Jeffrey Gordon Hapgood was my grandfather. He was born on 18 Sept 1899 at Croobyar, Milton, in New South Wales Australia. He married Amy Patricia Waddell in 1931 and they had 11 living kids, before he died of bowel cancer in 1953 when he was only 55, when my father was still a little kid (11 years old). My sister was sharing photos the other day on Facebook including the one of Jeff Hapgood in the bananas and my cousin commented that they didnt think they had seen that photo before. So this post is to basically compile the photos I have collected so far of Jeff Hapgood in roughly chronological order, and to update it as more photos appear.

Since originally publishing this post in January 2022, my Aunt R and Cousins S and C have sent through extra photos to add to this post. Keep them coming!

Jeff Hapgood as a young man

The earliest photo of Jeff Hapgood is aged 8 or 9, when the family were living at Northern Rivers. The photo comes out small on the post but he is wearing a collared shirt with what we would now call a “sailor collar”, shorts, and boots whilst riding a pony.

This photo of the Hapgood Family in 1907 when they lived in Northern Rivers area of NSW is thought to be a little bit later than the photo of Jeff on the horse. We see William Hapgood and Clara Rose Hapgood (nee Newton) and their 5 kids at that time – Jeff approx 9 years old on the left, Clarice aged 8 (front?), Iris aged 6 (right?), Mona aged 3 on Williams lap, and baby Ina on her mothers lap. Jeff is again wearing a “sailors collar” shirt. Baby Ina dates the photo to 1907.

My father old photo album has a postcard photo of Jeff Hapgood as a young man on a white horse. On the back my father has written “Dad 14 Northern Rivers” which makes this photo about 1913. Dad tells me he was riding with his father from Northern Rivers area in NSW up to their new property in Kin Kin Queensland. His mothers and sisters came up later on a steam train (see also post about Olgas Hapgoods recollections of life in Kin Kin).

Jeff Hapgood at Kin Kin

We then have the famous “Hapgoods from Kin Kin” photo, taken about 1915 with William Charles Hapgood and Clara Rose Hapgood nee Newton and their 7 kids at the time (Olga Hapgood was the 8th and final child, born in 1918). In this photo, Jeff is about 16 years old.

My Aunt has sent through one more photo of the Hapgood family, featuring Jeff as a young 17 year old wearing a suit and tie, standing between his parents William and Clara, and surrounded by 6 of his sisters all dressed in white. (I will make a Hapgood family photo album post one day – William never seems to change, and Clara Rose seems to look younger here than the earlier photo!).

At Kin Kin, Jeff’s family had a dairy farm and also ran bananas. We have a few photos of Jeff Hapgood at Kin Kin – one leaning on the banana shed wall with his big dog Giligan, and two in the banana shed (possibly on the same day) with a huge hall of bananas. On the back of an original of this photo my father has written “one hundred cases in that load” (ie 100 cases of bananas in that load, which must have been a lot because its a statistic my cousin A (who also grew up on a banana farm) also remembers).

This final photo of Jeff Hapgood standing on a springboard, halfway through cutting down a tree in Kin Kin, is a famous family photo. It was on the mantelpiece at my parents when we were growing up and all my cousins know of this photo. Jeff was an expert axeman – he has only one springboard in this photo. To raise himseld from a lower notch to an higher notch, he would have cut the new notch higher up the tree, embedded his axe into the tree and used that to hang on with one arm whilst removing the board from under his feet and then inserting it in the new higher notch and clambering up… I am not sure of the age of this photo but would guess it is 1920s- 1930s

Jeff Hapgood as a single man about town 1920-1930

There is one fancy studio portrait of Jeff Hapgood, which I guess is about 1920 as he looks older than in the family photo in 1915, but younger than the 1930 photo below. He is wearing a suit and bow tie – possibly taken when he turned 21, or perhaps when he was best man at a wedding? (these are just guesses). But its a terrific clear photo of Jeff as a young (handsome) man.

The next photo was labelled Jeff Hapgood, Christmas 1930, Kin Kin. He is clearly a bit older than the last photo and has spent more time in the sun, and is looking more distinctly like a “Hapgood”

Jeff Hapgood marriage to Amy Patricia Waddell, 4 May 1931

I wrote up a separate blog post about their wedding, but here are the 2 formal photos and 2 informal photos from the wedding and honeymoon

Jeff Hapgood – about 1930-1940?

The next couple of photos I am not sure of the date(s) but I am guessing that they are from after he was married.

Jeff Hapgood at Malanda 1932-1952

Jeff and Amy Pat Hapgood had 11 children, although only 9 survived. We have a proud father photo of Jeff and his eldest daughter (R), born soon after their marriage.

Jeff’s farm in Malanda was mostly a dairy farm, but they also grew pineapples which Aunt R says were sent to market cash on delivery in Cairns. He also sent timber down to Bowenville that was made into fishing rods.

The next photo has no date, but it looks like it was taken the same day as the photo above as Jeff appears to be wearing the same clothes and hat as the two photos above, which makes it about 1950 as well.

This last photo is a little poignant. Its Jeff and Amy Pat, and all of their kids (plus a couple of neighbours kids) on a picnic. My Aunt R says this photo was taken down the back of the farm near on the boundary of the hapgood farm & Brooker farm, close to the hydraulic ram (water pump) which pumped water to a tank near the house. The extras in the photo are members of the Brooker family who were neighbours. This must be about 1950, and my father told me that this picnic was after Jeff came back from his first trip to the hospital. He had bowel cancer. He went back to the hospital a second time, and passed away in 1952.

If you have better information about the dates, or stories about the photos, or other photos of Jeff (or Amy Pat!) that you would like to share with descendants and relatives and the wider world, feel free to get in touch karenhapgood @ gmail. com