Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I had the unique opportunity of getting involved with the arts through a constituent in my electorate. Unfortunately, when it comes to the arts my brother was first in line and took all of the artistic genes available to the male line of the family, and he kept them for himself. My limited experience with the arts was probably swimming in the pools at the front of the Victorian art gallery as a young bloke during the Moomba Festival. My brother, Edward Irons, was, or is, an artist who became a professional student at Flinders University for many years and then returned to Victoria, where he now lives with his family. I was very proud of his talents and admired his painting skills, in secret, because as a younger brother with a competitive spirit I did not give him an inch or any compliments.

Keith Chesson, from my electorate, offered me the chance to officially open his recent art exhibition and I jumped at it. Keith has lived a wonderful life and I want to take this opportunity to tell parliament about it because his family has also been a valuable contributor to the Western Australian community for a long time. Keith has been many things, including a teacher and a principal, a classical violinist, a published author, a scriptwriter, a playwright, an actor, a company director and, obviously, a painter. Keith has achieved many things. He had exhibitions previously, in 1993 and 1998. As an educator he taught at the following schools: Wirrabirra Primary School, Dunsborough Primary School, Frankland River Primary School, Graylands Demonstration School, Wandering Special Native School, Geraldton Primary School, Walkaway Primary School, Wilson Primary School, Jigalong Special Aboriginal School, Clifton Hills Primary School, Rossmoyne Primary School and Bradleys Primary School. I hope that I have managed to get them all in. His preferred musical instruments are the celtic and bluegrass fiddles.

He has a strong family unit, and that was shown by the large number of family members who attended the opening of his exhibition. He gave me a personal tour of his exhibition. I was very impressed with his work and was amazed at how lifelike his work was. I now want to speak about his family and pay tribute to their rich history and contribution to Western Australia as a family. Keith is a member of the fourth generation of the Chesson family. They first settled in Western Australia during the Murchison gold rush of 1893. James Chesson was the first to arrive, in 1893, where, at Cue, he won a match race with the local Sheffield Handicap champion. Having bet his shirt and everything he owned, Jim purchased a lease with the winnings. The Cue One proved to be a successful investment, and in 1895 Jim sent sufficient funds to John Benjamin Chesson to transport William, Alfred, Albert and Jackie, together with Catherine and a baby girl, May, to the Murchison.

John Benjamin Chesson, the original English patriarch, was a talented violinist who travelled widely to play lead fiddler at country balls and barn dances, which is a role he continued in the Murchison. Bridget Chesson, nee Mackay, his Irish wife, stayed at home and minded the many children they produced when he arrived home in between gigs.

Alfred Chesson built the hotels in Cremorne, the Half Way Hotel and Chesson’s Day Dawn Hotel, and used them as a prospecting base. Alf leased a claim close to the Great Fingall Gold Mine, ironically called the Mountain View. The Mountain View proved to be a fantastically rich vein of gold.

Catherine Chesson’s maiden name was Currey. When William the Conqueror came to England the Chessum and Corre families came with him as part of the fleet. Subsequently, the Chessum family located themselves in King’s Lynne and the Corre family located themselves in Belfast. The English version of Chessum is Chesson and the Irish version of Corre is Currey. It is not strange that the Irish and English groups intermarried, because they were of the same stock and character. Catherine Chesson was a tough woman, because she walked behind the wagon that carried the baby, May, from Mullewa to Day Dawn. Catherine bore nine children. Tom, the eldest, was killed in a shooting accident. The youngest, a girl, suffocated on a plum stone aboard a train taking her to Geraldton to have it removed. Given the harsh conditions on the goldfields, sometimes whole families perished, and it is a wonder that so many Chessons—Tom, Jack, Syd, May, Idie, Ethel and Nellie—survived. Alf’s son James Sydney Chesson, Keith’s father, was a lead violinist, champion boxer and cyclist, foreman of the Burley football factory and manufacturer of the Chesson football.

Alma Laura Chesson, nee Gibbon, was a Modern School scholarship winner, which meant that she was one of the 50 brightest students in the state, among the sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Being the daughter of a barmaid, Alma found it difficult and left to take up work as a housemaid-waitress at Curley’s Boarding House in Wiluna. Being a barmaid in those days was equated with being a prostitute.

One last point of interest relates to two Chesson brothers, Tom and Jim, who opposed each other in the Murchison elections, one as a Labor candidate and one as a conservative candidate. The main point at issue was the Japanese brothel situated in the middle of Cue which was largely patronised by the Day Dawn miners. Tom and James held concurrent meetings at the Cue rotunda and the Murchison Club balcony. Rumour has it that the rallies were congenial, but to believe that you would have to be a politician. (Time expired)