Hutchins Bert Con
| Type of person | Individual |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1909 |
| Place of birth | Gawler |
| Date of death | 1981 |
| Place of death | Gawler |
Bert Hutchins is a grandson of Thomas Hutchins who came to South Australia in 1847 and married Mary Needs nee Hellings in 1869 and had three sons, Thomas, Frederick and Albert. Thomas in 1911, was credited with holding the longest record of continuous service as a bootmaker in the Commonwealth, if not in the world. He lived at Gawler Belt for over 50 years until his death in 1914 at the age of 95.
Frederick Hutchins (Bert’s father) lived at Wards Belt for over 60 years before moving to Adelaide to marry a second time.
Bert Hutchins was born in Gawler, the seventh child of Frederick Richard and Mary Norah Hutchins (nee Dwyer). He had six brothers and two sisters, and he attended the local school.
Bert was very musically minded and taught himself to play the button accordion. He and four of his brothers played brass instruments; Bert playing the Euphonium but could also play the Tenor Horn and Baritone. Every band practice the five boys would walk from Wards Belt into Gawler playing their instruments as they went into Gawler and back home to Wards Belt.
In 1934 he married a Gawler girl, Audrey Doreen Weyland, whose father worked for the E&WS Department in Gawler.
During the depression years, Bert being a fast runner, would enter running races and win bags of flour and sugar etc which helped put food on the table. He was also an excellent shot with a rifle and would bring home rabbits to eat.
In the early part of his married life Bert along with wife Audrey and daughter Jeanette, moved away from Gawler seeking work, but the family returned in 1943.
Between 1935 and 1947 Bert and Audrey had three children Jeanette, Betty and Peter, and they lived at 29 Jacob Street, Gawler. Later in life Bert and Audrey moved into their new home at 9 Patterson Terrace, Gawler which was directly behind their original home in Jacob Street. Bert had purchased the land many years earlier.
Bert was an avid gardener and would grow most of the vegetables for the family meals and also kept pigeons for racing and eating. He belonged to the Gawler Homing Pigeon Club and won many races with his pigeons. He would keep records of which bird bred with which, so their offspring would become faster homing pigeons, and those that didn’t were made into pigeon stew.
He was also a very good fisherman and would take his boat and net out early in the morning and would always bring back fish for meals.
Around 1950 he and his brother Herb formed H & B Hutchins Building Contractors and built many fine homes in and around the Gawler district. Bert was noted as being the only builder in South Australia who could brick up a curved baker’s oven without using any mortar between the bricks.
The Gawler Town Band was being run by the Dept of Further Education in Gawler and John (Jock) Chambers the principal, approached Bert in 1977 to take over as conductor of the band as it was waning. Bert took over this roll and increased membership and encouraged young people to learn band music, and taught them in his spare time. Over the years there were three Hutchins brothers, their sons, son-in-laws and grandsons attending the Gawler Town Band. Christmas 1980 Bert retired due to ill health and then his son Peter took on the role until 2007.
In September 1981 Bert lost his fight for life, leaving his wife, three children and eight grandchildren.
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