Cameron Bates

A CHANCE encounter has resulted in an improbable story connecting three individual men from a small North Queensland district with their respective relatives from the same New Zealand city who all served as RAF pilots during World War II.

One of those men is me, a journalist with the Herbert River Express.

With just hours until deadline, I drove from Ingham in Hinchinbrook to the tiny town of Halifax to interview a butcher about meat prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As I maintained social distancing on a bench outside Halifax Meats, fourth-generation butcher Chris Edmonds eyed my All Blacks jersey and mentioned that his great-grandfather and grand-uncle, last name Barton, were butchers from Dunedin, where I was born.

Taking to Google that night, blog ‘Built in Dunedin’ outlined the Barton family history, including the opening of Barton and Trengrove in 1913 and the construction of the Barton building in 1928, which became the then largest butchers in the Southern Hemisphere.

The iconic “gentleman pig” neon sign on the exterior of the business, since closed, is now on display at the European history-oriented Otago Settlers Museum.

The article noted that George Barton junior, with brother Reg, assumed control of the business from their father – also named George – when he “returned from service in the Air Force” in 1946.

I immediately called my mother, Linda Bates, daughter of the late Coral and Alexander “Sandy” Macdonald, a real estate business owner from Dunedin, auctioneer and WWII Spitfire and Lancaster bomber pilot.

“The Bartons, George and his wife, were good family friends,” she said, rattling off details of the Barton family history and the shared personal connections.

Asked about any possible RAF connection, she directed inquiries to her brother, my uncle, who said

Sandy’s log book was being restored and he could not access details of the squadrons in which he served.

Sandy, as with many returning RAF servicemen, rarely, if ever, spoke to his three children about his wartime experiences.

The next day, I visited Mr Edmonds and told him of his grandparent’s connection to the family, and

Pictures: SUPPLIED LEFT: The late Thomas Caldwell, a New Zealand pilot, holding a dog atop a Spitfire during World War II. ABOVE: Dunedin Spitfire and Lancaster bomber pilot Alexander ‘Sandy’ Macdonald with sister-in-law Betty Ferguson and wife Coral Macdonald (nee Cameron).

Picture: CAMERON BATES Paul, David, Helen and Chris Edmonds of Halifax Meats.