Taming The Frontier

A story of the Lattimore family from the Eden River in Cumbria, England who helped pioneer Australia

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Second Edition published in 2021

By Famocon Investments Pty Ltd ABN 28 088 209 787 Sydney Australia First Edition published in 2013 Copyright © Glendon O’Connor 2013 and 2021 sixtybooks@gmail.com The right of Glendon O’Connor to be identified as the moral rights holder of this work has been asserted by him.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Australia), no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

ISBN 9798466140569 Front Cover: Lush Pastures of the North Coast Hinterland of NSW

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Chapter 1 – Living in Eden .......................................................................... 8 Chapter 2 – Call of the Colony ................................................................... 15 Chapter 3 – Leaving England .................................................................... 19 Chapter 4 – Assignment in Sydney ............................................................ 22 Chapter 5 – Glen William .......................................................................... 26 Chapter 6 – Styles View Estate .................................................................. 29 Chapter 7 – Clarence Town Murder ........................................................... 33 Chapter 8 – Cape Vale Estate .................................................................... 36 Chapter 9 – An Education ......................................................................... 39 Chapter 10 – Joy and Pain ........................................................................ 45 Chapter 11 – Revival ................................................................................. 49 Chapter 12 – Further Land Dealings ......................................................... 51 Chapter 13 – Flood and Assault ................................................................ 53 Chapter 14 – Into the Conflict ................................................................... 57 Chapter 15 – Kicking the Hornets’ Nest ..................................................... 62 Chapter 16 – The Final Insult .................................................................... 65 Chapter 17 – On the River ......................................................................... 67 Chapter 18 – A Sporting Life ..................................................................... 72 Chapter 19 – Storm Clouds Gather ........................................................... 75 Chapter 20 – Leaving Glen William ............................................................ 78 Chapter 21 – The Northern Exodus ........................................................... 82 Chapter 22 – The Woodford Islander.......................................................... 85 Chapter 23 – The Manning Connection .................................................... 116 Chapter 24 – Lure of Sugar ..................................................................... 145 Chapter 25 – Legacy of Eden ................................................................... 164 Chapter 26 – The Civic Leader ................................................................. 194 Chapter 27 – Keeping the Peace .............................................................. 213 Chapter 28 – The Lower Coldstream Farmer ............................................ 215

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Chapter 29 – The City Lattimore.............................................................. 232 Chapter 30 – The Late Bloomer ............................................................... 237 Chapter 31 – The Facetious Blacksmith .................................................. 244 Chapter 32 – The Gold Prospector ........................................................... 263 Chapter 33 – The Pioneer Builder ............................................................ 266 Chapter 34 – The Farmer’s Wife .............................................................. 281 Chapter 35 – The Storekeeper’s Wife ....................................................... 292 Chapter 36 – The Water Whisperer .......................................................... 307 Chapter 37 – The Quiet Fruiterer ............................................................ 323 Chapter 38 – The Café King ..................................................................... 326 Chapter 39 – The Wounded Wanderer ..................................................... 337 Chapter 40 – The Cook and The Chef ...................................................... 341 Chapter 41 – Homage ............................................................................. 344

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A thank you to John Clare, John Clarke, Louise Enright, Nancy Farrell, Margaret Olive, Michelle Sharpe, Joan and Helene Stevens, Kaye Wallace and Robert West who all helped with this story.

Also thanks to the family historians who have created online family trees of the Lattimores and Lattimers and sometimes populated them with copies of their priceless photos. I take the blame for all mistakes I failed to pick up during my imperfect proof reading.

You may have noted that copyright has been claimed on this work but in fact I am happy for any part of the work to be copied or used for any lawful purpose, with appropriate accreditation.

Ownership of images is more of a problem. As the internet has now become the world’s major source for information in the public domain it seems inconsistent to me for many people to then try to regulate the use of their information on the internet under the inconsistent copyright laws of hundreds of different countries. This is a non-profit work (at least for me) and is intended to assist others in researching their connected family histories. Many of the images are mine or have been supplied to me with permission to use in this story. I have used other images from the internet that can be readily downloaded on multiple platforms.

The story is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, Clarice Vera Lattimore.

Eden River near Carlisle England

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William Lattimore & Eleanor Banks (First Wife)

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William Lattimore & Mary Hancock (Second Wife)

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Chapter 1 – Living in Eden The family or surname name Latimer has been traced back as far as the old French Norman families who crossed the English Channel to settle in William the Conqueror’s England in the years after the invasion in 1066. However, people with that name (or a very similar name) probably lived in England long before then, possibly going back to Roman times, because the origin of the name is closely associated with the Romans and their conquest of large parts of Europe, including Britain.

A Latimier or Latiner in Old English was a speaker, writer or translator of Latin and so the name became used for clerks who could write and translate the Latin language, which for centuries was the only language used for official documents in Britain.1 The Domesday Book of 1086, which was commissioned by William the Conqueror was the first great survey of the people of England and their lands and assets. It records the name of Ralph Latimarus (which is the Latinised name of Latimer – a nice irony).

Later records show the name of Gocelinus le Latimer who was mentioned in 1102 during the reign of Henry I. A Latimer family coat of arms was granted around 1300 during the reign of Edward I. Much more notable among the later bearers of the Latimer name was William Latimer (also known as Latymer) who was born in 1467.

He became chaplain to Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn Anne is credited with convincing Henry to break with the Pope in Rome in order to divorce his first wife and marry Anne.2 William Latimer was a leading scholar and clergyman of his day and was a significant player in the Protestant cause after Anne’s execution in 1536. He denounced the Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, as being a covert Roman Catholic during the pro-Protestant reign of Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI.3 Hugh Latimer

1 2 3

Another famous Latimer of that time was Hugh Latimer who, with Anne Boleyn’s patronage, was appointed Bishop of Worcester in

The Internet Surname Database – Lattimer (September 2012) “The Boleyns”, Douglas Dowell - http://www.oocities.org/boleynfamily (August 2013) “Actes and Monuments” (known as the Book of Martyrs), John Foxe 1552-1583

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1535. The two Latimers have at times been confused with each other because of their close involvement with the religious politics of the time.

A connection between them was often assumed but there is no evidence that they were directly related.

During the revival of Catholicism under Mary I (the Bloody one), Hugh Latimer was convicted of heresy and burnt at the stake at Oxford in 1555, becoming one of the Oxford Martyrs, commemorated today with a memorial near the place of execution. 4 One of the commissioners who helped convict Hugh Latimer was Edmund Bonner, the former Bishop of London and now staunch supporter of Roman Catholic restoration.

When Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen after the death of her half sister Mary, William Latimer presented a paper defending Anne from the accusations made against her. He also became Anne Boleyn’s leading biographer.5 By the 1800s, families of Latimers were well distributed across England and Wales but there was a large concentration of those families in Lancashire (particularly in and around the Lake District) and Yorkshire, both regions occupying much of the north of England.

It was in Lancashire that the Latimer family, the subject of this story, made their home near one of the major rivers of the region, the Eden.

The Eden River

The Eden River rises in the limestone moors lying in the range of large hills east of the Lake District known as the Pennines. It is the only major river in England to flow north.

4 5

Wikipedia – Hugh Latimer (August 2013) “A Journal of Reformation Life”, Leben – Volume 5, Issue 2, Anne Boleyn

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No doubt there are many places in the world named after the idyllic and unspoiled Eden of the Bible, but this river, and the valley it passes through, were given this name not long after Christianity arrived in northern England.

The Eden runs through some of the most beautiful countryside in England. It starts as a rushing torrent coming down from the hills and eventually meanders out to Solway Firth on the border with Scotland, after a journey of 150 km through the Eden Valley and past the old Roman town of Carlisle.

At the very end of the river, just before it opens out to merge into the marshes of the Solway Firth, is the village of Rockcliffe, so named because of the red colour of the high sandstone banks exposed by the force of the river (ro had a Norse meaning of red and earlier names of the village were Rowcliffe and Rocliffe).6

Rockcliffe and Newtown of Rockcliffe

The village is perched quite high and was described as “… commanding a beautiful view of Carlisle, and the surrounding country.”7 The village is very old and has remnants dating back over a thousand years.

Like many towns and villages close to the border with Scotland, it was continually raided by parties of Scots until the 1700s. It was later a popular place for unloading smuggled goods, especially whiskey from Scotland.8 The village became a commercial port in the 1800s, mostly for the import of timber and slate, but little remains of its maritime history.

6 7 8

“Magna Britannia”, Daniel & Samuel Lysons – Volume 4 – Cumberland, 1816 “History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland”, Mannix & Whellan 1847 www.visitcumbria.com – Rockcliffe (March 2013)

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Perhaps to avoid the looting Scots or to be closer to the main road heading north from Carlisle, at some time before 1650, there was a gradual movement of people from Rockliffe and nearby areas to a new more inland location a short distance to the east, set amongst the open farmlands and tracts of forest of the hinterland.

There would have been an opportunity to name the new village after a prominent local identity or after an appropriate feature of the surrounding area, but the opportunity was lost when the village simply became known as The New Towne, which later evolved to become Newtown of Rockcliffe, a name still in use today.9 The village is located within the Parish of Kirklinton and is about 10 kilometres north east of Carlisle, but it is actually closer to Gretna Green, the village in Scotland made famous for its runaway marriages.

Parish boundaries have changed over the centuries and for a time the village was in the Parish of Westlinton.

The area had been largely rural since the 1600s.

Kirklinton Parish was described in the Newtown of Rockcliffe today 1880s as having an abundance of building stone “…but the great majority of the inhabitants are employed in the cultivation of the land.”10 Kirklinton was also the name of a village. Both the Parish and the village became the home of a number of branches of the Latimer family. Some were well off property owners, others were farm workers. They are likely to be distant descendants of Bishop Hugh Latimer.11 One branch of the family, headed by a James Latimer, lived in the village of Newtown of Rockcliffe in 1841.12 It is likely they had lived there for some years before that time.

The village had always been quite small and its inhabitants were farmers, farm workers or weavers, and their families. James Latimer was a farm worker and he and his wife Mary had a family of at least three sons, William, Thomas and John. They may well have had many other children.

According to the 1841 England Census, James was born about 1771 and was likely to have been born in the Parish but this has yet to be confirmed.

Very few old church records from the north of England, including those from the Parish of Kirklinton, have yet to be made available for research on the internet.

Map of Westmoreland and Cumberland by Christopher Saxton, 1576 “History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland”, T Bulmer & Co 1884 11 http://www.airgale.com.au/latimer/d8.htm - Descendants of James Latimer, circa 1680 (July 2013) 12 1841 England Census – James Latimer – Cumberland – Kirkland – District 8 9

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The few records that are available show there are a very small number of people with the name James Latimer who were born in or about 1771.

However, those other people, such as a James Latimer of Longbenton, Yorkshire who was born in 1772, can be accounted for in the origins of other families.

James married Mary Furnace in December 1799 in or near Kirklinton. Mary’s maiden name, if following the custom of surnames being related to employment, suggests a connection with a colliery, foundry or other industry.

In fact, the surname was probably an alternative for Furness, an old Viking name.

A House in Newton of Rockcliffe built in 1743

A son William was born in September 1815, three months after the Battle of Waterloo, which saw the defeat of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of his dreams of further European conquest.

Once again, peace was restored in England and it would last for some decades.

William was baptised in Kirklinton on 18 November 1815 giving us the first available record of this branch of the Latimer family.13 Thomas was born about five years later and John another five years after Thomas.

Despite the apparent slow speed of procreation by James and Mary, the end of the Napoleonic Wars coincided with a rapid increase in population. The demand for farm workers became much greater with the need to feed the growing numbers but farm incomes soon fell behind rising costs.

New agricultural machinery, introduced to lower costs as part of the industrial revolution, caused the redundancy of large numbers of farm workers and weavers, particularly in the north of England.

The Latimers of Kirklinton would have found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. By the time William was 20, he would have struggled to add value to the family’s net income and, with increasingly high unemployment among farm workers, his only option would be to join the growing underpaid and industrialised

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The Howgills

LDS Batch 0960518 and Family Search NSW Index of Immigrants 1828-1842

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workforce in the factories and foundries in and around the cities and large towns.

At some time before 1838, William met his future wife, Eleanor Banks, or Ellen as she was known to everyone.

Ellen also lived near the Eden River, but much closer to its source and at the opposite end of the river valley from William, a good 70km away.

How they met remains a mystery but there is a good chance that the river provided the connection.

Ellen was born in June 1815 in Ravenstonedale, a very picturesque village in the old County of Westmoreland lying in the upper valley of the Eden River at the foot of the Howgills, a range of high hills between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

The Village of Ravenstonedale

The upper valley of the river is a lush green grassland in summer and covered in a blanket of snow in winter. The valley is scattered with many old sandstone villages like Ravenstonedale, some dating back to Viking times.

Ellen’s surname of Banks was well represented across Lancashire and into Yorkshire and is readily traced back to the 1100s.

Ellen’s father, John Banks, was also born in Westmoreland but in the larger town of Kendal, on the eastern edge of the Lake District, about 12 km from Ravenstonedale. John and his wife Agnes (nee Booth) had at least eight children.

Farmer John relocated his family to Ravenstonedale, possibly around the time of Agnes’ death, where he stayed for the remainder of his life. But John’s father Zephaniah, who was born in 1761, and his wife Elizabeth would reside in Kendal their entire lives.

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As it turned out, after meeting Ellen, William did not follow any road to the city to become a factory worker or stay on the land as a farm worker. Instead, he and Ellen looked to find a new life together on the opposite side of the world.

It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to leave the aptly named Eden Valley, but when your very survival depends on finding other means of support, you have little alternative.

Ellen would not be the only child to leave the Banks family farm in Ravenstonedale for a new life overseas. Two of her brothers, Isaac and Thomas, later immigrated to the United States of America, finally settling in the State of Kansas.

Farmland near Ravenstonedale

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Chapter 2 – Call of the Colony The story jumps ahead to 1855 when Frederic Barker (with that spelling), his wife Jane and an entourage of assorted clergy, disembarked in Melbourne, Australia on 25 May after a voyage on board the Mermaid from the port of Liverpool in the north west of England.

The voyage was a fast 82 days to Melbourne and uneventful. The clergymen were able to conduct their daily devotions and lessons without disturbance. The party then made their way by another ship to Sydney.

On arrival, Frederic and Jane were met at the wharf and warmly welcomed to the colony by William Cowper, the aging Archdeacon of Sydney, who had been looking forward to their arrival with much enthusiasm.

Six days later at St Andrew’s temporary cathedral before a large gathering of clergy and Sydney’s elite, Barker was installed as the second Anglican Bishop of Sydney, replacing Bishop William Broughton.14

Reverend Frederic Barker

But many years before Barker was given an honorary doctorate and raised to the esteemed rank of Bishop, he had been a simple parish minister for nearly 20 years at St Mary’s Church at Edge Hill, on the outskirts of Liverpool, with little or no thought of relocating to the former penal colony on the other side of the world, previously known as Botany Bay.

By 1810, the industrial revolution in England was in full swing, nowhere more so than in Liverpool which would become the largest port in the country after London.

The agricultural land surrounding Liverpool was soon overrun with industrial expansion. St Mary’s church was built between 1810 and 1813 to accommodate the growing population of Edge Hill, perched as it was at the junction of the industrial and agricultural worlds.15 Edge Hill became nationally recognised in 1830 when the World’s first passenger railway line, running from Manchester to Liverpool, entered a long tunnel under the hill on its final leg to the

14 15

Webjournals - http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/journals/adeb/b_/barker-frederic-1808-1882 (Sep 2012) Michael Gooley’s Family History - http://home.pacific.net.au/~mgooley/evesrichard.html (Sep 2012)

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port of Liverpool. A large station was built at Edge Hill to service Liverpool’s ever populating hinterland.

This railway’s success was the start of the world wide railway boom. By 1838 the church had a large congregation, with a mix of wealthy and poor families. At that time, the tall, handsome and rather athletic Reverend Barker was still a bachelor. He devoted his time to caring for both the spiritual and material needs of his parishioners.

Being of an evangelical rather than a high church persuasion, he was not one for withholding the blessings of the church to those fallen on hard times or below the levels of acceptable behaviour.

It was into this congregation towards the end of 1838 that a young unmarried couple arrived who were temporarily residing in West Derby, about five km to the north west of Edge Hill.

The couple were William Latimer and Ellen Banks. They were both 23 years old.

Manchester to Liverpool Railway

At West Derby they were possibly staying with relatives, as another branch of the Latimer family was known to live there.

William and Ellen had heard of a scheme started in 1837 by the Government of the Colony of New South Wales to attract working class people to fill a growing demand for servants and labourers.

The colonial Government had advertised extensively in newspapers and distributed leaflets throughout Great Britain.

St Mary’s Church, Edge Hill

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Saying Goodbye

Businesses and prominent individuals in the colony sponsored the scheme by engaging agents in Great Britain to recruit suitable candidates for immigration. The most favoured candidates were newly married couples without children who had experience as farm workers, domestic servants or were skilled at a trade.

A reward, known as a bounty, was paid by the colonial Government to the sponsors, who in turn paid a fee to the recruiting agent and to the ship’s master for safe delivery to the colony. The bounty immigrants were required to work for their sponsors or as they directed for a minimum period to reimburse the bounty. The period was usually at least a year.

A business sponsor often acted on behalf of individual clients looking to recruit immigrants with particular skills. A typical bounty was ₤19 and it is recorded that one particular business sponsor, the Scots merchant A B Smith, whose company address was in Sussex Street Sydney, collected almost ₤5,000 in bounties after the arrival of just one ship, the England in 1841.16 Bounty immigrants needed to provide satisfactory evidence of baptism and references to show they were honest, sober and otherwise of good character. They also needed to provide their own bedding for the voyage as well as their clothing but all other items associated with the voyage including food and drink were provided. 17 On arriving in the colony, the immigrants were met by a Government official who looked after their immediate needs, assisted them to their destination and at all times gave them employment on government works at reduced wages if something had gone wrong and the intended work was no longer available.

William and Ellen would have been encouraged by Parish officials and bounty agents to look at immigration to New South Wales to escape the economic collapse of the rural sector following a further series of poor harvests as well as unrest and rebellion among farm workers.

16 17

Rootsweb - freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hilaryfr/booth/bounty.htm (November 2012) Rootsweb - http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GENANZ/2009-06/1245411508 (November 2012)

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They needed to obtain certificates of baptism as proof of age and a reference from a clergyman or magistrate as to their character.

William and Ellen were duly married at St Mary’s Church by the Reverend Barker on 10 November 1838, by licence, which means that St Mary’s was not their local parish church where they would have been known to parishioners (and where their banns, or notices of intention to marry, would have been publicly read out during the preceding three weeks).

Instead, they applied for a licence to marry outside of their local parish, which usually required the consent of family members or respected friends or supporters.18 At their wedding, Ellen’s eldest sister Eden Banks (who would be 31 in five days’ time) was one of the two witnesses to the marriage and she probably gave her consent to the licence. Ellen must have been very close to her sister as one of Ellen’s daughters would later have Eden Banks as her Christian names.

Marriage Register Extract for William Latimer and Ellen Banks

William, Ellen and Eden were each unable to sign the marriage register, so they made their marks in the form of an x or cross. Later, the departing ship’s passenger list would record that William and Ellen could both read but not write. This observation was probably too generous, but it helped to secure the bounties.

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St Mary’s Edge Hill Parish Register of Marriages 1838, page 29

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Chapter 3 – Leaving England Ten days after they were married, William and Ellen sailed from Liverpool on the 500 ton barque, the Hero of Malown under the command of Captain Grundy. William Latimer was recorded on the ship’s passenger list as being a native of Carlisle. Ellen was recorded as being a native of Westmoreland. 19 The Captain also filled out the individual Bounty Immigrant forms for William and Ellen.20 On William’s form, the Captain chose to use a more phonetic spelling when writing details of William’s place of origin.

As a result William was described as a native of Curklin - Carlisle (instead of Kirklinton - the ton, which means town Farewell to Thee being removed from Curklin as a redundancy). On some of his papers, William’s surname became Lattimore, which spelling was never corrected and became the standard for William and most of his descendants (although one descendant reverted to the original spelling for a brief time, before adopting yet another spelling).

Unlike the uneventful voyage of Frederic Barker 17 years later, the voyage of William and Ellen was anything but uneventful.

The ship carried over 200 immigrant settlers to the Colony and was accompanied by another ship, the Trafalgar and their route was via the Cape of Good Hope.

The voyage took over four months and the passengers were confronted with violent gales and storms. One particular gale took place in the Bay of Biscay, off the north coast of Spain, and lasted for 16 days. The Hero of Malown lost all of its railings. A part of the ship’s stern cabin was completely washed away by the ferocious pounding of the waves.

No Looking Back 19 20

Assisted Immigrants Passenger Lists NSW State Records – William Latimer FamilySearch - Australia, N.S.W., Index to Bounty Immigrants, 1828-1842

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The heavily laden Trafalgar was so badly battered and blown about that it sank with all lives lost.

Two adults on board the Hero of Malown died during the voyage but children were the greater casualties, with 20 dying before the survivors finally disembarked. 21 However, there were 13 births, either at sea or in port.

Storm at Sea

The ship arrived in Sydney on 1 April 1839 and was immediately sent to the Quarantine Station at North Head for the next three weeks after it was revealed they had suffered cases of measles and small pox during the voyage. The passengers finally disembarked at Sydney Cove on 24 April.22

Arriving in Australia

21 22

History of Rebecca Sutton - http://users.ncable.net.au/~hartleyb/rsutton1819.html (September 2012) Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser – 25 April 1839, page 2 Shipping News

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The immigrants arrived in time to see the start of construction by 180 convicts of a new stone wall along a curve around the end of the cove (in later times known as Circular Quay).

On disembarkation, William and Ellen were interviewed by a Government officer who examined their papers. William Latimer was noted as arriving on the Hero of Malown having been brought out by the Sydney shipping agent A B Smith.

His character was noted as “Very Good” and the person certifying his character was Thomas Gardner (incorrectly spelt as “Gardiner”) who was the Minister at St Anne’s Church at Stanley (near West Derby) between 1831 and 1880.

Most of the passengers were farmers or farm labourers and many were sent to the Maitland area where private Crown leases, subleases or farm labouring jobs were made available to them.

One of the non-farming passengers happened to be William Mayne, who would enter into public service and rise to become the NSW Inspector of Police. He later became the colony’s Auditor General. He then returned to England as the first NSW Agent General. 23

Bounty Immigrant Form – William Latimer

Biography of William Mayne - http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mayne-william-colburn-4179 (Sep 2012) 23

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Chapter 4 – Assignment in Sydney

Sydney in the 1830s

There is little record of the first years of William and Ellen following their arrival in Sydney. Details from baptismal certificates and other registered entries for their children show that they were still residing in Sydney for at least the next two years.

It is very likely they were first employed under the bounty scheme as servants in the same household, where they would have been provided with food and lodging as part of their agreement.

As soon as their contracted service period expired, they were free to look for other opportunities.

Although they would eventually join the farming fraternity on the more fertile fringes of civilisation, something must have delayed their relocation and kept them in Sydney.

It may have been the early pregnancy of Ellen or it may have been that they had no assets and could only find employment as servants or labourers, with a life little better off than the freed convicts.

Or they may have realised that wages and conditions were rather better in Sydney for raising a family and there was some scope for social improvement for hard working people.

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We know that their first child, Mary (who was probably named after William’s mother), was born on 17 January 1840 at Castlereagh Street, Sydney. 24 The officiating minister at Mary’s baptism at St Philip’s Church was none other than William Cowper who would give such a warm welcome to the second Bishop of Sydney 15 years later (and whose son would become the second Premier of New South Wales). The official Baptism Certificate obtained from the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry has Mary’s surname recorded as Littimore (but with parents William and Ellen).

St Philips Anglican Church Sydney

This is not surprising as the Register is a typed transcription of the original hand written parish church registers and many original entries were difficult to decipher and were often incorrectly spelt in the first place because illiteracy was common.

The name Littimore does not exist anywhere else in the Register for births, deaths or marriages in New South Wales up to 1981.

Baby Mary was conceived either during the time that her parents’ ship was in quarantine or, more likely, very soon after they disembarked and were assigned to their bounty service (having intimacy was not easy to achieve while being crammed into a ship’s hold with a hundred or so other passengers).

At the time of Mary’s birth, it was noted that William was employed as a servant, and he was probably still employed under his original service contract.

24

NSW Births Deaths & Marriages (BDM) Baptism Certificate V184030 24A/1840

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Not long after Mary was born the family moved from Castlereagh Street to Kent Street South and this may have coincided with the expiration of that period of contracted service.

It may also indicate that their employers were unhappy having a domestic couple with a baby and their services were terminated.

Kent Street South had become one of the poorer areas of Sydney, inhabited largely by the lowest of workers as well as current and former convicts, families of the military and the destitute.

Sanitation was primitive, there was no water supply Kent Street, Sydney about 1840 and people were crammed into small hovels and boarding houses. Soldiers complained bitterly about the awful conditions endured by their families in this section of Kent Street and this became a factor in a mutiny by the soldiers not long after the time William and Ellen lived in Sydney.

It must have been quite a comedown after the lodgings in Castlereagh Street, but probably all they could afford.

It is less surprising then that baby Mary died on 17 November at Kent Street South, only 10 months after her birth.25 There had been an outbreak of scarlet fever that swept through Sydney at the end of 1840 and into the next year that caused the death of many children, particularly in the poorer areas. Mary may well have been a casualty of this outbreak.

William was noted on the Death Certificate for Mary as a labourer.

Their next child was named William (probably after his father) and he was born on 18 November 1841, almost a year to the day after Mary’s death.26 On the Baptism Certificate it was noted that William was working as a carter.

Old Sydney Town

25 26

With their farming background and land management skills, and perhaps some little

NSW BDM Death Certificate V1840540 24A/1840 (but with the surname Lattinson) NSW BDM Baptism Certificate V1841303 25A/1841

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savings to help them, the Lattimores (as they were now known) became eager to leave the noise, smell, clutter and general low life of Sydney for the more peaceful rural life they had known.

No doubt they would have seen the hordes of immigrant farmers and farm workers arriving in the colony to make a new living out on the colony’s frontiers. They must have felt the same lure to take up a life of farming and husbandry.

William was offered a job as the overseer of the convict workforce on a new farming estate at one of the then northern extremes of settlement in the colony. At last, he would be able to use the farming skills he had been learning since he could walk.

The family left Sydney soon after the birth of William junior in 1841, or early the following year.

They most likely sailed on one of the ocean going paddle wheel steamers that for much of the 1840s plied the route from Sydney to the Hunter River at Newcastle and then up the river to Maitland. Here they would have taken a smaller boat along the Williams River up to Clarence Town and then to their new life on the frontier at the tiny settlement known as Glen William.

Or they may have followed the same route of many other families who could not afford to pay for their passage, by walking from Sydney to Windsor and then on to Wiseman’s Ferry across the Hawkesbury River and through the mountains, forests, grasslands and marshes to Maitland.

William the Fourth sailing between Newcastle and Sydney

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Chapter 5 – Glen William When William and Ellen Lattimore arrived at Clarence Town on the Williams River, the surrounding region, bounded by Maitland, Singleton and Dungog, was already booming with activity including timber getting, grazing and general farming.

By that time, settlers had penetrated the length of the river, built bark or slab huts in isolated pockets of the endless forests and with axe, saw, spade and hoe had gradually carved out an area for the cultivation of wheat, maize, barley and potatoes.

They had also fenced an area for the enclosure of foraging cattle, sheep and other animals.

The region had been first explored by a European in 1801 when Lt Colonel William Paterson sailed up the river that would become the William (later the Williams) but it was not named after him.27 The forests of the Williams River Valley The first unofficial settlers to the area around the river were cedar getters who arrived within 10 years after Paterson. Timber was plentiful and of good quality and there was easy access to the river.

A settlement, called Erringhi, meaning place of the wild duck (and later changed to Clarence Town) was established about 4km below the last navigable stop on the Williams River and became the focal point for the traffic of the area’s goods and produce to Newcastle and Sydney. The settlement was only the seventh in the colony.

The first land grants in the vicinity of the town were made from 1824 to soldiers and emancipated convicts.

Clarence Town – formerly Erringhi

27

Dungog Shire Council – Heritage Trail Historical Information (February 2013)

26

The town’s ship building industry quickly began to grow. The William the Fourth paddle steamer was built at the town and launched in 1831. Many locally built and other ocean going vessels were loaded with timber for destinations to many parts of the world. The town was named in 1832 after the Duke of Clarence (as was the William River). He would become King William IV the following year and he was an uncle to Queen Victoria who succeeded him.

William and Ellen’s final destination for settlement, however, was not Clarence Town. They travelled a further 10km upriver, past the head of navigation, to a small settlement that would become known as Glen William.

Navigation of the river was blocked by a “cascade or fall” four foot high which was beyond the furthest reach of the river’s tidal flow.

An old report to Governor King by Charles Grimes, the Acting Surveyor General, on 12 December 1801 described the land in the vicinity of the lower river (ie below Clarence Town) as being swampy but continuing upstream towards the cascade: Williams River Dungog to Clarence Town

“There are some spots of fine ground …. The high lands are covered with rocks, but good grass between them to the tops …. The timber on the low land is principally apple tree and blue gum trees …. Beyond the cascade are …. the finest stringy bark and black butted blue gum trees I ever saw ….”

Glen William was not named after the Duke of Clarence but after William Millar who was one of the first land grant holders in the area and who gave his property that name. 28 Millar was a university educated Scot who arrived in the colony in September 1829 and was one of the many Scots immigrants sponsored by the Reverend Dr John Dunmore Lang, the fiery leader of the Presbyterian Church in the colony.

The Government was keen to see land settled and made productive. To this end, 19 Counties were identified, each containing about 1,600 square miles. Each County was to be made up of Hundreds, with each Hundred containing about 100 square miles.

A Hundred was further divided into Parishes having an area of about 25 square miles and Parishes were divided into Lots of about one square mile, containing 640 acres.

28

Glen William School Sesquicentenary Book, page 5

27

Settlers could purchase a grant of land for cash but almost all grants were Grants Without Purchase (more commonly known as Primary Grants) which were granted free on condition that improvements were made to the land to an agreed value and that a modest Quit Rent became payable after the period for making improvements had expired.

This rent continued indefinitely but the land could be fully purchased within the first 20 years on payment of about 20 years’ worth of rent.

Usually the land could not be sold for seven years and until the required value of improvements had been expended.

The amount of land granted depended on the amount of cash and assets the applicant had available but the smallest Primary Grant was 320 acres and the largest was 2,560 acres.

William Millar applied for a grant of land in early 1830 and in March he was given permission to select 640 acres.29 In April he advised he had selected a site which was about two miles above the head of navigation of the Williams River. His annual Quit Rent was Five Pounds Six Shillings and Eight pence (₤5/6s/8d or $10.67) per annum to be applied from 1 January 1838.

Millar then had to wait for a Government surveyor to survey the boundaries and draw a plan before the grant could be finalised, but permission to take possession of the land was given when his selection had been approved.

Steamer arriving at Clarence Town

29

“Williams River – The Land and Its People 1800 – 1900”, R L Ford 1995. Much reference has been made in this story to the information in this book

28

Chapter 6 – Styles View Estate William Millar proceeded to clear the flat pasture land near the river frontage and open it up for cattle and sheep grazing and crop farming. As herd numbers increased, the stealing of cattle from these isolated river properties became rife. However, cattle could also stray and become lost so the difference between stealing and straying was hard to prove.

On 17 September 1835 Millar offered a reward of 7/6d a head for the return of “strayed” cattle and a red bullock to Glen William.30

Section of a map of the Parish of Wallarobba showing Glen William and Styles View

Millar was granted an adjoining 60 acre property on the Williams River in 1835. However, it was not until 1837 that a formal land grant was issued to him but by then he was keen to sell Glen William, having tried unsuccessfully to sell the property the year before. 31

30 31

The Sydney Herald 28 September 1835, page 3 NSW Government Gazette 9 August 1837, page 5

29

The 1836 sale notice described the property as: “That Beautiful Farm, well known as GLEN WILLIAM, consisting of 640 acres, situated on Williams River, within about one mile of Boat Navigation, and four miles of Clarence Town.

There are about sixty acres of excellent brush land cleared and partially stumped, on which have been raised, without a single failure, heavy crops of Wheat, Tobacco and Maize.

The high road from Clarence Town to Dungog and Port Stephens, passes through the land, and from its centrical situation, a Store might be established to great advantage. There is also a high fall of Water, on which a flour mill might be erected, and which would provide a very profitable speculation.”32 Two months later Millar made another attempt to sell his Glen William Estate at an auction to be held in Sydney on 2 February 1837.33 This time the property’s description had a fulsome prologue by the auctioneer: “…he has been honoured with instructions to bring this beautiful and valuable property positively to the hammer….has only to state that the public attention has been of late so much attracted by the mutual advantages abounding on this favoured spot, that anything he can add must fall immeasurably below a faithful description of what a fortunate combination of circumstances have here effected.”

Millar eventually sold his property on 16 September 1837 to Thomas Holmes for the sum of ₤650.

Millar’s squatter neighbours along the Williams River included quite a few of the colony’s notaries, including William Wentworth, Charles Windeyer, Archibald Mosman and the colony’s Chief Justice, James Dowling.

They were all absentee holders who employed others to run their properties. They also held large landholdings elsewhere in the colony.

Millar’s immediate neighbour to the south was William Lowe who purchased his 1,120 acre property in 1837 and called it St Leonards. Lowe and others had earlier set up a ship building business along the river frontage to the south of St Leonards which was called Deptford.

On the western boundary of Millar’s property was Felix Wilson, a trader of goods from Sydney, who purchased his adjoining 960 acre and 640 acre properties from the Crown at an auction in 1839 for ₤420.

His immediate neighbour to the north was John Hillier and it was on John Hillier’s property that William and Ellen Lattimore and their son William would make their home.

32 33

Thomas Holmes

The Sydney Herald 21 November 1836, page 4 The Australian 13 January 1837, page 2 and Sydney Herald 19 January 1837, page 4

30

Hillier, a former officer in the merchant navy, had first arrived in the colony in 1823. Deciding to remain in the colony, he applied for a grant on the Williams River on 27 March 1828, the year in which he married Lucy Styles.

Although only 19 years old, Hillier had accumulated assets of ₤500 and 205 head of cattle. Based on this wealth, a large Primary Grant of 1,280 acres was made

by Governor Darling on 1 June 1829. After selecting the site for his grant he was permitted to have possession on 31 August.34 His annual Quit Rent was ₤5/13s/4d commencing from 1 January 1837. It was also a condition that he stay in the colony for three years.

Hillier called his selected property Styles View after the family of his wife Lucy. Perhaps the family had set Hillier up to marry their daughter. A formal land grant for the property was not made until 9 August 1837.

Hillier and his wife were mostly absentee owners, living instead at Ash Gate, a 26 acre property they owned at Clarence Town.

William Lowe

By 1842 William Lattimore had been appointed by John Hillier as the overseer of the Styles View estate to manage the clearing, cultivation and grazing activities by the group of labourers (almost all were assigned convicts or former convicts) and small leaseholders that worked the land. William and Ellen leased their own holding from Hillier and made their home on the estate.

This estate was quite extensive and the majority of the land west of the current road to Brookfield, 6 km away, was a mostly uncleared countryside of rising hills, thickly covered in scrub and unsuitable for farming or grazing.

However, the land east of that road and following the bends of the river was ideally suited and this was most likely the land under cultivation by the Lattimores and other workers on the estate.

These were mostly lawless days for the Williams River area. Absconded convicts and bushrangers roamed the tracks, preying on isolated settlers and stealing cattle, food and anything of value.

Dispossessed aborigines were marginalised to the edge of settlement and were known for pilfering stock and food from the settlers and occasionally killing them when met with resistance.

There was little protection to be had from a military force based at Port Stephens and mounted police troops at Maitland and Dungog.35 Occasional forays were made to chase and capture bushrangers and other gangs of felons, but effective policing of crime was a long way off and settlers were required to look after their own safety. There was also little accountability for the behaviour of the settlers.

34 35

NSW Government Gazette 9 August 1837, page 5 The Sydney Gazette 16 November 1839, page 4

31

From the 1820s, much profit was made from land speculation and in the 1830s there was a strong demand to build up substantial land holdings to take advantage of rising prices. However, by the end of the 1830s prices were in retreat and many land owners sought to sell off their holdings to repay borrowed moneys.

This was the likely reason for William Millar wanting to sell Glen William and it was also the likely reason why John Hillier first put Styles View on the market in 1841.

Glen William today

Styles View was purchased by William Wright and George Turner for ₤500, with the purchasers paying annual interest until the delayed purchase price was paid.

Glen William – Entrance to the river section of the old Styles View estate (Williams River at rear)

32

Chapter 7 – Clarence Town Murder The population along the river steadily grew from 1840 with the influx of more settlers. In 1846 the population of the Upper Williams River from Clarence Town to the north of Dungog was 1,982 which was an increase of 428 since the census in 1841. 36 Only 43% of those people could read and write.

All but 20 of those 1,982 people were assigned convicts. This is an amazing statistic, considering that transportation of convicts to New South Wales ceased in 1840.

These convicts must have still been serving their original terms or serving extended terms for further offences.

Old Post Office at Clarence Town

Those 20 non-convicts included people arriving in the colony as free immigrants, people who had been convicts but who had been given tickets of leave and people born in the colony. So it can be seen that the Lattimores, as free immigrants, were in quite rare company.

This large population of assigned convicts in the area lasted until 1850. Most of the improvement, clearing and cultivation of the holdings was through their labour.

Before the assignment of new convicts was abolished in 1840, Hillier had applied to the Assignment Board in Sydney for farm labourers, a shoemaker, a shepherd, a cattle jobber and a stable boy.

William Millar at Glen William had applied for farm labourers, a weaver, a baker’s boy and a leather dresser. Other landowners applied for jewellers, boatmen, porters, basket makers, errand boys, blacksmiths, stockmen, bricklayers, whip makers, potters, sawyers and candle makers.

Conditions were often extremely desperate for these convicts and many absconded because of harsh treatment, poor provisions or the fear inducing remoteness of the location. For example, quite a few convicts absconded from William Millar’s Glen William property.37

36 37

NSW Census 1841 – The original records were destroyed in the 1882 Garden Palace fire in Sydney and only fragments remain “Free Settler or Felon?” - http://www.jenwilletts.com (October 2012)

33

One such absconder in 1835 was Jeremiah Taylor who was Millar’s leather dresser. One of John Hillier’s convicts, William Burke, absconded in 1836 but was soon recaptured.

Given the remoteness of the area from civilisation, the large convict population and the activities of marauding gangs, it is not surprising that assaults and petty thefts were common during the early decades of settlement.

However, the number of serious crimes, such as murder and manslaughter, were quite rare and only occurred once every few years.

Aborigines occasionally attacked and killed settlers or their workers up until the 1840s (usually after some provocation).

On one occasion after aborigines killed some shepherds, a contingent of soldiers tracked down the alleged culprits and killed all but one, a man named Mundiva (or Mundiba).

In December 1847 a settler’s wife, Eliza Neilson, was killed Ambush by Aborigines while walking from Clarence Town with her groceries to her home at Millbrook about two miles south of Glen William.

She had been bashed to death with two rocks the day before her body was found and her body was partially devoured by ants. Tea, sugar and other items were lying nearby.

Her body was found by John Hillier who was accompanied by none other than the aborigine Mundiva. Hillier then alerted Eliza’s husband, Arthur Neilson.

A farm labourer, Patrick Bryan (known as “Paddy the Soldier”), was soon charged with her murder.

He admitted to having “an improper intimacy” with her but denied killing her saying he would not harm a hair on her head.

An inquest was held at The Clarence Town Hotel in January the following year.38 Bryan had been employed by Arthur Neilson but had been sacked after fighting with another man. Bryan had been struck by Neilson as he was separating the men. Bryan swore revenge against Neilson or his family.

Bryan was later seen to regularly visit the Neilson home when Neilson was absent and was also seen accompanying Eliza on shopping trips to Clarence Town.

On the day of the murder, Bryan was seen leaving the town by a concealed path in the direction of Glen William not long after Eliza had left the town by the road to Glen William. Bryan returned to the town about an hour later with blood on his shirt.

38

Sydney Chronicle 18 January 1848, page 3

34

Neilson arrived in town that night looking for his wife who had not returned home and a search was organised, but she was not found that night.

Bryan, who had been held in custody since his arrest, asked questions of some of the witnesses and called on a friend to give him an alibi. However, his friend claimed to be so intoxicated that day, he could not recall anything.

The coroner’s jury found that Bryan had wilfully caused the death of Mrs Neilson and the coroner committed him for trial at Maitland.

At his trial in September 1848 before Justice Dickinson, the prosecution was led by no other than the colony’s Attorney General, John Plunkett, but Bryan was unrepresented.39 In his defence Bryan first addressed the jury for three and a half hours, claiming he was innocent and that he could answer in detail every incident linked to him to prove his innocence.

The Judge cautioned the jury about circumstantial evidence and the need to be satisfied as to guilt. The jury retired for 35 minutes before finding Bryan guilty of murder.

The Judge noted that few in the Court would disagree with the verdict.

Before sentence was passed, Bryan pressed his claim of innocence and pleaded at some length that the witnesses were prejudiced and that the jury was unenlightened and unable to judge between truth and falsehood.

J H Plunkett – Attorney General

Strangely, John Hillier was not only a witness during the trial but was also a member of the jury that returned the guilty verdict. Such a conflict of interest would not be tolerated today.

Bryan was sentenced to death. He was hanged outside Newcastle Gaol three weeks after the trial.40 His last words were to proclaim his innocence.

The assembled crowd jeered and booed, not at the prisoner, but at the fact that owing to a mishap with the noose, Bryan choked to death in agony for thirteen minutes before he died. 41

39 40 41

The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser 20 September 1848, page 4 Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer 7 October 1848, page 3 The Maitland Mercury 25 October 1848, page 2

35

Chapter 8 – Cape Vale Estate William and Ellen Lattimore had six more children during their occupation of overseeing the Styles View estate and each of the children would be born in the family home at Styles View.

James (probably named after William’s father) was born on 7 December 1843. 42 He was followed

by John (probably named after Ellen’s father) who was born on 15 March 1846. 43 There is no further official record for John and research has not disclosed any trace of his fate, other than one lead. A 10 month old baby boy died on 27 January 1847. His name was John Lettimore and he was the same age as William and Ellen’s son John.44 A very good match you would think. However, the place of death was recorded as Sussex Street, Sydney and his unnamed father was described as a labourer. At the time, William and Ellen were firmly settled at Styles View.

Perhaps the baby had been unwell for some time and William and Ellen had brought him to Sydney for medical treatment and William worked as a labourer during this confinement.

If these babies were the same John then the family had now tragically lost two of their four children, but a cruel fate had more in store for them.

By 1847 the sale of the Styles View estate by John Hillier had fallen through. The buyers had continued to pay interest on the purchase price until this time but they were unable to raise the capital of ₤500 and had no desire to keep paying interest.

The estate was put up for auction on 8 October 1847 in the Sydney auction rooms of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.45 The advertisement for the auction described the property as follows:

42 43 44 45

Sussex Street, Sydney

NSW BDM Baptism Certificate V184030 24A/1840 (but with the surname Latimer) NSW BDM Baptism Certificate V1846805 55/1846 (but with the surname Latimer) NSW BDM Death Certificate V18475 32B/1847 The Sydney Morning Herald 4 October 1847, page 4

36

“…enjoying an immense frontage to the fresh water river, the Williams, and intersected in all parts by never failing creeks.

The principal portion of the land is composed of rich alluvial soil, and a numerous tenantry are cultivating the various farms, many of which are wholly cleared, and bringing in a rental of from fifteen to twenty shillings an acre, and most of them have good substantial slab dwellings upon them.

Other portions of the land afford the most luxuriant pasturage for cattle, the present proprietor having dairied upwards of one thousand head upon it, with the aid of the Government land in the rear.

The whole of the land under cultivation is splendid tobacco soil, two acres having afforded in one year ₤500 worth of tobacco leaf. There is also on one portion of the estate abundance of limestone, a valuable article in the district, not being obtainable elsewhere nearer than Port Macquarie.”

The property failed to sell at the auction for the required price. No doubt, William and Ellen were keenly interested in the proposed sale and by now would have accumulated some capital of their own. They may well have taken part in the auction.

John Hillier finally found a buyer but at the much reduced price of ₤300. The sale was finalised on 22 February 1849.

Hillier continued to live at his property at Ash Gate closer to Clarence Town where he died in 1853 at the age of 44 years.46 During the last week of Hillier’s ownership, William Lattimore appeared as a witness in Maitland Court in a case where two men, Stokes and Hughes, were charged with stealing a bullock at Styles View.47 It seems the bullock had escaped from a property near Patersons River and had made its way to the Williams River where it had been seen by William Lattimore and others wandering around Styles View for six or seven months before it suddenly disappeared.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife

46 47

NSW BDM Death Certificate V1853611 39B/1853 The Maitland Mercury 21 February 1849, page 4

37

The bullock had the owner’s brand “MK” on one side and distinctive horns, one turned up and the other turned down.

A nine years old boy saw the branded bullock with the defendants who were seen the next day skinning a large beast. They took the hide, except for the part where the brand would have been, to a tanner who showed it to William Lattimore.

William identified the hide as that of the missing bullock (presumably from the colour as the other identifying features were missing). The jury found the men guilty and they were sentenced to three years imprisonment, including two fortnights of solitary confinement.

The new owner of the Styles View estate was William Timothy Cape who was Sydney’s most highly regarded school master having been the headmaster of the Sydney College.

Cape had a falling out with the school’s trustees and resigned in 1841. He then opened his own private school which soon attracted most of his previous 300 students, eventually causing the closure of the Sydney College.

Cape was the educator of a number of future State Premiers including Sir John Robertson and Sir James Martin as well as other home grown luminaries.

He later became a member of the Legislative Assembly but never gave up having a role in education.

He purchased the Styles View estate while still a headmaster in Sydney, living at Paddington, and was always an absentee owner. He was more than happy to retain William and Ellen to oversee the estate but he was quick to rename the estate Cape Vale.

Later, it would be called Cape Ville, Capeville and Cape Villa, but Cape Vale is still the name mostly used today. There is a Cape Vale Road in Glen William, one of only a few short roads in the village.

Cape Vale is the name mostly used in this story for consistency.

William Timothy Cape and cattle at Glen William

38

Chapter 9 – An Education By coincidence, at the same time the “great educator”, William Cape, acquired his investment property at Glen William, there was much agitation in the village for the establishment of a public school.

In 1849, the Government brought in a system of National and Denominational schools. All over the colony, residents started agitating for new schools to service their communities.

Glen William National School

A public meeting was held at Glen William on 16 April 1849 to appoint patrons to raise funds to build a school for 119 school aged children likely to be enrolled.

A National School was built at a cost of ₤120 on two acres of land donated by Thomas Holmes (taken from the Glen William estate, which had been purchased by Holmes from William Millar).

A third of that cost was raised by the patrons and the balance granted by the Government.

Thomas Holmes was a carpenter and builder living in Castlereagh Street, Sydney who had previously bought 320 acres three miles west of Clarence Town at an insolvency auction in 1830.

His winning bid for that property was a meagre ₤6. He called the holding Oakendale.

Holmes must have been happy with his purchase because he later left Sydney and lived at Oakendale.

39

He then leased 3,200 acres of Crown Land next door and bought other lands, usually in the names of his sons.

The first teacher at the new school, Frederick Sinclair, was not taken with the locality of the temporary accommodation during construction of the school. He wrote: “Glen William is virtually a penal settlement. It is situated in the bush six miles from Clarence Town and consequently six miles distant from a colonial approximation to civilised life … the temporary residence was little better than a pigsty and not fit for a human being to reside in. The floor was of mud, there were no windows, and the wind and water came in through the large gaps between the slabs.”

Thomas Holmes apologised for the conditions saying that progress had been delayed because the recent failure of the maize crops made it necessary to limit school fees to one penny a week.

The shortage of good food at Glen William forced the teacher to become a vegetarian. 48

Forest near Oakendale

The early teachers were usually underpaid for a teaching position so the quality of teachers attracted to such an outlying area was often an issue. Thomas Holmes had many altercations with teachers he thought were unsatisfactory and complaints from teachers about Holmes became commonplace.

48

williamsvalleyhistory.org – Education (April 2013)

40

Crop failures at Glen William in 1849 did not affect everyone in the district. In that year, an immigrant from Frankfurt in Germany working at a vineyard south of Clarence Town wrote home to his family: “Thank God we are living well now, we do not ask for black bread and potatoes, the bread we bake ourselves and it is all white bread.

We have more than enough to eat and wish you could have everything we leave over.

A dog here devours more meat in one day than you could probably eat in fourteen days, for there are no poor people here.

There are altogether very few people here as yet. Where we are, there are two houses; at some distance another house – we have a nice house containing two dwellings; it is situated in the forest and we can pick up the wood in front of our doorstep.

We are, thank God, quite well in every respect, and wish that my brother Hannes and Liesel or my old mother could be with us. She could end her days in my household and would not have any work except to hold my little boy in her arms and walk in the garden.”

Parish Map of various landholdings

From 1846 more immigrants arrived in the district to replace convicts who had finished their terms and who had chosen not to remain.

41

By 1850 each of the major estates of Cape Vale, Glen William and St Leonards had numerous tenant farmers as the demand for new tenancies and subtenancies steadily increased.

William Lattimore also took an active interest in the running of the school as many of the school children lived on the Cape Vale estate. Being largely illiterate, William must have had a strong desire to see his own children do well.

William’s illiteracy would cause him some serious problems in the future but his children would later display the results of a very decent education.

William and Ellen had made a pause in their procreation since the likely death of baby John. But another daughter, Eleanor, named after her mother and also known as Ellen, was born on 21 July 1848.49 She was followed by Thomas (probably named after either or both of William’s brother or Ellen’s brother) on 15 August 1850. 50

Countryside north of Glen William

In March 1851 William and Ellen sailed with two other passengers from Maitland on the brig Sarah under the command of Captain Grant.51 The ship was bound for Melbourne but it is likely they were only passengers as far as Sydney.

Their children did not accompany them so the trip was probably a business trip or a short holiday.

49 50 51

NSW BDM Baptism Certificate V18482563 33A/1848 (but with the surname Latimore) NSW BDM Baptism Certificate V18501432 50/1850 (but with the surname Latimer and with mother’s name Helen) The Maitland Mercury 8 March 1851, page 3

42

About this time, a new teacher, Edward Chalton Madgwick, took up residence with his small family at the Glen William school. Mr Madgwick, who was four years younger than William, was very well educated and qualified in the classics, as well as geography and history, and he and his wife were well received by the community.

On 3 October 1852, William and Ellen had a further daughter, Eden Banks Lattimore. She was clearly named after Ellen’s older sister, who had been a witness at Ellen’s marriage to William.

By now, the teacher, Mr Madgwick, had informed residents that he was being transferred to Dungog as the teacher there had resigned and this was considered a promotion with higher pay.

There was also a suggestion that Madgwick had somehow offended the school authorities and he was being relocated in punishment.

A number of local people, including William Lattimore and his near neighbour Robert Hancock, a tenant farmer at St Leonards with a large family, placed in the local paper an acknowledgement addressed to Mr Madgwick (but incorrectly spelt as Madgewick) of the very able and efficient manner in which he and Mrs Madgwick had conducted the National School at Glen William.

They were warmly praised for the improvements to the education of the children.52 The Brig “Sarah” in Sydney Harbour

Mr Madgwick later became a significant landholder in the Dungog and Brookfield areas. He also became prominent in local affairs between Dungog and Clarence Town, including being appointed for a time as the District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.53 By 1854, the Anglican minister at Dungog was the Reverend William Toms. He had become seriously ill at the start of the year and had been largely unable to perform his duties.

He and his family must have been very popular with the parishioners because William Lattimore and four others presented him with a purse of ₤128 collected by them “…as a small token of our estimation of your zeal and anxiety in the discharge of your several religious duties.”54 In reply, the Reverend Toms acknowledged the “onerous duty” of those collecting the purse and added “…I shall think it my privilege to pray that Almighty God will shower down abundantly His spiritual mercies on you and yours.”55

52 53 54 55

The The The The

43

Maitland Mercury 16 October 1852, page 3 Empire 30 July 1856, page 5 Maitland Mercury 8 February 1854 and The Sydney Morning Herald 9 February 1854, page 5 Maitland Mercury 15 February 1854, page 3

Shortly after, William Cape offered to lease all of “Cape Ville, formerly Styles View” for a period of “…Five, Seven, Fourteen Years or other period.”56 The estate was described as having a frontage to the Williams River and commanding extensive back runs. It was added: “This Estate contains 1280 acres, 170 of which are cleared and subdivided into cultivation paddocks, with Huts, Barns, Yards, etc contiguous to the National School and having a small Church upon the property.”

However, the estate was not leased for any period of time and offers were invited for the two portions “comprising the Forest and Grazing Land and the Farms at present held by industrious tenants.”

These leasing proposals were not in the best interests of William and Ellen Lattimore as overseers of the estate, because tenant farmers had little need of supervision. Perhaps, as tenants themselves of some of the farming and grazing lands and, along with other tenants, the proposal would change their tenure to a subtenancy.

Clearly William Cape wanted to retain long term ownership of the estate but, probably after getting little interest for his leasing proposal, he soon changed his mind and decided to sell the estate.

