Mission Down Under

By Joan Douglas Embry

Famous, highly decorated aviator and war hero – Sir Basil Embry – decided to live out his dream in retirement, carving out the family fortunes in heavily timbered bush in Western Australia. Challenges and hardship were already in his DNA and seizing opportunities had always been his philosophy in life – whether leading his airborne squadron on flak ridden raids, or diving into a manure heap to escape from his German captors.
Later in life he became politically active, trying to improve the lot of fellow farmers, as the wool and meat trade descended into the doldrums. His daughter-in-law Joan writes of the inevitable challenges and vagaries of establishing two sheep properties over the years in Western Australia, with basic living in sheds and shacks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Publishers / ASPG
• Release date: Aug 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781922920430

Book preview

Early Wartime

It may be hard for the modern generation to appreciate just how desperate those early days of World War Two were for the island of Great Britain. Invasion by the Germans was a very serious possibility, as they advanced across Europe and occupied France. The English Channel was such a very small strip of water to be crossed by the enemy and it became more and more likely, as the Battle of Britain air war raged in the skies above. It was not common knowledge at that time, but the convoys of ships bringing food to the inhabitants of the British Isles were being pulverised and sunk by the German U-boats marauding the oceans. At one stage the reckoning was about fourteen days of food left for the inhabitants of the British Isles and then they would have had to surrender and be occupied by the enemy. The fighter aeroplanes in the skies above England were dwindling in numbers to keep the enemy at bay. Children were being sent to host families in safer areas to be looked after. Their mothers worked in factories or joined up in the Army, Navy or Air Force - all to answer the desperate call for man and woman power.

Hope had a knowledge of Russian and spoke fluent French and thought she might have proved useful as an interpreter but was not required in that role and so she joined the WAAF. Her strong sense of duty to the country in those desperate early days of the war meant that the four children were billeted out in Somerset with a family of three spinster sisters. This must have been quite a shock to the spinsters!

Hope served at Biggin Hill at one stage and Dad was quite worried when she was there as the airfield received quite frequent pastings in air raids by the Germans. She was also on the same RAF station as Dad once, indeed he was her boss. One day he had a friend working on some details with him in his office. Apparently, he said with a grin watch this and pressed a bell. A very smart WAAF officer came in, stood to attention and saluted. Dad then said, that will be all Embry, but he made the mistake of speaking before the door quite closed as he said, I bet you couldn’t do that with your wife! Very typical of his sense of humour! But I imagine Dad fairly copped it when he got home that night!

New Beginnings

The vision of England, with its neat little fields, hedges and greenery spread out below, as seen from his aeroplane cockpit as he flew operationally throughout that Second World War, must have been indelibly printed on his mind. This is what he had held dear and had fought to protect for so many action-packed months and years. The victory that had seemed nigh impossible at the start, as the might of Germany had so nearly crushed the desperate and dwindling resources of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain. So many of his friends, fellow pilots and crews were shot out of the sky and failed to return from the interminable flying operations over the Channel, right through to Germany itself, day after day, night after night. So few aeroplanes remained to take to the skies and defend this English countryside as the German Reich so nearly overcame the opposition and invaded British soil.

Then there were years of operational flying and leadership in the many theatres of war, with the increasing responsibilities as he rose to higher ranks in these different areas of command. All this must have seemed never-ending at the time, and yet perhaps have seemed quite unreal and unbelievable in retrospect.

His last peacetime appointment, where he proved very popular and well liked, was as Commander-in-Chief Allied air forces Central Europe under Marshal of France A. Juin, the overall Commander in Chief of all land, sea and air forces based in central Europe. Marshal Juin was deemed to be quite upset when the decision was announced to retire Dad from that position and from the RAF at the early age of 54. At the end of the war his forthright character and steadfast belief in cutting out the bulldust, which had characterised his wartime exploits, where he had led from the front in the air and on the ground, was possibly deemed no longer politically correct to the powers-to-be, so they chose to give him early retirement. As he said - in other words I was sacked.

