Shep's Place Family Tree

To expand the outline above:- He arrived two months prematurely in the midst of a particularly cold winter and almost cost his mother her life. The midwife believed him to be dead so wrapped the infant in a towel and hastily laid him beside the hearth where a wood fire burned in the front bedroom of the railway cottage. Doctor and midwife worked hard to save Maria's life, and when at last they were satisfied she was out of danger, they turned to the child's body to ascertain its sex for entry on a death certificate. To their amazement the very small boy was breathing and had been kept alive by the warmth of the fire, though extremely frail. As has been stated earlier RRS & Alec Drury were with their train at the Keith station when news of a fifth son reached them and so Keith Melville ‎(after Alec)‎ received his name, and he was most truly thankful that his father was not at the station of Brimbago, Kybolite, Coonawarra, Kalangadoo or Tantanoola, all of the same branch line, out from Bordertown.

The litany of his many narrow escapes from early childhood began with the bite of a centipede, a meal of Deadly Nightshade berries, a near choking to death on a plum stone, and the same with a large "lolly ball", a most hazardous sweet the size of a horse pill with various layers of colour and flavour gradually changed by the tongue, once popular with small children, now no longer manufactured. Twice more a death certificate was actually written out but proved superfluous. At the age of three he drank a glass of sulphuric acid in a neighbour's workshop, believing from the appearance it was water, and would have died but for the timely arrival of his sister Hettie in search of him. She waited for nothing, just tossed him over her shoulder and raced across the road to the doctor's surgery where a new man had replaced the Dr. Wigg of the house advertisement in 1893. This doctor rushed Keith to the city to a German Doctor von Luikavitch who specialised in poisons. This doctor who saved Keith's life eventually returned to his homeland of Danzig, and for many years corresponded with his former patient. The last letter was dated 1939 just days before the Nazis over-ran the town. The doctor was very aged by then. The acid which ran from Keith's mouth burnt out the shoulder of Hettie's dress and burnt the skin beneath. He was ill for a long time with terrible internal and throat burns that troubled him for the remainder of his life.

It was about this age of three that he was photographed in petticoats and golden curls and in after years he teased his youngest daughter when small with tales of "when I was a little girl, you can see for yourself". There was an enlargement on the bedroom wall. Quite contrary to that model child, Blaine, Keith was continually in trouble, "me useful little hankie" fresh at breakfast time, was black by lunch and although sent out band-box neat he was a grubby object in no time at all to the despair of his mother and three sisters who acted as extra mothers ‎(he spent much time in avoiding them)‎.

All four nursed him through every type of childish illness plus the frequent migraines and billious attacks caused by poor eyesight which was not discovered and rectified until the age of 16. He went off in due course to the Unley School where he formed a partnership with two other urchins, Norman Denton and Leslie White, and they called themselves for no discoverable reason "The Three Moggies" and had to be individually addressed as Moggie Stevenson, Moggie Denton and Moggie White. When he sat in the front row at school, more often than not as detention, he did well, but when sent to the top of the class at the back where he could not see the blackboard he did poorly and was promptly returned to the front again.

At six he accepted a dare to wriggle his way through an 18 inch pipe which passed under Unley Road and halfway over he was overcome by bad air. His companions fled in terror, believing him dead, but when a horse tram rumbled above and horridly near to his head he was roused and decided that being buried alive was not for him and somehow got himself to the end and fresh air. When grown, he declared that even cats avoided this narrow pipe and concluded that he must have been an exceptionally skinny child. At 13 he was rescued from drowning in the River Torrens one hot day when "the boys" went swimming in a state of nature, bathers having not yet been invented. A number of poor children attended the Unley School, and their lunch, if any, was bread and dripping which Keith thought much more interesting than his own carefully packed lunch box with meat and jam sandwiches, so he more often than not exchanged and was naturally a popular figure at midday. Maria would have been horrified had she known, being so finicky over everything, particularly with food preparation.