Clarence Town to Glen William Road

56

The Maitland Mercury 21 June 1854 Supplement, page 1

44

Chapter 10 – Joy and Pain January 1855 was a big month for the colony. It saw the departure of Governor Fitzroy, one of the colony’s least liked governors, and the arrival of the only slightly more popular Governor Denison.

The colony’s first four steam locomotives also arrived at this time at Circular Quay to much fanfare, heralding the start of the railway era in the colony.

January 1855 was also Lattimores at Glen William.

momentous

for

the

On 6 January, William Lattimore realised his long cherished dream by finalising his purchase of the entire Cape Vale Estate from William Cape, having raised and paid the sum of ₤2,000. In only six years the value of the estate had risen from ₤300 to ₤2,000.

This was most likely due to a resurgence of land speculation and a reflection of the value made to the estate by land clearances, buildings and other improvements as well as crops under cultivation.

At the time of the purchase William had borrowed ₤700 from Walter Gally, a storekeeper at Clarence Town, and had left the deeds with him as security, no signed mortgage being required. 57 William did a lot of business through Gally who was happy to give William money on credit against future seasons’ crops of wheat and maize.

The timing of the purchase was very auspicious because Ellen was again pregnant and expecting her new baby any day.

Ellen Lattimore (nee Banks)

At least now they had no need to pack up the family and relocate to a new residence.

Another daughter, Mary Jane, was born at the end of January. By now Ellen was 39 years old but the pregnancy had taken a toll on her health.

The summer period before Christmas had been one of the hottest known across eastern Australia.

Cooling rains arrived in early January but the heat returned with force as the month was closing.

57

The Maitland Mercury 25 March 1858, page 1

45

In Sydney on Saturday 27 January the temperature reached 114 degrees F (44 degrees C). At Glen William on the Williams River the heat was even fiercer. The Maitland Mercury reported that the temperature at Maitland reached 118 degrees F (47.7 degrees C) and that: “The hot blast was like the air from an oven; the iron of the well handles blistered the hand.

The birds dropped from the branches gasping.”58 At least in Sydney there was some minor relief from the heat when a shipment of 500 tons of block ice arrived from the United States. The ice was sold directly from the ship at Circular Quay.59

Heat Wave over New South Wales

By Wednesday 31 January the worst of the heat had passed. The Maitland Mercury reported by way of understatement that: “During the last four days we have had some of the hottest weather of this season. On Saturday we had a very hot day, Sunday was still hotter, with a warm breeze at times, and on Monday we had a complete scorching day, with the north-west breeze so hot as to be painful to the face from time to time. Yesterday was equally hot.”60 The heat was unbearable for Ellen and soon after giving birth to Mary Jane she succumbed to heat exhaustion and died on Tuesday 30 January 1855, the last day of the heat wave.61 Ellen was buried at the Glen William Cemetery behind the Anglican Church.

On Thursday the heavens opened and torrential rain saw the Williams River in flood by Saturday with the low farmlands under a sheet of water. The rains continued on and off and by the end of February the maize was higher than the fences.

58 59 60 61

The Maitland Mercury 27 January 1855 Supplement, page 2 Sydney Journal 3 December 2011, page 28 The Maitland Mercury 31 January 1855, page 2 NSW BDM Death Certificate V18552142 43A/1855 (but with the Christian name Ellinor)

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The Maitland Mercury carried a report on Ellen’s death: “On last Tuesday week, that roasting day, Mrs Lattimore, a respectable woman, residing on Styles View Estate, dropped with the heat. She had been in a delicate state of health for some time previous. She left six helpless children and a fond husband to deplore their loss.”62

The Cemetery behind the Church at Glen William

With little time to mourn his wife, William was obliged to travel to Maitland on 24 February 1855 to give evidence in court in a case involving one of his near neighbours to the south, Robert Johnson.63 Johnson had harvested a crop of maize in June the previous year and had agreed to sell 600 bushels (about 15 tonnes) to a Sydney merchant, a Mr Jaques, at 10s a bushel to be delivered by Johnson free on board a ship at Clarence Town within a fortnight.

Jaques made an advance payment of ₤100 but there was a delay in delivery of the maize. After several letters, Johnson replied that the maize was now ready for delivery. Concerned that the delay in harvesting may have affected the quality of the grain, Jaques sent a letter to Johnson stating that only good maize would be accepted.

Jaques organised carriage of the grain on a schooner coming up from Sydney (by coincidence called the Ellen) and went to Gally’s store at Clarence Town where he inspected 60 bushels. He found that the grain was too hot, having been threshed with too much water content and refused them as they would quickly rot.

A month later Jaques again went to Clarence Town, this time to Hickey’s store where he inspected 350 bushels which he also found to be unsound and unfit for shipment. After rejection by Jaques, Johnson sold the damaged grain to another buyer in November for 7s a bushel.

62 63

The Maitland Mercury 21 February 1855, page 2 The Maitland Mercury 28 February 1855 Supplement, page 2

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The case was heard at the Maitland court house by the colony’s Chief Justice, Sir Alfred Stephen, and a four man jury. William Lattimore gave evidence that he had been asked by Jaques to personally convey messages to his neighbour Johnson after Jaques had failed to receive replies to his letters.

It seems likely that William was acquainted with Jaques who was probably a regular buyer of grain from the area. Nevertheless, William was put in the difficult position of giving evidence detrimental to his neighbour, who was ordered to pay Jaques ₤120 in damages.

The case did not apparently cause any great setback to Robert Johnson who went on to be a significant leaseholder and land owner in the area. Among his purchases was the property Berkley Park to the south of the village of Glen William.

Sir Alfred Stephen

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Chapter 11 – Revival William Lattimore now had the onerous task of raising his six children who ranged in age from 13 years to a few weeks, while trying to manage all of the activities associated with a large farm holding.

He had good relations with his neighbours to the south, Robert Hancock and his wife Priscilla, who were tenant farmers on the Glen William estate owned by Thomas Holmes.

Robert and Priscilla were a few years older than William Lattimore and both came from Devon in England where they were married in 1833, five years before the marriage of William and Ellen.

Both Robert and Priscilla had a long ancestry in Devon, in particular with Priscilla’s family (who had the unusual but distinctly Devon surname of Friendship) being traced back to the 1500s.

Williams River near Clarence Town

The Hancocks had eight children and at the time of Ellen Lattimore’s death, the eldest was 16 years old George.

They also had a 14 years old daughter, Mary, who had been born at nearby Paterson in 1840, before her parents moved first to Clarence Town and then on to Glen William. It is likely that Mary took on the role of caring for the younger Lattimore children, even though she was not much older than William’s eldest son, also called William.

By August 1855 and only seven months after Ellen’s death, William senior and Mary had decided to marry, regardless of both the 25 year age difference and that Mary was now only 15 years old.

With the consent of Mary’s parents, they were married on 6 August at Dungog by the Anglican minister, the Reverend Arthur Wayn, who had also performed the burial service for Ellen. 64

64

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate V18551108 43B

49

William continued to involve himself in local matters.

Thomas Holmes, a good friend of William and who had donated the land for the school, was also a Justice of the Peace and a sitting magistrate and was well liked in the area. At a testimonial dinner held in June 1856 he was recognised for his support in establishing schools in settlements along the Williams River and for his impartiality and good service as a magistrate. 65 An equally popular fellow magistrate, George Mackay from Melbee on the Williams River south of Dungog publicly exchanged some differences of opinion over the wording of the testimonial resolutions with the former Glen William teacher, Edward Madgwick. Madgwick had by now developed a history of taking issue with his fellow citizens over matters involving the written word.

This was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, these two men would come into conflict.

William and Mary’s marriage was not just a marriage for convenience. Mary’s first child John was born on 10 September 1856, just over a year after the wedding.66 Another son George was born on 3 January 1858.67 But the joy of having a growing family was shattered when 10 years old Ellen (named Eleanor after her mother, and Ellen for short) died suddenly on 17 October 1858 after suffering for four days from an “effusion of the brain”, which was probably meningitis, a known peril of living close to a river, particularly after flooding.68 At the time of her step daughter’s death Mary Lattimore was pregnant again. William and Mary had their first daughter on 6 March 1859 and they saw it as fitting to officially name her Eleanor and then call her Ellen.69 Their next child, Edward (my great grandfather), was George Mackay born on 30 June 1861.70 He was followed by two more daughters, Priscilla (named after Mary’s mother), on 23 January 1863 and Elizabeth (probably named after Mary’s sister) on 25 September 1864.71 They would have two more children giving William a total of eight children with Mary which matched the number he had with Ellen.

65 66 67 68 69 70 71

The Maitland Mercury 4 July 1856 NSW BDM Birth Certificate 1856/4433 (but with the surname Latimore) NSW BDM Birth Certificate 1858/6371 (but with the surname Latimore) NSW BDM Death Certificate 1858/3287 NSW BDM Birth Certificate 1859/6703 NSW BDM Birth Certificate 1861/6782 NSW BDM Birth Certificates 1863/6990 and 1864/7672

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Chapter 12 – Further Land Dealings There was an abundance of business transactions taking place in the Williams River area in the mid-1850s, often involving large amounts of money. Transactions involved the purchase and sale of timber, produce, cattle, sheep and other stock and crops not even planted.

Land was regularly subdivided, sold or swapped as owners adjusted the boundaries of their holdings to suit their needs or conform to geography, rather than arbitrary lines on maps.

Cash was hard to get and even harder to keep secure if you had it.

Most transactions involved the exchange of promissory notes and bills of exchange, which were more formal types of IOUs. These personal notes and bills were swapped around like cash by the payee who would endorse them in favour of another payee. The big difference with cash, however, was that these notes and bills were usually payable by the original payer at some allotted time in the future.

The difficulties that can be caused by these non-cash transactions are illustrated by a series of linked court cases that directly involved William Lattimore.

The deal between William Lattimore and Timothy Cape for William to buy Cape Vale had been made in 1854. Before the deal was finalised in January 1855, William had agreed to sell for ₤200 a portion of Cape Vale (on which was McKinnon’s farm) to the former teacher Edward Madgwick.

William was paid this amount by Madgwick before he was required to pay Timothy Cape.

The Williams River In other words, William received his payment for selling land before he had actually bought the land. These types of informal transactions were common.

At the time of finalising the Cape Vale purchase in January 1855, William sold off a further part of the estate to Edward Madgwick, who was buying up land in the nearby Brookfield area where he also owned a hotel called the Alma Inn.

51

This second portion sold to Madgwick was described as Styles View and adjoined the southern boundary of the Brookfield Estate and was adjacent to the High Road from Clarence Town to Dungog.

As the area of land was some 340 acres, it must have been located either side of the High Road and comprised the higher, more rugged land at the western end of the Cape Vale estate.

The sale price payable by Madgwick was ₤649, most of which was by way of promissory notes payable at later dates.

This was a good bargain for William because the land involved was a quarter of the Cape Vale estate, thereby valuing the whole estate at over ₤2,500, but William had only paid ₤2,000. As well, the Styles View section was the least valuable part of the Cape Vale estate.

A third sale to Madgwick in May 1855 was for a price of ₤112/10s. William, at the same time, sold Madgwick a quantity of wheat (that may have been on the land sold). Madgwick gave William a personal promissory note for ₤117/10s, payable in six months.

William Lattimore also sold 50 acres of prime land for ₤500 to his future father in law Robert Hancock. Hancock paid ₤100 up front and provided promissory notes to pay the balance over the next four years, with interest. The arrangement was made with the help of Thomas Holmes, the owner of Glen William, who was at the time looking after Hancock’s affairs.

Typical Promissory Note with cancelled duty stamp

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Chapter 13 – Flood and Assault The east coast of New South Wales was drenched by heavy rains in August 1857. The colony was plunged into shock when on the night of 20 August the ship Dunbar missed Sydney Heads in the torrential rain and crashed onto rocks below the cliffs at The Gap. Everyone on board, bar the cabin boy, perished (a total of 121 people) and broken bodies were still being retrieved from as far away as Manly over the next few weeks.

Maitland had been devastated by the Hunter River floods of 1855. The torrential rain in August 1857 caused another high level flood that again led to severe damage to farms and businesses.

The Dunbar

This flood started the financial ruin of a baker in West Maitland, George Arnott, who would later relocate to Newcastle and, with the support of friends and relatives, rebuild his business by concentrating on biscuit making.

The same torrential rain fell over the Dungog and Clarence Town region. George Mackay, one of the local magistrates at Dungog and good friend of Thomas Holmes, arose at sunrise on 21 August and in the growing light noticed how high the waters of the upper Williams River had risen during the night.72 Mackay became concerned for a family named Ross who, as tenant farmers on Mackay’s Melbee estate, lived further downstream on the very edge of the river in a hut that was prone to flooding.

He arrived at the house of a neighbour, James Newell, hoping to find the Ross family there in sanctuary, as they had done in the past. He was disappointed when they were not there.

Mackay and Newell, with two boys, then rode their horses through inundated property to get to the Ross hut. They arrived and saw the distressing sight of George Ross and his 25 years old pregnant wife, Bridget, on the roof of the hut with the floodwaters surging around the dwelling.

72

The Maitland Mercury 3 October 1857, page 4 Supplement

53

George was holding an infant, two more children were clinging to a wooden chimney and two other children were inside the hut.

Before any rescue could be made, the hut suddenly lurched and was quickly swept away in front of the horrified onlookers, who could only hope to save anyone who happened to pass by close to them, but none did.

All seven members of the family drowned as well as their pigs, dogs, cats and even a bird in a cage. One daughter’s body was not found until a month later.

The aftermath of a flood

A pall of gloom settled over the residents of the Williams River when the news of the drownings came through at the same time as the news of the Dunbar disaster. As well, the winter crops of wheat had been ravaged along the banks of the river and a lot of livestock had been lost.

At an inquest held shortly after on 26 August 1857 into the death of the child Julia Ross, there was a minor discrepancy between Mackay and Newell as to how long it took for the hut to be swept away after they had arrived. Mackay said half to three quarters of an hour and Newell said twenty to thirty minutes.

The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of death by drowning but added an observation that if reasonable exertions had been made by those whose witnessed the disaster, some of the family might have been saved. This observation was quickly seen by everyone as an inference of negligence by the rescue party led by George Mackay.

Mackay accused Edward Madgwick of being the instigator of the added observation, in his role as foreman of the jury.73

73

The Maitland Mercury 26 August 1858, page 3

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In November a public meeting was held at the Court House at Dungog to uphold the fine reputation of Mackay and to condemn the “wanton, malicious and scurrilous attack…by Mr Madgwick”.74 At the meeting Stephen Dark of Clarence Town said: “It must be patent to all, the great amount of mischief and discord that this man Madgwick has been the cause of since his coming to reside in this locality… We all know the venom that this man administers by his poisoned arrows, and with what glee he gloats over his victims.”

Madgwick spoke at the meeting in his defence but when he said “I deny having any animus or ill will against Mr Mackay”, he was drowned out by laughter and ridicule.

River in flood

Later in November a letter signed “E.C.M” was published in the Maitland Mercury making a number of observations about the evidence at the inquest to support the jury’s findings. 75 George Mackay responded by letter in the paper saying: “I notice a letter signed E.C.M. which from the number of untruths contained therein and the initials attached, I can suppose to be the production of no other than Edward Chalton Madgwick…”76 Mackay then took issue with a number of Madgwick’s assertions, accusing him of exaggeration and not telling the truth.

The feud escalated over the next months. In October 1857 Madgwick was sued for criminal libel by one of George Mackay’s supporters, Owen Beardmore, who was in fact the Clerk of Petty Sessions at Dungog Court.

74 75 76

The Maitland Mercury 21 November 1857, page 7 Supplement The Maitland Mercury 21 November 1857, page 7 Supplement The Maitland Mercury 26 November 1857, page 4

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As part of the process during the course of that case, Madgwick had gone to Mackay’s house and asked him to sign some subpoenas in his role as a Justice of the Peace.

Mackay refused to do this because the subpoenas would be served on other magistrates in the district, with the possible result there would be no magistrate left to hear the case against Madgwick.

Mackay asked Madgwick to leave and when he stood still, Mackey put a hand on Madgwick’s shoulder and turned him toward the door, but stopped short when he saw Madgwick’s son watching them. Mackay then left the room through a side door.

Madgwick brought an assault charge against Mackay, which was later dismissed with the court saying that Madgwick’s conduct may well have justified forcible ejection.

At that trial Madgwick claimed he did not leave when asked because his subpoenas were still lying on the table but this was contradicted by Mackay who said he had returned the subpoenas to Madgwick before turning him towards the door. 77 The next few chapters deal at some length with the relations between Madgwick and other citizens of the Williams River. The level of detail is important to understand the impact that Madgwick’s conduct eventually had on William Lattimore.

Williams River at Cape Vale

77

The Maitland Mercury 14 August 1858, page 2

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Chapter 14 – Into the Conflict Relations between Madgwick and the community took a further turn for the worse when Thomas Holmes from Glen William, and good friend of Mackay, took Madgwick to court for a debt. The case, as reported in The Maitland Mercury, quickly brought William Lattimore into the growing conflict.78 The case against Madgwick concerned the promissory note given on 5 May 1855 in favour of William Lattimore for ₤117/10s which was payable in six months and bearing interest at 8%.

Lattimore believed the note to have been given as security for wheat that was sold to Madgwick at the time of the third sale of land by Lattimore to Madgwick and as security for the balance of proceeds for the land sale. Of course, the promissory note doesn’t mention any of the detail of the transaction other than payment.

Owing to the illness of Lattimore’s father in law, Robert Hancock, Lattimore had agreed to cancel the ₤500 property purchase by Hancock and refund the ₤100 already paid by Hancock.

As Lattimore did not have cash at the time, he endorsed Madgwick’s note, which was now due, so that it was now payable to Thomas Holmes, who was looking after Hancock’s affairs.

Edward Madgwick

Lattimore had told Holmes that he doubted whether Madgwick would pay because Madgwick had not paid another note held by Lattimore and was asking for more time to pay.

At court, Holmes was represented by Edward Wise, soon to become one of the four Supreme Court judges. Madgwick was represented by Peter Faucett, a regular barrister on the Maitland circuit and later a Supreme Court judge himself.

Madgwick claimed that the promissory note was never given as security for either money or wheat but as an “accommodation” or an act of kindness to help Lattimore borrow money from Walter Gally to buy Cape Vale. The note was to make Lattimore look more prosperous in the eyes of Walter Gally.

Madgwick said the note:

78

The Maitland Mercury 25 March 1858, page 1

57

“…was given to Latimore out of pure kindness, in the belief that he was a straightforward honest man, a belief I still hold.”

Madgwick argued that this type of promissory note was personal to Lattimore and could not be traded to another payee. He said that all of the money owed to Lattimore had been paid in cash and he produced receipts which he said had been signed by Lattimore. He also said he had given Lattimore other accommodation notes in the past to help Lattimore borrow money.

Unusually, Holmes called George Mackay to give evidence against the good character of Madgwick.

Mackay swore that he would not believe anything Madgwick says on oath on the basis that Madgwick had written and sworn falsely against Mackay in the past.

Justice Milford summed up to the jury saying that one of the parties was committing perjury and it was for the jury to decide which one.

The summing up may have been rather forceful, or William Lattimore came across as a simple and truthful person, or Madgwick was already known to members of the jury. Whatever the reason, the jury, without retiring, immediately returned a verdict in favour of Holmes for ₤120.

The judge also noted that unless he could be convinced that the character of Madgwick was otherwise unequivocally good, he would recommend his dismissal as the District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (such dismissal, or resignation, did occur within the next few months).

Madgwick was also successfully sued in an unrelated debt case reported at the same time. 79 A few months later George Mackay was charged with committing “wilful and corrupt perjury” on a complaint made by Edward Madgwick after Mackay made assertions in the Holmes case about Madgwick’s character, which assertions were claimed to be falsely given on oath and designed to prejudice and impeach the testimony of Madgwick.80 Justice Milford In particular, Madgwick took issue with Mackay when he said in the Holmes case that he would not believe what Madgwick said on oath because Madgwick had lied when he said in the earlier assault case that he had not been given back the unsigned subpoenas before being shown the door.

79 80

The Maitland Mercury 25 March 1858, page 1 The Maitland Mercury 14 August 1858, page 2

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Madgwick claimed he never “on oath” said anything about the return of the subpoenas, yet Mackay’s evidence had not only won over the jury in the Holmes case, but had destroyed his credibility and his livelihood and caused the loss of his property and the breaking up of his home. 81 The preliminary perjury case was heard at Maitland in August 1858 before a bench of Justices of the Peace, presided over by Mr Day, an official Police Magistrate. That magistrate was reluctant to dispose of the matter and committed Mackay for trial, with the papers to be referred to the Attorney General for review. Mackay was given bail.

One of the Justices of the Peace, Peter Green, did not agree saying that “…he looked with great suspicion upon the evidence given by Madgwick.”

Madgwick claimed not to have heard those comments by Peter Green when in Court and challenged him to deny those comments or repeat them outside the court.82 A state of shock went through the Williams River community at the treatment of George Mackay by the Maitland Bench.

Shortly after Mackay’s committal, a public meeting was held at Dungog which unanimously endorsed Mackay’s good standing and reputation (and not that of his detractors).83 A testament to Mackay’s good character signed by over 150 inhabitants of the Clarence Town area (including William Lattimore) was published at the end of August 1858.84 This public support for Mackay prompted Madgwick to pay for an open letter that was published in The Maitland Mercury the following week.85 Stephen Dark from Clarence Town then similarly responded to Madgwick’s open letter.

In particular, he said that Madgwick was relying on there being no record in the court papers (depositions) of Madgwick saying anything about the return of the subpoenas but that was because the clerk (who happened to be Owen Beardmore) had not bothered to type those words, feeling they were unimportant in the case.

James Martin – Attorney General

The fact remained, however, that witnesses clearly heard Madgwick say the words while on oath. 86

81 82 83 84 85 86

The The The The The The

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Maitland Maitland Maitland Maitland Maitland Maitland

Mercury Mercury Mercury Mercury Mercury Mercury

26 August 1858, page 3 19 August 1858, page 3 21 August 1858, page 2 31 August 1858, page 3 26 August 1858, page 3 7 September 1858, page 3

Dark also pointed out that Madgwick was a juror on only one of the seven inquests held into the death of the Ross family and only his jury added observations about the conduct of Mackay.

At the beginning of September 1858 there was further excitement when it was announced that the Attorney General, James Martin, had no-billed (declined to continue with) the perjury case against Mackay, because no sufficiently worthy case had been disclosed in the court papers.

Mackay then took the opportunity to further restore his reputation by also publishing an open letter in The Maitland Mercury, setting out the position as he saw it.

After a further response by Madgwick on 14 September 1858, an open letter from James Newell was published.87 Newell was present at the drowning of the Ross family and went into great detail about the flood conditions and why it was impossible to save the family, who were known to be strong swimmers, but could not save themselves.

But Newell got to the nub of the cause of the original animosity borne by Madgwick to Mackay. A close associate of Madgwick was Thomas Cook who was another Justice of the Peace and senior magistrate for the district.

It was Cook who arranged for Madgwick to be appointed District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Cook had arrived in the Colony in 1834 and was appointed a magistrate soon after. His first appointment was at Port Stephens but this included a fortnightly visit to Dungog.88 This was a paid position worth ₤250 a year and he presided on the bench of magistrates (with others appointed as Justices of the Peace).

Home of Thomas Cook near Dungog

As the senior magistrate, Cook was very much involved in community affairs, often chairing public meetings and being appointed to local committees, as well as performing official duties such as coroner and protector of aborigines.

However, he was a polarising figure in the community and the subject of many complaints, particularly by people of the Roman Catholic faith who claimed he was prejudiced against them. 89 Under the heading “Police Magistrate Cook Again!” a Sydney newspaper had earlier stated “This intolerant and intolerable disgrace to the bench, to the government, and to the colony, has presumed to defend his outrageous conduct … with all the self-righteous sanctimony of a Praise-god Barebones” (that being the name of an English religious fanatic of the 1600s).90

87 88 89 90

The Maitland Mercury 25 September 1858, page 1 The Sydney Herald 17 November 1834, page 4 Sydney Gazette 5 November 1840, page 2 Australasian Chronicle 12 May 1840, page 2

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The position of Police Magistrate was abolished in 1842 and a lot of people were evidently glad to see Cook reduced to an ordinary Justice of the Peace, but when the paid position was later reinstated, Cook sought ways to regain it.

In 1856 Madgwick started a sly process to have Cook re-appointed as the Police Magistrate.

Madgwick chaired a meeting that called for a vote to be taken on the appointment of Cook but a majority (including Newell) condemned Madgwick for his underhanded actions, removed him as chairman of the meeting and appointed a new chairman who happened to be George Mackay.

Cook was not appointed.

That meeting was held almost a year before the drowning of the Ross family. At the inquest into Julia Ross, the coroner was none other than Thomas Cook and the jury foreman was none other than Edward Madgwick, who also took on the role of recording the witness statements.

Newell said sarcastically “I have reason I presume to be thankful that I was not found guilty of manslaughter.”

Newell wrote again in answer to another letter published on 14 October 1858 ridiculing an assertion from another person (but probably written by Madgwick) that a successful rescue could have been made.91 Madgwick was still the District Registrar when he entered in the register the details of the birth of William and Mary’s first son John in 1856. His signature, not surprisingly, is encased in a grand flourish of the pen.

Ironically, Thomas Cook was appointed the District Registrar in 1858 after Madgwick was vacated from that position.

The flamboyant signature of Edward Madgwick

91

The Maitland Mercury 21 October 1858, page 3

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Chapter 15 – Kicking the Hornets’ Nest By the end of 1858 a vanquished Madgwick had sold all of his properties in the Williams River area and had moved to West Maitland where he set up a private school called the Maitland Scholastic Establishment.92 But if he thought his previous tribulations were finished, he was wrong.

On 17 March 1859 Madgwick, who was on bail, faced Justice Milford again in the Maitland Circuit Court, this time charged with perjury arising from his evidence in the case with Thomas Holmes the previous year.93 In that case Madgwick had said on oath that the promissory note he had given to William Lattimore was for accommodation and not for value but the case had gone against Madgwick and his testimony was not believed.

Madgwick conducted his own defence, although the barrister Peter Faucett, who had previously acted for Madgwick, was in attendance and offered himself as a “friend of the court.”

Thomas Holmes gave evidence that he and Lattimore regularly gave notes to each other, particularly involving the affairs of Robert Hancock, who they both cared for.

William Lattimore still believed the note by Madgwick was to secure the balance of a land sale price plus the price for some wheat and was not given to him as an accommodation for him to help with his debt to Walter Gally.

Court Proceedings

Lattimore stated that if Madgwick had sworn that the note was an accommodation, then he had sworn falsely.

92 93

The Maitland Mercury 11 January 1859, page 1 The Maitland Mercury 19 March 1859, page 2 and page 6 Supplement

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Lattimore was shown documents claimed to be receipts, which he was unable to read, but identified his mark on most of them but denied his mark on another for ₤650/12s/6d which he claimed had never been paid by Madgwick.

Lattimore agreed that he had offered to buy the Alma Inn from Madgwick for ₤800 but only if Madgwick paid up on two promissory notes already given to Lattimore.

Stephen Dark said that he was the auctioneer who was acting for Madgwick on the sale of the Alma Inn and he confirmed what Lattimore said.

When Dark was asked by Madgwick on cross examination whether he bore any ill will to him he replied “I once had, but it had turned to contempt.” That may well have provoked a gale of laughter in the court.

Walter Gally gave evidence that he had never asked Lattimore to provide any security for his loan by way of an accommodation or otherwise.

The following day Madgwick addressed the jury by saying the only evidence against him was that of William Lattimore and because of contradictions concerning two receipts, his evidence was unworthy of credit. He attacked other aspects of Lattimore’s evidence as being unreliable.

Peter Faucett

Madgwick called witnesses including his friends Thomas Cook and Richard Jones who testified that they saw Lattimore sign the receipts for payment of the disputed moneys.

In his summing up the Judge recalled William Lattimore to answer some more questions and then told the jury they needed to decide whether they could believe the evidence of Lattimore and Hancock.

After an hour’s deliberation the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty and Madgwick was discharged.

During May 1859 it became apparent that three candidates were likely for the upcoming elections for the Legislative Council seat for the Williams Electorate. The current member was S D Gordon and he was competing against Stephen Dark and the ever present Edward Madgwick.

There was little doubting who William Lattimore supported after he was the first to speak at a large rally at Clarence Town in May 1859 to hear an address by Stephen Dark. William was given the floor so he could nominate a respected and impartial chairman to run the proceedings. 94

94

The Maitland Mercury 24 May 1859, page 2

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At another rally in Dungog on 26 May, Madgwick was to follow Dark on the podium but when it was Madgwick’s turn, no one would introduce him so he just spoke for 15 minutes and promised to speak further on Saturday.95 The Empire newspaper in Sydney (founded by the toymaker Henry Parkes, who would become Premier of New South Wales and a father of Federation) reported on an article in the Northern Times on 25 May 1859 that in respect of Mr Madgwick “…we have the lowest possible opinion of his veracity.”

Madgwick was further described as being “profoundly ignorant”, “(the) most impudent man in the district” and as having “a fatal facility for saying what is not true.”

At the formal nomination process held at the Court House at Dungog on 13 June 1859, Gordon and Dark were nominated with much acclaim by their supporters.

Madgwick was given a brief nomination and to hysterical laughter, Thomas Doust stepped forward to second the nomination but said “I merely do so, but have no intention of voting for him.”96 After the candidates spoke for up to three hours each, a separate show of hands was called for. The audience was about equally divided between Gordon and Dark, with Madgwick receiving no hand.

At the election that weekend, Stephen Dark won with 324 votes, beating S D Gordon who received 231 votes. If Madgwick had no appreciation of his unpopularity before this, he could not ignore the fact that he received not a single vote in the entire electorate.97 William Lattimore took a strong interest in the outcome of this election and would continue to be involved in local politics by supporting popular candidates.98

95 96 97 98

Stephen Dark

Empire 27 May 1859, page 6 The Maitland Mercury 16 June 1859, page 2 Empire 24 June 1859, page 5 The Maitland Mercury 29 February 1872, page 1 and 23 January 1877, page 1

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Chapter 16 – The Final Insult Madgwick was nothing if not vindictive. After he was discharged in the perjury case brought by Thomas Holmes, Madgwick should have laid to rest the ill feelings and animosity he had to those he saw as having harmed him.

Instead, he set his sights firmly on William Lattimore, having him charged with perjury committed during the first case by Holmes when Lattimore said on oath that a certain mark (signature) on a receipt for ₤650/12s/6d was not his and was a forgery.99 Richard Jones and Madgwick’s wife Eliza were called to give evidence, but Eliza claimed to be ill before giving evidence and could not proceed.

The papers of the first trial were produced and it was noted that Lattimore had in fact made a statement on oath as claimed by Madgwick but when Lattimore was cross examined during that first trial he was recorded as saying he might have put his name to a “paper” in the presence of Jones.

The judge said this concession by Lattimore on cross examination negated any perjury arising from the earlier statement and warrants dismissal of the charge.

Madgwick then charged Lattimore with another perjury relating to a receipt for ₤200. For the same reason, the judge dismissed the perjury charge and Lattimore was discharged. 100 By 1862 Madgwick had been appointed Inspector of Slaughter Houses in Maitland.101 At about that time he was appointed as the Town Clerk for the Municipality of East Maitland.102 However, in October 1863 he was suspended and later dismissed as being unfit for office and for neglecting his duties, particularly with respect to the gathering of unpaid rates and treating his office as a sinecure. 103 The Council noted that Madgwick had become insolvent, including owing money to an alderman, and that “it was a disgrace to A Slaughterhouse in the 1800s

The Maitland Mercury 1 September 1859, page 2 The Sydney Morning Herald 2 September 1859, page 5 101 “Men We Have Met” – Clarence River Historical Society and Hazel Ford 2010 102 The Maitland Mercury 11 October 1862, page 7 103 The Maitland Mercury 3 October 1863, page 99

100

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the Council to keep him one moment in its employ.”

The Mayor had offered Madgwick the chance to resign before suspension but, showing amazing audacity, Madgwick produced a draft reference he prepared for the Mayor to sign that would allow Madgwick to apply for a similar position elsewhere.

As the draft reference said that Madgwick had satisfactorily and efficiently performed his duties, the Mayor refused to sign it. Another alderman said he condemned the late Town Clerk in strong terms. 104 After this, Madgwick finally left the area and relocated with his family to Armidale, but the Lattimore family had not yet heard the last of him.105 Some of the other players in the drawn out drama involving Madgwick fared a lot worse.

Robert Hancock, the father of Mary Lattimore, was not well for most of the relevant time and had his affairs looked after by Thomas Holmes. Robert died on 17 November 1859 at Glen William aged 50 by committing suicide at the family farm while suffering from temporary insanity.106 The Maitland Mercury reported that: “… a magisterial enquiry was held on the body of an industrious and honest settler, of about 20 years’ standing in this neighbourhood, named Robert Hancock, who, it appears, hung himself to a beam in his barn at Glen William, in the most deliberate and determined manner possible.

Some few years since Hancock received a sun stroke near Morpeth, which for a time deprived him of reason. Since his recovery, on several occasions his rationality has been partially affected.”107 Thomas Holmes died the following year on 2 May 1860 at the age of 57 leaving his wife and 10 Grave of Robert Hancock children.108 Thomas Cook, the magistrate, died in at Glen William 1866 after relocating to Sydney. Stephen Dark died in 1872 after being bed ridden for over two years. He was also 57 years old. 109

104 105 106 107 108 109

The Maitland Mercury 20 February 1864, page 3 “Men We Have Met” – Clarence River Historical Society and Hazel Ford 2010 NSW BDM Death Certificate 2937/1859 The Maitland Mercury 1 December 1859, page 1 NSW BDM Death Certificate 563/1860 The Maitland Mercury 16 January 1872, page 1

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Chapter 17 – On the River Wheat was the first crop of choice to be grown along the fertile banks of the Williams River. All over the colony, farmers were encouraged to sow wheat crops and harvest the grain to be sent to Sydney markets for milling into flour to meet the ever growing demand for bread.

Flour Mill on the Williams River at Dungog

In time, businessmen would open mills closer to the source of the grain. Stephen Dark of Clarence Town operated mills at Paterson, Clarence Town and Dungog.

For farmers at Glen William this meant that they could now sell their grain direct to a miller, rather than to a storekeeper who acted on behalf of a Sydney merchant.

However, much more land was opened up to the west of the Great Dividing Range and new tenant farmers would find the gentle pastures of the western slopes and plains to be far more suitable for the growing of wheat than the coastal areas that were prone to floods and wild weather.

By 1860 the abundance of wheat in the colony had caused prices to drop dramatically and farmers along the Williams River became very concerned at the low prices being offered, which often were less than the cost of production.

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A major flood capable of destroying a wheat crop or cancelling the planting of a crop was expected at least every second year and this substantially added to the production costs.

As well, wheat crops were susceptible to heat, cold, rain, hail, insects and diseases, particularly rust diseases.

By 1863 with prices continuing to decline, Stephen Dark was forced to sell his flour mills and much of his properties.

The salvation for the farmers was maize (otherwise known as Indian corn because it originated from North and Central America – it is what Corn Flakes are made from).

It grew prodigiously on the river flats and was highly adaptable to local conditions. Good prices were generally maintained and margins were better with lower costs for harvesting, threshing and storage.

Straying stock could be destructive

Another cash crop that thrived in the local conditions and was highly marketable was tobacco. It was seasonally grown by all famers along the river.

Before 1860 the only road that serviced the Williams River area was the poorly maintained Clarence Town to Dungog Road which passed through Brookfield, 8 km to the west of Glen William.

All other means of access was by whatever tracks, bridle paths and crossings through the forests, over the creeks and rivers and along the river plains that could be utilised having regard to the condition of the route, the prevailing weather and the permission of landowners.

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As more and more settlers and tenant farmers moved into the area, the need for roads became more urgent, particularly for the transport of produce and stock and the timely delivery of mail.

Stock numbers had grown considerably and could be found grazing over a wide area of countryside. However, straying cattle and horses, as well as sheep and pigs, had long been a problem for farmers because they could destroy crops and deplete valuable pastures.

The Government appointed agents to impound and sell unclaimed stray stock and the local papers were often awash with notices from landholders giving warning of proposed impoundings.

The few roads were often in poor condition

One example was in 1863 when William Lattimore of “Cape Ville” gave notice that “all Cattle, Horses or other Stock found Trespassing on the Cape Ville Estate … if not removed within one week from the above date Will Be Impounded …”110

On another occasion four bay mares (“bay” meaning having a brown coat with black mane and tail), each with brandings or distinctive markings, and a pony were impounded at Clarence Town on the order of William Lattimore and were to be sold if not claimed within 24 days. 111 Landholders took a risk that by allowing public access across their lands they were inviting the Government to declare that the route had become a public way, which could then be appropriated as a road without compensation.

Then again, the Crown Grants always reserved to the Crown the right to take land for public roads at any time, again without compensation.

After years of petitioning the government, it was announced that a new road would be built from Clarence Town to Brookfield via Glen William. The road was located heading north through the St Leonards and Glen William estates before turning north west to Brookfield as it passed through the Cape Vale estate.112 It was also decided to build a branch road through Cape Vale to the Williams River. This branch road (today called Pine Brush Road) would link up with a ford in the river at Cape Vale, the first crossing after Clarence Town.

The Department of Lands later confirmed the proposed opening of the two new roads in the NSW Government Gazette dated 9 December 1863.113

110 111 112 113

The The The The

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Maitland Mercury 7 November 1861, page 1 Maitland Mercury 3 October 1863, page 3 Maitland Mercury 17 September 1863, page 1 Empire 10 December 1863, page 6

William Lattimore was probably keen to see a new road built through Glen William but he may not have been happy with the proposed route. The new road and branch road would divide his property into three portions.

Perhaps he found this out when the road surveys were done ahead of the announcement because he placed a notice in the local paper stating “There will be NO TRAFFIC for Drays nor Horses through my FARM and PADDOCKS after July 31st.”114 This notice was probably placed to maximise his ability to claim compensation for loss of land for the new roads and for dislocation caused by the physical subdivision of his property.

The river was always a dangerous place, especially for people who could not swim, and particularly during floods when the ability to swim did not guarantee survival.

The Lattimore family would learn how perilous it can be living next to the river when in May 1866 Mary Jane, the baby that her mother Ellen brought into the world just before her own death from heat exhaustion, became yet another person to drown in the river.

On the Williams River

The Maitland Mercury reported: “A daughter of Mrs Lattimore, of Glen William, Dungog, eleven years and a half old, fell into the river near her father’s house, and she was drowned, on Monday evening last, just before dark.

She had left the house shortly before with a can, for the purpose of fetching water from the place where it is usually dipped from.

Not returning in due time, an elder sister (it was Eden) – not from alarm about her, but because she wished her to know that her mother who had been away from home, was returning – went to the river, and had her fears aroused by the absence of her sister, and the appearance of the can on the surface of the water.

114

The Maitland Mercury 21 July 1863, page 1

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Mr and Mrs Lattimore being immediately informed of the circumstances, hurried to the spot, and a few minutes afterwards the body was discovered at the bottom of the river

by Mr Lattimore, and brought up by his son, who dived after it.

The likelihood is that the deceased, in dipping for water, lost her hold on the can and fell into the river attempting to recover it. As it was found bottom upwards, the surmise seems all the more reasonable. The facts in connection with the melancholy event were elicited at the coroner’s inquest held upon the body yesterday.”115 Mary Lattimore was six to seven months pregnant at the time of her step-daughter’s death and she may well have been on a visit to Clarence Town in connection with her pregnancy.

A Settler’s hut in the 1860s

She gave birth to another son, Robert, on 27 July 1866 and this was the name recorded in the register of births.116 However, between his birth and his baptism on 8 October 1866, Mary and William had second thoughts and had their son baptised as David, by which name he was known for the rest of his life.117

Also in 1866, William’s eldest son, William, married Elizabeth Hancock at Glen William.118 Young William, like his father, did not look far afield for a wife, marrying a daughter of his late neighbour Robert Hancock, who happened to be a younger sister of his step mother Mary. Clearly this was another indication of the difficulties facing young people who belonged to a small population in a remote area.

A last child was born to William and Mary on 13 February 1869, a son who was named Albert. 119 When times were good for William and Mary, they would sell off excess cattle for high prices but when times were not good, they were forced to sell cattle to make ends meet.

In June 1873 a local auctioneer John Robson was instructed by William Lattimore to sell 30 head of dairy cattle consisting of 12 cows (some with calves and some pregnant), two working bullocks and 16 mixed steers and heifers, 2-3 years old.120

115 116 117 118 119 120

The Maitland Mercury 12 May 1866, page 5 and The Empire 14 May 1866, page 4 NSW BDM Birth Certificate 7655/1866 NSW BDM Baptism Certificate 18661938 Vol 159 (but with the surname Lattimer) NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1803/1866 (but with the surname Lattimer and Lattiner) NSW BDM Birth Certificate 9688/1869 The Maitland Mercury 16 December 1873, page 1

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Chapter 18 – A Sporting Life Even in the most difficult of environments in which to build a livelihood, residents of the district found time to engage in a variety of sporting and social activities.

Two sports in particular had become predominant in the region by 1860 – horse racing and cricket.

Race meetings were regularly held from the Manning River to the Hunter River and from Taree to Newcastle and many of the residents of Glen William frequently attended local meetings.

Preparing for the Race

Most of the large farms also bred horses as part of the farm stock. Horses were essential for transport and for ploughing and good prices were paid for prime animals.

William Lattimore raised a large herd of horses and often participated in local sales. For example, a sale held in 1881 at West Maitland was attended by up to 300 people who made spirited bids for the many horses on sale.121 One of William’s horses at that sale fetched ₤8/7s/6d.

William also owned race horses. One of his horses, a brown four years old by the name of Whalebone, came fourth in the Maiden Plate at the Dungog Races held on Thursday 2 September 1869.122 The name Whalebone hardly evokes any suggestion of speed or staying power but it was in fact the name of a famous British racehorse of the early 1800s, owned by the Duke of Grafton, which won the Epsom Derby and sired a string of Derby winners.

Whalebone had also been the name of another brown horse well known in the district in the early 1850s. This horse arrived at Port Macquarie from England and, after a successful racing career in the district, was sold at Glendon (near Singleton) for one hundred guineas (₤108/4s).123

121 122 123

The Maitland Mercury 5 March 1881, page 7 The Maitland Mercury 4 September 1869, page 2 The Maitland Mercury 3 June 1854, page 1 Supplement

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William was to have much better luck with his Whalebone on Boxing Day in 1871 at the inaugural Myall Races held at Bulahdelah.124 Whalebone was one of only three horses competing in the first race, the Ladies’ Purse, for a prize of ₤4.

The horses were all declared to be overweight for the event, with Whalebone the heaviest. The race went ahead but raised little excitement and was easily won by Whalebone who was the favourite backed at 4 to 1.

Race meetings were popular social gatherings

Whalebone was then entered into the second race, the Publican’s Purse, for a prize of ₤10. This was the premier race of the meeting but once again only three horses started.

Whalebone led for most of the way but it tired (it was its second race in a row) and was overtaken near the end and finished a close second, but well ahead of the third horse which had the unbackable name of Old Mick.

A controversial moment happened after the third race of the second day (the last race of the meeting). This race was a Free Handicap for a prize of ₤2/10s. Whalebone was entered again and led the other three horses all the way to the finish, but a protest was lodged.

It turned out that the Free Handicap was only for beaten horses and as Whalebone had won the Ladies’ Purse the day before, the stewards upheld the protest and gave the race to the second place, which happened to be Old Mick (so much for the other horses).

There was a suggestion that no one knew the race was for beaten horses until after it had been won by Whalebone. William must have still been pleased because at the festivities at the Myall Hotel afterwards he proposed a toast to the prosperity and success of the race organiser.

He added, perhaps ironically, that if he lived to return one day, he hoped he would be more successful.

124

The Maitland Mercury 4 January 1872, page 1

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The earliest cricket matches were played between teams from Clarence Town, Brookfield and Dungog. These were popular social occasions attracting a great number of spectators who enjoyed a day passed with good humour and a grand dinner with an abundance of roast meats and alcoholic drinks (although non-alcoholic cordials were becoming popular).

Teams from other towns and villages soon joined in making cricket the most popular participation sport.

One of William Lattimore’s sons, John, had a life long association with cricket, both as a player and an administrator. John, at the age of 23, was recorded as playing for the Brookfield team against Thalaba in January 1879. 125 His contribution in two innings was a total of two runs but this may have been acceptable considering that the top score in all four innings was 11 runs.

In February of that year John and his 18 years old brother Edward opened the batting for the Glen William team.126 The brothers scored six and four, respectively, in the innings win over Oakendale.

This time John took six wickets as well.

English cricket teams toured Australia from 1861 and many exhibition matches were played on the rustic grounds of country New South Wales. The matches were enormously popular and the local teams were usually invited to field a team of twice as many players, or more, in an effort to make the games last longer.

Touring England cricketers 1861

125 126

The Maitland Mercury 1 February 1879, page 5 The Maitland Mercury 1 March 1879, page 8

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Chapter 19 – Storm Clouds Gather In 1876 lightning strikes from a severe thunderstorm caused considerable property damage at Glen William. A year later, after a long period of dry weather, Glen William was again lashed by lightning strikes, this time targeting the Lattimore property.

Lightning Strike on a Barn

A local from Glen William wrote the following correspondence about those lightning strikes: “On Wednesday evening, about nine o’clock, a terrible thunderstorm broke over our usually quiet village, and in a few moments the ground, which before was parched and thirsty, was, in all the low parts, a perfect lagoon, so heavily did the rain fall, The lightning was excessively near and vivid, and the thunderclaps were awful.

About 9.45 pm a flash of lightning, nearer and more vivid than the rest, struck the barn of Mr W Lattimore, and in a moment the whole was in a blaze, the loft being filled with hay, which seems to have been ignited from end to end instantaneously.

For though, in some two or three minutes after the barn was struck, an attempt was made to rescue the contents (or part) of the barn, the smoke was too intense to allow any entrance, and the entire barn was enveloped in flames in two or three minutes.

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Mr Lattimore has lost almost all his last crop of corn (maize), hay and potatoes, two corn-shellers, ploughs and innumerable other articles which are invaluable to a farmer, and which will cost a great deal to replace.

Mrs Lattimore also lost her cheese presses, vats, and the cheeses in them.

A strong south east wind was blowing, and fears were entertained that the dwelling house would catch fire; but thanks to the heavy rain, the shingles were so saturated that it escaped.

This makes the second barn Mr Lattimore has had destroyed by fire.”127

Pine Brush Road crossing the Williams River at Cape Vale

The Maitland Mercury had already reported a few days earlier on the fire as a news item: “ …on Wednesday night last, Mr William Lattimore, Senior, also lost a fine barn with all its contents – hay, maize, corn-shellers (improved and valuable ones) and other farming implements, worth altogether not less than ₤150.

Miss Lattimore, at the door of her father’s residence, which is situated close to the barn, saw and was partially blinded and confused by the very vivid flash of lightning.

The flame appeared to pass her in the direction of the barn, and so completely did the electric discharge envelop the whole building, that short as was the distance, by the time Mr Lattimore and his sons reached the barn from the dwelling house, they found it utterly impossible to save anything.

127

The Maitland Mercury 22 November 1877, page 2 and Sydney Morning Herald 21 November 1877

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No doubt the work of destruction was greatly assisted by the inflammable nature of its contents – dry hay, maize in the husk as well as in cob, and other things dry enough, especially after such weather, to burn without much coaxing.

I need hardly say that Mr Lattimore has the sympathy of everyone in the district.

The loss is serious, but the inconvenience at this season of the year makes it more so.”128 The loss and rebuilding may have been the impetus for William to slow down. His eldest son, William, who had given up farm work within the previous three years, had been working as a timber splitter in Clarence Town.129 William junior returned to the farm about this time to help with its running. He was then 36 years old. His younger brother James had also taken on full time farming duties.

At 39 years of age it was less likely Mary Lattimore could conceive another baby, yet this is what happened in late 1879 or early 1880. Sadly for Mary and her family the pregnancy did not go well and she died on 18 April 1880 at Cape Vale.130 Her Death Certificate stated the cause of death as “Partus Parodynia” which is a general term for any fatal pregnancy. As there is no record of a childbirth, it is likely she had a miscarriage, internal injury or other complication during the earlier part of her pregnancy.

William had now outlived his two wives, who had both died at the age of 39.

Headstone for Mary Lattimore (nee Hancock) at Glen William

128 129 130

The Maitland Mercury 17 November 1877, page 4 Grevilles Post Office Directories 1872 and 1875 NSW BDM Death Certificate 1880/6166

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Chapter 20 – Leaving Glen William William Lattimore was 65 years old when Mary died. Just as he did after his first wife Ellen died, he was soon heading down the path of matrimony again, this time with a widow who lived at Bendolba, just to the north of Dungog.

Her name was Hannah Chamberlain and she married William on 15 March 1881 at her residence, less than a year after Mary’s death.131 The marriage ceremony was performed by a Wesleyan minister and was officially witnessed by William junior and his wife Elizabeth.

Neither William nor Hannah was able to sign their marriage certificate so both made their marks instead.

Hannah had previously married George Chamberlain in 1864.132 They were living at Bendolba when George became another casualty of the Williams River with his drowning on 8 August 1873.133 His body was found only after a major search by community volunteers.

William and Hannah settled down to the more mundane tasks of running and protecting the estate.

Stealing timber for fencing and building had become rife in the area and the best timber was to be found on the forested river flatlands.

In early June 1881 William and his neighbour at Glen William, Edwin Holmes, put a caution in the local paper against persons Notice of Public Thanks by Hannah Chamberlain taking timber from their estates. Holmes even offered a reward of ₤10 for information leading to a conviction.134 Perhaps this was the event that convinced William that the running of the estate was now past him. He and Hannah decided to have more of a town life. Pitnacree Road at East Maitland was being developed as a new estate for town houses on semi-rural properties.

On 28 June 1881 William Lattimore went to the auction rooms of Brunker & Wolfe in West Maitland and purchased a property in Pitnacree Road. The purchase price was ₤345/10s, which

131 132 133 134

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1881/3678 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1864/2306 The Maitland Mercury 16 August 1873, page 1 The Maitland Mercury 11 June 1881, page 1

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was a very high price for an allotment of land with a cottage and more often the price of a medium sized farm.135 The land was likely to have had a town house with a large acreage having a high value usage, such as a stud farm or pasturage for dairy cattle.

A Town House residence planned for Pitnacree Road

William and Hannah probably moved their belongings into their new residence later that year.

William junior stayed at Cape Vale to begin the process of winding up the farm and disposing of the estate.

William senior gave instructions to John Robson of Clarence Town to hold an auction at Cape Vale on 14 December 1881 to dispose of stock, furniture and other articles. 136 The stock for sale included 70 head of prime cattle (made up of cows, heifers, bullocks and steers), 10 prime horses and saddle horses, two draught mares with foals and various pigs, fowls and geese.

Other items for sale included a cart, farming implements, household furniture and kitchen and dairy utensils. The auctioneer noted that William’s “long experience as a breeder is so well and favourably known that further comment is considered unnecessary.”

To ensure a good gathering at the auction, luncheon was provided.

135 136

The Maitland Mercury 2 July 1881, page 6 The Maitland Mercury 8 December 1881, page 8

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The following year more bullocks were sold by Brunker & Wolfe’s ahead of a final sale of assets (these being the assets of William junior).

For this final sale, one of Stephen Dark’s sons was instructed by William junior to hold a “clearing out sale” at Cape Vale on 24 August 1882 where the remaining furniture, implements, utensils and some stock were up for sale.

The reason for the sale was given as a consequence of William junior’s decision to leave the district for a new life near Maclean on the northern coast of New South Wales.137 After William junior had left the estate, William senior arranged for the subdivision of the estate into 11 portions.

An auction of those portions was held by Brunker & Wolfe on 6 August 1887 and the early purchasers included Edwin Holmes, who had inherited the neighbouring Glen William estate, and members of the Carlton family who farmed the Pine Brush estate across the river from Cape Vale.

Meanwhile William senior and Hannah remained on their property at Pitnacree Road where

Auction Notice December 1881

Advertisement of the subdivision sale of the Cape Vale estate in 1887

137

The Maitland Mercury 22 August 1882, page 8

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William died on 10 March 1890 aged 74 (but shown as 72 on his gravestone).138 His cause of death was a sudden “paralysis” otherwise known as a stroke.

William was buried at the cemetery at Hinton the day after his funeral which, under the control of undertaker W R Norman, had left the residence at Pitnacree Road at 2pm. 139 Strangely, he was buried in a grave that already contained the remains of a “John Smith” who died in 1855 aged 54. But then Hannah’s maiden name was Smith before she married George Chamberlain.

John Smith is likely to have been an earlier husband or a brother. The only NSW record of a marriage before 1855 between a John Smith and a bride called Hannah is a marriage that took place in the Mudgee area in 1847. 140 That Hannah’s maiden name was recorded as Tindal.

The NSW Supreme Court granted probate of the will of William Lattimore on 8 May 1890, his estate being valued at ₤2,592 which was a considerable sum at the time.141

Headstone for William Lattimore “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good”

138 139 140 141

NSW BDM Death Certificate 1890/7622 The Maitland Mercury 11 March 1890, page 1 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate V1847415 32C/1847 Australian Town and Country Journal 10 May 1890, page 19

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Chapter 21 – The Northern Exodus

Lower Clarence River – Grafton to Yamba

Many of the Lattimore children were keen to pursue an agricultural life but could see much less prosperity in a region defined by regular floods and droughts with the occasional bushfire or other calamity.

