Just like that, Western District Families has reached its teenage years. Thirteen years ago today I pressed “Publish” on my first post.
April 2011 was a sad time. My interest in the past came from my Nana, her love of old photos, and stories of her early years. This is Nana, Linda Hadden, as a teenager, with her nephew Les.
She inspired me to start Western District Families, but before I pressed “Publish” thirteen years ago, Nana died on 6 April 2011, aged 91. She never got to see the finished product, nor did I get to share with her the wonderful stories I’ve unearthed along the way. But she’s still with me in spirit and this photo of her as a toddler watches over me as I research.
My posts to the site are not as frequent as they were, but Western District Families is not going anywhere. I still have many stories I want to share. The WDF Facebook page continues to go from strength to strength, now with over 14,000 followers, proving there is still a lot of interest in the history of the Western District.
Ideally, I would like to post here once a month. I don’t think I’ll achieve that over the next year, but I’ll try. And even if new posts are few, and far between, there are still over 450 posts from the past thirteen years, the Pioneers’ Obituary Index, and over 160 Hamilton’s WW1 biographies to discover.
A new Passing of the Pioneers post is long overdue. So getting 2024 started, I bring you January Passing of the Pioneers, the obituaries of early Western Victorians who died during the month of January. The men and women in the post come from the Camperdown district, Port Fairy, Coleraine, Carpendeit, and Hamilton. Don’t forget to click on the names to read the newspaper obituary of each person, and click on other links throughout for further information. You can find previous obituaries on the link-Obituary Index
EWING, James-Died 9 January 1892 at Hamilton. James Ewing was born in Peterhead, Scotland, in 1809. He and his wife, Jane Pirie, arrived in Victoria in the early 1850s and in Hamilton by 1860. James was a plasterer by trade. He was initially in business with John Thomas, then later went out on his own.
James died in 1892 and was buried at the Hamilton Cemetery. His wife Jane died ten years later.
GRAVE OF JAMES AND JANE EWING, HAMILTON GENERAL CEMETERY
HAMMETT, Richard-Died 10 January 1911 at Hamilton. Richard Hammett was born in Devonshire, England around 1849. He arrived in Portland and started work as a butcher for William Lewis in that town and nearby Heywood.
When he first arrived in Hamilton, Richard worked for the well-known Hamilton butcher, Thomas Brown. He soon went into partnership with Mr Willett, before operating on his own, which he did for many years.
In 1891, Richard, with the help of his wife Bridget, operated the refreshment rooms at the Hamilton Railway Station, something they did for several years.
Twice married, Richard lived in Goldsmith Street. He was fond of horse racing and also terrier coursing for which had some success.
HENRY, Eliza Jane-Died 14 January 1911 at Hamilton. Eliza Henry was born in Monaghan, Ireland, and arrived in Victoria in 1844 aboard the Wallace. She headed for Pleasant Creek (Stawell West), then part of the Concongella run, where she married butcher Daniel Bourke in 1845.1 Daniel, Eliza, and their family arrived in Hamilton in the 1860s and settled in Digby Road. In October 1888, Daniel died of strychnine poisoning.
BOURKE FAMILY GRAVE, HAMILTON GENERAL CEMETERY
SILVESTER, Eugene-Died January 1912 at Malvern. Eugene Silvester was born at Balmoral around 1858 and educated at Hamilton College. Known as “Sunny Face” at school, his popularity as a child continued into adult life. He was successful academically and in sports. His academic achievements saw him eyeing a career in law and after his studies, he spent a year as an articles clerk for Anglelo Palmer, a Hamilton solicitor.
The death of Coleraine solicitor Arthur Wade in March 1881 left an opening for a solicitor in the town and in 1882 Eugene opened his own practice in the town, keeping the name of his predecessor in the business name Wade and Silvester.
The same year, Eugene married Ethel Archer.2 They had three sons, Grenville, Eric, and Clive.
Eugene’s talent as a solicitor soon shone through and, as well as gaining many private clients, four nearby shires appointed him as their legal advisor. He later opened an office in Casterton, which his son Grenville took over when he finished his studies. The firm became known as Silvester and Silvester.
Eugene was a Wannon Shire councillor, representing the Balmoral Riding and then the Coleraine Riding. He was the first president of the Coleraine Progress Association, the trustee of the Coleraine Showgrounds, a director of the Coleraine Butter Factory, a freemason, a member of the Mechanics’ Institute, and a member of the Hamilton College Old Boys Association. He also continued his love of sport. He was a champion tennis player and once captained the Hamilton Football team in a game in Ballarat. He also played golf and cricket. His sporting ability saw him called “Pocket Hercules”.
