Richard Travis - Early Life

Early Life

Travis was born as Dickson Cornelius Savage on 6 April 1884 in Opotiki, New Zealand. He was one of nine children, being the fifth in the brood. His father, James Savage, a former member of the New Zealand Armed Constabulary, had migrated to New Zealand from Ireland and was employed as a farmer. His mother, Frances (née O'Keefe), had originally come from Sydney, Australia. As a child Dickson Savage attended schools at Opotiki and Otara but only completed the first four years of his education before his family took him out of education to work on the farm. He acquired various farming skills, but showed a particular talent for horse breaking for which he earned a degree of local fame.

However, Savage had an impetuous nature and he found himself in trouble after leaving home and moving to Gisborne at the age of 21 after falling out with his father. Amid claims of impropriety with a local woman he moved on and, seeking a clean break, he changed his name to Richard Charles Travis and in 1910 he settled in Winton. There he found work as a farmhand with a local farmer by the name of Tom Murray at his property around Ryal Bush. Sometime later he and Murray's daughter, Lettie, became engaged although the pair were not married before the war in Europe separated them.