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LATE MR. C. A. PIESSE.
DISTRICT IN MOURNING.
FUNERAL AT WAGIN.
West Australian
16 July, 1914
Charles Austin Piesse
Wagin, July 15.
At Wagin to-day was laid to rest one of the Great Southern district’s greatest sons in the person of Mr. Charles Austin Piesse, who was for twenty years a representative of the South-East province in the Legislative Council. He has left the best of all monuments in the hearts of the people of the Great Southern amongst whom, and especially the older residents, he was universally loved for his sterling worth and cheery character. The news of his death on Monday plunged the whole town into mourning and today every business house was closed by universal consent.
The funeral cortege left his old home, Tillelan, at 11 o’clock, and after a short service in St. George’s church, the procession was again formed and proceeded to the cemetery. The cortege was nearly a mile long. The school children headed the procession under Mr. Shugg, their headmaster, and then followed the mourning coaches completely laden with wreaths and floral tributes.
The pall-bearers were Messrs. J. F. Cullen, C. McKenzie, M.’s L.C., representing the Albany Municipal Council; Mr. S. Stubbs, M.L.A.; Mr. M. Broun, and Mr. W. E. C. Moss, of Narrogin; Mr. J. C. H. Nenke, and Messrs. W. E. Clark and D. Malcolm. The chief mourners following were Messrs. Austin, Vernon, and Oxley Piesse (sons), Messrs. A. N. Piesse, M.L.A., W. J. Piesse, and F. E. Piesse (brothers), Messrs. Fred, Cecil, Melville, Leslie, Clarrie, Hector, Selvie, Albert and Edmund Piesse (nephews) and Messrs. G. Chipper, A. Shipworth, S. Smith, G. Watson, and F. Arthur. Sir John Forrest represented the Commonwealth and the Premier (Mr. Scaddan) the State Government.
There were also present the Colonial Secretary (Mr. Drew), Mr. H. Briggs (President of the Legislative Council), Messrs. Kingsmill, Clarke, McLarty, and Holmes, M.’s L.C., Mr. Troy (the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly) and Messrs. Frank Wilson, Price, Elliott, Broun, and Lander M’s. L.A., and Mr. Grant (Clerk of the Legislative Assembly), Mr. J. D. Connolly (ex-Colonial Secretary) was also present.
The local governing and public bodies were represented by Messrs. J. E. Cowcher (Agricultural Society), the Mayor (Mr. E. H. Agsolon), and councillors of the Wagin Municipal Council; the chairman (Mr. F. Faulkner) and members of the Wagin Roads Board; the chairman (Mr. R. J. Bridland) and Mr. J. T. West, of the Dumbleyung Roads Board; Mr. A. Madden of the West Arthur Roads Board; the chairman (Mr. Geo. McLeod, jun.), and Messrs. Garston, Prosser, and Hewson of the Katanning Roads Board; Mr. Overhen (chairman of the Pingelly Roads Board), and Messrs. R. Bell and E. Wilhelm, of the Woodanilling Roads Board.
The cadets followed under Lieutenant Stan Nenke, and then came the members of the Wagin Liedertafel and representatives of the Wagin friendly societies.
Among the general public were Mr. M. Fox (district surveyor), Mr. Schroeder (representing Messrs. E. Barnett and Co., Albany), Mr. H. Gannaway (representing Elder, Shenton and Co.), Mr. A. J. Tunney, and Messrs. Richardson, Fairclough, Roth, Gilbert, and McIndoe, of Katanning; the Rev. H. J. Morrell, Fathers Moloney and Riedy, and representative farmers from all over the district.
The attendance was over 1,000 and would have been much greater but for the wet and stormy night, which prevented many from driving long distances. The weather, however, cleared up in the morning and was fine during the ceremony. The Rev. E. J. T. Atwell (representing the Bishop of Bunbury), with the Rev. M. Burridge, of Katanning, officiated at the graveside, and the Wagin Liedertafel sang, “Lead, Kindly Light.“
The Rev. E. J. T. Atwell, in his address, said: “The open grave speaks to us of something more than trouble, sorrow, and sadness. Certainly, it is an end to this life, but it is a beginning of a life of brighter prospects and brighter things. We have laid to rest one dearly loved by all; one who has left no uncertain mark behind, a well-defined mark not only in this little town of Wagin, but in the whole State. We look back and begin to realise that a most distinguished man, a most able and worthy man, has passed away.
The Wagin home of Charles Piesse – “Cintramia”.
As father of a most respected family he excelled; as a churchman he stood in the first rank; as a politician his eagerness and earnestness will ever be remembered; and last, but by no means least, as a lover of children he found a place in every heart. His sympathetic nature and his untiring energy, his diligence and thoroughness, are stamped deeply on the little town in which we live. The departed leaves behind a family who have done, and will do, him great credit, and his sons and daughters have every reason to be proud of him as a father. His life has made the world both better and nobler for what he believed to be the right course.
If need be, he was ready to stand alone. The town of Wagin for many a long day will portray the fact that our friend whom we have today laid to rest once lived in its midst. A monument will be unnecessary, for his memory will live. Our friend sleepeth but nevertheless liveth.
Few, looking at the result of Mr. Piesse’s work today, can realise the strenuous nature of his early life, both private and public, in these districts. The business that he established with his brother, the late Mr. F. H. Piesse, C.M.G., at the Arthur River, was before the days of railways. The only public body then was the Kojonup Roads Board and Mr. Piesse rode to Kojonup and back, over 60 miles, to the meetings and attended to his business in the evening on his return. With the building of the Great Southern Railway the brothers foresaw new centres and established stores at Katanning and Wagin.
The latter, which was in charge of Mr. C. A. Piesse, was at first merely a tent, and from that has grown the Municipality of Wagin, of which he was the first Mayor. The remarkable energy and enterprise of the Piesse Bros. and of the first settlers was illustrated by the gathering in of the first of the natural resources of the Great Southern district, the sandalwood. The newer settlers to-day, with many miles of railways and cleared roads, have only just penetrated to the fringe of the area from which this sandalwood was obtained and carted up to 70 and 100 miles to the railway. There was at one time over 1,000 tons in Wagin alone.
With the advent of the goldfields, Mr. Piesse drove through the bush, and blazed a track that the teams followed with flour from Katanning for the miners. He continued the agitation for the purchase of the Great Southern Railway from the old Western Australian Land Company until he was successful and afterwards induced the Government, of which Sir John Forrest was the head, to reduce the exorbitant values charged by the old land company to the settlers, in some cases up to £2 per acre, to the same liberal conditions then in force for the Crown lands alongside. Under the Forrest Ministry from that day the progress of the Great Southern district has been marked by leaps and bounds.
As a businessman he was fair and just. No better illustration of the part played by the businessmen in building up these agricultural districts can be found than his statement at one of our public gatherings recently, that although when he transferred his business to Messrs. Malcolm and Co., then much smaller than to-day, he carried a burden of £25,000, and, without pushing anyone, after many years that had nearly all been paid. In the early years he was prominent in establishing religious services in this town and the present Church of England was erected almost wholly as a result of his efforts. He may be said to have been the father of Wagin, and many fine buildings in the town were erected by him. Katanning, July 15.
A special train was engaged to-day to enable the representatives of the Roads Board, the Agricultural Society, and other public bodies and a number of residents to attend the funeral of the late Mr. C. A. Piesse, at Wagin. Owing to rain, however, numbers of people were prevented making the journey.
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Source: “Trove” West Australian 16/07/1914