In 1911, heart troubles began for Eugene. After falling ill on a trip to Melbourne for business, he fell he was admitted to Dr. Murray’s Private Hospital. His condition gradually deteriorated, until the sad news reached Coleraine that Eugene Silvester was dead aged 54.
At Hamilton, the flag flew at half mast at the Hamilton & Western District College and in October 1913, the school unveiled a tablet in his honour. In 1916, when the Coleraine Recreation Reserve opened, it received the name “Silvester Oval” in honour of the town’s popular resident. That name remains today.
ANSON, Mary-Died 4 January 1914 at Carpendeit. Mary Anson was born in England around 1841 and arrived in Victoria as a girl with her parents. The Anson family settled at Birregurra, east of Colac. It was there Mary met Robert Scouller and they married. Robert operated a flour mill at Birregurra in partnership with his brother John until 1866.
Within a few years, Robert and Mary moved to Carpendeit, between Colac and Cobden. Robert moved from a flour miller to a saw miller.
Although Mary had some illness in the years before her death, her passing came relatively suddenly while sitting at the breakfast table at her son’s home. She left nine children at the time of her death. Mary was buried at the Warrncoort cemetery on 6 January 1914.
PRIOR, Margaret-Died 5 January 1918 at Port Fairy. Margaret Prior was born in Cashel, Ireland around 1831. She married James Prior in Ireland and arrived in 1859 on board the Sarah Dixon. They settled in Port Fairy and remained there for the rest of their lives. James was a curator of the Port Fairy Botanic Gardens for 37 years.
James died in 1911and after a long illness, during which her family cared for her, Margaret died in 1918. Two sons and three daughters survived her. Margaret’s obituary described her as “…a woman of upright principles and the possessor of a very charitable disposition. She was a most entertaining and interesting personality.”
GELLIE, James Wilson-Died 10 January 1938 at Camperdown. James Gellie spent his 91 years in the Camperdown district. He was born around 1847 at Chocolyn estate on the banks of Lake Colangulac, just north of Camperdown, and died in 1938 in Camperdown. 
On arrival in Victoria, James’ father William secured work at Chocolyn and he and his wife Hannah moved to the district after spending some time in Melbourne. William Gellie selected land after a trip to the diggings in the 1850s, including a property on what is now Gellie Street, between the town and the racecourse.
James first worked for his father, but in 1870, he purchased a team of bullocks. He traversed the district carting with his bullocks. He also went to South Australia, droving cattle and horses. In 1874, James married Margaret McKenzie at Belmont. The couple settled first at Lake View near Camperdown, a property of William Gellie. Later, they moved into town and James ran a livery stable in Manifold Street. 
His interest in horses extended to racing and James himself trained several horses, with Rigmarole and Postboy among the best. James attended the Melbourne Cup each year and was a member of the Camperdown Racing Club. He was also a member of the Camperdown Pastoral and Agricultural Society. James was buried at the Camperdown Cemetery.
In 1932, James shared memories of his life with the Camperdown Chronicle. He recalled a visit to Mount Gambier on one of his droving trips in the 1870s. It was significant for James as he was a fan of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon. Even in his mid-eighties, James could recite Gordon’s poem “The Sick Stockrider”,
For good undone and gifts misspent, and resolutions vain, Tis somewhat late to trouble. This I know- I should live the same life over, if I had to live again; And the chances are I go where most men go. From ‘Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes’ (1870).
LUCAS, William Horace-Died 12 January 1943 at Stonyford. William Lucas was born at Marida Yallock in 1866 to Richard Lucas and Harriet Prestage.3 Harriet died just two years later in 1868 and William went to live with his grandparents in Camperdown while his father continued working and later settled at Pomborneit. Richard Lucas had a carting contract with the Colac Rabbit Factory and William, while still a lad, would help his father.
When William was older, he worked as a dairy farmer at Stonyford, southeast of Pomborneit. He married Ann Scouller in 1897.4 Ann gave birth to six children, but three died as infants. William and Ann are pictured below with Ila and Horace c1906.
William was a foundation member of the South Purrumbete Debating Society and was often called on to chair meetings. He also played competitive draughts locally and in Melbourne.
William died in 1943. His funeral was large, with many floral wreaths. He left his widow Ann, two sons and one daughter, also two grandchildren who carried a wreath to his grave.
