Obituary - K. M. H. Wilkinson

12 February 1951 Daily Examiner (Grafton)

Mr. Keith Mayhew Harricks Wilkinson, one of the earliest settlers of the Upper Clarence River district, died at Casino Memorial Hospital on February 4. 

Deceased was the only son of the late William Edward Wilkinson, of Yallowin, Tumut, and the late Mrs. Wilkinson, who was formerly Allace Whitehead, of Melbourne.

After the death of the mother the family left the Tumut district and settled at Whiteman Creek, near Grafton. 

Keith Wilkinson, then a young man in his twenties, selected land on Mookima, Wybra Creek, near Tabulam, and in company with three other young men, Messrs. Blackwell brothers, and Lal Adams, set off for the Upper Clarence in the winter of 1908. 

The country was then in its   virgin state, and there followed several years of heavy toil for the young settlers. 

Keith Wilkinson married in 1916, Mrs. Ella Vivian Hall, a daughter of the late Dr. G. Y. Mould, of Cooma. 

In 1917, he sailed for England with the Field Engineers, later transferred to the 33rd Infantry Battalion, saw service in France and took part in the final break through on the Hindenburg Line Returning in 1919.

Deceased resumed farming and grazing in the Tabulam district, where he has resided ever since.

Of late years he was particularly interested in the growing of seed hybrid maize. 

The only sister, Mrs. S. A. Peckman, died six months ago. 

There is one daughter, Mrs. E. C. Wilkinson, of Plains Station, and a step-son, Glen Hall, of Murwillumbah.