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.
There are ten obituaries for the September edition of Passing of the Pioneers. They include a woman from Apollo Bay and a man who was born in Canada. Hotels get a mention again and there is the story of a Branxholme recluse. Each subject now goes on to the WDF Obituary Index. Don’t forget to click on the links (underlined text) for more information on a subject.
MEREDITH, Robert – Died 14 September 1897 at Yeo. Robert Meredith was born in County Sligo, Ireland around 1827. He married Susannah McNamara, and the couple left for Australia in 1858. A son was born on the voyage. The couple settled at Queenscliff then, after around ten years, they moved to Yeo, near Colac, where Robert farmed. During the 1880s, he carried mail from Colac to Yeo. Robert and Susannah raised five sons and three daughters. Robert died in 1897 and Susannah remained at their property Lightwood Park and died there in June 1913.
SMITH, Maria – Died 18 September 1897 at Hamilton. Maria Smith was born in 1843 at Great Swanport, Tasmania, a daughter of blacksmith Robert Smith and Emma Farrell.1 In 1851, Maria came to Victoria aboard the Shamrock with her mother.2 On 24 November 1864 at Geelong, Maria married George Rippon, a writer for the Geelong Advertiser, and a son, John James Rippon, was born the following year. George and Maria lived in Moorabool Street with further children born at their home, sons George in 1867 and Herbert in 1869, followed by daughters Martha in 1870, Emma in 1872, and Alice in 1874.
In July 1876, George entered a partnership in the newspaper the Hamilton Spectator, in the state’s west and the family moved. George was very active in the Hamilton community and their home, Altham Lodge on the corner of Dryden and Collins Streets, saw many guests, including visitors from out of town. Maria was renowned for her hospitality. Maria and George shared a loved of the sport coursing with George, the president of the Hamilton Coursing Club.
Maria was a charitable woman as expressed by Canon Tucker of the Hamilton Anglican Christ Church after her death, “By a thousand quiet acts of Christian charity she had made herself beloved by the sick and needy about her”. She was just fifty-four when she died in 1897. George died two years later. They are buried with their family at the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery, below.
THE RIPPON FAMILY PLOT, HAMILTON (OLD) CEMETERY
KENDALL, Elizabeth – Died 8 September 1903 at Apollo Bay. Elizabeth Kendall was born around 1835. She came to Australia with her husband John Cawood and a child was born in Geelong in 1861. Soon after, they were at Apollo Bay and among the first white settlers in the area.
Apollo Bay became a logging district and there was an influx of mill workers. Elizabeth saw a need for a restaurant and started offering meals from their home and then accommodation. The Cawood’s Milford House built in 1870, soon became well known to travellers to the district.
On 4 September 1880, the American ship Eric the Red hit the Otway Reef while travelling to Melbourne. Four people drowned in the wreck, including one crewman. The ship was laden with American treasures for the International Exhibition at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building. Soon after the wreck, those items washed up on beaches along the coast. Furniture and fittings from Eric the Red went into the bedrooms of Milford House and the Cawoods built an extension to the home using timbers from the ship.
A visitor to Milford House in 1888 wrote of Elizabeth telling him she was looking at increasing the accommodation at the house. During the visit, John Cawford was pruning his extensive orchard and Elizabeth served fruit and cream. In 1898, fire swept through Apollo Bay and destroyed the orchard, at the time considered one of the best in the colony. John was not there to witness it, having died two years before. But Elizabeth saw the flames come close to her home.
At Elizabeth’s funeral on 10 September 1903, her charitable acts for the needy of the town were remembered. She was considered the “preeminent woman of the town”. Interestingly, she was the first woman in ten years to be interred at the Apollo Bay cemetery. Elizabeth left seven sons and two daughters at the time of her death.
At a memorial service for Elizabeth at Apollo Bay on 13 September, the word “motherly” was what best described Elizabeth…”the mother of Apollo Bay”. Reverend Lowe also described her as one of the “Marthas, always serving and helping”.
Milford House was auctioned in November 1903. In later years, it was destroyed during bushfires.
HOWARTH, William – Died September 1904 at Branxholme. William Howarth was born in Lancashire around 1814 and worked in law offices as a young man. He arrived in NSW and worked in the legal field before travelling to Victoria during the gold rushes of the early 1850s. While in Melbourne, he met a man who had imported stone pavers, but since all interest was in gold, and not construction, William had the chance to purchase the pavers for a cheap price. As people moved away from the diggings, the pavers were in demand, and William turned his outlay to a profit of several hundred pounds.
In the late 1850s, William settled at Branxholme and opened a general store. During his time in Branxholme, William divulged nothing of his life and the locals were unaware if he even had living relatives. It was rumoured he lost money during a land boom. He was a Justice of the Peace and, with his early legal experience, could act as a magistrate if required. In 1859, he was instrumental in Branxholme becoming a gazetted polling place.
William built a cottage in Monroe Street, Branxholme, but within a few years, he built a bluestone house in front of it, thought to be designed by architect Charles Fox. Built with stone carted from Mt Sturgeon near Dunkeld, for a considerable fee, it was considered palatial for the town.
