PROMOTING THE HISTORY AND ARCHIVES OF MT COMPASS
Pollard, Eric
Eric William “Bill” Pollard (Private)
He was born in St Helens, Tasmania, on the 25th November 1906, the first child of William James Pollard and Frances Rebecca Pollard (nee Rosier).
Bill, as he was known, helped his father with mining in Tasmania, before they all moved to South Australia. On his 1942 “Mobilization Attestation Form” Bill records that in 1927, he had two years of Naval service at Port Adelaide, before leaving that district.
In about 1929, a Colony was established near Yundi by the Adelaide Church of Christ, as a scheme to assist families suffering during the depression. The Pollard family had been allocated one of the sought after places in this endeavour, with the father William, having been out of work for 18 months prior to this.
In 1931, Bill and his brother Cecil joined their father in the move to this aptly named ‘Enterprise Colony’. The land allocated to them required clearing before they could build their first home, in preparation for the rest of the family joining them. The following is an excerpt from the Pollard’s family tree notes.
“… of the family to clear the land and make a makeshift home to live in whilst they waited for the Church to build their brand new four roomed, galvanised-iron home. Bill the eldest went up to help also. It took about 6 months to clear the land suitably and build a home out of hessian inner and outer walls. The roof was thatched with reeds from the nearby River Finniss. This home was known as the ‘bag-shack’. They also built a detached wash house out of kerosene tins which was used as a sleep-out at night for the older children.”
In 1936 Bill married 22 year old Kathleen Mavis Polomka (two of her brothers are also listed on the Mt Compass Honour Roll). They then lived with Bill’s parents for a time before building their own little house on the same block.
Bill’s Service Record shows that his occupation at the time was both ‘dairy farmer and apiarist’, employed by his younger brother Allan A Pollard.
Bill & Kathleen had eight children in total, Neil, Terrence, Ronald, Robert, Janice, Rosemary and Keith, along with Keith’s twin sister who was stillborn. Kathleen unfortunately died during the twin’s birth.
Bill served in the CMF (Citizen Military Force) after enlisting on 12th January 1942, aged 35 and a father to three children. He then moved across to the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in October that year.
His rank was noted as ‘driver’ throughout his service with the units 5 Aust Ambulance Car Section and 147 General Transport Company. His son Terry recalls that his father drove in convoys through the centre of Australia up the highway to Darwin. Bill was based at Adelaide River outside Darwin prior to an accident in early 1944, when his vehicle rolled and he fractured a vertebrae, spending many months at the Red Cross convalescence home “Kapara”.
Terry remembers as a young boy, seeing his father in a plaster cast the length of his torso, from the neck down. Bill was finally discharged as medically unfit on 12th October 1944, after 823 days of service and received the “Returned from Active Service” Badge.
Toward the end of Bill’s enlistment, Kathleen had moved with their three children to their brother Allan Pollard’s home on Richmond Road, Richmond. Allan was also serving at this time, so his wife Linda would have taken Kathleen and her children in.
After the war the family lived for a while in a Nissan hut at the army camp in Warradale, along with many dozens of other families, before being allocated a housing trust home.
Bill has been described as a “Jack of all Trades,” with his final job at the preserving company Brookers & Sons in Croyden, where he worked for many years until retiring to Woodville North.
Kathleen had died on 15 October 1954, aged 39 and was buried with her daughter at Centennial Park.
Bill passed away on 8th December 1974 at the Repatriation Hospital, aged 68 and was buried alongside his wife and daughter.
References: Terry Pollard, Family History book “Thomas Albert Polomka - Ancestors and Descendants” (Draft) compiled by Maurice Leggett, Army Service Records, Pollard Family Notes compiled by L Macrow.