Following a path taken by many other families from the Williams River region, they started in the late 1880s to make the trek up the north coast to establish farms and businesses at the expanding frontiers of New South Wales, along the fertile flats of the Manning River near Wingham or close to the mouth of the Richmond River at Ballina but mostly on the Clarence River between the major town of Grafton and the coast.

Before settlers arrived on the Clarence, there was a surrounding landscape of forest and heavy brush. It is difficult to imagine that these settlers reclaimed the countryside “… from a condition of virgin brush to the more presentable appearance viewed today.”142

142

“A History of The Clarence River”, Duncan McFarlane, 1924

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Strangely, you would think that for river people repeatedly having their livelihood devastated by flooding, they would relocate to an environment significantly higher in altitude, yet the locations the Lattimore families chose for resettlement were just as exposed to floods as their previous property.

Perhaps flooding of the northern rivers was slower to build up and there was more time to evacuate people and property and organise some protection of assets.

The Clarence River of today is one of the most scenic rivers in the country. While boating on a sunny summer’s day, you could drift along the tranquil surface undisturbed, other than for a fleeting eddy or the slide landing of a water bird.

However, the river can turn into a powerful force causing damage and destruction on a wide scale and much danger to the community. Drownings were commonplace for decades, even when the river was quiet.

One prominent casualty was the newly arrived Bishop of Grafton and Armidale, William Sawyer.

Along with his seven years old son Hewley and a female servant, he drowned in March 1868 when a gust of wind suddenly capsized his boat on the way home.143 This tragedy was reported locally in the Grafton Observer, a newspaper set up in 1867 by none other than the incomparable Edward Madgwick, previously from the Williams River and Maitland and recently arrived from Armidale and ready and eager to participate yet again in the local affairs of a regional community.144 The worst tragedy on the river occurred in 1943 when 13 cub scouts were drowned after the punt they were on with 18 other boys capsized and tipped them into the swirling waters.145 The lower Clarence River from Grafton to Yamba had a massive flood in January 2013 and there was a lot of discussion about whether the height record of the “great flood” of 1890 had been broken.

At times when the Clarence was running more sedately, Bishop Sawyer’s Home it became a popular place for water sports and fishing. In particular, rowing became the most popular sport during the late 1800s and races and regattas were common events on the river.

143 144 145

The Maitland Mercury 24 March 1868, page 4 and “Cathedral on the Clarence”, John Moorhead 1984 “Men We Have Met”, Hazel Ford and Clarence River Historical Society Inc 2010 The Canberra Times 13 December 1943, page 3

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The Clarence River was the home of Henry Searle who learnt to row by taking his brother and sisters to school.

He became a champion sculler in Australia and won the World Championship in 1888 at Sydney when he was 22. He defended his World title the following year in England against William O’Connor (no known relation to me), but he contracted typhoid on the ship home and died three weeks after returning. The Clarence Comet, as he was known, was buried in Maclean Cemetery.

Henry Searle and his Funeral at Maclean

The crop most favoured by the settlers of the Clarence was sugar cane. Here was the most southerly point in Australia suitable for growing the cash crop. The first sugar mill was built at Ulmarra, on the eastern side of the river and opposite Southgate.

Sugar cane is still widely grown in the area and the river ferries spend long nights conveying cane trucks across the river during harvesting.

Clarence River in flood

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Chapter 22 – The Woodford Islander

William Lattimer, the Younger b 1841 Married 1866 Elizabeth Hancock b 1846

Children: William Lattimer

b 1867

d 1959

91 years

Mary Jane Elizabeth Lattimer

b 1869

d 1961

92 years

Priscilla Lattimer

b 1871

d 1961

90 years

Thomas William Lattimer

b 1873

d 1875

2 years

James Herbert Lattimer

b 1874

d 1949

74 years

George Banks Lattimer

b 1877

d 1951

74 years

Archibald John Lattimer

b 1880

d 1919

39 years

Eleanor Banks Lattimer

b 1882

d 1970

87 years

Annie Harriet Lattimer

b 1885

d 1978

92 years

Harold Woodford Lattimer

b 1889

d 1968

79 years

With this chapter the story now starts to look at each of the children of the immigrant William Lattimore and his two wives. William junior was the first born of the Lattimore children at the Williams River but he was the last of his family to leave Glen William. He and his wife Elizabeth (nee Hancock) had nine children at Cape Vale between 1867 and 1889.

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William took his wife and children to Woodford Island, in the middle of the Clarence River between the villages of Cowper and Maclean. It was here where his tenth and last child, the appropriately named Harold Woodford Lattimer, was born.

Around this time William (or more likely Elizabeth) changed the family name to Lattimer. A Grafton solicitor, Robert Law, kept a chronicle of everyday life in the Clarence Valley. He recorded: “The name was originally Lattimore but old William Lattimer told Gibson that his wife had been reading Fox’s Book of Martyrs and concluded that the proper spelling was Latimer.

They called themselves by that name for some years and bought property with one ‘T’; but in later years that they restored the second ‘T’ but not the ‘more’.”146 The change certainly caused much confusion in the district and resulted in many spelling mishaps in the reporting of other Lattimores.

To their credit, however, there were some newspaper reporters who would refer to two or more of the brothers in a single article and who managed to correctly identify William as the only Lattimer.

It has been claimed, perhaps hopefully, that Woodford Island is the largest inland island in the southern hemisphere (and the largest inland island in the world with its own mountain range).147

William Lattimer

The farmlands in this area were producing abundant crops of sugar cane, maize, potatoes, lucerne, bananas and other tropical fruit. William’s 40 acre farm had a frontage to the main channel of the Clarence River about three kilometres downstream of the village of Brushgrove, the most southern part of Woodford Island.

Brushgrove was at the time the major trading hub for timber and crops due to its dominant location on the river. Tremendous wealth flowed from the area and the island supported many farms and businesses.148 William’s farm at Brushgrove was “recognised as one of the choicest farms on the River”.149 It had a good dwelling house, kitchen, large barn, cart shed, milking yards and dairy.

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Map of Woodford Island

While at Brushgrove, William became very active in local affairs. He was elected secretary to the trustees of the Woodford Island Water Reserve, secretary of the Woodford Island Duck Pond Drainage Trust and, more significantly, secretary of the Brushgrove Dairy Company. 150

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In those secretarial roles, he clearly needed to display a talent for reading and writing far greater than his father brought with him from England. His education at the little school house at Glen William must have been very effective.

Like all the Lattimore children from Glen William, William was adept at riding a horse. However, in 1899 he suffered a serious leg injury when his horse collided with a fence with William landing on the fence.151 He may have been accident prone because he also suffered a broken arm in 1905.152 He was called to be a juror at Grafton Court in a case where two men at Maclean had argued over a sweepstake win. After one of the men had been punched in the face, he ran inside his house.

The other man pulled out a revolver and fired a shot through the door.

Unfortunately the wild shot hit a little girl in the leg, breaking the bone. The prisoner pleaded not guilty saying that he had been threatened with a knife. The jury took fifteen minutes to find him guilty of intent to cause grievous bodily harm and the prisoner was sentenced to two years with hard labour.153

Brushgrove, separating the Channels of the Clarence River

William was again called as a juror at Grafton Court where a young lady had been charged with stealing a new born calf at Dorrigo from her neighbour. 154 The calf had gone missing soon after birth and a calf matching the description was found at the farm of the accused.

However, the accused said that she found the neighbour’s calf drowning in a creek and tied it up to a fence but the calf later died. The calf at her farm was newly born from a cow recently bought by her father.

It was confirmed that her father had bought two cows that were with calf at the time. The police put the cows and calves together and the calf in question went straight to the neighbour’s cow who allowed the calf to suckle.

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The judge was critical of the accused’s evidence but after being locked up overnight, the jury could not reach a verdict and were discharged. A lot of the witnesses involved in the case came from families related to William by marriage.

In 1915 William and his family relocated to a farm at Kings Creek near Lawrence on the opposite side of the river.

Hotel at Lawrence

By coincidence, it was at the site of Lawrence that the ocean going paddle steamer William the Fourth, built by William Lowe at Deptford near Glen William, ran aground on its first visit to the Clarence River.155

William died at Lawrence in August 1921 aged 79 from a cerebral haemorrhage. Elizabeth had passed away at Maclean four years earlier in September 1917 when she was 71.156

William Lattimer (the third) William and Elizabeth’s eldest son, also called William, helped run the family farm, particularly after 1915. For a time, the younger William was the lessee of the punt at Lower Coldstream, on the south arm of the river below Cowper.157 His younger brothers were known to help him operate the punt.

On one occasion one of the younger brothers had taken across on the punt an aborigine named Jimmy Delaney who allegedly was drunk and shook the brother and threatened to throw him into the river. On arrival at Brushgrove Jimmy went looking for William.

William claimed he used a sapling to knock Jimmy’s hat off to frighten him away. However, Jimmy’s brother arrived and held William while he was assaulted by the other.

Elizabeth Lattimer

155 156 157

Jimmy claimed he was angry because he had waited a very long time until someone had crossed over to pick him up and that William had started the fight by hitting him with a fence rail across the back. The police officer said there had been many complaints about Jimmy but he conceded it was his first appearance in court. Jimmy was fined ₤5 or one month in Grafton Gaol.

Clarence Valley Council – Lower Clarence History December 2012 NSW BDM Death Certificates 1921/13995 (but with the surname “Latimer”) and 1917/11085 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 11 July 1891, page 8

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William later became known for the quality of his dairy herd and he made a considerable profit by selling off parts of his championship herd from time to time. 158 Because father and son shared the same name and newspaper reports did not distinguish between the two, it is often difficult to attribute stories and incidents to the correct William.

William must have been far too busy running the family farm to find time for a matrimonial relationship.

View of the River from Lawrence However, he eventually married 32 years old Mary Jane Paine (known as Polly) in April 1906 when he was 39. They moved to Woodford Dale, not far from William’s parents.

The younger William also became very active in local matters, becoming secretary of the Woodford Dale Progress Association.159 These were simple times with a focus on family, community and prosperity through hard work.

But then the field guns of the First World War started firing in Belgium in August 1914 after the German Army invaded Luxembourg earlier that month.

Country people in New South Wales were largely cocooned from international affairs but the outbreak of the war had a considerable effect on the equanimity of these rural communities. By the end of the war, many families would be suffering from inconsolable loss and questioning their beliefs and values.

Within a month of the war starting, Patriotic Funds were being set up all over the country. The funds raised money to send extra food and clothing to the thousands of young soldiers already enlisting and heading overseas. Money was also raised to support mothers, wives and families left at home.

Funds were raised by cash donations and by the holding of fetes, galas and other festivities. Community dances (known as socials) with a band (or at least some live music), entertainers and refreshments were popular fund raising events.

General Store, Brushgrove

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Women knitted clothing and packed tins with food and presents for soldiers. Troop trains were met at stations with sandwiches and tea. Cakes were baked for camps and hospitals.

School children were also called upon to raffle geese and chickens, sell pet lambs and calves and harvest vegetables from their own gardens to help raise funds.

Clarence River – Main Arm near Lawrence

The younger William became an early donor to the Woodford Dale Patriotic Fund and continued to support local fund raising for the duration of the war and for the repatriation of returning soldiers after the war.160 In 1914 William bought a farm at nearby Woodford Leigh. 161 William and Polly had at least four daughters, the oldest being Dulcie who tragically died in 1910 at the age of three after eating the heads off some phosphorous matches. 162 These white phosphorous match heads were particularly deadly and were often used as a means of suicide.

They were gradually banned around the World from 1906. Dulcie was particularly unlucky as they were banned in New South Wales soon after her death.

Her headstone at Grafton Cemetery had a quote borrowed from the Bible (Job 14:2) “Cometh forth like a flower and is cut down.”

Headstone at Grafton Cemetery

160 161 162

To make matters much worse for William and Polly, their youngest daughter, Eva, died in 1919 at the age of five years after suffering shocking burns when her clothes caught on

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fire after playing with matches.163 The family was on holiday at Yamba and Eva died shortly after being admitted to Maclean Hospital. 164 William and Polly later lived at Yamba. William died at Roberts Creek on Woodford Island in May 1959 at the age of 91, Polly having died at Yamba in January 1951 at the age of 77.

William and Polly Lattimer

Mary Jane Elizabeth Lattimer William junior’s sister Mary Jane was 24 when she married a 36 years old Irish immigrant from County Cavan named Thomas Smith. Thomas had arrived in Australia on his own in 1879 at the age of 16 to meet up with his sister Brigit. 165 He worked on various farms on the Clarence River before settling on his own farm at Swan Creek on Woodford Island in 1887.

Thomas spent less time farming and more time breeding and racing horses. He won many prizes in shows around the northern rivers region for both his race horses and draught horses. One race horse was named Cavan Boy and others were often named after his children. Mary gave birth to 10 children between 1895 and 1912 who were named Andrew William, Dorothy Anne, Rose Winifred, Thomas Patrick John, Mary, Edna Elizabeth, Sheelah, James Charles, Eric Bernard and Margaret. Mary, who was born in August 1902 was stillborn.

Thomas was 76 when he died at Clarence House, a private hospital at South Grafton, after a short illness in July 1933 having lived his last 46 years at Swan Creek.

An In Memoriam was placed in the Northern Star the following year by Tom’s daughter Rose:

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Northern Star 12 February 1919, page 2 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 7 February 1919, page 4 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 4635/1894 (with the surname Latimer)

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“The rolling stream of life goes on, But still that vacant chair, Recalls the place, the voice, the face, Of Dad that once sat there.”

Mary was 92 when she passed away 28 years later in August 1961.

Thomas and Mary’s first child Andrew (known as Andy) was 22 when he married 23 years old Eva Emmaline Walz in May 1917. They had a son Kelvin the following year. In 1923 Andy was running a billiard room at Ulmarra but he later worked for the Postmaster General’s Department (PMG) as a linesman. He and Eva lived in Grafton before moving to Lismore. The marriage did not last and they separated. Eva remained in Lismore and was 67 when she died in May 1961.

Andy moved to Port Macquarie and worked as a storeman. He was 69 when, after the death of Eva, he married 64 years old Florence Ruby Englert in October 1964. Andy passed away in February 1980 when he was 85.

Andy’s sister Dorothy (known as Dorrie) found her way to Ballina where she worked as a waitress.

She was 35 when she married 27 years old Alfred Harcourt Stone in June 1932. They spent the rest of their married lives in Ballina. Alf and Dorrie had many roles in the community over the years including working for the Red Cross. Alf was secretary of the Ballina District Tennis Association and secretary of the Ballina Greyhound Racing Club. Alf died in July 1970 when he was 65. Dorrie was 97 when she passed away in January 1994.

Rose Smith was known by her second name of Winnie. She married 29 years old Edgar John Clifford in March 1919 when she was 21. They left their farm at Dalwood near Alstonville in 1922.

They later made their permanent home at Evans Head.

Edgar, who for some reason was known as Bob, had been exempted from service in the First World War. His son Bruce enlisted for the Second World War in November 1944 and served for two years at a Base Ammunition Depot located near Parkes. Another son Thomas was 12 when he died in 1947. His coffin was carried from the church by four of his school friends from Evans Head Public School.

Winnie served for many years on the local Country Women’s Association.

Bob Clifford

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Winnie’s brother Thomas Patrick Smith married Rose Agnes Parnell in March 1925 when they were both 24.

They lived at Cowper where Tom also worked as a linesman before taking up farming. He enlisted in the 2nd Volunteer Defence Corps in March 1942 and served part time for the next three and a half years.

Their son Lovell served two years with the RAAF, including in New Guinea, reaching the rank of leading aircraftman. Tom and Rose moved to South Grafton in 1951 where Tom worked as a truck driver. After Rose’s death in 1976, Tom moved to the Sydney suburb of Gladesville.

Tom’s sister Edna Smith married Harvey Lyle Fernance in November 1920 when they were both only 17. They had at least five children over the next ten years or so but the marriage did not last and Edna divorced Harvey for desertion in 1932. She did not remarry. She moved to the Sydney inner suburb of Chippendale where she lived for almost the rest of her life.

Sheelah Smith was 22 when she married 22 years old Lyle George Knox in July 1925. They lived at Cowper and later Ulmarra where they had three children. Lyle fell off a baker’s lorry in February 1940 but was medically fine when he later enlisted in the Army in September.

He served with an anti-tank regiment in the Middle East and North Africa including taking part in the vicious fighting during the siege of Tobruk. His regiment later fought in New Guinea. He served overseas for over three years while his family lived in Grafton. He became a shopkeeper in Grafton after the war before the family moved to Gladesville in Sydney where he opened another shop.

Sheela’s brother James was 29 when he married 22 years old Elsie May Heather in April 1938.

They lived their married lives in Grafton with a short time at Evans Head. Eric Smith married 19 years old Daphne Ellen Davis in October 1935 when he was 25. They had a farm at Swan Creek.

Eric (who for some reason was known as Tex) also served three and a half years in the 2 nd Volunteer Defence Corps. Their 14 years old daughter Judy died after a short illness in May 1951.

Tex and Daphne spent many holidays at Yamba where they both enjoyed fishing.

Gravestone of Thomas and Mary Jane Smith

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Priscilla Lattimer Mary Jane’s younger sister Priscilla (known as Cilla) married John Charles Webber in July 1892.

They were both 21. John was variously described as a dealer or a hawker, which was a trade name for an itinerant salesman who took his cart loaded with mostly household goods around the district.166 This was not a surprising enterprise as many traders operated out of wagons or river barges in order to visit the outlying settlements along the river.

They settled at Brushgrove before moving to a four bedroom house on a half-acre block at Lower Southgate. John and a business partner took over the Palace Store at Lawrence in 1897. The partner left in early 1899. It soon became clear the business was in trouble.

A fire broke out in the store in July 1899. Cilla noticed the fire from her house next door and raised the alarm. Many perishable goods had been stored in a loft to escape possible floodwaters and it was in the loft where the fire started, possibly from a knocked over candle.

Luckily for John, the goods were insured and he made a claim for ₤600 which was likely paid without any Priscilla Lattimer trouble. However, by October John had declared himself insolvent and faced the onset of bankruptcy.

It may not have been all his fault as he was owed large amounts from others. Most of his goods were sold off by his official trustee at cheap prices.

At a bankruptcy enquiry in court in Sydney the Registrar was not impressed with John’s answer to the whereabouts of certain money. He sentenced him to 14 days in Darlinghurst Gaol for “prevarication and evasion.” To add to his woes, John was also charged with perjury but a jury found him not guilty, accepting his claim that he had been “muddled” when giving his answers.

John and Cilla had five children between 1893 and 1906 who were named Violet May, Madge Elizabeth, Phyllis Esther, John William Frederick and Victor Eric. Cilla suffered the same tragedy as her sister Mary Ann when a baby boy born in 1905 died shortly after birth.

In 1907, a year after the birth of his last child, John Webber died under mysterious circumstances while fishing on the Clarence Broadwater near Maclean. He was 36 years old. He was assumed to have drowned but his body was never found and his death has never been officially recorded.

Cilla and most of her children moved to Sydney and by 1930 they were living at Park Street, Clovelly. She later moved to Mt Lewis Avenue in Punchbowl where she lived with her son Victor and his wife. Cilla was 90 when she died at the residence of her daughter Phyllis at Newport in December 1961.

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NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 4747/1892 (with the surname Latimer)

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Her daughter Violet waited until she was 42 to marry in July 1936. Her husband was 41 years old Richard Wright who had been married earlier in 1919 but divorced in 1933. Richard was the son of a NSW member of Parliament and was working as a labourer at Broken Hill when he enlisted for service in the First World War in November 1916. He had been rejected twice earlier because of his short height. He arrived in England for training but was eventually sent back to Australia and medically discharged due to defective eyesight.

Richard was also unsuccessful with this marriage.

Violet divorced him in 1946 for desertion.

Madge Webber married Louis James Yalden in March 1925. They had two children who were named William and James but William died as an infant.

They worked as dairy farmers with Jersey cattle at Comboyne before moving to Killabakh near Wingham.

Louis and Madge were well regarded in their communities for their work with local charities and the church.

After farming at other locations in NSW they settled in Glen Innes.

Phyllis Esther Webber was 52 when she married 54 years old Charles William Belperroud in January 1951.

Charles had enlisted in the First World War in April 1918. Similar to The Broadwater between Lawrence and Richard Wright, he arrived in England Maclean for training but the war was over before he saw any action. He became a famous racing bicyclist in the 1920s. He competed in the 1927 Dunlop Grand Prix in Victoria against Hubert Opperman, the Australian champion. The four stage race was the biggest cycling race in the British Empire and the richest in the World.

Opperman easily won the race and went on to win many Australian and international races and set world records for endurance racing. Charles was not an individual placegetter in the 1927 race but he and his race partner came 5th in the team championship.

Charles put his age down to sign up for the Second World War. He served for three years with an ordnance stores company in Australia. Charles was 57 when he died in July 1954, only a few years after his marriage to Phyllis. Phyllis was a widow for almost 30 years.

John William Webber married Elizabeth Juila Doris Hogan in April 1933. John was 30 and his wife was 10 years older. They lived at Waverley in Sydney where John worked as a bootmaker.

He ran foul of the law during the 1930s by using his shop for illegal betting. Showing some wit he said he needed the extra money because he was down at heel. The judge was funnier saying he should not have mixed bookmaking with bootmaking.

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Victor Webber was 26 when he married 25 years old Catherine Noreen Estelle Rowland in January 1933. They had two children and lived their lives in Sydney. Catherine was 85 when she died in September 1992 but Victor passed away at the age of 98 in February 2005.

Hubert Opperman after winning the first stage of the 1927 Dunlop Grand Prix

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James Herbert Lattimer James Lattimer (who was known to all as Jim) worked as a maize and potato grower along the Clarence River. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother William by taking over the running of the punt at Lower Coldstream in 1891. He then took up dairying just before the turn of the century.

Jim was 29 when he married 21 years old Amelia Bryant in Lismore in October 1904.167 They moved to the Richmond River district in 1911, living at the intriguingly named locality of Blue Knob where Jim worked for a dairy farmer before setting up his own cream run to the Nimbin Butter factory. He later added pig raising and carting pigs from the district to Lismore.

Blue Knob near Nimbin

In 1918 Jim purchased a property from William Dean at Crofton’s Road north of Nimbin at the head of Goolmangar Creek. Here he established a thriving banana plantation on the rich volcanic soils to supplement his dairy farm.168 Jim and Amelia had three children, a daughter named Thelma and two sons named James (but by using his third name of Clarence, he was known as Clarrie) and Milton. Jim was an active member of various social and religious lodges and groups.

In 1922 Jim placed a Return Thanks in the local paper: “I wish to publicly and sincerely thank all kind relatives and friends (old and new) for kind visits, letters of sympathy, both numerous and frequent to the Lismore District Hospital from 4th October 1920 to January 17 th 1921.

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NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 9269/1904 (but with the surname Latimer) Northern Star 14 November 1949, page 4

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Also those gentlemen who so kindly formed a working bee and sowed 42 acres with grass seed in January 1921.

Also the members of the Loyal Orange Lodge for a handsome cheque to minimise the expenses incurred through my accident, and assist in the purchase of an artificial limb in December 1921.

And later the gentlemen of a working bee who so generously assisted, personally and financially, in helping to build my house last month, and many other useful presents from sympathisers”.169 The accident Jim refers to happened when he was helping a man named Watts clear trees and scrub from Watts’ property. A tree fell on them both, in Jims’ case crushing his right leg which needed to be amputated after it failed to heal. The two men were in hospital for many months and both gave lavish praise of the staff of the hospital and the treatment they received.170 It seems that Jim’s wife Amelia largely took over the running of the plantation and she showed she had plenty of determination and was not someone to antagonise. Jim focussed on the dairy herd.

Amelia had some difficulties getting on with her neighbours who, like Amelia, had banana plantations at Crofton’s Road.

On one occasion she was accused of hitting a neighbour with a stick during a disagreement over a fence being left open. The neighbour claimed Amelia said “I will bash your brains in.” Amelia claimed that the neighbour had punched her in the face first.

James and Amelia Lattimer with Milton, Clarrie and Thelma – note James’ artificial leg

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The neighbour’s two children backed up their father but two of Amelia’s children backed up their mother. The magistrate found Amelia guilty and fined her ₤1 plus court and professional costs.

A number of Italian families had immigrated to Australia to escape the rise of fascism in Italy and had moved into the Nimbin area where they were keen to buy or lease plantations.

Amelia sold or leased part of the plantation to one Italian, Joe Rullo, in 1937. A dispute arose over the purchase price that caused Amelia to start legal proceedings for recovery. She received a verdict of ₤30 which included ₤5 for wire netting.171

Banana Growers at Nimbin

Another neighbour, Fedele Binda, a dark skinned Italian (apparently for the reason mentioned below), leased a plantation from Amelia who agreed to make it stock proof to keep out Amelia’s cattle.172 However, this was not done and cattle got in and ate some plants and trampled others.

Mr Binda claimed that the damage was extensive with half of the plantation destroyed and he sought a huge amount of ₤150 in damages. He also claimed that Amelia “…had tried her utmost to send him broke and it was now his turn” presumably to send her broke. The amount of damage was confirmed by Joe Rullo, who had already shown he was no friend of Amelia.

Amelia’s son Milton denied his mother had ever called Mr Binda a “black bastard” or that she “had it in for him.” Amelia in turn claimed that the damage was hugely exaggerated and that only two older plants were destroyed, the rest would re-sprout.

An expert witness, a former government fruit inspector, confirmed that the damage was minimal.

The magistrate, although astonished at the lack of damage caused by wandering cattle, accordingly awarded damages of only ₤2 against Amelia.

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Amelia also leased property to Francesco Maluta, another Italian immigrant. Over the years, she became the plaintiff in other cases where she claimed to be owed money. 173 After the Italian Fascist Government joined forces with the German Nazis in World War Two, the lives of the mostly unnaturalised (non-citizenship) Italian community at Nimbin only got worse.

Nimbin War Memorial 1925

It was too much for Gino Volpatti, aged 22 years, whose father Severino was a tenant of the Lattimers. Gino was found hanged from a tree near the Lattimer house, apparently a suicide because of his likely upcoming internment as an enemy alien.174 Gino must have been desperate because he used a length of rusty barbed wire to hang himself.

The relationships between the Lattimers and the Italian families were complicated and not always strained. Many friendships were formed, particularly among the later generations, including with members of the Volpatti family.

Both sons of Jim and Amelia enlisted for service in the Second World War. Clarrie Lattimer was 30 years old when he enlisted in July 1940. He had married Cora Beatrice May Scott at St James’ Church of England, Kyogle in December 1934.

He and Cora had four children, all before his enlistment, who were named James, Daphne, Gordon and Nancy.

Clarrie was one of the 15,000 Australian soldiers captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in early 1942 (total allied prisoners taken were over 130,000). He stayed a prisoner until he was rescued from a labour Clarrie Lattimer in 1940

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camp near Osaka in Japan in September 1945. Nearly half of the Australian prisoners died in captivity and many of the survivors were broken in some way. It must have been heartbreaking for Cora and the children to first find out Clarrie was missing, then be told he was a prisoner but then have no other communication for over three years.

Clarrie’s father Jim lived long enough to be reunited with his son before dying in November 1949 at the age of 74. He was buried at Nimbin Cemetery. Amelia was 85 when she passed away almost 20 years later in September 1969. Clarrie survived the war longer than many other former prisoners. He was 78 when he passed away in September 1988, having lived all of his married life in Kyogle.

Milton Herbert Robert Lattimer served in the 1st Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps after his enlistment in September 1941. He continued his service over the next four years. He was 32 when he Clarrie Lattimer and family married 25 years old Trixie Enid Fathers in May 1947. Milton and Trixie had three sons and two daughters. Their first child John died in September 1945 when he was four years old. They lived for many years on the Lattimer farm at Crofton’s Road before moving to Lismore in the mid-1960s.

The two daughters, Margaret and Kaylene lived with Cora and Clarrie who brought them up.

Thelma Mary Ellen Lattimer married 32 years old Edward Lorrie Boag in July 1934 when she was 21. They had at least two children. They also followed a life of farming, mostly at Nimbin.

George Banks Lattimer George Lattimer was only five years old when he came to the Clarence River with his parents William and Elizabeth. By 1914 George was running his own dairy farm near the bridge over the Serpentine Channel on Harwood Island which was downstream from Woodford Island. He left the island in that year when his lease expired and relocated to a dairy farm at Lawrence where he lived for the rest of his life.

George never married but he became heavily involved in community affairs, particularly with the Red Cross during the war and later with the Junior Farmers Club. He would be found organising the tea rooms for almost every social function in the area.

He was known for his quiet disposition and easy going manner. He always thought of others before himself and was well respected for his sensible and considerate views on community life.

Out of his many siblings, George was the one named by his father in his Will as the executor of the estate.

George continued farming until he retired in his early 70s. He was 74 and staying with his younger sister Eleanor at Ballina when he died in November 1951 after a long illness. He was described as being … loved and respected by young and old.”175

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Northern Star 22 November 1951, page 8

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Archibald John Lattimer Another son of William and Elizabeth Lattimer was named Archibald (but known to everyone as Archie). He was appointed a school teacher in 1902 when he was 21. His annual salary was first set at ₤72. His first appointment was to a school at a settlement known as Nessville near Bellinger Heads at the mouth of the Bellinger River. Bellinger Heads is known today as Urunga.

He soon joined the Bellinger Heads School of Arts and was appointed secretary in 1904. He was voted in as president four years later. He was much involved in fund raising activities for community organisations including the Raleigh District Hospital.

Archie was 25 when he married 21 years old local girl Edith Annie Perryman in July 1905. They had four children between 1906 and 1912 who they named Sidney Harold, Edith Ivy (known as Ivy), Phyllis Jane and Ray. Archie resigned as a teacher in July 1908 and took up a blacksmith and wheelwright business in the town. He became active in the Urunga Progress Association and the local branch of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows (GUOOF). The family packed up and left Urunga in 1911 to go south to Laurieton before looking for better opportunities in Sydney.

Archie soon found employment with the NSW Railways as a clerk at the Eveleigh Workshops near Redfern. The family lived in a rented terrace house at No 64A High Street, Millers Point. High Street had only recently been constructed on the top edge of an excavated cliff that opened up more land for the adjacent wharves. The terrace houses all had unobstructed views over the harbour to Balmain (today the newly renovated terrace houses now look out on the South Barangaroo precinct and are each worth over $5 million).

George Banks Lattimer

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Archibald John Lattimer

Archie was elected secretary of a newly established branch of the railway union. The branch looked after the interests of fuelmen who were mostly working at Eveleigh. Archie also found time to join the Loyal Love of Liberty branch of GUOOF where he became financial secretary. He was later elected district master for the lodge’s Sydney District. Archie also joined the Zetland branch of the Masonic Lodge.

Archie died at Sydney Hospital at the age of 39 in July 1919, an unfortunate victim of the influenza epidemic (known as the Spanish Flu). The disease arrived in Australia with returning servicemen after the First World War.176 About 6,000 people died in New South Wales from the virus which killed tens of millions worldwide. The virus was probably a form of bird flu that had crossed over to humans. Archie succumbed after only a few days of illness.

His funeral was largely attended by representatives of his union, workplace and lodges. He was described as “… a true Oddfellow” who would be deeply mourned. The major Sydney papers carried stories about his death. Edith was 35 when Archie died. She and the children, who were between seven and thirteen at the time, received a lot of support from the lodges.

Interestingly, by the time of his death, Archie and his family had taken to spelling their surname Latimer, one of the rare occasions when members of the family reverted to the original spelling.

A year after his death his family placed an In Memorium in The Sydney Morning Herald: “If we could have clasped his dying hand, And bade him a last farewell, It would not have been so hard to part, With a father we loved so well.”

Archie and Edith’s son Sidney (sometimes known as Sydney) also went to work for the railways, initially as a porter.

He married Marie Marshall in 1951 and they lived for a time at Jerusalem Bay, near Cottage Point north of Sydney. Little is known of their story.

Sidney’s sister Ivy was 26 when she married 32 years old Cecil Leslie 176

Memorial Card for Archie Lattimer

Northern Star 19 July 1919, page 4

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McLaughlin in December 1934. They had five children who they named Cecily, John, Phyllis, Kathleen and Margaret. The family lived for 20 years or so at Macksville on the Nambucca River before moving to Sydney.

Ivy’s sister Phyllis Lattimer married George Henry Pinder in June 1931 when she was 21 and he was 28. They initially lived with George’s parents at Darling Harbour in Sydney where father and son worked as newsagents. Phyllis and George later moved to Sydney’s eastern suburbs where George worked for many years as an ice vendor. They had five sons who they named John, Rex, George, Stuart and Grahame.

Ray Lattimer enlisted in the army in the Second World War in August 1942 and served in the signals unit of an anti-aircraft regiment based in Townsville, Queensland. He may have also served in Darwin. He had earlier married 20 years old Edith Salina Ryvers at White Cliffs in January 1941. The marriage did not last. Ray spent most of his life living in the family home in High Street, Millers Point with his mother and sometimes with his brother Sidney.

Ray and Sidney’s mother Edith passed away in October 1969 at the age of 82. She had been a widow for 50 years. Her son Ray had died four years before her. By now the family had returned to the name of Lattimer.

GUOOF Meeting 1914 – Archie is in the second back row, fifth from left

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Eleanor Banks Lattimer Archie’s sister Eleanor (known to all as Nell or Nellie) was 21 when she married 27 years old Charles George Clifford at Lawrence in May 1903. Charles was the older brother of Edgar (Bob) Clifford who would later marry Eleanor’s cousin, Winnie Smith, in 1919. Nell’s 18 years old sister Annie was her bridesmaid. They had three children between 1904 and 1908 who were named Leslie William, Madge Evelyn and Edgar Charles.

The family spent many years at Dalwood before taking up farming at North Creek to the north of Ballina. However, they later returned to Dalwood, at least until about 1921 when Charles acquired land at Wardell, a rich farming area to the south of Dalwood adjacent to the west bank of the Richmond River.

Despite his background as a farmer, Charles took on the running of a refreshment room, the name given to milk bars and cafes before those establishments were introduced into rural NSW from the 1930s. Their time at Wardell was rather eventful. A short time after their arrival, Nellie slipped on a piece of wire rope. The resulting laceration to her leg needed 13 stitches which kept her off her feet for many weeks.

The area was prone to bushfires (as was much of the country). One particular fire in 1929 came close enough to cause flames to lick the floorboards under the house. At other times, the area received heavy rainfall that caused flooding along the Richmond River.

Charles purchased another farm at a nearby settlement known as Boat Channel. The property had been owned by the Riordan family who had been among the earliest pioneers in the area.

Nellie and Charles celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1953 with family and friends at the Wardell Parish Hall.

Charles and Nell Clifford

Cilla Webber and Mary Jane Smith with brother William

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Charles died only a few years later in April 1957 when he was 82. Nellie was 87 when she passed away in March 1970. They were both buried at the Wardell Cemetery.

Their son Leslie was 37 when he married 28 years old Merley Teresa Romano (known as Merle) in December 1941. Merle’s four grandparents were all Italian immigrants who came to Australia in the 1880s. Her father Lougi (with that spelling) worked for over 40 years at the CSR sugar mill at Broadwater on the Richmond River. Leslie and Merle lived at Broadwater where Leslie worked as a mechanic.

Madge Clifford took her time before getting married. As a young girl she took to the social life of the district, organising balls and other dances, charity bazaars and fundraising activities. She was particularly involved in the local Anglican Church at Wardell, St Barnabas’. She ran the Girls’ Friendly Society for many years and made it one of the strongest in the district.

During the 1930s and 1940s Madge spent much time holidaying and working in Sydney for extended periods, returning to Wardell for short holidays and the dance season. It was reported in March 1936 that a Madge Clifford had her handbag snatched in Castlereagh Street, Sydney.

She was working for Perry & Sons and taking ₤50 to a solicitor’s office. The assailant came at her from behind and quickly outdistanced her in the chase.

Madge was 51 when she found time to marry at St Barnabas’ in December 1956. Her husband was 67 years old Arthur Albert Tree who had previously lived at Condong near Murwillumbah.

They settled at Wardell but Arthur died five years later.

Madge’s brother Edgar Charles Clifford was 26 when he married 20 years old Edna Mary James in January 1935. They had two children. For some reason Edgar was also known as Bob, perhaps a link to his uncle Edgar John (Bob) Clifford. They lived at Wardell before moving to Broadwater where Bob worked as a carpenter at the CSR sugar mill. The marriage did not last and Bob divorced Edna in 1947.

Bob was 41 when he married 21 years old Doris May Romano in August 1949. Doris was the younger sister of Merle Romano who had married Bob’s brother Leslie in 1941. You may need to takes notes to keep up. They had one child that I am aware of.

Headstone for Bob and Doris Clifford

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Annie Harriet Lattimer Annie was 26 when she married 32 years old Sydney Cuthbert Bartholomew in November 1911.

They lived in the town of Mullumbimby where Syd worked as a compositor for a local newspaper.

By 1913, Annie and Syd had moved to Lismore where Syd took up working for the Northern Star newspaper. Syd started as a compositor working on the night shift where most of the action took place to get the daily newspaper out before dawn.

Annie and Syd had three children. Trever (with that spelling) was born in 1912. He was followed

by Doris Enid in 1914 and Beryl in 1917. In Lismore the family lived at No 15 Ballina Street and it was here Annie and Syd would spend the rest of their lives.

In 1929 when Syd was the night shift foreman, he and a group of employees were working overtime during the Easter break mainly taking down old machinery and installing modern replacements.

One employee, Ernest Thorpe, who was the head machinist, died from a heart attack while hauling and stacking heavy rolls of paper. His wife later sought ₤850 compensation from the newspaper claiming the heavy work contributed to his death.

The Workers’ Compensation Commission in 177 Sydney rejected the claim.

Syd continued running the newspaper’s night shift until about 1935 when he took over the day shift. In July 1937 Syd almost had a finger severed when it became jammed in a deck chair. The scissor like action of folding deck chairs became the cause of many such accidents all over the country.

Syd retired from the Northern Star in July 1949 after 36 years of service. The paper reported that Syd always provided the most willing cooperation to fellow staff members.

Syd and Annie Bartholomew

177

Northern Star 17 April 1929, page 8

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Syd was 79 when he died in July 1958. Annie was 92 when she passed away in May 1978.

The wedding photo of Syd and Annie was credited by Sam Lattimer as part of a portfolio of copies of family photos he donated to the Dungog Museum in 1986. Sam was a son of Annie’s younger brother Harold. However, another family source credits the same photo to Bob and Nell Clifford.

Staff of the Northern Star newspaper – Syd Bartholomew is the first sitting on the left

Annie and Syd’s son Trever enlisted in the Army in July 1941 when he was 28. He managed to find time the following month to marry 20 years old Winifred Amy Dutton before being sent to Melbourne for training. He was posted to the Middle East and was quickly promoted through the ranks to sergeant. He was able to visit Winifred at Lismore often enough during his four years of service to add to the family. He was discharged in November 1945. After the war Trever worked for the PMG’s Engineers section in Lismore.

Trever and Winifred had three children. Their son Glen was a 22 years old sapper in the 1 st Field Squadron of the Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) when he was killed in Phuoc Tuy, Vietnam in May 1967 during a particularly bad week for Australian soldiers.

Doris Bartholomew also became greatly involved with the Girls’ Friendly Society as well as the Girl Guides. She was a prime organiser and musical director at Lismore for many of their activities.

She married 24 years old Gordon Wilfred Clyde Knight at St Andrews’ Anglican Church in Lismore in July 1939 when she was 25. Her sister Beryl was her bridesmaid while Cec Knight, Gordon’s brother, was best man.

A daughter Patricia was born in 1941. Gordon enlisted for service in the 24 th Australian Field Company of the RAE in July 1942. After service in New Guinea he was discharged in December 1945. Patricia died at the age of 5 in July 1946. A son Joseph was born in 1948 but he also died young at the age of 19 in January 1968.

After the war Gordon worked for Foley Bros who had a major butter factory at Lismore and a number of dairy operations along the north coast and in Sydney. They were taken over by Norco in 1958. Gordon and Doris lived their married lives in Lismore.

Doris’ sister Beryl became involved in much of the activities of Doris, particularly the church and musical activities. Beryl was 23 when she married 39 years old William Ferdinand Andrew in September 1941. Beryl and William lived on the Andrew family farm at Horse Station Creek, a small settlement just west of Kyogle. They had two sons named David and Raymond.

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William Andrew became unwell in the early 1950s and died in Kyogle Memorial Hospital in October 1954 after a long illness. He was 52 years old. Beryl married again when she was 42. Her husband was 40 years old Ernest Robert Lindsay Clarke and they were married in April 1960. They lived their remaining lives in Lismore where Ernest later worked for the local council.

Memorial to Beryl and Ernest Clarke

Harold Woodford Lattimer The youngest child of William and Elizabeth Lattimer was Harold Lattimer. He was elected secretary of the Grafton Co-operative Company Limited when he was in his early twenties. The company had its office next door to the Ladies’ Emporium in Grafton.178 I have not uncovered just what business the co-operative conducted, but its premises did have refreshment rooms. 179 It is possible the business was a dairy co-operative mainly for selling butter and other dairy products. It later went out of business and Harold went from secretary to liquidator.180 Harold helped to organise social functions including euchre tournaments which featured music and dancing to attract patrons. 181 Euchre was a card game brought to Australia by British immigrants. It became the country’s favourite game of cards, with tournaments held locally, regionally and nationally. It was the card game that introduced the Joker into the pack. Harold

178 179 180 181

Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence

and and and and

Richmond Richmond Richmond Richmond

Examiner Examiner Examiner Examiner

3 November 1908, page 1 2 February 1909, page 1 22 January 1914, page 1 23 May 1911, page 2

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was 23 when he married 24 years old Elsie Maud Amos in September 1912. He had trained as a baker and was working at a bakery in Grafton at the time of his marriage.

Harold gave up baking in favour of running a small dairy farm at Woodford Leigh on Woodford Island. The farm was about half a mile downstream of the Blue Point Ferry. Harold and Elsie decided to give up farming in 1918. After selling their cattle and other farm animals as well as their household furniture, Harold went back to working as a baker, most likely at the bakery in Brushgrove which was located next to the post office facing the South Arm of the Clarence River.

Harold took over the bakery at Brushgrove in September 1921. The bakery’s oven had a capacity of 400 loaves. Three years later Harold took over the larger Forsythe’s bakery at nearby Ulmarra.

By now he was firmly established as one of the leading bakers and pastry cooks in the district.

He became a member of the Brushgrove Literary Institute and joined other local organisations.

Like many of his uncles and cousins who lived in the district, he played cricket in local competitions. In 1925, he unsuccessfully stood for election as an alderman to the Ulmarra Municipal Council.

Harold Woodford Lattimer aged 21 and his future wife Elsie

In 1927 Harold was prosecuted for not keeping his bakery clean. The bakehouse was not a problem but the storeroom was found to have dirty floors and shelves as well as cobwebs. The inspector found open boxes of currants and sultanas and an open bag of sugar. Evidently some harsh words were exchanged and Harold accused the inspector of making a flimsy complaint. The charge was dismissed after the magistrate found no evidence of any food actually being sold from the storeroom.182

182

Daily Examiner 11 February 1928, page 6

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Harold sold his business at Brushgrove in 1929 and he and Elsie moved to Yamba. By 1933, they were back in Grafton where they lived in Villiers Street. They stayed here for the next 16 years except for a few years in the mid-1930s when Harold worked as a baker in Kyogle where his nephew Clarrie Lattimer lived.

In early 1945, Harold and Elsie moved to Wingham where Harold continued working as a baker.

They stayed there for the next seven and a half years before their final move in 1952, this time back to Yamba where his brother William and his wife Mary Jane (Polly) now lived.

Elsie was 74 when she died in October 1962. Harold passed away in July 1968 when he was 79.

Headstone for Harold and Elsie Lattimer

Harold and Elsie had five children between 1913 and 1920 who they named Heather, Beryl, Samuel, Earle and Ray. Earle died in infancy. Heather was 22 when she married 23 years old Edward Cox in January 1936. Edward enlisted in the Army in April 1942 and served in New Guinea. Corporal Cox was discharged four years later in March 1946. He and Heather lived at Yamba at the mouth of Clarence River where Edward worked as a fireman.

Heather’s sister Beryl was also 22 when she married 26 years old Percival Sydney Fraser in May 1935. Percival (who was known as Percy or Pat) was working as a bus driver and sometimes taxi driver. He had been in trouble with the law in 1930 when police, looking for stolen goods, found Percy with a hammer that was one of the stolen items. He was fined ₤1/10s plus witness expenses.

Percy was later working in Brisbane when he was arrested in April 1933 for shooting a man in busy Queens Street. The man had brushed Percy as he walked past and then punched Percy in

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the face after Percy had said a few words. Percy then pulled out a revolver and shot the man before running off. He was apprehended by a policeman and others following a short chase. Percy gave his name as Jack Jones but his real name was ultimately revealed.

At his trial in Brisbane, Percy pleaded not guilty. The jury retired and after a short time, returned with a verdict of not guilty, much to the shock of everyone present. The judge thought it was a “dishonest verdict”. He told the jurymen that they were discharged from further jury service “…without the thanks of the country for their service.”

Page 9 Brisbane Truth 30 April 1933

After their marriage Beryl tried to keep Percy on the straight and narrow but he was inclined to continue associating with people of doubtful character. Percy and Beryl were living apart in 1939 when Percy was again in trouble. He and an associate were charged with breaking and entering premises and stealing large amounts of petrol from various bodies including the Grafton City Council, The South Grafton Water Board and BHP. There was at the time a lucrative black market for petrol as restrictions had been introduced in consequence of the Great Depression. Percy received a number of prison sentences to be served concurrently over a six month period.

Despite his misadventures and absences, Percy and Beryl managed to have three sons. Percy enlisted in the Army in March 1941 and was one of the many Australian soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore the following year. With ailments including impaired eyesight, Percy was liberated and discharged in May 1946. On his return home he found Beryl was pregnant. They were divorced in 1948.

Percy remarried in May 1950 and he and his new wife Patricia lived many years on the Central Coast of NSW where they raised children of their own. By agreement, Beryl retained custody of

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her three sons. She went to live with William Alfred Wunderlich, the unapologetic and proud father of Beryl’s fourth child. Billy (as he was known) was a garage proprietor at Grafton and a seller of motor vehicles, tractors and farm equipment. He had married Annie Morrisey in August 1922 but the marriage had not lasted the distance. Beryl was free to remarry after her divorce in 1950 but Annie apparently saw no reason to divorce Billy. After Billy’s death in October 1964 Beryl moved from Grafton to Sydney.

Beryl’s brother Samuel (known as Sam) was 20 when he married 18 years old Rita Ellen McPhee in August 1937. Sam and Rita had probably known each for a long time as they were second cousins. Rita’s grandmother Ellen McPhee was the sister of Sam’s grandfather William Lattimer.

Sam worked as a carpenter but they left Grafton to live in Liverpool on the south-western outskirts of Sydney where the demand for post war carpenters was high. Sam was an A Grade tennis player and became secretary of the Liverpool Tennis Club.

Their marriage also did not last and the couple were divorced in 1960. In December of that year, Sam married Nola Ashe. They continued to live at Liverpool but Rita moved to Peakhurst East. It was Sam who donated copies of family photos he had inherited to the Dungog Museum. Sam left three children when he died in 2006.

Sam’s brother Ray Lattimer got off to a bad start. In December 1939 when he was 18, Ray was charged with using premises in Grafton for illegal betting. Clearly he was an employee but he was still fined ₤15 and had confiscated another ₤15/6s found on him. A few months later in March 1940 he married 22 years old Doreen Margaret Moran. They had two children.

Page 12 of the Brisbane Truth 29 October 1944

Ray enlisted for service in the Army during the Second World War. He was wounded in New Guinea in 1943. He made headlines in the newspapers in 1944 when he was charged with the abduction of a girl under the age of 17, while still in service. However, the case was far from simple. Another young soldier named Mervyn Hale had become engaged to a 15 years old Brisbane

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shop assistant named Maureen Collie in about September 1943. They later broke up and in April 1944 Maureen started seeing 23 years old Ray Lattimer while he was on leave in Brisbane.

Maureen turned 16 in June. Ray, who told everyone he was Raymond Roach and was single, would visit Maureen at the home of her widowed mother who was happy with Ray at first but objected when he kept bringing Maureen home late. Ray then confessed to Maureen his real name and that he was married with two children but now separated from his wife.

He told Maureen he was absent from the Army without leave which was the reason he was using a false name. He said he was returning to Grafton on the train the next day. Maureen said she was very unhappy with her home life and made plans to go with Ray to Grafton.

When they arrived in Grafton they went to his sister Beryl’s house in Villiers Street but she was not home. He then booked into a hotel. After a week they moved in with Beryl where they stayed until Ray returned to his Army unit and Maureen’s mother took her home after an intervention by the police.

A few weeks later Maureen met her ex-fiancé Mervyn Hale on the streets in Brisbane and they reconnected. They were married in October, about the time Ray was committed for trial. At his trial Ray maintained he had done nothing wrong or improper. Maureen had willingly followed him. At the Grafton hotel they had separate rooms under the names of Mr and Miss Carter (not Mr and Mrs as had been erroneously reported – a fact conceded by the police. Similarly, they stayed in separate rooms in Beryl’s house. The jury found Ray not guilty. Mervyn Hale later said he was glad Ray had been acquitted as he had only ever looked after Maureen.

It wasn’t entirely clear skies for Ray. The police never really believed his story and continued to pursue him. Ray pleaded guilty to altering an identity card he said he had found to use the name Raymond Roach. He was fined ₤23 plus costs.

Ray kept a low profile after this. In fact, he seems to have disappeared altogether as I have found no further record of him except that he died in September 2008 when he was 87. His wife Doreen relocated to Queensland where she passed away in April 1978.

Nellie Clifford and Annie Bartholomew with their brother William

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Chapter 23 – The Manning Connection James Lattimore b 1842 Married 1871 Louisa Ford b 1853 Children: Louisa Ellen Lattimore

b 1872

d 1944

72 years

Eliza Lattimore

b 1874

d 1927

52 years

Mary Jane Lattimore

b 1876

d 1962

85 years

Maria Lattimore

b 1878

d 1958

79 years

Eleanor Banks Lattimore

b 1879

d 1966

86 years

Sarah Ann Lattimore

b 1881

d 1963

81 years

William Henry Lattimore

b 1883

d 1950

66 years

Florence Lattimore

b 1885

d 1954

68 years

Emily Banks Lattimore

b 1887

d 1918

31 years

Ethel May Lattimore

b 1888

d 1977

89 years

Martha Alice Lattimore

b 1891

d 1972

81 years

Alfred James Lattimore

b 1892

d 1954

62 years

Herbert Stanley Lattimore

b 1894

d 1940

45 years

Edwin Manning Lattimore

b 1896

d 1913

17 years

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James Lattimore was 28 when he married his 18 years old neighbour Louisa Ford in October 1871 at Glen William.183 Louisa was a daughter of Henry and Maria Ford who, at the time of Louisa’s birth, were the tenant farmers of William Lowe’s estate known as St Leonards.

The Fords later purchased adjoining properties which, when consolidated, were known as Holbrook. The Ford family was among the most hard working and productive families living on the Williams River.

James and Louisa had 14 children, born between 1872 and 1896 (an average of one child every 1.7 years over 24 years). The first four were born at Glen William.

James quickly took to farm life and provided valuable assistance to his father and older brother William on the Cape Vale estate.

Henry Ford

He started his public life at the age of 30 when he was appointed to the school board at Glen William in 1872.184 He was reappointed to the board in 1878.185 After this time but before 1880, the young family made the break and moved north to the Wallamba River area between Forster and Nabiac. After only a short time they relocated to the heavily forested banks of the Manning River where they settled as tenant farmers on a property at Bungay, just upstream from what is now the town of Wingham.

The original Bungay Bungay (or Bungie Bungie) Estate was the first settlement on the Manning River and became known as the Cradle of the Manning. By the time James and Louisa arrived on the Manning, Wingham was fast overtaking Bungay as the major settlement of the area and was developing into a prosperous town. Bungay was, however, an ideal rural environment to raise a large family.

The site chosen by James and Louisa was within the original Bungay grant and close to the old homestead, court house and other buildings on the estate. 186 From their residence, you could reach the ridge at the back by way of a hollow leading up to the top.

A correspondent to The Richmond River Herald on 22 July 1919 gave a description of Bungay: “Parts of the Bungay Estate were heavily timbered, and no small amount of hard work was required to put it in the spick and span condition one sees it today… The river below croons a song year in and year out, as its waters roll over the rocky falls

183 184 185 186

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1871/2007 The Maitland Mercury 17 December 1872, page 2 The Maitland Mercury 4 June 1878, page 4 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 22 July 1919, page 4

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– while yonder across the river one gets a splendid glimpse of the surrounding country, with a chain of mountains reaching as far as the eye can see.”

The original Bungay Bungay estate

A 25 acre area in Wingham was dedicated for use as a Showground and the first Wingham Show was held there in 1886 by the Upper Manning Agricultural and Horticultural Association.187 The show was attended by about 3,500 people over the two days and ended in a gala dinner.