AdditionalSources
Victorian Marriage Index, Department of Justice, Victoria, Eliza Henry, 1845, Reg. No.: 4953/1845
Victorian Marriage Index, Department of Justice, Victoria, Eugene Silvester, 1882, Reg. No. 4964/1882
Victorian Birth Index, Department of Justice, William Horace Lucas, 1866, Reg. No. 20048/1866
Victorian Marriage Index, Department of Justice, Victoria, William Horace Lucas, 1897, Reg. No. 3346/1897
Recently I added a Roll of Honour to the “Hamilton’s WW1” section of this site. The page lists the names of 187 men associated with Hamilton who did not return from the Great War. Their names come from the various honour rolls and avenues of honour found in Hamilton.
The youngest of the men were just boys, being just 18 at the time of their deaths. The oldest men were 48. They were born in places across the Western District and other Victorian locations, such as Swan Hill, Shepparton, and Fitzroy. They also came from interstate, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. Others were born overseas in England, Scotland, and Fiji. Their occupations varied, from boundary riders and farmers to law clerks and teachers. There were five sets of brothers who did not return.
Along with the names, you can also view photos of 71 of the men. The photos come not only from the Australian War Memorial but also from the Hamilton YMCA and Hamilton Fire Brigade honour boards.
You can also read the biographies of 138 of the men, just click on the underlined names.
Find the Hamilton WW1 Roll of Honour on the link below:
The number of photos I have of the Hamilton General Cemetery is mounting, and it’s taking me longer to get through them all. To easily view some of my favourite photos, I created a video and recently uploaded it to the Western District Families YouTube channel. I love wandering around the cemetery and now I can “wander” whenever I desire.
When viewing the video, you’ll notice quotes throughout that I have borrowed from writers who have Hamilton streets named after them-Shakespeare, Dickens, and Tennyson. In fact, Charles Dickens has a link to the cemetery, as his daughter-in-law Jessie Dickens (nee Devlin) was buried there in 1878, during the time Alfred Tennyson Dickens, a son of Charles Dickens, was living and working in Hamilton. You’ll see Jessie’s grave in the video.
Another grave of note you’ll see is that of Alexander MacKillop, who died while visiting Hamilton in 1868. Alexander was the father of Saint Mary MacKillop.
Come with me now on a tour of the Hamilton General Cemetery…
The following photo from the Museums Victoria Collection was one I posted on the WDF Facebook page while featuring photos from Carapook. The description with the photo reads, “Indian hawker and farmer on farm”. The names given are Basil Pearce and Rahn (sic) Singh and the location and date of the photo, Carapook 1924.
I set about looking for more about the two gentlemen. First Bazil, who was born at Gritjurk, northeast of Coleraine, in 1870,1 a son of William Pearce and Ann Watts. Basil married Mary Ellen King in 1904.2 They lived at Muntham, Carapook, and finally, Coleraine.
This is Mary, Bazil’s wife, knitting up a storm in 1941 for the war effort, all done on a single pair of knitting needles.
Bazil and Mary’s married son Bazil junior enlisted only a month after the publication of Mary’s photo. He went to New Guinea with the 2/12 Australian Infantry Battalion and died from wounds there in February 1943.
Bazil Pearce senior died in 1958 at Coleraine, aged eighty-eight.3 Mary died in 1980 at Coleraine, aged ninety-four.4
An increase in migration from India to Victoria in the 1880s saw an influx of Indian hawkers in the Hamilton district by the early 1890s. Trading from carts, or on foot, they made their way around isolated properties in the west of the state selling their wares, including pots and pans, drapery, and clothing.
Each December, hawkers were required to apply for a license. In 1892, because of a rise in complaints to authorities, the government introduced additional conditions to the Hawkers’ and Pedlars’ Act including the need to display a license number.
In December 1893, close to fifty Indian hawkers, mostly Sikh, gathered near the Martin Street gate of the Hamilton Botanic Gardens (below), waiting for their time before the magistrate. In December 1894, there were around seventy. In both years, local photographer John Arnest captured the colourful scene.
VIEW TO THE HAMILTON COURT HOUSE FROM THE BOTANICAL GARDENS
The Indian hawkers were incredibly generous and, like clockwork, each year when they paid their license fee, they also made a contribution to the local hospital. In 1894, Sukbi Nand Verma, the “interpreter for Indian residents in the colony,” wrote to Charles Wiggins, the secretary of the Hamilton Hospital and Benevolent Asylum, requesting acknowledgment of a donation of £11 12s 3d by the local hawkers. One of those he mentioned as having contributed to the donation was R. Singh. An extract of Sukbi’s letter is below,
We, the undersigned Indian hawkers, beg to present our poor and humble donation in aid of the charitable Hospital, Hamilton, with the simple view of encouraging and furthering this laudable public cause. We are not inclined to think that we should get any praise for our so doing, but on the other hand, a sense of universal brotherhood and a sympathy and feeling for the helpless sufferers actuated us to alleviate the sufferings of the poor patients by taking a step in this direction. The sum offered, no doubt, is trifling, considering the solid and substantial benefits which the Asylum confers upon general masses, but, however, let it be understood that it is the outcome of grateful and feeling hearts. Our religion teaches us to always extend a helping hand to those who really stand in need of it, and after giving a fair and deep consideration to this problem, we found none more worthy of our attention and help than this Asylum… (Hamilton Spectator 11 December 1894)
Ran Singh was in Hamilton in December 1896 when he received a license to sell goods on foot, and again in 1897. In 1898, the number of license applications decreased, but Ran Singh received a foot license. However, in 1899, the magistrate did not grant him a license.
