Charles Wheelock
“…no white man had ever trod on this part of the State…”
In a “Western Mail” report in 1904 titled ‘A Gascoyne Pioneer,’ referring to Charles Thomas Wheelock.’
The item stated: “The late Charles Thomas Wheelock was born at Newcastle, now called Toodyay, in the Northam district, on January 6, 1858.
“As a young man he worked on the station of the late C.D.V. Foss, who was later the resident maistrate of the Gascoyne … At 19 years of age, with the late Charlie Brockman, he journeyed to Boolathana Station, near Carnarvon, from the Upper Irwin (now Mingenew).
“In 1879 he brought sheep to Doorawarrah for Messrs. Gale and McNeil, and in 1880 he entered into a partnership with the late Mr G.T. Gooch … It was on July 30, 1880, that the two partners discovered Wandagee.
“Up to that time no white man had ever trod on this part of the State. On the station they placed 2,000 sheep in November, 1880.
“About five years later Mr Wheelock sold out his interest in Wandagee and settled in Carnarvon where he established a butchering business. It is now being conducted by the Carnarvon Traders after passing through many hands.
“While settled in Carnarvon he married Miss Jessie Nevin, daughter of the late William Hogan McJannett, and two sons and five daughters comprised his family, most of them living today in the Carnarvon district.
“The late Mr Wheelock was a grand-son of Major Barron, a pioneer of the State whose wife is said to be the first white woman to arrive in West Australia.
“Although a resident of Carnarvon for many years, Mr Wheelock took no active part in the public affairs of the town and district. He was a keen lover of the bush, where he spent the major part of his life engaged in pastoral pursuits.
“He was a man of happy disposition. No matter what the hardship and difficulties, he would always face them with a joke and a good hearty laugh.
“In that spirit the lived and helped very largely in the settlement of the Gascoyne.”
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