Once the house was built, William left his business and lived “in seclusion” with all the rooms unfurnished except for the one William used as a bedroom. When he died, the interior was just as it was when built. William’s obituary said it was quite a costly home in the end. More information about the cottage-Victorian Heritage Database – https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/23284
CLUNAN, Sarah – Died September 1906 at Dunkeld. How different life for Sarah Clunan may have been if her journey from Ireland to Australia at nineteen had taken her to Sydney as planned. Her entry on the passenger list of the Sir Edward Parry in 1848 shows Sarah, along with several other passengers were “originally for Sydney, remains at Port Phillip”.1 In 1850, Sarah married George Mahony. The obituary of Sarah’s son, Patrick Mahony in 1912, mentions Sarah and George settled at Mount Moriac near Geelong. They then went to Dunkeld around 1865, where they remained until their deaths.
Sarah left three sons, five daughters, and twenty grandchildren at the time of her death.
Public Records Office of Victoria, Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom, VPRS 14/P0000, Book No. 2/3, Sir Edward Parry, 1848, Sarah Clonen
POOK, Mary – Died 24 September 1906 at Dunkeld. Mary Pook was born around 1830 in Brixton, England. She married Edwin Collins at Brixton in 1852. The obituary of Mary’s daughter, Jane Collins, says Mary and Jane arrived at Portland around 1858 aboard the Great Britain. They were to meet her husband Edwin, who had travelled ahead and was at Hamilton. It must be noted the Great Britain arrived in Victoria to Hobsons Bay with immigrants in 1857 and 1859 but not Portland. I also haven’t found Mary or Jane on the passenger lists.
Once the family reunited, they settled in Hamilton where Edwin was a butcher, but they moved to Dunkeld by 1861. Edwin continued butchering, but in 1866, he took over the Royal Mail Hotel. He then ran Dunkeld’s Family Inn (below).
In 1877, the railway arrived in Dunkeld. Edwin built a hotel on the corner of Sterling and Skene Streets, opposite the station, and named it appropriately, the Railway Hotel. Edwin Collins died at the end of 1881 and Mary took over the ownership of the Railway Hotel and her son Adolphus held the license. In March 1894, Mary’s daughter Jane took over the license of the Railway Hotel.
COLLINS FAMILY PLOT, HAMILTON (OLD) CEMETERY
Mary still owned the Railway Hotel at the time of her death. Her probate file held by PROV has an interesting inventory with all the items in the Railway Hotel listed, from pillows to brushes and combs provided for guests’ use in each room. Mary also owned ten parcels of land in the Dunkeld township and one on the outskirts of town. The Railway Hotel was sold in 1907.
McPHEE, Alexander – Died 27 September 1916 at Hamilton. Alexander McPhee was born on the island of Mull off the coast of Scotland around 1833. He arrived in Victoria about 1852 aboard the Marmion which arrived at Portland. With him were his parents, Donald and Mary, and his siblings. They left Portland for Muntham station near Merino, where the family was engaged to work.
Alexander married Sarah Prider in South Australia, and in 1855 they settled at North Hamilton near the Coleraine Road. Alexander was a member of the Independent Order of Rechabites from around 1873.
When WW1 broke, Alexander’s grandson Norman McPhee of Hamilton enlisted in December 1914. In January 1916, Alexander’s son Jack, who had earlier moved to New Zealand, enlisted with the New Zealand Forces. Alexander died in September 1916, saving him from the grief of the loss of firstly Jack, killed in Belgium in June 1917, and three months later Norman, who died from wounds, also in Belgium.
Alexander was buried at the Hamilton Old Cemetery, less than 350 metres from his home. In later years, after the subdivision of the land he once owned, a new street was called McPhee Street. He was buried with his wife Sarah and his parents, Donald and Mary. This is the family plot in 2015.
When I photographed the plot in 2021, I noticed the headstone of Donald and Mary had fallen.
WILSON, Frank – Died 7 September 1917 at Hamilton. Frank Wilson was born in Ontario, Canada, around 1860. He started work in the printing industry, giving him an opportunity to travel to Australia for the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1881 to oversee a printing machinery exhibit. He stayed in Australia and got a job in the printing department of the Daily Telegraph and later the Evening Standard, which was then taken over by The Herald.
Frank then found his way to St Arnaud and was involved with the Lord Nelson mine in the town, working on the machinery. He married Ellen Morrison in St Arnaud in 1901 and they had two daughters and two sons. Frank also worked on mining machinery at Omeo and Stawell. They had arrived in Hamilton by 1909 where Frank ran the Cossar printing machine and suction gas plant at the Hamilton Spectator.
In 1913, Frank faced insolvency. He cited old debts, increased cost of living, and high rent as the cause of his money troubles. Frank was an excellent banjo player and gave tuition to several students in Hamilton. He also played at local concerts.
