![]() ![]() When war came, he was already 30 years old. Like many young men of his generation, Williams had long wanted to fly and took some flying lessons at the aero club in Townsville. The great crash of the early 1930s led to his father losing his job so, as part of a syndicate, the family bought their own station which they had to work hard to build up. He also became a skilled mechanic and took up building wireless sets and photography as hobbies. Leaving school at 16, he went home to work on the station his father managed. Australian country districts did not have elementary schools in those days so Williams was tutored at home until he went to Townsville Grammar School as a boarder at the age of 12. This was a small settlement in inland Queensland, some 250 miles west of Townsville. At the time of his birth the family lived in Winton, but then lived at a series of other sheep stations before moving to Telemon, a station near Hughenden, when he was 10 years old. ![]() ![]() ![]() His mother seems to have decided to travel to Townsville in order to have the baby. He was the middle child of the three surviving children of sheep station manager Horace Williams and his wife Hedwige or Helene (she used both names). Charles Rowland Williams was born on 19 March 1909 in Townsville, Queensland. ![]()
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