John William McLeod

Jack McLeod was named for his father's brother, 'The Quiet Stockman' of Mrs Aeneas Gunn's book We of the Never-Never. Jack talks about a Chinese cook called Cheon who worked on Mrs Gunn's property. Jack's father was a teamster for a Gawler chaff merchant and infused Jack with a love of horses. When Jack was about thirteen his father began working for Timms and Kidman who had the contracts for the Mount Pleasant to Balhannah and Monarto South to Sedan railway lines. The family went first to live at Mount Pleasant and then in tents at Monarto South. There Jack began work 'nippering' for the navvies. The McLeod families then went with Timms and Kidman to the Tod River Reservoir where Jack learned the blacksmith trade. In 1922 the family returned to Gawler. They bought a team of horses and Jack and his father became sand carters, working the North Para River. When the river sand was worked out in later years, Mr McLeod first managed a sand washing plant and then became a storeman with local stores. He married in 1934 and had one son.