WHELAN, John – Died 15 September 1918 at Dixie. John Whelan was born around 1840 in Limerick, Ireland. He arrived in Victoria in 1868 on the Southern Ocean. He went to Port Fairy, and that’s where he married his wife, Mary O’Grady. They spent time in the Tower Hill district, and the Garvoc district, before living at Keayang near Terang for around twenty-two years. Mary died around 1913, and John died five years later. He left two sons and three daughters at the time of his death in 1918.
PERRY, Frederick – Died September 1942 at Casterton. In the 1850s, Frederick Perry’s father, John, was the manager of the Upper Crawford station near Condah. That’s where Frederick was born in 1854. In the early 1860s, the family moved to Lexington station near Moyston. It was while at Lexington that Frederick’s older brother William was found dead in a waterhole on 25 October 1860 after going missing while running errands for his father. Foul play was called, but an inquest found William accidentally drowned. Despite that finding, 82 years on, Frederick’s obituary stated Wiliam was murdered. It was said it was the reason for the family leaving the district.
The Perrys headed for the Digby district and Frederick attended the Digby school before getting work at Rifle Downs station. It was there Frederick married Helen Gull in 1876. Eventually, Frederick was a manager material himself and he took over the management of Runnymede near Sandford.
A change of pace came in 1913 when Frederick took over the Digby Hotel where he remained for sixteen years. He retired to Casterton, where he died in 1942.
It’s Women’s History Month and since I haven’t had time to write something new, I’m sharing the March 2017 Passing of the Pioneers post with the obituaries of thirteen women from across the Western District.
It’s Women’s History Month so I thought I would have an all female Passing of the Pioneers. Men have dominated past Passing of the Pioneers posts so I didn’t think it was going to be easy. However, I managed to find thirteen obituaries of some amazing women including sisters. There was a common theme with several losing their husbands at an early age, leaving them to raise children alone. There is also extra information for most of the women so click on any underlined text to read more about the subject.
Mary DRISCOLL– Died 3 March 1908 at Portland. Mary Driscoll was born in Kent around 1828 and later married James Wadmore. The couple came to Australia on the ship Constant on her maiden voyage for shipping agents Messrs S.G.Henty & Co with James acting as doctor’s assistant on the voyage. They arrived at Portland Bay on 24 February…
Recently, I had the pleasure to chat with Gavin from ABC Ballarat about using spare time in lockdown to kick off your family history research. You can hear more on the link to the ABC…
During the segment, I mentioned the links available here at Western District Families, which will take you to websites of family history and historical societies across the Western District. There are also Facebook pages and other useful links to help you discover your Western District family. Just go to the links tab at the top of the page or follow this link…
I haven’t managed a post here since April. My intentions have been good with near-complete drafts for April to July editions of Passing of the Pioneers, but I just couldn’t finish them before the end of their respective months. At least next year, I will have those four months ready to go. August Passing of the Pioneers will not happen and I’ll turn my attention to getting a September edition out.
I’ve had draft posts on various topics building up over the past couple of years and the number is now at 75. If I could get the time, there would be lots of new reading for you. There are around 500 published posts, so if you are new to Western District Families, there’s plenty of reading to keep you going until my next new post.
Wet weather and lockdowns have slowed my cemetery visits, but I managed a quick stop at the Old Dunkeld Cemetery recently and I’ll leave you with a photo from my visit.
Ten years ago today I tentatively pushed the publish button on the first post of My Western District Families, my new family history blog. I had no idea how many more times I would come do that or even if anyone would read my post. Ten years later I’m still here, the name changed long ago to Western District Families and I have now published 451 posts.
Thankfully someone did read my early posts and with the support of the Australian Geneablogging community, Western District Families took off beyond my expectations. Ten years on more than 4000 visitors come to the site each month each viewing 2.5 posts on average.
Western District Families has grown to include the Obituaries Index with the names of the 1038 people included in the seventy-nine Passing of the Pioneers posts to date. On top of the 451 posts I mentioned earlier, I have also written 170 biographies of the men and women of Hamilton’s WW1. It’s something I’m most proud of and there are more biographies to come. There is now a section dedicated to the stories of Western District Women. Two Facebook pages have evolved, one for Western District Families that has taken on a life of its own with a touch over 10,000 followers, and another for Hamilton’s WW1 with 540 followers.
Thank you to everyone who has read my posts over the years. I know there are some who have been dropping by here since 2011. Your ongoing support, encouraging words, and interest in the history of the Western District have got me this far and inspire me to keep going into the future.
Now it’s time for some cake. Happy Birthday Western District Families.
On Sunday night, the Western District Families Facebook page was restored. Thank you for your continued support of the page. Still, nothing is ever certain and it’s worth subscribing to this site to ensure you continue to stay connected with Western District Families.
If you have dropped by my Western District Families Facebook page since Thursday you will have noticed it’s looking slightly different. I’m sure you’ll be surprised as I to learn Facebook thinks my page is…wait for it…a news page.
The page may or may not be back. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens over the coming days…or weeks. On the bright side, this site has nothing to do with Facebook and can continue as normal. After all, this site is the WDF’s Facebook page’s reason for being.
