Passing of the Pioneers

June 30, 2014December 12, 2016 / Merron Riddiford / Leave a comment

The stories of the Western District pioneers continue with June Passing of the Pioneers. Pioneer obituaries come from a woman who was the first European woman at Colac, a man who survived a shipwreck off Tasmania, and a Reverend who started his career as a journalist for the London Times. Look out for the July obituaries when Passing of the Pioneers celebrates a birthday.

Nicholas COLE: Died 22 June 1879 at Darlington. Born in England and heir to an estate in Plymouth, Nicholas Cole decided to try his luck in Australia and arrived in Sydney in 1839. During his voyage, he met another man Peter McArthur and together they sailed on from Sydney to Geelong. They became partners and took up the West Cloven Hills and Menningort runs at Darlington. Those early pioneers faced many hardships including the Black Thursday fires in 1851. Nicholas, thought to be a descendant of “Old King Cole” the subject of the nursery rhyme of the same name, ran Merino sheep and built up a herd that produced high yields of good quality wool.

“Pastoral Pioneers” The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946) 13 October 1934: 49 (METROPOLITAN EDITION). <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145242490>.

More information about Nicholas is available on the links – The Colac Herald 24 June 1879 The Cole Family at West Cloven Hills

SHEARING SHED, WEST CLOVEN HILLS (1987) Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria J.T. Collins Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection. Image no. H95.200/65 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/217139

Elizabeth YOUNG: Died 11 June 1892 at Barongarook. Jean Young was born in Scotland in 1823 and as a girl sailed to Tasmania with her parents and her father worked as a solicitor in Hobart. In 1841, she married Hugh Murray. They moved to Geelong and Hugh, considered the founder of Colac, moved to that area, before Jean and her young son joined them, becoming the first European woman in the district. She raised a family of fourteen children and endured the many hardships faced by early pioneer women in Victoria. Among other things, Jean and Hugh were founding members of the Colac Presbyterian church and Jean remained a pillar of the church during her life. Hugh passed away twenty-three years before Elizabeth in 1869.

George COXON: Died 20 June 1892 at Portland. George Coxon was born and married in England and in 1857 he and his family, including seven children, travelled to Victoria. After a short time on the Victorian goldfields, he took up farming pursuits in the Casterton district. In his later years, he moved to Portland where he passed away. A profile of George and his family his available on the SW Pioneers website – http://www.swvic.org/sandford/coxon_george.htm

Lawrence McKENNA: Died June 1914 at Curlew Hill. Lawrence McKenna was born around 1830 in Ireland and travelled to Adelaide around 1861. The South Australian explorer John Stuart was about to leave on a government funded expedition to cross the continent and Lawrence joined his party. Stuart eventually abandoned his attempt. After ten years on the goldfields of Victoria and New Zealand, Lawrence gained work at Woodhouse near Dunkeld in 1872. He took a trip back to Ireland in 1874 then returned to Dunkeld to marry Elizabeth Irwin and they settled at nearby Curlew Hill. In 1900, he was badly burnt while trying to protect his property during bushfires and never fully recovered.

Sophia GERDTZ: Died 5 June 1914 at Hamilton. Sophia Gerdtz was born in Germany around 1831 and arrived in Melbourne during the early 1850s. Her family travelled to Hamilton, where few buildings stood. She first married Robert Thomson at Lyne Station in 1852 but was left a widow during the 1860s. She then married storekeeper Cavendish Neville. Again widowed, she spent the last years of her life living with her son at Pierrepoint, just out of Hamilton.

Bridget McNAMARA: Died 19 June 1914 at Tower Hill. Born in Ireland around 1843, Bridget McNamara arrived with her parents to Port Fairy in 1852 and they settled near Farnham and later Dennington. In 1866 at Warrnambool, Bridget married Hugh Reilly, afterward settling at Southern Cross where they lived for the rest of their lives.

THE Roroit Sentine[?] AND Tower Hill Advocate. (1914, June 27). Koroit Sentinel and Tower Hill Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved July 1, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119554315

Reverend George Duke LEE: Died June 1915 at Hamilton. Born in Derbyshire, England around 1830, George Lee first worked as a reporter for the London Times in America. After briefly returning to England he sailed to Victoria aboard the Blue Jacket in 1853 and made for the Ballarat goldfields. He worked as a teacher but left after medical advice as his eye sight was failing. Instead, he went on a lecture tour for the Sons of Temperance Friendly Society through the Western District. While visiting Chetwynd he became interested in the teachings of the Presbyterian church and entered the Ministry. He was sent to the St. Johns Presbyterian Church at Cavendish where he remained for thirty years.

ST JOHNS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CAVENDISH (1974). Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria J.T. Collins Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection. Image no. H94.200/605 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/217138

When George retired around nine years before his death, he moved to Hamilton.

