Page 17. John and Phoebe had a second child, a daughter, Clara Annie, born on 1 November 1902, again at Ross Street, Toorak. Her father is shown as a Blacksmith aged 41 and her mother aged 37. Her brother, William, was 4 years old.

Birth Certificate of Clara Annie Graham

Phoebe Exley’s mother came from a leading family in the town of Wakefield in England, the Walkers. Her uncle was the mayor of Wakefield in 1851. Other members of the family were well-known surgeons. Apparently Phoebe’s mother felt that Phoebe had "married below herself" by marrying into the Graham family. It is probably because of this background that Phoebe wanted a good education for her son, William. She insisted that he should go to university. He was a very studious man and I am sure the opportunity to attend university was something he was agreeable with. However, he was helping his father in the blacksmithing business at the same time and so attended university part time. He matriculated on 6 June 1916 and studied at Melbourne University from July 1916 to December 1919 when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

The subjects he studied were English I, French I, British History I, Geology I, Latin I, English II, Ancient History, Geology I, English III, French II, History of Philosophy and something called "Ps. Log & Eth" - perhaps "Psychology, Logic and Ethics". It wasn’t a particularly easy passage. He had to sit Geology I twice, English II twice, History of Philosophy twice, "Ps. Log. & Eth" three times and tried Latin I twice but then gave up!

William continued working in his father’s blacksmithing business. When he married my mother at the age of 40, he was still working for his father, without salary. He was a member of the church of Christ and taught Sunday school. My mother, Emma Dennis, was one of his students. She used to enjoy walking home with Mr Graham after Sunday school and he would talk to her about the stars and other deep subjects. One day, about eight years old, she arrived home and said to her mother, "When I grow up, I’m going to marry Mr Graham!"

William also taught English to Chinese people at the Chinese Mission, run by the Lygon Street Church of Christ. At home we had several Chinese artifacts - cork carvings and Buddha statues - given to my father by his students in gratitude.

In 1928, when he was 30 years old, his mother Phoebe died after a long illness. According to Emma Graham, Phoebe was "a lovely little lady and Will worshipped her". She was 66 years old when she died from an asthma attack. She had suffered asthma for many years. Perhaps in her younger years she had had rheumatic fever because she had heart valve disease. This causes the heart to work harder to get the blood to flow around the body and eventually causes heart muscle damage. So from her early sixties, if not before, Phoebe would have been a very sick woman. She is buried in the Cheltenham Pioneer cemetery and the gravestone reads: "In loving memory of Phoebe loved wife of JG Graham. Fell asleep 14th Oct. 1928. 'I am the resurrection and the life'"

Death Certificate of Phoebe Graham, nee Exley