“As quietly as she had lived for 104 years, Mrs. Thomas Walker, Hamilton’s grand old lady, passed away at her home in Shakespeare Street on Thursday last.” (Portland Guardian, 23 October 1939)

And so began the obituary of Margaret Walker (nee Brown).  After fourteen years of the newspapers documenting some of Margaret’s significant birthdays, 90, 99, 100, 101, 103, and 104, they were saying their last farewell to a woman who lived during the reign of six British monarchs. 

Margaret was born in Launceston on 11 August 1835 to Scottish immigrants John and Margaret Brown.  They had arrived in Launceston in the early 1830s.  They headed to Victoria around 1840 on the City of Sydney and John Brown was employed at Customs House in Portland.  On 11 August 1852, Margaret’s seventeenth birthday, she married Thomas Walker, a twenty-nine-year-old Londoner who had arrived in Portland in the early 1840s.  They were married by Presbyterian minister Reverand Ross at Portland.

The couple settled in Portland and remained there until 1866, when they moved to Hamilton, residing in Lonsdale Street.  Thomas made his living as a land agent and was able to acquire land around the town. Margaret and Thomas had eight children.  Two died as babies and in September 1880, her eldest son John Thomas died aged twenty-one.  Then in July 1900, son Frederick was accidentally killed at Subiaco, Western Australia.

Close to 1909, Margaret and Thomas went to live at 5 Shakespeare Street, Hamilton and that is where Thomas died in April 1909 at the age of eighty-six. By that time, Mary had one remaining son, George who lived in Geelong, and two daughters, Eliza in Melbourne and Maria who lived with Margaret.

When Margaret was ninety-seven, Maria died on 1 July 1932 at Hamilton at the age of seventy-six. The following year was Margaret’s ninety-eighth birthday and she was given a walking stick. By the time her ninety-ninth birthday came around in 1934, she hadn’t used the walking stick.  She also didn’t wear glasses and would spend a few hours in her garden each day. By that time she also had nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Also in 1934, was the centenary of white settlement in Victoria, and an event was planned for Portland on 19 November. Margaret booked her accommodation well in advance. Her name would appear in the Book of remembrance of the pioneer women of the Portland Bay district written to coincide with the celebrations. She was one of only thirty-five female settlers named in the book still alive for the centenary. On the day, she was seated in a special area for those who had lived in Portland prior to 1864. 

PORTLAND CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 1934. Image courtesy of the Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/766444

Margaret expected to be presented to the Duke of Gloucester but organisers overlooked that detail on the day. Word got back to the Royal party and a letter was forwarded to Margaret. She received it from His Royal Highness through his equerry (Captain Schrieber) in December 1934. It read:

The Royal train, Queensland, December 3rd, 1934.

Dear Madam, the Duke of Gloucester is sorry to hear that, owing to an oversight, you were not presented to him when His Royal Highness visited Portland, and he wishes me to congratulate you on attaining the age ninety-nine years, and hopes that you will continue in good health to see your centenary. You will be glad to know that His Royal Highness enjoyed his visit to Portland very much.

It was a busy year. Margaret planted a commemorative tree at the western end of Gray street, Hamilton for the centenary celebrations, and she produced seventeen pieces of eyelet linen work, made to give as gifts to family and friends.

In 1935, Margaret’s 100th birthday celebration was held at the Hollywood Cafe in Hamilton with the Mayor of Hamilton, Cr. Stewart, in attendance. The Hollywood Cafe can be seen on the extreme left in the photo below. The enclosed verandah displayed the name of the cafe, and it shared the ground-level verandah with the boot and shoe store.

GRAY STREET, HAMILTON. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/62977

After that outing, it became difficult for Margaret to get out on her birthday, so the Mayor of the day would visit her at her home instead. For her 101st birthday in 1936, twenty-five friends and family gathered at Margaret’s home in Shakespeare Street. Highlights were a birthday cake with 101 candles and a telegram from the Red Cross Society. Sadly Margaret’s daughter Eliza died in November of that year.

The next three birthdays were celebrated quietly at home but Margaret continued in good health. That was until only weeks after her 104th birthday. Margaret became fragile, eventually passing away on Thursday 19 October.  She was buried the following day at the Hamilton (Old) Cemetery with Thomas and Marion.