Almost everyone in the district would have attended the show.

After the success of this first show it took two years to organise the second which was held over two days in May 1886.188 About 13,000 exhibits represented every industry and endeavour in the district.

On display were horses, cattle, pigs and other animals and birds, as well as farm produce including butter, cheese, jams, hams, grains, fruit and vegetables. Other exhibits included fine arts such as paintings, saddlery, agricultural machinery and fancywork including embroidery.

Showing his success as a farmer, James won the coveted award for best potatoes of any kind.

Living in such isolated areas frequently resulted in the rise of local legends and folklore, often involving unusual sightings or unexplained phenomena. For example, in 1887 people living at Bungay reported seeing a ghostly rider on horseback who made occasional nightly visitations.

These reports were mostly laughed off until a man named Cameron, who was an old and respected

187 188

“Historic Wingham and the Upper Manning”, Manning Valley Historical Society, page 37 Australian Town & Country Journal 22 May 1886, page 42

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resident, claimed that while riding home one night from Wingham, he was approached by a man riding a black horse.189 The man was dressed in black and wore a high hat. He let out a long groan, followed by some heavy moaning, before disappearing over a 5 metre precipice. Cameron’s horse was spooked and bolted through the bush. The next day, Cameron could find no trace of hoof marks leading to the precipice. Three nights later, his son John met a similar experience. Their horses could no longer be made to travel that route.

Cameron’s sighting was treated very seriously by the residents of Bungay because he was “…too sensible to be frightened by a will o’ the wisp.” Interestingly, four years later, John Cameron was on his way to shoot some wallaby-like paddymelons, who were in the habit of eating valuable crops, when his rifle discharged into the thigh of a young girl who later died from the loss of blood.190

The green pastures of Bungay on the Manning River today

In 1890 James was with his younger step brother John Lattimore at Kimbriki breaking a horse into harness. The horse had been strapped into the shafts of a sulky to restrict it from kicking backwards and they had gone for a few miles up a hill.

When they turned down the hill to go home, the horse started kicking with both hooves and James received two great kicks to one of his legs, just below the knee, which cut him to the bone. One of the shafts was also broken. His leg was stitched the following day in hospital. James found the “confinement to bed rather irksome.”191 Dairy farming was the mainstay of farmers at Bungay. Higher prices were paid for the best stock and the farmers were always keen to improve the quality of their herds by importing better animals.

189 190 191

Wagga Wagga Advertiser 7 January 1888, page 4 The Sydney Morning Herald 30 August 1892, pages 5 and 6 The Maitland Mercury 15 November 1890, page 8 Supplement

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A farm worker from Bungay was herding cattle down from the Bulga plateau to Bungay when a cow slipped off the road, rolling down the mountain side. He told the local paper: “So rapidly did the animal revolve that her body bounced like a cricket ball – clearing stumps, rocks and so forth, until eventually it struck a giant tree and burst like a sausage. So effectively did the carcass break up, that I would have needed a search warrant and half a dozen policemen to find even the horns.”192 James and his family became a large part of the identity of that area of the Manning River and family descendants still live there.

James died from a brain disease at the young age of 54 in 1897, the year after the birth of his last child. 193 Louisa also died prematurely at the age of 58 in 1911.194 The long used epitaph on her tombstone at Wingham Cemetery reads: “Sickness sore long time she bore, Physicians were in vain, Till God was pleased to give her ease, And take her out of pain.”

Louisa Lattimore (nee Ford)

Louisa Ellen Lattimore James and Louisa’s eldest child, also called Louisa, married 32 years old Walter Murray from nearby Tinonee in November 1897 soon after she turned 25.195 That was the same year her father died and his illness and death must have been a particularly difficult time for his eldest daughter.

Louisa and Walter had five sons followed by two daughters who they named James, Claude, Harold, Frank, Duncan, Ethel and Lillian. Their first child James died a few months after birth.

Another child suffered severe burns when scalded by knocking over a pot of boiling water when he was about 12 months old. 196 Before the marriage Walter lived with his parents at nearby Killawarra and Louisa moved in with Walter after their marriage until they set themselves up in 1900 on a property leased by Walter at the nearby settlement of Dingo Creek. Walter soon became a successful dairy farmer, known for his commitment to rearing the best cream and butter producing cows in the district.

192 193 194 195 196

The Burrowa News 2 November 1917, page 3 NSW BDM Death Certificate 6490/1897 NSW BDM Death Certificate 17090/1911 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 8570/1897 The Wingham Chronicle 12 December 1902, page 4

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Like other farmers, Walter was hard hit by Government regulated low prices for cattle, pigs, butter and other staples introduced as austerity measures during the First World War. Many farmers simply cut back on production because they were running their farms at a considerable loss. This in turn led to critical shortages, particularly in bacon which became almost impossible to buy for most people. By 1916, Walter had decided to focus mainly on growing maize. He handed over the lease of his farm to his brother Hugh. He then moved his family downriver on the Manning, past Wingham, to Kolodong where Walter had purchased a top grade grain and dairy farm on Woolla Creek.

Walter must have done well because he later bought a very attractive farm at Scone for his two older sons Claude and Harold for ₤4,000, a princely sum in those days. He was also one of the original proponents for the Wingham Bacon factory.

Confirming that rural life has many risks, Walter was once cutting scrub in 1933 on a property at Killawarra when his axe slipped and passed through the boot on his right foot. His severely gashed foot was treated at the hospital at Wingham.197 He came down with severe influenza in 1935 and spent a long time in hospital. He later had problems with appendicitis and bronchitis.

As Walter’s health declined, he and Louisa handed over the property to their son Duncan and moved to a house in Taree in 1944.

Unexpectedly, it was 72 years old Louisa who died first, not long after the move to Taree. Her death in December 1944 was sudden and a shock to her many friends and relatives. Her obituary described her as a citizen who was never found wanting, always giving of her best and giving it freely. “She was endowed with such a lovable disposition that an atmosphere of purity surrounded her always.” 198 Louisa was once described as “small, but game.”

Walter returned to live at Kolodong after Louisa’s death and he alternated between there and the farm of his sons at Scone. He died at Scone on 2 September 1948 when he was 81.

Louisa and Walter Murray

His son Claude married Annie Elizabeth Cameron in August 1927. Claude’s sister Ethel married Harvey Ivers in December 1934. In a further joining of families, Duncan Murray married Harvey Ivers’ sister Catherine in 1937.

Harold Murray enlisted for service in the Second World War in April 1942. He served part time with the 6th Battalion Volunteer Defence Force until September 1945. He had married Marion Dalton Eipper (known as Mollie) in August 1935. The last of the children to marry was Frank in October 1948. His wife was Ada Naomi Clifford.

197 198

The Sydney Morning Herald 28 October 1933, page 16 The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer 12 December 1944, page 2

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Eliza Lattimore Louisa’s sister Eliza Lattimore did not marry and instead became the substitute mother to her younger siblings after their mother died in 1911. Eliza died in July 1927 at the home of her sister Ethel. She was 53 years old. On Eliza’s gravestone at Wingham Cemetery she was fondly remembered by her siblings as “Our Dear Sister.”

At her funeral, the well-respected rector of St Matthew’s Anglican Church at Wingham, the Reverend Percy de Laure Musgrove, told mourners: “Few outside her close friends knew her very well. She took no prominent part in any public function, but speaking with knowledge of her that began in 1909, when he prepared and presented the deceased lady for Confirmation, he regarded her as of the very salt of the Earth, in her indefatigable industry and her whole-souled devotion to her conception of duty.”199

Mary Jane Lattimore Mary Jane Lattimore was 24 and unmarried when she gave birth in March 1901 to a daughter who she named Elsie Adele Lattimore. The father’s name was never disclosed on either of Elsie’s birth or death certificates. This may explain why it took Mary Jane some years to find a husband willing to take on both of them.

Mary Jane was 45 when she married 53 years old Charles Herkes (known as Charley) in January 1921. Her daughter Elsie married only two years later.

Charley had lived most of his early life at Dingo Creek on the family farm called Glen Lewis. He worked for much of his adult life as a stockman but was in no hurry to find a wife and raise a family. He was 47 and single when he enlisted for the First World War in September 1915.

After the first Australian Light Horse regiments arrived in Egypt they were diverted along with the other Australian divisions to Gallipoli but without their horses. As the casualties increased, the men left behind to look after the horses were needed in Gallipoli as reinforcements. Word went out around Australia calling for volunteers to form two units of older experienced horsemen to look after the horses and train new horses to replace losses. Most of the volunteers were over 40. Charley joined the 5th squadron of the 2nd Remount Unit which was placed under the command of 199

2nd Australian Remount Unit

The Wingham Chronicle 15 July 1927, page 7

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Major Andrew Patterson. The major, who was more commonly known as Banjo, had famously written the poem The Man from Snowy River in 1890.

The Remount Units arrived in Egypt in November 1915 but by now the decision had been made to withdraw all troops from Gallipoli. In March the following year, the Australian forces were reorganised and the Remount Units were reduced by half. Charley was part of the unit that was demobilised and he returned to Australia in June 1916. He later sought permission to do war work in England but he was not accepted.

After the war Charley worked as a teamster. He and Mary Jane later lived at Marlee near Wingham until Charley’s ill health induced them to relocate to Weakley’s Flat near Tarro, a small community between Newcastle and Maitland.

Charley was 83 when he died in August 1951. Mary Jane passed away in January 1962 when she was 85.

Their son Geoffrey was a 20 years old student teacher when he enlisted in the Army in August 1942. He spent much time on active duty in New Guinea and rose to the rank of sergeant. He returned to Australia having been hospitalised with malaria. He took up teaching but was later admitted as a barrister. He was appointed a judge of the NSW Workers’ Compensation Court.

Maria Lattimore Maria Lattimore was 19 when she married 30 years old John Skinner (known as Jack) in March 1898 at the family home at Bungay. 200 The Skinner family were early settlers on the Manning River having moved from Bulli, a small coastal town south of Sydney where Jack was born. Jack started out as a cedar getter and later a sleeper cutter but as construction of the North Coast Railway passed through the area, he found it more profitable to be a butcher and sell meat to the workers. He opened a butchery in Wingham. The business would stay owned or part owned by the Skinner family for the next 80 years.

Jack also found time to work as an auctioneer, particularly at the local cattle sales. He would eventually hand over the butchery to his family and take up full time auctioneering.

The Skinner family were very popular in the Wingham area and took part in almost every community activity.

Jack Skinner was a well-known rugby footballer and played for various teams including the Wingham Old Boys.

Skinner Butcher Shop 1908 200

Jack and Maria lived their married lives at Wingham, mostly at the family home in Isabella Street. Jack was

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1925/1898

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probably the most involved of his siblings in public life, spending much time on boards and committees, including as president of the Wingham Parents & Citizens Association. He was a Justice of the Peace and served as an alderman on the council, being elected mayor of Wingham for many years between 1908 and 1914. No doubt Maria provided all the back up and support he would need to do all of this work.

Jack Skinner – middle row second from right

In between their social and community activities, Jack and Maria found time to produce six boys and five girls between 1898 and 1923. They named their children May, Eileen, William, John, Thomas, James, Ina, Maggie, Robert, Aubrey and Nancy.

When Jack resigned from the council in 1920 after 20 years as an alderman he was the subject of a public testimonial in front of a huge crowd of attendees where speaker after speaker praised Jack for his dedication and service and wished him and Maria every happiness and prosperity.201 Jack died in January 1942 at the age of 74. Maria followed 16 years later in February 1958 at the age of 79.

Many of the streets in Wingham are named after early or notable

201

Later Skinner Family Butcher Shop

The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer 15 June 1920, page 2

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residents. One street, near the Wingham Showground, was named Skinner Street in 1947 in honour of Jack.

Their eldest child May was 23 when she married 30 years old George Alfred Longworth in January 1922. George was a 23 years old farmer from Stewarts River when he enlisted for the First World War in January 1915. He was assigned to the 6th Light Horse regiment. While in Egypt he came down with a serious case of enteric fever forcing his return to Australia in 1916. After a few months recovering he was eager to return and was soon shipped back to Egypt. This time he managed to suffer from diphtheria and tonsillitis until he was finally laid low by malaria, resulting in another medically induced return to Australia.

May and George had seven children who were named Marie, Alan, Vera, Ina, Robert, Isabel and Enid. Enid died only a few weeks after she was born in 1939.

George managed to enlist in the Second World War in January 1941 when he was 49. He served in a local garrison battalion before his early discharge in November Maria Skinner 1942. George died at the Army hospital at Concord in April 1948 at the age of 56 having never recovered his health after his early war service. My children would later go to school in Sydney with great grandchildren of George and May, without any of us knowing we had a genetic connection through the Lattimore family.

May’s sister Eileen went to Sydney in 1918 and became a qualified teacher. She was 24 when she married 26 years old Cecil George Mason in April 1924. Cecil was a 17 years old farm hand from Wollar near Mudgee when he enlisted for the First World War in January 1916 (he put his age up to 18). He was with the 17th Battalion at Bullecourt in France when he was shot and severely wounded in his right arm. That was the end of his fighting and he returned to Australia where he was discharged in January 1918.

Eileen and Cecil had four children who they named George, John, Arthur and Alan.

Eileen’s brother William was 22 when he married 19 years old Gladys Sarah Jane Holden in April 1924, only a week before Eileen’s marriage. They had at least four children who were named Kevin, Rex, Ross and Dorothy. Ross was another infant mortality when he died in 1929.

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Trooper George Longworth

William’s brother Thomas (known as Tom) was 28 when he married 27 years old Eileen Lily McPherson in September 1933. They had two children named Thomas (but known as Andrew) and David. Tom served part time for three and a half years in the 4 th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps after he enlisted in May 1942. Tom held many civic posts in Wingham including Justice of the Peace and scoutmaster.

His brother James (known as Jim) was 26 when he married 22 years old Kathleen Brewer at the Wingham Presbyterian Church in September 1934. They had a daughter who they named Judith (but of course known as Judy). Jim enlisted in the RAAF in July 1942 and served until his discharge in August 1945.

Jack and Maria Skinner and Family

Jim’s sister Ina was 20 when she married Fred Briggs in December 1929. Fred had worked as a musician and was always in demand to perform at functions in Wingham as a pianist or organist.

He later became a pastry cook and set up his own pie and cake shop in Bent Street, Wingham.

Ina and Fred had two children who they named John and Lois.

Ina’s sister Maggie was 22 when she married 25 years old Cecil James Henry in April 1933. They had a son who was named Adrian but known to everyone as Buddy. Cecil worked in Wingham as an area agent for the sale and servicing of radio and electrical equipment, particularly AWA Radiola products.

Robert Skinner was also 22 when he married 18 years old Marjorie Elsie Northam in April 1936.

They had three children who were named Fay, Allan and Ronald. Like his brother Tom, Robert served in the 4th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps between February 1942 and September 1945.

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Aubrey Skinner was 23 when he married 18 years old Lorna May Tisdell in June 1938. They had four children. Aubrey was 97 when he died in October 2012.

His sister Nancy was 21 when she married 24 years old Edgar Ainslie Kable in January 1945.

They had both served in the Second World War and were married while still in service. Nancy enlisted in the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in August 1943. The women took over various clerical and administrative roles as well as serving as drivers and cooks so that servicemen could be released for active duty with fighting units.

Edgar enlisted in the Army in November 1940 and after four months based in Darwin he transferred to the RAAF. He re-joined the Army after 11 months and served until November 1945.

In New Guinea he served with the 2/6th Armoured Regiment against the Japanese until his return to Australia after suffering malaria. Nancy and Edgar had three children who they named Margaret (known by her second name of Joy), Peter and Lesley.

From left – Ina Mallyon, Kathleen Skinner, James Skinner, Gladys Skinner and William Skinner. From right – Alan Mallyon, Robert Skinner, Marjorie Skinner, Jack and Enid Keppie

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Eleanor Banks Lattimore Many of the children of James and Louisa Lattimore lost their married partners at an early age.

One daughter, Eleanor Banks Lattimore (who, like her cousin of the same name, was known to everyone as Nell), was 30 when she married William Ernest Walker at the Lattimore residence in Bungay in March 1910.

William’s family had long held a farm named Duckenfield at Dingo Creek. Nell went to live with William on his family’s farm. I am not aware of them having any children. William was a member of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows.

William died from influenza during the epidemic in 1919 that also claimed Eleanor’s cousin, Archibald Lattimer.202 William’s mother Caroline died from influenza in the same house only hours earlier. Other family members also caught the disease but managed to survive.

Normal seasonal influenza was still prevalent at the time the more deadly pneumonic influenza broke out. People became justifiably paranoid about any symptoms of the flu or even a cold. One local paper was not impressed when it said “We’ll be dead a long time and dead soon enough without being worried into an early grave by folk who talk ‘flu, dream ‘flu and imagine that anyone who sneezes three times has ‘flu.”203 Eleanor was a widow for the next 47 years, living at a house in Killawarra Street, Wingham for most of that time. She was 86 when she passed away in October 1966 at the Karingal Nursing Home in Manning Street, Taree where she had lived for the previous three years.

Eleanor Banks Lattimore

Sarah Ann Lattimore Sarah Ann Lattimore was 28 when she married Allan McIntyre Stewart at Bungay in 1910, seven weeks after the wedding of her elder sister Eleanor. Allan had a dairy farm called Waterfield at The Bight, a rich farming area between Wingham and Brushy Mountain.

202 203

NSW BDM Death Certificate 11690/1919 The Wingham Chronicle 18 April 1919, page 2

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Allan’s parents, like Sarah’s, were pioneers of the district. Sarah and Allan had three daughters, Grace, Janet and Mary (who was known as Mollie). Mollie had a long term ailment and needed significant care. Allan took part in local affairs and was also a member of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows and a devout member of the Free Presbyterian Church of which a few of his family members were among the clergy.

Wedding of Sarah Ann and Allan Stewart at Bungay

Allan came down with pneumonia in 1942 during a particularly strong influenza season in the district. He was expected to recover but after eight weeks he passed away in October. He was 65 years old. At his funeral the Free Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Malcolm Ramsey said: “The late Mr Stewart led a life of unflinching uprightness and strict rectitude and never descended to things base and unworthy, so that his life was an encouragement to right minded persons and a rebuke to evil-doers.”

Sarah arranged a farm clearing sale the next month. She later moved to a house in Bungay Road, Wingham. Less than a year after Allan’s death, his daughter Mollie passed away in July 1943 from her long term ailment. She was a few days short of her 18th birthday.

Sarah was 81 when she died in April 1963. She was buried with Allan at The Bight cemetery, which was appropriate as Allan had for some years been a trustee of the cemetery.

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William Henry Lattimore Sarah’s younger brother, William Henry Lattimore (known as Will), married his brother in law William Walker’s older sister, Hannah in July 1908. Will was 24 but he set his sights on 32 years old Hannah whose family lived on their holding at Duckenfield.

Will and Hannah soon made their home at nearby Cedar Party where Will spent the rest of his life working as a dairy farmer. They had four children who they named Dulcie, Frank, Mona and Clyde. Shortly after giving birth to Clyde in 1912, 37 years old Hannah died from what was known as childbed fever, leaving Will to raise his very young children.204 Hannah and Will had only been married for four years. Will’s younger sister Martha, known as Alice, moved in to help care for the children.

Willian Henry Lattimore and Hannah Matilda Lattimore

Will was 39 when he married again. His second wife was Leonie Marie Lalchere and they were married at her mother’s residence near Wingham in June 1923. Will still had a thing for older women as Leonie was his elder by six years.

Leonie’s parents, Marius and Annie Lalchere, had built only the third house in the new Sydney suburb of Fairfield. Annie, who was born in New York, later remembered when the Sydney department store Grace Bros was a single room shop with one window and when Manly was covered in bush right down to the beach. Marius, who came from Lyon in France, was 41 when

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NSW BDM Death Certificate 13466/1912

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he died suddenly in May 1888. Annie was left to raise her seven children including 10 years old Leonie.

Annie married John Redpath 18 months later. John was given medical advice to leave Sydney and live in the country. By coincidence, he relocated his family to a farm at Brookfield, a locality next door to Glen William and the former home of the Lattimore family. From there, the family moved to Wingham.

Leonie became unwell not long after her marriage to Will. She passed away on the last day of 1924 at the Dalcross Private Hospital at Killara in Sydney where she had gone for treatment.

Leonie was 46 years old.

Will took an active part in community affairs. He was a member of the local Show committee, and president of the Cedar Party Horse Race Club for many years. He was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace in 1935. He was also president of the local school’s Parents’ and Citizens’ Association for 25 years until his sudden death in July 1950 at the age of 66.

He had been in good health but soon after rising one morning he had a stroke and fell unconscious.

He passed away as he was being placed in an ambulance.

Will’s son Clyde served in the 16th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps from 1942 until it was disbanded in August 1945. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Florence Lattimore Will’s sister, Florence Lattimore, was 29 when she married 31 years old Herbert Spencer Flemming in November 1914.

They had three boys and a daughter who were named George, James (Jim), Herbert (John) and Florence (Joyce).

The couple settled on a property on Bungay Road near Bungay which they called Joyville. Here they raised Jersey cattle for both milking and breeding. Herb, as he was known, supported most activities associated with the progress of the district. He played a prominent part on the Wingham Show committee and was a strong supporter of the Junior Farmers Club. He also worked tirelessly for the local St Matthew’s Anglican Church. He was known for his outspoken but honestly held opinions.

Florence Lattimore

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Florence joined the Wingham branch of the Country Women’s Association. She was always found manning one or other of the stalls at the annual Shows. Florence also took a keen interest in community affairs and from a young age kept a record of newspaper cuttings of births, deaths and marriages in the Manning Valley. Her record is now a major resource for the Society of Genealogists and others interested in family research in the region.

Herb Flemming was ploughing his farm one day in the 1930s when he dug up an unusual object.

It was a metal breast plate known as a King’s Plate that had been given to the aboriginal “king” named Toneatie who had once been a leader of the Dingo Creek tribe. Herb was recorded as saying “The plate in question is a small one and really nothing to enthuse over.”205 Herb’s health was never great. He suffered from bronchitis and asthma and was often laid low by illness. However, with the help of his sons he built up a strong reputation for breeding first class Jersey cattle at Joyville, Herb stayed close to his younger brother Lonal (Lonnie) Flemming and his family who also lived at Bungay (the brothers had 15 other siblings).

Eldest son George enlisted for service in the Second World War along with Henry Pine who had married George’s sister Joyce in October 1943. George had been unable to get leave from his unit in New Guinea in time for his sister’s wedding but he arrived at Joyville the day his sister returned from her honeymoon.

Herb woke up about 2.30 the following morning unable to breathe properly. Florence and the family were able to ease his condition but they decided to call the doctor when he did not improve.

Herb passed away just before the doctor arrived about 5.30 am. He was 59 years old. 206 The three sons continued to run the cattle stud under the name Flemming Bros. Florence became unwell in 1952 and was taken to Sydney by Joyce and Henry Pine for an operation. Florence was 68 when she died in February 1954.

There is a road today named George Flemming Road that comes off Bungay Road near the old family property.

Gravestone of Herbert and Florence Flemming 205 206

The Wingham Chronicle 24 April 1942, page 3 The Wingham Chronicle 29 October 1943, page 3

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Emily Banks Lattimore Emily was yet another of this generation to be given a second name of Banks in honour of her grandmother Eleanor Banks who married the immigrant William Lattimore. Like others given that honour, she died early in her life.

Emily Banks Lattimore and Ethel May Lattimore standing

Emily was 29 when she married 38 years old Joseph Flemming in February 1916 in a quiet ceremony at the residence of Emily’s parents at Bungay. Jos (as he was known) had grown up in Taree where his parents ran the Steam Packet Hotel before they took up farming again at Kelvin Grove, Bungay.

Jos was an avid sportsman. In his youth he played cricket and football, fared well in running races and was a keen follower of the local horse races.

It was while living at Bungay that Jos met Emily. Jos’ younger brother Herb Flemming had married Emily’s older sister Florence 18 months earlier.

By the time of the marriage, Jos had taken up land at Comboyne about 35 km to the north of Wingham. He had already cleared most of the land for farming and built a residence. Emily quickly settled into life on the Comboyne. Their first son Robert (Bob) was born in 1917 and he was followed by Alfred (Ivan) in 1918.

Jos must have been reasonably successful at farming as he was one of the first people in the district to purchase an aeroplane. Wingham had a small aerodrome and it was here where Jos probably learnt to fly. He regularly flew his plane to Wingham where the novelty of an aircraft still

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caused people to stop what they were doing and look upwards as Jos flew in low over the town with much noise.

Jos suffered from asthma and this would hamper his health in future years. In June 1918 he was admitted to hospital in Wingham for many weeks to treat his breathing difficulties.

Emily was admitted to hospital soon after her son Ivan was born in December 1918. Her condition worsened and she died 20 days after Ivan’s birth. She was 31 years old.

Jos struggled to care for his two infant sons at Comboyne and it was with much regret he packed up and moved into Wingham where he could be closer to supporting relatives and friends. He worked for many years at the Wingham butter factory and he became known as one of the characters of Wingham. He was witty and clever and a great storyteller. He once debated whether Manning soils were better than Gloucester soils. Jos claimed that pumpkins grown in Manning soils grew as big as Bullocks. His debating partner won with the claim that a small steel file buried in Gloucester soils became a crowbar a month later.207 Jos was also famous in the district for owning a white dingo. By the 1920s dingoes were quite rare on the north coast of NSW and white ones were even rarer. Jos seemed to know where a particular pack of white dingoes lived and he exploited the rarity with a passion. One local once described the heavy Wingham frosts as being as white as Jos’ dingo.

Jos found himself back in hospital in 1926 with a bad case of pleurisy. It wasn’t only Jos who had hospital visits. His 11 years old son Bob broke an arm slipping on a wet surface at Marlee in 1928. That was the second time he had broken the same arm. Ivan was 12 when he fell from a horse in October 1929 causing some temporary spinal damage.

Perhaps the fall from the horse caused Jos a lot of anxiety as he passed away suddenly a few weeks later.

A White Dingo He was at the time living in a room at the back of his good friend Stan Murray’s house in William Street, Wingham. He had woken about 8 am on a Sunday morning and made tea with hot water given to him by Mrs Murray.

He soon complained of feeling unwell and laid down on his bed. Dr Erby was sent for. He prescribed some medicine for Jos’ heart. The medicine was obtained but had not had a chance to work before Jos passed away peacefully.

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The Wingham Chronicle 9 July 1929, page 2

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At his funeral it was said: “Everybody who knew Jos liked him. He was generous and good hearted and was prepared to give his last shilling to a worthy cause.”208 His son Ivan enlisted for service in the Second World War in August 1940. Ivan’s brother Bob was noted as his next of kin. Ivan served in the Middle East including in Syria and Palestine. He was discharged from the Army in June 1944. Bob married his first cousin, Gladys Pelley (known as Mona) who was the daughter of his mother’s younger sister Martha Alice Lattimore.

Ethel May Lattimore The next child of James and Louisa Lattimore was Ethel May Lattimore.

She was 32 when she married 33 years old Thomas Herbert Stone in September 1920. She continued a trend among her siblings of not marrying too young. Perhaps the war played a role in postponing promising unions.

The Stone family was related by marriage to the Flemming family.

I am sure there was a good reason for Thomas to be known as Darby, even if I don’t know what it was. He was a master butcher who served in the First World War as a staff sergeant in the butchery unit.

Darby and Ethel had two children, Thomas (Tom) and Peter who were born in 1925 and 1930. They lived most of their lives in Cedar Party Road, Wingham.

Peter was almost five years old when he drowned in the Cedar Party Creek where it flowed past the back of his parents’ property.

Peter and eight years old Tom had been fishing in the creek and were playing on the steep bank when Ethel May Lattimore and Martha Alice Lattimore

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The Wingham Chronicle 29 October 1929, page 3

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Peter slipped and rolled down into the creek.

Although he surfaced a number of times in the deep water, he could not swim and neither could Tom or the others who were quickly on the scene. After Peter was eventually brought out of the water, Dr Erby pronounced he was dead. 209 Darby expanded his interests to become one of the biggest cattle dealers in NSW while remaining well connected in the butchery business. No doubt he had many dealings with his butcher brother in law Jack Skinner, the husband of Ethel’s older sister Maria.

Darby had many other business interests in and around Wingham.

He owned the Five Ways Garage and workshop at the intersection of Primrose and Canget Streets, Wingham just down from St Matthew’s Anglican Church. It had been a highly successful business operated by a tenant but the tenant and his staff had all gone off to the Second World War. People used the garage to carry out vehicle and machinery repairs. A fire from the use of oxy acetylene totally destroyed the buildings in January 1943 including trucks, tractors and equipment inside the buildings.

Much of it was uninsured.

Darby was 63 when he died after falling off his horse while mustering cattle with his son Tom in December 1950. The horse had put a foot in a rabbit hole and Darby had been thrown hard on the point of his Ethel May Stone shoulder. He was grateful he had not hit his head but he suffered severe chest injuries instead. An ambulance was called but it broke down on the way. The ambulance men arrived on foot with a stretcher. A truck was found to take Darby to the Carlyle hospital at Wingham. At the hospital Darby gave instructions about dealing with the mustered cattle, little realising his injuries would prove fatal. His death was attributed to broken ribs puncturing his lungs and causing them to collapse. 210 Ethel continued on at Cedar Party Road for the next 27 years, living with her son Tom, his wife Jean and Tom’s cousin Errol. Tom enlisted for war service in the Royal Australian Navy as a seaman. He served for over three years. Ethel was 89 when she passed away in December 1977.

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The Northern Champion 24 November 1934, page 4 The Wingham Chronicle 12 December 1950, page 2

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Martha Alice Lattimore Martha Alice Lattimore was known to most people as Alice. She was also in no hurry to marry probably because at the age of 20 she went to live with her brother Will at Cedar Party to help look after Will’s four young children following the untimely death of Will’s wife Hannah. Eight years later Alice found a husband who was many years younger than her but it would be a very successful union.

Alice was 29 when she married 22 years old Herbert Charles Pelley (known as Herb) in October 1920. Her brother Will gave her away and the reception was held at Will’s residence at Cedar Party, suggesting that Alice had lived there until that time.

Herb’s family were dairy farmers from Failford on the Wallamba River further south from Wingham. After the wedding Alice and Herb settled at Failford where Herb helped out on the farm when he wasn’t delivering the local mail. He held the mail contract for the route between Failford and Krambach. Herb complained of stomach pains on and off after his marriage which sometimes stopped him from working. He was finally diagnosed with appendicitis in 1922 and had the offending organ removed.

Alice and Herb would go on to have six children who they named Doris, Madge, Una (Joyce), Gladys (Mona), Allan and Elizabeth (Beth). In 1923, the young family had relocated to Bungay where Herb worked as a dairyman. He soon took up a lease in the farming community known as the Taree Estate located on a bend of the Manning River between Tinonee and Taree.

In 1929 an epidemic of a higher toxic influenza swept through the region laying low large numbers of the population. Herb found himself failing to recover from the disease after some months. He packed the family up and took them to Port Macquarie for a month or so to get away from work and enjoy the sun and sea air. He said he gained 11 pounds (5 kg) in weight in just a fortnight (I could do that in a week). Port Macquarie at the time was full of people recovering from the flu.

Part of the Taree Estate

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In November 1935, after 9½ years at the Taree Estate, Herb took over the lease of a farm at Marlee north of Cedar Party from a family named Cross. Alice and Herb’s eldest daughter Doris later married into the Cross family.

Bert was 44 in 1943 when he decided to give up dairying. He sold off his cattle and other animals and farm items and moved the family to a residence in William Street, Wingham. He returned to his previous occupation of mail contractor. His son Allan would follow this lead and become a postmaster. In later life Herb worked as a carpenter.

Herb and Alice played key roles in the local community. Herb was a member of the Grand United Lodge and worked tirelessly for the Anglican Church and the organisations the church supported.

After Doris’ marriage in 1940, her sister Madge married Francis Robinson in 1944. Francis was a cattle dealer when he enlisted in the Army in July 1942 having previously risen to the rank of sergeant in the Citizens Military Forces. He served in New Guinea and the surrounding islands and was promoted to lieutenant.

Mona Pelley married her first cousin Bob Flemming in 1945. Despite often heard contrary views, it has always been lawful for first cousins to marry in Australia. It was not uncommon and nowhere near as dangerous to bloodlines as popularly perceived.

Joyce Pelley also married a soldier, Dallas Wright, in 1946. He served in an infantry battalion in New Guinea. Allan Pelley married a local girl from Marlee, Shirley Minns, in 1949 and his sister Beth married Noel McKeough in 1953.

Alice was admitted to the Clifton Nursing Home at Port Macquarie where she passed away in August 1972 at the age of 81. Herb was later admitted to the Karingal Nursing Home in Manning Street, Taree where he passed away in November 1974 at the age of 76. Alice’s sister Eleanor Walker had been a resident of the home eight years earlier.

Gravestone of Alice and Herb Pelley

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Alfred James Lattimore James and Louisa Lattimore’s second son, Alfred James Lattimore (known as Jim), was almost 23 when he joined a reinforcement unit for the 6th Light Horse Regiment (mounted infantry) in August 1915 to help replace the Australian soldiers that had been killed or wounded during the carnage on the Gallipoli Peninsular in Turkey since April of that year.211 By the end of December, the total number of Australian casualties at Gallipoli would reach 26,000 with over 8,000 killed.

The fair haired and blue eyed Jim named his sister Eliza as his next of kin, both his parents being long deceased. His ship arrived in Cairo in December 1915, but by this time the troops were being pulled out of the Gallipoli campaign and assigned elsewhere.

The regiment then fought in Egypt, Sinai, Gaza, Palestine and Jordan against the Ottoman forces.

In Palestine, the regiment had a supporting role in the famous Battle of Beersheba in 1917.

While in the Jordan Valley in April 1918 Jim was shot in both legs, a common injury for mounted soldiers charging heavily defended positions. He was picked up by a camel field ambulance and eventually taken to the 14th Australian General Hospital at Port Said in Egypt.

After months of therapy to treat his left leg which had turned septic, he was recommended for return to Australia and discharge. His family must have been very relieved that he had survived the war when so many had not.

He was discharged as medically unfit on 3 September 1918 at Sydney, shortly after arriving back in Australia. He and another soldier were attending a welcome return social at Taree when they felt unwell and, after Alfred James Lattimore making their excuses, they returned to the hotel where they were staying. A doctor was later called to treat them.

The doctor diagnosed their illness as pneumonic influenza which they had probably picked up in Sydney from other returning soldiers. They were isolated at the hospital and the hotel was quarantined.212 The treatment worked and they both survived.

In December 1921 Jim was best man at the wedding of his friend Edwin Blore. Two months later the 29 years old Jim married Edwin’s 19 years old sister Edith Constance Blore at St John’s 211 212

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Alfred James Lattimore - Service No B2455 Northern Star 4 April 1919, page 7

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Anglican Church, Taree. Jim’s brother Will Lattimore was his best man. The reception was held at the home of Edith’s sister Beatrice who lived with her husband on the Taree Estate. The couple honeymooned in Sydney.

I believe Jim and Edith took up a lease of a farm at Killabakh to the north of Cedar Party but it wasn’t long before they took up residence at the old family farm at Bungay. Here they would stay for the rest of their lives. They produced four children who were named Ruth, James (Jim), Ona and Donna.

Jim raised a prized dairy herd at Bungay. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Wingham Show for his Jersey cattle as well as his horses, particularly heavy draught horses. He also won prizes for porker pigs and various vegetables. Like a lot of exhibitors, he felt the pressure to donate prize money back to the Show to help with fundraising.

In 1929 Jim caught and despatched an eight foot carpet snake that had its eyes on one of Edith’s chickens. The following year Jim was driving through an intersection in Armidale when another vehicle failed to give way to him. Although both vehicles swerved to avoid each other, they collided causing some inconvenient damage but no injury. 213

Alfred Lattimore’s property in pink outline

Fundraising was a popular pastime for many people in the district. Jim was a regular donor to any worthwhile cause including the local public hospital, the Country Women’s Association and even an elderly lady who had both legs amputated. In 1940 Jim and Edith donated ₤6 towards the Build a Bomber fund (the regions were encouraged to donate the cost of new warplanes). When the light cruiser HMAS Sydney was sunk in 1941, Jim and Edith donated ₤1 towards the

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The Armidale Express 2 April 1930, page 4

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estimated ₤1,000,000 needed to replace the ship. Jim’s sister Ethel and her husband Darby donated a more impressive ₤10.

Two of Jim and Ethel’s sons in law served in the Second World War. Ona’s husband Noel Clift served from 1942 to 1944 in a motor regiment and Ruth’s husband Peter Burrows served from 1943 to 1946 in a unit responsible for the aircraft that were allocated to the Governor General and his family.

In 1949 the couple’s son, also named Jim, won a scholarship to study at the Hurlstone Agricultural High School in Sydney. Later that year Jim senior was admitted as a patient at the Carlyle hospital in Wingham where he was having “…a rather trying time.” He spent time in and out of hospital over the next few years, including time in the Manning River District Hospital in Taree in 1953.

Jim was 62 when he died in December 1954. Edith was a widow for nearly 12 years before she passed away in October 1966 at the age of 64.

Herbert Stanley Lattimore Jim’s younger brother, Herbert Stanley Lattimore (who was known as Stan), also took a very strong interest in the affairs of the Wingham area. Stan married Gertrude Mary Bird (known as Gertie) at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Wingham in November 1918. They were both 24 years of age.

Stan’s brother Jim Lattimore was best man and Port Macquarie was chosen for the honeymoon.

The Bird family was one of the oldest in the district.

Stan and Gertie worked as dairy farmers at Bungay before Stan acquired a 113 acre property at Brushy Cutting on Brushy Mountain at the top of The Bight.

Stan and Gertie raised four children between 1919 and 1927 who they named Clarice Mary, John James, Gwenneth Nellie and Sydney Raymond.

The property at The Bight (Portions 32 and 34) had previously been owned by Alex Nelson who had died in April 1925 at the age of 56. Stan and Alex had been very good friends, sharing many common interests particularly in modern techniques for vegetable growing and the Junior Farmers Club of which Stan was the long term secretary. Stan had great success in his farming pursuits following the carefully selective practices introduced by Alex Nelson. Stan also raised some of the best Jersey dairy cattle in the district, famed for the high butter fat content of their milk.

Stan and Gertie Lattimore

Stan became lifelong friends with many others in the Nelson family including Alex’s brother Jim Nelson who owned much of the farms adjoining Stan’s farm.

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By coincidence, I am descended from both the Lattimore and Nelson families although not through any connection with Wingham or the district.

My father’s mother who grew up in the Casino area in northern NSW was one of Stan’s many distant Lattimore cousins and my mother’s grandmother was a sister of the Nelson brothers. It was not until 1945 that the two families became connected by marriage in Sydney. I doubt any of the Wingham families knew of the connection. 214 Stan stayed close to his brothers and sisters who mostly lived nearby at Bungay, Marlee or The Bight. He became much involved in church affairs with his brother in law Herb Flemming. He was also on the committee for the Wingham Show. He and Gertie were regular contributors to the Show and frequently among the prize winners for their cattle and vegetables. Gertie was a long term member of the Country Women’s Association.

In January 1940, Stan bought an 80 acre property at Taree for the impressive amount of ₤5,000.

Stan died only a few months later when he was still quite young at 45. After he became very ill, Stan’s brother Jim and their wives and Gertie’s brother Cyril Bird drove Stan to Sydney where he was admitted to a private hospital. He seemed to be doing well so the others returned home after a few days. Unfortunately, Stan died suddenly the next day. At his funeral the presiding minister, the Reverend Leonard Ayscough, described Stan as: “A devoted husband and a loving father, always calm, never flurried, a man who would never hurt a fly, so gentle was his disposition.”215 After Stan’s death Gertie sold the farm at The Bight to Jim Nelson (returning it to the Nelson family where it remains today). Gertie and her two sons continued to run the dairy farm and cattle stud (known as Booroola Stud) on the Taree Estate property under the name Mrs H S Lattimore and Sons.

Two Jersey cows from the Taree property took out first and second place for the highest butter fat produced over a one year period for a cow in NSW (the winning cow produced over 7,200 litres of milk that year).

Stan Lattimore’s Headstone

Both of Gertie’s daughters moved away from the district after marrying. Her elder daughter Clarice married an Anglican minister Elwyn Keith Clarke (known as Keith) who had served as a missionary in New Guinea before and during the Second World War. Keith had at an earlier time spent a

For further reading on the Nelson family see With All Their Worldly Possessions – Glendon O’Connor 2018 215 The Manning River Times 3 April 1940, page 214

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month at St Matthew’s Church in Wingham filling in for the rector, the Reverend William GriffithCochrane.

Keith soon returned to Wingham when he was appointed the curate (assistant minister) at St Matthew’s. He remembered the attractive organist at the small church at nearby Tinonee whose name was Clarice Lattimore and he soon renewed her acquaintance. Clarice was 28 when she married 36 years old Keith in February 1948 at St Matthew’s. The officiating minister was the Reverend Walter Latham who was the rector of St John’s at Taree and a strong family friend of the Lattimores.

Clarice and Keith had two children who they named Philip and John. Keith later became rector at various parishes in the wider district including Jerrys Plains, Lochinvar and Nabiac before taking up positions in Queensland.216 Keith died in September 1993 when he was 82. Clarice was 98 when she passed away in July 2018. Their son Philip died less than a year later in June 2019 at the age of 70.

Stan and Gertie’s daughter Gwen (as she was known) made her parents proud by not only joining the Junior Farmers Club but excelling at everything she did. She habitually won prizes and awards at shows and competitions. In 1940 she was one of a handful of girls presented to the Governor and his wife in Sydney at a leadership camp for girls selected from the Junior Farmers Club around NSW. Gwen was voted Miss Manning River in 1943 as part of a fund raising contest for the Red Cross.

Her prize included a first class return trip to Sydney, staying in an elegant hotel, dinner dances at Romano’s and the Trocadero, a feature on the Cinesound Newsreel and drawing the winners in the State Lottery. The winner of the competition the following year was Shirley Bird.

Gwen married Austin Unicomb in 1947. Austin had served part time in the 4th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps with Gwen’s brother John. Both men enlisted and were discharged on the same dates. Gwen and Austin took up farming at Dapto on the NSW coast south of Sydney.

John Lattimore was 32 when he married 25 years old Valma Adams at Cundletown in August 1953.

They lived on the Taree Estate with John’s family and worked as farmers. John’s brother Syd was 31 when he married Wendy Anne Branch in July 1958. They also lived on the Taree Estate.

No 19 River Street, Taree

By 1963 Gertie had left the farm and moved to an elegant house at No 19 River Street, Taree. Gertie was 85 when she died in May 1980 having been a widow for 40 years. Her sons John and Syd continued running the stud farm.

For further reading see A Twentieth Century Australian Life – The Life of Elwyn Keith Clarke (1911-93) – John Clarke 2001 216

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Syd Lattimore was 71 when he died in September 1998. His brother John was 92 when he died in June 2013. Outliving all her siblings was Gwen who passed away at Kiama Hospital in September 2021, not long before this story was published. She was 99 years old.

Edwin Manning Lattimore Stan’s younger brother Edwin Manning Lattimore was the youngest child of James and Louisa Lattimore. He had been an invalid for many years before his early passing in August 1913 at the age of 17.

Grave of the Parents, James and Louisa Lattimore at Wingham Cemetery

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Chapter 24 – Lure of Sugar Thomas Lattimer b 1850 Married 1876 Harriet Jane Boorman b 1858 Children: Arthur Thomas Lattimer

b 1877

d 1973

96 years

Clarence William Lattimer

b 1878

d 1967

88 years

Stanley James Lattimer

b 1881

d 1951

69 years

Vera May Lattimer

b 1895

d 1992

96 years

Elsie Jane Lattimer

b 1898

d 1987

88 years

Thomas (who was better known as Tom) seems to have followed in the footsteps of his older brother William by adopting the surname spelling of Lattimer. Tom was 25 when he married 17 years old Harriet Jane Boorman in Grafton in 1876. They had five children between 1877 and 1898. 217 They also lived for many years in the Woodford Island area close to other family members.

The Clarence and Richmond Examiner published the Electoral Roll for the district on 7 September 1880 which included almost 2,000 names.

Tom was the first of the family to arrive on the Clarence River, sometime before 1876. A Thomas Lattermore was listed as living at Lower Southgate which was opposite the southern end of Woodford Island.218 He became one Sugar cane crop near Lower Southgate

217 218

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1876/2720 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 7 September 1880, page 4

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of the first to grow sugar cane on the western bank of the Clarence River.

No doubt Tom, as the first of the family to arrive at the Clarence, would have been shocked to find that the family nemesis from the Williams River, Edward Madgwick, who had left Maitland in disgrace, was now a somewhat respected citizen of Grafton, being the proprietor of the Grafton Observer newspaper.

Not long after Tom arrived at Lower Southgate, Madgwick was yet again making mischief and alienating people with his outspoken views and insidious behaviour.

In 1877 he ran a campaign in his paper questioning the acquittal of a man named Davison who had been charged with raping a 19 years old female servant. The jury had taken only five minutes to return a verdict of Not Guilty.219 Madgwick went about attacking the reputation of the judge, the jury, the prosecution and the defence lawyers and the principal medical witness for the Crown, who had examined the girl.

Madgwick claimed he was being completely impartial in his writings. The solicitors for Davison wrote an open letter stating “The files of the Observer are replete, as the public of the Clarence will know, with evidence of your ‘impartiality’.”

Lower Southgate looking towards Woodford Island across the Clarence River

The Observer would last only until 1881. Since arriving in Grafton, Madgwick had made a number of failed attempts to seek office at municipal elections. He even contested a State election for Clarence against the popular Thomas Bawden who had previously been Mayor of Grafton for 10 years and had done much to advance the district ahead of his own interests. That election contest was a disaster for Madgwick who was soundly defeated.220 He later moved to Maclean where he became a stationer. His health failed and he died in 1885 when he was 65 years old.

The wider Lattimore/Lattimer families probably heaved a great sigh of relief on hearing this news.

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 27 October 1877, page 2 “Men We Have Met”, Hazel Ford and Clarence River Historical Society Inc, 2010 and “Men and a River”, Louise Tiffany Daley 1966 219 220

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Strangely, as it happens, the Madgwick family eventually made a marriage connection with my family when a great grandson of Edward Madgwick married one of my mother’s aunts in Sydney in 1939. Until now, no-one in my family knew of the earlier troubles.

In 1884 human remains were discovered in a paddock not far from Tom Lattimer’s house at Lower Southgate. The body was much decomposed, lying face down in the grass and with all clothes undisturbed. There were no indications of violence.

A full coronial inquiry was dispensed with but a less formal magisterial inquiry was conducted at Toms’ house, given its convenient location to where the body was found.221 The coroner considered that life had been extinct for a considerable period and that death was likely due to sunstroke or intoxication (these being the more likely causes in the absence of violence). In effect, they had no idea how the person had died.

In an early example of racial profiling, the nature of the teeth examined suggested the deceased may have been a West Indian (as opposed to an African?) but otherwise no other corroborating racial characteristic could be identified.

Tom was also called upon to spend time doing jury service at Grafton Court. In a case in 1891 the accused, Henry Weller, was charged with attempting to commit suicide. The accused had opened a vein in his leg with a knife and had made statements about making away with himself. 222 Evidence was given that the accused was depressed owing to a long suffering illness. The accused made a rather incoherent statement that had little bearing on the case and, after retiring for 15 minutes, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, but with a plea for mercy.

The accused received a sentence of one month in Grafton Gaol so that he could receive appropriate medical attention.

Police Station at Brushgrove early 1900s

221 222

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 19 January 1884, page 4 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 21 November 1891, page 8

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Tom was on jury duty again at Grafton Court in 1904.223 This time the accused, Thomas Daley, was charged with malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

It was said that at Harwood the accused punched the victim in the face and hit him with a stick.

Some hours later he hit the victim again, this time with a billiard cue, which presumably was more effective than a stick. The injuries were serious and the cue was broken.

The evidence, mostly from men inebriated at the time, was often inconsistent and frequently showed the victim to be of bad character. For example, the victim was carrying a pistol which was taken from his pocket and thrown into the river. The jury took half an hour to find the accused not guilty.

By 1897 Tom and his family were still living on Woodford Island on a 57 acre farm between Elbow Creek and Roberts Creek, near Brushgrove, on either side of Roberts Creek Road. 224 The farm had a modest four room house with separate barns and stables.

Roberts Creek on Woodford Island

Tom’s farm was divided into three paddocks, all securely fenced and watered. Half of the farm was used for growing maize. At least part of the farm was not affected by the record 1890 flood.

Tom sold the farm in 1898 for ₤360.225 By 1914 Tom was living at Woodford Dale where he became known for growing potatoes.226 Like his older brother William, Tom was also active in local affairs and was a director of the Brushgrove Dairy Company.227 He was a committee member of the Brushgrove Progress Association and the Famer’s Union. 228 He does not appear, however, to have been appointed secretary to any organisation.

223 224 225 226 227 228

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 27 August 1904, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 11 January 1898, page 4 The Clarence River Advocate 22 February 1898, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 10 January 1914, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 13 February 1904, page 1 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 7 November 1903, page 5

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Tom was also a keen cricketer and played for the team from Cowper in the local competition. 229 In 1915 Tom and two of his sons made applications for the lease of Hielaman (or Heliman) Island in the main channel of the Clarence River between Brushgrove and Lower Southgate. There were a number of competing applicants. Tom said it would take two to three years to clear the land and prepare it for crop farming. One of the applicants was a recently returned soldier who had been badly shot up by machine gun fire at Gallipoli. There was much sympathy for the soldier and a clear preference he should get the lease but there were doubts he was capable of doing all of the work necessary. The Lattimers said they would withdraw in favour of the soldier and would be the first to sign up to help him clear the land. The soldier was successful in obtaining the lease and the land was cleared later that year with the help of the Lattimers and over 80 other volunteers.

About 1921 Tom moved to the Richmond River area where he settled on a sugar cane farm at Empire Vale, between Broadwater and Ballina.

Tom died at Ballina in November 1927 aged 77 from apoplexy (stroke) following a cerebral haemorrhage. Harriet had died earlier at Woodford Dale in January 1914 aged 55, after a long and severe illness.230 Harriet had a funeral barge that took her down the Clarence River to the Maclean Cemetery.231

From Maclean with Woodford Island rising on the left

Arthur Thomas Lattimer Tom and Harriet’s first child, Arthur, was married in June 1903 at the Presbyterian Church at Brushgrove followed by a reception at the Woodford Dale home of his bride’s parents, Annie Maria McFarlane.232 They were both 25 years of age. Annie was given away by one of her brothers in 229 230 231 232

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 28 November 1899, page 8 NSW BDM Death Certificates 1927/18525 and 1914/2967 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 10 January 1914, page 2 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 6273/1903

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the absence of her father who had died only a few years earlier. Arthur’s cousin William Lattimer from Woodford Dale was the best man.

The McFarlanes were well respected in the district and Annie was very popular. She was considered quite a catch for young Arthur. Among the wedding presents received was “a handsome tea service” from the Tennis Club.233 At the First Annual Autumn Flower Show and Industrial Exhibition at Brushgrove in aid of the Anglican Building Fund, Arthur donated a prize of two shillings and sixpence for the best “Writing of 16 Lines on Foolscap Paper for Boys over 12 Years.”234 You can only imagine how exciting the other prizes were.

The couple stayed on Woodford Island for many years where Arthur continued to work as a farmer.

In 1911 Arthur and his younger brother Clarence made the decision to leave the island to take up farming at Dorrigo. The decision may have been made because Annie was told her poor health was due to the climate on the river. She needed to get away from the coastal humidity and the Dorrigo district offered fresh mountain air. Arthur and Annie sold all of their household furniture, farming implements as well as their 25 cows, 80 chickens and 10 pigs. 235 On arriving at Dorrigo Arthur and Annie were employed on an existing farm. In the early 1920s Arthur purchased a property (Portion 35 Parish of Leigh) north of Dorrigo between Dangar Falls on the Bielsdown (or Beilsdown) River and the Junuy Juluum National Park.

Arthur’s Property – Portion 35 Parish of Leigh, County of Fitzroy

233 234 235

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 20 June 1903, page 5 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 9 May 1905, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 17 October 1911, page 1 and 18 November 1911, page 2

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Arthur and Annie had six children between 1904 and 1916 who were named John Thomas (Jack), Arthur William (Bill), Catherine May (May), Alexander McFarlane (Alex) and Winifred Jane (Winnie). A daughter also named Winifred had died after birth in 1908.

Arthur raised dairy cattle and pigs on the farm. He was a shareholder in the Dorrigo CoOp Dairy Company and took a strong interest in promoting the district. He built up a herd of Illawarra cattle that had been cross-bred to produce a docile, long lived cow that produced a higher than average butter fat and protein content in its milk.

Arthur and Annie had a mishap in June 1935 when a barn caught alight. The blaze was seen from the house but little could be done as there was no nearby water. A plough and a corn sheller were salvaged from the fire but the barn, 80 bags of corn and other implements were lost. None of the items were insured.

