Walter Lewis Caspersonn was born on 8 Feb 1890, in Tumut, the third child and oldest son of Lewis and Philoria Caspersonn. His birth certifiucate states his father was a Commercial Traveller, resident in Tumut, but this was new as Lewis had recently been a store manager in Young in 1888.

The family later moved to Narrandera where Walter enrolled at Narrandera Public School. In Dec 1902, he received the Mayor's medal for highest level of proficiency and was 2nd overall in the Boy's 5th grade. As was common, he left school after that and in 1904 he sat for a Public Service exam for telegraph messenger, for which age of elegibility was 13 to 15.  He secured a position at Berrigan Post Office. After a further exam in 1905, he was promoted to a higher position and in 1906 he was appointed as assistant district registrar of births deaths and marriages at Mossgeil, north of Hay. By 1908, he was a postal assistant at Cootamundra, and then in March 1909, the following notice was posted in the Commonwealth Gazette. 

Postmaster-General's Department, General Post

NEW SOUTH WALES,

To Walter Lewis Caspersonn, Postal Assistant,

Cootamundra.
Take notice that, as your present address is unknown to me, a communication was, on the 4th instant, posted to you, addressed to Cootamundra, your last-known address, furnishing you with a copy of a certain charge made against you under section 46 of the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1902, and requiring you to forthwith state, in writing, whether you admit or deny the truth of such charge, and to give any explanation, in writing, you may think fit as to the offence charged, for my consideration, and take further notice, that if no answer is received to such communication within fifteen days of the date, hereof you will be deemed to deny the truth of such charge, and such charge will be inquired into and dealt with in your absence. 

Dated this 10th day of March 1909.

E. J. YOUNG,

Chief Officer.

Presumably the 19 year old had disappeared, whether from fright or guilt we do not know, but on 18th June 1909 he was dismissed from the Commonwealth Public Service. A police inquiry followed and in 1911 he was charged;

"Walter Lewis Caspersonn, charged on warrant that, being a public accountant within the meaning of the Commonwealth Audit Act, did misapply the sum of   £18, (equal to $3,000 in 2023) has been arrested by Senior-sergeant Dixon, Junee Police. Charge altered to stealing the sum of  £18, the property of the Postmaster-General, and offender ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within one month from the 6th July, 1911".

The truth and outcome of the charge are unknown to me, but he found a job at J S Taylor's store at Junee. 

Not long after he began courting Maggie Wilson, and they were engaged before Walter enlisted fir World War 1, in 1915. There was a Church of Christ in Junee at that time, which they both attended, and would sometimes ride their bicycles to the Mowsar's farm at Marrar. 

WW1 began in 1914, and together with Arthur, his younger brother, he enlisted in the AIF on 24 Nov 1915. He was aged 25, Arthur was 22. He arrived in Egypt in May 1916, and spent 4 weeks in hospital in Alexandria with a condition described in his army records as influenza, then pheumonia. He arrived in France in Sept 1916, serving in the Army Signals, where he learnt morse code. In March 1917 he was transferred by field ambulance to hospital, then repatriated to England with "Trench Feet" a painful condition, from living in wet muddy trenches. He returned to active duty in France in July 1917. Towards the end of the war he visited Scottish relatives while on leave in Britain, and finally returned to Australia on 22 August 1919. 

Walter secured a job as railway porter at Wagga Wagga and married Maggie Wilson on 28th Jan 1920 at Wentworth Falls, where her family then lived. They made their first home in Wagga, firstly living with "Grandma" Mowsar in Thompson Street and later in a brick residence in Berry Street.

Their son, Walter James was born on 8th December 1920, and daughter, Ella Janet on 13th May 1922, both in Wagga. The family moved to The Rock in 1922 when Walter was promoted to be railway Goods Clerk. He was active in local affairs, including tennis club, the Presbyterian and Methodist churches and the local Railway Institute 

The family returned to Wagga in 1935, when Walter was promoted to the goods clerk position there. He and his family were members of Wagga Church of Christ. A move to Railway work in Junee soon followed, where they lived in Dalley St and joined the local Baptist Church.  

About 1938-9, Walter, Maggie and Janet moved to Sydney (young Walter now had a job in Wagga) where he took up a position as goods clerk at Newtown and later moved into offices at Central Railway. They lived in a brick house in Winston Avenue Earlwood. Walter retired from the Railways in 1950, aged 60, and, took a position with Rheems, manufacturers of steel drums and, later, hot water systems. They lived at Earlwood and were actively involved with Earlwood Church of Christ. Walter served for a time as Earlwood church secretary, on NSW Churches of Christ Property Trust and on Churches of Christ Overseas Mission Board.

In the early 1950's Walter and Maggie  moved to Scarborough and then Rockdale in the St George area of Sydney. Walter died on 25 July 1955 in Balmain Hospital, aged 65.