You can stay connected with Western District Families by subscribing here. Each time I publish…
If you have dropped by my Western District Families Facebook page since Thursday you will have noticed it’s looking slightly different. I’m sure you’ll be surprised as I to learn Facebook thinks my page is…wait for it…a news page.
The page may or may not be back. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens over the coming days…or weeks. On the bright side, this site has nothing to do with Facebook and can continue as normal. After all, this site is the WDF’s Facebook page’s reason for being.
You can stay connected with Western District Families by subscribing here. Each time I publish a new post, you will receive an email notification. I have lots planned for the next few months with March being Women’s History Month and April is Western District Families’ 10th birthday and, of course, Anzac Day.
Happy New Year. I hope 2020 was kind to you. The photo below was taken on a New Year’s Day at Erskine House, Lorne. A beach holiday at Lorne was, and still is a popular summer destination for Western District people.
2021 is a milestone year for me because it marks the 10th birthday of Western District Families (WDF). I forgot WDF’s 9th birthday in April 2020 so I best not forget this year.
Before moving on to 2021, a look back at 2020, a good year for WDF. It took a pandemic and lockdowns, but more people visited the site than ever before in 2020, a year when I published fewer posts than ever before. The Western District Families Facebook page also had a good year. We saw some great photos, many with equally good stories. Best of all, from my prompts, the most wonderful stories and memories flowed from the page followers, now almost 10,000 in strength.
Finally, Hamilton’s WW1 Facebook page passed 500 followers despite me not posting there as much in 2020. Because it was a “stay at home” Anzac Day, I posted a virtual Last Post with images of the men from Hamilton who lost their lives during the Great War.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this site and the associated Facebook pages. I still have to pinch myself when I look at the number of WDF followers and the numbers reading my posts. It is much appreciated.
2020 gave me an opportunity to do something I had only dreamt of doing. That was to visit Byaduk, the home of my Harman and Bishop families, and talk to the locals about their town’s history. But as luck would have it, I was invited to speak at Byaduk on Australia Day.
BYADUK
It was an absolute highlight of my time researching and writing about family history and I was able to meet the wonderful Byaduk community, some of whose families have been in the district for more than 150 years. Long time followers will know I have written much about my Byaduk families here and I also wrote a family history Providence: the story of James and Susan Harman and their descendants for a Diploma of Family Historical Studies in 2016. James and Susan were among the first settlers at Byaduk in the year the post office opened in 1863.
Another family history related highlight of 2020 was the opportunity to speak to the Hamilton U3A via Zoom. Putting my big collection of photos to good use, we took a virtual tour of the old Hamilton Cemetery looking at the symbolism of some of the headstones and monuments and the stories behind the graves. It was fun and good to share my passion for the cemetery with others.
HAMILTON (OLD) CEMETERY
As mentioned, I didn’t get many posts published this year but the ones I did, I enjoyed researching. The most significant and moving post of 2020 was from October, The Great Flood of 1870 with a focus on the loss of life at Coleraine. It was a post prompted by a headstone I saw at the Coleraine Cemetery in between lockdowns this year.
COLERAINE CEMETERY
I was surprised to find it was not the most viewed new post for the year. Instead, that honour went to the September Passing of the Pioneers post. Looking back on it now, it was the most detailed of the 2020 Passing of the Pioneer posts and included ten most interesting subjects such as Duncan Stewart of Camperdown, Elizabeth Brown of Hamilton, and Barnabas Hamilton of Kirkstall.
The most viewed post of 2020 was again The Big Flood published in 2016 about the disastrous 1946 Western District floods. The high numbers are aided by the hits which come each time there are storms and/or heavy rain in the Western District and people get on the search engines for information. With storms forecast over the coming days, I expect the post to kick off its 2021 views. However, disaster posts are popular. When the Earth Moved at Warrnambool published in 2018 moving in on The Big Flood as the most popular post
A nice surprise came with the most viewed Hamilton’s WW1 post. It was the story of former Hamilton State Scholl teacher Stephen James Filmer, written a few years ago now. I knew of Stephen before I wrote his story. He was the youngest child of the Filmer family of Byaduk and his sister Hazel, the eldest child, married my 1st cousin 4 x removed Absolam Harman of Byaduk. Stephen was killed at Bullecourt in May 2017. I’m so pleased people are reading Stephen’s story.
I can’t promise how many posts I’ll get out to you this year, but there will be some. I can promise the photos will keep coming on the WDF Facebook page and I won’t forget to celebrate Western District Families’ 10th birthday.
The year 1870 was wet across Australia. In January, summer storms brought flooding to Ballarat and Bendigo. Then, for several months, floods plagued NSW and Queensland. Winter came and the Western District received more than its share of rain.
The rain continued into spring and the Hamilton Spectator reported on 10 September 1870, “The present extraordinary season, according to many of the oldest inhabitants, has not been equalled in the Western District of Victoria for the last eighteen years.” That came after 1½ inches fell across 4 and 5 September, causing the Grange Burn at Hamilton to swell. Mail to the town was blocked for two days, with creeks along the route on the rise.
