Reg Walker says his grandfather Frank was a progressive man, even aggressive. His father Bill on the other hand was of a different mould, a lover of beautiful things, a more quiet person. Reg briefly attended the one teacher school at Lalla, only a short walk from the old homestead. His sisters and older brother (recently recognised in the Queen's Honours List) would have a much clearer memory of it and of Miss York. Bill Walker and family moved to town when management of one of the city nurseries and florists became available. It was Bill who initiated the planting of the famous Pear Arch or Pear Avenue with rhododendrons to form the walls. People travelled from all over Australia to visit this exquisite spot.
The Lalla Orchards were the best served in the north of the state as regards transport. Fruit could be loaded on right on site at Lalla siding and rail freighted via Launceston to the export ships in Hobart. All the Tamar Valley orchards had to dray their fruit down to small jetties on the river, load it into a ferry going up to Launceston's wharves from where it had to be drayed again to the railway. Until export ships began to leave from Beauty Point, the Tamar orchards were in fact disadvantaged by all the extra handling needed. Then the tables were turned and the Lalla and Lilydale fruit growers were more inconvenienced.
Reg Walker remembers with great fondness the Saturday Night Dances at local halls, the cheer and community spirit, the tremendous suppers.
By World War II, there was no longer any "German question" as concerns local people of German descent. The Millers, Doaks, Bardenhagens, Sulzbergers, Mahnkens and Erbs were all second or third generation Aussies and there was no suspicion of their loyalty whatsoever. Reg Walker himself was in the Navy and witnessed, even shared, an utter hatred of the Nips. The Yanks especially hated the Japs, perhaps because of Pearl Harbour. "They did some rough things but mind you, so did we," he says. Some of the jet pilots who had parachuted from hit planes would cut loose from their harness and perish by falling into the sea rather than drift onto a ship and become a prisoner. On 21st October 1944 the first kamikaze dived into the H MAS Australia. Reg Walker was on board and was wounded. News leaked back to his family via a brother in government in Hobart. Eight other "non-returning pilots" plunged their planes into the Australia in following months without sinking her. A local Launceston sailor, du Shano, was killed. The fires caused on board cost most lives. Reg Walker says everyone expected to win the war, it was just a question of how long it would take.
Reg Walker was born in Struan House, now the Supreme Court building on the corner of Cameron and Wellington Street. It was William Walker who planted the poplars and other trees along the Underwood corner in memory of his wife's family. He always referred to this stretch of road as "Orrs Parade." He was proud of it and attached to it. One tree for each member of her family. It was featured on the north and northeast Tasmania telephone directory cover a few years ago. [Someone else said it was one tree for each Lilydale service man killed in WW1. ]
See Wlliam Walker in The Australian Dictionary of Biography
See today's The Pear Walk Country Garden Cottages