Driving along Blair Street, the main entry into Bunbury’s CBD, it barely crosses anyone’s mind to reflect on who is Blair?
So few of us here have any idea of the nature of the man for whom the street is named or his legacy.
Learning his story during research into the men and women from Bunbury who served during World War I, I became engrossed in digging into the detail of his life, trying to capture a sense of his personality, his driving motivation and influences.
The Jack Blair I found was a man of outstanding character and abilities and in many respects both a man of his time and a man before his time.
His long career embraced the role of teacher, communicator, union man, political candidate, soldier and Commissioned Officer in World War I at the Western Front.
John Thomas Blair was born in 1871, he studied at the School of Mines in Ballarat, Victoria, and at Teachers’ College, Melbourne, before moving to WA in 1896 at a time when new schools were set up across the state.
He taught briefly at Perth Boys School before being assigned to the one-teacher school at Coolup, he went on to teach in Collie, Donnybrook, Maylands, Rosalie, Norseman, and York, in many cases as acting headmaster.
While in Collie he married Janet Lawson in 1900, they had two children but both died in infancy.
Whilst setting Maylands School in 1905 his wife, suffering ill health, passed away, it would seem both personal tragedy and work pressures truly tested Jack Blair at that time.
It wasn’t until he scraped through a qualifying examination in 1908 involving his troublesome subject Euclidian Geometry that he achieved his “A” certificate and could assume higher responsibilities.
He was then appointed to a permanent position as Headmaster at Wagin in 1909 before moving to Bunbury Central State School in January 1913.
He married Lillian Robertson in 1910 who strongly supported him through much of his working life, the couple had no children so no descendants to carry forward his name and story.
With the outbreak of World War I, Jack enlisted as a volunteer for active service in 1915, aged 43.
He sailed on the SS “Medic” in January 1916 and joined the 28th Battalion in Armentieres, deployed to the deadlocked trench warfare around Vimy, Amiens and Albert.
Within weeks of arriving during the Battle of Pozieres, Jack was wounded, evacuated and sent to London General Hospital. While there he wrote letters back to friends in Bunbury providing first hand accounts of battle conditions.
His letters to students at Bunbury Central State School conveyed for them his experiences and were published in the local newspaper. Among his accounts were observations of Anzac Day in 1916 and 1917.
On recovery from his wounds at Pozierres, Jack was transferred in August, 1916, to Officer Training programs at Perham Downs and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was promoted Second Lieutenant.
He returned to the 28th Battalion on the field in May, 1917, and was promoted to Lieutenant during the Third Battle of Ypres.
After a brief period of leave in England, Lieutenant Blair and his regiment saw out winter behind lines on the Somme, and in March he was transferred to the Overseas Training Brigade.
At the end of the war Jack served on in London, attached to the War Records Office, before returning to Australia on the Orontes and was discharged in September, 1919.
He resumed his role in the Education Department, teaching at Fremantle Boys’ School.
Within three months of his discharge he was elected president of the Teachers Union amid negotiations on salaries for teachers and civil servants.
He continued in the role of president for a further three years during which time the union made substantial changes to its constitution before being appointed as Inspector of Schools in 1922.
He served for 15 years based in Narrogin, Kalgoorlie and Bunbury before retiring in 1937 at which time he engaged in community service and volunteering before being elected Mayor of Bunbury in 1939 serving through World War II until 1943.
His solid precautionary attention to local defence requirements and community preparedness reflected his experience on the frontline.
He was universally respected for his vigour, clear-mindedness, tenacity and good humour.
He passed away on January 18, 1952, aged 81 years.
We named a main street in his honour.
The article and photo have been supplied by the Bunbury Historical Society at the King Cottage Museum.
Community members are able to access the Bunbury Historical Society and King Cottage Museum for research materials.
The group encourages members of the public to supply them with photos, stories about Bunbury and their family trees for research and safe keeping.
