big Nambas on Pentecost, would be good to access this feature from their archives - possible?)

Krafft arrived on Aneityum, assessed the situation, decided he could make the business work again and stayed 15 years before returning to Sydney in 1971.

The 1960's

Krafft continued to financially support his Sydney family. He continued to remove kauri pine from the island and ship whole logs to Glebe in Sydney.

Krafft had an accident during the rafting of the logs and almost lost his life when he slipped down into the water between the logs, he was saved by several of the local men who were helping him with the rafting process. One of his legs was badly cut by coral, the wounds quickly became ulcerated, they took a year to heal.

During that time, money was short, it took years for him to recover the business

The marriage between Krafft and Grose broke down and they were divorced in the 1960s. (is it possible to determine the date?)

One of his four daughters, Pamela Clark is a well known food writer, editor and long-time employee of the The Australian Women's Weekly

Item to add about Paul Burton

The 1970's