Arthur had the occasional issue with some of his neighbours over fencing. The issues were not helped by having the now defunct Glenreagh to Dorrigo Railway running through the Jack, Bill, Winnie, Alex and May Lattimer c 1919 properties. In 1936 a neighbour on the northern boundary erected a new boundary fence that included rabbit proof netting as rabbit warrens were prevalent along the river. He presented Arthur with a bill for ₤26/6s/9d being half the cost. Arthur paid ₤11 saying he was happy to pay his share for the posts and wire but considered the netting a waste of time unless you fenced off both sides of the railway which was not realistic. The local Land Board ruled in favour of the neighbour but gave Arthur three months to pay the balance.

Another dispute with a neighbour to the east arose in 1946. Arthur had given the neighbour an easement to help with access to the river and had a put a fence along the boundary of the easement. The neighbour claimed the river’s channel had widened which made access difficult.

Without permission, the neighbour pulled up the fence and relocated it further into Arthur’s property. Arthur claimed the fence was now an encroachment. He also claimed for the loss of a strand of wire that had not been reused in the relocated fence. The matter seems to have been resolved outside of the court.

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Arthur’s son Jack and his wife Elizabeth helped work the farm until they moved to the south coast below Sydney. Elizabeth was a daughter of John Williamson who was the neighbour to the south of Arthur’s property and the first settler on the Dorrigo plateau.

Arthur and his youngest son Alex ran the farm for many years but it became harder for Arthur during the war years. Jack and Alex were among the Dorrigonians who enlisted for service in the Second World War as did Winnie’s future husband Les Peake. The Peakes were also near neighbours. Jack fought in both the Middle East and New Guinea. As the troop clerk he earned the nickname Scratchy.

Bill Lattimer was 22 when he married 19 years old Ena Grace Fleming in October 1928. His sister May married in June 1939 when she was 25. Her husband was 32 years old William George Mark.

Winnie Lattimer was 29 when she married 35 years old Leslie Isaac Peake at the Methodist Church at Dorrigo in November 1946.

Arthur retired in 1946 leaving Alex to take over the running of the farm. Arthur and Annie celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in June 1953 at the home of Winnie and Les Peake.

Many relatives and friends attended. Arthur said their long life was due “… to having such an affectionate and thoughtful family and such helpful neighbours.”236

Arthur and Annie Lattimer with daughters May and Winnie

In 1955 when Arthur was about 78 he recalled an event that occurred in about 1890 when he was living with his parents on Boorman’s Farm at Lower Southgate.237 A large contingent of aborigines from the Richmond River (including “bucks” and “gins”) arrived in the area between Boorman’s Creek and Lower Southgate, carrying a large load of tribal weapons.

They were met by a similar group of Clarence River aborigines. After both sides worked themselves into a frenzy, a battle commenced and soon the air was full of flying boomerangs, throwing sticks and spears, with nulla nullas used at close quarters.

236 237

The Daily Examiner 20 July 1953, page 2 The Daily Examiner 9 December 1955

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The battle raged on and off for two days providing entertainment to the 40 or so white men who witnessed it. There was much wounding on both sides but surprisingly, no deaths. This was due to the accuracy and skill of the fighters and defenders, whose intentions were only to wound or avoid being wounded.

One white spectator was not so skilful and was hit on the head by an improbably wayward boomerang. The event marked the last great tribal battle between aborigines in the Northern Rivers district.

Annie was 84 when she died in November 1961. Arthur reached the grand old age of 96 before he passed away in September 1973.

Clarence William Lattimer Arthur’s brother, Clarence, was quite young when he became an officer in the Beacon Light Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars.238 At a time when it was popular to be a member of at least one lodge or order dedicated to good works, the Good Templars was an anti-alcohol (temperance) order having been founded in Sweden where strict alcohol policies were in place.

For centuries, beer and wine (often watered down) were the alcohol of choice for most people but during the early 1800s strong spirits, with a much higher alcohol content and cheaper, became increasingly popular.

Alcohol was blamed for nearly all social problems including unemployment, poverty, business failure, slums, insanity, crime and violence (especially against women and children). It was much easier to blame alcohol than to accept personal responsibility.

The temperance movement had a strong hold in both urban and rural Australia, where the evils of alcohol were well recognised. It also helped that people liked to wear a uniform or sport a colourful sash.

1880s Temperance Banner

When young Clarrie, as he was known, was not otherwise engaged in urging the prohibition of alcohol, he worked as a farmer. He joined his father and brother in farming at Woodford Dale. He considered leaving the district in 1907 and offered his 20 strong dairy herd (all heifers) for auction

238

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 1 May 1900, page 8

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at Brushgrove. The auctioneer said that each cow was “a top notcher”, which was apparently the highest grade in auction advertising.

Clarrie, however, may not have left the district after the auction, or if he had left, he soon returned because he married local girl Edith Maud Clark in December 1908.239 Clarrie was 28 and Edith was 24. They had one child, a son who was not born until 1914. They named him Frank Woodford Lattimer.

One Friday in December 1910 at Woodford Dale, Clarrie was thrown from the dray he was riding and had his jaw broken in two places when the dray fell on top of him. 240 He was attended by Doctors Lavery and McFarlane. This was during the time Dr McFarlane (who was probably a relative of Arthur’s wife Annie) was buying Dr Lavery’s practice at Brushgrove.

Clarrie did finally leave the district in 1911 after the auction of his household furniture, farming implements as well as his cattle, horses and poultry. 241 Clarrie and Edith relocated to Dorrigo where the cooler, less humid climate of the coastal ranges was intended to improve his ailing health. In fact, the move to Dorrigo was a few months ahead of his brother Arthur and his wife Annie doing exactly the same.

Group photo for Members of a Temperance Organisation

Clarrie leased a farm from a man named Short and he and Arthur shared the work on the farm.

After Arthur purchased his own farm near Dangar Falls, Clarrie continued to lease the Short farm for another 10 years.

239 240 241

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 9101/1908 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 20 December 1910, page 4 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 11 February 1911, page 1

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About 1932 Clarrie and Edith left Dorrigo and worked a farm at Dungowan, a settlement to the south east of Tamworth. Their son Frank married Avis Lorraine Hyslop (known as Laurie) in October 1942. He joined his parents in working the farm.

Later in the 1940s the two families moved to Tamworth, first to Ebsworth Street and later to a farming property at the northern end of Hilton Street in South Tamworth.

Clarrie was almost 89 when he died in December 1967. Edith passed away in May 1969 at the age of 85.

Stanley James Lattimer Like his older brother Clarence, Stanley Lattimer (known as Stan) became a staunch supporter of the temperance movement and also joined the Good Templars. If anything, he was more passionate about the cause than his brother. He gave speeches, wrote letters to newspapers and took part in debates about the many evils of drinking alcohol. 242 Stan also took up farming at Woodford Dale on Woodford Island, usually leasing properties from Grafton based owners. He became quite successful, winning first prizes at the 1909 Brushgrove Annual Flower Show for his swedes (Swedish turnips), butter beans, maize and potatoes.243 He had other successes at various shows in the district.244 His reputation later saw him appointed a judge at many shows.

He was also secretary of the Brushgrove Band Committee Early days at Brushgrove which suggests he could at least play a musical instrument as well as perform administrative tasks, such as organising socials at the School of Arts.245 In 1909 Stan was elected a vice president of the Woodford Dale Progress Association. 246 He was elected to the Lower Clarence Agricultural Society in 1914.

Within days of the First World War breaking out in August 1914, Stan was one of 20 people present at a meeting to decide to set up a Patriotic Fund as part of the Sydney Lord Mayor’s Fund. In the usual Lattimore/Lattimer way, Stan volunteered and was duly elected secretary of the fund.

242 243 244 245 246

Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence

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and and and and and

Richmond Richmond Richmond Richmond Richmond

Examiner Examiner Examiner Examiner Examiner

1 August 1905, page 5 13 May 1909, page 4 14 May 1914, page 2 1 July 1911, page 12 15 June 1909, page 5

Stan was a good speaker and was often called on to speak at school Empire Day celebrations and to compere fund raising bazaars and other social functions. A typical function was when the popular McKay sisters were leaving Brushgrove in 1910 to live in Sydney. Stan compered the valedictory farewell at the Woodford Dale Hall where he regretted losing the two popular sisters from the social circle of the area. The evening was full of speeches, recitations, phonographic selections, parlour games and refreshments (presumably the non-alcoholic kind).

The function, which finished with a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne, was described somewhat unsurprisingly as “one of the most successful social functions ever held in Woodford Dale.”247 Stan was 34 when he finally found time to marry 22 years old Adelaide Marjorie Fonville in Sydney in February 1915.248 Stan had met Adelaide during the few years she and her family lived in the Clarence River district. Stan and Adelaide went on to have eight children who they named Donald, Stanley (Tom), Percy (Joe), Hilton, Allan, Elsie (Jean), Beryl and Myra.

Stan continued farming on Woodford Island as a share farmer. The owners of farms who had small or no families (or a lack of sons due to the First World War), found it easier to share the farm rather than take on less reliable tenants or employees. The owner provided the land, cattle, sheep, seed, equipment and whatever else was needed and the share farmer did everything else for a share of the profits. Dairy farms, banana plantations and cane fields were very suitable for share farming.

About 1919 Stan settled on a property at Boundary Creek, Broadwater located in a peninsula of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Richmond River, 15 km or so south of Ballina. While he was at Broadwater, Stan became the largest supplier of cane to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s local mill.

CSR Sugar Mill at Broadwater 247 248

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 5 July 1910, page 2 Northern Star 24 January 1944, page 4

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Stan later moved north along the peninsula to the unusually named locality of Keith Hall, a rural farming area near the mouth of the Richmond River opposite Ballina, where he managed an 80 acre sugar farm.249 He leased or shared another sugar farm owned by the Lee family at nearby Empire Vale, not far from his aging father.250 Maize grown on Stan’s farm at Keith Hall took out first prize at the Sydney Easter Show in 1928, which was a monumental achievement causing much excitement in the region.251 This helped cement Stan’s reputation as a leading farmer in the district, known for his use of tractors and other modern equipment.

The Farmlands of Empire Vale between the Richmond River and the Coast

In the late 1920s the family packed up and left the district to take up share farming on the Peel River in West Tamworth for an owner named James Newman. By 1933 Stan had taken up as share farmer on a 330 acre farm called Meryula at Old Bonalbo, a small settlement to the northwest of Casino. The farm was owned by Norman Johnston and he gave Stan free range to help improve the pasture for the herd of Jersey and Hereford dairy cows.

Stan had long shown a keen interest in the modern science of pasture improvement. He was convinced that even the poorest of soils could be made fertile with careful management. The native and man-made pastures at Meryula were quite poor. Stan set about planting a variety of rye

249 250 251

Northern Star 30 April 1928, page 6 Northern Star 7 July 1920, page 7 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 20 April 1928, page 3

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grasses and clover interspersed with paspalum and lucerne. He also rotated various feed crops through the pastures.

After a few years the farm was entered into district and regional competitions for best improved pastures. Not surprisingly, the farm started winning high honours and soon took out trophies for best pasture. In fact, the farm won every major award in the district and regional competitions for the next eight years, except when ineligible to compete because of previous wins. The farm’s cows also won many awards at regional shows. 252 Stan received a lot of help on the farm from his sons who took on much of the heavy lifting while Stan focussed on farming methodology and promotion of the family’s reputation as state of the art farmers.

Norman Johnston, centre and Stan Lattimer on right at Meryula in 1938

Stan was 60 when he was invited to establish a Jersey cow stud on the North Pine River near Petrie to the north of Brisbane. Known as Grasmere Stud Farm, it was owned by Fred Eager who intended the farm to be the best stud for Jersey cows in Queensland and one of the best in Australia. With Stan’s help, Fred purchased the best equipment necessary and the best quality cattle from various locations to start his herd. Stan and his sons soon set about a massive pasture improvement program and a management plan for the stud.

252

Northern Star 1 October 1938, page 8

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Stan later took on other projects for Fred Eager at Neurum and Woodford to the north. Stan and Adelaide’s daughter Jean was only 21 when she died in 1944. She had never enjoyed the best of health but her death was still unexpected.

Stan’s involvement with Fred came to an end in November 1949 when Fred died after a long illness.

Stan did not last that much longer. He was 69 when he died in February 1951. Adelaide was a widow for the next 22 years before she passed away in March 1973 at the age of 80. After Stan’s death she spent the rest of her life in Caboolture.

Two of their sons enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War. Hilton signed up in July 1942 and Allan followed a few months later. Both became leading aircraftmen.

Vera May Lattimer Vera was the first daughter of Tom and Harriet Lattimer. She grew up on the farms on Woodford Island and followed her parents to the cane farm at Empire Vale south of Ballina in the early 1920s. It was here she met Percy Robert Fuller who, with his father Robert and brother Sherid (with that spelling), also worked a cane farm.

Percy was living at Grafton when he enlisted in the army in the First World War in February 1916 at the age of 27. He was sent to France to reinforce the 45 th Battalion which was part of the 4th Division. He was shot in the thigh in May 1917 but recovered and re-joined his unit in time for the fighting in Belgium around Ypres. He suffered from severe shell shock after the disastrous Battle of Passchendaele in October 1917 from which he was slow to recover. He returned to Australia where he was discharged in March 1919. He was one of the lucky ones as the Division suffered casualties of over 12,000 dead and 27,000 wounded.

Passchendaele after the battle

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On his return, Percy took up farming with his family at Argents Hill near Bowraville, west of Nambucca. The family soon moved to Empire Vale. Vera was 29 when she married 36 years old Percy in August 1925 at the Methodist Church in Ballina. 253 Vera’s father was on hand to give her away. Vera’s sister Elsie was bridesmaid and Percy’s older brother William was his best man.

Percy and Vera set up house on a cane farm at Keith Hall, possibly close to where her brother Stan set up his share farming enterprise (or they may have taken over Stan’s enterprise). The early days were easy but were about to become very difficult. Sherid’s eight years old daughter passed away in 1928 causing much grief to the families. The Great Depression started to bite in the late 1920s and was in full swing in the early 1930s. To make matters worse, a plague of black root beetle attacked the cane crops at both Empire Vale and Keith Hall causing serious destruction.

Vera and Percy had two children who they named Elsie (but known as Margaret) and Gwenda who were born in the 1930s. Despite raising her two daughters and helping with the farm, Vera found time to join the Country Women’s Association, the South Ballina Parents and Citizens and the Ballina Methodist Ladies Church Aid Society.

Vera May Fuller on right with her niece Winifred Peake (nee Lattimer)

Vera was a fine needleworker and was known for her embroidery and clothes making. For many years Vera and the girls made dolls and toys from new and scrap felt and other material with purchased doll and animal faces which they donated to the local radio station 2LM to give to sick

253

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 11511/1925

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and crippled children in hospital at Christmas. Interestingly, the dolls and toys were stuffed with dried seaweed.

When Margaret turned 18 in 1949 there was a big birthday party held at Vera and Percy’s house for friends and relatives. An even bigger party was held for Margaret when she turned 21 in 1952.

In addition to friends and relatives there were members of the local ping pong club.

Vera and Percy retired from farming in the mid-1950s and moved to a house in Ballina. Percy was 71 when he died in May 1960. Vera was a widow for 32 years before she passed away in September 1992 at the age of 96.

Elsie Jane Lattimer Elsie may have been the youngest child of Tom and Harriet Lattimer but she was the oldest in age when she married. She stayed very close to her sister Vera and likely lived with her at Keith Hall after the death of their father in 1927. For a time around 1930, Elsie lived in Sydney but soon returned to Keith Hall.

Elsie married Hugh Keir Burns (also known as Hugh Kerr Burns) in April 1935. 254 They were both 37 years of age. Hugh was a Scot who had immigrated to Australia with his two older brothers.

For obvious reasons Hugh was known as Scotty.

He found his way to the farming community at Binna Burra near Bangalow to the south west of Byron Bay where he worked as a farm labourer. He had only just turned 18 when he enlisted in the army in the First World War in October 1916. Originally taken in as a reinforcement to the

Scotty Burns is in the back row, second from the right 254

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 9827/1925

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4th Pioneer Battalion, he was sent to England for training and was then assigned to the 2 nd Divisional Trench Mortar Battery. He saw many major battles in the last year of the war.

Scotty returned to Australia and was discharged in September 1919. A welcome home function was held for him and others at Binna Burra two days after his discharge. He later worked at Greta near Newcastle as a coal miner. His father George had worked as a coal miner in Scotland. Scotty was soon back working at Wollongbar near Lismore before taking up employment at the CSR sugar mill at Broadwater where he worked as a winchman. From there he found work on various cane fields in the district.255 It was on one of those cane fields he met Elsie. Like her older brothers, Elsie had signed on to the Good Templers and was a keen supporter of the temperance movement. 256 At least her brothers would have no problem calling her Sister Elsie at the temperance meetings. Presumably Scotty was not much of a drinker either.

Scotty decided as a married man he needed to seek more secure employment. He joined the staff of the Tick Control Board which was charged with the job of controlling and eradicating cattle ticks in NSW. These ticks found their way to Australia from Indonesia in the 1870s. By the 1920s cattle from Queensland had brought ticks into NSW where they flourished in the rich pastures.

The ticks caused fever in cattle resulting in the deaths of millions of animals.

Tick gate inspectors were often returned servicemen. After a short time at Coutts Crossing, Scotty and Elsie were relocated to the control gate at Milleara near Half Way Creek on the Grafton to Woolgoolga Road. They later spent many years manning the gates at Whiporie between Grafton and Casino before taking over the gates at Woodburn on the Clarence River further upstream from Broadwater in 1954.

Gravestone of Scotty and Elsie Burns

255 256

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I am not aware of how many children Scotty and Elsie had but I do know they had two daughters who they named Heather and Daphne. The family regularly visited and stayed with the Fullers at Keith Hall. Scotty and Elsie spent some time at Maclean before retiring to Evans Head.

Scotty had just turned 72 when he died in October 1970. Elsie passed away in May 1987 at the age of 88.

Tick Gates on the border between Coolangatta and Tweed Heads

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Chapter 25 – Legacy of Eden Eden Banks Lattimore b 1852 Married 1871 James Hancock b 1852 Children: Ellen Hancock

b 1871

d 1956

84 years

George Hancock

b 1873

d 1958

84 years

Priscilla Ann Hancock

b 1875

d 1964

89 years

Thomas Hancock

b 1876

d 1961

84 years

Frank Hancock

b 1878

d 1959

80 years

Frederick James Hancock

b 1880

d 1968

87 years

David Hancock

b 1882

d 1980

98 years

Agnes Elizabeth Hancock

b 1884

d 1988

103 years

Jane Hancock

b 1886

d 1974

88 years

Elsie Minnie Hancock

b 1888

d 1982

94 years

Arthur James Hancock

b 1890

d 1973

83 years

Stella Banks Hancock

b 1892

d 1981

89 years

Gertrude Hancock

b 1894

d 1987

93 years

Hilda Rose Hancock

b 1897

d 1976

79 years

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Eden Banks Lattimore, just like her older brother William, married into the neighbouring Hancock family at Glen William. Her husband was James Hancock, who was a brother of Eden’s sister in law Elizabeth as well as a brother of Eden and William’s step mother Mary. It takes a while to get your head around the relationships. It’s fair to say the families were very close.

The Royal Mail Coach from Maitland

Eden and James, who were both 18, married at Glen William in 1871 in a joint wedding ceremony with her brother James Lattimore and his wife Louisa Ford.257 Not only did they have their wedding day in common with James and Louisa, Eden and James Hancock also went on to have 14 children who they produced between 1871 and 1897.

Unlike all of her brothers and sisters, Eden stayed in the Williams River area so that her husband could be close to other members of the Hancock family. Most of their children were born at Glen William, while others were born at the downstream property Millbrook and at the upstream property Brookfield.

James’ mother Priscilla was 80 when she died during an influenza epidemic that hit the district in December 1891 (a forerunner of the much worse epidemic that was to come in 1919). 258 Somewhat extraordinarily, Priscilla had appointed her daughter in law Eden in her Will as the sole executrix of her estate, even though she had eight grown up children of her own including four sons, the youngest being Eden’s husband, James.259 This would suggest that either Eden was the only one in the family who was sufficiently literate or she had taken on a leading role of that generation of the Hancock family.

257 258 259

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1871/2004 The Maitland Mercury 24 December 1891, page 6 The Sydney Morning Herald 24 December 1891, page 1

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Like many fellow settlers, James Hancock was keen to acquire property in the district. In 1885 he purchased 130 acres of bushland in the Paterson area for potential development. 260 James operated a coach business, along with other members of the wider Hancock family, including Thomas Hancock. One of the main competitors to the family coach business was the Fry family. The two were often in fierce competition for the Royal Mail coach runs between Maitland and Dungog.

James seems to have had a clear sense of public duty and he was keen to enforce a strong moral code in the community. Or he was looking for ways to intimidate his competitors.

In 1882 he prosecuted William Croker in the Police Court at Clarence Town for using abusive language on a public road.

It was claimed that while he was with George Ford, James was yelled at by Croker and called “a bloody thing”, “a bloody liar” and “a bloody monkey”.

Croker was likely a driver of an opposition coach.

He was found guilty and fined ₤2 plus court costs.261

Advertisement in The Maitland Mercury 1893

James was also reported as having prosecuted his competitor, George Fry, in 1888 at the Police Court at Gresford for also using abusive language on a public road. Fry was found guilty and fined ₤1 plus court costs.262 Interestingly, both George Fry and James Hancock later received licences to operate public coaches from the Paterson Licensing Court on the same day in 1889. 263 You can only imagine what the competition was like between them for passengers.

One traveller from Maitland to Dungog was Frank Lemon, a travel writer, who made the trip in 1880. He chose the mail coach for the trip and booked it before he had breakfast. He later wrote: “But before breakfast was over, the opposition coach, having scented a passenger, was at the door … Then he buttonholed me, and poured into my ear such a torrent of entreaty and argument, and persuasion, and piteous appeal, to induce me to travel by his coach, that I came near giving him the amount of the fare to leave me alone.

The amount of bitter animosity which exists between the proprietors of these two coaches is most extraordinary. It is by no means uncommon for one man, finding 260 261 262 263

The The The The

Maitland Maitland Maitland Maitland

Mercury Mercury Mercury Mercury

27 August 1885, page 3 17 June 1882, page 8 11 October 1888, page 6 5 October 1889, page 2

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passengers engaged to travel by the other coach, to come up a quarter of an hour earlier and carry them for nothing, rather than allow the other man to have the custom and for the two drivers to meet the down train at East Maitland station and openly abuse each other…”264 Mr Lemon failed to identify which coach operator he booked with.

The Plough Inn at Paterson

James looked to expand his coach business. He secured the mail contract from Paterson to Gresford in 1888.265 He also looked for business opportunities in the prosperous timber industry.

James and his friend George Ford once prosecuted three brothers for unlawfully destroying timber on their jointly leased property. The brothers worked for a timber miller named James Flannery who claimed to have had a deal with George Ford to remove and pay for timber on certain land.

However, it was claimed that timber was also unlawfully taken from other land adjoining the agreed land. The brothers were found guilty but the fine was only one shilling, which suggested the magistrates were not impressed with the prosecution. 266 Land dealings in and around Clarence Town were common but were often very poorly documented and this led to many disagreements and court actions. James Hancock had a fair share of such actions.

In 1885 James signed a three year lease of a three acre paddock from near neighbour, Robert Campbell at an annual rent of ₤20. James in turn gave an unsigned one year grazing right to Alfred Atkinson for ₤10 with an option to continue for a longer period.267 A timber mill operator, the same James Flannery, asked Campbell if he could lease the paddock so he could build and operate a sawmill on it. Campbell was quite happy to do this because the rent would be a lot higher, but James Hancock would have to give up his lease first. Other people also claimed to have a lease or interest in the paddock.

264 265 266 267

Australian Town and Country Journal 4 September 1880, page 18 The Maitland Mercury 4 February 1888, page 3 The Maitland Mercury 15 May 1883, page 5 The Maitland Mercury 17 June 1886, page 8

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James responded that he now had no interest at all in the paddock and was happy to hand it back to Campbell but as Atkinson had a grazing right and had improved the grass on the paddock, James would not turn him out.

Flannery, with Campbell’s agreement, then cut the locking bolt on the fence, took possession of the paddock and locked Atkinson out.

James took an action for trespass against each of Flannery and Campbell.

Judge Wilkinson in the Maitland District Court said that in matters such as Atkinson’s grazing right, the defendant Flannery “treated things as mere cobwebs that could be swept away.”

He found in favour of James in both cases.

While living at Millbrook, James became fully involved in the timber industry including the management of a timber mill in Clarence Town under a lease from a man named Ellis. In 1892, James supplied his own timber to the mill and was owed the considerable sum of ₤960 from Ellis. When Ellis could not meet the payment James agreed to run the mill without paying rent to Ellis until the timber was paid for.

James Hancock

During this time, Ellis assigned his estate to creditors to fend off bankruptcy. One of the creditors, Joseph Windross, claimed possession of the mill. James refused to surrender possession until Ellis had settled his debt.

After employees of Windross turned up at the mill and removed some essential property (two mill belts) which James claimed he owned, James had Windross and his employee Ernest Metcalfe charged with stealing but the charges were later dismissed when Windross showed that he had some documentary justification for removing the property.268

A typical NSW Timber Mill 268

Windross, who had been appointed a Justice of the Peace and a magistrate only a week before the incident, and his employee Ernest Metcalfe, sued James for malicious prosecution. The same

The Maitland Mercury 24 December 1892, starting at page 6

168

District Court Judge Wilkinson said there were “very great difficulties in connection with the case, the evidence being absolutely contradictory.”

The judge intimated that the magistrates may have erred in dismissing the stealing charges against Windross and Metcalfe but he would not express an opinion. After hearing the judge’s comments, Windross and Metcalfe decided not to proceed with their cases and they agreed to pay most of the costs involved.

Near Millbrook between Clarence Town and Glen William

It was unlikely James was ever paid by Ellis and this debt was the major cause of James himself being made bankrupt later in 1893 when his property was officially assigned to his creditors. 269 At his public examination in the Bankruptcy Court in February 1894, James said that Ellis’ trustees continually promised to pay James a major part of the outstanding debt “but he had not received a single penny.”270 In 1916 Eden and James were living at Crooks Park just south of Dungog on the rich alluvial plains next to the Upper Williams River.271 James had largely given up on the timber industry, particularly as the best timber was now largely depleted. He had taken up dairy farming instead.

269 270 271

The Maitland Mercury 18 November 1893 page 7 The Maitland Daily Mercury 24 February 1894, page 4 National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Arthur James Hancock - Service No 2793

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He was working for a local man named Hooke in June 1925 when Eden became extremely ill and was admitted to hospital. Her prospects of recovery appeared to be poor.

James himself had not been well for some years, occasionally suffering from an agonising pain below his heart. The thought of losing his wife may have been too much for James. His body was found by a neighbour with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.272 He was 73 years old.

Eden, however, recovered from her serious illness and lived for another five years.

James may not have been the best of husbands. He had a temper and could be violent. For many years he had a habit of excessive drinking. It was known that Eden had more than once left home to live with her children and that James had come off worse after a severe fight with one of his sons. James seemed to have settled down in later life.

As a widow, Eden lived with her youngest child Hilda on a farm at Seaham, according to the Australian Electoral Roll for 1930. Eden died from heart disease and senility at a private hospital in Dungog in February 1931 at the age of 78.273 The local paper reported: “The late Mrs Hancock was typical of the wonderful womanhood of earlier days and devoted her life to her husband and family. Six sons and eight daughters mourn the loss of a good and loving mother.”274 By the time of her passing, Eden had 47 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and at least one great great grandchild.

One of Eden’s sons managed to get mentioned (without being named) in a local paper in 1893: “An accident of a very serious nature occurred to a young son of Mr James Hancock, on last Wednesday afternoon.

It appears he was out with his brother drawing timber, and whilst in the act of putting on the brake he slipped and fell under the wheel, which passed over him.

How he escaped instant death is a miracle, as the truck at the time was loaded with two piles.

Dr Herbertz was quickly in attendance, and upon examination found the patient was suffering from a fracture of the skull as well as other bodily injuries. Up to the present there is very little change, and the doctor considers the case a very serious one.”275 Eden Banks Hancock 272 273 274 275

NSW BDM Death Certificate 15093/1925 (but with the surname Hancook) NSW BDM Death Certificate 1931/3118 The Dungog Chronicle 24 February 1931, page 2 The Maitland Mercury 6 April 1893, page 6

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The son must have recovered well because of the six sons of James and Eden, the youngest to die was Frank who lived to be 80.

Ellen Hancock James and Eden’s eldest child, Ellen Hancock (who was known as Nellie), was only 16 when she married 21 years old Edwin Ernest Gorton (who was known as Ern) in October 1888. They had four children between 1889 and 1898 who they named Ettie, Jimmy, Fred and Olive. Jimmy died in 1897 when he was only six years old. A fifth child was born in 1901 but did not live long after birth.

Ern was apprenticed as a saddle maker and leather worker at Dungog when he was 13. He later took up saddlery work at Clarence Town where he and Nellie lived after their marriage. In about 1890 the family moved to Nabiac where Nellie and Ern became immersed in the local community.

Nellie and Ern Gorton

Over the years, Ern became secretary of the Wallamba River Progress Committee, secretary and president of the Nabiac School of Arts and lodge master of the Nabiac GUOOF. Nellie was secretary of the lodge. She also helped establish the Nabiac Ladies Auxiliary of the Manning River District Hospital at Taree.

Nellie was a talented gardener and cook. She regularly entered exhibits in the local annual shows at Nabiac, Wallamba, Bulahdelah, Tuncurry and Cape Hawk. She was especially proud of her roses and dahlias and won many awards. She was often called on to be a judge at the shows for exhibits of cut flowers, cookery and preserves.

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Ern was held in such high regard that he was appointed the first Justice of the Peace for Nabiac.

This was not surprising as he had previously served on so many juries that he became very familiar with the workings of the court. Now he presided over the usual types of criminal cases brought before him including charges of drunkenness, assault, indecent assault, stealing, shooting, indecent language and riotous behaviour. He also dealt with the many disputes that people in the district managed to have with their fellow citizens.

Nellie and Ern’s daughter Olive married James Murray in 1916. James was only 27 when he died from pneumonia in July 1924 leaving Olive and two young children to be looked after by Nellie and Ern. Ern’s boot and saddlery shop was set up at the back of his house in Nabiac. He had no need to advertise as everyone knew where he worked and he was always very busy. He was still making and selling leather work, mainly boots and shoes, when he was 83. He did later put a sign up out the front but only because a lot of new people were moving into the area.

A fire broke out in June 1929 in the millinery and dressmaking shop next door. The shop and its contents were completely destroyed. Nellie and Ern were thankful that only their fernery and some fencing were consumed by the adjoining fire.

The burnt shop was in fact owned by Tom Priestly who was Nellie and Ern’s son in law, having married Ettie in 1909.

Nellie’s brother Dave Hancock had the shop on the other side of the burnt shop but he was spared any damage.

Nellie was 84 when she passed away in September 1956.

Ern died in June 1959 when he was 92.

Nellie Gorton in later life

George Hancock Nellie’s brother George Hancock left the Dungog district as a young man. He made his way to Casino on the far north coast of NSW where he found work as a labourer, working mainly for the local municipal council in the parks and gardens.

George was 29 when he married 27 years old Catherine Margetts in December 1901. Catherine was known to everyone as Cate. She was a daughter of the Casino court bailiff George Margetts who, despite his occupation, was a popular person in the town and a long-time patron of the School of Arts.

George and Cate had a daughter named Edith in August the following year. Tragedy struck soon after when, despite the best endeavours by Dr Rutherford at the local hospital, Cate passed away in March 1903. She was only 28.

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George later met Queenie Cox (actually Elizabeth Emma Cox) who was a daughter of George Cox, a well-respected farmer from Tomki, a prosperous rural settlement on the Richmond River to the east of Casino. As will become apparent later in this story, other members of the wider Lattimore family also lived in Casino and Tomki and it may well be due to those connections that George met Queenie.

They married in April 1905 when George was almost 32 and Queenie was 25. The ceremony took place at the family farm at Tomki. The large number of guests enjoyed brilliant autumn weather.

Queenie moved in with George at Casino and settled down to raising a family of her own.

George and Queenie had at least six children between 1906 and 1918 who they named Ruby, Violet, Myrtle, Myra (Beatrice), Herbert (Allan) and Victor. By 1913 the family was living in a house in Swamp Street. For some reason the street was renamed Johnston Street in the 1920s and is now part of the Bruxner Highway.

Queenie was 62 when she passed away early one morning in July 1942. Her service at St Mark’s Anglican Church in Casino was so well attended that many could not get near the church. There were over 60 cars in the procession. The minister commented that the huge number of people in attendance clearly showed the high esteem people had for Queenie. Among the 75 wreaths were ones from many lodges, clubs and community organisations as well as the local council.

George was cared for by his family, in particular his two daughters Myrtle and Beatrice. Myrtle left the family home in 1954 after she married James Tripp but Beatrice stayed on looking after her father until his death in April 1958 at the age of 84. Beatrice, who was 43 when her father died, never married.

Queenie Hancock and her daughter Violet

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Beatrice’s younger brother Victor served in a garrison battalion during the Second World War engaged in home duties. He left the army in 1945 with the rank of sergeant. His brother in law Reg Grace, who married Victor’s sister Violet in 1937, also served part time during the war. Violet passed away in 1964 when she was only 54. Victor married Daphne Davis in 1941. His brother Allan had married only the year before. His wife had the excellent name of Mavis Davis but I don’t believe she was a sister to Daphne. The eldest sibling Ruby Hancock had married James Robertson way back in 1926.

Priscilla Ann Hancock The third child of James and Eden Hancock was Priscilla Ann Hancock. She was known to everyone as Annie. When Annie was 26, she married 27 years old Scottish born John Whittington Skillen (who was unsurprisingly known as Jock). The marriage took place at Lyndhurst Vale near Dungog in April 1901.

Annie had known the short and stout Jock for four years before their marriage and she knew he had a reputation for being a hard drinker.

Jock had once tried to commit suicide in 1890 when he was 16 while heavily under the influence of alcohol. He was given a 12 month good behaviour bond as attempted suicide was a crime. He narrowly escaped death in the great 1893 flood when the horse he was riding was washed away while he attempted to cross the swollen Myall Creek.

Annie married Jock on condition he would give up the drink, which he did, at least for a few years. A child, who they named Jean, was born in 1902 but she would be their only child.

By 1906 Jock was well and truly back on the drink. Although he tried hard to stop drinking and never ill-treated Annie, he gradually grew worse and frequently failed to provide support for his family. Annie was left to take in boarders and sell cakes and jams to make ends meet. Annie finally had enough and divorced Jock in 1912 when she was 37.

Annie Skillen

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Jock managed to survive until he was 75 when he died in Dungog Hospital in August 1949. He had been admitted after breaking a small bone in his foot. He had been a patient at the hospital many times previously.

Annie never remarried. She was a popular family member and well loved. She later moved to Sydney and then to New Lambton near Newcastle where she lived with her daughter Jean and her husband Stan Fisher. She returned to Dungog in later life. She was 89 when she passed away in February 1964.

Dungog in the 1920s

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Thomas Hancock Annie’s brother Thomas Hancock does not appear to have married. In his early twenties Tom worked as a farm labourer in the Brookfield area north west of Glen William with his younger brother Fred, possibly on the family farm.

By 1925 when he was 49 he was working as a barman at the Central Hotel at Stroud where his younger brother Frank was the licensee. He returned to the Dungog area and continued working as a labourer.

By 1949 he had retired on his own to the small village of Largs on the north eastern outskirts of Maitland. He was 84 when he died there in February 1961.

Frank Hancock Tom’s brother Frank followed in the steps of his father in the mail coach business. Frank moved to Kempsey where he won the mail contract between Kempsey and Port Macquarie and to other locations.

Frank became known for the quality of his coach horses but he also raised horses for racing. He was one of the more successful race horse owners in the district.

He had taken his time to find the right lady to be his wife. He was 35 when he married 29 years old Florence May Atkinson at West Kempsey in April 1914. Within a month, the couple relocated to Stroud where Frank became the licencee of the newly rebuilt Central Hotel. All of their four children were born at Stroud. They were named David, Betty, Lorna and Kitty and they were born between 1916 and 1921.

Central Hotel at Stroud

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Frank may have left the running of the hotel to Florence because he continued with the business of mail delivery. In 1915 at a time when motor vehicles were starting to take over mail deliveries, Frank was awarded the contract to deliver mail by coach between Kempsey and Wauchope six days a week, possibly in addition to the Port Macquarie work. The roads were not suitable for motor vehicles. The contract lasted until 1917 when the north coast railway finally arrived in Kempsey. Frank then relinquished the contract and sold off all of his horses, carriages and other equipment.

He continued to enter his race horses in events around the district. As his horses retired, he made extra income by putting them out to stud.

Frank and Florence ran the hotel at Stroud until 1927. They then relocated to a hotel at Nemingha, four miles to the east of Tamworth. The town may have been small but the hotel was at the crossroads of the two major roads to Tamworth from the coast.

Nemingha Hotel

An excellent article appeared in the Macleay Argus on 20 January 1948 covering Frank’s early life: “One of the Kings of the Road of the coaching days of 40-50 years ago, Mr Frank Hancock is back on a return visit to Kempsey after an absence of 30 years….Few men were more widely known on the Central North Coast 40 years ago than Frank Hancock. As one of the pioneers of early day coaching, bringing the mails and passengers traffic north, Frank had as many as sixty horses in his Kempsey stables.

No he never used the Cobb & Co style of coach – it was not big enough for the loads he had to transport. Four, five and six in hand teams for his drags, as the big passenger coaches were then termed, were frequently used on his lines…. Frank had first the Gloucester to Taree run; later extensions were Taree to Port Macquarie to Bellingen via Kempsey. He then made Kempsey his headquarters and in turn had stables at the Royal Hotel, the Commercial (now known as Tattersall’s) and the Victoria (known as the Hotel Kempsey).

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Frank bred and broke most of his own horses… He invariably had a race horse for nomination at district meetings. In later years Frank Hancock went into hostelry interests, and it is not so long since he disposed of his freehold interest in Stroud Hotel to Mr Priddles.

Frank and Mrs Hancock are now living in retirement at Wallsend, having over nearly half a century served the North Coast admirably.”

The story was considered very topical for people living along the North Coast and it was republished in most of the regional newspapers.

For a time in the late 1930s, Frank ran the Terminus Hotel in Newcastle before he and Florence moved to Wallsend where he took up work as a carrier. They spent their remaining years in their house in Muruin Street, Wallsend.

Their daughters, Betty and Lorna, married their respective husbands in 1940, Betty to Frank Robbins and Lorna to Robert Foley. Their older brother David had married Helen Dennis the year before. Kitty followed suit in 1942 when she married Neville Tickle. After their marriage both Kitty and Neville enlisted for service in the Second World War. Neville served in an armoured regiment that deployed Matilda tanks to support infantry battles mostly in New Guinea and Borneo.

Kitty served as a signals operator in a unit responsible for anti-aircraft and coastal artillery operations as part of the Australian defences.

Lorna’s husband Robert Foley was killed in February 1949 when a wall of stone fell on him at a colliery in Stockton near Newcastle. Frank and Florence were on holiday at Kempsey at the time. Lorna became a widow for 66 years until her passing in January 2015 at the age of 95.

Frank was 80 when he died at Wallsend in June 1959.

Florence passed away less than 12 months later in March 1960 when she was 75. All of their children lived well into their 80s or 90s, possibly confirming that growing up in a country hotel may not have harmed their health.

Kitty Tickle’s wedding announcement

Frederick James Hancock Frank’s younger brother Frederick James Hancock worked as a labourer at Lyndhurst Vale near Glen William before heading further north until he settled on a property at Bonalbo, a small settlement north west of Casino. New sawmills had arrived in the area in the early 1900s chasing the insatiable demand for good timber. People like Fred could buy or lease a pastoral property, sell the timber on the property to a nearby sawmill and then have enough capital to establish a farm on the cleared land. Fred became a grazier of beef cattle. He also later operated his own sawmill.

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Fred’s property was on Duck Creek which, despite its name, is a significant tributary to the Clarence River. A new settlement was soon established a bit further south. As the new settlement was also called Bonalbo, the former settlement unsurprisingly became known as Old Bonalbo.

Fred spent the rest of his life on his property at Old Bonalbo. He named the property Clover Park.

Fred was 33 when he married 27 years old Mary Maud Mulvena at Casino in May 1914. Mary’s father John Mulvena was born at Glen William and the Mulvena family was well known to the Hancock family. John Mulvena settled in Casino where he became a coach builder and blacksmith. For a time he served on the local council.

Fred and Mary had at least three children who they named Doris, James and Lorna. James and his sister Lorna’s husband William Lovitt both served in the Army during the Second World War. Fred died in May 1968 when he was 87. Mary passed away in August 1977 when she was 90.

David Hancock The next child of James and Eden Hancock was David Hancock. Dave, as he was known, also followed in the coaching business, at least for a time. In 1907 he was working as a coach driver for Cobb & Co on the Taree to Coffs Harbour route.

Not long after he turned 30 Dave took up residence at Nabiac where his older sister Ellen (Nellie) had settled with her saddle and shoe making husband Ern Gorton. Like Ern, Dave became a retailer. He opened a drapery business in the village in 1911 selling mostly men’s and boys’ clothing, frocks, blankets, coats, cardigans and women’s shoes. Dave built his own store almost next door to the Gortons. He expanded the store over the following years. The store was once described in newspaper reports as “The emporium of genial Dave Hancock.”

In September 1915 when he was 33, Dave married a 25 years old local girl named Elizabeth Cameron Wallis who everyone knew as Lizzie. They went on to have seven children who they named Doris, Joyce, Percival, Enid, Linda, Kenneth and Bruce. Enid died in December 1926 when she was five years old. She had been perfectly well before an unknown illness caused her parents to have her examined by a local doctor. Enid suddenly expired while the examination was taking place. At her funeral the minister said it was the saddest case he had seen since his arrival on the Manning.

Dave became heavily involved in community affairs. He was elected chairman of both the Primary Producers’ Union and the Junior Farmers Club as well as president of the Parents and Citizens’ Association. He was a regular exhibitor and judge at the Nabiac shows. He was a warden at the local Anglican Church where Lizzie played the organ. He was very happy when his niece Clarice took up residence in the rectory with her husband the Reverend Keith Clarke in 1952.

Dave Hancock

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The first electric lighting arrived in Nabiac in 1928. Dave had a small power house built at the back of his store which provided electricity to nine buildings in the village (75 lights). Lizzie’s mother Elizabeth

ceremoniously turned off the old gas lighting and Lizzie turned on the new electric lighting.

Lizzie died in November 1972 at Nabiac hospital when she was 82. Dave later moved to Sydney and lived at an aged care facility at Hammondville. He was 98 when he passed away in August 1980.

96 years old Dave Hancock telling his stories at a Preschool in 1979

Their son Percy served in the 8th Field Company of the Royal Australian Engineers and spent time in the fighting in Borneo. His brother in law Ivor Rowe, who had married Percy’s sister Joyce, was taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. Like Percy’s cousin Clarrie Lattimer, Ivor was liberated from a labour camp in Japan. In Ivor’s case, his POW camp was at a major coal mine near Omine in the north of the Japanese island of Kyushu. He travelled the last leg of his journey home from Manilla to Sydney on a flying boat. Joyce served in the war as a nurse in the Army Women’s Medical Service.

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The old store at Nabiac still stands today as do most of the town’s historic buildings. For a time long after Dave had left, the store was the Amish County Store run by the only Amish Mennonite family then living in Australia. More recently the store has been an outlet for the sale of tourist type inventory. As the store is next door to Nabiac Creek, it was always somewhat prone to flooding, something Dave Hancock accepted as a small price to pay for the benefits of living in the village.

Agnes Elizabeth Hancock Dave’s younger sister Agnes Hancock was 22 when she married 20 years old William Stanley Atkins in November 1906. Everyone knew Agnes as Doll and William as Stan. They had six children between 1907 and 1919 who they named Muriel, Geoffrey, Clive, Dorothy, Linda and Stanser.

Stan worked in the grocery section of the general store at Dungog known as Dark’s Arcade. The store had been set up by a son of Stephen Dark, the auctioneer from Clarence Town and good friend of William Lattimore of Cape Vale. Stan later worked in another store at Dungog owned by Robert Skillen who was a cousin of Jock Skillen, who had married Doll’s older sister Priscilla (Annie).

Doll and Stan became well known members of the Dungog community. Stan was particularly known for breeding show horses and cultivating prize flowers. Stan and his sons were all known for their horse riding prowess. However, the family left Dungog in 1936 and relocated to Stockton near Newcastle where Stan found work at the Newcastle Steelworks run by BHP Co Pty Ltd. By misfortune, Stan was badly crushed in an accident at the steelworks in March 1939. His long handle shovel was caught in a conveyor belt line. Stan was pulled onto the conveyor and crushed in the machinery. He suffered a broken back and other serious injuries. He lived for 10 weeks before dying in May 1939.

Although the Coroner found no negligence on the part of BHP, the company did not defend a claim for compensation by Doll.

The Newcastle Workers’ Compensation Commission awarded the amount of ₤800 which was the amount of the claim.

The children of Doll and Stan had a habit of hurting themselves. In 1928 the youngest child, 11 years old Stanser, sliced a finger off and injured others while chopping wood. His brother Clive repeatedly fell off show horses during his 20s requiring medical treatment including once for a broken collarbone. Geoff Atkins also had a habit of falling off horses. In a further mishap, Geoff Doll Atkins was working up an electricity pole in 1949 when he managed to get a severe shock that could easily have killed him.

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Clive Atkins’ infant son Stan accidentally drank some petrol from a cordial bottle in December 1943 and died soon after. In 1954 Clive and his remaining family were returning to their farm when his car ran off the road to avoid an oncoming truck. The car turned over twice before stopping but no-one was seriously hurt.

Doll stayed on in Stockton with some of her children. She holds a record in this family for longevity. Doll was 103 when she passed away in February 1988. She had been married for 32 years and a widow for 48 years.

Doll Atkins with her great great granddaughter Simone after turning 100

Jane Hancock The next child of James and Eden Hancock was Jane Hancock. From a young age she was known as Jeannie but over time people came to know her as Janie or Jennie. She married Samuel Crouch in August 1907 when they were both 21. Sam had been living at Vacy to the west of Glen William before his marriage and this close proximity no doubt led to his fateful meeting with Jennie. The couple settled at Paterson to the west of Clarence Town. They had three children between 1908 and 1915 who they named Clarence, Donald and Ethel.

Sam worked as a labourer before he joined the police force as a constable in October 1913. He was first stationed in the Coolah district between Tamworth and Dubbo. He served as the resident constable in the small towns of Cobbora, Leadville and Dunedoo when not stationed at Coolah.

When the Great Strike of 1917 got underway in Sydney in August, Sam was one of many rural policemen rushed to the city to deal with the strikers and their supporters. The strike started at the heavily unionised rail and tram workshops in Sydney when employees downed tools after management introduced a time card signing in system with a view to increasing worker productivity. This was considered the final straw in a long running fight between unions and management. The strike quickly spread around NSW and the rest of Australia.

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The strike lasted only six weeks but it involved hundreds of thousands of people. The population was much divided in its support for the strike mostly due to the large number put off work as a consequence of the strike at a time when wages were low and prices high. Although the strike was generally considered a failure, it did give rise to the political careers in the Labor party of three railway employees – Ben Chifley, Joe Cahill and Eddie Ward.

Sam was transferred in 1922 to Huskisson, a small picturesque fishing village on the south coast of NSW. He later served at Nowra and Kangaroo Valley before another transfer in 1934 to Gloucester for a few years before a transfer to East Maitland. His final posting was to Narrandera in 1941.

It was in 1946 that Sam announced he was retiring from the police force to open up a carpentry business. He was visiting relatives at Coolah in November 1953 when he was knocked down and run over by a truck while walking along Oban Street. He suffered a crushed chest and a fractured skull. The 67 years old died soon after being admitted to hospital.

The driver of the truck admitted to drinking 4 to 6 middies of beer at the Hotel Coolah but denied being drunk. The police told the coroner the driver had a strong smell of alcohol. An examination of the truck by the police found that the brakes were not up to standard and took too long to stop the truck. Despite the evidence, the coroner found that Sam’s death was accidental.

Jennie spent the rest of her life mostly living at Narrandera. She was 88 when she died in October 1974.

Sam and Jennie were living on the south coast of NSW when their 16 years old son Clarence joined the Royal Australian Navy as a ship’s boy in 1924. Two years later when he turned 18 he signed up for a 12 year term as an ordinary seaman. His term was short lived when he was invalided out the following year. He married Edna Morison in 1941. His brother Donald had married Violet Geary in 1939. Younger sister Ethel married Harry Tucker in 1942.

Sam Crouch

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Clarence and Edna Crouch

Elsie Minnie Hancock Jennie’s younger sister, Elsie Minnie Hancock was 26 when she married 23 years old James William Cox (known as Jim) at Dungog in June 1914. The Cox family were early settlers in the Dungog district and Jim’s branch of the family lived in the lush Main Creek valley to the north of Dungog.

Jim and Elsie spent all of their married lives together at Main Creek on the family property known as St Elmo. Jim was a teamster who bred and raised many of his own oxen and other cattle.

His animals were often highly prized at the local show at Dungog. He became secretary of the Dungog Co-Op Butter Factory.

Jim and Elsie had two boys Clifford (Cliff) and Arthur (Artie) followed by two girls Iris and Barbara. Cliff was 12 when his right hand was so badly injured it was thought he would never be able to use it again. Cliff had been minding a shotgun while others were chasing a snake out of a barn. The shotgun was resting on a fence rail when it fell off and fired the full blast into Cliff’s wrist as the shotgun hit the ground. Cliff went on to become a mill worker so I suspect his hand was not completely destroyed.

Elsie Cox

Cliff’s younger brother Artie enlisted for service in the Second World War in a supply depot platoon which saw service in the Middle East, New Guinea and Borneo. Artie returned from overseas in 1942. He was given a number of Welcome Home functions at Dungog where he announced his engagement to Agnes Speirs (Nessie). They were married at the end of the year with his brother Cliff as best man and little sister Barbara as flower girl. Artie was discharged in December 1945 with the rank of Warrant Officer. He later became a jeweller at Dungog.

Artie’s sister Iris married Myles McInnes (Keith) in 1940. Keith also served in the Middle East mainly in Palestine. He suffered from most of the communicable diseases favoured by the Army including measles, mumps, dysentery, ulcers and other infections. He spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals. After the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore to the Japanese, ships and smaller craft carrying refugees and evacuees were constantly arriving at Colombo (Sri Lanka). Keith also arrived in Colombo at the time on route for a return to Australia. Japanese ships, submarines and aircraft were everywhere and any travel by ship in the region became a harrowing experience.

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Keith embarked on an unarmed troopship and former ocean liner, the SS Orcades, for the voyage to Australia on 1 March 1942. They were accompanied by two other fully loaded troopships. There were no warships to accompany them. When enemy aircraft were spotted out to sea, the ships dispersed and by circuitous routes found their way to Australia. The SS Orcades was sunk seven months later in the South Atlantic Ocean by a German submarine after leaving Capetown for England. Keith had the rank of corporal when he was discharged in June 1944.

Keith bought Jupp’s Butchery in Dungog and expanded his business with another butchery at Clarence Town. He also raised his own cattle. A moment of fame happened in June 1951 when a vehicle owned by Keith laden with meat collided with a vehicle owned by the Dark Co laden with groceries at an intersection in Dungog. There were no injuries and sadly for the onlookers no strewn product waiting to be salvaged.

Cliff married Dulcie Geale in 1935. Their two years old son Kevin needed nine stitches in his foot after he trod on broken glass in 1942. Worse was to come for the family. Their 12 years old son Frank had become a boarder at the Hawkesbury (Hurlstone) Agricultural College at the start of 1948 and was doing well. He came home for the Easter holidays but suddenly became unwell. He passed away on Easter Monday from infantile paralysis, more commonly known as polio. He was unlucky as the fatality rate for children at the time was less than 5%.

Cliff managed to avoid a serious accident in 1950. He was leading a group of motor cyclists near Wallarobba Mountain when they came upon a cow on the road. Cliff managed to pass the cow but two other riders collided and fell down a steep embankment. They were both seriously injured.

Barbara was the last of the children to marry. The wedding to Ronald Kellner took place in 1953. All of Elsie and Jim’s children spent their lives at Dungog or not too far away.

Jim was 82 when he died in May 1973 at Main Creek. Elsie passed away in September 1982 when she was 94.

Keith McInnes on Enlistment

Arthur James Hancock Elsie’s younger brother Arthur James Hancock (also known as Artie) was the only son of James and Eden to serve in the First World War. He enlisted at the age of 26 in the 34 th Battalion on 4 November 1916.276 The brown haired and brown eyed Artie arrived in England for training before crossing to France in September 1917 and taking part in the fighting around Passchendaele near Ypres in Belgium.

276

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Arthur James Hancock - Service No 2793

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That fight was yet another failure against the entrenched German Army and the battalion suffered a casualty rate of 50%. Artie survived and was later promoted to lance corporal.

He took part in the fighting around Villers-Bretonneux and the Battle of Amiens in France until the end of August 1918 when he was shot in both the right thigh and left arm. He was evacuated by ambulance to the 12th General Hospital in Rouen.

His parents received a telegram saying that the wounds were severe and that he was being sent to the Southwark Military Hospital in London. Another telegram later advised them that Artie was now progressing favourably.