The Hopkins River was up and water lapped the back door of the Hexham Hotel. Mail couldn’t get through to Warrnambool from Melbourne and at Allansford, not only had the old bridge washed away but also the new bridge under construction.
The Wannon River (below) was raging and there were reports of trees going over the Wannon Falls. Further downstream, the road from Sandford to Casterton was cut and a bridge at Sandford was washed away.
WANNON RIVER, OCTOBER 2020
Streatham saw the largest flood the inhabitants could remember with families evacuated and the telegraph office flooded. At Skipton, the rise of Mount Emu Creek soon saw the streets flooded.
The Hamilton Spectator‘s Coleraine correspondent summed up the town’s experience during the rains of September 1870, pointing to the rapid rise of the water and the plight of the McCaskill family. He offered a grim assessment…”if the stream had not suddenly fallen, that a coroner’s inquest in the locality would have taken place.”
Bryan Creek, a tributary of the Wannon River, rises up near Vasey about thirty-five kilometres north-east of Coleraine, not far from the Dundas Ranges. Several small creeks run into it as it flows through the valleys of rolling hills. Those open hills enhance the beauty of the district but as Adam Lindsay Gordon wrote in his famous poem “The Fields of Coleraine”, “…the gullies are deep, and the uplands are steep” expediting water runoff into the creek.
As the day moved into night, clouds appeared and lightning illuminated the sky like nothing the residents had seen before. Thunder rumbled for two hours. Rain began to fall “gentle and warm” and then, when it seemed to have past, the people of Coleraine “went to repose, fearing nothing from the weather”.
Among them was Emma Laird, who lay down with her sleeping infants James and Isabella. She lived in a cottage behind the Albion newspaper office (below). The Drummond family, David, Margaret and their children were her neighbours. David’s niece Janet was staying over for the night.
Closer to the creek, carrier William Lewis, William Weaven, and another man were camped on what they thought was high ground near the bridge. There was no sleeping under the stars for them that night, instead they made their beds under the dray of William Lewis to shelter from the storm.
As the town went to sleep, little did they know what they thought was the sound of gale force winds roaring through the trees was actually water raging along Bryan Creek. Heavy rain in the catchment area was rapidly entering the waterway. At Gringegalong close to the creek’s headwater, water was knee-deep within an hour. By midnight Bryan Creek was “a roaring torrent and inundated the sleeping town” having risen five feet in two hours. There was chaos. People ran between houses trying to wake the occupants and soon a crowd was gathering near the lowest part of the town where the cottages were submerged in water.
THE FLOODS. (1870, November 3). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1843; 1854 – 1876), p. 2 (EVENINGS). Retrieved October 20, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65423451
The Coleraine correspondent for the Hamilton Spectator opened his front door only to be almost swept off his feet by the rush of incoming water. He managed to close the door again, but only with the help of another person. He said outside it was “a sea, roaring and boiling, and crushing all in its course.”
Such was the commotion, the order in which the events of that night occurred differ slightly between eye-witness accounts from the likes of the Hamilton Spectator‘s correspondent and the Coleraine Albion reporter. Piecing the various reports together, I believe this is how it all unfolded.
Around 12.30 am, an attempt was made to rescue residents on the low ground, including those at the residence of Robert Wright, the brickmaker on the banks of the creek, and dressmaker Betsy Gillies. In the nick of time, the Wright family got themselves across the deluge to safe ground. Miss Gillies was woken from her slumber and also escaped. In both cases, another few minutes, and the outcome would have been disastrous.
Attention then turned to the two cottages behind the Albion office, that of the Drummonds and Lairds. By now, the water was knee-deep and the current was too fast to safely cross. Constable James Mahon made a dash for it but was carried away. Fortunately, he managed to land on top of a pigsty and was able to get back to safety. He tried again and was able to save one of the children. Storekeeper Louis Lesser also headed across the water and rescued another child. He was also able to lift Mrs Margaret Drummond out of the water and on to the roof of a cowshed. Her husband, David Drummond got three children to safety and went back for three more, James and Margeret Jr and his niece Janet. He had one on his back and one in each arm as he made his way across. Suddenly, the current caught him, and all four were swept away.
Charles Loxton, the young accountant from the National Bank of Australasia (below). attempted to cross on his horse. They were both swept away, and it was then the rescue was abandoned.
FORMER NATIONAL BANK OF AUSTRALASIA, WHYTE STREET, COLERAINE.
Around 1.00 am the water had fallen enough for another attempt to cross to the cottages. Margaret Drummond was found sitting on the cowshed but the rescuers’ worst fears were soon realised. During all the commotion, Emma Laird and two of her children had washed away on their beds as they slept. William Lewis and William Weaven camped by the creek were swept away from beneath the dray. Their friend managed to get himself to safety.
By 8.00 am on Saturday morning, the creek had “assumed its natural proportions” and the horse of Charles Loxton grazed nonchalantly by the creek. It was as though nothing had happened.
