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Wubin 1920's

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13 years 3 months ago #45463 by wouldyou
Wubin 1920's was created by wouldyou
Recently given these photos to copy, they are of interest to us as our son now farms this land. Mr FWG Liebe took up virgin land here in 1908, he was a builder and farmed in a big way, some of his sheds still in use. David

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13 years 3 months ago #45464 by wouldyou
Replied by wouldyou on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
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13 years 3 months ago - 13 years 3 months ago #45465 by wouldyou
Replied by wouldyou on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
It was said Mr Liebe [standing] ordered 12 of these tractors and received 13, or it may have been HSCS Steel Horse tractors.

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Last edit: 13 years 3 months ago by wouldyou.

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13 years 3 months ago #45466 by wouldyou
Replied by wouldyou on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
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13 years 3 months ago - 13 years 3 months ago #45467 by
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David - Mr Liebe was a very famous gentleman, and was one of Australia's largest wheatgrowers and farmland holders. In addition, he had a sizeable construction career behind him.
He died in 1950, aged 88, and this was his obituary in the Western Mail ..

"A colourful career ended last Saturday with the Death Of a Famous Wheatgrower

To have erected magnificent buildings in many parts of the world, and then in his late sixties to have become probably the world's biggest individual wheatgrower, was the unique achievement of Mr. F. W. G. Liebe, of Waddi Forest, who died on March 4, at the age of 88 in a metropolitan private hospital.
The late Mr. Liebe, whose achievements in his 88 years would have occupied more than one lifetime for most men, was born at Wittenberg, Germany, in 1862.

At the age of 17 he started travelling through Europe to gain experience in the building trade, to which he had previously been apprenticed.

His first important job was to assist in the building of the opera house at Budapest. Later, as a contractor, he built the Houses of Parliament in Sofia.

Joining in partnership with a Mr. Joseph Klein, he built military barracks, colleges, a bridge and several famous buildings in various parts of Europe before coming to Australia with his partner in 1885.
Mr. Klein died in Adelaide and Mr. Liebe went to Melbourne, where a large firm of architects provided him with as many building contracts as he could handle, without asking for tenders.
Among his contracts were the markets at Newmarket and a hotel at Lilydale.

Mr. Liebe came to Perth in 1891 and, a year later, encountered the prosperity engendered by the gold rush. His most important building projects were His Majesty's Theatre, the Art Gallery, Queen's Hall (now the Metro Theatre), Zimpel's Buildings, Warwick House, numerous hotels, and shed and station work for the Midland Railway Company.

In 1908 Mr. Liebe took up 16,000 acres of land at Wubin and began a farming career which made him world-famous.
In 1925 he purchased 50,000 acres of land at Waddi Forest from the Midland Railway Company and, at the age of 63, proceeded to turn this vast area of virgin forest into a prolific wheat-producing property.

By the 1929-30 season he had 21,000 acres under crop - 15,000 acres at Waddi Forest and 6,000 acres on his Wubin property.
lt was in this year that he reached his objective of producing 100,000 bags of wheat (in one season).
His fuel account that season was

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13 years 3 months ago - 13 years 3 months ago #45468 by
Replied by on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
David - I believe your third picture shows the 4, Cross-Engine (or Crossmotor) Case tractors, that were purchased by Mr. Liebe between 1924 and 1925, from The Westralian Farmers Ltd. (later, Wesfarmers), in Perth.

These tractors comprised 3 x 15/27 Case tractors, and 1 x 22/40 Case tractor. The dates of purchase were listed as ..

15/27 - 20/3/1924 ..
15/27 - 28/3/1924 ..
15/27 - 3/10/1924 ..
22/40 - 1/3/1925 ..

There is a 1925 pictorial advertisement in the Western Mail stating that Mr. F.W.G. Liebe had purchased these 4 tractors over both of these years, and that he was highly satisfied with them.

However, by 1926, Mr Leibe had changed his allegiance to Twin City Tractors .. and by 1928, he had purchased no less than 7 Twin City tractors (4 x 27-44's and 3 x 17-28's) and was offering testimonials in Twin City advertising. By Dec. 1929, it was advertised that Mr Liebe now owned no less than 15 Twin City tractors.
George Wills and Co of St. Geo. Tce., were the Twin City agents in 1928 and 1929.
There is also QLD advertising, stating that Mr Liebe also owned 7 x McCormick-Deering tractors by 1928.
I cannot find any West Australian McCormick-Deering agent, advertising this fact, which seems surprising.

There appears to be little or no, readily-available public record, of any of Mr F.W.G. Liebe's farming activity between 1908 and the early 1920's .. and despite stating that he had taken up the land at Wubin in 1907, and commenced farming in 1908 .. in the period up to the start of WW1, he was still advertising and operating as a construction contractor around Perth.

He built the Peninsula Hotel in Maylands in this period. I suspect that due to his German heritage, he kept a very low profile during WW1, and possibly stayed on his farm.
I'm a little surprised he wasn't recorded as being interned as an enemy alien, as German distrust was very high during WW1, and many people of German descent, particularly farmers, anglicised their names.
Typical of this, was the name "Dahl" being changed to "Dall", and you possibly know some of the Dall farming families.

It appears that Gustav Liebe used horse teams up until about 1924, when he decided to go over to tractors, and commence farming on a large scale.
His farming operations were recognised as being exceptionally well run and organised, and all his employees appear to have enjoyed working for him.

Amazingly, the season he produced the 102,000 bag wheat record (1929-30), was the precise time when the Great Depression hit, and wheat prices slumped to record lows .. and Gustav Liebe actually lost over

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13 years 3 months ago #45469 by Loadstar
Replied by Loadstar on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
Thanks Onetrack, great information as usual, what a legend, as his obituary said, that's a lot to cram into one life time.

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13 years 3 months ago #45470 by
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Loadstar - I was quite surprised to see regular claims by Mr Liebe and many of the newspapers, from the mid-1920's to well after he died .. that he was the worlds largest individual wheatgrower.

I found this a little hard to believe, as I know that the Americans produced vast amounts of wheat, starting from around the 1880's, right up to today .. from their massive wheat-growing areas, centred mostly in Kansas, Montana, Washington, & Oregon.

However, I think the claim stands, because it centres around the word, individual wheatgrower.
All of the American farming operations are, or were, corporate farms, or co-operative farms .. run either by corporations, or by the large religious groups, such as the Hutterites and Mennonites.
There were few large American farming operations that were owned and operated, by one person.

Cheers - Ron.

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13 years 3 months ago #45471 by wouldyou
Replied by wouldyou on topic Re: Wubin 1920's
Ron, Thanks for the info, I saw Mr Liebe once, his base was Waddi in my memory time, Inter utes were his transport, AR 110 at that time. Regards, David.

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13 years 3 months ago #45472 by
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Ron ,

The Lillydale Hotel still stands in LIllydale and I dont live far from it. Dave

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