William ALFORD: Died June 1916 at Ellerslie. William Alford was born in England around 1831 and twenty-one years later he travelled to Australia. He was a steward on the ship he sailed aboard which wrecked off the Tasmanian coast. William and other passengers were able to reach shore on a dingy and they walked to Hobart without shoes. William then travelled to the goldfields of Victoria, working as a driver with the gold escort out of Ballarat and later driving the mail coach between Ballarat and Geelong. He moved to Ellerslie in the mid-1860s and he remained there for the remainder of his life. William was a caretaker of the local Mechanics Institute and was involved with the Ellerslie Football Club.

James WORLAND: Died 18 June 1916 at Warrnambool. James Worland was born in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire around 1851 and arrived in Port Fairy two years later with his parents and they settled in the Warrnambool district. When working age, James took a job at a tannery and later purchased his own tannery. William also took up many roles in the community including warden of the Christ Church and a founding member of the local branch of the Society of St. George. At the time of his death, he left a widow and nine children.

William DAVIDSON: – Died June 1917 at Woolsthorp. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, William Davidson arrived at Port Fairy in 1855. He first took up labouring at Minjah, a property near Hawkesdale before opening a store at Woolsthorpe. He later then turned to dairy-farming. William was known as “The Chaffer” around Woolsthorpe because he enjoyed having a tease. A widower at the time of his death, William had twelve surviving children.

Trove Tuesday – Hamilton’s Hero Herbalist

June 24, 2014February 12, 2021 / Merron Riddiford / 3 Comments

Well, it’s Tuesday and that could only mean one thing…Trove Tuesday. It’s been too long. I’ve read a lot of the Table Talk newspaper lately, a recent addition to the wonderful collection of Trove Digitised Newspapers. Because Table Talk (1885-1939) was a social newspaper, I have enjoyed the comings and goings of Western District folk from those times, spending their holidays with friends or living it up in the “big smoke” as guests of Melbourne’s best hotels. Alas, my Western District families were not in the same class of people who graced the social pages, but I still enjoy the photos of those from a higher station in life enjoying tennis and golf tournaments and fox hunts all in the finest fashions.

One feature of Table Talk is wedding photos. I have found several Hamilton brides, and have admired their beautiful gowns and bridesmaids’ dresses while following the changing trends in wedding attire. One particular photo caught my eye, mainly because I didn’t recognise the Hamilton family names as those that regularly graced the Table Talk pages. It was from the marriage of Caleb Shang and Annie Kassene, celebrated at the home of Mr. J. Quing Yen of Brown Street, Hamilton. The bridal party consisted of members of the Shang, Kassene, and Quing Yen families.

TOILET ECONOMY. (1923, May 24). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 – 1939), p. 12. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146570075

I searched Trove for Caleb Shang and was immediately met with headlines of “War Hero”. I then Googled his name and there were entries from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Wikipedia, the Australian War Memorial, and various newspaper articles. I checked with those sites and the same Caleb Shang married Annie Kassene, but considering Caleb was from Cairns, I was left wondering why he was in Hamilton?

As it turns out, Caleb served with the 47th Battalion during WW1 and after a battle at Messines Ridge in 1916, he received a Distinguished Conduct Medal(DCM). In 1918, while still with the 47th, his brave actions at the Somme saw him awarded a Military Medal and a bar was added to his D.C.M, thus becoming the highest decorated Australian soldier of Chinese descent. In August 1918, he was shot in the leg and returned to Australia where he was given a hero’s welcome by the people of Cairns.

Sometime after his return, Caleb worked as a herbalist and moved to Victoria to practice. To be precise, he moved to Hamilton, joining another herbalist John Quing Yen who married Maud Elizabeth Wah Shang in Queensland in 1910. Presumably, Maud was Caleb’s sister. As a herbalist, Caleb not only serviced the people of Hamilton but also travelled to Mt Gambier offering consultations at a local boarding house, as seen in this advertisement from the Border Watch of 22 September 1922, eight months before his marriage.

Advertising. (1922, September 22). Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77677775

After the wedding, Caleb and Annie did not remain in Hamilton long, returning to Cairns. After a long illness, Caleb passed away in 1953.

I thought it necessary to find out a little about the bride Anna (Annie) Louise Kassene, born at Hamilton in 1900. She was the daughter of bootmaker Gustav Kassene and Hulda Grambau of Hochkirch (Tarrington). Hulda died in 1901 after the birth of her third child at barely 20 years of age and Gustav died in 1915. The two Kassene men in the wedding photo are possibly Annie’s two siblings. Annie died in Cairns in 1955.