Keith gained his School Certificate ‎(later called the Qualifying Certificate)‎ at 13 years so was at liberty to commence work. RRS was by then financially able to give him higher education and offered to send him to Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide. There were as yet no high schools, so either a private tutor or attendance at a college or church school was the custom. Keith thought it unfair that he should have an education superior to his brothers' and refused. He begged that instead he be allowed lessons in the art of pipe organ playing. This was refused. No doubt his father considered this ambition laughable as the boy's health had never been robust.

As Blaine had not cared for work at the Crescent Printery at Austin Street, Adelaide, the owner Mr. W.C. Bray, a family friend, now offered Keith an apprenticeship ‎(which was to last 7 years)‎, with the promise of an eventual partnership as he had no sons, so 1906 saw Keith at work, his very poor eyesight still undetected, so that the headaches and bilious attacks grew ever worse. He was privately tutored in English and other subjects at evening classes to fit him for his work, and later he joined the then quite well known St. Andrew's Literary Society which taught him debating and public speaking and gave him a further excellent education. Many of the members became public figures in later years.

It was of this period that his brother Walter wrote to EMS in 1949 - "Keith probably never strayed from the straight & narrow in all his life - where wimming were concerned I mean. He was the youngest son and delicate and from my little recollection of him ‎(I cleared out at 17)‎ he was a most damnable young prig. Maybe I would be prejudiced as I was totally different. Not 'ardly a prig, anyway, not 'ardly! Keith got in, when quite young with the serious type of bloque at St.Andrew's Church and their Literary Society etc. and if anyone had handed him a jar of rum and a blonde I think it would have been a case of 'e dunno where 'e are!". Brotherly frankness, and it is true that Keith retained a much narrower outlook than his brothers, but it went with an exactitude for truth and uprightness, that if priggish in youth, mellowed with age and a better developed sense of humour.

Keith had his share of the Stevenson good looks and certainly did not lack girl friends. He met his future wife, Violet Lakeman at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Unley when both were aged 15. His first gift to her ‎(still at this house)‎ was a tiny Irish bogwood pig with 6 views of Ireland discernable through a miniscule window in its side. This cost his entire pocketmoney for a week, namely sixpence, doled out by Maria who required him to hand over his wage for her to manage for some years. The Lakeman family left the district and church for some years and Keith had a variety of girl friends among whom were Nellie Deanes ‎(he nearly asked her to marry him)‎ and Bertha Laubman whom he was on the point of asking when Violet appeared on the scene again. They found themselves sitting side by side at the wedding of mutual friends at St. Andrew's and all other friends of both no longer mattered from this time onward.

With all his brothers expert marksmen it was not surprising that Keith took an interest in things military. From June 15,1908 a member of the S.A. Senior Cadet Corps ‎(Commonwealth Military Forces)‎ and was Colour Sergeant from September 1909 and Capt. A. Davidson stated in a letter to Major Gould on 7 Jun 1910 that Keith "in all his work has shown splendid ability and knowledge and has exercised the utmost zeal in all military matters, undertaking duties not directly in his particular sphere but which further fitted himself and others for Company duties." And further - "I have therefore much pleasure in recommending him to your notice as a candidate for a Commission in the Corps." There is a photograph of "F" Company taken at Easter 1910 at their camp at Marino.

The next of the surviving papers is a certificate of discharge from the senior cadets dated 30 Jun 1911, which however, says that Regimental Quartermaster Keith M. Stevenson was transferred at the inauguration of the Compulsory Scheme from the Regimental Staff, First Battalion. His character was "excellent" and he had served three years. He was transferred to the Unattached List of Senior Cadet Officers 1 Jul 1912 by which time he was aged 19. He duly gained his Commission on 8 Sep 1915 and was gazetted Lieutenant, 74th.Infantry, 4th. Military District. Much to his disappointment the heart "murmur" discovered when he first tried to enlist for overseas duty at the outbreak of World War 1 was also quickly discerned by each examining medical officer at the numerous further enlistment centres he visited. Therefore he did not at all appreciate the white feather sent anonymously through the post.

Returning to Keith's career as a printer, his indenture papers liberally decorated with red seals, dated from his 15th. birthday though he had been working earlier. The Crescent Printery was owned by Bray & Wellstead to whom Keith was to be apprenticed for 6 years as a compositor, and his weekly wage commenced at 8 shillings and progressed to 25 shillings in his seventh and final year. In 1914 he joined the South Australian Typographical Society, the headquarters being the Trades Hall, Grote Street, Adelaide which was apparently just another name for a Printer's Union. The entrance fee was nil and he was made a member "forthwith".

