The trophy, awarded to “J Darbyshire” in 1909 for ‘‘dairy cow yielding the largest quantity of butterfat“ has had quite a journey, ending up in Western Australia.
It was about to be discarded on the WA farming property of Brett Rose when he set the silver trophy aside and thought he might try to find its rightful owner.
Mr Rose contacted Country News with the idea of trying to find who it belonged to. After a story was published, a number of people came forward to try to find the family.
They included retired Kialla businessman and history researcher John Truman, who managed to track down the descendants of the Darbyshire family and discovered, remarkably, they too were in Western Australia. They included Mandurah artist Fiona Rafferty, the great-granddaughter of Mr Darbyshire.
Recently Mr Rose and his family delivered the trophy to Fiona’s mother, Margaret, who also lives in Mandurah.
Ms Rafferty noted the moment was an emotional one for her mother, who could remember seeing the trophy in her grandparents’ home when she was about 10 years old.
“It is also poignant to reflect on the fact that my mother’s grandparents were living in Kalgoorlie, when they received the news that their 21-year-old son Jack Darbyshire had been killed by a sniper (in World War I),” Ms Rafferty said.
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