The 34th Battalion had a nominal strength of 1,000 men or so, with reinforcements arriving periodically to replace casualties. By the end of the war in November 1918 the battalion had cumulative casualties of 481 killed and 1,727 wounded or gassed.

The losses by the Australian Army during August 1918 were so great that the Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, had the 34th and other battalions pulled out and rested. They were to take no further part in the war. In December 1918 Artie was invalided back to Australia. He returned to Dungog where he took time to fully recover from his wounds.

Dungog during WWI showing Dark’s General Store

Artie was 32 when he married 27 years old Hilda Christine Bertero in Sydney in September 1922.

Hilda’s father Guido was an Italian by birth and had arrived in Australia as a seaman. He and his wife Jane settled in Balmain in Sydney. Guido continued working as a mariner.

Artie and Hilda lived in Hooke Street, Dungog where they soon immersed themselves into Dungog society. There would hardly be a community group or organisation that one or both of them did not belong to. They had two sons who they named Douglas and Robert. Artie worked as a carter of goods and equipment around the Dungog area.

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Hilda was only 55 when she passed away suddenly from a stroke in June 1951. The community went into shock at her early passing. The local paper reported that Hilda was “… one of the most popular and highly esteemed women in Dungog.”277 The tragedy of Hilda’s death for Artie was compounded three years later when their 28 years old son Robert (known as Bob) died from a shotgun wound to his head in April 1954. He had been out shooting with his uncle Jim Cox. They were separated when Jim heard a gunshot and later found Bob with a severe injury and apparently dead. The shotgun was lying nearby. Bob had served in the RAAF in the Second World War and had worked as a carpenter in various places including New Zealand and New Guinea. He had only been home a few days before the shooting.

It was thought the wound was self-inflicted.

Robert’s older brother Doug also served in the war, becoming one of the 3,600 soldiers to serve in the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion. He enlisted in June 1942 and served for just over four years. His overseas service was in New Guinea and Borneo. In September 1943 the battalion was sitting in a truck convoy at a Port Moresby airfield waiting to be airlifted to a fighting zone when a US Liberator bomber hit a tree on take-off and crashed into the convoy. The plane’s crew were killed along with 60 of the Australian troops. Another 90 troops were wounded, some severely. This remains the worst air disaster in Australian history in peace or war. Doug became a newspaper compositor and linotype operator, first in Dungog and then later in Sydney with a short stint in Broken Hill before his marriage to Edith Campbell in 1956.

After Hilda’s death, Artie Hancock became a shop assistant working for the Dark family in Dungog.

In later years he relocated to Sydney and lived at the War Veterans’ Home at Narrabeen (now part of the modern RSL ANZAC Village complex). Artie was 83 when he passed away in August 1973.

Dungog in the 1920s

277

Dungog Chronicle 4 July 1951, page 2

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Stella Banks Hancock Artie’s sister Stella Banks Hancock was 22 when she married 16 years old John William Foster at the Presbyterian Church in Dungog in June 1914. John, who was known as Jack, may have been quite young but he was considered old enough to be married. Stella gave birth to their first child, who they named Reta (with that spelling), later in the year. Stella and Jack had two more children who they named Finlay and Lena.

Jack started working for the NSW Railways in 1918. His father John may have influenced him as John was a highly qualified steam engineer who had immigrated to Australia with his parents when he was 17. John famously brought a traction engine in parts by ship from Grafton to

Stella Hancock

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Newcastle. He then re-assembled the engine and drove it to Clarence Town. He spent the rest of his life driving traction engines and repairing other steam engines in the district.

Jack would stay with the railways for the rest of his working life. Working as a porter and station assistant, John joined the throng of employees who were constantly transferred around NSW as they moved through the ranks of promotion. He said he relieved staff in one capacity or another at every station between Dungog and Murwillumbah in his early years as well as on the Kyogle line.

After working at Cootamundra and Bundanoon, Jack was appointed station master at Boggabilla, According to proud locals he was the first boy from Dungog to reach the rank of station master.

He had later appointments to Boggabri, Henty, Albury, Wagga, Junee and Tenterfield before taking up as the station master at Wauchope.

Jack died in November 1974 when he was 76. Stella was 89 when she passed away in June 1981.

Although they spent much of their later life in Wauchope, they were both buried back at Dungog with other members of their family.

Their daughter Reta, who was an accomplished pianist and singer, married Hubert Parish in 1934.

Her sister Lena was also known for giving piano and singing recitals. She married David Robertson in 1960. Their brother Finlay married Daisy Clark in 1938 but the marriage did not last.

Gertrude Hancock Stella’s sister Gertrude Hancock was known both personally and officially as Gertie. A large number of the Hancock and Cox families had joined the local Baptist Church which had a church building at Thalaba, a few miles south east of Dungog. This was only the third Baptist Church built in NSW. A new Baptist pastor arrived in 1915 not long after Gertie turned 21. His name was William Stanley Cowling. He was single, handsome and well-liked by everyone he met. It wasn’t long before he noticed young Gertie and an attachment soon formed.

Gertie married the 29 years old minister in August 1916 at the church at Thalaba. William was born in Tasmania but his parents moved to Melbourne where he attended the Baptist Theological College. He was ordained in 1912. He spent time training at Cessnock before he became the new minister at Thalaba. His ministry was extended to include a Sunday morning service at a church hall in Dungog. William quickly set about raising the funds needed to build a church at Dungog.

Gertie Cowling

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Gertie and William, however, stayed only two years at Dungog before William was transferred to Armidale and then to Tamworth. The Church was keen to move their ministers around the State, especially if they were popular like William and had a strong record of recruiting followers. William found himself further posted in 1917 to the south coast village of Woonona.

Thalaba Baptist Church

Further transfers occurred regularly over the years including postings to Orange, Sydney (Canterbury), Armidale, Goulburn, Brocklesby (near Albury), Broadmeadow, Sydney (Strathfield), Dubbo and Casino. During his time at Broadmeadow, William served as a chaplain in the Garrison Battalion for the Newcastle area in the early years of the Second World War. The battalion was a home defence unit along the lines of Dad’s Army.

Gertie and William had four children, a son George followed by three daughters Daphne, Joan and Verlie, who were born at various locations due to the constant transfers.

William’s final posting was to Kurri Kurri, a small mining town near Cessnock in the Hunter Valley. He had only been there a year when he was admitted to the Kurri District Hospital for an operation in February 1952. Unfortunately he passed away during the operation. He was 64 years old and his death came as a shock to everyone who had known him during his 40 years as a minister.

Gertie moved in with her son George and his wife Edith, first at Birmingham Gardens near Swansea and then later at Lambton.

George worked at the Newcastle Steelworks. He served in various Royal Australian Engineer units during the Second George Cowling World War from 1941 to 1946, including time on the islands of Morotai and Borneo, north of Australia. He was discharged with the rank of corporal. He married Edith Maynard in 1946.

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Daphne Cowling met Harwood Shipard when her father was the minister at Brocklesby near Albury. They married in 1945. William and Gertie were serving in Casino when their daughter Joan married Cameron Craig in 1948. Cameron served in one of the Volunteer Defence Corps during the Second World War. Gertie later moved to Belmont where she lived in a flat next door to her daughter Verlie and her then husband Allan Matthews who Verlie married in 1948 after her parents were posted to Kurri Kurri. Allan also served part time in the Volunteer Defence Corps for two and half years during the war.

Gertie was 93 when she died in November 1987 having been a widow for 35 years. She was buried with her husband at the Kurri Kurri Cemetery. Gertie had seen off all of her siblings, except Agnes who passed away the following year at the age of 103.

Hilda Rose Hancock The youngest daughter and last child of Eden and James Hancock was Hilda Rose Hancock. Hilda was about 17 when she made one of her many visits to her sister Elsie at Dungog. On the trip back to the train station at Dungog, the sulky they were travelling in overturned after the horse shied near the waterworks.

Hilda, Elsie and Elsie’s infant were all thrown from the sulky, a wheel of which then passed over Hilda’s chest.

Luckily, the sulky was not too heavy and Hilda suffered only severe bruising.278 Hilda did, however, have many later health issues that may have related back the accident.

Hilda was 28 when she married 36 years old Charles Kellner (known as Charlie) in November 1925. Charlie was brought up on his family’s 300 acre property at Wallarobba, south of Dungog and not far from Glen William.

Hilda Hancock (sitting)

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The Maitland Daily Mercury 23 October 1915, page 6

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Charlie had previously married 31 years old Elizabeth Ann Marquet in 1913 when he was 24. The Kellner and Marquet families were very close and it came as no surprise when the families

were united in marriage. Charlie and Elizabeth settled on a property called Glen Lea at Wirragulla between Dungog and Glen William where Charlie worked as a farmer. They had two children, Leo and Keith (who for some reason was known to everyone as Jim).

Charlie was left bereaved when Elizabeth tragically died in Royal Newcastle Hospital in January 1925 at the age of 42. He married Hilda eleven months later. Hilda made the perfect step-mother for the two young boys. She was old enough to look after them and help on the farm and she had a love of children, having nursed so many of her nieces and nephews. She treated the boys as if they were her own. Hilda and Charlie had their own child in 1931, a daughter who was named Nancy. Both mother and daughter needed time to recover from a difficult birth and again the sulky accident may have played a role.

Charlie was on the lookout for better properties and over the next few years the family moved to a farm at Seaham, south of Clarence Town before moving to the Gloucester area where they had a farm first at Bulliac and later at Waukivory. They finally settled on a farm at Underbank, north west of Dungog.

Their son Jim enlisted for service in the Second World War in June 1941 and was suitably farewelled at a local social event. He served in the Middle East before returning to Australia in 1943. While on leave he visited the Turner family at Macksville who were related to Jim’s mother. While Jim was showing 17 years old Donald Turner a revolver he had souvenired in the war, the revolver exploded killing young Donald instantly with shrapnel from the gun.

Jim was recalled to service and was sent to New Guinea. During his time in the Army Jim came down with a number of interesting diseases including bronchitis, measles and scrub typhus. He was discharged in 1945, the same year he married Freda Jarrett at Dungog.

He and Freda settled on a farm near Charlie and Hilda.

Hilda Kellner Charlie’s son Leo was bitten by a brown snake in November 1947.

Although he seemed to survive the ordeal at the time, the venom may have caused more permanent damage because Leo died two months later in January 1948 when he was 32.

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Charlie was 67 when he passed away in May 1957. Hilda died in August 1976 when she was 79.

They were both buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery at Dungog.

One thing that can be said for the 14 children of Eden and James Hancock is that they lived long lives ranging from 79 to 103 years, with the average age being just over 88 years.

Another thing of note about them is the hardness of their skulls and bones, as shown by their ability to survive being run over by wheeled vehicles. That is one gene stock worth bottling and a tribute to the legacy of Eden Lattimore.

Grave of James and Eden Hancock at the Glen William churchyard

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Chapter 26 – The Civic Leader John Lattimore b 1856 Married 1880 Fanny Ann Eagleton b 1858 Children: Laura Ellen Lattimore

b 1881

d 1970

89 years

Alice Mary Lattimore

b 1883

d 1942

59 years

Mabel Maud Lattimore

b 1885

d 1933

47 years

Roy Carlisle Lattimore

b 1893

d 1918

25 years

John Lattimore was the eldest of the children born to William Lattimore and his second wife, Mary Hancock. John was 23 when he married 21 years old Fanny Ann Eagleton at the little church at Glen William in 1880.279 Fanny was one of 15 children of the Eagleton family who lived at Glen William. Her father William had immigrated to Australia with his parents and siblings in 1848 at the age of 15.

Shortly after their marriage John and Fanny packed up their belongings, made their goodbyes to family and friends and, like John’s older stepbrother Thomas, made the move to the Clarence River, finding a property at Lower Coldstream near the village of Cowper and opposite Brushgrove.

Cowper was named after Charles Cowper, an early Premier of New South Wales, known to many as Slippery Charlie for his political acumen, but popular enough to be elected Premier five times.

Their property had a river frontage, adjacent to today’s Pacific Highway.

John and Fanny had four children between 1881 and 1893 who they named Laura, Alice, Mabel and Roy. John had a near death experience in 1888 when he was bitten by a black snake. Knowing he was in serious trouble, he rode furiously back to Brushgrove for treatment but the doctor was absent on calls. Luckily John was treated by others who knew what to do. He gave a public thank you for the “unremitting attention and kindness during my recent illness from snakebite.”280

279 280

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1880/2998 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 5 January 1889, page 5

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Fanny also had her share of mishap. In 1900 she and John were returning from a concert at Cowper when their sulky “capsized.”281 Fanny was in a lot of pain. The extent of her injuries were confirmed when it was revealed she had suffered a broken arm.

John survived his snakebite and a few falls from horses to become a leading figure in the lower Clarence River area. He was a founder and later president of the Cowper Cricket Club and organised many fund raising events for the club including steamer outings on the Clarence River and the always popular socials.282

Premier Charles Cowper (in the middle)

It was usual to charge an admission to a social of about two shillings for gentlemen.

Ladies were admitted by invitation. Did this mean that women were not charged a fee or there was an attempt to control which women could attend?

John was master of ceremonies at a social to raise funds for the Brushgrove Brass Band in 1903 where 40 couples danced to music provided by the band (aided by members of the Grafton City Band plus a violinist and pianist).

It was said of John “He is well known in that capacity, and needless to say gave general satisfaction.”283 He must have been overwhelmed by such high praise.

He organised and raised funds for new public amenities and safety improvements along the Clarence River, such as lifeboats for floods, public wharves and bridges. 284 John was also a major supporter of the Public Schools at Cowper and Lower Coldstream and the Cowper Convent School, where he organised and conducted many fund raising and social events.

The first teacher at the Cowper Public School, Samuel Weston, drowned in the Clarence River when the ship on which he was a passenger sank while crossing the Clarence Bar in 1882 with the loss of a third of the passengers and crew.285 John would have played an important part in guiding the school forward from this tragedy.

281 282 283 284 285

Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence

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River Advocate 25 September 1900, page 2 and Richmond Examiner 3 September 1898, page 5 and 15 July 1899, page 1 River Advocate 27 October 1903, page 2 and Richmond Examiner 13 August 1892, page 5, 8 June 1895, page 3 and 15 May 1900, p 5 and Richmond Examiner 30 December 1882, page 5

Always trying to be fair to everyone, at an Arbour Day celebration at Cowper in 1892, John organised the running races for the pupils in such a way as to ensure that every pupil won a prize.

Sounds like he was well ahead of his time.

Just before the last Christmas of the century John had the conduct of a fete for the school at Lower Coldstream that catered for over 200 attendees.286 It was reported that “After luncheon, the usual picnic games brought to a close one of the most enjoyable outings spent for some time on the Lower Coldstream.”

John Lattimore’s Property at Lower Coldstream

Interestingly, John’s 14 years old daughter Mabel was awarded an annual prize for good conduct and composition and his six years old son Roy also received a prize for good conduct.

After years of community service John was appointed as a magistrate for the area in 1908 when he was 52.287 He continued to carry out those duties well into old age. 288 His greatest achievement, however, was being elected as a councillor for the Orara Shire in 1906 on which he served for most of the next 20 years, much of the time as president.289 Putting civic duty ahead of personal gain, he moved to have the president’s annual allowance reduced from ₤50 to ₤10 and for travel expenses to be halved.290 These moves were particularly opposed by councillor John Mulquinney, who also had his eye on the president’s job.

286 287 288 289 290

Cowper Public School 2013

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 19 December 1899, page 4 The Sydney Morning Herald 17 June 1908, page 13 Moore’s Australian Almanac and Country Directory 1925 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 6 February 1913, page 4 Clarence River Advocate 8 March 1907, page 4

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John’s motion to reduce the allowance was defeated by one vote. However, John would not accept any payment for attending Shire meetings.291 Local elections sometimes had an element of farce. John was re-elected in 1908 and at the next council meeting there was a vote for the presidency between John Lattimore and John Mulquinney. After a tied vote, Mulquinney’s name was drawn from a hat.

Although John later held the position of president many times, Councillor Mulquinney would always be his main rival.

Orara Shire Councillors 1908 John Lattimore 3rd from left. John Mulquinney 2nd from right

John was also one of the 20 people who attended the first meeting of the Brushgrove Patriotic Fund in August 1914 just after the First World War commenced. John was elected treasurer rather than secretary but that was probably because the role of secretary had already been taken by his nephew Stan Lattimer.292 John and Fanny’s son Roy signed up for the First World War. His death in August 1918 in France at the age of 25 sent a shock all around the Clarence River area. Fanny never managed to overcome her grief. Roy’s sisters deeply mourned his loss. John absorbed his grief and got on with all the work and tasks he always did.

Local politics meant that John was not always popular with everyone. He was often called on to break a deadlock by exercising his casting vote as president. In 1921 there was a challenge made

291 292

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 15 March 1907, page 10 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 29 August 1914, page 5

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against his election win claiming he was not qualified to be a councillor because he was not the owner of rateable land.293 Most of John’s landholdings were Crown Leases. However, he must have met the qualification because the move to oust him was unsuccessful. The following year John once again stood for council election. He was successful but only by two votes.

At the first meeting of the new council, a letter was tabled from solicitors acting for the candidate defeated by John, alleging voting irregularities.294 The letter called upon John not to act as a councillor until the matter had been decided.

In response to the startling allegation, the returning officer’s report was also tabled. The report noted that one voter may have voted twice at different polling places. The council decided to refer the allegations to the police.

The council not only refrained from asking John to suspend his role as councillor, they elected him again as president.

The Punt between Cowper and Brushgrove

However, when it became apparent that charges were to be laid by the police against the errant voter, John resigned on 23 January 1923 so a new election for his position could be held.295 John was again elected but a later vote on the presidency saw councillor Mulquinney become the new president after yet another tie.296 John was also president of the Cowper-Brushgrove Amateur Swimming Club which had been formed to encourage young people to learn to swim and to compete at State and national competitions.297 Over 2,000 children were taught to swim at the club in 1924 and the following two years.

By 1927, the homes of the 1,600 residents of Cowper and Brushgrove were illuminated with electric light generated from the waters of the Nymboida River. John was on hand just before Christmas of that year to help turn on the newly installed electric lighting so that the popular swimming baths could be used at night.

293 294 295 296 297

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 16 March 1921, page 3 Northern Star 16 December 1922, page 13 Northern Star 1 February 1923, page 5 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 11 December 1923, page 2 The Clarence River Advocate 22 December 1927, page 4

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Empire Day was one of the great social gatherings for adults, children, families and communities.

The first Empire Day in 1901 was held to honour Queen Victoria who had died in January. It was held on her birthday, 24 May. The Monarch’s birthday was always celebrated on the actual birthday up until King George V who was born in June. The June date has been fixed in Australia ever since, except in Qld where it is in October and WA where it can vary between September and October.

Empire Day was marked with much celebration including street marches, speeches, school pageants and a lot of flag waving. The night was known as Cracker Night because it was a time for letting off an assortment of fireworks, often around a bonfire. The day was changed to Commonwealth Day in 1958.

Empire Day 1917

At the Empire Day celebrations in the early war year of 1915 at Lower Coldstream Public School it was reported that after the students sang Advance Australia Fair: “Mr A McPhee (who was John’s brother in law Alex) occupied the chair, and in an address referred to the great changes which had taken place in the world since their last celebration. He impressed upon them the desirability of studying closely the present position of the war. They did not know how long it would last, and it was everyone’s duty to do their share in some way. We should be prepared to deny ourselves a little in order to help our fellow people across the seas.

Mr J Lattimore also delivered an address at a later stage, which was much appreciated by those present….

Only toy prizes were provided, in order that the greater portion of the money could be handed to the Belgian Fund.”298

298

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 1 June 1915, page 2

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John and Fanny would have been active in every Empire Day, particularly in organising school functions and events.

In later life John and Fanny moved from Lower Coldstream to Brushgrove. John died at Grafton Hospital in July 1938 aged 81 from cardiomyopathy, or inflammation of the heart muscle. 299 Fanny had died at her daughter Laura’s home earlier in September 1930 aged 72, after a short illness.300 To make it worse for John, his youngest daughter Mabel passed away in July 1933 when she was 47.

South Arm of the Clarence River at Lower Coldstream looking across to Woodford Island

The following rather lengthy and fulsome Appreciation for John Lattimore appeared in The Daily Examiner, on 6 August 1938 (but it is worth reading in full): “The death of Mr John Lattimore removed one of nature’s gentlemen and, to those who had the privilege of his friendship, brought a sense of infinite loss.

Prior to his retirement in Brushgrove, he was for many years a resident of Lower Coldstream, and took a prominent part in the various activities of that district. He was one of the chief founders of the Lower Coldstream Hall and, as a member of the committee, gave invaluable service in helping to reduce the debt attached to its erection.

He also presided at many of the social functions held there in earlier days, and his love of orderliness, his inherent distaste of anything of an unruly nature, invariably ensured, by his presence, the exemplary conduct of the young people beneath his control. Any element of a disquieting nature he simply would not tolerate, being at all times a guardian of the peace.

His outstanding characteristic was an honest sincerity, which won him the confidence of many life-long friends and, his watchword being progress, he made many personal sacrifices in the cause of public duty.

The late Mr Lattimore at all times had the courage of his convictions, and when occasion demanded, he was not afraid to voice them.

299 300

NSW BDM Death Certificate 1938/20726 NSW BDM Death Certificate 1930/20568

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All who came in contact with him realised the genuineness of his character and those seeking advice or assistance at his hands were always met with a quiet and steady assurance and a courteous response.

Possessing the qualities of tact and discretion and a sincere desire to help his fellow man, he was always a true friend and never failed in his loyalty to any just cause.

His work for the Lower Coldstream School, during his years of residence there, is worthy of record. For many years an active member of the School Committee, he gave much of his time and services thereto, as well as his liberal support.

It was he who built the school garden, which still stands the test of time. As a tradesman his work was very thorough, and scrupulously neat.

At the Empire Day picnics held at Lower Coldstream in the dim long ago, it was the late Mr Lattimore’s privilege in his capacity as chairman, to address the children from time to time, and many of the ex-pupils today still remember the excellent quality of his discourse, advising, awakening and inspiring in their youthful minds a deeper, nobler sense of duty to home and Empire, fealty to the flag and a fuller sense of appreciation of all three combined.

There was always in his heart a love for children, which was reciprocated and in later years his regard for the young people was intensified by the loss of his only son. He might properly be designed as “the children’s friend”.

Having lived a life of usefulness and service, with his declining strength and years this worthy gentleman was at length forced to relinquish very reluctantly his place in public affairs and, fortified by the devotion of his two daughters, he awaited his end fearlessly, glad to at last lay down life’s burdens.

His funeral was one of the largest in the Ulmarra district. Visitors came from long distances to pay their last tribute.

Exchange Hotel at Ulmarra

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After an impressive service at St Paul’s Church of England, the long procession of mourners and friends moved slowly to the Ulmarra cemetery, where the mortal remains, borne reverently by his several grandsons, were laid to rest, shrouded by a host of floral tributes to an honoured memory.”

Laura Ellen Lattimore Laura Lattimore was 22 when she married 29 years old James Davis (who was known as Jim) in March 1904. The ceremony was held at the Lattimore family home and the wedding breakfast was reported as “princely, reflecting the greatest credit on the bride’s mother.”301 Toasts were offered, praising the couple “in the highest terms.” Uncle Alex McPhee, not one to miss an opportunity to speak, added his praise of the couple and his best wishes.

Jim Davis had arrived on the Clarence as part of the team to build a new bridge at Lower Coldstream. When the bridge was completed he was offered work at different locations but by now he had met Laura and he made the decision to stay and find work locally. The couple first settled at Broadmouth Creek on the Coldstream River where Jim leased a farm. They later moved to Cowper before finally purchasing their own property at Ulmarra.

Jim may have taken up farming but he never lost his carpentry skills. He built or helped to build many houses in the area.

Ulmarra on the Clarence River

301

The Clarence River Advocate 5 April 1904, page 2

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Laura and Jim had four children between 1905 and 1918 who they named Evelyn (known by her second name of Gladys), Lyle, Winnie and Doris. Lyle married Dulcie Doust in October 1935. He would later take over the family farm at Ulmarra.

Lyle’s sister Doris married Ivo Amos in June 1940 at the Wesleyan Church in Hamilton, near Newcastle. Doris’ older sister Winnie was her bridesmaid. Ivo was almost seven foot tall. He literally stood head and shoulders above everyone else. They first lived at nearby Mayfield before relocating to Ulmarra. In the 1950s they moved to the Sydney seaside suburb of Cronulla.

Winnie May Davis (who was known as Win) arrived in Sydney in the mid-1930s with a passion to study nursing. She trained at the War Memorial Hospital at Waverley, graduating in 1938. She did further training at the Royal Hospital for Women at Paddington. Win was 25 when she enlisted as an Australian Army Nursing Sister in December 1940. Her first posting was to the Emergency Unit at Victoria Barracks, Paddington.

Nurses at the War Memorial Hospital, Waverley

She was posted to the 10th Australian General Hospital which was based at Malacca, a coastal town between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur on the Malay Peninsula. Win and other nurses in the unit sailed on the former luxury liner now troopship Queen Mary to Singapore in February 1941.

The rest of year was busy for the nurses but they enjoyed a happy social life and frequent trips to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Win was one of the youngest and most popular of the nurses. She was dedicated and tireless in her work and led by example. She was appointed a lieutenant and later promoted to captain.

The Japanese invaded Malaya in December 1941. The hospital was relocated to Singapore. The influx of so many refugees and wounded caused chaos at the hospital which was constantly under bombardment. A first group of 30 nurses was evacuated to Australia when it became obvious Singapore would fall. Win joined another group of 65 nurses who boarded a ship three days before the fall.

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Two days later the ship was sailing along the coast of Sumatra near Banka Island when it was bombed by Japanese warplanes.

Those not killed by the bombing took to the sea on lifeboats, rafts and anything floating. Most of the nurses could swim and Win was one of the better swimmers. One group of 22 nurses landed on Banka Island with other passengers from the ship. After a few days of harsh treatment by Japanese soldiers, most of the passengers were executed by bayonet. The nurses were then ordered back into the sea and machine gunned or bayoneted. Only one nurse survived by feigning death to tell the story of possibly the worst atrocity against Australians in the war.

Another 32 nurses from the ship, including Win, stayed in the water for some days until picked up by Japanese sailors who treated them with much sympathy. Unfortunately, the nurses were taken to a succession of prison camps where they endured the most appalling and brutal conditions. They were forced to work long hours and eat grass and ferns to supplement their meagre rations of rice and sweet potato. Malaria, dysentery and other diseases were rife in the camps and inevitably the nurses started to die.

In fact, eight of the nurses died before the end of three and a half years of captivity. Win was one of the last to die, in July 1945 less than a month before the Japanese surrender (two more died a few days after the surrender). Win had suffered from dysentery and the tropical disease beri-beri.

She was buried in a shallow pit covered by an old rice sack. After the war Win was reburied at the Jakarta War Cemetery in Indonesia.

Win was only 30 years old when she died.

Older nurses described her as “… young in all ways, dark haired and vivacious – still excited by all things new to her” and “… a marvellous girl who gave herself for her friends.”

Out of the original 65 nurses on the ship only 24 survived to return to Australia. As it was when Win’s uncle Roy Lattimore was killed in the earlier war, the district went into mourning when news of Win’s death arrived. The local paper eulogised: “Winnie Davis, beloved by all, gave of her best and for the sake of suffering humanity paid the supreme sacrifice in a far off land, the victim of a relentless foe.”302 Win’s loss was devastating for her family and her many friends.

In Memorium notices were for many years placed in the local papers on the anniversary of her death. A stained glass Window of Memory

302

Sister (later Captain) Winnie May Davis

Daily Examiner 29 October 1945, page 2

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dedicated to nurses takes pride of place at the War Memorial Hospital, Waverley. One of the panels honours the memory of Winnie May Davis.

Her father Jim died less than three year later in June 1948 at the family farm now run by his son Lyle. Jim was 74 years old. His wife Laura survived well into old age, passing away in May 1970 on her 89th birthday.303 Lyle’s older sister Gladys lived with Lyle and his family. She never married.

Alice Mary Lattimore John Lattimore’s good friend Alexander McPhee was also his brother in law. Alex married John’s younger sister Elizabeth in 1897. But the bonds between the families had already been made many years before in 1878 when Alex’s older brother Angus married another of John’s sisters, Ellen Lattimore when the family still lived at Glen William. The connection became more complicated when John’s daughter Alice married Alex and Angus’ much younger cousin William McPhee in January 1916. The McPhees were becoming more connected to the Lattimores than the Hancock family.

The wedding of Alice and William took place in the drawing room of the Lattimore family home at Lower Coldstream. John gave his daughter away. Alice’s cousin Jessie McPhee (daughter of Ellen) was her bridesmaid and William’s younger brother Jarvie McPhee was his best man.

Alice was 32 and William a year older. A reception was held for 80 guests. The couple spent their honeymoon in Sydney and the Blue Mountains.

Alice and William settled to a farming life at Lower Southgate with other members of McPhee family. They had two sons who they named William (but known by his second name of Roy) and Kenneth (known as Ken). The boys grew up working on the farm with their father, growing crops and raising cattle. They also attended the local public school and completed correspondence courses for higher education, including a course over the radio with the Marconi School of Wireless.

Roy McPhee

303

NSW BDM Death Certificate 25718/1970

205

William built up a strong reputation for the quality of his cattle. He was considered something of an expert on

all matters bovine. He was frequently in demand as a cattle judge at shows up and down the North Coast.

Alice became unwell in early 1940. William and Roy took her to Sydney for an operation. Roy was 22 when he enlisted in the RAAF in June 1940. He had been a handy worker on motor car engines and was keen to work on aircraft engines. His application to train as a mechanic was unsuccessful but he was accepted for training as an aircraft rigger/fitter. He completed his course in Melbourne where he came first in the class. Roy was soon transferred to Perth.

Farms at Lower Southgate

In early 1941 Alice was admitted to hospital in Lismore with serious eye trouble. William also experienced some serious health issues and was admitted to the Truro Private Hospital in Maclean. Roy visited his father in hospital in July 1941 and was soon transferred from Perth to Evans Head, north of Maclean, where the air force had a major base. Roy did a further four months training course in Melbourne from March 1942.

Alice was only 59 when she died in September 1942. The following tribute appeared in The Daily Examiner, the successor to the Clarence and Richmond Examiner: “In the sudden demise of the late Mrs W McPhee, of Lower Southgate, which came as a great shock to all who were acquainted with her, the Mid-Clarence district has suffered a severe loss.

Born at Lower Coldstream the late Mrs McPhee (nee Alice Lattimore) was a member of the once well-known family of the late John and Fanny Lattimore, the sole surviving member now being Mrs J Davis (ie Laura Lattimore), of Ulmarra. Mrs R W Davison (nee Mabel Lattimore) passed away some years ago, and the only son, Roy, paid the supreme sacrifice during the concluding phase of the last war.

The Lattimore family were noted for their kindness and hospitality, and took an active part in the social life of the district. After the marriage of Alice Lattimore to Mr William McPhee the young couple settled at Lower Southgate, and their family consisted of two

206

sons. The eldest son Roy (named after his uncle), is an instructor in the RAAF. The younger, Ken, resides with his father.

The late Mrs McPhee was a woman of sterling character. Her gentle, generous and kindly nature, making her beloved by all with whom she came in contact.

Her Christian life was an example to all, of true and godly womanhood, and her ready sympathy, in sickness or distress was never failing.

As an active member of the Red Cross her work was greatly appreciated, and a striking tribute to her memory was shown when local members of the Southgate branch preceded the casket bearing her mortal remains to its last resting place.

The sympathy of the whole community goes out to her sorrowing husband, sons and sister.

Fragrant as the flowers which shrouded her casket, her memory will remain in the hearts that loved her best.

Roy had made a serviceman’s Will leaving everything he had to his mother. After her death he made a new Will this time leaving everything to his brother Ken presumably because his father was so ill.

By the end of 1943 William’s illness had made him an invalid. Roy was under pressure to leave the RAAF and help run the family farm. His application for discharge on compassionate grounds was rejected but his application in January 1944 for discharge so he could help provide essential butter and meat for the war effort was more favoured. He was transferred to the RAAF reserve unit in Sydney, effectively a discharge from duty.

Gravestone of Alice and William McPhee

It was in Sydney that Roy met Valda Joan Moreman and they were married in June 1944 at St Luke’s Church, Concord. Ken was his best man. Roy spent much time on the family farm helping

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Ken look after their ailing father. William suffered a serious blood clot (possibly a stroke) in April 1945. He passed away four months later in August at the age of 64.

After his father’s death Roy made the decision to return to Sydney and leave the farm to Ken. The brothers were still very close. By now the farm had been named Kenroy after them. By the end of 1945 Roy and Valda were living in Concord. With the war well over, Roy petitioned the RAAF for a formal discharge as he was unable to access many of the post war benefits to ex-servicemen while still officially serving in the force. He was formally discharged in February 1946.

Ken McPhee had also wanted to serve in the war but the running of the farm was more important.

He managed to enlist in the local Volunteer Defence Corps where he could provide part time duties. Ken was 24 when he married Laurel Rae Sinclair in October 1945. Although they had a child, the marriage was not a success and they were divorced.

Ken gave up farming in the late 1940s and became an auctioneer and real estate agent at Maclean in partnership with his friend Mervyn Smith. Ken married Glenna Narelle White in Brisbane in March 1952. He soon sold his business to his partner and acquired a new business in Queensland where he spent the rest of his life until his passing in December 1997 at the age of 76. Roy was 89 when he died in Sydney in July 2007.

Mabel Maud Lattimore The McPhees were some of the first settlers to arrive in the Coldstream area. Another pioneer family were the Davisons. In fact they were neighbours. Robert Wilson Davison was one of 13 children. His father John came from Ireland but his mother Catherine (known as Cate) was a Scot who was a sister of Alex and Angus McPhee.

Coldstream River in the foreground

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Robert Davison (who was known as Bob) was 27 when he married John and Fanny Lattimore’s 22 years old daughter Mabel in July 1908. Bob had taken up farming work like most of his family. In his younger years he had worked as a mail boy delivering the mail on horseback between Brushgrove and Coldstream.

Bob and Mabel first settled on a farm at South Arm. They later took over the farm adjoining the old brick school at Lower Coldstream. They went on to have 11 children who they named Alice (known by her second name of Edna), Cecil, Thomas (probably known as John), Robert, James, Jessie, Mary, Dorothy, Alma, William and Lorraine.

Robert was only two and a half when he passed away at Grafton District Hospital in 1918.

The grieving family were grateful for the help given to them by near neighbour Mrs Noud whose own child had passed away the year before.

Their daughter Mary was seven years old when in 1932 she ran out the front gate of a house near the butter factory onto Coldstream Street and into the path of an oncoming car. The driver slammed on the brakes and swerved hard to the right but the car still managed to knock Mary down and then ran over her. By sheer luck none of the wheels hit her. Mary was treated at a nearby private hospital for abrasions to her face, arms and knees as well as concussion.304 It was about this time that Mabel became unwell with a long and painful illness. She was 47 when she died in July 1933 at Grafton District Hospital despite the excellent care and attention of the medical staff. To make matters worse, she had only given birth a week earlier. She left a husband and 10 children, many still very young.

Headstone for Mabel and Bob Davison

An In Memorium on the first anniversary of her death eulogised:

304

Daily Examiner 20 July 1932, page 4

209

“Always so good, unselfish and kind; Few in this World her equal to find; Her beautiful life came to an end; She lived as she died, everyone’s friend.”

Strangely, Mabel died on the same day as Thomas Smith, the Irishman from Cavan County who had married Mabel’s cousin Mary Jane Lattimer, the daughter of William Lattimer and Elizabeth Hancock.

More tragedy struck the family when Mabel and Bob’s oldest daughter Edna lost her five year son Lindsay in 1935.

Edna’s brother Cecil enlisted for service in the Second World War in July 1940. After training with the 4th Infantry Training Battalion at Tamworth he was sent to serve in the Northern Territory until his early discharge in October 1941.

In about 1947 Bob was overcome by a sudden paralytic seizure that made him an invalid. He stayed on the family farm where he was tended with great care by his son Tom and his wife Iris with much help from Edna. Despite his condition and the pain he suffered, Bob remained remarkably calm, cheerful and patient. Bob eventually passed away in July 1953 when he was 72. He had been a widower for 20 years.

Roy Carlisle Lattimore John and Fanny’s only son Roy had a second name of Carlisle. The name was no doubt a connection to the English town of that name up near the Scottish border and only a short distance from the Lattimore home of Roy’s grandfather William.

By the time Roy’s three older sisters had married and left to make their own homes, Roy was working full time on the family farm.

The First World War started when Roy was 20 and like many young men from rural areas who could ride a horse and shoot a rifle, he must have felt the pressure to enlist and serve his country

Leaving for the War

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and the Empire. He had cousins who were soon off to the war and Roy would have been keen to follow them.

Perhaps his family wanted to protect him or he was needed on the family farm. Whatever the reason, he did not enlist until he was 23 when he joined a unit of reinforcements for the 26th Infantry Battalion that were sent to France in February 1917.305 Many thought the war would be over within a year, or two at the latest. Roy probably thought he was going to miss out on the war altogether. The fair haired and brown eyed Roy survived unscathed in Belgium and France for 18 months until 8 August 1918.

He was based at the village of Villers-Bretonneux where his and other battalions were preparing for a big offensive against the German lines which would become known as the Battle of Amiens.

On the night of 7 August, as the soldiers lay waiting for the early morning push, one soldier wrote: “It was utterly still. Vehicles made no sound on the marshy ground. The silence played on our nerves a bit …you could hear drivers whispering to their horses and men muttering curses under their breath, and still the silence persisted.

Then all hell broke loose and we heard nothing more. The world was enveloped in sound and flame (from the Australian gun barrage), and our ears just couldn’t cope.

The ground shook”.306

Waiting for the Push

305 306

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files - Roy Carlisle Lattimore - Service No 6657 Diary of Gunner J R Armitage

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The push by the Australians and their Canadian allies commenced. There was a mist, which was a great help. In three hours the Germans were overwhelmed, taken largely by surprise. Over 29,000 German prisoners were captured and the German General Ludendorff called 8 August “the black day of the German Army.”307 However, the victory came at a great cost with over 21,000 casualties among the Australians and their allies with a quarter of those casualties being fatal.

Roy was one of those casualties, having been shot in the head, back and thigh early in the push.

He was rushed by ambulance to a clearing station and then sent to the United States St Louis Hospital set up at Rouen where he died four days after receiving his wounds.308 Roy was buried at a specially built extension to the St Sever Cemetery at Rouen. 309 By coincidence, my maternal grandfather, Joseph Thompson Hely from Sydney, was a field ambulance driver. He spent two days under heavy enemy shelling evacuating wounded soldiers during the same offensive at Villers-Bretonneux. His ambulance may well have been the one that evacuated Roy to the clearing station.

Roy’s family was shocked at receiving a telegram stating that he had been badly wounded but they were devastated when they received the next telegram informing them of his death.

Temporary Burials after the Fighting

307 308 309

Australian War Memorial – Battle of Amiens: 8 August 1918 Australian War Memorial – Red Cross Wounded and Missing Reports – Roy Carlisle Lattimore Grave 5262

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Chapter 27 – Keeping the Peace George Lattimore b 1858

George Lattimore also migrated north and settled in the lower Clarence River district by 1880, close to many of his siblings.310 However, he never took to farming and instead did something extraordinary in the eyes of his family. He joined the police force on 12 November 1881 as a probationary constable (No 4027) at the age of 23. 311 His first appointment was to the police station at Narrabri, a rural town on the Namoi River to the north west of Tamworth. By the end of 1882 he was stationed at Bingara, a small town on the Gwydir River north east of Narrabri.312 He returned to Narrabri the following year.

By 1884 he had been transferred to Millie, a tiny settlement between Narrabri and Moree in the far north-west of the State and about as remote from civilisation as you could find.313 That is until he was transferred in September 1884 to Mogil Mogil, another tiny settlement, this time between Moree and Lightning Ridge and even more remote than Millie. At least his new appointment came with a promotion to first class constable.

The duties of a policeman in these remote areas included acting as Clerk of Petty Sessions, registrar of the small debts court, inspector of slaughterhouses, collector of census returns and dealing with all manner of law enforcement, coronial enquiries and the removal of trespassers from Crown Lands.314 NSW Police Helmet Badge 1880s

Whatever the reason, George was demoted back to ordinary constable in May 1886. 315 He spent his remaining time in the force at the small outback settlement at Goodooga near Lightning Ridge.

He was discharged from the force on 24 November 1886 (which is not the same as dismissed).

310 311 312 313 314 315

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 7 September 1880, Electoral Roll list NSW Government Gazette 7 December 1881, page 439 The Maitland Mercury 27 January 1883, page 4 NSW Police Gazette 11 June 1884, page 1 The Maitland Mercury 25 September 1884, page 5 and 28 March 1885, page 21 Supplement NSW Police Gazette 12 May 1886, page 143

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According to the 1901 Australian Census, George was living on his own just outside Mungindi, a settlement on the Queensland border east of Goodooga. By 1913 he had moved to Kyogle where he worked as a labourer.

By the end of the First World War George was living in Grafton but he had fallen on hard times.

In March 1917 the bailiff seized his horse and sulky to pay off a debt of ₤10/7s. In July the following year he was fined 10 shillings in Grafton Court for public drunkenness.

The 1930 Census found him working as a mailman and living at a locality on the Richmond River known as Riverview, now an eastern suburb of Casino. 316 He was admitted to the State Hospital and Home in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, in the late 1930s. It was here George suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, or stroke, and died in May 1939 at the age of 81.317 George never married.

If there is a black sheep in every family then George may qualify for the role in this family. Perhaps his remote service as a policeman exposed him to a different set of values. He doesn’t appear to have lived up to the higher standards followed by his siblings.

NSW Mounted Police late 1880s

316 317

Australian Electoral Rolls 1930 and 1937 NSW BDM Death Certificate 1939/8903

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Chapter 28 – The Lower Coldstream Farmer Ellen Lattimore b 1859 Married 1878 Angus McPhee b 1846 Children: William Edward McPhee

b 1879

d 1954

75 years

Mary Ann McPhee

b 1881

d 1962

81 years

Thomas McPhee

b 1883

d 1965

81 years

Finlay McPhee

b 1886

d 1917

31 years

Jessie McPhee

b 1891

d 1923

31 years

Colin McPhee

b 1894

d 1965

71 years

Ellen Lattimore (born Eleanor) was 18 and Angus McPhee was a much older 32 when they married at Glen William in 1878.318 They also moved soon after their marriage to a property near Tyndale on the south arm of the Clarence River opposite Woodford Island and further downriver from Lower Coldstream where her brother John settled.

The McPhee family to which Angus belonged had migrated from Loch Sunhart in Argyllshire in Scotland in 1852 when Angus was 6 years old to join other relatives who were living at Clarence Town. They settled for the next 10 years on rented farms near Glen William where they became known to the Lattimore family of Cape Vale. Angus’ father Thomas then travelled on his own to the Coldstream River where he selected a property for farming. He returned to Glen William to collect his family.

16 years old Angus was put in charge of a team of eight bullocks pulling a large dray filled with all of the family’s worldly possessions. He also looked after a few cattle that were brought along.

The party set off in January 1863 on a route across the mountainous New England Range with few roads and many obstacles including floods on the lowlands.

318

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1878/2755

215

The trek took five weeks. Angus’ mother did not make the trek herself, instead travelling in far more comfort by steamer.319 On arrival, Angus started clearing the selected land of its thick brush so planting could commence.

He then lived at Southgate for a few years where he finished his schooling. His father later purchased a property on the opposite side of the Coldstream River on which Angus, after clearing the ubiquitous brush, would settle for the rest of his life. The property came to be known as Dalrye.

It may well have been this relocation of the McPhees from Glen William to the Clarence River region that impelled the Lattimores to do the same in later years. Angus made return visits to Glen William and Clarence Town to catch up with other members of the wider McPhee family. Ellen Lattimore was only four years old when Angus left Glen William so he must have become romantically aware of her on one of his much later visits.

Their marriage was the first between the Lattimore and McPhee families. Ellen and Angus went on to have six children between 1879 and 1894.

Local affairs, both public and private, played a big role in the lives of the McPhees and the Lattimores. One particular scandal in 1898 excited a good deal of interest in the community. 320 It concerned a divorce case where the husband claimed adultery by his wife and she in turn claimed cruelty. Both denied the claims.

The husband admitted to striking his wife on many occasions over the years but only in response to her shrill and false claims of immorality, including with one of his daughters.

Ellen McPhee was one of the many local witnesses called to give evidence as to the violent conduct of the husband.

The wife had left the family home and was working as a live-in servant to a Mr Walsham.

One of Walsham’s sons gave evidence that, being suspicious of inappropriate behaviour, he once looked in his father’s bedroom window and saw “the parties under circumstances that indicated undue familiarity.”

The judge concluded that there was a labyrinth of truth mixed with falsehood in the claim of cruelty. He said that the husband had clearly been cruel but only in response to false claims made against him. He had no hesitation in finding there had been adultery by the wife. The judge also said that “no man has a right to strike his wife and he could not understand a man doing so.” The divorce was granted with the wife Ellen McPhee (nee Lattimore)

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Clarence River Historical Society – Pre 1900 Clarence River Pioneer Register 1995 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 25 October 1898, page 5

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bearing the shame. No one apparently took note that the wife’s maiden name was Chisler.

The McPhee children attended the public school at Lower Coldstream, in which their uncle John Lattimore took such an interest. At the same end of year fete and prize giving ceremony in 1899 that their cousins Mabel and Roy Lattimore won prizes, young Finlay McPhee received a prize for his writing and his sister Jessie won a prize for sewing. 321 Jessie McPhee went on to study music through the Sydney based Trinity College. Jessie was 22 years old when she passed the Advanced Junior stage in 1913.322 Angus had all but retired from farming by his early 60s. He suffered badly from rheumatism. He was sitting in his easy chair one Friday evening in March 1914 when he suddenly passed away.

He was 67 years old.

The Clarence and Richmond Examiner reported: “Mr Angus McPhee, whose death was announced on Saturday, was a resident of the Coldstream for fully half a century. He came to the district with his father, the late Thomas McPhee, who, with his family, were amongst the first settlers on that part of the Clarence.

Deceased leaves a large number of relatives in the district.”323 War broke out later in 1914 and Colin and Jessie, the youngest children, were quick to raise money for the Brushgrove Patriotic Fund.324 Finlay (or Fin as he was known) was 29 and among the first of his cousins to go to war when he enlisted in the 3rd Infantry Battalion in August 1915 as part of the reinforcements for the soldiers killed or wounded at Gallipoli.325 Fin had been a school teacher with early postings to small rural schools at Dalmorton, near Grafton and Gundarene, west of Coffs Harbour.

The rather short (5ft 4in) blue eyed and brown haired Fin arrived in France in May 1916 and within two months he was a casualty. A shell exploded close to his position and shrapnel hit him in both legs.

After being evacuated and then recuperating in England he returned to his unit at the front in March 1917 where he soon took part in the battle for Bullecourt. The Australian line around the village of Maricourt received almost saturation bombing from the German heavy artillery on 4 May and Fin was struck by multiple shell fragments in his right arm and again in both legs.

Finlay McPhee 1915 321 322 323 324 325

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 19 December 1899, page 4 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 27 February 1913, page 5 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 17 March 1914, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 8 September 1914, page 4 National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Finlay McPhee - Service No 3989

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Almost all of his unit were killed by the bombardment and their bodies were later buried in the Maricourt Wood where they have remained undisturbed ever since.

Fin was taken by field ambulance to the Australian General Hospital at Rouen where his right leg was found to be so damaged it was amputated. However, his wounds were too severe and he died on 13 May. He was buried at the extension of the St Sever Cemetery at Rouen, the same cemetery where his cousin Roy Lattimore would be buried a year later.

His widowed mother Ellen, who had left the farm and moved to Brushgrove the year after Angus’ death, received a telegram on 19 May stating that her son had died from wounds.

Ten weeks later she received a post card from a French nursing sister at the hospital in Rouen written the day before his death, saying that the doctors hoped to save his leg and that she looked forward to writing another card saying her son was improving.

St Sever Cemetery Extension at Rouen

Although other cousins had already been wounded in the war, some quite seriously, Fin was the first of his family to be killed and the death of this quiet and reserved but well-loved young man was keenly felt within the McPhee and Lattimore families as well as within the local community.

His name was later included on the Honour Board at the public school at Gilletts Ridge, Upper Coldstream.

In later life Ellen left Brushgrove and returned to the family farm at Lower Coldstream which was now run by her son Thomas. She was 84 when she died at Grafton Base Hospital in October 1944 after a short illness. She had been a widow for 40 years.

William Edward McPhee William was 35 when he married 30 years old Marion Gillies in July 1914, four months after the sudden death of William’s father Angus. They had five children who they named Kenneth, Finlay, Mona, Douglas and Jean.

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Unusually, each of the first three children married in 1940. Ken, who was a well-liked young man, married an equally popular Jean Coulter who was the young teacher at the local public school.

Parents of the school children were very disappointed to lose such a wonderful teacher as married women were barred from teaching. Ken’s brother Finlay was best man at the wedding which took place in April at the Baptist Church at Calliope, a settlement to the east of Ulmarra. They lived most of their lives at Calliope where Ken was a farm worker.

Finlay (it was an old family name of the McPhees) married the unusually named Allien Doust (better known as Pam) in December 1940. Pam’s father was a councillor on the local shire council.

Five years earlier Pam’s sister Dulcie had married Lyle Davis, the son of Laura Lattimore and sister of nurse Winnie May Davis.

Finlay worked for Foley Brothers at their creamery and butter factory at Lower Southgate where they made butter under the trade name of Waratah. The Foleys had started business in Macleay and later set up a major factory in Sussex Street, Sydney. They became one of the country’s largest exporters of butter, cheese, bacon, eggs and other produce. In later years the factory at Lower Southgate was bought by Peters of Taree, before the whole business was taken over by Norco in the 1950s. Finlay was keen to follow the latest technologies. In 1943 he completed a course at the Dairy Science School at Casino which earned him a milk tester’s certificate.

After a move to Brushgrove, Finlay and Pam settled in River Street, Ulmarra, probably with his mother Marion. Pam died in 1955 when she was only 37.

Finlay’s father William had only passed away in October the year before at the age of 75.

There must have been a strong connection between serving on councils either as aldermen of municipal councils or as councillors on shire councils. Quite a few of the players in this story have that Foley Bros’ Waratah Cooking Butter connection. In May 1940 Mona McPhee married Wilbur Boorman whose grandfather was a long time president and councillor of Copmanhurst Shire Council where he served with Pam Doust’s grandfather. Wilbur was also a distant relative of Harriet Boorman who had married Mona’s great uncle Thomas Lattimer in 1876.

Two months before his marriage in 1940 Wilbur enlisted in the Army when he was 27. Two months after the marriage he was shipped with the 2nd Battalion to Palestine. From Egypt his battalion was sent to Greece where the soldiers heroically but unsuccessfully tried to stem the German invasion of that country. Those not killed or captured escaped to Crete but the island was taken by the Germans in May 1941 after 10 days of fierce fighting by the allied soldiers and locals.

Wilbur was one of the 3,109 Australian soldiers taken prisoner. His commander had never received the order to retreat and had kept fighting. Back in Ulmarra where Mona was living, word first came through that he was missing in action. To their relief they later received advice he was now a prisoner somewhere in Germany. The prisoners had been taken to a prison camp (stalag) in Lamsdorf, Silesia in south-east Germany between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Wilbur spent the next four years at this camp until he was retrieved in May 1945. Almost 250 of those taken prisoner died during their confinement.

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Wilbur arrived in Sydney by ship in July 1945. Mona travelled to Sydney to meet him and bring him back to the Clarence. She had not seen her husband for almost five years.

Prisoners at the POW Camp in Lamsdorf

Douglas McPhee had a tendency to break things. In May 1944 when he was 15 he broke his right leg while playing football. He was picked up by ambulance and taken to Grafton Base Hospital.

Three years earlier he had fallen over at school and broken his left arm. He had already experienced the delights of the hospital on even earlier occasions, so was well-known to staff.

By the end of the war he was living with his mother at Ulmarra working as a delivery boy. At an inquest in 1946 he told the court he had been asked by a returned soldier if he had a rifle. He said no but he had some bullets which he handed over. The soldier soon took his own life.

Doug was too young for the Second World War. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in April 1948. He served in the Korean War where his ship toured the waters off the Korean peninsula on escort duties. He spent time in Japan before he was discharged in October 1952.

Doug married Cynthia O’Connell in 1956. He was working as a butcher at Grafton but in 1958 he and Cynthia moved to Sydney. In 1960 he joined the Department of Agriculture as a meat inspector and was posted to Casino where they settled permanently.

Doug’s mother Marion was 79 when she died in March 1963 more than eight years after the death of her husband William.

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Mary Anne McPhee Mary Ann was 22 when she married 31 years old John Campbell in August 1903. John’s parents came to the Coldstream as pioneers in about 1880. They were well known to the McPhee family and well regarded as worthy neighbours. In fact the local families, including the Davisons, Kratz, Doust, Blanch, Connor, Johnston, Johnson, Jackson and Biddle families, all got on very well.

John and Mary Ann had three sons who they named Leslie, Ernest and Milton.

John continued the dairy farming tradition of his parents and over the years acquired a number of rural properties either by purchase or lease, many of which he let to tenant farmers. He and Mary Ann each purchased two half acre lots in the village of Tucabia on the Coldstream River near Gillets Ridge.

