Ernest Elwyn Edmund Scarfe

b. 1889 – D. 1947

Jack Mortlock’s right-hand man

Author: Denise Noack

‘Scarfe’, or Ernest Elwyn Edmund Scarfe, was Jack Mortlock’s right-hand man at Martindale Hall for over twenty-five years. He was most often referred to as ‘Scarfe’ by Jack Mortlock and his family. Scarfe was born on 4 March 1889. He was the fourth of five children to Alfred Edmund Scarfe, an accountant, and Bessie Mary Roach, who had both been born in South Australia to English immigrants. Scarfe was educated at Pulteney Grammar School, and at age fifteen he travelled from his eastern-suburb home at Knightsbridge (now Leabrook) to the outback to get work experience.1 He was the bookkeeper on Beltana Pastoral Company’s Murnpeowie station in northern South Australia from 1906 to 1913.

Scarfe on board the Martindale II on one of his many fishing trips to Coffin Bay with Jack. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
Typed letter
Scarfe’s reference from Beltana Pastoral Company. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

In October 1913, ‘to advance his position’, Scarfe joined Elder’s Trustee Company, a large agricultural company and Adelaide’s first ever wool-broking facility, with a beginning salary of £180 per annum.2 Scarfe married Veda Lillian Freshney on 30 January 1915.3 They had four children: Elwyn Freshney, born 31 August 1915, who died in infancy; Yvonne Lorna (1917-2000); Elwyn Bewell (1918-1970); and Bernice Shirley (1920-2013).

Scarfe worked at Elders for fifteen years as a pastoral inspector and during this time oversaw G. Gilmore White’s estate at Reedbeds.4 It would seem Scarfe was primarily involved in managing the Mortlock estates for Elders, and the Mortlock sons for Rosye Mortlock. Some insight into Scarfe’s relationship with the Mortlocks is gained in a letter from Rosye, written in 1922. She thanks Scarfe for helping with the ‘difficult’ Jack Mortlock at Port Lincoln in a role which seems to be more ‘pastoral care’ than inspector.5

Martindale Hall, Mintaro, S. Australia

3rd September 1922

Dear Mr Scarfe,

Your wire arrived safely and I was very pleased to get it. I cannot find words to thank you sufficiently for your great kindness to me in going over to Port Lincoln to help Jack, really it is deplorable the way he goes on, and the dreadful worry he is to everyone. I only wish we could get someone to go about with him, but this seems impossible. I had a letter from Mrs Hughes in which she suggested putting him in a home & said would I give my consent. I will give my consent to anything that could be done for him, but the trouble is who is going to keep him on this place, he is such a difficult person to reason with … I do hope you will understand how very grateful I am to you.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

Rosye F. Mortlock

group of men
Jack Mortlock, second from the left, Scarfe at the far right, and a party of men out the front of the Tumby Bay Hotel, c. 1922. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

On the same day as Rosye’s letter, Jack agrees to forgive the ‘indebtedness’ on a mortgage over Scarfe’s St Peters house in Adelaide: ‘On my return it is my intention to sign a discharge of such mortgage.’6

Newspaper reports, Jack Mortlock’s sparse diary entries, and a small archive from the Scarfe family in the State Library of South Australia reveal further details of Scarfe’s close involvement in the Mortlocks’ personal and business dealings. Scarfe is present at the launch of the motor yacht Martindale on 3 August 1925. On 2 January 1926, Jack is visited by Scarfe and family at Martindale Hall. Later that year, on 27 October 1926, Scarfe is a guest with his wife, Veda, on the MY Martindale at the opening demonstration of the Port Adelaide Sailing Club with the Governor of South Australia Sir Tom Bridges. Scarfe also accompanied Jack to Western Australia to inspect a gold-mining venture in which the financial position was ‘exceedingly bad’, from 22 May to 12 June 1927.

handwritten letter
Discharge of Scarfe’s mortgage by Jack Mortlock. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

In early 1928, Scarfe escorted Jack along with his brother, Ranson, to visit the Brilliant Gold Mine in outback Western Australia, a three-week trip. 7 Upon his return, Scarfe was then a judge at the annual sports event held at Martindale on 21 April 1928. He is reported as a vice-president and committee member of the local Wirrilla Sports Club, presided over by Jack Mortlock, and he is also a committee member of the Mintaro Coursing Club with Ranson Mortlock the official patron.

While still a pastoral inspector for Elders, as well as managing businesses for Mortlock, Scarfe was at this time also in business with Jack. Scarfe was a shareholder in two companies of which Jack Mortlock was director: the Tumby Bay Hotel, registered in October 1925, and Universal Importers, acquired in March 1928, where Scarfe was the company secretary.8

newspaper clipping with a group of people
Scarfe at Parafield Airport returning from a business trip to Western Australia with Ranson. Left to right: Scarfe and wife, Veda, and Rosye, Ranson and Jack Mortlock, 5 December 1929. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

With his ever-increasing role in the Mortlock affairs, Scarfe resigned from Elders in May 1928. Oswald Tipping, Elders manager, expressed his appreciation of ‘the zealous service’ Scarfe had always given over many years.9 Scarfe was then appointed by Mrs R. F. Mortlock as general manager of the Mortlock family estates, which included Yudnapinna, Yalluna, Martindale at Mintaro, Moockra Vale and Coffin Bay. Along with the Mortlock affairs, Scarfe managed the Cavandale and Merildin properties near Martindale for J. P. (Johnny) Malcolm with A. E. Hamilton.10

newspaper clipping
Scarfe was a vice-president and committee member of the Wirrilla Sports Club, often assuming the significant role as judge. Blyth Agriculturist, 29 March 1929, 4.