Keith completed his apprenticeship on his 2lst, birthday, 11 Jun 1914, but his patron Mr. Bray had died and during his last illness his nephew persuaded him to make a new Will, eliminating Keith and naming himself as sole beneficiary in regard to the Crescent Printery and to make quite sure of his own position, the luckless KMS was given notice of dismissal. The partner, W.E.Wellstead did his best with a reference. This is on the firms stationery that depicts a gold half-moon on a pale blue background and the phone number Central 698. Its date was 18 Jun 1914 - "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN - The Bearer ‎(Mr. Keith Stevenson)‎ has been in the employ of the Crescent Printery Ltd. for the last eight years, and is leaving after serving his apprenticeship, owing to lack of sufficient work to warrant the permanent employment of an extra journeyman compositor. He has always proved most willing, taking great interest in his work. He has an all-round knowledge of job work and would suit any office requiring such a hand. I have confidence in recommending him."

Keith promptly obtained employment with the Burmeister Printing Company at Gays Arcade, Adelaide, though not for long, by the 30th. of the same month ‎(June)‎, he had entered the Government Printing Office, and he was to remain there for the rest of his working life. He was gazetted a permanent Government employee on 18 Jan 1917 and scrupulously kept the record of all his advancements to the top position as each in turn was also gazetted. "Jobbing and general Compositor, Monotype and Intertype Operator, Assistant Reader on 1 Jan 1920, Reader by 1925" and in finer detail than I have given. He was also Clerk of the Chapel from 1919 and Secretary of the Office Association from 15 Dec 1921 to which all staff members belonged and could have a voice in internal affairs.

When Keith commenced, handset type was the general custom, the retiring age was 70 years and there were many queer old characters working at the Printing Office who supplied a fund of amusing stories in after years for KMS. The number of eccentric old printers was phenomenal. The Chief, designated the Government Printer, in 1914 was Richard Edgar Elmore Rogers, an autocratic Englishman that some of his work people found difficult to get on with. One of his grandsons was to marry Keith's younger daughter in 1945.
Narrow escapes persisted. When cycling down the narrow and very steep Old Belair Road in the foothills, his brakes failed, but he managed to leap off and embrace a handy gum tree at the edge of a sheer drop.

Too much study resulted in a bad break-down in health at 19, though by then the rimless spectacles prescribed had greatly improved his earlier troubles. In 1916 Keith and Violet were engaged and both were aged 23, their birthdays being only 4 days apart and for the rest of their lives KMS who was the elder would say, "wait until you are as old as I am, then you will understand," concerning a great variety of subjects.

During this engagement he would ride his bicycle from Unley to Violet's home at Rose Terrace, Wayville and one evening a man under the influence of drugs ‎(on foot)‎ cannoned into him as he crossed a railway line, and knocked him unconscious onto the rails. His head was deeply cut. The vibration of an approaching train stirred him awake and he scrambled to safety with moments to spare. At the Office annual picnic one of his fellow workers with an imagined grudge shot him with a starting pistol used for the foot races, Keith sensed something was to happen a split second ahead and covered his face with his hands which were extensively injured. A deaf ‎(and dumb)‎ colleague upon whom the others continually played tricks, blamed Keith for nailing his tools of trade to a desk, and crept up behind him armed with a large mallet, intent on damage, but a giant of a man quickly snatched up the little enraged "Dummy Bostock" as though he were an infant & set him up on a high shelf to cool off enough to have it explained that someone else other than KMS was responsible.

