~  farmer, butcher, labourer, fireman, engine driver, refrigeration & ice works engineer ~

Donald Wallace Luck (1897-1963)

Family search:- https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MW25-C8G/donald-wallace-luck-1897-1963 -"When Donald Wallace Luck was born on 7 January 1897, in Blayney, New South Wales, Australia, his father, Peter Athaniel Luck, was 38 and his mother, Elizabeth Patrick, was 28. He died in 1963, in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, at the age of 66."

Benjamin Luck was christened Donald Wallace Luck and was the sixth child of Peter Nathaniel (Luck) ~ Beck's son with Elizabeth Patrick.  (second family). 

Ben was born on 17 January 1897 in Blayney, New South Wales (BDM 10537/1897) and died 26 Mar 1963 in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia. It is not known why he was called Ben, however, all the children were known by nick names.

Ben's father Peter was a son of Ellen Coates and Nathaniel Beck, a miner who died shortly after Peter's birth. Ellen Coates retained the family surname "Luck"  after her deceased husband George Luck. 

Donald's middle name of Wallace appears to be a tribute to Peter's sister Susannah Luck and her husband Charles Wallace who acted as foster parents and helped raise the children of Peter Nathaniel, following the death of his first wife. The name Wallace was passed on to two of Ben's sons, Don and Wal.

As a young man Ben worked as a labourer with the Blayney Freezing works. In the photo below, taken in 1918 at the ice works, Ben is nearest the door of the freight train. He was recorded as a fireman in 1919, the same year as his marriage to Elsie Ryan. Ben Luck's half brothers and their association with family of Charles Wallace enabled him to participate in the running of butcher shops in the Western Plains district of NSW.

Ben Luck married Elsie Evelyn Ryan, on the 08 Jan 1919 in Carcoar, New South Wales, Australia. Elsie Ryan was the daughter of Edward Ryan and Anne Putland, born on 27 September 1900,  Rockley, New South Wales.  

During the 1st World War (1914-18), infrastructure projects were delayed or abandoned, and did not restart until the 1920s. 

Mapping of the Parish of Errol, County of Bathurst, Land District of Carcoar. shows Donald W Luck to have purchased property ~ Lot 242 ~ February 1922 ~ The group of blocks have a southern boundary on Luck's Lane. The land of Edward Patrick jnr. lies beyond a common on the south side of Luck's Lane.

• • Town of Blayney and suburban lands. Parishes of Errol County of Bathurst. Land district of Blayney.. see 1914-1930 mapping.

  • DP 758121~ All subsisting allotments of Sections in this town will in future be identified as the correspondingly numbered lots in sections in Deposited Plan DP 758121

  • Reference: https://hlrv.nswlrs.com.au/

Ben and Elsie established a butcher shop business in Surrey Hills and suffered the effects of the Wall Street financial crash of 1929, which caused reduced demand for primary produce through the shortage of money. Unemployment in Australia hit a record high of 29- 32% by 1931-32 and the Great Depression and unemployment meant that few people could pay for goods  and Ben's kind-heart could not watch children go hungry so gave away his stock on credit until his business collapsed. Many people moved to and from country to city areas in search of work, and Ben and Elsie with three young children were among them. 

Their movements appear on the electoral and Census rolls and by 1937 they had returned to Blayney.

• • Electoral Rolls c.1930[i] ~ Ben appears on two electoral rolls and census rolls: One in Granville show Ben, a labourer, living at 2 Farrel St. Granville and later that year in Bultge Street, Dubbo.
    circa 1930-1936: in Dubbo, the home of Norman Willis Luck, son of Peter Luck and Sarah Worling. His son Wallace Edward on his wedding certificate, shows he was born in Dubbo (12 Oct 1927).
    
    Blayney

    • Electoral Rolls c.1934-1937 - Donald W (Ben) Luck labourer and Elsie are recorded at Osman Street, Blayney, the home of Annie Ryan.

