Wife of [Dick Whillas](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920) and mother of their 14 children; Glasgow-born daughter of a Scottish lighthouse keeper. Much of this family history is drawn from her recollections.

- **Born:** 28 Sep 1921, 10 Grove St, [Glasgow](/places/glasgow-scotland), Scotland (birth certificate held)

- **Emigrated:** Arrived [Adelaide](/places/adelaide-south-australia) 7 Oct 1927 on the *Orvieto* from Tilbury

- **Married:** [Richard Charles (Dick) Whillas](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920), 25 Feb 1943, Semaphore, SA

- **Children:** 14 (see [Dick's page](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920))

- **Parents:** [Norman MacLeod](/people/norman-macleod-b1880) · [Catherine Gunn](/people/catherine-gunn-macleod-b1873)

Cath was born in Glasgow, where her father [Norman](/people/norman-macleod-b1880) was working as an electrician. She spent some time on the Isle of Lewis in childhood. On 7 October 1927 she and her mother [Catherine Gunn](/people/catherine-gunn-macleod-b1873) arrived in Adelaide on the *Orvieto* as nominated assisted immigrants (see [the immigration](/events/immigration-catherine-mcleod-orvieto-1927)).

Her childhood followed her father's lighthouse postings. She spent time at [Cape Jaffa](/places/cape-jaffa-lighthouse) (boarding for a time in [Kingston](/places/kingston-south-australia) with Jim "Wag" Winter), [Neptune Island](/places/neptune-island-lighthouse), and [Cape Northumberland](/places/cape-northumberland-lighthouse), where she started school at Pt MacDonald PS on 23 May 1933.

Cath boarded at PLC in Adelaide during primary school but left after one term, later boarding with family friends (the Hopwoods) in Woodville and attending Woodville District High School from February 1936. She left school in November 1937 to work as a sales girl at John Martin's department store. In March 1940 she joined the WAAF, working at Keswick Barracks, Adelaide.

She married [Dick Whillas](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920) at Semaphore on 25 February 1943 (see [the marriage](/events/marriage-richard-whillas-to-catherine-mcleod-1943)). Her first child, [Nan](/people/catherine-normandy-whillas-b1939), had been born on Kangaroo Island in May 1939. Over the following two decades she raised 14 children while the family moved through [Angaston](/places/angaston-south-australia), [Bray/Robe](/places/bray-robe-south-australia), [Sth Purrumbete](/places/south-purrumbete-victoria), [Invergordon](/places/invergordon-victoria) and finally [East Fremantle](/places/east-fremantle-western-australia), where she worked at Wigmores.

- **Parents:** [Norman MacLeod](/people/norman-macleod-b1880) · [Catherine Gunn](/people/catherine-gunn-macleod-b1873)

- **Husband:** [Richard Charles (Dick) Whillas](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920)

- **Children:** see [Dick's page](/people/richard-charles-whillas-b1920) for the full list of 14

- Whillas–McLeod family history spreadsheet (Rev 4), *1920s*, *1930s*, *1940s*, *1950s* sheets.

- Recollections of Cath as recorded by Pat Taylor; WDHS records (researched by Erika, Aug 2024).