Patricia Gill, Denmark Bulletin

Ollie Wakka, 81, joined the newly-established Denmark Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service in 1962, ‘because I couldn’t say no’.

The 21-year-old was an apprentice to a butcher, John Thompson, who was one of four sponsors, including Norman Thornton, shire clerk Felix Timothy and Phil Carpenter.

Each had contributed £100 to the fledgling brigade.

Ollie recalls how everyone turned up to a fire as they were dressed, there was no equipment except what brigade members brought along and members’ vehicles were used.

Water was bucketed from rainwater tanks and the equipment of preference was a wet hessian bag for beating out flames.

This was better than metal knapsack sprays which were heavy and uncomfortable to wear.

“We’d even cut a green branch and use that,” Ollie says.

Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson awarded Ollie for this 60 years of service on April 8 at an event which also marked the 60th anniversary of the brigade.

Ollie is the only founding member of the brigade though these days he takes care of the fire station and the garden rather than
fights fires and attend rescues.

Ollie is the second of Jan and Anolda Wakka’s 10 children, six of who travelled by ship to WA after World War II from their hometown, Leiden, in the Netherlands.

Anolda brought the six children alone on the ship, her husband having left six months earlier to find work and accommodation for the family.

Having first worked as a farmhand at Katanning, Jan moved with his family when his boss bought a property on Mt Shadforth Road, Denmark.

Ollie recalls the four-week voyage to Australia with his five other siblings and the three oldest boys doing kitchen duty to keep them occupied.

“We would collect the plates and do the washing up in return for all the leftover sweets,” he says.

Of the eight surviving Wakkas, five live in Denmark, two in Albany and one at Dardanup.

Ollie’s memories of his home country are of an occupied Netherlands with his father and uncle and a friend hiding inside the ceiling of their house to avoid been sent to Germany.

“At night they would sneak out and go and get food,” Ollie says.

“I had pet rabbits and next door to us the Germans had an office.

“One day I went outside, they had been practice shooting and had shot all my pet rabbits.

“So many people were getting marched back down the main street in front of our house, all just herded like a heap of cattle.

“If somebody lagged behind they were shot.

“The poor old baker used to deliver bread on his pushbike in a big cane basket on front; the next minute he was shot.”

Ollie says his parents enjoyed their lives in Australia and the move was the best for the future of the family.

During his growing-up years in Denmark the children milked cows and lived in a house without electricity and lit with kerosene lamps.

At 14 Ollie went to work in the timber mill and after work would attend football training then he and his brothers would walk home to the farm.

At 26 Ollie married local girl Janet Thomas whose family were dairy farmers.

The couple had three children, Kingsley, Jay and Nadine.

Eventually the DFRS acquired a truck and a four-wheel drive vehicle, used to attend car accidents, an additional brigade duty which didn’t suit everyone.

“When we took on the role of road rescue, we lost some members because they couldn’t handle it,” Ollie said.

“If we went to a car accident and it was not too good the wives and girlfriends would come down (to the fire station) and make some sandwiches and have the kettle boiling.

“We’d sit and talk about it; it’s the best way to get it out of your system.

“Normally the captain after a day or so would ring up and see how we were coping.

“If somebody can’t cope we would call all who went out back (to the station) and sit down and talk about it.”

This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 21 April 2022.

Related story: Service celebrates 60 years