In 1902, Ran again received a license to hawk on foot. It seems he then moved to the west of Hamilton. In 1914, Ran was among the gift givers for the marriage of John Quigley and Evelyn King at Merino. In December 1915, Ran and fellow hawkers, including Lucca Singh, donated to the Casterton Hospital after paying for their licenses at Casterton.
It appears Ran’s circuit was between Coleraine to the east and Casterton to the west, and between Carapook to the north (where he met Bazil) and Merino, to the south. There is a photo of Ran at Henty c1925, a location between those places, on the link …Ran Singh at Henty.
By the 1930s, Ran was in his seventies and had suffered some ill health. Locals had suggested he go to a hospital for medical treatment, but he refused. On Wednesday 9 October, Ran drove his horse-drawn van into Coleraine and set up camp in his usual place, a vacant block in McLeod Street. Around 4.30pm that afternoon, Ran went to Trangmar’s store in Whyte Street Coleraine (below).
TRANGMAR’S STORE, COLERAINE
Shop assistant John Brens served Ran, just as he had done many times over the previous fifteen years. Ran purchased a bottle of brandy and Uneeda biscuits. He was very frail and appeared unwell. John helped him down the steps of the store (below).
Ran returned to McLeod Street, and about 5.00pm he went to the home of Henry Hutchins who lived to the rear of the block where Ran camped. Henry had known Ran for about thirty years since he first started camping in McLeod Street. Ran boiled his billy on Henry’s stove and made a pot of tea. He left but returned at 7.00pm and spent an hour with Henry before announcing he was off to bed. Ran returned to his van and arranged the bags he used as a curtain at the front of the van while he slept.
Around 9.45pm, John Heron stepped out into his backyard and saw a glow coming from McLeod Street. He rushed to the front of his house and saw Ran’s van on fire. John tried to prise open the doors, but the heat forced him back. Others, including Henry Hutchins, arrived on the scene with buckets of water, but to no avail. By the time the fire brigade arrived shortly after, it was too late.
Ran’s body was removed to the Coleraine Police Station and his friend Lucca Singh was called in to identify his body. Lucca confirmed he had known the almost 80-year-old Ran since he arrived in Victoria from Punjab, India around 40 years before.
An inquest found Ran had died because of a heart attack and asphyxiation from the smoke. However, the coroner was unsure if the heart attack occurred before the fire. John Heron heard no sound coming from the van when he tried to open the doors, and when Constable John Duffy recovered Ran’s body, there were no signs of a struggle. It’s possible Ran suffered a heart attack and an unattended candle started the fire.
There are few reminders of the time when Indian hawkers were commonplace in the Western District. At the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery, there is a memorial for Gungah Singh. He died of consumption aged 45 and his friends sought permission to cremate his body on the cemetery grounds. The Central Board of Health and cemetery trust approved the request, and the cremation took place on Saturday 7 September 1901. Gungah’s ashes were returned to India to disperse in the Ganges River.
A photo from a place and time your ancestors lived is always interesting. You get a feel for their daily life, the transport of the time, and the fashion. You can see a place as it would have looked through their eyes. If it’s a streetscape, the photo is useful from a local history perspective. This photo, a Rose Postcard held by the State Library of Victoria (SLV) depicting the main street of Hamilton, ticks all those boxes.
The Hamilton streetscape has changed somewhat, but it’s instantly recognizable by the twin steeples on Church Hill toward the end of Gray Street. There are various postcard shots of Gray Street, but I particularly like this one for the stripy verandah of the Canterbury Cafe owned by the Roberts brothers, and the Fairleys sign. The photo tells several tales, ranging from a global story to a personal family story.
Rose postcards come undated, but you can narrow down the period. Car makes and models and even the format of the registration plate can help. Shops are useful too. If a digitised version of the local newspaper is available at Trove, search the business names and narrow down the period they operated. Sometimes ladies’ fashion, particularly hats and dress lengths, point to a period in time, but this photo comprises mostly men. Their fashion is harder to date.