But looking around the town, it was anything but normal. It was devastating. “The scene when morning dawned was heartrending. Men, women, and children were found on chimneys and housetops; and all sorts of property was floating about”. The water was three feet deep in McLean’s timber yard and the store of Edmond Dacomb (below) was also flooded.
Also flooded was the store of Abraham Lesser (below) and his brother Louis, a hero only hours earlier.
The bridge over Bryan Creek on the Penola road was destroyed, and the streets were a mess. Almost ominously, headstones at Alfred Priest’s monumental yard were scattered. There was slime everywhere the water had been. Logs, bales of wool and a haystack had washed down the creek. Further downstream, Murdoch McCaskill’s farm once again suffered damage.
The harrowing task of searching for bodies began at first light, with the whole town turning out even though very few had slept. Holes were checked and logs were turned over. By 6.00 pm on Saturday evening, five bodies had been recovered, all of them children. Five adults were still missing. On Sunday, the bodies of Emma Laird and William Lewis were found. Later, the searchers noticed a piece of clothing pocking out from under a huge log. It took around fifty men to remove the log and expose the body of Charles Loxton
As they were found, the bodies were laid out in McKnight’s “old courtroom” and family gathered around their lost loved ones. George Trangmar, the coroner, issued the certificates of burial. The funeral for eight of the victims took place on Monday 31 October at 6.00 pm. The coffins left McKnights for the cemetery with the Oddfellows in the lead, two abreast, then a hearse with some of the coffins, followed by a wagon with the rest. There was a very large cortege and to emphasise the tragedy, reports mentioned there were thirty to forty women in attendance. It was not customary for women to attend funerals in those times.
COLERAINE CEMETERY
The body of William Lewis was taken to Sandford for burial.
The Portland correspondent for the Hamilton Spectator told of how the news of the lives lost at Coleraine came in by telegram subsequently casting a gloom over his town. He hoped a suitable monument would be erected to remember the bravery of Charles Loxton and David Drummond.
A week on and William Weaven’s body had not been found, but his family kept searching along the creek for him but to no avail. During September 1872, human remains were found in Bryan Creek about five kilometres downstream from the bridge at Coleraine. The local police decided an inquest was unnecessary as it seemed almost certain the remains were those of William Weaven.
THE VICTIMS
DAVID DRUMMOND and his children James and Margaret DRUMMOND.
David Drummond married Margaret Watson in Tillicoultry, Scotland on 12 June 1852 (1) and they boarded the Chance at Liverpool, England on 23 July 1852 (2). It was a difficult journey with forty-six deaths and on arrival in Melbourne on 28 October 1852, the ship was quarantined and remained so for almost three weeks. Once on dry land, the couple made their way to the Geelong district. A son James was born in 1853 but sadly he died the next year (3). Another son Richard was born in 1854 (4) and a daughter Margaret in 1857 (5). James was born in 1862 at Duck Ponds near Geelong (6).
The family moved west to join other members of the Drummond family sometime after 1862 with John born at Casterton in 1867 (7). It was there in the same year, Margaret Jr, aged ten, faced the Casterton Court of Petty Sessions. Her charges of stealing a pocketbook were eventually dismissed. It was also the year David Jr died at Sandford, aged seven (8). The following year, baby John died, also at Sandford. (9) In 1869, another son was born and named David (10). He was born at Dundas suggesting the family had moved to Coleraine, within the Shire of Dundas.
After the tragic death of her husband and children in 1870, Margaret Drummond continued to live in Coleraine. In her old age, she lived with her son Richard. She died on 1 March 1914 her life punctuated with tragedy. She was buried at the Coleraine Cemetery with David, James, and Margaret (11). Richard died on 17 July 1932 at Coleraine (12). Margaret’s other surviving son David Jr. settled at Streatham. He died in 1941 at Sebastopol (13).
Janet DRUMMOND
Janet, the niece of David and Margaret Drummond was born at Branxholme in 1861, the daughter of George Drummond and Margaret Scott (14). Her father owned the Shamrock Inn at Coleraine from the early 1870s and then the Koroite Inn from February 1876.
Emma Jane LAIRD and her children James and Isabella
Emma Jane Laird was born around 1842 as Emma Jane Till. Emma arrived from Middlesex, England in 1861 aboard the Oithona and went to work as a housemaid at Dundas station for Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (15). She married James Laird in 1864 (16). The following year, a daughter Louisa Matilda was born at Coleraine (17). Isabella Jane was born in 1867 (18) followed by a son James Alexander in 1869 (19). James Snr and Louisa were not mentioned in newspaper reports of the flood. James appears to have worked for a contractor and may have been away working, maybe the same reason Louisa went into the care of her grandparents at Casterton in the years after the flood. That, however, soured when in 1876 Alexander Laird took his son James to court for costs incurred for the board and lodging of Louisa. At the age of eighteen, Louisa married John McCreddan in 1883 (20). She died at Noradjua in 1887 aged just twenty-one (21).
