The soldier settler of ‘Bimbimbie’

By Chris Hogg

Frederick Cleverton ( Cleve)Edmonds was born in 1890 at Woolich, Sydney. He married Cicely Treatt in 1919 and came to the Freemantle district to take up a Soldier’s settlement block at ‘Bimbimbie’, Killongbuttga Road, in the Spring of 1933.

They had just moved from Brindabella near Canberra, where they sadly lost most of their possessions when Brindabella homestead burnt down the night before they left.

Before the war, Cleve lived in Sydney, where he worked as a telegraph operator for Reuters new agency, where one of the highlights of his work there was taking the message that the Titanic had sunk

Cleve enlisted ver y early in WW1, and participated in the dawn landing at Gallipoli as part of the 3rd battalion AIF.

He was wounded that day after reaching the front line and digging in. A sniper had begun picking off the men in the line one by one, shooting them in the head.

However, Cleve was shot in his arm, with the bullet passing through and ricocheting off his identity disc, most likely saving his life

After recuperating in Australia, he returned to serve in France, after hiding the contractures in his hand when having his medical, by hanging his coat over his arm Those contractures caused by the arm wound were lifelong.

Cicely also came from a Sydney family, the Treatts. Her father Frank B Treatt was a police magistrate who had a part in setting up children’s courts in Australia, and was also one of the founders of Royal North Shore Hospital Her brother, Vernon Hadden Treatt, was a Rhodes Scholar and Q C, becoming Crown Prosecutor of the NSW Supreme Court and later entering politics, serving as the third leader of the newly formed NSW Liberal Party.

Cleve built a comfortable home at ‘bimbimbie’, overlooking the river He was tremendously strong, carrying their cast iron Canberra wood stove across the river on his back.

He built a suspension bridge over the river for access to the house, but this was later swept away in floods Thereafter, access was by boats, which he built himself.

The house was surrounded by gardens and an extensive orchard, Cleve having previously spent some time as an orchardist in the Griffith area.

Cicely and Cleve led a humble but comfortable life at ‘Bimbimbie’ farming sheep.

They became a part of the community there, and Cleve was one of the founding members of the Freemantle Bushfire brigade.

Son Tony served as a pilot in WW2, and later became a science teacher and head of the science department at North Sydney Boy’s High, and writing some science textbooks

Son Peter set up home just across the river His passion was knowledge, devouring books and encyclopedias to educate himself. He lost by one point when competing against Barry Jones, the champion of BP Pick-A-B ox, a television quiz show hosted by Bob Dyer in the 1960s.

Their daughter Jennifer married George Howarth and together they set up home at Billywillinga.

Cleve and Cicely often had family visiting, and were very sociable until their activities became much curtailed due to Cicely’s Alzheimer’s disease, and her death in 1960

With the help of his son Peter, Cleve carried on until his unexpected death in Concord Repatriation Hospital in 1965, just a few short months after the death of his daughter Jennifer

He was survived by sons Tony and Peter With his death, ‘Bimbimbie’ passed out of the hands of the Edmonds family.