Violet was in no great hurry to be married and after almost three years of the engagement ‎(and a three stone diamond ring to flash about)‎ she said she would agree to the wedding when a suitable abode was found. As houses were scarce for renting following the end of the War, she happily expected another year or two's grace. But Keith soon found that 23 Salisbury Street, Unley, was up for leasing, paid the necessary deposit, and informed his bride. He insisted that he receive a formal invitation to his own wedding. It is still extant, printed in silver and cordially inviting him to be present at St. Andrew's Church, Unley on 13 Jan 1910 for the afternoon ceremony. The reception was at the bride's parents' residence at Rose Street, Wayville. Although the youngest of the four Lakeman sisters she was the first to marry. The only bridesmaid ‎(in blue)‎ was the eldest sister, Eunice, the best man was a friend of Keith's named Harold Ewer, and the bride wore cream creped with matching silk lace ‎(only the cuffs remain)‎, with a tulle veil and orange blossom circlet. Both Keith and Violet were aged 25. Until the marriage Violet had been a telephonist for several years at the Adelaide Central Telephone Exchange and spent her days, and nights when on late duty, saying "Number please", and plugging in cords endlessly.

For the benefit of her descendants some of her reminiscences will be included with details of the Lakeman ancestry further on in this account.

Keith lived at the Salisbury Street house for a month prior to the wedding. Although a semi-detached dwelling in a row of the same the rooms were large, the dining room being some 20 feet long. There was gas lighting and it was close to the city and both sets of parents. Most of the furniture was purchased one Saturday morning and included a 9 foot solid oak dining table to fill that big room, but which was to prove an embarrassment at the subsequent and much smaller house. The rent was 15/- per week from the salary of £3/15/0 . From the beginning the newly married pair saved hard with the object of building at the new "Township" of Black Forest, 4 miles out in the wilderness where only lately wheat and dairy farms had been subdivided.

On June 18,1918, Keith had purchased Lot no. 248 at Gordon Road, for £42/6/0. Already a few houses had been erected in the vicinity of the railway ‎(a single track)‎ which went through to the coast at Brighton in 1914. Mains water and electricity were being considered for the area. Meantime the inhabitants had dug wells. There was no deep drainage until 1930.

RRS who was greatly interested in the Salisbury Street house and its occupants and the child who arrived the following year, was a frequent visitor, with Maria less so, as her sallying forth from home was rarer. His death in October ‎(1920)‎ brought a legacy to KMS making it possible, with a bank loan, to build for himself. Building materials were difficult to come by just after World War 1. but brother Stuart the architect who drew up plans for a 5 roomed cottage ‎(later enlarged)‎, knew of a builder who carefully saved leftovers from his various commitments to use for "Spec." houses at a nice profit. The contract dated 1 Nov 1921 with Ernest E. Brown, Fisher Street, Welland, South Australia:-
"I, the undersigned E. E. Brown hereby agree to build a residence at Gordon Road, Black Forest Estate as per plans and specifications, submitted to and approved by the State Bank of South Australia, for the sum of Seven Hundred and thirty one pounds - £731/0/0 - the building to be finished and completed to the entire satisfaction of the owner K.M. Stevenson in accordance with the plans and specifications."

This was witnessed by Stuart, and was in his handwriting. The very detailed specifications gave fireplaces in 4 rooms, a chip bath-heater, a wood burning stove, and a 10 gallon copper with galvanized troughs in the brick workshop cum laundry. It was of solid red brick with an iron roof, a typical 1920s bungalow. There actually was mains water and electricity with two power points provided, but by later standards quite basic. When a gas stove was installed two years later, the first for the street, this counted a great leap forward, but relations on both sides, used to being hurled about by horse, then electric trams, still regarded this residence as being at the back of beyond, in spite of the train journey taking less than 15 minutes by steam engine and dog-box carriage, from Adelaide. Some six weeks before the completion of the house Keith received notice to quit, due to the owner having sold, but by some hitch in proceedings rent could not be charged for that period and the money thus saved provided needed floor coverings, linoleum of course. Violet and the two year old Eunice Margaret were sent to the aunt and uncle at Naracoorte and the latter can still remember that holiday when she conceived a passion for a vast bull named Billy, and has also a clear remembrance of the day they removed from Salisbury Street to Gordon Road. Keith went off with the horse drawn wagon loaded with goods and chattels, Violet with her sister Eunice Lakeman took a tram as far as Cross Road, then walked the two miles. It was yet unpaved and unsealed highway that was a red dust bowl in summer and a quagmire every winter. The infant was conveyed in her wickerwork pusher with rubber wheels and was immensely interested in all the new sights and sounds and particularly in Lake's dairy herd which grazed between the Clarence Park Railway Station and the next street beyond Gordon Road.

