ARTHUR WILLIAM SIMMONS
Arthur William Simmons married Rebecca Hunter in 1877. As farmers they owned and ran properties at Freshwater Creek and Waurn Ponds (now Deakin University).
Their son Thomas married Cecelia Lemin in 1914 and had two sons – Arthur and Alan. They lived at the Freshwater Creek farm. Thomas died in 1921, aged 39 from septicemia after a sheep stood on his toe. Cecelia then married William Cunningham. They continued to farm at Freshwater Creek. The boys rode their horses to school.
Arthur met Phyllis Mousley at the local dances and used to ride his Raleigh motorcycle to get petrol from the Anglesea General Store, Post Office and Tea Rooms in the hope of seeing Phyllis. It was run by her family since opening in 1917. Her father Reuben had served in Gallipoli inWW1 (His ashes, with his first wife May, are buried in the cemetery).
The Mousleys had settled in the area after Reuben’s grandfather Joseph, who had been transported to Hobart Town in 1836 to serve a life sentence for sheep stealing, was pardoned and moved to Geelong in 1848. He married and had 10 children, one of whom was Rueben’s father William.
Arthur and Phyllis married in 1938 and bought land at Anglesea for £8 in 1941. Their house was built from recycled materials due to war time scarcities. Phyllis continued to help the family business, manning the switchboard during the Black Friday bushfires of 1939. Arthur worked for the Forestry Commission while Phyllis and the children worked their land in Anglesea (now the industrial estate). Phyllis died in 2000 and Arthur passed away just before his 98th birthday in 2014.
Arthur served on the Bellbrae Cemetery Trust from 1960 until his death in 2014 and is buried in this cemetery.