Charles Arthur LOXTON
Charles Loxton was born in Liverpool, Lancashire in 1847, a son of George Loxton and Catherine Holland (22). The Loxton family including eight children arrived on the Catharine Mitchell when Charles was three in 1853 (23). It’s not clear when twenty-two-year-old Charles went to Coleraine for work but it may not have bee long before the flood. The National Bank of Australasia where he was an accountant was opened in 1870. Charles’ brother Holland Loxton was the town clerk at Kew. In 1948, Charles’ grave at the Coleraine Cemetery was restored using money donated by then-current and past residents. More about the grave can be seen on the link to Monument Australia – Grave of Charles Arthur Loxton
William LEWIS
William Lewis was a son of Thomas Lewis and Rebecca Braham and was born in Tasmania in1843 (24). At some point, the family travelled to Victoria and settled at Sandford, and William worked as a carrier. On Saturday 22 October 1870, he departed the stores of Stephen Henty in Portland with goods for Coleraine. It would be his last job. William was twenty-seven at the time of his death.
William Eric WEAVEN
William Weaven was a son of Thomas Weaven and Christiana Butcher and was born at Portland in 1844 (25).
FLOODING IN OTHER AREAS OF THE WESTERN DISTRICT
At Brung Brungle Station at Redruth (Wannon) close to Coleraine, and owned by John B, Hughes, employee William DUNTON was drowned while trying to save the station’s stud rams. He fell from his horse into the water and, despite being a strong swimmer and struggling for some, exhaustion saw him and succumb to the waters. William was a local boy born around 1853, a son of William Dunton and Elizabeth Edwards. He was buried at the Coleraine Cemetery on 4 November 1870.
Also at Redruth, trees were washing down the Wannon River and hitting the bridge on the main road to Coleraine. On Saturday afternoon 29 October at about 2.30 pm the bridge, only six years old was washed away. Trees were going over the Nigretta and Wannon Falls. The local correspondent for the Hamilton Spectator ventured to the Wannon Falls and found a “huge boiling cauldron” beneath. Trees from further up the river lay below. He then went to see the bridge on the main road. It was on its last legs and soon it washed down the river towards the Wannon Falls.
With the bridge out, the only way to get the mail through was a rope over the river or behind the path of the falls (below).
At Hilgay not far from Coleraine, John MOFFAT was drowned. A number of horses on the property were in hobbles and stranded in deep water. The owners of two of the horses offered £1 each to anyone who would go underwater and cut the hobbles. Shortly after, John Moffat asked one of the owners for a knife and a pipe of tobacco. He didn’t say he was going to free the horses but instead just “strolled away. Later it was noticed he was missing, and a search was made. His clothes were found on the river bank by his friends, but his body couldn’t be found.
At Roseneath on the Glenelg River north of Casterton, eleven-year-old Lewis Frank Russel RALSTON, a son of Robert Ralston and Jane Ross was drowned in the river.
There was an electrical storm at Casterton and subsequent floods were considered the “greatest floods ever” or at least since 1851. Stores and homes were flooded while at nearby Sandford, the bridge over the Wannon River washed away. At Balmoral, the “old” bridge was gone and around Harrow, the water offered “an almost uninterrupted swim”.
At Hamilton, communications were down and the Hamilton Spectator said it “rained in torrents for hours”.
THE WEATHER AND THE TELEGRAPH.— (1870, October 29). Hamilton Spectator (Vic. : 1870 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196304024
One report suggested around 34 mm of rain fell in a short time. The bridge over the Grange Burn on Dunkeld Road (now Ballarat Road) was partially washed away. Further downstream, the Grange Inn on the banks of the creek was in more than a metre of water resulting in the kitchen breaking away and washing down the creek. One of the abutments on the nearby Portland Road bridge had washed away and the roadway had fallen in.
PORTLAND ROAD BRIDGE, HAMILTON
To the east, sheep washes were swept away at Strathkellar and around 600 sheep were drowned at Warrayure. At Portland, the storm was spectacular and around 17mm of rain fell.
There were cries of “Not October storms again” as people recalled the floods in the town the year prior. Then Bridge Street was a river (below) but in 1870, the water level exceeded that high mark.
The people of Coleraine have been no strangers to flooding over the years. For example, there was 1893, 1906, 1983, and more recently 2016, the worst flooding since 1946, the year of ‘The Big Flood‘ across the Western District. Even earlier this month while writing this account, two days of almost constant rain saw the Bryan Creek once again rise, resulting in some minor flooding.
The flood of October 1870 was disastrous and possibly the worst in the town’s history, but as there weren’t official records kept for rainfall and the creek levels, it is difficult to compare. The only comparison can be made with the number of fatalities and fortunately, there has never been a repeat of the loss of life seen in 1870.
