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INCH, HANNAH: see WOOD, HANNAH
IDRIESS, ION LLEWELLYN (1889–1979), writer, was born on 20 September 1889 at Waverley, Sydney,
the son of Walter Owen Idriess, sheriff’s officer from Wales, and his Australian-born wife Juliette Windeyer,
nee Edmunds. He completed his education at the Broken Hill Superior Public School and the Broken Hill School
of Mines. He subsequently worked as an assayist, seaman, rabbit poisoner, boundary rider, drover and miner.
During the First World War he served overseas with the Australian Imperial Force. On his return to Australia after
the war he was, for a time, a buffalo shooter in the Northern Territory. He also travelled extensively in Central
Australia.
In 1928 Idriess settled in Sydney as a freelance writer. During the remainder of his life he published some
47 books, most of which were best sellers. Several were historical works on Northern Territory Subjects,
most notably Lasseter’s Last Ride (1931), Flynn of the Inland (1932), The Cattle King (1936) and Nemarluk: King
of the Wilds (1941). In these he combined bush yarns with historical and geographical information to bring a new
vision of Australia to his city-dwelling readers. In so doing he developed a number of Territory legends: Flynn,
Lasseter, Kidman and the survival skills of the Aborigines. He believed strongly that the Territory ought to be
economically and socially developed for the benefit of all Australians, his views here being powerfully advanced
in Onward Australia (1944). His prose style was snappy and often colloquial. It was used effectively to make his
readers aware of little known parts of Australia.
Idriess married in about 1932 to Eta Morris. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
in 1968. Survived by his two daughters, he died on 6 June 1979 at Mona Vale, Sydney.
J Croft, ‘Idriess, Ion Llewellyn’, ADB, vol 9, 1979; W H Wilde, J Hooton & B Andrews, The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature,
1985.
DAVID CARMENT, Vol 1.
IVANETZ, IVAN ANTONOVITCH, known as ‘Long John’ (1897–1977), was born near Poltava, in the
Ukraine, and was a ‘Cossack of the Poltava Province’. In 1910 his father moved to Omsk and took up 1000 acres
(400 hectares) of newly opened land to farm wheat. ‘Long John’ was well-educated, finishing sixth form as an
external student at an Omsk grammar school.
During the First World War he graduated from an Omsk ensign school and, after some confusion, joined
Admiral Kolchak’s ‘White’ Army in 1918. He was wounded three times, awarded the Medal of Vladimir, Class IV
(Military Division) and was twice promoted for military valour. He was promoted to Second Captain by 1920 and
twice commanded an armoured train, before being forced to cross the Chinese border in 1922.
Ivanetz spent two years in Manchuria, and four years in Shanghai, before arriving in Australia in 1927. Landing
at Townsville, he tried to get work in the cane-fields around Bundaberg. The hard campaigning in Siberia had
caught up with him and he became very sick. After trying to get work on the railway gang building the line to
Mount Isa, he returned to Townsville broke. Getting a loan from a Russian friend, he talked a truck driver into
taking him and nine others (for 70 Pounds each) to Katherine. He arrived in 1929, during the last stages of the
railway work around Katherine, and earned 28 Pounds for a fortnight’s work.
After railway work had ceased, he met another Russian, and they decided to take up land along the Katherine
River. After being turned down once, they obtained block 97 by 1929. They had one month to clear the land and
have seeds planted before the rain started. Three bags of seed were planted by the first rains of the wet season:
the resultant peanut crop was excellent.
For the first two years, Ivanetz lived in a tent, until conditions improved. In 1936 he returned to Harbin,
Manchuria, and married a Russian woman. In 1937 Ivanetz had sole possession of block 97, and in 1938 was
granted the lease of that block. He became naturalised in 1937.
In 1939 Ivanetz tried growing cotton, but floods washed away the seed. During the Second World War,
he grew vegetables and citrus fruit for the army, while they in return helped by providing fertiliser at cheaper
rates. He employed Aborigines to assist in picking fruit and maintaining his land. After 1946 he had to rely on
peanuts again. During the dry season, he had the services of an irrigation system that was capable of pumping
10 000 gallons (45 500 litres) of water per hour from the river. And although he was still making money from
peanuts in the 1950s, by the mid-1960s he was forced to give up.
He died in 1977. He was described as being 178 centimetres, with deep-set hawk-eyes and a lean frame, a
quiet man who hid his thoughts. He was acknowledged to be a good farmer and an honest hard-working man.
Long John’s Creek, a local landmark, was named for him.
Family information.
MICHAEL CANAVAN, Vol 1.
IVANETZ, NADIA: see PASCOE, NADIA
IZOD, ERIC CHARLES (1910–1971), motor engineer and businessman, was born in Canterbury, Victoria,
on 18 January 1910. When the family home on a six acre block at Riversdale Road, Surrey Hills was built it was