Like Mary Ann’s uncle John Lattimore, John Campbell was one of the first councillors elected to the Orara Shire Council. He served on the council for over 20 years and was elected president a number of times. As president he was introduced to the Duke and Duchess of York in April 1927.

The royal couple, who in 1936 would become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (parents of Queen Elizabeth II), were on a royal visit to Australia and were travelling by train from Brisbane back to Sydney when they made a stop at Grafton. John later said he was charmed by the Queen’s smile and never forgot it. In the photo below John is the tall man at the back. John Lattimore is seated second on the left.

Orara Shire Councillors 1908 – John Campbell is second on the left, back row

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Later that year John and Mary Ann suffered a setback when their house and its contents were destroyed in a fire. They had gone to Yamba for a weekend in December. A neighbour noticed flames coming from the house about 9 pm but the house was destroyed by the time help arrived.

The cause of the fire was not discovered. There was only a small amount of insurance.

John and Mary Ann worked tirelessly for the local Anglican Church, St Philip’s. Like many well off residents they spent quite a few weekends of the year and occasional holidays on the coast at Yamba. John was elected to the Yamba Urban Area committee where he served for 22 years.

Orara Council was a founding member of the Clarence River County Council which was formed in 1922 to oversee the construction of a hydro-electric power station on the upper reaches of the Nymboida River which would supply electricity to Grafton and surrounding areas. John was Orara Council’s representative on the County Council for 12 years. The electricity line from Ulmarra to Upper Coldstream was credited as the first rural electricity line on mainland Australia.

Crowds flock to the resort port of Yamba at the mouth of the Clarence River

After 36 years of married life on the Coldstream, John and Mary Ann made the decision in late 1939 to permanently move to Yamba. I think it only a coincidence their house was in Campbell Street. Their sons Les and Ern stayed in Coldstream but their other son Milton had by then moved to Grafton. Les had married Dorothy Biddle (known by her second name of Ena) in December 1933. Ern married Ruby Johnston in June 1935. Milton married a distant cousin named Rachel Campbell whose parents had been at the Coldstream longer than most people. These Irish Campbells all came to Australia from Carrigallen, a small village in County Leitrim, which happens to be only 20 km from the village of Ballyhaise where my O’Connor ancestors came from.

Both Ern and Milton enlisted in the local Volunteer Defence Corps for part time home service between early 1942 and September 1945. After the war Milton sold his dairy herd and equipment and moved to Yamba where he took up the cream run between Yamba and Ulmarra. The move was made to improve the health of his wife Rachel.

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In 1953 John and Mary Ann celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with relatives and friends at the old Campbell family homestead at Coldstream known as Leighton. In a speech in response to many others, John said: “Whatever mistakes I may have made in my life, I certainly made no mistake the day I chose my little flaxen haired bride.”326 John was 87 when he died in December 1959. Mary Ann passed away in May 1962 when she was 81. After Mary Ann’s death an appreciation was published in the Daily Examiner that said in separate parts: “She was a dutiful daughter and a well-loved sister and cousin, she was a favourite among the clan. Mrs Campbell was a splendid type of womanhood and possessed all attributes of a good Christian wife and mother.

She was hospitable and kindly and possessed a quiet, happy disposition which endeared her to all and sundry. She was particularly fond of bulbous plants.”

It does seem a bit awkward that after 81 years of tireless community service you are specifically remembered for being attracted to a variety of garden flora.

Thomas McPhee Tom McPhee married 27 years old Margaret McKay in May 1912 when Tom was 28. Tom had taken up land at Coldstream held under Conditional Purchases from the Government. He was an established farmer in his own right by the time he was married.

Tom and Margaret had seven children over the next 13 years who they named Marion, Flora (known by her second name of Mavis), Hazel, Alister (known as Sandy), Lexie, Jessie and Ewen (known by his second name of Angus).

Tom was well known and liked in the Coldstream area. His reputation as a strong supporter and proponent of local issues soon spread along the Clarence River. He stood for election to Orara Council at least three times between 1934 and 1941 but was unsuccessful, mainly due to the strong field of other candidates.

Tom had taken over the running of the McPhee family farm known as Dalrye after the death of his father Angus. He continued farming on a number of properties in the area. He was appointed secretary of the Lower Coldstream Pastures Protection Union and a director of the Ulmarra Butter Factory. By 1942 Tom had been elected as treasurer and assistant secretary of the 1,000 members strong Clarence Stock Owners League, a position which brought him into an acrimonious clash with the Government.

Cattle ticks had found their way into NSW from Queensland in 1906 but it wasn’t until 1920 that formal regulations were introduced to control ticks. Hundreds of cattle dipping yards were built but there was a lot of resentment by the cattle owners who were forced to have their cattle dipped.

Many cows died from injury or were maimed in the dips. The dip water was treated with an arsenic 326

Daily Examiner 10 September 1953, page 5

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based insecticide which could cause a painful death to any cow drinking the water while in the dip.

Farming at Lower Coldstream

Parts of the Clarence River region were declared a quarantine area in the 1930s. Early eradication was achieved by spraying infected cattle. However, following a limited outbreak in late 1941, farmers were given orders to build their own cattle dips and have their cattle treated. Resistance flared when only a small number of contained herds were infected. The vast majority of farms were tick free. The general feeling of stock owners was that only those cattle actually infected needed to be treated but this was rejected by the regulators. The stockowners also believed the cost to them of compliance with the eradication program was a waste of vast amounts of their money.

Tom and other stock owners refused to dip their clean herds. The Government started a series of prosecutions against the rebels. Tom was one of the first to be prosecuted. In his case in the Grafton Court of Petty Sessions in April 1942, the magistrate dismissed all charges based on a particular interpretation of sections of the legislation. Later in the year the NSW Supreme Court ruled the magistrate was wrong and the cases were sent back to Grafton Court. Tom and his fellow rebels sought leave to appeal to the High Court but their application was rejected.

The Grafton Court re-heard the charges in September 1942 and found all three guilty but then dismissed the convictions as they were first offences. If the Government thought it had overturned the rebellion, it was wrong. Many other stock owners took up the cause and refused to dip their cattle. They were duly fined but they considered the fine a small price in comparison with the stock losses. Some stock owners refused to pay the fine and went to prison in protest. Others

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went to prison for violently defying local tick inspectors who tried to remove cattle from the stock owners.

The tick war was fought at the same time as the Second World War. Many of the farmers involved had sons and daughters in the forces who were dismayed at the harsh treatment given by the Government to their parents.

Charlie Johnston, who would marry Lexie McPhee in 1945, enlisted in May 1941 and served for over three years. Alister McPhee enlisted in the 36th Battalion in November 1941 and served for four years.

Although Lexie was the 5th child of Tom and Margaret, she was the first Cattle Ticks of the children to marry. She and Charlie were married at St James’ Presbyterian Church at Ulmarra. Lexie’s younger sister Jessie was her bridesmaid. Her husband Charlie took up farming at Lower Coldstream following in the steps of both his and Lexie’s farming families. Charlie’s father Les was an alderman on the Ulmarra Municipal Council. Charlie and Lexie built a new home on the banks of the Coldstream in 1950 where they would live with their five children.

Tom and Margaret’s eldest child Marion was the next to marry when she wed Frederick John Burnitt (sometimes but incorrectly spelt Burnett) in April 1949 at the Maclean Methodist Church.

Marion’s sister Mavis was her bridesmaid. Marion had studied nursing during the 1930s and was well known for her nursing services in the district. She spent a lot of time during the 1930s staying with her great aunt (her mother Ellen’s sister) Priscilla in Sydney.

In 1939 Marion moved full time to Sydney to work at Nurse Rice’s private hospital at Enfield. After their marriage Marion and Fred moved to the far north of Queensland. Fred was an engineer working at the Macknade Sugar Mill near Ingham, the oldest sugar mill in Queensland. Fred, however, spent most of his working life at the nearby Victoria Sugar Mill. This mill was built in the 1880s and remains one of the largest sugar mills in Australia.

Marion’s younger brother Angus was 25 when he married Myra Griffiths in May 1951. Myra was a popular girl in the community who served as secretary of the local school’s Parents and Citizens Association. The couple raised four children and spent most of their lives farming at Lower Coldstream.

Angus’ older sister Jessie married Lawrence Wilson in June 1953 when she was 29. Lawrence and his family had emigrated from Yorkshire in England in 1925 under his father’s family name of Longbottom. Not long after settling in Queensland, the family changed their surname to Wilson which was the family name of Lawrence’s mother Nellie. Lawrence’s parents returned to Yorkshire after only six years in Australia but Lawrence remained. After his marriage to Jessie, the couple lived in Grafton with Audrey Wilson, no doubt a relative of Lawrence, until Audrey’s marriage the following year. They remained in Grafton for the rest of their lives.

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The three other children, Mavis, Hazel and Alister never married. Their parents Tom and Margaret bought a house in Coldstream Street, Ulmarra in March 1952. Their daughters Mavis and Jessie went with them. A gala farewell party was organised and the family left with the good wishes of their many friends.

Hazel moved to Sydney by 1949. She lived at Croydon and found work as a process worker.

Although the family had spread to far locations, they remained in touch and were very close. Hazel and Monica frequently travelled back to Ulmarra to visit family and friends. Hazel was known to catch the flying boat from Sydney for a quick visit.

Hazel’s brother Alister (Sandy) returned to farming at Lower Coldstream after the Second World War. He was only 51 when he died in January 1969, four years after his sister Marion who died at the same age.

Tom McPhee was 81 when he died in March 1965. His wife Margaret passed away in May 1970 when she was 85 leaving Mavis to look after the Ulmarra home. Not long after, Hazel returned from Sydney to live with Mavis and they would spend most of their later lives together, both being doting aunts to their nieces and nephews.

Tom and Margaret McPhee with their children

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Memorial Stone for Tom and Margaret McPhee

Jessie McPhee Jessie, who was known as Jess or Jesse, was 27 when she married 29 years old John Edwin Kratz in July 1918, 14 months after the death of her brother Finlay in France. Jack Kratz (as he was known despite sounding like a biscuit) was one of 16 children born to his poor mother Mary and father George.

Jack’s grandfather, Heinrich, left Germany in 1856 and eventually settled in the area known today as Alumy Creek, located just to the north of Grafton on the road to Southgate and Lawrence.

Alumy Creek is not to be confused with Alumny Creek which is located near Calliope between Ulmarra and Upper Coldstream (I mention this because those spellings were frequently interchanged within the community much to the confusion of later historians).

Jack’s father George had a keen interest in horses. He was an accomplished rider and breeder of a wide variety of horses which he exhibited at district shows for over half a century.

Jack also took on farming and champion horse breeding at Alumy Creek with his parents. Jessie settled into life as a farmer’s wife. Their first child, a son, was born in February 1920. In fond memory of Jessie’s brother, the baby was named Finlay Edwin Kratz. A second son was born in June 1922 and he was named Roy George Kratz (possibly in memory of Jessie’s cousin Roy who was also killed in the war).

Jessie became seriously ill towards the end of 1922, possibly a post-natal depression after the birth of Roy. Her depression was later diagnosed as acute melancholia. With help from Cecil McGregor, who was Jack’s uncle, Jessie was taken to Sydney just before Christmas and was admitted to the Mental Hospital at Gladesville. The treatment may have been worse than the illness because she died suddenly from heart failure two weeks after admission. Her body was brought back by boat to Grafton for burial at Grafton Cemetery. Jessie was 31 years old, the same age as her brother Finlay when he was killed in France.

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Jack remained a widower for the next 11 years. He was 45 when he married 38 years old Eva Winifred May Phelps in June 1934. The Phelps family was also one of the first to settle on the Clarence River.

Looking Across to the Farmlands of Alumy Creek

Finlay Kratz served time in the local militia before the Second World War but his farming services were more important to the war effort than enlistment. This was not the case for younger sons.

Roy enlisted in July 1942 as a signalman.

A social evening was held for Roy two months later at the Alumy Creek hall to wish him well. One of the many speakers had this to say: “It was not long since Roy seemed a boy amongst them. Now he was doing a man’s job, offering his very life to fight for all.”

Roy was presented with a wallet containing a ₤1 note and a pencil to remind him of his friends at Alumy Creek. They were in the middle of a severe drought and perhaps times were tough. The evening concluded with Roy in the centre of a circle of people while everyone sang the National Anthem (God Save the King).

Roy spent time on service in the Darwin area sending and receiving signals with the allied forces north and east of Australia. He finished his service at the headquarters of the Military Signals Unit based in Brisbane. He was discharged in February 1946.

In August 1946, Finlay married Delilah Fuller (known by her second name of Carrie). They lived at Brushgrove and Finlay worked as a salesman. Finlay also managed his own herd of dairy cattle.

After a time at Southgate, Finlay and Carrie sold the dairy herd and equipment and moved to Lismore where Finlay later took up work as a pest exterminator. They eventually returned to the area and lived in Grafton.

After a return to farming for a few years after the war, Roy took up working with the Postmaster General’s Department as a linesman while still living at Alumy Creek. He married Florence Ford

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(known as Flo) in December 1951. He became a farmer again in later life when he took over the family farm.

Jack and Eva stayed for many years at Alumy Creek until they retired to a house in South Grafton.

Eva was 84 when she died in May 1981. Jack followed two years later in December 1983 when he was 95.

Roy Kratz and the Alumny (Alumy) Creek Roll of Honour (the school is now a museum)

Colin McPhee Compared to most of his siblings, Colin was a youngster at 21 when he married 24 years old Winifred Doust in June 1915. There were later connections between the Doust family and the wider Lattimore family when the sisters Dulcie and Pam Doust (who were second cousins to Winifred) respectively married Lyle Davis (grandson of John Lattimore) in 1935 and Finlay McPhee (grandson, not the son, of Ellen Lattimore) in 1940.

Colin and Winifred had four children between 1918 and 1923 who they named Beryl, John (known as Jack), Rita and Allan. It was in 1923 the family moved to Oliver Street in Grafton which would be the long term family home. Colin paid ₤760 for the property which was very expensive for those times.

Colin worked as an insurance agent in the town. The family was strongly attached to the local Methodist Church and the congregation was sad to see the family leave the district in 1929 to go to Lismore where Colin took up a work promotion.

Colin must have retained his property in Grafton because the family had returned to Oliver Street by 1933. Colin now worked as an insurance superintendent.

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Colin and his older daughter Beryl were both members of the Pride of Grafton Lodge of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. Both held many offices in the lodge including the office of Noble Grand. Colin was also the long-time secretary of the Grafton Benevolent Home.

Winifred’s grandfather David Doust was one of the very first pioneers to settle on the Clarence River having arrived in Australia from Kent in England in 1858 when he was 22. He turned 100 in October 1936 and many civic and family celebrations were held for him. A large family reunion took place in January 1937 at Colin and Winifred’s home in Oliver Street.

Five generations of the Doust family were present.

Grafton celebrated its 150 years during 1938.

A competition for Queen of Grafton was organised as a fund raiser. Candidates were nominated from various districts and from community groups. The combined friendly societies from the Clarence region selected a candidate but she later withdrew when her mother became very ill. The societies then selected Beryl McPhee as their candidate. Beryl was ultimately unsuccessful having pulled out along with another candidate when it became clear their fundraising activities were falling well behind other candidates.

Colin was made a Justice of the Peace in 1940.

Later that year his son Jack enlisted in the Army where he would serve for over five years.

Jack married Beryl Page soon after his enlistment. After the war they lived most of their lives at Taree and then at Old Bar. Jack worked as a plasterer.

Jack’s brother Allan enlisted in March 1942 as David Doust - Five Generations an Army driver but he transferred to the RAAF a year later. He trained in the Bahamas and Canada where he gained his wings and was appointed a sergeant pilot. He was then posted to Northern Ireland until the end of the war in Europe. He was discharged in September 1945 with the rank of Flight Sergeant.

Beryl McPhee was 28 when she married Cyril Flood in December 1944. Beryl and Cyril, who was an engineer and surveyor from Western Australia, moved to Perth. Later in 1945 Colin fell off a ladder at home breaking his left arm. He was taken by ambulance to Grafton Base Hospital.

Allan McPhee was not to be outdone. He decided the family needed yet another Beryl. He married Beryl Greenstreet in August 1947. Allan worked as a carpenter and the couple lived next door to Colin and Winifred. Beryl died in 1973 when she was 48. Allan later married a lady named Enid.

Colin was an avid fisherman. He and friends would fish in the rivers and off the beaches but their best fishing was off the coast. In May 1951 Colin caught a small shark at a beach location called Wire Fence (today known as Minnie Water). He went to plunge his knife into the shark but the tough skin deflected the knife and he punctured his left hand instead. His hand was treated and

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bandaged but the next day he was bleeding heavily. The knife had in fact severed an artery. He was treated at the ambulance station by an emergency doctor.

The following year about a quarter of a mile off Wire Fence, Colin caught a 67 pound (over 30 kg) cod as well as various snapper, morwong and perch. The catch was big enough to make news in the local paper. Allan McPhee was also a keen fisherman.

Rita McPhee was 18 when she married her second cousin Sam Lattimer in August 1937. Sam was a son of Harold Woodford Lattimer.

Colin was 71 when he died in October 1965. Winifred was a widow for 21 years before she passed away in June 1986 when she was 95.

Headstone for Colin and Winifred McPhee and their Daughter in Law Beryl McPhee

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Chapter 29 – The City Lattimore Priscilla Lattimore b 1863 Married 1881 John Thompson b 1862 Married 1928 Robert Stokes b 1880 Children: James Ernest Thompson

b 1883

d 1962

78 years

At the time the first Lattimore children were leaving Glen William for the Manning and Clarence Rivers, young Priscilla also left home but headed in the opposite direction. She was only 18 or younger when she arrived in Sydney and found lodgings in Macquarie Street, which was quite a well to do location at the time.

Priscilla had no discernible income suggesting she had been given some funds or endowment or she was supported by someone else. It is possible her father William had distributed money to the children to use as a stake for a new life when he made the decision to retire and hand over the farm at Glen William to his eldest son.

In April 1881 Priscilla married John Thompson at St Simon’s and St Jude’s Anglican Church at Surry Hills in Sydney.327 John may have been living in Macquarie Street but by the time of the marriage he was living in Gipps Street, Darlinghurst.

On the marriage register Priscilla put her age up to 21 rather than her correct age of 18, most likely to avoid having to obtain the consent of her father William as surviving parent. John, on the other hand, had no trouble with his age of 19, having readily obtained the consent of Edward Ward who was the Guardian of Children as well as the Registrar General. It helped that he wrongly stated he was born in Ireland, meaning consent was too difficult to obtain especially if both parents were deceased.

Obtaining consent may not have been too onerous for John as he worked as a law clerk in the city with easy access to all relevant Government bodies. John’s father, William Edward Thompson and mother Esther nee Humphrey (known as Essie), arrived in Australia in the mid-1850s. Even though they both came from County Antrim in Northern Ireland, they may not have known each other before emigration. Essie came to Australia with her sister and her sister’s husband William McIntyre who paid for Essie’s passage. William McIntyre was a master teacher who was later appointed to the teaching district north of the Hunter River.

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NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1881/453

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William and Essie found themselves working as teachers at or near East Maitland, no doubt with help from William McIntyre. They were married in early 1858 and had 10 children over the next 20 years, including John who was born in January 1862 at Tamworth. As a teacher, William was sent to schools around NSW including Carcoar, Tenterfield, Wollongong and of all places, Glen William. He had some problems with excessive drinking over the years but managed to keep working and finally retire in 1892 and grow fruit at Lyndhurst near Penrith.

John most likely met Priscilla when they were both living at Glen William. They probably went to Sydney at the same time. They only had one child who they named James Ernest Thompson (although he became better known as Ernest).

By 1886 Priscilla and John were living in the southern Sydney suburb of Hurstville. The same William McIntyre, who was now a metropolitan inspector, officially opened a public school at the settlement of Gannon’s Forest in 1876 but he named the school Hurstville. The suburb took on that name when the railway station was built in 1884. Hurstville was then the end of the rail line and the southern end of Sydney’s metropolitan area.

Priscilla and John lived most of their lives together at a house named Namoi at No 70 Gloucester Road, having previously lived in The Avenue. John worked as a qualified conveyancer and managing law clerk. He became involved with many community projects and organisations including the local Starr-Bowkett Building Society of which he was chairman.

John was elected an alderman to Hurstville Municipal Council in about 1890 and served continuously for over 20 years.328 He was Mayor of Hurstville at various times during those years, affording Priscilla the opportunity to perform many civic functions as Mayoress.329 Over the years Priscilla worked on behalf of the Red Cross, the Hurstville Public School (my mother’s school as it happens) and the Royal Alexandria Hospital for Children.

John was very popular on the council and in the community, which was an admirable feat considering the feisty politics of the times. In 1911 the council voted to raise funds for the building of a pavilion in Hurstville Park to be named the John Thompson Pavilion. The first fundraiser was a masquerade ball followed by a cricket game between the NSW Ladies team and a fancy dress men’s team from Hurstville.330

John Thompson – Mayor of Hurstville

328 329 330

Unfortunately, the pavilion soon outlived its usefulness. The park became Hurstville Oval and the number of spectators at sporting events went well beyond the capacity of the pavilion.

Sydney Evening News 18 October 1900, page 1 The Sydney Morning Herald 18 December 1900, page 3 The Propeller 21 July 1911, page 4

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A new larger pavilion, which incorporated the old one was opened in 1925. It was renamed the Dunbar Pavilion.

The Dunbar (formerly John Thompson) Pavilion, Hurstville Oval

John became very ill in the late 1910s. He and Priscilla bought a holiday house in Plateau Road, Springwood in the Blue Mountains where they could go to get fresh mountain air away from the smog of the city and generally to improve John’s health.

John was 58 when he died in July 1920 at the Springwood home. His funeral was largely attended by members of the legal profession and members of the St George Lodge of the GUOOF and the Masons, of which John was an esteemed member. Also at the funeral were his son Ernest and his wife as well as John’s parents and his brother William. John’s mother Essie died only a few months later.

John presumably died of natural causes. I mention this because he once stood successfully for council against Thomas Ley, a partner of Sydney’s oldest law firm Norton Smith & Co. Ley was later successful in being elected to the NSW Parliament as the member for Hurstville. He served as Minister for Justice before switching to Federal John Thompson politics where he was elected for the seat of Barton. Ley was linked to the deaths of at least three people who stood in his way including another candidate for election. He was eventually convicted of a murder in London many years later.

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Priscilla was 65 when she married 48 years old Robert Frederick Stokes in July 1928.331 They lived at Gloucester Road until they moved to a house in Leeder Avenue at nearby Penshurst.

Robert worked as an attendant at the NSW Parliament. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1935 and was an honorary ranger at Springwood.

It is hard to know how Priscilla’s son Ernest felt about this marriage as his step father was only four years older than Ernest.

By the time of the Second World War Priscilla and Robert had moved to No 440 Forest Road, Hurstville.

Priscilla maintained the mountain retreat at Springwood which was known as Rose Lea (although not always with that spelling).

After the war and with Priscilla now in her 80s, the couple moved full time to Springwood. Priscilla was 91 when she died in March 1954.332 A memorial was placed at Woronora Cemetery alongside her first husband John. Robert Stokes survived his wife by eight years. He passed away in May 1962 at the age of 82.

NSW Parliament Crest

Priscilla was the only one of her generation to leave the farming communities for a life in the city and not return to be close to her family. Instead she made a new life far away, always closely attached to the politics of the day through both her husbands. She kept in touch with her north coast relatives and frequently offered a home away from home for family members when travelling to or staying in Sydney.

James Ernest Thompson James was known by his second name of Ernest and sometimes as Ernest John Thompson but he always used his birth name for official matters. He was almost 22 when he married 20 years old Ethel Adelaide Hunt in September 1905. They had five children between 1905 and 1913 who they named Eric Ernest, Linda Mavis, Robert, Daphne Elaine and Clarice Beryl. Robert was an early casualty, passing away only nine days after his birth.

Ernest and Ethel were living at Woniora Road, Hurstville in 1931 when their first two children married less than one month apart. Linda married Arthur Royden Clarke (known as Roy) in May and Eric married Jeanette Aldrich (known as Jean) in June.

Roy Clarke enlisted in the Second World War in February 1942. He served in the 1 st Armoured Regiment Ordnance Field Park. This unit took care of the ammunition, guns, tanks, vehicles and other equipment mostly for armoured tank units. A lot of their work was taken up with

331 332

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 13762/1928 NSW BDM Death Certificate 4204/1954

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maintaining and repairing damaged equipment. Roy was discharged four years later in February 1946.

Ernest had a career as a mechanic but he retired after the war. He and Ethel moved to Brighton Street, Harbord near Manly. Ernest was 78 when he died in February 1962. Their daughter Daphne, who worked as a stenographer and secretary, moved in with her mother at Harbord.

Ethel passed away in 1965 when she was 80. Daphne, who never married, later lived at Waterloo before moving to Wollongong.

Eric and Jean Thompson lived most of their married lives at various addresses in Kogarah. They had a son and two daughters. Eric was only 62 when he died in August 1968 not all that long after his parents. Eric and Jean had been married for 37 years. Jean was a widow for 46 years before she passed away at the grand age of 101 in April 2008. At her death she left 10 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren.

Linda and Roy Clarke lived for many years at Rose Bay. They had two sons. In later life they retired to Noraville on the Central Coast near Budgewoi.

The youngest child of Ernest and Ethel, Clarice, married Hurstville boy John Wesley Poulton in January 1938. Daphne was Clarice’s bridesmaid. John may have been related to Henry Parkes Poulton who had served on Hurstville Council with John Thompson and was mayor between 1902 and 1905.

John’s work as a sales manager mostly working for the Olympic Cable Company involved a number of relocations in NSW and Victoria. They eventually settled in Box Hill, Victoria. John was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1976 for distinguished service to the electrical industry.

The Family Home at Gloucester Road, Hurstville

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Chapter 30 – The Late Bloomer Elizabeth Flora Lattimore b 1864 Married 1897 Alexander McPhee b 1853 Children: Elsie May McPhee

b 1898

d 1978

80 years

Grace Cameron McPhee

b 1901

d 1982

81 years

Elizabeth Lattimore was not to be outdone by her older sister Ellen. In 1897 at the older age of 32 she married Angus McPhee’s younger brother Alexander who was 42. 333 Alex (as he was known) was farming in the Coldstream area and she was working as a dressmaker in Sydney when they married at Grafton at the residence of a Mrs Watt in Prince Street. Elizabeth’s older brother John Lattimore and his wife Fanny, from Lower Coldstream, were the formal witnesses to the marriage.

In Scotland the McPhee family had strong religious convictions which pitted them against the orthodoxy of the ruling church which they claimed was tainted by Government interference. Their local breakaway community was barred from building their own church in Scotland so they built a floating church offshore on the waters of the sea loch. Freedom of religion is what mainly drove the family to leave Scotland to join other relatives already in NSW. Alex was the first of his siblings born in the colony, either on New Year’s Eve 1853 or the following day (depending on how much had been drunk by the informant). Earlier that year his recently widowed grandmother and seven of his uncles arrived at the Williams River to add to the McPhee presence in the area. The whole family, except for Alex, could speak fluently in Gaelic although Alex would have picked up a fair bit of the choicer words as he got older.

Elizabeth and Alex had two daughters between 1898 and 1901 who they named Elsie May and Grace Cameron (Alex’s mother was a Janet Cameron). After their marriage they lived at Calliope (or Coolah Creek at it was also known) near Coldstream.

They continued to have a very strong connection with John and Fanny Lattimore. The two men shared a lot of common interests and Alex took an active and often prominent role in many of the local affairs that John was involved with.

In 1910 they both attended a political meeting at the Coldstream Hall to endorse a sitting member for re-election, with John Lattimore chairing the meeting. An election committee was formed but, 333

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1897/5456

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in the absence of an available Lattimore, Alex’s relative Thomas McPhee was appointed secretary of the committee.334 Alexander and John were regular speakers at the Empire Day celebrations at the Lower Coldstream Public School. They would speak inspiringly on love of country, patriotic duty, making sacrifices, the bonds of the Empire and the ties to the mother country.

On one Empire Day in May 1912 Alex spoke at the basket picnic held at the school. His address followed after John Lattimore spoke about the “British Empire and Union Jack”. Alex’s address was rather prosaically described in the local paper as “interesting”.335

Empire Day 1914

For many years Alex ran the official mail service between Brushgrove and the Coldstream.

Alex often took the lead in new farming developments. The Berkshire pig was long famed for its rich flavour but they were slow to breed and more difficult to look after. As a result, pig farmers gradually changed their animals to more successful and compliant breeds.

When people complained that pork had lost its flavour, Alex showed a canny side by acquiring a Berkshire sow and boar from a Sydney stud farm in 1915 to raise a new pig population. 336 Even today, Berkshire pork is probably the most sought after pork and bacon in the country.

Alex occasionally found himself in some trouble. In February 1914 he faced the Magistrate’s Court at Ulmarra accused of illegally impounding nine head of cattle, the property of his neighbour Frank Blanch.337

334 335 336 337

Clarence Clarence Clarence Clarence

and and and and

Richmond Richmond Richmond Richmond

Examiner Examiner Examiner Examiner

23 28 19 14

July 1910, page 4 May 1912, page 2 April 1913, page 2 March 1914, page 2

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According to Alex, his neighbour and his family would herd cattle down an unfenced road between their farms to another paddock but the cattle were often allowed to wander into the McPhee maize crop and eat the corn. Alex thought this was a deliberate ploy to help fatten the cattle before sale.

He had complained many times about this trespass but little had been done to stop it. One day Alex impounded the nine cows when they were off the road and in the corn. Blanch later paid the pound keeper 15 shillings to have the cattle released.

Blanch claimed that on the particular day, his children accompanied the cattle and formed a human fence to stop them from straying but when they got to the end of the road and past the corn, Alex came out on his horse and rode among the cattle stirring them up which caused them to wander into to the corn.

The magistrate accepted the evidence from the Blanch family, which was backed up by others and imposed a fine on Alex of ₤1 plus court costs.

Berkshire Pigs

To make life more difficult for Alex, his close brother Angus (and husband of Ellen Lattimore) died three days later.

Alex and Elizabeth’s children attended Calliope Public School. Alex usually presided at parent meetings at the school and helped plan events such as the celebration of Empire Day, prize givings and the raising of war funds. 338 Their daughter Grace raised over ₤3 as part of a fundraising by the school children. 339 Grace was also elected a vice president of a sewing guild in 1914 to make or buy clothes for the orphan babies in Belgium, which was seen as a hugely worthwhile cause in the district. A prize was donated for the best baby outfit made.340 Elsie McPhee was 23 when she married 27 years old Percy Edwin Phelps from Calliope in March 1922. Elsie’s sister Grace was also 23 when she married Charles William Marsh in February 1924.

338 339 340

Clarence and Richmond Examiner 27 May 1915, page 2 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 3 June 1915, page 4 Clarence and Richmond Examiner 22 September 1914, page 4

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When electricity from the power station on the Nymboida River arrived at Lower Coldstream in July 1934, Orara Shire councillor John Campbell, who had married Mary Anne McPhee, was on hand to call on Alex as the oldest pioneer at Lower Coldstream to officially throw the switch to turn on the power. Alex was called on to speak but his short humble address was not like his more eloquent ones from earlier times.

Alex was 81 when he died in September 1935, two weeks after admission to the Grafton Base Hospital. His 60 acre farm was one of the prime farms in the area. It was put up for auction in March 1936 and was sold to Les Johnson of Calliope for the excellent price of ₤3,000. Les was a close family friend and the family would have been grateful the farm passed to a good person.

Elizabeth did not survive long after the sale of the farm. Around the time of the auction, she was admitted to the Runnymede Private Hospital in Grafton in severe pain. Strangely, her daughter Grace soon joined her as a patient at the hospital. Elizabeth passed away in June 1936 at the age of 71.341

Coldstream River winding its way North to join the South Arm of the Clarence River

Elsie May McPhee After Elsie’s marriage to Percy Phelps in 1922, the couple settled in Calliope where Percy worked as a teamster. After the death of Elsie’s mother Elizabeth, the couple used part of Elsie’s inheritance to buy a farm at Southgate in February 1937 where Percy took up dairy farming, no doubt with plenty of advice from the McPhee and Phelps families. They had five children.

341

NSW BDM Death Certificates 11901/1936 and 23255/1935

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Percy also obtained a licence to take skins and hides and process them for leather. Licences were strictly controlled as the stealing of skins and hides had been a major black market activity during the Great Depression years.

Elsie devoted a lot of her time to community affairs particularly during the years of the Second World War. She had a long association and worked tirelessly with the local branch of the Red Cross.

Elsie’s son Colin was four years old when he was helping his mother in the garden in early January 1941. While digging Colin found a heavy gold wedding ring. Elsie started making enquiries and eventually tracked down a previous occupier of the farm who said that her cousin visiting from Sydney had lost the ring 25 years ago while hanging out washing. The ring, still in excellent condition, was soon reunited with its owner.342 In 1953 Elsie and Percy were able to solve the disappearance of suckling pigs from farms in their area. They were driving home one night when they saw in their headlights a family of foxes dragging a baby pig across the road. The foxes’ lair was found the following day and presumably the foxes were disposed of.

By 1958, Elsie and Percy had sold the farm and moved to Grafton. Percy was 75 when he died in September 1969. Elsie passed away in December 1978 at the age of 80.

Almost half a million Women volunteered during the Second World War

342

Daily Examiner 27 January 1941, page 2

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Grace Cameron McPhee Grace’s husband Charles Marsh (known as Charlie) was an English born returned serviceman from the First World War. He was living in Sydney when he enlisted in January 1916. He was 18 years old. He was assigned to the 30th Battalion and was shipped off to England and France. He was later transferred to the Divisional Signal Company working with the 30 th Battalion.

Charlie was gassed in April 1918 but was soon back at the front after hospital treatment. He returned to Australia and found his way to Ulmarra when he was discharged in September 1919.

Charlie was working for Grace’s cousin Thomas McPhee at Coldstream when he likely met Grace.

After their marriage in 1924, Charlie found labouring work on various farms in the Clarence River area. He and Grace had two children. By 1930 they were living at the house of Grace’s uncle Colin McPhee in Oliver Street, Grafton while Colin and his family were temporarily living in Lismore.

Charlie and Grace soon moved to Cowper before moving to Chatsworth Island on the Clarence River downstream of Maclean where Charlie probably worked for a near relative. After the death of Grace’s father in 1935, the couple moved back to the family farm to be with Grace’s mother Elizabeth. They stayed on at the farm after Elizabeth’s death with the kind permission of the new owner Les Johnson.

They hoped to be able to stay in the Lower Coldstream but opportunities for good work were hard to get. Reluctantly they decided to move to Meerschaum Vale, near Ballina on the Richmond River. There were many farewell functions for the young family, especially the children, who were well liked by everyone. The old home they were leaving was described as “a seat of hospitality throughout three generations.”343 Charlie said they had seen their share of troubles and deaths and were ready to move on. They left in December 1936.

They were living in Ulmarra in 1941. Charlie had been appointed a council inspector. His duties included impounding stray animals and council’s involvement in tick control. He was elected to the committee of the Ulmarra Literary Institute.

As a First World War veteran, Charlie was a member of the Returned Soldiers Sailors and Airmen Imperial League of Australia (later known after a name change as the RSL). Charlie was elected secretary of the Ulmarra branch of the League and was an avid supporter of their policies.

After the outbreak of war, Charlie set up a cadet unit in November 1940. He was elected secretary of the Clarence River District Patriotic

343

League Badge 1942

Daily Examiner 12 December 1936, page 7

242

and War Fund. Grace also became very involved in the war effort and served on the League’s women’s auxiliary.

Charlie was appointed to the committee that organised farewells for men from the area after their enlistments. His first job in July 1941 was the farewell for George Mawhinney, a young man from a popular Coldstream family. George, however was fated not to return, taken by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore and dying as a prisoner of war.

A month before that farewell, Charlie was badly injured. He was out galloping on his horse when he ran into a clothes line that severely lacerated his throat. Luckily he was still able to deliver the speech at the farewell.

Charlie and Grace were living in Grafton when Charlie enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps in September 1942. His duties frequently took him away from home.

After the war Charlie worked in a sawmill. He lacerated his right arm on a circular saw in October 1952 and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He was soon back at work. He and Grace later moved to South Grafton. Charlie was 75 when he died in June 1973. Grace moved into a nursing hostel in Grafton and passed away in 1982 when she was 81.

Gravestone of Elizabeth McPhee (nee Lattimore)

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Chapter 31 – The Facetious Blacksmith David Lattimore b 1866 Married 1893 Emma Amelia Lavis b 1872 Children: Arthur David Lattimore

b 1893

d 1979

85 years

Ivy Amelia May Lattimore

b 1897

d 1989

91 years

Raymond Edward Lattimore

b 1903

d 1991

87 years

Maisie Doris Leona Lattimore

b 1908

d 2007

99 years

Brenda Merle Lattimore

b 1914

d 2004

89 years

David Lattimore (officially known as Robert but to everyone as Dave) had a strong wiry build and, like his older brother John, was a keen cricketer having played for a number of teams on the Williams River, including one from Wallalong, near Hinton, a town at the end of the Paterson River near Morpeth.

Dave became an apprentice of Harry Geary, a blacksmith and coachbuilder at Hinton. After completing his apprenticeship, Dave eventually found his way to Ballina on the New South Wales north coast, arriving in 1888. He worked for the village’s first blacksmith David Grant who had opened his business there in 1879. Dave bought the business in 1890 when David Grant made the decision to go to Perth in Western Australia.344 The business was in River Street opposite the old Commercial Bank, but was later moved to larger premises in Moon Street.

In about July 1888 Dave was given a grant of land at Tuckombil, a small community in the hills north-west of Ballina, and it is thought he ran a large and diverse herd of animals on the land.

He was 26 when he married 20 years old Emma Amelia Lavis in April 1893 at the Cowlong Methodist Church. The ceremony was followed by a reception at Emma’s family residence also at Cowlong, probably in the vicinity of today’s Lavis Road. Cowlong was another small community just north of Wollongbar between Lismore and Ballina. 345

344 345

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 9 April 1935, page 4 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 1893/4407

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After their marriage Dave and Emma moved to a house in Crane Street, Ballina where they lived most of their lives (they had lived in another house in Crane Street while their new house was being built).346 Not long before he married, Dave was a part time trooper in the Lismore-Alstonville Troop of the NSW Regiment of Cavalry. He held the highly valued and respected position of a shoeing smith, but he was also an accomplished rider.347 At a Cavalry Tournament held at Lismore in 1892, Trooper Lattimore won a ₤2 third prize on his horse Comet in the 10 horse handicap race for cavalry chargers.348 Unfortunately, he failed to win a prize in what was perhaps the most popular event, Cleaving the Turk’s Head, which involved charging with a drawn sabre at a large fruit or vegetable (such as a watermelon) sitting on a pole.

Living in Ballina, Dave and Emma had five children between 1893 and 1914 who they named Arthur, Ivy, Raymond, Maisie and Brenda.

By 1896 Dave’s main business in Ballina was called Lattimore & Irish, Blacksmiths and Wheelwrights. He was also a recognised coachbuilder. 349 Cobb & Co coaches on the run to Ballina used Dave’s smithy as a coaching stop. Dave prospered as the years went by and he took the opportunity to buy up shops and land in the town and elsewhere in the region. One of the rural properties owned by David was a 108 acre farm at Cowlong known as Kerr’s Farm.

David Lattimore and Family c 1915

346 347 348 349

Northern Star 10 June 1950, page 11 “Sword and Lance” Martin J Buckley 1999 Lismore Northern Star 30 January 1892, page 4 The Brisbane Courier 5 March 1908, page 8

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The early shops and commercial buildings of Ballina were made of timber. Fire was always a major risk. One Sunday night in 1909, shortly after midnight, a flame (perhaps a rather large one) was noticed on the roof of a produce store in River Street. 350 The fire brigade was called and arrived quickly but soon discovered that previous damage to the street’s water pipe connected to the canal resulted in very little water pressure for the hoses.

By the time the hoses could be connected to the high pressure reservoir supply, at least three premises had been mostly engulfed by the flames, including a shop owned by Dave Lattimore. He leased that shop to the Koorey Brothers who were Syrian immigrants running a drapery business.

The brothers also ran a café next door that was lost in the fire (but rebuilt as the new Cosmopolitan Café, one of the largest on the north coast).351

Richmond River at Ballina

By the time the fire was extinguished, a crowd of over a thousand had turned out to watch the conflagration.

Business owners further up the block were hurriedly removing stock from their premises and a steam tug pulled alongside and used its powerful water hose to pump a large volume of salt water onto the dying flames, adding far more damage to the already damaged stock.

Tenants’ stock destroyed in the fire was mostly uninsured and many of the buildings were only partially insured. Dave said his building was fairly well covered.

350 351

Northern Star 8 February 1909, page 2 “Gourmet’s Guide to Lismore and District”, Peter Tsicalas 2008

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As a small business owner, Dave considered himself an economic victim of the increasing influence of the Australian Labor Party and the trade union movement when he made a public notice in 1911 about giving up his shoeing business: “I wish to thank my numerous customers for their past 21 years support and to inform them that after the 31st of May, owing to the unreasonable harsh conditions of the Farriers’ Wages Board award, I am compelled to relinquish the shoeing branch of my business.

There are only provisions for journeymen and apprentices in the award.

Apprentices are impossible to get in Ballina, and the rate of pay, including all holidays, to be paid to journeymen is out of the question.

None of my customers will consent to pay for a set of shoes they did not get, yet I am compelled, under the award, to pay for dozens of sets in a year I did not get put on.

So under the present conditions I am compelled to give up the shoeing branch, but will continue the coachbuilding until they get an amended award and it gets too hot.”352 Dave had a famous run in with Ballina Council in 1915 which made all the local and regional papers. In his original application to build his residence in Crane Street, Dave had included a description of some sheds he intended to build later at the rear of the premises.

In 1915 he was told by the council he needed to submit a new application for his proposal to erect a buggy shed.353 Council would not process the application unless he paid a separate application fee and provided a plan and specification of the shed.

River Street Ballina in the 1930s

352 353

Northern Star 29 May 1911, page 7 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 23 November 1915, page 2

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Dave did both with a letter described as a “ponderous joke” which was published in the local paper under the heading “Facetious Ballina Ratepayer.”

In relation to the proposed buggy shed, he said in part: “I note the benevolent intention of the Council towards anyone not having sufficient money to build all his outhouses … at one time. I admit Council has a lot of useful institutions to provide funds for, such as … the Sanitary Inspector’s trip to the Sanitary Inspectors’ Conference…

In my previous application … I stated that I proposed to erect it at the rear of my residence. Of course this could be construed to mean the lane at the rear, or on the next man’s allotment, which would be a palpable injustice to that man… … I can readily promise … not to adopt the design of that latest confection in municipally approved architecture on the Lismore Road.”

He then gave a very “grandiloquent and detailed” specification for the shed including “all boards to be cut long enough” and “doors to open outwardly for the reason that if they opened inwardly it would first be necessary to take the vehicle out of the shed in order to shut them.”

He also explained the green line on the plan as a passionfruit vine whose double purpose was to “(a) bear fruit and (b) to hide from view the rooster harem.”

Council passed a motion resenting the terms of the letter. The application was granted but one alderman later said that the letter was “most insulting” and that the resolution of resentment was not half strong enough.

Ballina in 1931

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Dave and Emma’s oldest son Arthur worked for his father as a coach painter and stenciller. He enlisted for service in the First World War on 10 February 1916 at the age of 22.354 He had previously been in a cadet organisation.

His enlistment was at Lismore. He was assigned initially to the 45th Battalion and sent to Dubbo.

By April 1916 he had been transferred to the 19th Battalion at Liverpool as part of the 16th Reinforcements of that Battalion.

Standing quite short at just under 5 foot 4 inches, he was even shorter than his cousin Finlay McPhee. His unit left Sydney on 7 October 1916 on the troopship Ceramic bound for Plymouth in southern England where he arrived on 21 November.

After training in England, Arthur arrived in France on 21 June 1917. The 19th Battalion had already fought in major battles including Pozieres and the Second Battle of Bullecourt and had suffered high casualties, hence the need for many more reinforcements. Arthur and his fellow reinforcements joined in time for the heavily destructive actions at Menin Road, Passchendaele, Polygon Wood and other engagements in southern Belgium.

After the Battle of Polygon Wood – not many trees left

The battalion was heavily involved in stopping the German offensives in 1918, including at the Battle of Amiens and the follow up attacks on Mount St Quentin and Beaurevoir. The battalion suffered so many casualties that it was disbanded in October 1918 to reinforce other battalions.

Arthur, by now promoted to corporal, was transferred to the 18th Battalion but saw no further action as the war ended a month later.

354

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Arthur David Lattimore - Service No 5845

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He was one of the few soldiers who escaped major injury or worse, being lucky enough to serve at least for a short time as a batman to a Major Boyden. He returned to Sydney in August 1919.

Ballina in 1925

Three months after Arthur returned home to Ballina his father Dave placed a public notice in the Northern Star as follows: “I wish to inform the Public of Ballina and surrounding district I have disposed of my coachbuilding and blacksmithing business to Mr Bert Hembrow of Murwillumbah, and trust the same liberal support will be accorded him that has been accorded me during my 30 years in business amongst you.

I may just mention while passing there are very few in business in Ballina today that were in business when I started here, and I believe I am the only one here who carried on continuously without a break for 30 years.

I have not made a fortune, just a competency, but I feel conscious I have dealt out a fair deal, and every man got a decent job at a reasonable price.

With the proceeds of the sale of my business, with other assistance, I have purchased the Fruit and Confectionery Business from Mr C Koorey for my son Arthur, who is no stranger amongst you.

Born and reared in Ballina. Did his bit with thousands of his fellow Australians for two years in France and Belgium, two years of the darkest days the Empire has ever experienced. I feel it my duty as his father to try and establish him in civil life again.

And I think it is the duty of all to support these returned men of ours, and I feel sure that, if I know anything of the temper of the Richmond River people, any returned man who conducts himself and his business near the mark will get the solid support of the people.

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They have done their part in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Again thanking you for your loyal support in the past and soliciting your future support for Arthur, who takes over the business before mentioned on the 1 st January 1920.”355 A fruit and confectionery shop was one of the forerunners to the later refreshment rooms, which in turn would become milk bars and cafes. Arthur’s rooms as they were known were also advertised as a restaurant where only “choicest fruit and purest Confectionery” were stocked.356 His rooms became a popular venue for public meetings of sporting clubs, lodges and social groups, including the rather narrowly focused Ballina Carnation Social Club. 357 For a time, he or his father owned the kiosk in the picnic grounds at Ballina’s South Beach. 358 It was in 1919 that Dave retired from the physically exhausting carriage making business, mainly on account of ill health. He became a general agent, a term that covered his other diverse business interests. He continued to have a strong role in local matters, including membership of the Ballina Chamber of Commerce, the Ballina Surf Club and the Ballina District Hospital Auxiliary.359 Emma also helped out in the local community, particularly with the hospital ladies auxiliary and the Methodist Church Ladies Aid Society. Emma was never much of a supporter of the Red Cross after the Red Cross parcel put together during the war for her son Arthur never found its way to him.

Emma was also a prize winning exhibitor at the Ballina Flower Show run by the Anglican Church.

She was known for her gladiolas and gerberas.

Advertisement in The Northern Star 23 Dec 1924

Dave didn’t entirely give up blacksmithing. He maintained a workshop at the back of the property in Crane Street, where he carried out odd jobs for himself, friends and relatives.

Around 1921, Greek immigrants opened up a competing café in Ballina. Lattimore’s Refreshment Rooms were advertised to cash in on the patriotism still flowing from the War, with the slogan “Australians help Australians, so why worry?

Lattimore’s are Australians, so come to Lattimore’s”.360 In 1925 Moore’s Australian Almanac and Country Directory listed Arthur Lattimore as the operator of an Oyster Saloon in Ballina. Many a café had now become known as an Oyster Saloon as the popular plump mollusc from the northern coastal rivers had become a major income earner.

355 356 357 358 359 360

Northern Northern Northern Northern Northern Northern

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Star Star Star Star Star Star

1 November 1919, page 2 17 January 1920, page 8 4 May 1920, page 1 13 October 1934, page 16 5 July 1937, page 6 23 December 1924, page 6

Patriotism was not enough to keep Arthur’s business as profitable as he wanted. He eventually left the refreshment business and went back to working as a painter. Dave, however, continued the business but with other tenants.

In 1927 Dave had a mishap while riding his sulky along the main road at Ballina. He was leading another horse when it stumbled and fell and managed to put a foot through the spokes of the sulky where it became stuck.361 The horse was in great distress and threatened to overturn the sulky in its thrashings until Dave managed to calm the horse and remove the leg from the spoke.

Dave was invited to join a large group representing Ballina Council and other interested parties in an inspection of the coal facilities at Moonem near the upper Richmond River in 1931. The visitors were impressed by Dave’s support of the local coal which he found “has no superior for smithy work”, especially for welding jobs. 362 The refreshment room continued to be a cause of concern for Dave. In 1931 he was obliged to go to the Fair Rents Court in Ballina to have the rent increased. The court accepted his application for the rent to be ₤2 per week (and for another shop in River Street to have a rent of 12s/6d.

The refreshment room was at one time tenanted by a Mrs Dunne.

It seems that in 1934, Mrs Dunne was keen to sell her business (presumably the goodwill and remainder of her tenancy) for ₤150. She engaged an agent named Jackson to find a buyer.363 Jackson approached a Miss Perry who was keen to buy, but not at that price and not without a new formal lease in place from the owner, Dave Lattimore.

Jackson then approached Dave direct and negotiated a lease acceptable to Miss Perry.

Cowlong – now famous for its Macadamia Farms

Jackson then took Miss Perry’s offer to Mrs Dunne and struck a deal to sell the business for ₤100.

Jackson claimed a ₤5 commission from Miss Perry for negotiating the lease but this was rejected by the magistrate at the Ballina Small Debts Court who stated that Jackson’s client was clearly Mrs Dunne, even though she had nothing to do with the lease arrangements.

The tenancy of the refreshment room was later taken over by a Mrs White but Dave decided he’d had enough of the business. He auctioned the contents of the refreshment room in September 1937.

361 362 363

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 21 December 1927, page 1 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 17 November 1931, page 2 Northern Star 22 January 1934, page 9

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In 1939 Dave was elected to the first committee of the Ballina Reserve Rifle Club. When nominations were called for official positions, Dave, as a true Lattimore, was naturally nominated and appointed to the position of secretary.364 Dave and Emma celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1943 at their home in Crane Street.

Dave was 83 when he died in January 1950 at his residence in Crane Street, ten days after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage (a stroke).365 His son Arthur, who was living at Caringbah in Sydney, was the informant for his death certificate.

The local newspaper reported: “Mr Lattimore was one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Ballina, where he had resided for the past 62 years. His largely attended funeral testified to the high esteem in which he was held.

He was well known, particularly in the farming community throughout the Richmond River district. He had a fund of recollections of people and places in the Richmond River District and could relate many tales of many interesting events in the district years ago.”

Dave Lattimore in later life

His widow Emma applied for Probate of his Will shortly after his death. 366 The Will was in the name of Robert Lattimore, the name on his birth certificate, but the Probate application acknowledged he was commonly known as David Lattimore. He is now known to many family historians as David Robert Lattimore.

The Probate application also acknowledged that Dave was a retired blacksmith, yet his death certificate says he was an Estate Agent.

Two years after Dave’s death, his widow Emma placed a memorial in the local paper: “I am lonely here without you and sadness marks my way. The world is not the same without you. What would I give to clasp your hand, and your dear face to see; just to hear you say hello, that means so much to me.

364 365 366

Northern Star 2 September 1939, page 10 NSW BDM Death Certificate 1950/6237 The Sydney Morning Herald 28 January 1950, page 13

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I miss your kind and loving ways, with you I spent my happiest days. I miss you when I need a friend, I could always depend on you.”367 Emma, who had continued to be a tireless worker for charities and a member of quite a few Ballina social groups for many years, moved to the Brisbane suburb of Morningside to live with her son Raymond and his wife Emily. Emma was a resident of St Anne’s Rest Home in Lismore when she died in May 1955 at the age of 82.368

Arthur David Lattimore In October 1915, a year before he left Sydney to join the fighting in the First World War, 21 years old Arthur had married 19 years old Gertrude Lilian May Nell in Sydney. After three years away at the war Arthur returned to Ballina to reunite with his wife and run his father’s refreshment room business.

But there was a lot more to Arthur. He was a dashing athlete. He competed in running races and was a strong swimmer, which came in handy if you lived near the fast flowing mouth of the Richmond River. He was also a keen cyclist and competed in many competitions organised by the Ballina Cycle Club.369 Arthur played rugby for the Ballina Rovers and was the scrum half who played a significant role in Ballina’s 53 win over the team from Broadwater in the final of the Garrett Cup played on 23 August 1924 at Broadwater.370 Keeping family tradition was important to Arthur and he was able to do this by becoming secretary of the Ballina Surf Club.371 He was on hand on a winter’s night in 1925 to call the fire brigade and help to put out yet another fire at a shop in River Street, Ballina.372

The Kiosk at East Ballina Beach

Gertrude made the most of her time in Ballina. She attended balls, dances and other fund raising functions and happily participated in the social life of the coastal town as it came out of the gloom of the war years.

