Fulfilling life for English immigrant
Reg Staple, who built a deeply fulfilling life in Australia after migrating as a post war sponsored teenager from England, has died at the age of 90. After battling poor health for several years, he died at Lyrebird Village on April 25.
Born in Canada in 1931, the infant Reg went with his family to England's West Country, where an idyllic childhood was interrupted by two traumatic events – the death of his father in tragic circumstances in 1940 and the targeting of the Bristol area by German aircraft during World War II. Reg and his elder sister were regularly separated and shunted to various places of safety while their mother drove soup vans around devastated areas to feed the hungry and homeless.
At the tender age of 16 Reg signed up to the Big Brother program under which hundreds of British youths set out to make new lives in this country, a prospect he grasped with some excitement.
From the day of his arrival along with a boatload of other youngsters in 1947, Reg fully embraced the Australian way of life, working initially as a general hand and jackaroo on a large farming operation in Yenda, near Griffith in New South Wales, herding sheep and cattle on horseback over several years before working on other properties and trying his hand at farming passionfruit; a far cry from his urban roots in Bristol.
His early experiences on various southern NSW farms confirmed his liking for country living, and after moving to Victoria, where he worked as a herd tester in the Goulburn area around Tatura and Kyabram, he made Gippsland his home base.
He criss-crossed Central Gippsland in his chosen career role as a dairy supervisor, focusing not only on clean and efficient dairying practice but also providing valued professional advice on emerging herd improvement measures.
While stationed at Yarram, Reg met and married Eileen, his partner of 58 years, before moving in 1966 to Warragul where the couple quickly became an integral part of the Warragul community.
Reg was an accomplished musician who soon found a home in the Warragul Municipal Band, which – under the baton of Bruce Armstrong – deservedly earned an Australia-wide reputation for consistent excellence. The band activities were a cherished memory for Reg and the whole family, and they never forgot the support he and Eileen received in dealing with their anguish over the untimely death of their eldest son, David, an outstanding musician in his own right.
The love of music fostered in Reg from as early as eight years became a cornerstone of his life, whether providing the deepest of bass notes for choirs in Tatura, Yarram and the West Gippsland Chorale, as well as a lively Warragul barbershop quartet, or in Warragul Dramatic Society performances, especially Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
A perfectionist in all things, Reg constructed his own high quality sound system, literally
from the ground up by installing a 120cm concrete base to eliminate turntable vibrations, and he liked few things better than listening to music from an eclectic collection covering all musical genres, but with emphasis on the classical and the works of his heroes Wagner, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Chopin.
He was able to do so because of his exceptional craftsmanship and a perfectionist's eye for detail; examples of his skill lives on in quality furniture in the homes of family members and in his children's memories of great times in the several motorhome-type caravans he constructed from scratch.
Photography also held childhood appeal for Reg, and his early photos set the pattern for high quality work later, his creative flair evident in Melbourne street scenes depicting some of the city's earlier examples of quirky street art works, though he largely discarded the hobby when the arrival of family took priority.
For Reg, Eileen and family were everything; he took immense pride in the character and achievements of his high performing children, David, Brendan and Bronwyn, as well as watching with great approval the developing potential of their 12 grandchildren.
And it gave him great pleasure that in the highlight of his 90th birthday celebration on July 13 last year, he was able to meet Liam, a second great grandchild along with Elena.
Reg was a kind and considerate person, who loved intelligent conversation and had no problem with the exchange of competing views; contributed fully to community life through every organisation with which he was associated, and whose wholesome views and attitudes is reflected in the wider Staple family, and which remains Reg and Eileen's enduring legacy.