Western Australia
In March 1912 the Fairbridges sailed for Western Australia aboard the Afric, arriving at Albany on 15 April 1912 with capital of £2000. After several months of searching for suitable properties around Albany, Denmark and the Warren River near Manjimup, a property of 160 acres (0.65 km2) was located and purchased near Pinjarra about 60 miles (97 km) south of Perth, with the Western Australian government agreeing to pay £6 for each child towards the cost of the passage money.
After several months of frantic clearing of the run-down property as well as building basic accommodation (mainly tents) for the expected arrivals, the first party of 13 boys, aged between 7 and 13, arrived on board the Australind at Fremantle in January 1913. In July they were followed by a second party of 22 boys.
They endured hardship over the first few years but fell into financial difficulties during World War I until the government provided a grant that tided the school over the war period. In August 1919 Fairbridge went to England on the Ormonde and managed to raise a sum of £27,000 for the development of the school. The British Government's Overseas Settlement Committee provided £20,000, on condition that the Western Australian Government continued its grant of 6 shillings per week per child.
A larger property of 3,200 acres (13 km²) of uncleared land was purchased north of Pinjarra and new buildings, including cottages to house the children, a dining hall, a house for his own family and farm buildings, were erected. Assistance from the Australian Government was also provided.
Fairbridge had, however, suffered considerably from malaria, sciatica and lumbago and in the last few years of his life endured pain and general ill-health. He died at the age of 39 on 19 July 1924 in Perth, while recuperating from a minor operation related to a lymphatic tumour. He was buried at Pinjarra and survived by his wife Ruby (d. 1966) and their two sons and two daughters. His son Rhodes Fairbridge (1914-2006) was an eminent geologist and climate scientist.
Read more about this topic: Kingsley Fairbridge
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