You can find more about the history of flooding at Coleraine from the following video prepared for the Southern Grampians Shire Council investigation into the 2016 Coleraine floods. You can read the full report on the link – Coleraine Flood Investigation
* Bryan Creek – While researching the 1870 floods, I came across several variations of the name of the creek which passes by Coleraine, Bryan Creek, Bryan’s Creek, Bryants Creek, Koroite Creek, and Koroite Rivulet. The use of Koroite comes from the Koroite run. The homestead stood on the northern bank of the creek just west of the township once known as Bryan’s Creek from the name of the run taken up by John Bryan in 1837 and later his brother Samuel. In 1937, the Portland Guardian claimed Samuel Pratt Winter said in the Hamilton Spectator in 1878, also the year of his death, that somewhere along the line someone had added a”t”.
Pioneers of Wannon Country. (1937, December 20). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 – 1953), p. 2 (EVENING.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64277877
However, going back to 1849 and a description of the boundaries of the Koroite run, both Bryan’s Creek (possibly the aforementioned pastoral run) and Bryant’s Creek are referred to.
Advertising (1849, March 5). Port Phillip Gazette and Settler’s Journal (Vic. : 1845 – 1850), p. 4. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223156343
SOURCES
1. Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910, FamilySearch, David Drummond, 1852, FHL Film No. 1040210
2. PROV, Assisted British Immigration Index, VPRS 14, Book 7, Page 54, Chance, 1852
3. Victorian BDM’s Death Index, James DRUMMOND, 1854, Reg. No. 3277/1854
I was thrilled to be asked along as the guest speaker for the Byaduk/Byaduk North Progress Association Australia Day ceremony. Those of you who have followed my blog for a long time will know of my family connections to Byaduk going back to the early 1860s. Given the turnout, my ggg grandfather James Harman and his fellow early settlers would have been proud to see the community is still strong in Byaduk. Thank you to the people of Byaduk for having us and for the delicious breakfast. You were all so welcoming and we had a lovely morning.
BYADUK
There have now been four Broken Memories posts. So far you have seen the broken headstones of Samuel and Frances Hing, Joseph Lissiman, and Thomas Gorman and his three children. While it wasn’t planned, Parts 2 and 3 have the Hamilton district Diptheria epidemic of 1879/80 interwoven through the stories. Likewise, Archdeacon Gustaves Innes, of Hamilton’s Anglican Church during that period also makes an appearance in both posts. There will be more about Gustaves in future posts and the cat I promised in my last update. The links to the Broken Memories posts so far are –
Broken Memories – Hamilton (Old Cemetery) Part 1 – Samuel and Frances Hing – The sudden death of Sam Hing’s wife Frances Hing in 1881, was the first in a string of tragedies for Sam and his family.
Broken Memories – Hamilton (Old Cemetery) Part 2 – Joseph Lissiman – A story of a young man who followed his dream only to have his life cut short. And find out how the death of Dunkeld Lay Preacher Joseph Lissiman sparked some ghostly claims in the newspapers.
Broken Memories – Hamilton (Old Cemetery) Part 3 – Thomas Gorman and his three children, Ethel, Jane and Thomas Jr. Hamilton stationmaster and former player of the Carlton and Melbourne Football Clubs, Thomas Gorman and three of his children fell to a deadly Diphtheria epidemic in Hamilton and district in 1880. Read how the Melbourne football community got behind Thomas’ widow and remaining three children and how life turned out for them after their tragic loss.
HEADSTONE OF SAMUEL & FRANCES HING
HEADSTONE OF JOSEPH LISSIMAN
HEADSTONE OF THE GORMAN FAMILY
There will probably be at least three more Broken Memories from the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery. I will then move on to some other cemeteries. I’ve added some new cemeteries to my photo collection over the last month, Byaduk North, Byaduk Lutheran, Branxholme, and South Hamilton Lutheran Cemetery. I’ve also taken my tally of Hamilton (Old) Cemetery photos up to 1500 but I am a long, long way off having a photo of every headstone given my preference for random wanderings rather than an organised approach.
BYADUK LUTHERAN CEMETERY
BYADUK NORTH CEMETERY
BRANXHOLME CEMETERY
SOUTH HAMILTON LUTHERAN CEMETERY
March and April are always busy months I write most of my Hamilton’s WW1 biographies then and a few years ago I decided to throw Wonderful Western District Women into the mix to coincide with Women’s History Month in March. There should be at least one WWD Women post during March. And there is always a birthday post for Western District Families in April. This year will be birthday post number 9!
For those of you who enjoy Passing of the Pioneers, it’s on hold for the moment. I would get a lot more PP posts done if new ideas didn’t distract me. The latest idea is Take a Photo, a new series looking at stories behind photos.
If you follow the Western District Families Facebook page, you’ll know I share a lot of out of copyright photos from the State Library of Victoria and Museums Victoria. Often it’s possible to find some sort of a story about the subject or event using clues from the catalogue listing. With the help of Trove digitised newspapers, I’ve found some great stories to include with the photos on the Facebook page and I thought I should share some of those here. I have one Take A Photo post finished, three close to finished and another four in the early stages, I’ll post them over the coming months in between everything else. The first Take A Photo post will be out later today and is the story of a man and his horse.
Western District Families 
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