As well as traditional business tasks, with trips to visit properties and stock sales, Scarfe’s duties included chaperoning Jack and Ranson on a three-month tour of Java, Penang, Singapore, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India in 1930. At home, he also named racehorses, oversaw the interior design of Jack’s second motor yacht, the Martindale II, launched in 1932, and attended many holiday trips on the boat, some with his wife and children, to Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay. In November 1931, when Ranson ended up in hospital in Sydney and almost died from pneumonia, it was Scarfe who went and stayed with him for seven weeks until his recovery.11

Man at temple
Scarfe at Singosari Temple, Kabupatan Malang, Java, on the Eastern Tour with Jack and Ranson Mortlock in 1930. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
Man next to statue
Scarfe standing next to the Angel at the Cawnpore (Kanpur) Memorial, India, on the Eastern Tour with Jack and Ranson Mortlock in 1930. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
a family
Scarfe and his wife and children on holiday with the Mortlock family at their Coffin Bay property in May 1929. Left to right: Scarfe, Rosye Mortlock, Jack Mortlock, Yvonne, Bernice, Veda and Elwyn Scarfe, and Captain Tapley. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
man balancing on a log
Scarfe on a visit to the Mortlocks’ Yudnapinna property, north of Port Augusta, Yudnapinna station. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
Scarfe on board the Martindale II on one of his many fishing trips to Coffin Bay with Jack. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
three people and a boat
Scarfe at the launch of MY Martindale II on 18 July 1932 with Jack and Rosye Mortlock. Scarfe is reported as being responsible for the planning and interior design of the boat. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

Scarfe was acknowledged as an invaluable part of the Mortlocks’ world and rewarded well for his many and diverse roles. In January 1934 Jack Mortlock remitted £2,100 in interest on a loan to Scarfe, and then on 19 July 1935, Scarfe’s salary was increased to £1,000 per annum.12 This was almost five times the average nominal weekly wage of the time.13 A number of gifts from Jack to Scarfe are held in the State Library of South Australia, including an engraved watch and a sterling-silver round tobacco tin.

picture of a fob watch and engraved tobacco tin
Watch and tobacco tin, gifts from Jack Mortlock to E. E. Scarfe. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

Scarfe was a keen supporter of Waite Agricultural Research Institute and helped Jack Mortlock create a soil erosion station on Yudnapinna. He was also a member of the South Australia Stockowners’ Association and on the board of governors of Pulteney Grammar School.14

Scarfe died following a short illness on the 5 May 1947. After Scarfe’s death, a letter was received by his son Elwyn from Jack Mortlock: ‘I appreciate your offer of a personal memento of your Father in the form of some article belonging to him and any such gift will be greatly esteemed by me. In addition to being my General Manager your late father was a very dear friend of mine.’15

From 1940, Dorothy Beech had been employed as secretary to Scarfe, and after his death in 1947, she took over the Mortlocks’ accounts. In the year after Scarfe’s death, Jack was diagnosed with cancer. He then married Dorothy on 7 December 1948 in a very private service at St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide. Jack died in March 1950, and Scarfe’s wife, Veda, was left an annuity of £250 for her life in his will.16

typed excerpt
Synopsis of J. A. T. Mortlock’s will, dated 2 March 1950. Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.

Footnotes

  1. ‘Death of Pastoral Executive, Mr E. E. E. Scarfe, Estate Manager’, Advertiser, 7 May 1947, 13. ↩︎
  2. Scarfe PRG 1445/1/1, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  3. Family Notices, Advertiser, 27 February 1915, 14. ↩︎
  4. ‘Death of Pastoral Executive’, 13. ↩︎
  5. Letter from Rosye Mortlock to E. E. Scarfe, 3 September 1922, Scarfe PRG 1445/1/2, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  6. Letter from Jack Mortlock to E. E. Scarfe, 3 September 1922, R. J. R. Peachman witness, PRG 1445/1/2, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  7. J. A. T. Mortlock Diaries 1926-1928, Tumby Bay National Trust Museum. ↩︎
  8. ‘Business Man’s Diary’, News, 9 October 1928, 11; ‘Register of Company’, Register, 16 March 1928, 15. ↩︎
  9. Letter from Oswald Tipping to E. E. Scarfe, 2 May 1928, Scarfe PRG 1445/1/4, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  10. ‘Death of Pastoral Executive’, 13. ↩︎
  11. J. A. T. Mortlock Diary, 1931, Tumby Bay National Trust Museum. ↩︎
  12. Scarfe PRG 1445/1/6 and Scarfe PRG 1445/1/7, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  13. ‘Real Wages’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 1935, 13. ↩︎
  14. ‘Death of Pastoral Executive’, 13. ↩︎
  15. 12 May 1947, PRG 1445/1/8, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎
  16. Synopsis of will of J. A. T. Mortlock esq., 2 March 1950, PRG 847, box 23, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide. ↩︎