This photo has an extra clue at the front of the newsagent. The SLV photo viewer has a great zoom function and if we zoom in, this is what we find.
The headline in TheHerald newspaper on the day of the photo was “World Flier Gassed in Plane”. Trove has digitised editions of TheHerald, so I searched the headline and found the edition. The date was Friday 9 June 1933.
Knowing the date adds more to the story. The world was amid the Great Depression, and aviator James J. Mattern from the United States was attempting to break the world record to circumnavigate the globe, which then stood at just over 8.5 days. He survived the mishap, but his chances of breaking the record were dashed.
On a local level, it was a Friday, explaining the number of men in the street.
In many larger towns, Friday was the day the country folk came to town for supplies. An article in the HorshamTimes from May 1951 bemoaned the traffic jam of people on the Horsham footpaths on a Friday. It was no different in Hamilton.
It was also a popular day for townspeople to head “down the street” and catch up with friends, some back in town for a weekend visit. Hamilton’s own Victoria Cross hero, Ted Kenna, said from the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in 1945, he was looking forward to returning to Hamilton to see the crowds of people “down the street” on a Friday. Almost the whole town turned out, he said. He was reminiscing with a former Hamilton girl, Roma Rainford who visited Ted, and they laughed as they recalled the often-used phrase, “I’ll be at home in Gray Street on Friday”.
There is something else significant about 1933. My grandfather kept a diary in that year which was kept by Nana.
Bill Gamble turned twenty-two in 1933. By then, his father, Joseph Gamble, had left the family after about a decade of coming and going. Bill was the breadwinner and had been for some years. With Bill’s help, his mother, Edith, raised Bill’s six siblings. The youngest in 1933 was Shirley, aged five. Bill started as a delivery boy while still at Hamilton Higher Elementary School, before moving into the shop and learning the butchering trade.
BILL GAMBLE
From Bill’s diary, I found work was inconsistent in 1933. He was picking up bits and pieces at the abattoir, the butcher shop, and wood carting.
HAMILTON ABATTOIR, c1933. Photographer: Bill Gamble
Bill was also a keen photographer and developed films for friends, probably to cover his own photography costs. According to his diary, on 1 April 1933, he and his mate Charlie Stevenson developed five films for Ted Hodges. Then they went to the pictures at the Regent Theatre in Brown Street.
When Bill was not at home or working, he was with Charlie, camping, fishing, shooting, and riding motorbikes. He also spent a lot of time at the home of Charlie’s parents in Digby Road and went there most Fridays for milk. Following his maternal uncles, Bill and George Diwell, Bill played cornet with the Hamilton Brass Band.
Bill also enjoyed going down the street. On Friday 31 March, his entry was “Went down the street for the evening”. He also noted he bought a toothbrush for 2/-. On Friday 21 April, he again went down the street to the bank and Laidlaws (department store). On Friday 5 May, Bill was down the street playing with the Hamilton Brass Band in front of Walker’s Boot and Shoe store in Thompson Street.
I wondered if Bill went down the street on Friday 9 June 1933. I turned the page… no. But he went to Stevenson’s for milk.
The Fairly’s sign mentioned earlier is in the next photo. This is Bill (on left) at Brown Bros. butchers in Gray Street, close to where the feature photo was shot. The Fairly’s sign is reflected in the window.
BROWN BROS. BUTCHERS, GRAY STREET, HAMILTON 1930s
Fairley’s was a drapery run by John Fairley and his wife Lillian. John died in 1939, two years after this advertisement.
The strip of shops was owned by the estate of Annie Destree who died in 1917. Annie inherited them when her husband, watchmaker Adolphus Destree died suddenly in 1875. She also owned Fairley’s building. It was nothing new for the Destree family, with fire destroying their shop and residence in 1870.
The shops were rebuilt as shown on another great postcard of Gray Street, taken only a few years after the fire.
The strip of shops still exists, as seen in this more recent photo taken in a similar spot as the older photos. Plane trees planted in the later part of the 20th century don’t make comparison with the older photos easy. And no longer is the street identified by the iconic twin steeples.
You can read more from the Take a Photo series on the link-Take a Photo
This is my first Broken Memories post in over three years. This story of the Chadwick family has waited in my drafts all that time. There are more Broken Memories stories waiting too, so watch out for those. Hopefully, the wait won’t be as long.
If you would like to know more about the Broken Memories series, follow the link to an introduction covering broken graves, who is responsible for their repair, and the regulations Victorian cemeteries adhere to-Broken Memories…An Introduction. You’ll find links to three previous Broken Memories stories at the bottom of this post.