Although the map with the specifications shows close sub-division the district was still very open. The sea two miles away could be seen ‎(the land slopes down to it)‎ and working farms were not far away. Black Forest was named very early in the State's history and was descriptive of the heavily timbered terrain, the haunt of cattle rustlers and a variety of unsavoury characters. The back yard at No. 46 had a mammoth eucalypt of great age which was removed by a working bee of friends. No roads were paved and even the Main South Road, now a six lane highway with a vast overpass across the railway which now speeds some120 trains daily between the city and coastal stations, had only a slender strip of macadam down the centre for the rare Model T. Ford's benefit.
No. 46 was in fact numberless for several years, none having been allotted, and all residences were required to have a nameplate for the benefit of the postman who called twice a day if need be. Soon there appeared attached to a front wall, tastefully in copper needing to be polished much too often, the name "Esmercraig", a concoction from "Esmeralda Villa", London, former home of Violet's father, and "Craiglea" of Unley Road. This plate is these days cause of a faint hysteria in a profoundly deaf collector for charity to whom it is impossible to explain the original necessity.

Keith resigned on 1 Nov 1922 from the citizen forces after about 9 years in their ranks and handed in his commission, he had much to do in the way of improvements at home. The first 3 weeks there an almost non-stop downpour turned the surroundings to red clay glue and they did think rather longingly of the benefits of civilized Unley.

The next 10 years saw a rapid build-up of the district though the train fare to town remained 2d from Clarence Park but when in due course an extra station much nearer to Gordon Road was opened, to the disgust of all, the fare from there was double. Return of course. The Great Depression had arrived and building virtually ceased.

The garden about "Esmercraig" was mostly created by Violet who had her family's fondness for such. In spite of the "Who's Who" statement that Keith counted gardening as his first hobby, he was never known to pull a weed though he was expert at pruning and budding and planted vegetables in season ‎(cultivated by others thereafter)‎ but found Nature rather tiresome, such as when he once planted bean seeds with mathematical precision one inch apart in perfect alignment, and found they arose every which way through the soil he was most put out. His printing exactness in all things was affronted.
Referring back to that Easter of 1922 here is another of Keith's careful notes:

"HOUSE POSSESSION"
Cost £731/0/0
Extras £15/0/0
Land & Costs £44/0/0
Fees, Interests and Sundries £10/8/0
S.A. State Bank Loan £574/0/0
Extra furnishings & Moving £20

The bank loan was the one cost not fully paid.

Further to KMS and the Printing Office; he was promoted to Officer of the Public Service ‎(and so in line for a rise from the ranks)‎ on 12 Jun 1930 and stepped up to Reader from Compositor and was Foreman, that is 3rd. from the top position from 20 Aug 1931. As Foreman he was appointed to reorganise the Composing Sections typesetting methods along more modern lines, and in his own time designed furniture casting apparatus at considerable economy to the Department. With the retirement of the then Government Printer, Harrison Weir, K.M.S. found himself in the second from top on 11 Jul 1935 when aged 42. He had been Secretary and Librarian ‎(and rather stern Censor)‎ of the Office Library from 5 Feb 1924 and in the January of 1935 retired from these duties and to his surprise he was presented with a Grandmother clock with Westminster chimes which he never failed to wind on Sundays thereafter. Oddly, it stopped dead at the moment of his death, 3 minutes past 7 a.m. and is now at the W.F. Muller house at Strathalbyn, S.A. and still chiming each quarter hour.

When Frank Trigg retired at 65 in 1941 Keith was promoted to be Acting Government Printer and Comptroller of Stationery, confirmed permanent 29 Apr 1942, a position he held for the next 17 years and was the youngest to have been in this office from the earliest days, when the first arrivals by the "Buffalo" in 1836 brought out a printing machine for Government work, particularly Gazettes in which promulgations were made fully official, with at first work done in a tent in the midst of the sand hills at Glenelg.

