 In 1922, he arrived in Western Australia, living with his family in Victoria Park.On 2 June 1930, he married Irma Priest at St Andrews' Church in Subiaco, with whom he was to have two sons and three daughters.In the 1930s, he worked as a labourer and storeman, and became a foreman of sustenance gangs during the Great Depression who were digging contoured channels on dams in the South West region.