The story behind the grave of Sarah Chadwick and baby Rae is one about the twists and turns of life and left me wondering, as I do about many graves in the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery, how long since a loved one stood before the grave and remembered those within.
CHADWICK
GRAVES OF SARAH AND RAE CHADWICK, HAMILTON (OLD) CEMETERY
Sarah Jane Morris was born at Geelong in 1858, a daughter of Henry Morris and Susan Best.1 In 1880, she married Englishman Thomas Taylor Chadwick.2 A son Edgar Henry was born in 1885 at Mortlake.3
In 1886, the death of Edgar Henry Chadwick, son of Thomas T. and Sarah Chadwick, was registered in Albury. It seems unfeasible for the Chadwicks to be so far north, particularly when they first showed up in Hamilton in the first half of 1886. However, aside from Edgar’s birth at Mortlake, there is no other reference to him aside from the death in Albury.
The Chadwicks arrived in Hamilton around May 1886 with Thomas taking over the business of John West in Gray Street, next to what is now the National Bank.
The Chadwick family grew in 1890 with the birth of Constance Winifred.4 In 1892, Sarah fell sick, and the doctor diagnosed influenza, but her condition worsened. Sarah had consumption (tuberculosis). She died on 5 August 1892, the day of her thirty-fourth birthday, leaving Thomas and infant Constance. Sarah was buried at the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery.
Thomas could easily have felt cursed when, two months after Sarah’s death, the fire bell he heard on the night of 7 October 1892 from his home in Lonsdale Street was signalling a large fire at his shop. He rushed to the scene to see the building engulfed in flames. The fire started at Miss McGowan’s fancy goods shop and spread to her fruit shop next door, and then to Thomas’s shop. Miss McGowan was in the backyard of her shops in a distressed state, suffering from shock.
Thomas had just received £1500 of his new season’s stock, with a total stock of £5000. A fire sale and his insurance enabled him to get his shop up and running again. A. Miller & Co. owned the building, which was insured.
Thomas remarried in 1894 to Annie Vagg.5 A son Rae Hamilton Chadwick was born at the Chadwick home Olinda on 29 May 18956, but he died a month later.7 Rae was buried at the Hamilton cemetery in an unmarked grave to the left of Sarah’s grave.
Thomas and Annie left Hamilton in the late 1890s for Welshpool in South Gippsland, almost 500 kilometres from Hamilton. Thomas had a career change, taking up dairy farming at Hazel Park on the Agnes River.
In 1903, the Leader newspaper reported Thomas was milking ninety-five cows daily and had built a milk processing factory on his property to overcome the distance to the nearest factory. The same year, a daughter Dorothy was born to Thomas and Annie.8
Fire again brought despair to Thomas’ life in January 1908 when dozens of properties in the district were burnt out. Thomas was one of the “heavy losers”. By 1927, when Constance married 9, Thomas and Annie were living in East St. Kilda. Constance spent her married life in Sea Lake in the Mallee.
Soon after, Thomas and Annie moved to Caulfield North. Annie died in 1950 and Thomas the following year.
Constance, the only known living child of Sarah, died in 1975, aged 84. Her death registration shows her mother’s name as “unknown”.10
It’s been over 120 years since the Chadwicks left the Hamilton district. Life moved on, time passed, and with the barrier of distance, maybe there was never the chance to return to Hamilton to visit the graves of Sarah and Rae. Now, those who remembered them are long gone.
The passage of time has not been kind to Sarah’s monument, with the column having fallen from its mount and the slab broken. It is in the southeast corner of the cemetery, an area with many missing and broken headstones. On the crest of the Coleraine Road hill, this section faces exposure to the weather from the southeast. It is also within easy view of the passing highway, possibly making these graves more vulnerable to vandalism over the years.
I often pass Sarah and Rae’s graves and little changes, but on a recent visit, I noticed someone had plucked an urn from the rubble and placed it on the monument.
Sometimes it looks like little is happening on this site, but I’m often here updating and, hopefully, improving it. One of my recent updates has been the Anzac Avenue page. You may remember Anzac Avenue, Hamilton’s lost avenue of honour was the beginning of Hamilton’s WW1 and I’ve since recorded the details of other memorials around Hamilton. You can see the new look page below.
I have also added a supplement to the page about the location of the avenue, and it’s not exactly where the current sign stands. You can read more on the link below, or follow the link from the Anzac Avenue page.
The Hamilton’s WW1 page below will take you through to pages about other memorials and avenues of honour around Hamilton and the stories of Hamilton’s men and women who volunteered for the Great War.