Walter was a very capable man. His son (Walter James) once told me he valued security of employment, he was happy in a secure Railways job and was not ambitious. Maybe his father's varied employment history, or living through the great depression or even his early criminal charge led to him valuing job security. I suspect it also had a lot to do with the woman he married and his strong Christian faith .

Walter James Caspersonn was born on 8th December 1920, the first child of Walter and Maggie Caspersonn. He died 29 March 2005 at Wagga Base Hospital after a short illness.  His death certificate stated he had pneumonia.  The family lived in Berry Street Wagga. His sister Janet was born 13 May 1922 also in Wagga. Late in 1922,  the family of four moved to The Rock, as his father was transferred there by the NSW Dept of Railways. They lived in Day Street. Burkes Creek ran behind the house, sometimes it was completely dry and a great place to play, but it could also become a raging torrent. When it just comprised muddy waterholes it was a great place to catch yabbies. 

There was no electricity and kerosene lamps were the main source of electricity, with candles for backup. Rain water was collected in three 800 gallon tanks and the four gallon electricity tins were given handles to carry water to the bath from the copper boiler, probably in an outside laundry.

Perishable food was kept in a drip cooler, a wooden cupboard covered with hessian. Water from a bucket would drip down and evaporate in the breeze to keep the insides cool. Supplies such as meat and milk were bought locally in small quantities.

Walter wrote in his memiors:

   Life was good at The Rock. There were days when I could go rabbiting with my friends. One boy had ferrets. The ferrets would hunt the rabbits out of the burrows and we had nets into which the rabbits ran as they tried to escape. At one hunt, I almost trod on a snake. I was thankful to see it disappear into a hole in the ground. Sometimes Dad would come with me at night when we would go round the traps to check them and pick up any rabbits we may have caught. Myxomatosis was not prevalent, and many a time, as a result of my trapping, we would have stewed rabbit to eat. The local skin dealer bought the skins. Apart from the small “pay” we received, rabbit skins provided a major source of income.

I joined the Junior Farmer Movement which came to The Rock with the enthusiastic support of some of the parents of the town. I remember Mr Bedygood and Mr Welsh. They would judge our work. Then there was Mr Webb, the District Junior Farmer’s Organiser. I took gardening as my first project and laid out five beds in which I grew vegetables - tomatoes, lettuce, peas, beans and carrots. Mum would buy them from me.

The next project was white leghorn poultry. With my “help”, Dad built three pens adjacent to the main, larger, fowlyard. Laying hens were kept in one pen, cockerels in another, while the clucky hens and their chicks occupied the third. I became quite successful, selling eggs to Mum and the neighbours, and sending the surplus, courtesy of a local farmer, Mr Bruce, to the Egg Board in Wagga. The net result, after two or three years, was enough money saved to buy myself a brand-new Speedwell bicycle from Fred Clare’s shop in Wagga. I then enjoyed to thrill of going into the county on my own bike, sometimes riding at night using a carbide lamp.

As children, Janet and I went on outings on The Rock hill, and at times to Flower Pot Hill. We sometimes went swimming in the PP Reserve dam, but we mostly swam in a waterhole in Burke’s Creek.

Friends of the School sandbagged a section of the creek near the school to make a swimming hole. That was were I received my crooked nose. Wally Martin, who is now about eighty and living in Wagga, jumped in off the bank landing close to me in the water. His arms were outstretched and an elbow landed right on my nose, flattening it across my face. Dr R.A. Lewis ws the young doctor at The Rock who attended to my nose with a couple of wooden splints. I am afraid the job was not an easy one. The result is that I usually have some difficulty with my breathing at night in bed.

Grandma Wilson wanted to meet the cost of the surgery to fix my nose. I did not think the expense was warranted and did not really want to go through that experience, so the operation was never performed.  Dr Lewis later joined a practice in Wagga and became the medico at the birth of all our children.

School days at The Rock were reasonably successful with my winning the J.H. Kendall Cup for the best boy student in 6th Class and the Dux Cup in Super Primary.  I was part of the first group of students to do a Secondary School Course to the Intermediate Certificate at The Rock School.

When first married, Walter and Edith lived in a flat which was part of an old house in Crampton St Wagga.  His sister Janet and her new husband Hilton Renison lived in an adjoining flat. They moved to another flat, in Thorne St and then scraped together enough money to build a new two bedroom home at 6 Sullivan Ave, at that time on the edge of town,where they moved in 1948. 

Prior to that, Peter arrived in February 1947 and Janette almost two years later. Their early transport was bicycles with wooden seats for the two children, until they bought, second hand, a  red four door Vauxhall Tourer. In December 1951, Graham arrived and a rear verandah was enclosed to make a boy's bedroom. David was born in October 1954 with an incomplete bowel. He had three operations to heal the issue but he collapsed from the third surgery and died in February 1956, aged 16 months. Adele was born in December 1959, completing the family. They built a larger house on five acres in Kooringal Road about four years later.

