It’s hard to know what Ted would have made of a Centenary of Wheat Black Tie Ball in one of the giant Graincorp silos in the town. Given he built and ran the Wilby Pub not far from North Star, it’s a fair bet he would have approved of the sentiment, if not the dress code.

Ted Sutton and his four brothers first came to the district when they got the contract to build the telegraph line from Singleton to Deepwater. When they finished that, the boys were asked to take the line on to Yetman. When the line was completed in 1889, the brothers decided to settle in the area.

Ted bought a 4000 acre property eight kilometres from North Star and called it “Wellington Vale”. He later changed the name to “Bibilah”.

The land around North Star was not the open and fertile country it is today. The couple lived in a tiny shack, completely surrounded by scrub where wild cattle, horses and dingoes roamed. It was hard going, as Ted began clearing the country. His wife, Amy gave birth to 14 children, with Ted acting as midwife in most cases.

Ted earned a living as a builder and a fencer, a water-diviner and a shearer. He built his own woolshed in 1910, and Ted and his sons shore sheep from surrounding properties.

He was a hard-working, determined man. In 1908, he gave wheat growing a try, planting 50 acres and pioneering the wheat industry in North Star. He would have been amazed to see how good a modern wheat crop looks.

Ted and his son Cecil began building a pub on Bibilah in 1913. Cecil and his brother Garnett enlisted in the army when WWI broke out. Both men were wounded, but made it home. (Cecil, who was 50 in 1942, also enlisted for service in WWII).

The Wilby Pub was two storeys high and had twenty rooms, stables and a meat house. Amy and her daughters cooked for the guests.

Ted inherited “Wilby” and bought “Boomerang “ in 1920. He bought another block in 1926 and called it “Capernum”. By then he owned 2000 sheep and 200 head each of cattle and horses.

Ted opened a phone exchange at “Wilby” and after two years it was renamed North Star. The mail exchange was moved from “Cleveland” and it and the phone exchange became one.