Don Roulston Buzzard

6.1
Returned Soldier Settler, Griffith N.S.W.

On 12th April 1917, John Corrie secured a lease on some land under the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act of 1916. The land was in a new irrigation area near Griffith, N.S.W. called the Mirrool Irrigation Area and near the village of Griffith.

Mirrool Irrigation Area near Griffith [45]

Land Leased by John Corrie [46]

As beset many farming schemes for returned soldiers across Australia, a number of problems arose with the farms, as not all soldiers were good farmers and the administrators of the schemes did not foresee the many obstacles which the farmers would have to face. Insufficient capital to clear the land, small holdings that did not allow for the rotation of crops, rising water tables caused by the diversion of river waters, lack of transport to markets and over-production of produce (which was later overcome by the building of canneries) were a few of the problems.

John Corrie’s family joined him in Griffith for a time but all his children were born in the suburbs of Sydney, except the stillborn child whose birth and burial place is unknown. Bruce Roulston was the next born in Marrickville on 31st August 1918 and then Don Roulston on 16th August 1921 in Croydon. Both suburbs are inner city suburbs of Sydney.

Don’s Birth Certificate 16th August 1921

As if the Dymock / Smith family had not had enough early deaths in their families, Don’s father died at the age of 32, in Griffith, on 5th April 1924 of a heart condition.

John Corrie Dymock Died at the age of 32

He was buried in the Church of England section of the Griffith cemetery. His gravestone incorrectly states he died on 6th April.

John Corrie Dymock Gravestone [47]

The few existing photographs show the family at Griffith and Sydney.

Don aged 2 years at Griffith

John, Don and Bruce Dymock at Griffith

Dymock Family in Sydney

It is not known where Don went to primary school however when she was 12 years old tragedy struck her life again.

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[45] Water and Land – Trevor Langford-Smith and John Rutherford
[46] Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales Friday 23 May 1924 (No.68), page 2484
[47] Griffith Historical Society