Jack Jordan

Jack, my father, was a conscientious objector in Adelaide, South Australia. A member of The Australian Bible Students, his case to be a conscientious objector was defended in court by a Quaker lawyer by the name of Treloar. He did not want to serve in the field as an ambulance officer, instead choosing to work as a farmer. He sold his home, gave up his work as a Linotype operator, and with my mother and two children, (my brother Jack and sister Eleanor), he bought a run-down apple orchard at Urraidla in the Adelaide hills. He and my mother worked growing vegetables and fruit on the orchard.

My grandmothers used to visit from Adelaide and from Sydney in order to help with cooking and with caring for the children while my parents worked. Later Italian prisoners of war arrived, there were at least 2 and possibly more, who worked as labourers on the farm with my parents. After the war ended my father returned to his work as a linotype operator and purchased a home in the suburbs of Adelaide. 

The prisoners returned to Italy after the war, but Bruno returned with his Italian wife, purchased the farm from my father, and continued working there for the rest of his life. My father assisted him with taxation and legal documents for many years because Bruno lacked the language to be able to manage these. My family continued visiting Bruno and his family for many years afterwards. I was born in 1948 and I remember visiting Bruno and his family at least once a year.