Book shares colourful life of C. J. DeGaris who established the townsite of Kendenup and faked his own death

A new book tells the story of the man who established the townsite of Kendenup, a Victorian entrepreneur whose colourful life included faking his own death. The book, by David Nichols, is titled The Alert Grey Twinkling Eyes of C.J. DeGaris and charts the life of Clement John DeGaris, also known as Jack DeGaris. Dr Nichols is an associate professor in Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne and first heard about DeGaris when he was reading through old newspapers for his PhD studies in the mid-1990s. “It was very early in my PhD, my PhD was nothing to do with this topic at all really, but I just kept following this story through newspaper after newspaper,” he said. “I think part of the thing that was interesting to me was this was someone who everybody knew in 1924, and the fame had not lasted at all. “That was mysterious at the time. He was as famous as the prime minister of the day and yet that fame had not continued, and it was obviously a really extraordinary story about somebody disappearing in this way.” DeGaris was born in 1884 in what was to become the town of Mildura. At that time, the dried fruit industry was booming, leading him to become the publicity agent for the dried fruit association. Always on the edge of technological advancements, he was one of the pioneers of using aircraft for personal transport in Australia. He travelled around the country to promote fruit, and it was while working in WA that he first saw Kendenup. “He wanted to operate a ‘little Mildura’ or maybe turn it into, ultimately, something bigger than Mildura,” Dr Nichols said. “He had grand ambitions and the sky was the limit for him. “He certainly thought that he was going to go places and all of the evidence was in his favour, he’d just gone from success to success to success.” But after a few years of prosperity the finances of his fledgling Kendenup settlement collapsed and was subject to a 1923 WA Royal Commission. Dr Nichols said DeGaris returned to Victoria, where in 1925 he faked his drowning. He then moved to Sydney, where for a time he disguised himself as a US journalist. “He was seemingly trying to escape Australia and go to America where probably he thought he could make his fortune again,” Dr Nichols said. “He staged all this because he’d not quite become bankrupt but the company that he was running in Melbourne was all too much for him, and he was finding it too difficult to go on.” He then tried to travel by boat to New Zealand but was arrested during the journey and returned to Australia, where he took his own life in 1926. Dr Nichols said there was a stigma surrounding suicide at the time that had led DeGaris and his achievements to become “lost to the mists of time”. “It’s extraordinary how unknown he became, and even with all the things that he did which were quite extraordinary,” he said. The Alert Grey Twinkling Eyes of C. J. DeGaris is available through UWA Publishing.