William James Telfer

Role: Infant son of John Telfer and Caroline Amelia Masters
Born: 15/16 September 1880 — Hawker / Willow Plains, South Australia
Died: 7 November 1880 (aged 7 weeks) — Arkaba, South Australia
Buried: Telfer Road Lone Graves, near Hawker, South Australia
Parents: John Telfer (1847–1929) & Caroline Amelia Telfer (1842–1929)
Siblings: Francis Charles, John Ernest, Ernest John, Albert George, Walter William, Edwin Gilbert

William James Telfer was the fourth son of John Telfer and Caroline Amelia Masters, born at Willow Plains (near Hawker) in September 1880. He lived only seven weeks, dying on 7 November 1880. He was buried by the side of the road at Telfer Road Lone Graves, near Hawker — a testament to the family's early hardships on the land.

Source: From the Borders to the Bush (body text); FamilySearch MF8B-PND; FindAGrave memorial 200328442.

Family Stories

🖊️ Anecdote — as told in From the Borders to the Bush (book pp. 117): William came too soon after the one before him — born in September 1880 and gone by November, just two months old. They couldn't get him to a proper churchyard in time, so they laid him where they had to, in a lonely grave right beside Telfer Road, and the family kept the spot marked. Years later, when the stone house was up and the homestead stood proud, they still had a picture taken of that small roadside grave, looking back towards the house and the windmill and the hill they called Windy — a reminder that this was a place built in blood and salt and loss, not just sweat.

(Anecdote only — family colour, told as the elders tell it. Does not establish any relationship, date or place.)

Sources

• FamilySearch: William James Telfer (MF8B-PND) — confirms birth 15 Sep 1880, death 7 Nov 1880, parents John Telfer & Caroline Amelia Masters
• FindAGrave: Memorial 200328442 — burial at Telfer Road Lone Graves, Hawker, SA; death 7 Nov 1880 aged 7 weeks
• Vault: John Telfer (1847–1929).md — children section and body text confirm 1880 birth and infant death
• Vault: William Telfer (1880–1880).md — duplicate entry with same dates and parentage (now consolidated)