Arthur John Thomas Matthews.
Born Brimpaen 19th August 1882.

 

 He was tall, broad, with a full head of hair and a big nose (purple in old age). He married Elizabeth Ann Agnew in 1905 when he was 23 years old. They lived at Karnak Station where Art worked as a farm hand. They had six daughters- after the third one he didn’t speak to his wife. Then Eureka!- a red headed son (Jack). Everyone teased him about the red hair but he said that he didn’t  care- at least he had a spout!

He took over land at Gymbowen- he was very gullible and not a good businessman. When he sold the land to go into the Gymbowen Hotel the Auctioneer (Sawyer) promised him the world. Things didn’t work out and they got very little. The pub had a grocers shop attached but they went broke. One story is that they may have drunk the profits. It was depression time so the running of a business would not have been easy.

They came to Horsham to live about 1924- they must have had something left because they built a house through the State Bank at 1 Gertrude Street where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Art was a top horseman and this was passed on to his son Jack. He had a great knowledge of animals but always considered them working animals not pets.

It was said that he was a fine upstanding man and his children respected him. According to his grandchildren he was a quiet man who played the Piano Accordion and the Mouth Organ.

After coming to Horsham he worked at Uebergang’s chaff mills. During the depression he went droving for Dalgetys ( he would be away for 2 months at a time).His sons Jack, Jim and Donnie helped out at various times. Granny went along on some occasions to keep camp with Grandfather. Then his grandsons Terry, Des and Barry went with their Grandfather, carrying on the tradition. They had three thousand sheep in one mob and more in others. To get money at this time Granny would send one of the grandchildren to Dalgetys with a note to get money- either 1 pound or 10 shillings. He always kept them very short of money-perhaps to stop Granny from buying too much alcohol.
His granddaughter Pat remembers Granny and Grandfather arguing – A he had a full bottle of Gin and was waving it in front of her while drinking steadily. When he went outside, she poured a glassful and put it in the cupboard and replaced the Gin with water.

Granddaughter Moira remembers-“ As grandchildren we didn’t see much of him- he was always away working. Early one morning Grandfather rode past the school on his horse. There were at least a dozen kids there -six or seven his grandchildren. Every child in the group sang out “Hello Grandfather” and he answered everyone (probably because he didn’t know which ones were his anyway).”

Noted in Granny’s Aunty’s (Mrs John Mc Tavish) birthday book was the following:-
19th August- Arthur John Thomas Matthews-“ Also known as a V.O.R. Turf Tipster”. Wonder what it means- perhaps Very Often Right Turf Tipster?

He was a remote figure always in the background. He didn’t seem to have much to do with the upbringing of his children- Phyl and Donnie were his pets.

After his wife died he lived alone at Gertrude St except for two periods when his granddaughter Julie and her husband Trevor lived with him for two years. Later his grandson Barry and his wife Lorraine stayed while their house was being built. His daughter Phyl lived close by and brought him meals and generally took care of him.

He died in Febuary 1962 aged 79 of stomach cancer. He was admitted to the hospital early on the morning of his death.