Sources

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Australian War Memorial

Herald Sun

Looking for Mary Ann

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 / Merron Riddiford / 3 Comments

A week ago, Karen Annett of the Annett Family Australia Facebook group, posted on another group, Victorian Genealogy, about a missing family member, Frances Annett (born 1840, Seven Oaks, Kent). As a member of the Annett Family group, I had previously read about the search for Frances, one of those elusive women we often come across in our family trees. Frances had arrived with her parents William and Mary and siblings to Portland in 1853 and that is the last record of Frances’ being. In reply to Karen, I posted a message of support that she shouldn’t give up hope of finding Frances, giving her a brief summary of my search for Mary Ann Harman.

For my 300th Western District Families post, this is the extended version of the story of Mary Ann Harman who I thought was…

LOST WITHOUT TRACE. (1931, December 10). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 – 1954), p. 62. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90636449

Mary Ann Harman has always been a mystery. I have accounted for all the first generation Harmans of Byaduk, their births, death and marriages. Except for Mary Ann, the daughter of Jonathan Harman and Mary Oliver.

Born in 1869, the sixth child of Jonathon and Mary, Mary Ann drops off the radar after birth. I’ve checked and double checked her birth record and yes she was definitely born. Over the 20 years I’ve researched the Harmans, I reached the conclusion she had died as an infant. Not that unlikely since her younger siblings Joseph and Sarah died during the 1870s, Joseph as a baby and Sarah aged six.

My pursuit of Mary Ann has not been a desperate one because. as she was a child of my ggg uncle, I thought I could live with the fact she was missing. However, because I’m writing a Harman family history I considered I would have to get some of the records I have refrained from getting before. Recently I received a copy of Jonathan Harman’s will from PROV via Archival Access, and the mystery deepened because there in black and white was the name of Mary Ann. At the time of his death in 1930, Jonathan had four daughters, besides Mary Ann, and two sons, Arthur a farmer from Byaduk and Jonathan, a man I considered the black sheep of the family. No surprise to me, he was not named in his father’s will.

Jonathan snr. left his ready money and money in the bank to all his daughters, with a proviso that it did not include Mary-Ann. He bequeathed the net profit of one of his properties to his daughters…except Mary Ann. Arthur was to receive the balance of Jonathan’s estate “but subject to and charged with the payment by him of the annuity of twenty pounds to my daughter Mary Ann during her life…”.

So Mary Ann wasn’t dead, rather 61 years of age in 1930, but why was she treated differently to her sisters and Arthur? Was she untrustworthy or did her father think she was not worthy of a share of his property? Why did was left an annuity instead? Was she not capable of supporting herself? The discovery in Jonathan’s will certainly raised more questions than it answered.

But it meant I could begin searching for her again with renewed confidence. I went straight to the Victorian Death records and searched for “Mary Ann Harman” (assuming she never married) and found the closest match – Mary Ann Harman born about 1873, died Ararat 1948, parents unknown. If that is my Mary Ann, the fact she died in Ararat possibly answers some of my questions. The reason being there was a lunatic asylum in Ararat (Aradale).

A search of Trove only found a Law Notice from 1951 declaring the said Mary Ann Harman intestate, however it confirms to me that the Mary Ann who died in Ararat was a spinster.

Advertising. (1951, February 8). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 18. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23036219

Now I have some new leads. I’ll follow-up probate records and check for an inquest, with the latter helping me confirm if the said Mary Ann was in Ararat Asylum. But maybe Mary Ann was merely the female black sheep of her family and moved away from the fold and it’s possible that the male black sheep was living with her. My reason for that thought is that my only other Harman connection to Ararat was Mary Ann’s brother Jonathan jnr. further supporting my case that I’m on the right track with Mary Ann.

After Jonathan jnr. married Hannah Keyte of Arapilis in 1904, they moved to Kingaroy, Queensland. Hannah appears to have remained in Queensland but Jonathan disappeared after 1913 reappearing again at the time of his death in 1941 at Ararat. I do know that after Jonathan’s death there was an inquest, raising the possibility he was in Ararat Lunatic Asylum and a copy is now a must. To think I have driven past the imposing building of Aradale, on a hill east of Ararat, hundreds of time, looking up and wondering what when on behind its walls. Now I’m a few steps closer to discovering if members of my family knew exactly what life was like as an inmate.

ARARAT ASYLUM c1880. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. Image no. H1887 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/151015

Writing the Harman family history has helped me get to know Jonathan Harman snr. better than I did before and it would be tragic if either or both Mary Ann and Jonathan jnr. were inmates at the Ararat Asylum. Between 1871 and 1886, he saw the passing of three of his 10 children and his wife Mary at just 43. Then, one by one, his remaining children moved away from Byaduk leaving him alone, while his brothers’ children continued on in the town, growing and prospering.

So in conclusion, to all of you, including the Annett family researchers, never give up hope that you will one day find your Mary Ann.

**Tours are now held within Aradale, during the day by the Friends of J Ward (a hospital for the criminally insane also in Ararat) and ghost tours by night,conducted by Eerie Tours .Aradale operated from 1867 until 1998.