- Obituary
Harry Everitt Stanistreet (sic)
Thousands of farmers in this State will deplore the loss of the great figure of the general secretary of the Farmers' and Settlers' Association, and within two hours of the news reaching Perth a number of telegrams from persons, representing the various branches of the agricultural movement, had been flashed across to his widow. All who have had the pleasure of knowing that gentle and tolerant lady will join this paper in tendering the deepest sympathy at her loss, and that of her four young children. For some time past Mr. Stanistreet had been in failing health, as a result of heart trouble in fact, it has been said that but for his extreme mental vigour and otherwise robust physique, Stanistreet would have died years ago. He was one of those men who do not know defeat, and do not admit exhaustion. Certain it is that on more than one occasion, when a man of less tenacity and courage would have succumbed, Stanistreet refused to surrender himself to the demands of his terrible ailment. There have been others like this—indomitable spirits who have staved off the hand of death until their life's work was accomplished. Stanistreet' s life's work is not accomplished yet, and we fear the road is still long and arduous ; but, at least no one will deny him the credit of being one of the greatest founders of the movement on which we are all engaged, the attainment of justice and prosperity for the workers in W.A.'s most essential industry—agriculture. After Pellatt was so unaccountably stricken down, Stanistreet took up the reins of organising the Association, and his fierce energy and passionate words captured hundreds of adherents to our organisation. At that time he seemed to think and live nothing but the "Association." Other matters did not enter his head. No matter who he was with, no matter what the occasion, it was the Association, and the need of the man on the land, that was ever on his lips. He saw, as few of us could, the immense possibilities before our industry, provided the farmers pulled together and secured for themselves the right treatment and conditions that a wise public opinion and statesmanlike government alone could give. He never wearied in battling in the cause of the man out-back, and the fact that he was the paid agent of the Association should in no way detract front the high estimation in which he was held by our people. That he was attacked frequently in sections of the press merely signifys that in him was a man who considered the interests of the farmer first, and who did not truckle to other interests. He was a lover of the poems of Browning and Walt Whitman, and those fine lines of the latter, in which he records the death of a soldier of the American Civil War, cannot but recur to one: ''Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade"—except, indeed that Harry Stanistreet was not cautious and never spared man or party that he thought was inimical to the farming interest. He was a whole-souled advocate of the return of the people to the life on the laud, but believed that before men— and more particularly women—should go back, some economic changes were necessary to make the life less of a drudgery. He has lived to see part of his work completed, the machinery got in order to snatch justice from the hands of folly. It is for us to regulate and tend the machine. And so, for the moment, we bid our friend fare-well—many of us, perhaps, feeling that it is not for eternity. "Victorian Farmers' Union Conference to-day deplored death Stanistreet. Condoles with widow, family, and Association; a valiant warrior for producers gone. Conference also congratulates Association contesting Swan, and urges don't waver claim to seat on account of "split-vote" cry. Nationalists to blame for failure redeem Bendigo pledge.—J. J. Hall, Farmers' Union.
Primary Producer (Perth, WA : 1916 - 1921), Friday 27 September 1918, page 1
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1872 - 1918 (46 years) Has 2 ancestors and 4 descendants in this family tree.
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