Horace Hector John Gribble married Margaret Sophia Stone in Perth, Western Australia in 1944. Margaret Sophia was the daughter of Edward Albert Stone and his wife Mary Maud (nee Nicholas) and was born in Meeniyan, Victoria in 1902 but the family had now been in Western Australia for some years, living on their property “Etloe” at Kellerberrin. Edward Albert Stone was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone.
Horace was the son of Robert John Gribble and his wife Edith (nee Danes) and was born at Midland Junction, Western Australia on 11 March 1902. At the time of his marriage he was a widower and a soldier in the 132 General Transport Company, stationed at Rocky Creek near Tolga on the Atherton Tableland in Northern Queensland.
While still a teenager in 1917-18 Horace worked as a Junior Labourer with the Western Australian Railways but I am not sure what he did after that.
In 1923 he married Mary Halliday Crawford Francis who was born in Guildford, Western Australia in 1901. Sadly their first child, a girl, was stillborn on 3 July 1925 in a Melbourne hospital.
In 1927 and 1928 they were living in two of Melbourne’s inner suburbs, first Windsor then Balaclava and Horace was working as a motor trimmer which involves the repairing and installation of carpets, panels, upholstery, hoods, lining covers, and canopies in motor vehicles.
By 1929 they had returned to Western Australia and were again expecting their child. On 16 February the baby boy was stillborn and its mother died as well. Mary was buried at Karrakatta, Western Australia on 18 February 1929.
Apparently Horace stayed on in Western Australia and in 1931 he was living at 17 Sayer Street, Midland Junction with his mother and his sister, Agnes Maud (b. 1910). His father had died in 1925. Again he was working as a motor trimmer. Then in 1932 his mother married again, to Albert Ernest Mann.
In 1936-37 he was still living in Western Australia, in Forrest St, Goomalling but was now working as a saddler, and it was in Goomalling that he enlisted in the 132 Australian General Transport Company on 28 February 1942.
The Atherton Tableland was a major military centre from 1942 as a staging post to New Guinea, a suitable site for training in jungle warfare and a malaria free area for the treatment of tropical diseases. Rocky Creek, between Atherton and Mareeba, was the site of the largest military hospital in North Queensland.
Starting with the 5th Australian Camp Hospital in October 1942 it would eventually consist of the 2/2 Australian General Hospital, the 2/6 Australian General Hospital, the 2/1st Australian Convalescent Depot, the 1st Australian Mobile Laundry, Red Cross Field HQ, a theatre igloo, log-cabin recreational room and tennis court for staff. By September 1944 the daily bed average in the hospitals was 1760.
It is understandable that transport would be an important issue with an establishment of this size. The complex was gradually closed in 1944-45 and Horace Gribble was discharged on 4 December 1945.
In 1949 Horace and Margaret Sophia were living in Forrest St, Goolmalling and the Electoral Roll gives Horace’s occupation as General Agent
Influenced, no doubt by his wartime experience Horace and Margaret Sophia by 1954 had moved to Green Springs, Wondecla, Queensland, just 36 km south of Rocky Creek but he has had quite a career change, his occupation now described as masseur. They would continue living at Wondecla until 1972.
Horace Hector John Gribble died in Calvary Hospital, Cairns on 17 November 1972 after battling with Chronic Lymphatic Leukaemia for about a year. His body was cremated at the Woongarra Crematorium in Townsville on 21 November 1972. The death certificate indicates that he was a Chiropractor, that he had lived in Queensland for 24 years and that he had no children.
Margaret Sophia continued to live in Queensland. The Electoral Roll for 1977 indicates that she was then living at Tolga, close to the site of the Rocky Creek complex. She died on 24 February 1977 and was cremated on 26 February at the Toowoomba Garden of Remembrance.
