WILLIAM PEMBLE
September 1860 – 2 August 1931
Commission Agent, Auctioneer and Farmer
William Pemble J.P. was a son of Mr. Henry Pemble of Sussex, England, and later of Ballan, Victoria, where he William was born in September, 1860. He started school in Ballan and finished at Watervale Grammar School, South Australia.
At twenty-three years of age he became a wheat agent with the firm of W. R. Cave & Co., in Adelaide, for three years. Beckoned by the bright prospects held out by the gold discoveries in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Mr. Pemble “followed the gleam” as far as Albany, where his intention to proceed was frustrated by the offer of an appointment of under-manager on the stations owned by Messrs. Hassell Brothers, which he decided to accept in March, 1885. After five years in the position he decided to branch out for himself in the land of his adoption.
Coming to Katanning, he purchased from the West Australian Land Company* the property on which he resided and opened in business as general commission agent and auctioneer. After five years he joined a prospecting party, and was one of the pioneers of the Mount Margaret district, where, however, he met with but scant success.
Returning to Katanning he took up land in the vicinity of the town, to which he made considerable additions, and directed his attention to grazing and agriculture.
Always interested in public affairs, Mr. Pemble was one of the founders of the Farmers’ Association of the district, and was president of this body for three successive terms. During his period of office, by his persistent advocacy, he secured for the use of the townspeople the town commonage, a grant of land 1,000 acres in extent within three miles of Katanning.
He also selected the first agricultural showground for the agricultural society, of which he was one of the founders, and through his efforts the societies of Katanning and Broome Hill joined forces, the result of which proved most successful. The shows held annually at Katanning were among the best in the southern district.
The Katanning Water Reserve was granted as a direct result of his influence, and the construction of many of the best roads in the neighbourhood was carried on under his supervision. He was one of the original trustees of the local Mechanics Institute, of which he was a life member and, at its inauguration, was the people’s representative on that board. He was been a member of the Licensing Bench for several years, and was granted his Commission of Justice of the Peace by the James Government in 1903.
Mr. Pemble found healthy recreation in personal attention to his garden and orchard, where his specially selected cherry trees showed splendid results.
In 1889, at St. Werburgh’s, in the vicinity of Mount Barker, he was married to Emily Annie, daughter of Mr. W. H. Dickinson, of Melbourne, Victoria, and had a family of one son, William Henry Claude Pemble, who was born in Albany and died while on active service in World War One on the Western Front [2].
Mr Pemble died on 2 August, 1931 in Katanning aged 70 and his wife, Emily Annie, died on 27 June. 1927 aged 76.
William Henry Claude Pemble
William (Claude) Pemble was the only son born to William and Emily Pemble. He was born in Albany, but the family settled at Katanning, where William grew up. He joined the Union Bank at Katanning and was transferred to Broome around 1914. Claude, as he was known, worked for the Union Bank in 1914 and 1915. He was also active in the local community, serving as Honourable Secretary of the tennis club and also performed in the Broome Comedy Company’s performances.
Claude joined the AIF in 1915 when he was nearly 26 years old. He was posted to the 16th Battalion, 13th Reinforcements and left Fremantle for Egypt in February 1916. The 16th Battalion spent time at Gaza as the AIF underwent a period of expansion and reorganisation, and were then sent to Europe to take part in the fighting on the Western Front. It was in the field in France that Claude became ill with pneumonia and succumbed to the disease in December 1916.
* The West Australian Land Company Limited was established in London in 1885 to take over a contract for the construction of the Beverley to Albany Railway involving a land grant concession which had been made by the Government of Western Australia the previous year, and to construct and manage ‘public works and conveniences’ of all kinds in the Colony. The Company was wound up in 1898 and was succeeded by the Great Southern Railway Company of Western Australia.