    • Electoral Rolls c.1937-1949: they remained in Macquarie / Carcoar Street, Blayney through  the period of WW II and beyond. Ben Luck took a job as an engine driver, probably the engine of a refrigeration works. His brother Burton J Luck, labourer and Gilbert Harold Luck and Ruby run a butcher shop. 

    • In the 1954 census Ben and Elsie Luck are registered at Bentinck Street, Bathurst and his brother Claude also lived in Bathurst.

    • Electoral Rolls c.1955-1960 ~ 17 Gerald Street, Marrickville ~ rowhouse, now industrial

    • Electoral Rolls c..1963 -1974 ~ 7 Cooleen Street,  Blakehurst.

Children of Ben Luck and Elsie Ryan:

1. Ivy May Luck was born on 10 Oct 1919 in Blayney, New South Wales, Australia (Church Street). Ivy married Allan Egan on 21 Oct 1941 in Blayney, New South Wales, Australia and changed her name to Eve. Eve died on 01 Apr 2002 (Concord). 

2. Donald Maxwell Peter Luck was born on 15 Oct 1924. In 1949, Don married Alma Mary McCormick in the town of Parkes, NSW. Don died on 03 Jan 1994.

3. Wallace Edward Luck (Wal) was born on 12 Oct 1927, in Dubbo,  New South Wales, where while Elsie convalesced, Ben found local work presumably on the farms and a Butcher shop run by his half brothers Norman and Gilbert Luck. 

Wal worked with poultry before coming to Sydney and starting in dry cleaning which became his career He lived in Annandale as did his future bride, also from Dubbo, Barbara Jean (Judith / Judy) Taylor (1931-2005).  They married in 1953 (register 16267/1953, Petersham). 

Barbara Jean Taylor, who was known as Judy, was the daughter of John William Taylor and Jessie Taylor and raised in Carrington Street, Dubbo. Judy had a sister, Margaret and brothers, John and Ronald Charles, the latter drowned in the River in 1950. The stress that caused contributed to the parental separation.  Jessie appears to have remarried by 1953 and assumed the surname Smith.

Wal Luck died on 23 Oct 1985, after suffering for years the deteriorating effects of motor neurone disease accredited to his line of work. Children: 

• Richard 'Ricki' Anthony 

• Donna (Partridge-Garden) 

4. Robert (Bobby) Luck was born in 1932 (13 years after Ivy). Robert Luck joined De La Salle Brothers and died in January, 1953 following a motor cycle accident, at the intersection of and Stony Creek Road, and Princess Highway, Hurstville. 

"Reform the deformed; Conform the reformed; Confirm the conformed; Transform the confirmed". 

5. Peter Luck was born in Feb 1941 in Blayney, New South Wales, Australia. He married Gail Esdale Dellow in 1965 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Children:

1.  Tim Luck:- https://www.buildingmomentum.net.au/contact-us/

2. Susan married and moved to Asia

3. Robert Luck

4. Simon Luck

Nan Elsie would say that Ben was generous to a fault, as rather than see children hungry he gave away the meats they had to sell during the depression years. Ben died on 26 March, 1963 in Cowra  and Elsie died on 6th March 1974 at her home in Blakehurst, Sydney, New South Wales.

Siblings of Ben Luck

• • • 1. Gladys Lillian Luck (1891-1966) 

      2. Gilbert Harold Luck (1892-1971) (Kruger) 

      3. May Ivy Luck (1894-1917) 

      4. Herbert William Luck (1899-1966)

      5. Selina Evelyn Luck (1900-1980) 

      6. Eileen Lila Mary Luck (Aileen) (1902 -1974)

      7. Claude Hilton Luck (Milton), 1905 

      8. Dorothy Alphia Luck (1908-2004)

      9. Burton (Berton) John Luck (1884-1963)

      10. Norman Willis (Bob) Luck (1886 - 1958)

      11. Violet May Luck (1887 - 1957)

[i] Census records for 1930 show Ben a labo