I still have much to do on these pages, mostly housekeeping. For example, the links to the Trove newspapers at the bottom of the biographies are no longer working as they should. The links go to a page of tagged articles in chronological order. They still go there but the page will look like this:
If you click on the cross beside “sortby:dateAsc”, the articles will appear. They come up in order of relevance but you can click the sort button at the top of the list to change to “Years (earliest first)”. I have about 170 of those to fix, so eventually they will be as they were.
Earlier this year, the National Archives of Australia (NAA), shut down the Discovering Anzacs site. All the Hamilton’s WW1 biographies have links to the service records at Discovering Anzacs, so now they don’t work either. It was a wonderful site and more user-friendly than finding records on the NAA site.
The NAA is planning a new site that will incorporate both WW1 and WW2 service records. Since that announcement, like Trove, the NAA has secured funding so hopefully it won’t be too long before the new site is up and running. If you liked Discovering Anzacs, it is now archived on Trove’s Web Archive on the link- Discovering Anzacs. You can read more about the decommissioning of the site on this link-NAA
Soon Hamilton’s WW1 will have two new pages. One for the Hamilton YMCA Roll of Honour, and another will have a full Roll of Honour with the names from all the memorials in one place.
It’s some time since my last “Take A Photo” post, so if you are joining me for the first time, the idea behind the theme is to take an out-of-copyright photo from the Western District and delve into the story behind it.
Summer is a perfect time to share one of my favourite Western District photos. It comes from the collection of Gabriel Knight held by the State Library of Victoria (SLV). Gabriel was the principal at the Cressy State School from 1909 to 1915. He arrived as the town was entering a period of growth, including the construction of a larger school. Gabriel’s lens captured the change.
The photo comes with the title, “Children playing in the local swimming hole, Cressy” (c1909-1915). The swimming hole looks like it could be a dam.
It is in fact, a section of the Woady Yallock River that meanders past Cressy.
BRIDGE OVER THE WOADY YALLOCK RIVER. c1909-1915. Photographer: Gabriel Knight. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/33657
I love viewing SLV photos because you can zoom in to see more. We can look closer at the boys on the bank. Notice the boy coming in from the water with a hat? To view the photo at the SLV, follow the link-Cressy Swimming Hole.
Zooming a little more, we can see the bikes, and one boy has spied the camera. There’s always one in a crowd. Of course, there is a dog. The best photos seem to always have a dog.
A pile of clothes, shoes, and hats lay dumped on the bank.
In the water is Gabriel Knight himself. Unless he used a timer and was a fast runner, it’s unlikely he took the photo himself.
We know what Gabriel looks like from a staff photo taken when the new Cressy State School opened.
Also evident in the photograph are four wires strung across the river.
They were for unconfident swimmers who could move along the wires between banks.
Sadly, the wires didn’t help 15-year-old William Leslie Hellier during the summer of 1913 at the Cressy swimming hole. He set off in the morning, telling his father he was going fishing with friends. It was a hot day, and with little shade along the river, the water was tempting. William, known as Leslie, was a non-swimmer, although he had told his father otherwise. He thought he’d be safe close to the wires. Holding on, he made it to the other side.
His mate, Douglas Thornton, last saw Leslie on the opposite bank. Time passed and suddenly Douglas wondered where Leslie was. He looked around and called out, “Les!”, alerting others who started a search. Joseph Parker ran to inform Constable Edgar Taylor, who raced to the swimming hole, stripped down, and joined the search in the water. A further five to ten minutes passed before Richard Middleton called out. He had found Leslie. About 45 minutes had elapsed since Douglas first noticed him missing.
Constable Taylor attempted resuscitation on the unshaded riverbank for around ten minutes, then loaded Leslie’s lifeless body into a gig. He drove to the police station where Gabriel Knight met him. Gabriel suggested first aid continue until the doctor arrived from Beeac. On arrival, Doctor Hicks pronounced Leslie deceased.
The witness statement provided by Weering onion grower, Joseph Parker, described the wires across the river, “I saw four wires stretched across the creek and they were fixed to posts on both sides of the river, the wires were about one to two feet above the water.” The inquest heard the river was ten feet at its deepest.
You can read the findings into Leslie’s death online at the Public Record Office of Victoria on the link-Inquest of William Leslie Hellier.
WOADY YALLOCK RIVER, CRESSY. c1909-1915. Photographer: Gabriel Knight. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.
The next reference I found about the swimming hole was from March 1915. To coincide with the examination of the school’s swimming class, Gabrielle Knight organised a swimming demonstration at the “school swimming hole”. It was open to men and boys, with a special event for ladies. The competitions included a prize for the longest dive, but significant was a demonstration of “rescue and release” with one child completing a mock rescue of Gabrielle Knight.