Dad had always said that when he left the Air Force he would retire to a warmer climate and out of England. He initially chose Rhodesia and his eldest son Keith had already gone out there to reconnoitre farming opportunities et cetera. But Keith was very disillusioned with living and farming there as he said you virtually had to carry a big stick to make the locals work and for them to respect you as the white man, and you also had to carry around a big bunch of keys locking everything away. Keith said he would farm in New Zealand (where his young sister Bridget had emigrated) or anywhere - but certainly not Rhodesia. Around that time Rhodesian troubles were accelerating, and it seemed a sound decision to move to New Zealand. Their only daughter Bridget had settled there, married a farmer and seemed to love the farming life, the climate and the future prospects for their children.

So, Dad chose to leave the country that he had fought for and flown over for such a lengthy period to embark on another mission and career with new risks and challenges, albeit not so dangerous and death-defying. Whilst his RAF career was ending, they went to stay with Hope’s cousin Mickey in the south of France, where he started to unwind and work on his autobiography whilst catching up on some of the leave that was outstanding to him.

On a typically English grey afternoon in March 1956 their middle son Mark joined them to board the SS Port Sydney to travel to New Zealand to begin their new life. This ship was one of the Port Line vessels that basically carried cargo, but with twelve or so passengers well catered for and looked after in very luxurious quarters. I must admit I was glad to know most of the passengers were over 50+, as this eased my mind over a possible shipboard romance for Mark! The ship went round the Cape of Good Hope, calling in at the Canary Islands and then other ports on the way to Wellington New Zealand. Dad concentrated on writing his autobiography whilst Mark enjoyed the company of the young officers on board the boat. On reaching Durban the family had a few days onshore as cargo was offloaded and this allowed the family to catch up with one of Mum’s brothers and wife who lived there, plus various friends. Everywhere they went they met up with a lot of Dad’s wartime flying mates, so there was plenty of ribaldry and happy times. They also enjoyed sharing time with more of Hope’s family when the boat reached Australia, offloading cargo in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Then finally they boarded another ship to reach their final destination in Wellington New Zealand.

On arrival the trio were joined by their eldest son Keith who was working on a farm in the North Island. They then enjoyed some time with their daughter Bridget and family who were share- milking on a dairy farm in the middle of the North Island. Mark got a job on a farm whilst his parents went up to Auckland and caught up with quite a few ex-RAF friends and acquaintances there. They were lent a house on an island in Auckland harbour and spent quite a few months there whilst Dad finished his book Mission Completed.

During this time, they travelled around parts of the North Island, looking at farming properties for sale, with the intention of starting their family farming adventure in NZ.

One area they looked at on the Coromandel Peninsula was close to where their daughter Bridget was moving to, to farm on her husband’s family sheep farm overlooking the Hauraki Gulf and Pacific Ocean, with islands dotted off the coastline. A most scenic and attractive part of New Zealand, very good sheep farming country with perennial pastures, very hilly and steep country suitable for sheep grazing, dairy and beef cattle, but with not much cropping potential.

This Coromandel area had too high a rainfall to run Merino sheep for wool production. The denser fleece of a Merino does not allow the skin to breathe so well, therefore the wool can tend to rot on the skin causing dermatitis and clotting of the wool, which is no good for the wool trade.

British breed cross bred sheep have more open fleeces so the dampness can dry out; and are basically run for meat production with their wool being a by-product, so this area was very well suited to this type of animal husbandry.

Possibly the attractiveness of wool producing sheep had always been Dad’s goal, whether in Rhodesia or New Zealand, that meant sheep husbandry involving basically Merino sheep for wool production – rather than fat lamb flocks of mixed crossbred sheep. Merino wool had been worth a pound sterling for a pound several years before – and that was the sheep farming that he had always quoted as his aim in