Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954) Friday 16 January 192091769

OBITUARY.
MR. W. H. HARRALD.
Mr. William Henry Harrald, one of
the oldest and best known residents of
Mount Gambier, died at his residence
in Evelyn - street this morning, after
several years of weak health,
during the last of which
he was confined to his house and
bed. His weakness and death were
mainly consequent on his advanced
age. Mr. Harrald had a long life, and
in South Australia especially his ex-  
periences were varied, and at times
stirring.
Mr. Harrald was born at Bury St.  
Edmunds, County Suffolk, England, on
February 2, 1831, and would, therefore,
have been 89 years old on the 2nd of
next month. His father was engaged  
in an extensive way in the leather
trade in that town. He was educated
first, at a common school in his native
town, and afterwards at the Commer-
cial school there, the principal of
which was Sir Robert Craske, whom
Mr. Harrald described as "one of the
best of teachers and most loveable of
men in the world.'' After passing
through his school course Mr. Harrald
entered the post-office in Bury St.
Edmunds, as a junior ; and after that
he was engaged in the office of Mr.
Robert Rodwell, a land and estate
agent, where he learned a great deal
about land business and the law re-
lating to it. Subsequently, for several
years after his father died, he man-
aged his father's business until his
brothers became old enough to do so.
Then, concluding that there was not
room enough for all of them in the
one business, the subject of this sketch
decided to strike out for himself, and
with that object in view resolved to
court fortune in Australia. He sailed
from England alone in the German
ship Walvisch, Capt. Schutt, and
reached Port Adelaide on February 14,  
1853. By the same vessel there came
to these shores several other men who
have since done well for themselves
in the State. After he came to Ade-
laide Mr. Harrald was not long before
he found employment, and his training
in England served him very much in
this. He first studied in the office of  
the late Mr. Josiah Partridge, an Ade-
laide lawyer. Subsequently he was
engaged in the office of Mr. S. Dixon,
shipping and general commission
agent. After that he spent some time
in the Survey Department with a party
that was at work near the Burra ;
and later still was engaged as a gen-
eral commission agent on his own
account. After that he became secre-
tary and purser for the South Austra-
lian Copper Mining Company at
Strathalbyn. The late Captain Thos.
Prisk was one of his employers. Mr.
Harrald used to relate how Captain
Prisk went away north to investigate
and examine the Mount Rose country,
where it was reported there was a
large copper deposit. He did not ap-
parently find much copper on his
journeyings, but he travelled across the
New South Wales border, as far as
Broken Hill, and arrived at a station
where he stayed a week. With a
miners instinct he examined the out-
crops of the rock on the run. At one
place he found a large outcrop of
something, the nature of which he
could not determine. That it was not
copper he was sure. Some years
afterwards, when some silver ore from
a discovery near Strathalbyn was
brough in, Captain Prisk said, "Yes,
that is the stuff. That is the ore I saw  
up at Broken Hill. Some day that at
Broken Hill will astonish the world."
Capt. Prisk was thus perhaps the first
man to find silver ore at that world
famous natural depository of silver
and other ores. When the Company
was dissolved Mr, Harrald erected a
store in Strathalbyn, and became a
storekeeper. Evidently that did not
suit his taste, as he sold the business
soon afterwards. He came to Mount
Gambier in 1860 as teller in the Na-
tional Bank. Some years afterwards
he was appointed Clerk of the Mount
Gambier Local Court, Registrar of
Births, Deaths, and Marriages, &c., and
later on was manager 0f the branch
of the Savings Bank here, and secre-
taey of the National Building Society
until 1879. In 1886 he was appointed
a Justice of the Peace for the Province,
and continued to be one to his death.
During his residence here Mr. Harrald
acquired a large amount of valuable
town property.
Mr. Harrald is survived by eight of
his children, as follows :--Mesdames
G. James and A. James, of Adelaide ;
Miss E. Harrald (Sister Harrald),
Adelaide Hospital : Miss Mildred Har-
rald, Adelaide ; Mrs. W. Minns, Port
Pirie ; Mr. Lloyd Harrald, late of the
A.I.F., Mount Gambier ; Miss Adeline Har-    
rald, Mount Gambier ; and Mrs. W.
Pearce, Mount Gambier. There are
nine grandchildren and four great
grandchildrem. Mrs. Harrald died in August, 1901.
The funeral of Mr. Harrald is ap-
pointed to leave his late residence in
Evelyn-street to-morrow forenoon at 11 o'clock.