During the Second War when he was responsible for the State's issue of food, clothing and petrol rationing tickets, KMS was very proud of their record that not one ever went astray to appear on the black market. There was however, one outstanding case of forgery of petrol tickets in Adelaide which he was instrumental in bringing to light and so found himself a star witness of the court case that ensued, and this he did not at all relish.

Another of Keith's close escapes happened when he was on night duty as an air raid warden on the roof of the Printing Office on a moonless night with the black-out in full force when his attention was diverted as he made his way across the roof-top to the fire escape. There was no parapet, and suddenly he found himself with one foot in mid-air and the other about to follow and send him tumbling to the roadway three storeys below. There had been another near miss a year or two earlier, again at an Office picnic in the country when a car load of young people, including his own efficient and pretty young secretary, had tried to persuade him to join them for the trip back to the city instead of with the staid company in one of the hired buses. They were all in high spirits ‎(non-alcoholic as no drink was allowed at the picnics)‎ and had been dancing and singing "The Lambeth Walk", a top favourite. He refused laughingly, the car shot off at speed, skidded into gravel, hit a tree, and all were injured and the young secretary died in Keith's arms. He was an expert first aider and had rushed to their assistance moments after the crash.

KMS over his many years at the Printing office gained the name of Official Mourner as he attended hundreds of funerals as office representative. He knew the burial service off by heart and was wont to begin, at any given moment at home with "Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of trouble, etc.", or as a change would recite the marriage or baptismal services with which he was equally facile. At one stage the Federal Government invited him to take over the position of Federal Government Printer at Canberra but he refused.

In his home district, now changed from Black Forest Estate to Clarence Park, Keith was prominent in local activities and was instrumental in having vacant land made into the Margaret Rose Playground for children and other such community services through the Goodwood South Progressive Society of which he became President. By this time in middle age, he and Blaine were much alike in appearance, providing KMS retained his hat for he was very bald while Blaine retained a good head of hair, and they made a pact never to snub any unknown person ‎(to each)‎ who approached and so often found themselves greeted cordially by perfect strangers in the city, For a number of years the two former heads, Harrison Weir and Frank Trigg met Keith once a month for a luncheon, for them to keep in touch with the latest events at the Office and to see how KMS was progressing in his battle with the Government to get a new and modern establishment built. Immediately after the War there was such a staff shortage due to so many joining the services and not being replaced, that he arranged to bring out skilled workers from England, with their families. He found houses for them ‎(very scarce indeed)‎ and even furniture, 16 families in all. It was not long before the "Advertiser" newspaper which was in a similar position began to wheedle away these workers with offers of higher wages than the Government was willing to pay, and so almost all of Keith's very hard work in this respect came to naught. A feud developed between the two firms, Keith was infuriated and the newspaper took a delight in making incorrect statements concerning the Printing Office. The new establishment was not to be built in his lifetime, his greatest disappointment. The old building of his day had first been raised in 1867 behind the first Parliament house, then enlarged more than once so that finally it faced King William Street with the side of Government House grounds immediately opposite. It had long since become overcrowded, particularly after Keith imported much modern equipment after W.W.2. With Stuart who had become Architect-in-Chief, he found vacant land in the city owned by the Government and considered by both of them to be suitable for the large single storey building they had designed between them, and even drawn up plans. But always some other use had been decided on, for this or that section they viewed. In 1968 after Keith's death a modern building was raised at the suburb of Nettley and the old was demolished and the area is part of the surround of the Festival Theatre. The family album kept by Violet has numerous newspaper cuttings and pictures concerning KMS. In 1947 he accompanied the then state Premier Thomas ‎(later knighted)‎ Playford to Canberra; with photograph and text, of this and many other events his life story can be traced.

There is a Certificate of Successful Vacination dated 1894, his age being 10 months, the place Bordertown. His original School Certificate dated May 1906 which still is in excellent condition, his life membership certificate of the Literary Society dated 2 May 1916, the last and main certificate showing that he was unfit for overseas military duty dated 7 Oct 1916. Excerpts from "Vox'S" column in the "Advertiser" include what is probably the only source of the claimed relationship to Robert Louis Stevenson for it says that after RRS died, amongst his papers a photograph of the author's wife Fanny was found with, in the handwriting of RRS, "an account of the death of my cousin's wife".