Family life was good, I have too many memories to share here. Some can be written in the section below about mum, Edith.

As well as his work and an active role in Wagga Church of Christ, Walter was involved with organising a range of Christian and community activities, including 

• Wagga Youth For Christ, a monthly rally presenting top quality artists and speakers

• Registered NSW marriage celebrant

• Evangelistic crusades, including Leighton Ford (Billy Graham Associate) at Wagga showgrounds

• Gideons International, giving free Bibles to local schools, motels and service bases

• Prison Fellowship, a Christian organisation visiting local prisons commenced by Chuck Colson who went to prison for his involvement with Watergate 

• Founding director and hon secretary of Shire of Mitchell Ratepayers Co-op, later to become Riverina Co-op.

• Board member, trustee and chairman for three years of The Haven retirement complex

• Justice of the Peace

• Hon Parole Officer

• Mitchell Shire Fire Control Officer

• Part owner of a Christian book shop in the Neslo Arcade, which also supplied texts to tertiary students

Walter served as Mitchell Shire Clerk from 1949 till 1981, when Mitchell Shire and Kyeamba Shire were absorbed into Wagga City. Walter served as assistant deputy Town Clerk with Wagga Wagga City Council till retirement in 1983, after 45 years service in Local Govt. These last two years were not as rewarding for him as the first 43. 

By the 1970's, Peter, Janette and Graham had moved away from Wagga for employment and were all married with children. Adele was living at home attending the new Kooringal High School. The family of three moved to a new house on the corner of Fay and White Avenues, opposite the school. Later Adele moved out and married so, in 1992 they moved to a villa in Barwon Place Tatton.  

Retirement included trips to see family in Dapto, Engadine and New Zealand, a   nd circumnavigation of Australia and other trips in their caravan, and overseas trips to Britain and Europe. They were able to meet Scottish relatived in Glasgow and travel 

Walter's memoirs have already been quoted. In 1200, they were typed by family members from his original neat handwriting and presented to him in a hardcover book at his 80th birthday. There were just a few copies produced. My copy is precious to me.

Walter didn't complain about his health but in his 80's he slowed down. He was admitted to hospital aged 84 in  and died without recovering from a six week induced coma, during attempted treatment of pheumonia. His mortal remains are buried in Wagga Lawn Cemetary, but he is with his Lord Jesus.

Janet was born 13 May 1922 in Wagga, the second child of Walter and Maggie Caspersonn and sister of Walter James. Her early life was at The Rock, as the family had moved there late in 1922 for her father's employment, as a railway porter and later a clerk. They lived in rented accommodation (Presbyterian manse and then an old bake house) until a new house in Day St was built with financial help from Grandfather Wilson. 

Janet attended The Rock Public School (later Central School) and when the family moved back to Wagga, she transferred to Wagga High School. The family soon moved to Junee where Janet moved schools again to Junee. On completing school, Janet took a job as florist in Junee with a friend of her mother.

The family moved to Sydney about 1938/9 and Janet started nurses training at Prince Henry hospital in 1941, and graduated in 1945,

Janet had met Hilton Renison at Wagga Church of Christ. He courted Janet, and also moved to Sydney. Hilton enlisted in the RAAF and was posted to New Guinea. During that time they regularly communicated.

Janet and Hilton were married on 31 Aug 1946 at Earlwood Church of Christ. They initially ived in Wagga, in a flat in Crampton St. Walter and Edith were in an adjoining flat. He worked at Rorrisons Engineering in Wagga, possibly at this time. Janet and Hilton moved to Ronald Ave Earlwood so Hilton could study for his engineering diploma while working as fitter and turner.

Shirley was born 13 July 1950 while at Earlwood and Julie was born 16 June 1952 in Crown St Womens Hospital in Sydney.  They moved back to Wagga in 1955.Hilton worked for Hepburn and Lovett, and they lived on Lake Albert Rd. Ron born 5 Nov 1957 in Wagga

Hilton was appointed chief engineer at Wagga Abattoirs and the family lived in Bomen 1958. During this time, Janet had a job at "The Bookshop" in Wagga, owned by Walter and two Christian friends.

Hilton retired due to a heart attack in 1979, when he was 55. They bought a block of land at Nerang (Qld) in 1983 and built a solid brick home with a large workshop underneath, in which Hilton worked on many projects, mainly of metal construction .Janet developed dementure some time after their 50th wedding anniversary (1996) and died in a nursing home at Nerang on 29 Jan 2010.

Hilton remarried and he and Phyllis moved to a retirement complex closer to Southport. He died on 4th March 2020.