GRAVE OF THOMAS AND MARGARET WALKER AND THEIR DAUGHTER MARION WATSON. HAMILTON (OLD) CEMETERY. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria

Her obituary read:

During the whole of her sometimes eventful life, Mrs. Walker was a lover of all things beautiful, and in quiet contentment, surrounded by her own people and home where she could indulge her liking, which amounted to almost passion, for her garden, she enjoyed to the full her heart’s desire.  (Portland Guardian  23 October 1939)

The remaining living member of Margaret’s immediate family at the time of her death was her son George Joseph Walker. He died in 1960 at Geelong.

REID, Isabella (c1873 -1953) Also Known as Isabella Gilhome

Isabella Reid was the daughter of William Reid and Johanna Steven and was born near Heywood in 1874, one of thirteen children. The Reid farm was Athol Hill on the Fitzroy River two miles from Heywood. In August 1917, Isabella then aged thirty-four, married Charles Gilhome of Colac at the Heywood Presbyterian Church.  The reception was held at Heywood’s Federal Coffee Palace on the corner of Edgar and Scott Streets and owned by her father.

Portland Guardian (1917, August 17) p. 2 (EVENING). http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64019248

Isabella and Charles at first lived at Heywood but moved to Bundoora in early 1918. It was then a rural area and Charles ran a dairy farm.  Around the same time, Charles began feeling unwell and was diagnosed with a liver condition. That led to depression and in July 1918, his doctor told him he should go away for a while. Charles and Isabella discussed his plight and Charles decided he would go away for a break. But it was too late. He died on Friday 12 July 1918.

Isabella initially stayed in the Bundoora area but returned to Heywood to be with her aging parents. In 1921, her father William died and in December 1922, the property in his estate was put up for sale including Athol Hill and the coffee palace.  Isabella went on to purchase the coffee palace and adjoining land from the sale.

Advertising (1922, December 23). Weekly Times, p. 18.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224001699

Vanda Savill’s book Dear Friends, Heywood (1976) mentions Isabella Gilhome and her sister Eliza Reid ran the coffee palace owned by the Reid family.  It’s hard to establish when that was. A newspaper article from the Portland Guardian in 1914 mentions Miss Reid as the hostess, however that could have been her sister Eliza.

Heywood Jottings. (1914, April 29). Portland Guardian, p. 3 (EVENING).  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63968838

Isabella didn’t hold ownership of the coffee palace for long because, in September 1924, it and the adjoining shop was purchased by Edwin Bond.

In May 1925, Isabella’s mother Johanna died aged eighty-three.  After her death, Isabella purchased Retreat in Millbanke Street, Portland, and she and her sister Eliza left Heywood.

News in Brief (1925, October 26). Portland Guardian, p. 3  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64108579

 On 8 July 1927, a furniture sale on Isabella’s behalf was held at Retreat with the property already sold.

Advertising (1927, June 30). Portland Guardian, p. 2 (EVENING).  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64257690

Isabella again returned to Heywood.  As a widowed woman, it was necessary for Isabella to generate an income and she was able to that with property investment. Later her obituary would read, 

In May 1929, Isabella bought a block of land and house in Heywood from the estate of Patrick King with frontages to Edgar and Lindsay Streets. 

Advertising (1929, April 24). Portland Guardian, p. 2 (EVENING).  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64269205

In 1932, she applied to purchase Crown Land adjoining Scott, Edgar, and Lindsay Streets.  While in 1945, she applied to subdivide allotments 4 and 5 of section 7 in Lindsay Street. In 1946, the Portland Shire Council bought a house belonging to Isabella at Heywood for £1300 for use as an engineer’s residence.  

Isabella’s activities in Heywood and Portland went beyond business. She was a generous and charitable woman and gave back to the community. In 1927, she donated a blackwood armchair to the Portland Hospital and another chair for the women’s ward at the hospital.

PORTLAND HOSPITAL c1945. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/366378

During WW2, Isabella was active with the Heywood Red Cross and was on the committee of the Heywood Returned Soldiers Association Women’s Auxilary  She donated money and knitted balaclavas and socks towards the war effort. 

William and Johanna Reid were among the earliest parishioners at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Heywood and by 1939, their daughter Isabella was the oldest parishioner. In April 1939, she was given the honour of turning the key at the official opening of the St Andrew’s Sunday School. Her connection to St Andrew’s extended to the Heywood Presbyterian Ladies Guild.

Isabella Gilhome died in July 1953 at Heywood aged eighty. She was buried at the Heywood Cemetery.