William Henry Lock bought Coonatto Station in 1912.
He died the following year and his son Percy John Vial (Jack) Lock took over the running of Coonatto Station.
Jack was the youngest child of a large family with an age difference of 23 years on Gum Valley Station and moved to Coonatto Station in 1912 when his father William Henry bought the property.
On 20 April 1915 Jack married Florence Annie (Annie) Julian at Coonatto Station.
The ceremony was performed by the REV H.E. Glover (COE) and the witnesses were Ron Hean, farmer of Coonatto and Mildred Julian, home duties of Beltana.
Jack and Annie had six children: Frances Mabel (Mabel), John Henry, Clarence Percy (Ned), Doris Margaret, Glenice Joyce, and Reta Fay.
Jack and his brother Larry, as the main beneficiaries of their father’s Will, worked Coonatto and Gum Valley Stations in partnership.
Coonatto Station is part of the old Coonatto run, originally a pastoral lease taken of over 800 square miles taken up by Grant and Stokes in 1853 for a sheep station.
When Jack retired, he was not in good health and planned to sell Coonatto.
The Advertiser reported that Coonatto was auctioned at Wilmington in April 1952 by the agents Elder Smith and Co Ltd, but was passed in when bidding stopped at GBP 2 17s 6d.
Jack died about a year later in 1953 and his son Clarence Percy (Ned) Lock took over the station.
Ned was born at Quorn on 27 June 1919 and by the time he was 19 years of age he was a well-proportioned giant of six feet five tall, weighing 21.5 stone, with a chest measurement of 49 inches and a waist of 48.5 inches.
Ned had a love for horses and took to riding in a horse drawn buggy as he was too large for a horse to carry.
Ned married Doris Jones on 24 May 1952 in St Pauls’ Church of England in Orroroo.
Ned and Doris have three children: Margaret Ann, Edna Loraine, and John Walter.
Later in life Ned suffered the debilitating effects of a stroke for some years before his death at the age of 60 on 20 September 1979.
Doris died on 10-12-2014 aged 91.
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Coonatto Station is currently managed by John Lock, his wife Erica, and their 3 children.
