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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website contains names, images, and voices of deceased persons.

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Frederick Augustus Peters (1866–1937)

from Kiama Reporter and Illawarra Journal

When on Friday last, the death became known in Jamberoo of Mr. F. A. B. [Frederick Augustus Bolles] Peters, there was a feeling of genuine regret throughout the community and the sense of a real personal loss, for Mr. Peters was known to almost everyone in Jamberoo, where he was a frequent visitor.

As a speaker at the Kiama Agricultural Society remarked, Mr. Peters had done a lot for Jamboroo, and it was indeed true, as the commanding position which the factory holds to-day was due in no small measure to his encouragement and assistance.

Mr. Peters had built up a big business, the largest of its kind in the British Empire, and he realised that the supply of milk and milk products from Jamberoo was eminently suited for the manufacture of his ice cream. So he set out to get the Jamberoo factory equipped second to none in the Commonwealth, and his expert advice, his tremendous personal energy and enthusiasm was at the disposal of the directors at all times. They responded in a spirit of true progressiveness with the result that the Jamberoo Co-operative Dairy Society has earned the encomiuns of visiting experts from all parts of the world, and the future of that Society and of Peters' American Delicacy Company seem to be inseperably linked, with profit and satisfaction to both.

Mr. Peters early showed his interest in Jamberoo when he was one of those who was largely instrumental in getting the Pioneer Creek bridge built, being a generous subscriber to the fund for this objective, and he was very keenly interested also in the installation of electric light and the construction of the bitumen road from Jamberoo to Kiama. No details were too small to be considered by the man who had started from scratch and had become a millionaire.

One of the highlights of the annual meetings of the Dairy Society, which is always such a happy social gathering was the presence of Mr Peters, and he only missed these meetings when he was out of the country. Mr Peters was a fluent speaker with a fund of relevant anecdotes and a gift of humour all his own. But with his humour he mingled a wonderful grasp of business, and his speeches were a delight to listen to.

At the last meeting which he attended at Jamberoo, he had just returned from a 60,000 mile tour of the United States, and his talk that night would have made the nucleus of a most valuable book on the whole, of the dairying industry of America. And it was delivered without a single note. When it was known that Mr Peters would be coming down, it was no wonder the place was booked.

And his business associates were no less welcome. Mr Kinross, an old Jamberoo boy; Mr Carr, who had been with Mr. Peters since the beginning of his career and the late Mr. Dalziel.

Naturally a believer in the production of good stock, Mr Peters gave concrete proof of this in the generous prizes he offered for competition at the Sydney Royal and Kiama Show.

The late Mr Peters was born in Michigan, U.S.A., and came to Sydney in 1896, starting the ice cream business in 1907. He had one employee and a small factory at Paddington to commence with, and at the time of his death his company had branches in every State of the Commonwealth, with a million pounds capital. Mr. Peters retired from active business last December. He had always been known as a most popular and generous employer. In December last he married Miss T. D. S. Pitkethly, who survives together with four daughters of an earlier marriage.

At the funeral which took place at the Rookwood Crematorium on Saturday last, there was a very large attendance to pay their last respects to a fine man and an excellent friend.

The Jambeoo Co-operative Dairy Society was represented by Mssrs H. Colley (chairman, R. B. Marks (director), S. Graham (manager) and A. J. Boxsell (secretary).

The service in the Crematorium was conducted by the Rev. A. Booth, principal of Beecroft Grammar School, who in the course of a striking address said of the late Mr Peters, "Whether it was in planning a factory, distributing prizes at a school gift day, or making an after-dinner speech, his was the master mind".

Original publication

Other Obituaries for Frederick Augustus Peters

Additional Resources

  • retires, Truth (Sydney), 3 January 1937, p 17
  • funeral, Labor Daily (Sydney), 17 May 1937, p 4
  • funeral, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1937, p 11
  • probate, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 October 1937, p 4

Related Entries in NCB Sites

Citation details

'Peters, Frederick Augustus (1866–1937)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/peters-frederick-augustus-8027/text35432, accessed 28 March 2024.

© Copyright Obituaries Australia, 2010-2024

Frederick Peters, n.d.

Frederick Peters, n.d.

State Library of Western Australia, 59786980

Life Summary [details]

Birth

12 July, 1866
Scio, Michigan, United States of America

Death

14 May, 1937 (aged 70)
Strathfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Occupation