It was not long after, in June 1915, that the people of Cressy farewelled Gabriel Knight and his family. Gabriel had received a transfer and his departure was a great loss to the town.
A final mention of the swimming hole comes from January 1918.
We know there were wires across the river in January 1913 when Leslie Hellier drowned and we know Gabriel Knight wasn’t in Cressy beyond mid-1915, so it leaves me with some questions. Did the swimming hole move after the death of Leslie or in 1918, were they simply replacing the original wires?
To end, I’ll leave you with another of Gabriel’s beautiful photos. This time, two local boys watering their horses at the Woady Yallock River.
Today is Valentine’s Day but I’m not writing about that. However, I am writing about one of my great true loves…Trove.
You may have heard the news that the National Library of Australia’s (NLA) website Trove lacks funding beyond July 2023. Without the required funds, services will reduce, and at worse, Trove will cease. That news means different things to different people. This is what it means to me and those who enjoy the history of the Western District.
Trove launched in December 2009 and immediately opened the doors to new information not just for historians, but for all Australians. And it was, and remains, free to use.
Historic newspapers, just one feature of the site, saw my family history research of seventeen years suddenly take new directions. Newspapers were already available, but for the broad range of titles Trove offers, it meant hours in a state library trawling through microfilm, never to reveal the level of information one can find at Trove.
Western District Families (WDF) began in April 2011 to share newfound information about my family, along with interesting stories from the Western District’s past, barely read since the time they were printed. Since then, I’ve not only written about Western District families, but also about events in history they experienced, such as bushfires, floods, and earthquakes.
In 2012, a fellow geneablogger, Amy Houston, came up with the blogging prompt ‘Trove Tuesday’, suggesting each Tuesday, geneabloggers share their findings from Trove. Quickly embraced, geneabloggers still publish ‘Trove Tuesday’ posts today. This is my 107th Trove Tuesday post. At one stage, I wrote a TT post for eighty-one consecutive weeks.
I started Passing of the Pioneers in 2012 which led to the addition of the WDF Obituary Index to this site. Today the index has the names of around 1000 Western District people who had an obituary in historic newspapers at Trove. It is still a work in progress and is not possible without Trove.
In 2014, Inside History magazine, with the NLA, ran a poll to select a newspaper from six candidates to be digitsed for inclusion at Trove. The Hamilton Spectator was among them. Past and present Hamiltonians from as far away as Texas and The Hague, who were members of the ‘I’ve Lived in Hamilton‘ Facebook group, got behind the poll. Through the group, they’d seen the value of the already digitised Specs from 1914 to 1918, for learning about the town’s past.
The Hamilton Spectatorwon. Next was a Pozible campaign run by Inside History to fund the digitisation. Again, Hamiltonians stepped up with the $10,000 goal quickly met. The result was Spec-tacular.
I’ve written about my love for Trove and its benefits many times. For example:
Trove Tuesday was my first Trove Tuesday post and included the discovery my grandfather appeared as a witness in a murder trial, something his sons never knew.
I wrote One Stop Shop before I found the names of Hamilton men memorialized in a now-lost avenue of honour, Anzac Avenue. Hamilton’s WW1 grew from that with the stories of 160 Hamilton WW1 volunteers, and more to come. Having access to the Hamilton Spectator gives each story a heart. Letters written from the front and published in the paper are invaluable, plus the everyday happenings in Hamilton provide an insight into the feeling of the town during that time.
Written at the time of the Trove upgrade in 2016, Troveitis ends with a postscript with news of funding cuts to the NLA, the beginning of what could be the end.
The Western District Families Facebook page with over 11,000 followers is primarily about photos found at Trove. Even the smallest of clues can draw a story out of a photo. Trove newspapers are vital for turning those clues into something more. The story of Daystar and his owner John Ross, below, is an example.
In 2015, the State Library of Victoria approached me to digitise Western District Families for the NLA’s digital archive. It’s updated annually to include my most recent posts. If my site were to end tomorrow, I should feel reassured the 458 posts and 205 pages, rich with Western District history, will remain in perpetuity for others to learn from and enjoy. If I tell others my site is in the archives “forever”, I add, “…or until the funding runs out.” That’s not my dry humour. It’s the unfortunate truth.
There are currently several parliamentary petitions set up to support Trove by calling for the full funding of the NLA. The link below will take you to one of those petitions. It closes on 22 February 2023, so please consider signing before then. You may not use Trove yourself, but if you enjoy Western District Families, it’s all thanks to Trove. Please show your support.
Western District Families 
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