Perhaps the highlight of these records is the Queen's Birthday Honours List of June 1954 when Keith's name appeared together with a picture and the announcement of his being now the holder of the Imperial Service Order, a somewhat rare honour as only the death of a holder makes way for someone else as the number is strictly limited. Although the text gives only information already noted it is given here in full:

MR.KEITH MELVILLE STEVENSON ‎(ISO)‎ has been Government Printer of S.A. for nearly 12 years and has had 40 years service in the Government Printing Office. During that time he has served as a reader, foreman, superintendent, eventually attaining the position of Government Printer and Comptroller of Stationery. One of Mr. Stevenson's most important jobs was the modernising of the Government Printing plant. As Government Printer he is responsible for all Parliamentary printing including Hansard. Mr.Stevenson served for nine years with the Commonwealth Military Forces but was rejected for active service in World War 1. He has been a prominent member and adjudicator in the Literary Societies' Union of S.A. and for three years was President of the Goodwood South Progressive Association."

Letters of congratulation reached him from near and far and the actual presentation by the State Governor, Sir Robert George, took place at the ballroom Goverment House on December 10, 1954. Both Violet and EMS were there. KMS and Violet were often guests at Goverment House and were asked to the wedding of Sir Robert's daughter who wrote an enthusiastic thanks for the tatted lace work which Violet made as the wedding gift, hoping it would be something quite different, as it was. One of the Governors, Sir Willoughby Norrie who was afterwards Governor General of New Zealand continued to correspond with Keith after he left South Australia.

As has already been said in the Stuart Stevenson section both he and Keith received far more invitations to Royal affairs during the Queen's 1954 tour than either could cope with and were at the private evening party given her at Government House. Keith's retirement dated from June 10, 1958, after 44 years with the department, and he was given a send-off not often seen in government circles, with every one of several hundred employees wanting to shake his hand. His office was decked with flowers, there was a presentation of several gifts for both Violet and himself, an official luncheon given by other Government departmental heads and an afternoon tea by 60 of the women. During the following days at home farewell messages and phone calls poured in. There was a long account of his retirement day festivities in the Public Service Review of August ‎(1958)‎ . It began:-"On Tuesday 13th. May 1958 the Government Printing Office was decked with flowers for a day of farewells. At 10 a.m. the lady members of the Front and Enquiry Offices gave a morning tea party, in the course of which Mr. Stevenson, performing his last official duties as Government Printer, had the pleasant task of presenting a wedding gift to Mr. W. Beart, the Accountant of the department. Mr. Stevenson accompanied by the various departmental overseers then made visits throughout the building taking leave of all the Staff." So the article continued with the whole days activities described in detail.

After 50 years in the business world retirement was something of a shock, but all the household decorating, repairs and up-dating he had been contemplating for a while, now occupied his time. He had long since decided that Gordon Road would "do" for the remainder of his life. Just as war broke out he and Violet had chosen a double block of land at Torrens Park , foothills territory, and drawn up plans for a larger and more modern house, but architect Stuart persuaded Keith that the beginning of a war was quite the wrong time for house building, so that was that, for always.

In the first period after retirement he had ideas of travelling but his never robust health dictated otherwise. The loss of his greatly loved youngest grandchild, Bonnie Muller, took further toll, and not long after her death Keith suffered a coronary occlusion which kept him at St. Andrew's Hospital, Adelaide for over a month. Angina followed and semi-invalidism. There was a second coronary in February 1964 and he was nursed at home. Everyone, his doctor too, believed he had recovered well. On March 30 he sat up in bed all day rereading old letters and papers, most of which he had EMS destroy. The carved box he kept them in was empty by evening and he was cheerful and humorous over his task which he said was "just in case" so that all loose ends were tidied up. He died instantly at 7.06 a.m. next morning as he had been hoping would be the case. He was in his 71st. year.

Added later: Keith had written a neat and concise Obituary of himself, expecting the "Advertiser" would call on his family for information in view of his long years in the Public Service. This did not eventuate as the newspaper had a long memory of the feud over the English workers they had poached from the Government Printing Office and Keith's fury over the same.