NAME Frank Christopher HANCKEL
BORN Abt. 1894
DIED Poss. 1975
MILITARY SERIAL NO. 7007
UNIT 13th Battalion
ENLISTED Sydney 27 September 1916
DISCHARGED Sydney 10 June 1919 – had been a POW Germany

Frank Hanckel applied for his Advance on 15 December 1919 securing title to his holding of 640 acres, on 15 March 1920.  The holding was a Settlement Purchase 1920/6 in the Land District of Coonamble, Parish of Biralbung, County of Gowen.[1]

By  February 1923, Hanckel was already asking for permission to transfer his property because his crop was a failure.[2]  On May 1923, he stated, ‘I am doing my best to find a cash buyer.  I have put a devil of a lot of work into this place and am not too anxious to sell until I can get a return for it’.[3] By 16 Jan 1926 his financial situation was dire and his despair evident in the following letter:

My position has now become so embarrassing that it will be impossible for me to live on my property. I have nothing I can raise money on and no means of income of any sort until the end of the year.  Those figures show that I have tried my best, for no local tradesman will trust you to that extent without security unless you are trying. My country was over-run with black oats when I bought it and the area is not large enough to permit me to put in sufficient crop to meet expenses.

You talk about war I would sooner face a dozen wars than have to go through the same hell to face the same failures and disappointments that I have had to face during the last five years.[4]

On 3rd June 1927 his arrears stood at £406.1.4. On 3rd March 1929 he wrote:

I pointed out in an earlier communication that I could not meet any liabilities this year.  I have had no crops since 1924 – simply one failure after another.  I want more land so that I can run both sheep and wheat.  I haven’t got any earthly hope of ever paying anything off until I get a living area of 1400 or 1500 acres.[5]

Approval was given for Hanckel to acquire more land although as of March 1933, this had not occurred.   By June 1936 it seems a transfer of the Settlement Purchase from Frank Hanckel to Alexander Lithgow was approved and did go ahead.[6]

Footnotes

[1]  SRNSW: Lands Department; NRS 8058, Returned Soldiers loan files; [12/6903 No. 3063] Application for Loan 15 December 1919.

[2] Ibid, Frank Hanckel to Closer Settlement Branch? 11 February 1923.

[3] Ibid, 1 May 1923.

[4] Ibid, Frank Hanckel to the Minister for Lands, 16 January 1926.

[5] Ibid, Frank Hanckel to the Under Secretary for Lands 3 March 1929.

[6] Ibid, Statutory Declaration 24 February 1934.

Sources used to compile this entry:

State Records NSW:  Lands Department; NRS 8058, Returned Soldiers loan files,  [12/6903 No. 3063] Frank Christopher Hanckel.

National Archives of Australia: B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers (Frank Christopher Hanckel) online: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=4256670