James Leonard Rundle (Jim), the eldest child of Silas and Florrie Rundle, was born at Loxton in 1919 and grew up 25 miles away on the family wheat farm at Caliph in the Murray Mallee. He attended Caliph Primary School from 1925 to 1932 and then went to Gawler High School where he completed his Intermediate Certificate in 1934. In 1936 Jim moved with his family to a 1,000 acre grazing property at Mount Crawford.
In 1945 Jim married Maysie Wormald who had grown up on her family farm at Caliph adjoining the Rundle property. After his parents retired and moved to Adelaide in 1949, Jim farmed with his brother Bruce until they sold the Mount Crawford property on their retirement in 1983. The main focus of their farming was grazing Corriedale sheep. This was a breed valued both for the wool and meat produced. Over the years Jim and Bruce looked to improve the grazing pasture as well as the quality of the flock through purchase of stud rams and careful selection of breeding ewes. They saw changes in farming practice over time through mechanisation, none more so than in hay-making. In the 1970s they extended their grazing activity into beef cattle.
Jim and Maysie had two adopted daughters Rosalie (born in 1951) and Alison (1954) and maintained close connections with Rundle and Wormald extended family. Jim had many community involvements. He sang in the South Rhine Church choir and was appointed a Church Elder. He played tennis and golf for Springton and then lawn bowls at Mount Pleasant. He served for many years on the Mount Pleasant Hospital board, and managed the wool exhibits at the Mount Pleasant Show for over 30 years. He became a member of two masonic lodges at Mount Pleasant. He was active in the Barossa District Fire Fighting Association, being secretary for 15 years and then appointed a fire control officer.
For Christmas 1934, when Jim was aged 15, someone gave him a small diary that he used to keep a few notes. This was the forerunner of diaries that he kept for the rest of his life. These diaries document the activities and events that contributed to the ups and downs of life on the land, including: work done on the farm and around the house; comings and goings; visits to and from family, friends and neighbours; as well as participation in the life of the local community. Jim continued his diaries through his retirement years.
In 1983 Jim and Maysie retired to Adelaide where Jim continued many of his activities including Church, bowls, Lodge and took up some new ones such as Neighbourhood Watch and Probus. He also devoted more time to his interest in family history, contributing to reunions and extracting material from his diaries to write essays on earlier times. He died on 2 November 2001 aged 82 years.
Source: John Willis Rundle & Marion McEwin (2022) The Rundles of Mount Crawford
