Francis Charles Telfer

Role: Husband of Amy Ellen Provis
Also known as: Charlie Telfer
Born: 25 November 1875 — Kersbrook, South Australia
Died: 20 March 1954 (aged 78) — Croydon, South Australia
Buried: Enfield Memorial Park, South Australia
Occupation: Farmer
Son: Murray John Telfer (1924–2009)
Great-grandson: Timothy Neil Telfer (1959–?)
Great-great-grandson: Mark Kenneth Telfer (1986–?)

Family

Life Summary

Francis Charles Telfer — known as "Charlie" — was born at Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills on 25 November 1875, the eldest son of John Telfer and Caroline Amelia Masters. He grew up in a farming family and later married Amy Ellen Provis on 6 April 1909 at Stokes, South Australia.

Charlie and Amy raised a large family of ten children — six boys and four girls — spanning from 1910 to 1933. Their ninth child was Murray John Telfer (1924–2009) (1924–2009), later a grazier on the Eyre Peninsula.

Charlie passed away on 20 March 1954 at Croydon, Adelaide, aged 78, and was buried at Enfield Memorial Park.

Children

Timeline

Family Stories

A Christmas Gift — Ernie's Book

Charlie's brother Ernie (Ernest John Telfer) wrote a book about his 40 years as a missionary with the United Aborigines' Mission, titled Amongst Australian Aborigines. A copy of this book was given to Charlie and Amy as a Christmas gift, inscribed "Charlie & Amy, with love & Christmas wishes, from Eva" — likely their cousin Eva Rowena Telfer. The book later passed to Murray John and Shirley Edna Telfer at Ungarra, and eventually found its way into the family history collection that preserved the story of Ernie's remarkable life. (Inscription in front of "Amongst Australian Aborigines" by E.J. Telfer, 1939)

Francis Charles Telfer — known as Charlie — was born at Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills in 1875, the eldest son of John and Caroline Telfer. As a young man he drove his horses and wagon down from the family home at Willow Plains near Hawker to the Eyre Peninsula, where he took up 2,000 acres of virgin mallee scrub in the Hundred of Stokes (Ungarra). He had to cut his way into the block with an axe, tether his horses and set up camp. The first task was to dig a small dam with a pick and shovel to catch water for his horses, since the creek that flowed through the property was very salty. He later married Amy Ellen Provis, and they raised ten children in a four-roomed wood-and-iron house with clay floors. Charlie cleared the land using a scrub roller — a heavy log maybe a foot or more in diameter and eight to ten feet long, with chains around it hitched to horses — dragged through the scrub to knock it down before burning. He was a skilled blacksmith, making and mending nearly everything on the farm himself, including an improved stump-jump plough adapted to the tough mallee roots. By 1917 the family was established enough that Charlie could take on the soldiers' block next door when its original owner abandoned it during WWI. His son Edwin Roy remembered him as a great planner, working from daylight until dark, and a man who never let anyone leave his table hungry. (From the Borders to the Bush, pp.130, 136–138)

Grave — Enfield Memorial Park, Clearview SA

Sources

• Find a Grave: Francis Charles Telfer (1875–1954) — Enfield Memorial Park, Clearview SA. Rose Garden Burial H7. 1 photo.
• Geni profile: Francis Charles Telfer (1875–1954) — confirms parents, children, marriage date
• FamilySearch: Francis Charles Telfer (MF8B-PXR)
• WikiTree: Clarice May (Telfer) Fatchen (1911–1997) — confirms Francis Charles as father
• The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) — 22 Mar 1954 death notice (referenced in Geni)