Dr. Frederick Maurice House
16th July 1865, Gosport, Hampshire ENGLAND.
13th July 1936, `Privett’, Gnowangerup WA.
Katanning’s First Medical Doctor
Frederick Maurice House M.R.C.S. L.R.C.P was born in July 16th, 1865, one of 18 children, and grew up on the farm `Privett’ at Gosport, in Hampshire UK. He went to Portsmouth Grammar School and did his medical training at St Thomas Hospital London, England.
St Thomas’s Hospital London
He migrated to Western Australia in 1891 with his brother George and 50 sovereigns in his pocket on arrival, which he shared with his brother who had nothing. In 1892, Dr. House went to Beverley, where he was District Medical Officer. On December 16th of that year he married Ethel Harriet Drake Brockman, at Toodyay which was then called Newcastle. They had two daughters, Edith and Marion, and two sons, Maurice and Keith.
Dr. House moved to Katanning in 1893 and was the first D.M.O. and the Resident Magistrate, with the family living in a house on the site of the present Infant Health Clinic. After two years, he went to Derby (1895) for four years, serving in the same positions in that district. During this time Maurice Farquhar Birdwood House was born and he was the first white child born in the town (1897).
Dr. House returned to Beverley in 1899, but he was so enamored with the north west of the state that in April 1901 he left with a Government exploring party, led by surveyor Fred Drake Brockman, to explore the last extensive area of un-mapped land in Australia – a rugged triangle of country in north west Kimberley. Dr. House was the Doctor and naturalist for the team.
While on this trip, Mt House was named after him, he discovered the Black Grass Wren – Amytoruis Housei – and he took the first photographs of sites of Aboriginal paintings at Manning Creek and other sites. He also collected Aboriginal weapons in this area and later, in and around the Katanning district. These are still hanging at ‘Ripplemead’.
While on this trip, the House family were at Midland Junction where his wife died in childbirth, but Kevin, one of twins survived.
Frederick remarried in 1901 to Ethel Elizabeth de Lisle and returned to take up practice in Katanning in September 1902, where he continued to practice until the First World War. While in Katanning, he was at one time the only Doctor between Albany and York and would travel over the countryside on his rounds in an American buggy with a pair of ponies.
On one occasion, he travelled 90 miles to Quindanning where, under the light of a hurricane lantern, he amputated a man’s leg on the kitchen table. He was served stuffed emu’s legs for supper before starting on his long journey home.
He was a great nature lover and his children enjoyed travelling with him on his rounds as he identified the various flora and fauna on the way. The house he then lived in was later pulled down to make way for offices which are now occupied by Elders.
“The Bungalow” Situated in Beaufort Street, this was Dr House’s second home in Katanning. His first is now the Infant Health Centre in Austral Terrace. He lived in The Bungalow until he ceased medical practice. It was then “The Katanning Boys Grammar School”; then “Coleraine Private Hospital”. Today, it is again a private residence.
Two year later he built The Bungalow where he lived until giving up medical practice. The Bungalow was a large home for his growing family and he later added a billiard room. The Bungalow later became Katanning Boys Grammar School, Coleraine Private Maternity Hospital, and then a part of the Maranatha Community. It now, once again, a private residence.
Later that year he took up land in the Gnowangerup district, calling his farm Privett, after the one he grew up on in the UK.
In 1910 Dr. House went to England and returned with a motor car – believed to be the first in Western Australia and is now in the West Australian Museum. He was the town’s first license holder for a motor vehicle and had the registration no KA.1 which is still retained by the family.
He joined the A.I.F. in August 1915 and served for two years in the A.A.M.C. in Egypt and France. [1]
The House’s connection to the land began in 1891, when Dr. House and his brother Monty House starting a farm, “Privett”. After the war when Privett had developed, Dr. House retired there and devoted himself to improving the stud Peppin Merino flock which acquired a very good name. The foundation of this flock was laid in 1917 when Dr. FM House purchased 100 ewes from Narrowong and 26 ewes from Illareen, together with two rams from the latter stud.
Since its inception the stud was conspicuously successful in both the Perth and Katanning sale rings and the Perth and Gnowangerup shows. At the 1928 Perth Royal Show the Privett ewes annexed the Grand Championship, both Championships and both Reserve Championships. Dr. F.M.. House sent a representative team of stud and specialty selected rams of the 1926 and 1927 drops to the Great Southern Sheepbreeders’ Association sale at Katanning on 2 and 3 October 1928, and to the Perth Royal Show sales on October 11 of that year.
Dr House died at Privett three days before his 71st birthday, on July 13th 1936. His son, Keith House continued running Privett after Dr House’s death, and it continues in his family today.
In 1988, Fred House purchased the historic Telyarup Homestead from Neil Garnett, son of Glen Garnett, previous owner of the “Glenroy” Sheep Stud. Fred had long had a connection with the property, with his mother, Margaret House (nee Timms) living at ‘Telyarup’ as a child before marrying Dudley House, Fred’s father, in the Telyarup Chapel in 1930. Richard, son of Fred, and Pauline now manage the Barloo Merino Stud from Telyarup Homestead, where he lives with his wife Cindy and their three children.
Dr HOUSE TIME LINE
Born: 16th July 1865, Gosport, Hampshire ENGLAND.
Educated:
Portsmouth Grammar School and St Thomas Hospital London, England.
Married:
1st Marriage: 16th December 1892 at Toodyay, WA, to Elizabeth Drake Brockman.
2nd Marriage: 1901 at Katanning, WA, to Ethel Elizabeth de Lisle
Children:
1: Edith, Marion, Maurice and Keith
2: Ethel de Lilse
Resided:
1891: Arrived at Fremantle, WA
1892: Beverley, WA
1895: Derby, WA
1893: Katanning, WA
1899: Beverley, WA
1901: Midland, WA
1902: Katanning, WA
1920: Gnowangerup, WA
Died: 13th July 1936, `Privett’, Gnowangerup WA.
The first government hospital in Amherst Street, Katanning at which Dr House attended. The building is now part of a unit complex and is situated behind a set of flats opposite the Catholic Church.
Dr. Frederick Maurice House. Dr. Frederick Maurice House. Dr. Frederick Maurice House.