Mark,
You have asked a couple of questions, so let me deal with the easier of the two first.
The purchase in South Oakleigh involved options on parcels of land amounting to 154 acres, which I think you'll agree would have been plenty on which to build a first class golf course.
However, according to the History of the Yarra Yarra Golf Club, researched and written by golf historian Joseph Johnson, the club's committee found the market gardeners particularly hard bargainers. Secondly, the value on their existing course at Rosanna had been revised downward, which left a considerable gap between what the purchase price of the land was in South Oakleigh, and what the club would realise from the sale of its property in Rosanna.
There followed negotiations for the purchase of 121 acres, at one hundred and fifty pounds per acre, considerably above the estimate they had been forwarded of 80-100 pounds per acre.
In all 9 parcels of land was bought. Johnson states that it was 121 acres, but I believe that one parcel was withdrawn prior to purchase, leaving the club with almost the minimum on which to construct its new golf club and buildings.
In November 1969, I was told by the editor of the publishing house I was working for at the time, that an interview had been arranged with Alex Russell. I was told to treat it as a privilege, as he seldom gave interviews and was wary of people whom he didn't know.
Alas, I have to tell you it was not a very good interview, looking back all those years ago.
I found him to be taciturn, withdrawn and aloof and there were many long pauses between questions and answers, which made for an uncomfortable atmosphere.
I thought at the time that he took an instant dislike to me ( I had long hair and he was the epitome of the ultra conservative gentleman). Many of his answers were monosyllabic, and he seemed to resent the follow up questions which I had to ask following his curt responses.
Lest anyone gain the wrong impression, let me say that he was the perfect gentleman throughout the interview, courteous, quiet, and with searching eyes. He was immaculately dressed in a business suit, with a crisply laundered white shirt and a military tie (possibly a remnant from his old artillery unit).
However, some years later, I got to know one of his family members, and she mentioned to me that it was the opinion of the family that Alex had been traumatised whilst serving with the British Artillery in France during World War I.
She went on the say that in those days there were no de-briefing sessions, counselling seminars or remedial help of any sort. She said he was a completely different person from the young man who went to study at Jesus College, Cambrige, before the War.
Around 1973 I got word that Mr Russell was not very well. For several months I tried to get his family's permission for another interview, but I was told that he was too ill and that his family preferred that he be left alone.
I then took up a job overseas, and it was during this time that I heard that he had passed away, quite some time after I had departed Australia.
He never married, but he did have a very protective family.
At the time I felt he was a shy and lonely man, (the aloofness being a cover for his shyness), but after talking to his family member, I'm more inclined to agree with her viewpoint regarding his traumatisation resulting from his service in WWI.
Interestingly Mark, one of your countrymen, Terry McLean, a sports writer for the Auckland Herald, told me many years ago, that Paraparaumu was too small. He said that the committee sometime in the 1950s had been presented with the opportunity to buy additional adjoining land, but decided against the purchase.
Terry said this was typical of New Zealand golf clubs. He had a strong point of veiw that 99 per cent of golf clubs in his native land had been built on the proverbial shoe string. He used to say that NZ had more golf courses per head of population than anywhere else in the world, but only about six of them were any good.
Is he still alive Mark? I haven't heard from him for years.