After running the Ballina refreshment rooms for many years during the 1920s, Arthur and Gertrude moved to Sydney where they lived for many years at The Towers, Bates Avenue in inner 367 368 369 370 371 372

Northern Star 19 January 1952, page 4 NSW BDM 14675/1955 Northern Star 5 September 1923, page 6 Northern Star 26 August 1924, page 2 Northern Star 1 October 1924, page 4 Northern Star 20 July 1925, page 4

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city Glenmore (now Paddington). Arthur had returned to his earlier occupation as a painter before becoming a commercial traveller for a Concord based major paint company, British Australian Lead Manufacturers (known as B.A.L.M). Their main product was Dulux paints.

Arthur and Gertrude had no children. By 1941 the marriage had faltered. Arthur re-joined the Army to serve in the Second World War.373 He enlisted in August 1941 at Randwick Racecourse and was accepted for service within Australia. He nominated Gertrude, who was still living at Paddington, as his next of kin (and recipient of most of his pay) but his application showed his address as Blair Street, Bondi North, suggesting he and Gertrude had already parted.

Taken on as a sergeant, he progressed in the army to be appointed a lieutenant. He was assigned to various training units as an instructor and also served in a garrison battalion. His duties took him to Sydney, Dubbo, Tamworth and Newcastle. He finished his service in 1945.

It was probably while he was stationed in Dubbo that he met Edna May Fischer. Edna had spent all of her life in Dubbo where her family ran a shop in Bourke Street selling spectacles, watches and jewellery.

Arthur and Gertrude’s divorce was finalised in May 1945. The following month 51 years old Arthur married 40 years old Edna at a service in Sydney. Gertrude remarried in 1948. Arthur resumed his work as a commercial traveller and he and Edna lived at Bondi North. They later lived in the Sutherland Shire at Caringbah and Cronulla, near Elouera Beach.

Elouera Beach on a busy day

Arthur was 85 when he died in March 1979. Edna returned to Dubbo where she lived with her sister Marjorie and her husband Joseph. Edna passed away in 1993 when she was 89.

373

Northern Star 14 July 1942, page 4

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Ivy Amelia Lattimore Ivy was 21 when she married 25 years old William Wagner at the Methodist Church at Ballina in February 1919. His family were farmers at Wyrallah, a settlement west of Ballina near Lismore.

Bill (as he was known) had not taken up farming, instead becoming an apprentice carpenter.

Ivy and Bill had three children between 1919 and 1927 who they named William Bernard (Bernie), Raymond Arthur (Ray) and Allan David. They made their family home in Lismore, mostly in Wyrallah Road on the southern outskirts of Lismore.

Bill worked as a builder in the Lismore and Ballina areas. He later formed a partnership with Herb Bevan which lasted until 1938 when Bill took over the business on his own. In later life Bill became a building inspector and was frequently called on to give expert evidence as to the cost and quality of work in building cases before the courts.

Young Allan suffered a severe scalp laceration in 1936 when he was eight. He was running along following the flight of a model aeroplane when he collided with a timber trestle supporting a grape vine. He was taken to the ambulance station where he was treated.

Both Bernie Wagner (left) and Ray (right) served in the Second World War

Another person named William Wagner was an occasional miscreant making appearances at the Ballina court. On one occasion in 1941, this William was fined for catching undersized fish. Bill felt compelled to put a public notice in the local paper saying it wasn’t him.

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Each of the three boys became carpenters and builders. Ivy and Bill’s eldest son Bernie (who was known to some as Mick) enlisted in May 1942 in the RAAF for service in the Second World War. He served until January 1946 and was a leading aircraftman at the time of his discharge. He had worked in an air supply unit mostly maintaining or repairing damaged aircraft.

Bernie’s brother Ray also served in the war. He enlisted in March 1942. He was a corporal when he was discharged in July 1946. In February 1947 Ray married Mildred (Millie) Trussell. Bernie followed in March 1950 when he married Joan Rigney at St Carthage’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Lismore (named after the cathedral in Lismore, Ireland).

Ivy and Bill retired to Brunswick Heads in the early 1950s. Bernie took over the family home. In 1953 Bernie was digging in the backyard when he found a coin dated 1858. It turned out not to be a coin but a business token for Holloway’s Pills and Ointments with a bust of Professor Holloway on one side to make it look like a penny. Holloway was an English entrepreneur who became one of the first British business millionaires in the 1800s. His mostly ineffective medicinal products were widely sold around the world.

Bill was 82 when he died at Mullumbimby Hospital in March 1976. Ivy passed away 23 years later in March 1989 when she was 91.

Memorial for Ivy Wagner

Raymond Edward Lattimore Ivy’s younger brother Ray Lattimore also became a carpenter, possibly having helped his father Dave with the coach building business in his early years. Ray left Ballina when he was quite young. He was living and working in Brisbane by the time he was 22.

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Two years later in July 1927 Ray married 22 years old Emily Elizabeth Lee. Emily’s family lived in Trafalgar Street, Morningside, then a settlement on the Brisbane River a few miles downstream from the Brisbane CBD. Emily’s father had achieved some earlier fame in North Queensland having co-invented and patented an electric alarm for use in mines.

Ray and Emily made their home in Trafalgar Street, starting a strong connection between this area and his branch of the Lattimore family. They had one child, a daughter who they named Yvonne.

In retirement Ray and Emily lived in the Hervey Bay area south of Bundaberg, opposite Fraser Island. They later lived in the Gold Coast suburb of Labrador before moving slightly up the coast to Biggera Waters, near the canal development of Runaway Bay. Emily died in August 1987 when she was 82. Ray was 87 when he passed away at the Bay Haven Nursing Home at Point Vernon near Hervey Bay in February 1991.

Maisie Doris Leona Lattimore Unlike her older brother Ray who left Ballina to head north, Maisie headed south to Sydney. By the time she was 22 she had found work as a shop assistant while living at the seaside suburb of Coogee. She changed her residence a number of times over the next five years but stayed within Sydney’s eastern suburbs. She continued working as a saleswoman.

It is likely she met Harry Clare in 1935. Henry Bracegirdle Clare (to give him his full name) was an Englishman from Rock Ferry near Birkenhead, on the River Mersey opposite Liverpool. Harry had signed on to the merchant navy during the First World War when he was a teenager and continued serving on ships after the war. He married Harriet Jackson, a local Birkenhead girl, in 1931. However, the marriage didn’t last all that long.

Harry was a regular crew member of the steam freighter Idomeneus under the command of Captain Stephen Glossop. On most of Harry’s voyages he was the ship’s bosun. In 1934 the Idomeneus was the first ship to take chilled beef from Queensland to England. Fresh quarters of beef were stored in sealed compartments filled with CO2 gas. Chilled beef was far preferable to frozen beef which had been sent to England from Australia for decades.

Harry signed off from the Idomeneus (and his days as a mariner) in September 1935 while the ship was in Sydney on its way to Queensland. By July 1936 Harry had taken Maisie to Brisbane where Harry had found work as a supervising stevedore on the Maisie Lattimore

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Brisbane wharves. Maisie and Harry were unable to marry, at least until he was officially divorced from Harriet.

Harry had not been long on the Brisbane wharves when he was involved in an accidental death at work. A 58 years old worker was in the hold of a ship unloading butter on metal trays. An empty tray was being winched back up out of the hold when it knocked against the close fitting top of the hold causing the tray to slip from its hook. It landed on the worker killing him instantly.

Harry, as the work supervisor, gave evidence that the hook system could have been better but it was standard practice for a worker to get under cover when a tray was being winched. The death was ruled to be accidental.374 Eventually Harry and Harriet’s divorce was finalised and Harry was now free to marry Maisie. She was 38 and Harry 47 when they married in April 1947. The following month Harry was in court on a charge of stealing wire gauze and paint worth ₤3 from a shipping firm next door to the Marine Salvage Department of the Australian Shipping Board where Harry worked. Taking into account Harry had already lost his job, the judge sentenced Maisie Lattimore in Sydney with Cousin Colin Harry to the seemingly brutal punishment McPhee’s daughter Beryl of three years in prison, reduced to a minimum of one year plus a ₤50 good behaviour bond for two years.375 By 1949 Harry and Maisie were living at Belgrave Street, Hawthorne (now Balmoral), close to where Maisie’s brother Ray lived in Morningside. They had one child, a son who they named John. The house in Belgrave Street became the family home for many years.

Harry was 83 when he died in August 1983. In later life Maisie was a resident of the Algester Lodge Nursing Home at Algester, a southern suburb of Brisbane. She had just turned 99 when she passed away in May 2007 at the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital at nearby Coopers Plains.

374 375

The Telegraph 9 July 1936, page 2 The Telegraph 27 May 1947, page 7

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Brenda Merle Lattimore Brenda Lattimore was born almost 21 years after her brother Arthur making her the baby of everyone in the family. As an older teenager Brenda was usually seen in glamorous dress at all the balls, socials and gala days held in and around Ballina. She went on to study dressmaking at Alstonville under the direction of the Sydney Technical College. 376 Brenda was also competitive at sport, playing grade hockey for Ballina against Lismore, Coraki, Woodburn, Alstonville and other teams. 377 She was also a successful ice skater.378

Ballina Ladies Hockey Team 1920

Brenda was 21 and likely living in Sydney when she married 32 years old Clifford Harold Charles Wellington at the North Sydney Methodist Church in October 1936. 379 She was given away by her brother Arthur (who was like a father) in the absence of Dave and Emma who were unable to make it down from Ballina. Brenda’s friend from Ballina, Beryl West, was one of her two bridesmaids.

Cliff had an unusual birth, having been born at sea somewhere between Vancouver and England in 1904. Perhaps that is what gave him a taste for the sea because a fair bit of his later life was spent as a seaman. He arrived in Australia, possibly in 1914, and later found work as a miner at

376 377 378 379

Northern Star 22 January 1932, page 4 Northern Star 23 August 1930, page 2 Northern Star 23 July 1929, page 9 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 18835/1936

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the extremely remote Wilura gold mine about five and a half hours drive north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

How he met Brenda remains a mystery but after their marriage he intended to take his bride back to Wilura. If he did, it wasn’t for too long. They were living in Sydney when Cliff enlisted in April 1943 for service in the Second World War. Given his mining experience he was made a sapper and spent the next year working as an instructor at a training centre for the Royal Australian Engineers. He was discharged in July 1944.

By now he and Brenda were living at Goldie Avenue, Bondi, an upmarket residential area between Waverley College and Waverley Park. They would spend the rest of their married lives here. They had one son who they named Warren.

Cliff found work as a wharf labourer in Sydney working for the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company. He suffered an injury and made a worker’s compensation claim in 1946.

That was probably the end of his time as a wharf labourer. Later in 1946 he applied for a seaman’s licence. He then returned to being a crew member on various ships plying the routes around Australia and between Australia and Britain. He was mostly employed as a ship’s cook.

Brenda’s mother Emma Lattimore died in May 1955. Perhaps taking advantage of an inheritance from her mother, Brenda booked a berth on the two years old passenger liner SS Arcadia for a return voyage to England. At the time she was working as a tram conductress, quite likely on the famous Bondi tram route. She seems to have travelled on an English passport due no doubt to her marriage to Cliff. Brenda arrived in London in July 1955 and stayed for seven weeks. She then returned to Sydney on board another ocean liner, the SS Strathnaver.

Wedding of Brenda Lattimore and Cliff Wellington 1936

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By 1960 Cliff was back working as a miner. He spent some time working for the UK owned mining company Lake George Mining Pty Ltd which mined lead, zinc and other metals at Captains Flat near Canberra. As the 30 years old mine was nearing the end of its economic life, safety was put at risk trying to extract the last ore on the cheap. Cliff was injured in a rock fall and sued the company for negligence. The first two trials were aborted after the juries were discharged over procedural matters. Luckily Cliff’s case was run by an insurance company who covered the costs.

The mine closed within a year putting hundreds out of work.

Cliff took up digging again but this time as a gardener. He was 67 when he died on Christmas Eve in 1971. Brenda eventually returned to Ballina. When she was 65 she married Irish born Richard Murdock in 1979. Brenda passed away in May 2004 when she was 89.

Grave of Dave and Emma Lattimore and daughter Brenda

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Chapter 32 – The Gold Prospector Albert Lattimore b 1869

Albert left the Clarence River district when he was about 20 years old. He made his way to Lismore where he found work as a painter. Albert’s life was about to change dramatically.

Gold deposits had been found in Western Australia from the 1880s but never enough to cause a full on rush. That changed in 1893 when a prospector named Hannan and two friends found a large amount of alluvial gold 600 km west of Perth. Within days there were hundreds of miners at the site. The rush had started for they had unearthed one of the world’s richest goldfields.

A shanty town sprang up which was first named Hannans but soon renamed Kalgoorlie. When Albert heard about the discovery he wasted no time and quickly joined the thousands of others already flocking to the area. He left Sydney on the SS Innamincka and arrived in Albany on the south coast of Western Australia in September 1894. 380 From there he made his way overland to the goldfield.

The surface alluvial gold was mostly gone after only a few years, leaving the potentially rich underground reefs which were far beyond the ability of fossickers to mine. As the heavy reef mining operations opened up, the remaining miners found whatever jobs they could obtain.

The focus for mining had shifted further south of the existing mines. These rich new deposits became known as the Golden Mile. The largest of the mines here was named the Great Boulder Mine. The mine gave its name to a new town of Boulder that rose up adjacent to the mine.

Early Fossickers at the Golden Mile 380

Western Australia Crew and Passenger Lists 1852-1930

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Working conditions were extremely difficult. The heat was debilitating. Water was not in plentiful supply and dehydration was one of the greatest risks to life. Mining accidents were common. Six miners were killed in an incident in 1897, another five in 1904 and a further six in 1925. Typhoid fever frequently felled large numbers of miners. The disease was largely alleviated when a water pipeline from Perth was opened in 1903.

Surface Operations at the Great Boulder Mine

By that time Albert was living in Egan Street, Kalgoorlie and working as a mine labourer. In August 1907 he was working at the Great Boulder Mine shovelling earth on top of a pile of dumped residue when the ground gave way and he was knocked down. He was taken to the Mines Hospital where he was treated for a broken bone in his leg and a dislocated ankle. 381 Albert continued working as a miner but by 1910 he was employed as a mine motor mechanic.

His duties would have included inspecting, lubricating and maintaining pumps, lifts, generators and other mining machinery and equipment.

For a time in the 1920s Albert lived at Surrey House, a boarding house in Boulder Street, just around the corner from his earlier residence in Egan Street. The refurbished Surrey House today is a private hotel.

All of the mines in the Golden Mile were eventually joined in a giant open pit known as the Super Pit. It remains in operation today. The value of all gold taken from the Golden Mile at today’s values is over $175 billion.

Albert later moved south from Kalgoorlie to a remote goldfield known as Larkinville where he made a living by prospecting on the old alluvial beds. Larkinville became famous in 1931 when a 17 years old boy dug up a large gold nugget. Given the name Golden Eagle, the nugget was one of the largest ever found in the World. It weighed 32 kg and today its gold value would be worth over

381

The West Australian 3 August 1907, page 12

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$3 million. Most of the gold from Larkinville had been taken between 1930 and 1932 but a few prospectors like Albert remained in the late 1930s hoping to find another decent sized nugget.

Albert was 71 when he died in July 1940 at the Kalgoorlie Hospital. 382 An obituary was placed in the Northern Star at Lismore on 10 July 1940, page 2. It is unlikely Albert ever married.

The Golden Mile – now enveloped by the Super Pit

382

Northern Star 10 July 1940, page 2

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Chapter 33 – The Pioneer Builder Edward Lattimore b 1861 Married 1887 Mary Jane Cameron b 1865 Children: Bernice Maud Lattimore

b 1888

d 1963

75 years

Clarice Vera Lattimore

b 1889

d 1980

91 years

Evelyn Gertrude Lattimore

b 1891

d 1983

92 years

Ernest Owen Lattimore

b 1893

d 1945

52 years

Arnold Harvey Lattimore

b 1896

d 1942

46 years

Ivon Gladwin Lattimore

b 1898

d 1928

29 years

Eric Lionel Lattimore

b 1906

d 1988

82 years

Edward Lattimore (who was mostly known as Ted) was the fourth of the eight children of William Lattimore and Mary Hancock. As he is my ancestor I have moved his story to the end so I can best focus on him and his line without lessening the story of his siblings.

He grew up on the family farm at Glen William and, like most of his siblings, developed a lifelong interest in farming practices. He was a keen cricketer playing for a Glen William team that included quite a few related family members.383 Like most of his brothers, he made the move from the Williams River to the Clarence River, but sometime after 1883.

He was 25 when he married 21 years old Mary Jane Cameron (who was known in the family as Dar but to everyone else as Jinny) in April 1887 at the 1,000 acre Cameron property on Chatsworth Island known as Redbank. The island was in the Clarence River, between Woodford Island and the coast.384 Mary’s parents and an older brother had emigrated from Loch Linnhe, near Fort William in Scotland as part of a second wave of assisted immigrants from this area of Scotland.

They arrived in Sydney in 1855 on the Golden Era and then established themselves on the

383 384

The Maitland Mercury 18 January 1883, page 5 NSW BDM 4403/1887

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Manning River, first at Taree, and then at Cundletown where they lived for about 10 years. 385 Many families from the Cameron clan in Scotland would settle along the north coast of New South Wales.

Jinny Cameron’s family then moved to Chatsworth Island in about 1865, making them one of the earliest pioneer farming families in both the Manning River and Clarence River districts.386 At the Clarence River they were joined by other members of the Cameron clan. Although these other families came from Loch Sunart, about 30 km further to the west of Loch Linnhe, it is probably fair to say that all Camerons consider themselves to be related. Some of the more distant members of the clan also married into the McPhee families who had also come from Loch Sunart.

Loch Sunart on the West Coast of Scotland in the old county of Argyllshire

Ted Lattimore started out as a farmer but around the time he married he had taken on carpentry as a trade, evidently making him vie with his younger brother David as the first tradesman in the family in Australia. Carpentry seems to have become an alternative occupation for many of the later generations of Lattimores.

Ted may have learnt his carpentry skills from John Cameron, Jinny’s eldest brother, who was a builder, mostly of bridges and roads in the Richmond and Tweed River districts. Ted would also spend most of his life working in those districts.

Ted and Jinny had seven children between 1888 and 1906. The first three, Bernice, Clarice and Evelyn, were born at or near Tomki, a tiny settlement to the east of the town of Casino in the upper Richmond Valley, where Ted was working a farm in between building jobs.387

385 386 387

Northern Star 1 October 1932, page 6 Northern Star 7 January 1933, page 4 NSW BDM Birth Certificates 34710/1888, 33325/1889 and 10149/1891

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The Lush Pastures of Tomki

Tomki had started as a squatter’s run for cattle and sheep in about 1840. It was bought up by Clark Irving who would go on to own most of the surrounding area.388 The demand for carpentry work increased and in about 1892, the family moved to Irvington, another small village near Tomki, but closer to Casino, where Ted was able to work primarily as a builder.

Irvington was named after Clark Irving who now owned most of the village of Casino. Irving was a founder of the newspaper Clarence and Richmond Examiner and became the first local Member of Parliament.

The town of Casino is named after Casino Station, a property owned

by Irving, who took the name from Monte Cassino in Italy and the town near that mountain. 389 Somehow the spelling was changed in typical Australian fashion.

The next child, Ernest (always known as Ern), was born during the short time that the family was living on the farm at Irvington.390 In about 1895, Ted gave up farming, at least for a time, and moved the family to West Street, South Casino to take advantage of the strong demand for the erection of commercial buildings, as Casino was becoming the centre of a thriving district in the Richmond Valley. The Richmond River divides Casino and the house in West Street was close to the southern bank of the river.

Clark Irving 388 389 390

A History Of The Clarence River”, Duncan McFarlane 1924 Wikipedia “Casino, New South Wales”, March 2013 NSW BDM Birth Certificate 10438/1893

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The remaining three children, Arnold, Ivon and Eric, were all born in Casino.391 The first Australian Census taken in 1901 shows all of the family (other than the yet to be born Eric) living at West Street.392 The two older girls were the first to be married after growing up in West Street over the previous 15 years. In 1909 Bernice Lattimore (known as Bern) married Centennial Edward Robinson at Bangalow when they were both 21. Her husband was born in 1888 and must have constantly thanked his parents for his Christian name.393 The next daughter to be married was Clarice Lattimore, the second oldest child (and my grandmother) who was working as a dressmaker while living at Casino. She met a young man named Cecil O’Connor who worked at the Kyogle Butter Factory.

Kyogle Butter Factory and Creamery

Cecil was born and raised in the southern New South Wales town of Cathcart, near Bombala in the high Monaro district and came from a family of dairy farmers and shopkeepers. Cecil had an interesting mix of ancestors. His grandfather, John O’Connor, was a soldier with the 11th Regiment of Foot who came to Australia with his wife Ann for garrison duties in the 1840s. His other grandfather, Michael Gerathy, was an Irish convict who arrived less willingly in Australia in 1831.

Clarice was 23 and Cecil 25 when they married at the Catholic Presbytery (St Mary’s Church) at Casino in 1912 “at a quiet but very pretty little” service.394 They went to live in Kyogle so Cecil could continue to work at the butter factory and creamery.

NSW BDM Birth Certificates 11720/1896, 2271/1899 and 2288/1907 Although the Census has the name Lattimer 393 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 7645/1909 394 The Richmond River Express 13 September 1912, page 4 and NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 9495/1912 391 392

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In 1910, 15 years old Arnold Lattimore went to work for John Brewster of Jones & Brewster in Casino where he started a five year joinery apprenticeship. The business was set up only a few years earlier but soon became a well-known joinery firm in the Northern Rivers district.395 During this time Arnold joined the military cadets at Lismore and later the local militia. The First World War started a year before his apprenticeship was due to finish and Arnold must have chafed at having to wait to enlist.

But as soon as he finished his apprenticeship, the tall and well-built Arnold signed up for service, enlisting in the 25th Battalion on 3 June 1915 at the Enoggera Army base in suburban Brisbane.396 Because he was under 21, his father had to give permission for him to enlist. He became one of the first of the Lattimore/McPhee/Hancock families to volunteer for the war.

West Street, South Casino Looking Towards the Richmond River

Arnold arrived at Gallipoli on 12 October 1915 to help replace the large number of casualties already suffered since April. After the failure of the campaign in Gallipoli, his battalion was evacuated on 18 November to Alexandria in Egypt. From there he was shipped to Marseilles in France and was then sent by rail to the front line.

By 1916 Arnold had been promoted up through the ranks from lance corporal to sergeant, a testimony to his leadership qualities.397 In February 1916, while he was overseas, a Roll of Honour was officially unveiled by the Grand United Order of Oddfellows at a ceremony at Casino. The Roll showed the first eight names of enlisted members of the order, including Arnold. 398 The 25th Battalion’s first major battle was at Pozieres during July and August 1916. One day in August 1916 the postman arrived with a telegram for Ted from the Army. You can imagine the scene as the family went from shock, then horror and finally relief when the message read that Arnold had been severely wounded, but at least was still alive.

395 396 397 398

The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 15 November 1933, page 1 National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Arnold Harvey Lattimore - Service No 1952 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 11 May 1917, page 5 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 22 February 1916, page 6

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Arnold received a serious gunshot wound through his left shoulder. He was one of the 785 casualties the battalion suffered at Pozieres out of a nominal strength of 1,000 men. The heavy calibre bullet shattered his collarbone before travelling downward. The bullet was not removed as it was lodged well into his scapula and removal was considered to be too dangerous. The bullet stayed within Arnold for the rest of his life.

A metal plate and screws were inserted to fix the collarbone, although these would later be removed. He was evacuated to England where he slowly recovered. He was sufficiently healed to be sent back to Australia, arriving on 12 May 1917.

Arnold would always have a marked degree of mobility loss in his upper shoulder. He received an Army disability pension of ₤3 per fortnight.

During the war building work declined in Casino. In 1916 the remaining family left Casino and moved to a farm located on the Dunoon Road between Dunoon and Whian Whian, in the high hills between Kyogle and the coast.

Here the family grew fruit and vegetables and small crops of grain, raised pigs, poultry and cattle and spent time cultivating a splendid flower garden.

Ted was still working as a builder, accepting the occasional order for commercial and public buildings at Dunoon, Kyogle and the surrounding district.

Sergeant Arnold Lattimore on the right

Although the family residence was officially at Whian Whian, it was in fact much closer to Dunoon. Ted soon became a well-known figure in Dunoon, where he built the local landmark of the day, the Dunoon Community Hall.

All the Lattimore men going back to the first William Lattimore could ride a horse but, as has been mentioned before, this can be dangerous, and it was for Ted one Friday night in 1916 when his horse fell on the road to Corndale and his right leg was broken just above the ankle. 399

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His cries for help were heard in the still night and before long half a dozen men had arrived to render “first aid”, which on a Friday night after a lot of drinking, may not have been much. A stretcher was eventually procured and he was taken up to the main road where a car was waiting to take him to Lismore Base Hospital.

No doubt the broken leg was a hindrance to his building business until he could literally get back on his feet. Ted’s eldest son Ern was largely running the family farm at Whian Whian so Ted had no choice but to bide his time until he was sufficiently healed.

As well as working on the farm, the very fit and active Ern was a regular competitor in local foot running races, cricket, rugby and shooting competitions.400 Ted’s third daughter Evelyn (better known as Ev) became locally famous from 1912 as someone who was possessed of the gift of rhabdomancy, which is the ability to divine subterranean water supplies.401 When she was 21 it was reported she used a short willow stick to find a spring at the back of Moore’s Commercial Hotel in Kyogle, following a successful find in Wiangaree two weeks earlier.402

Countryside near Whian Whian

Ev later confessed she had no need for a willow stick to find water. She felt the water through her body. She carried a stick only because people seemed to expect her to. The following year a reporter followed Ev around a paddock at Kyogle in which no water had previously been found.

He said: “She moved about the paddock at a slow walk. Her eyes were downcast, and at intervals I caught the expression in them. It was uncanny, like that usually seen

400 401 402

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in the eyes of a person suffering great mental pain and shock. Her hands were clasped in a V above her head. She did not carry a stick of any sort.”

A well was put down at the spot identified by Ev and a good stream was found at a depth of about 10 metres. One well sinker had so much faith in Ev’s powers that whenever she was available to assist him, he offered no charge for a well unless water was found.

Ev was 26 when she married 37 years old Arthur West in Lismore in 1917. Arthur was a tall, strikingly good looking man whose beloved first wife Stella had died the year before, leaving him with four children.

Very few people believed that the war in Europe could have lasted as long as it had. Gone was the belief that it would “be over by Christmas”, as four Christmases had now passed. Ivon Lattimore was 19 when he enlisted in the 15th Reinforcements of the 31st Battalion at Lismore just before Christmas in 1917.403 Ivon had been working on the family farm with his brother Ern and must have thought he would miss out if did not sign up when he did. Like most families in the district, the Lattimores were great supporters of the British Empire and were keen to do their bit. This time, both parents gave Ivon consent to his enlistment.

Arnold had been back in Australia for six months and Ivon was keen to take his place as his family’s representative. Ern may have had some disability that made him unfit for service because his father always indicated strong support for those volunteers who were rejected for service.

Ivon’s unit arrived at the Suez Canal in April 1918 where he promptly contracted measles and was confined for a month. He eventually arrived in France in August just after the start of the Battle of Amiens on 8 August.

Early Lismore

Meanwhile back in Dunoon, Ted had set up some refreshment rooms not long after Arnold had returned. The rooms were run by Arnold, setting him on a career path for the rest of his life. No 403

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Ivon Gladwin Lattimore - Service No 5382

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doubt Ted and Arnold would have used their carpentry and joinery skills to fit out the rooms with counters, cupboards and display cases. It is likely Dave Lattimore got this idea from Ted when Dave later did much the same thing for his son Arthur.

As the owner of the rooms, Ted was appointed the local agent for Dunoon to sell the Lismore based Northern Star newspaper, which at the time cost one and a half pennies.404 Like his cousin Arthur Lattimore in Ballina, Arnold had also become a fruiterer and confectioner, which seems to have been essential requirements to run a refreshment room.

The rooms became popular venues for the meetings of a myriad of public and social organisations based in Dunoon, such as the Red Cross Society which was established in Australia nine days after the start of the First World War to provide support to soldiers and their families.405 Then came the news all families dreaded. Ted received another telegram from the Army in September 1918 this time notifying that Ivon had been wounded in action on the front line in France.406 He had suffered a serious gunshot wound to his right thigh in the fighting on the Hindenburg Line near the St Quentin Canal.

Australian battalions had fought heroically in the weeks before this fighting, famously capturing Mont St Quentin to get within strike of the Hindenburg Line (the last and most heavily defended of the German lines). So depleted were the Australian and British battalions that the decision was made to use large numbers of the inexperienced American troops to spearhead a breakthrough in the line over the hill under which the St Quentin Canal travelled in a five kilometre tunnel.

The ultimate taking of the high ground beyond the canal to breach the line as well as the Ivon Lattimore on Enlistment taking of 36,000 German prisoners all but destroyed German morale. But the cost was high. The Americans sustained over 13,000 casualties and the British over 8,800. Ivon was one of 2,577 Australian casualties. This was the last action of the war for Ivon’s battalion.

Ivon was sent to the 5th General Hospital in Rouen and then on to England, eventually recuperating in the 3rd Western General Hospital in Cardiff, Wales.

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On arriving in London on his way back to Australia, he went missing for some days (absent without leave), for which he was fined a total of nine days pay. Many soldiers realised they only had one chance in life to see London (or other parts of Britain) or visit their British relatives, so they took off when the opportunity arose. His brother Arnold had done the same.

Ivon returned to Australia in March 1919 and was formally discharged in June. 407 After having built the Dunoon hall, Ted took a great interest in the activities conducted in the hall and, again in keeping with Lattimore tradition, he became secretary of the committee running the hall.408 He put notices in the local paper advising of meetings and functions at the hall, such as the “Smoke Social and Presentation” to be given to a local Justice of the Peace which took place at about the time Ted first heard of Ivon being shot.409 Ted also helped to maintain the hall over the following years. For example, he helped repair the ceiling over the stage but only charged for materials used. 410

Whian Whian Memorial Hall – Original Structure built by Edward Lattimore

His son Arnold stepped in to become secretary of the Public Hall Betterment Committee, as the old hall committee had now become officially known.411 To further his business interests, Ted was granted an auctioneer’s licence in November 1918. 412 He was soon engaged as an agent and auctioneer in the sale of farms and other lands in the district.413

407 408 409 410 411 412 413

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Star Star Star Star Star Star Star

30 April 1919, page 2 30 August 1919, page 8 18 September 1918, page 4 1 September 1928, page 7 18 October 1921, page 5 27 November 1918, page 4 10 January 1919, page 1 and 2 October 1919, page 1

The following year, Ted and Arnold disposed of the refreshment business and Arnold took up farming, either at the family farm or somewhere nearby.414 Unsurprisingly, a smoke concert was held by the residents of Dunoon to mark the event.

Smoke concerts were social occasions for men only as smoking by women was frowned on in public and consequently they were not invited. Live music and lively political discussion were the main attractions. The equally popular socials were the major entertainment for the ladies.

In 1919, the transfer of a long serving and much respected teacher was the reason for holding the year’s most popular social in nearby Whian Whian, where the entertainment included a set supper, music recitals, vocal numbers and dancing. 415 It wasn’t difficult to find a reason to hold a social.

Ted was one of the many guests to speak glowingly of Mr Snodgrass the teacher and to wish him well in the future. Arnold sang one of the vocal numbers, as did Mr Snodgrass. They sure knew how to have a good time. Socials often lasted late into the night but some stayers might last the distance until dawn.

Countryside near Dunoon

Ted was also a member of the Dunoon Parents & Citizens Association for many years. 416 The community had many ways of expressing its gratitude to the soldiers from the district who had fought in the war. As soldiers returned, they were given an official welcome home ceremony at the Dunoon hall where they were presented with a gift of money and goods to help them get back on their feet.417

414 415 416 417

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You can only imagine how pleased Ted and Jinny must have been to host a welcome home ceremony for both of their sons, Arnold and Ivon.418 Ted was elected to a local shire committee to raise funds for the repatriation of soldiers, but showing remarkable restraint, he did not volunteer to become secretary of the committee.419 The annual Christmas Tree Fair was a highlight on the Dunoon social calendar. The fair for 1921 was postponed twice due to “unpropitious weather” but when it finally occurred on 16 December, the residents gathered around a large tree decorated with ornaments and gifts and celebrated the festive season in good spirits.420 Ted was on hand at the fair to erect the stalls and later supervise the various competitions.

The farmers of the Northern Rivers had long felt overlooked by the State Government. They knew good transport was the key to prosperity for the district and they agitated for better road and rail infrastructure.

Ted was a key supporter of the Farmers’ Progressive Party whose platform was the provision of good roads and the completion of the North Coast Railway, as well as a fair deal for farmers. 421 A new Roman Catholic Church called St Dympna was constructed in Dunoon in 1921 and officially opened by the Bishop of Lismore on 21 January 1922. Ted Lattimore (who was not a Catholic) was one of the two contractors engaged to build the church. 422 The local parish priest said the builders “had served them whole-heartedly and deserved every commendation for the services they had rendered.”

St Dympna Church, Dunoon – Original Structure built by Edward Lattimore

418 419 420 421 422

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One of the biggest threats to the dairy cattle industry in the district (even more than it was in the Clarence River district) was the cattle tick, which came down from Queensland in the early 1900s.

Millions of cattle died from tick fever in northern Australia since that time.423 Tick Inspectors were appointed to control the movement of cattle in the district and to limit movements to permitted routes and destinations. An aboriginal stockman was prosecuted in 1925 for taking cattle from Mullumbimby direct to a property at Whian Whian rather than reporting to another inspector in Dunoon for a further permit. 424 After selling the cattle at Whian Whian the stockman took the permit papers to Dunoon but could not find the inspector to have the matter fixed up. Luckily for the stockman, Ted Lattimore was on hand to corroborate his story in court.

Ted said the papers had been left with him and he had given them to the inspector’s wife. The magistrate dismissed the case saying that the stockman had tried his best to comply with the permit.

This was not the first time Ted had been to court to help a defendant. In 1911 he gave evidence in a case that helped the court find that concrete blocks delivered to a defendant were defective. 425 Ted had also once been sworn in as a jury member at the Casino District Court in a compensation case where an employee had suffered a broken leg at the Kyogle Saw Mill. 426

Cattle Ticks

Country people enjoyed a great community spirit and almost everyone belonged to a lodge, guild or society. There were plenty to choose from, including temperance societies, the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows (and similar orders), Freemasons, Red Cross and church groups.

Ted belonged to a lot of charitable and community organisations but his crowning achievement may well have been in 1925 when, as a Freemason, he was installed as the Worshipful Master of Lodge Dunoon (No 436) of the United Grand Lodge of NSW.427 Ted was still living at the farm at Whian Whian in 1930.

However, his remaining family had all left him and spread out over the region. His wife Jinny had walked out on the marriage some years before and family legend has MUIOOF Lodge Symbols 423 424 425 426 427

NSW Department of Industry & Investment primefacts May 2010 Northern Star 20 May 1925, page 11 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 3 March 1911, page 10 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 19 November 1909, page 8 Northern Star 7 October 1925, page 6

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it that Ted had not been particularly faithful to her.

She and her son Arnold had moved to Tweed Heads in 1926 where they ran a bustling café in Wharf Street.428 Ted’s youngest son Eric had moved to Dorroughby and was also living in the West household. He worked as a labourer.429 Ern had left Dunoon to become a fruiterer and he ran his own refreshment rooms at Mullumbimby. 430 Ted sold the family farm in the early 1930s and moved to New City Road at Mullumbimby where he worked as a gardener.431 By the time he arrived in Mullumbimby, Ern had already left.

Ted may have been alienated from most of his family but he continued to visit and stay for long durations with his daughter Ev at Dorroughby where he earned a reputation for being difficult and crotchety.432 By the time Ev decided to sell her property and move to Lismore, Ted was living at River Street in Ballina, probably to keep in touch with his brother Dave Lattimore.

Countryside around Dorroughby

Ted died of old age at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Lismore in 1946 at the age of 86 and may have spent his final days with Ev before being admitted to hospital.433 Ev was on hand to sign the death certificate.

An obituary was published in the Richmond River Express as follows: “Mr Edward Lattimore A former well known resident of Dunoon, Mr Edward Lattimore (86) of Ballina, died in Lismore late on Saturday afternoon. Mr Lattimore was born at Clarencetown on 428 429 430 431 432 433

The Tweed Daily 16 October 1965, Memories Focus On Old Café 1930 Australian Electoral Roll 1930 Sands Directory 1937 Australian Electoral Roll Northern Star 31 March 1936, page 6 NSW BDM Death Certificate 21744/1947

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the Williams River, but had lived most of his life in the Richmond River district. He spent much of his early life at Casino. He was a carpenter by trade and assisted with the construction of many of the early buildings in Kyogle. He built the public hall at Dunoon. Mr Lattimore was well known in the Mullumbimby and Dunoon districts. He was a foundation member of the Masonic Lodge Dunoon No 436, and will be buried with Masonic honours today. Three daughters and a son survive.

The daughters are Mrs West (Lismore), Mrs B M Robinson (Kyogle) and Mrs C V O’Connor (Bondi), Mr Eric Lattimore (Tweed Heads) is the son. The funeral will leave St Andrews Church of England, Lismore, today, after a service commencing at 1pm for the Lismore Cemetery.”

Ted and Jinny’s sons Arnold, Ivon and Ern all died before him. His remaining son Eric applied for probate of his father’s Will and then administered his estate as trustee. 434 The estate was worth ₤655/8s/11p, after payment of debts. This amount was distributed to Eric and his three sisters, who were the surviving beneficiaries.

This chapter finishes the story of the children of William Lattimore from Glen William and his wives, Eleanor and Mary. The following chapters look at the children of Ted Lattimore, which is only fair as they are my family branch and I know a bit more about them.

Arnold Lattimore second on left and Ivon Lattimore on right

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Chapter 34 – The Farmer’s Wife

Bernice Maud Lattimore b 1888 Married 1909 Centennial Edward Robinson b 1888 Children: Violet May Robinson

b 1910

d 2005

95 years

Edna Robinson

b 1911

d 1911

0 years

Doris Jean Robinson

b 1912

d 2009

97 years

Leila Merle Robinson

b 1914

d 1988

73 years

Allan Edward Robinson

b 1921

d 2001

79 years

Bruce Lyal Robinson

b 1927

-

-

After their marriage in 1909, Bern (as she was known in my family) and her husband Ted Robinson (as he was known) lived in Casino where Ted worked as a carpenter. In 1915 they followed the rest of Bern’s family to the Dunoon area settling on a farm at Rosebank to the east of Dunoon.

The family now included three daughters who were named Violet May, Doris Jean and Leila Merle.

Another daughter named Edna was born in 1911 but died at or shortly after birth.

Ted very much enjoyed working as a farmer but it didn’t put enough money on the table at the time. Within a year, Ted found work as the head grocer in the only store in Dunoon. However, he missed farming and soon left the store to work a share farm at Dunoon, hopefully with help from his father in law Ted Lattimore who ran a small dairy herd at Dunoon.

The daughters attended the local school at Whian Whian. Violet (who was known as Vi) was the first to ride to school on the back of a Shetland pony called Tommy. The other two daughters Doris (who was known as Jean) and Leila eventually joined Vi on the horse although Leila, who always sat at the back, was known to slide off when the pony was going up the steep hill from the house. Lismore was a two and a half hour sulky ride away over poor roads.

The family moved again, this time to South Lismore but it was not long before they were back at Dunoon where Ted was able to regain his job at the store. While at Dunoon, he was elected

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secretary of the Loyal Pride of the Hills Lodge of the Dunoon MUIOOF, making him at least by now an accepted member of the Lattimore clan.

Bern and Ted made the decision to leave Dunoon in 1923. They sold all their furniture and other disposable assets in September and left for Alstonville where Ted further followed farming pursuits. It was not uncommon for people at this time to offload their furniture rather than have the trouble of taking it with them.

Second hand furniture shops were common and many rented residences came with furniture.

A son who they named Allan Edward had by now joined the family.

They soon settled into life at Alstonville.

Bern became a regular competitor at the Alstonville Show and many of the other produce and flower shows held in the Richmond Valley district. Bern won many prizes for her begonias, ferns, palms and other ornamental plants.

She also had some success with her scones.

Ted meanwhile was showcasing his poultry, pigs and Jersey cattle. In 1926 he obtained a licence from the local council to Thought to be Ted and Bern Robinson manufacture smallgoods from his produce to help make money. When times were difficult he worked as head grocer at Hayne’s general store in Alstonville. Ted was somehow able to obtain a truck and become a carrier while Bern opened a small store selling smallgoods and other produce.

A final child, Bruce Lyle, was added to the family in 1927. About that time the family moved to a farm at Laverty’s Gap on the Wilson River near Mullumbimby where other members of the Robinson family had farms. Ted had never given up his wish to be a successful farmer. But the Great Depression, which was near its worst in Australia at the time, made for a precarious living.

In about 1930 the family was on the move again, this time to Dorroughby where they lived and worked on a farm behind that of Arthur West, the husband of Bern’s sister Ev. The farm was also owned by Arthur who often looked after his and Ev’s relatives in this time of need.

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Bern set about growing fruit and vegetables and tending her plants and flowers. In no time she was winning prizes galore at the major shows at Lismore and Kyogle for her cut and ornamental flowers, pickles, preserves, jams, marmalades, jellies, sauces, chutneys, cakes, scones, bread and homemade sweets.

Laverty’s Gap

Most of Ted’s farming work was share farming where the owner of the farm provided the animals, seed, plant and equipment and took an agreed share of the profits. This was preferable for many people after the war who could not afford to establish their own farm or work as a tenant with their own stock.

Bern and Ted’s eldest daughter Vi was 21 when she married 23 years old Duncan Roderick Clearson McCowan in February 1931. Vi’s younger sister Jean was her bridesmaid. Duncan had been working in a butchery at Foxdale up near Proserpine in Queensland and he and Vi returned to Foxdale after their marriage. By 1936 they had moved much further north to Innisfail where Duncan found more rewarding work.

By the time Vi’s younger brother Allan Robinson had turned 13, he was a keen member of the Junior Farmers Club. He started winning prizes and scoring high places in competitions, mainly for his raising of pigs.

During 1934 the country was still in the grip of the Great Depression. Prices were severely regulated to keep the cost of living as low as possible, but often at a loss to farmers. Ev West decided to sell her well-established family farm at Dorroughby and move to Lismore. Bern and Ted relocated to a farm at the settlement known as Omagh Road near Kyogle.

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The region around Kyogle was no stranger to severe weather. A particularly violent storm passed through in February 1936. Omagh Road was hard hit with roofs blown off and properties damaged. Two Jersey cows were killed by falling branches and telegraph lines were cut by falling trees. Ted’s pig sties and barns suffered much damage in the storm.

Bern and Ted worked the farm at Omagh Road for the next six years before moving to yet another farm, this time north of Kyogle at Lynch’s Creek near Wiangaree just below the Queensland border.

In October 1941, a year after this last move, Ted died at the Kyogle Memorial Hospital after a short illness at the age of 53.

A few months after the death of his father, 20 years old Allan Robinson enlisted in the RAAF for service in the Second World War. He was looking to become an electrical fitter which would set him up after the war. He drew attention on his application for enlistment to his farm experience with machinery and to his work as a garage hand that gave him both mechanical and electrical experience.

Allan spent all of his service in Australia including at locations in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Tocumwal, Evans Head, Canberra and Darwin. A lot of his time was spent in training courses.

He left the RAAF in March 1946 as a leading aircraftman. Lynch’s Creek Hall had a record attendance when it hosted a welcome home function for Allan and some of his fellow servicemen.

After the war Bern struggled to manage the farm on her own and moved to what became a more permanent residence in Short Street, Kyogle. Bern was 75 when she passed away in September 1963.

Violet May Robinson Duncan and Vi McCowan returned from Queensland in about 1940 and worked a farm at Andersons Lane near Kyogle. They raised four children who they named Duncan Bruce, Kenneth Malcolm (known as Ken), Violet Bonnie (known as Bonnie) and Heather Olive.

Vi moved to a house in Fawcett Street, Kyogle when Duncan enlisted in the Army in January 1942 at the age of 34. He was not considered for the infantry because he was missing one and a half fingers on his right hand. This had happened when he was 16 and working at a butchery in Mullumbimby. He was making sausages when he overfilled the bowl with mince. Using your hand to push the mince down does not sound particularly wise. His cries of pain alerted the boss who quickly knocked the drive belt off the machine to stop it.

Duncan then made the acquaintance of Nurse Dean at her private hospital.

In the Army, Duncan was sent to various training battalions around NSW including units at Dubbo, Bathurst and Cowra. He unfortunately managed to

Duncan McCowan

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injure a finger on his left hand in 1943. Strongly suggesting he was accident prone, a month later he was accidentally shot in the foot.

He was discharged as a corporal in November 1945. He and Vi moved to the settlement of Ettrick to the south west of Kyogle where many members of the McCowan family lived.

In May 1947 Duncan was working as a butcher at the McCowan slaughteryards (of course we now use the less evocative French word abattoir) when he managed to badly cut himself. He was skinning an animal when the knife slipped. Showing that accident proneness may be genetic, his 11 years old son (also named Duncan) came to his father’s rescue but on the way managed to get his hand caught in the machinery. The junior Duncan received some severe cuts to the fingers on his right hand and had a nail torn off. They were taken to the ambulance station at Kyogle where they attempted to explain this double misfortune while receiving treatment.

Not long after, Duncan accepted a position as manager of the Co-Operative Meat Pool at Tyagarah, a farming community between Ballina and Mullumbimby. The local meat pool was set up in the late 1920s so dairy farmers could use their combined market power to get better prices for their products.

Tyagarah Meat Pool Original Buildings

However, the stay at Tyagarah was not long. Duncan accepted an appointment as a stock inspector. He and Vi finally settled for a much longer stay in Ballina Road, Bangalow to the south of Tyagarah.

Duncan was 70 when he died in August 1978 at Bangalow. Vi was a widow for 27 years when she passed away in July 2005 at the age of 95.

Of the children, Bonnie McCowan married Lawrence Charles Allen (known as Lawrie) in June 1952. Bonnie was 80 when she passed away but Lawrie managed to live to 90.

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Duncan McCowan, the younger, also became a Junior Farmer, winning many prizes for poultry and cattle raising in State championships. He later worked for the NSW Railways and worked his way up to station master. He married Cynthia June Davis in September 1960.

Ken McCowan also worked for the NSW Railways. He married Noelene Patricia Davis in June 1959. They retired to Jamisontown near Penrith where Ken died when he was 70, only a month after his sister Bonnie.

Bonnie and Lawrie Allen’s Wedding Party 1952 – Bridesmaids seated are sister Heather and June West with Vi and Duncan McCowan standing on the right

Heather McCowan worked at the Tyagarah Post Office during the time her parents lived in that town. She had earlier worked for the well-known and long established road transport firm of Brown & Hurley at Kyogle. I mention this because my wife and I met Jim Hurley and his wife Clare on a tour in South America and they were sure there was some connection with the family.

Heather married William Charles Alfred Linney in December 1953. Bonnie and Lawrie were matron of honour and best man at Heather’s wedding. Heather and William later moved to Queensland.

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Doris Jean Robinson While the Robinson family was living at Dorroughby, Bern and Ted’s daughter Jean was attracted to her next door neighbour Keith Foster West. Bern’s sister Ev Lattimore had married Arthur West in 1917 after Arthur’s first wife had died the year before leaving him with many children to raise.

Keith was one of those children. Jean was therefore Keith’s step cousin, if such a thing exists.

Jean and Keith started going out after they both attended the wedding of Jean’s older sister Vi in February 1931. Jean was the bridesmaid and Keith was the best man.

Wedding of Keith and Jean West – Keith’s brother Spencer was Best Man

Keith spent more time visiting the Robinson family and not just to see Jean. Ted Robinson was suffering from a double hernia and Keith was now helping out with the farm work. Jean was 19 and Keith 25 when they were married in July 1932, a year after the untimely death of Keith’s 51 years old father Arthur.

The country was still in the grip of the Great Depression. The decision was made to sell the farm owned by Keith’s departed father. Keith and Jean moved to The Channon, west of Dunoon.

Keith’s father had bought a bus in 1929 and Keith’s brother Arthur worked as a bus driver. This may have had something to do with Keith later starting a bus run from The Channon to Lismore.

The bus run was also very hard work. The roads were poor and often impassable in wet weather.

Local farmers would use their draught horses to get the bus out of the mud. Conscious of his civic duties, Keith joined the local militia in 1938 as tensions in Europe increased.

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When war broke out in 1939, Keith felt it was only a matter of time before he was conscripted. He sold the bus and the bus run and enlisted in the Army in September 1940. His unit arrived in the Middle East in May 1941 where Keith spent most of the next year driving trucks in Palestine.

His machine gun battalion was brought back to Australia in 1942 and was sent to New Guinea the following year to help deal with the Japanese invasion. He was discharged after the war in November 1945.

Two children, Betty June (known as June) and Keith Warren (known as Warren) were born before the war. Another son, Robert John (known as Robbie), was born some years after the war.

By 1949 the family was living in Stratheden Street, Kyogle. Keith worked at a local sawmill. They moved to Lismore in 1951 where Keith bought a small suburban general store and post office.

Keith later took over a similar store at Kingscliff on the coast south of Tweed Heads.

Post Office and General Store at Kingscliff about 1956

He sold that business and started up a newsagency in the town. Keith and Jean stayed in Kingscliff after retirement but relocated to Rochedale in Brisbane in 1985 to be closer to their son Robbie. June West married Bernard Malcolm McDonald in September 1957. After Bernard’s death, she married George Blackgrove. Warren West became a soldier. He married Raylee Helen Wells in August 1959. Robbie married Joy Lorraine Grunert in 1996.

Keith was 98 when he died in August 2004. Jean passed away in May 2009 at the age of 97.

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Leila Merle Robinson Leila lived with her parents at Omagh Road until her marriage in May 1940. She was 25 and her husband, Thomas William Hayes, was 33. Tom (as he was known) was born in Warwickshire in England and came to Australia with his family when he was 13. Leila and Tom settled in the small farming community at Headingley, north east of Kyogle near Homeleigh and Cawongla. Leila and Tom raised two sons who they named John and Ross.

Tragedy struck in October 1949 when Tom died from leukaemia at the age of 43. Leila and the boys moved to Groom Street in Kyogle where she would live for many years. The boys were more than a handful for her. They were into every activity available to them and they were good at sports, particularly cricket and swimming.

In June 1950 when Ross was six, he jumped off a truck but landed badly, breaking his left arm.

He was taken to the ambulance station and then on to the Kyogle Memorial Hospital for treatment.

His brother John entered a guessing competition in September 1954 for an answer to the question “In which country did tulips originate”. He won two guineas ($2/2s if you are too young to know) for his correct answer of Turkey.

Kyogle in the 1940s

The wider family helped Leila with raising her boys. They were frequent visitors to the Robinson and West families. Leila’s brother Allan Robinson took his nephews with him in December 1954 on a trip to Cowra.

Leila was 40 when she married Roy Ernest Hunter Nelson in July 1955. Roy’s family lived at another small rural community called Afterlee, west of Kyogle. Roy had married Lillian Jean Hayes (known as Jean) in May 1939. Jean does not appear to be a relative of Leila’s first husband Tom despite sharing surnames.

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Roy enlisted for service in the RAAF in the Second World War in October 1942 when he was 37.

He was later promoted to leading aircraftman. Jean lived with Roy’s parents at Afterlee while he was away. During the war he noticed his letters from Jean dwindled and became less personal.

Roy turned up at Afterlee on leave for Christmas in 1945 but found Jean was not home. She returned at midnight saying she was out with friends. Roy spent Christmas with the family but Jean stayed with her friends. When Roy was discharged from service the following month Jean told him she was finished with their marriage. They were divorced in 1950 after not living together for the previous four years. They had no children.

Roy joined Leila and her sons at Groom Street after the marriage and worked as a truck driver.

By 1972, Roy and Leila had moved to Pearl Street, Kingscliff, which just happened to be the street where Leila’s sister Jean and her husband Keith West lived.

Leila was 73 when she died in February 1988. Roy passed away in May 2004 at the age of 94.

His name appears on the honour board for returned servicemen at the public hall in Afterlee.

Allan Edward Robinson It seems likely that Allan met his future wife Dorothy Jean Smith (known as Dot) when he was serving in the RAAF and stationed at Tocumwal.

Dot was a Cowra girl who enlisted in the RAAF in January 1944. She finished her service as an aircraftwoman at Tocumwal a month before Allan was discharged in March 1946. They were married the following November.

During the early 1950s Allan and Dot lived for a few years in New Guinea where they both worked. Their son Ian spent time back in Lismore where he boarded at the Lismore Boys’ Hostel run by the community spirited Clarrie Richards. Ian may have missed his parents or otherwise not overly enjoyed his stay as he did have a habit of running away from the hostel.

Allan and Dot later lived at Bangalow where his sister Vi was living with her family. Allan worked as an electrical contractor. They later moved to Sydney where in the early 1960s Allan was the lighthouse keeper at Sydney Harbour’s famous Macquarie Lighthouse near South Head. The current lighthouse was completed in 1883.

Allan Robinson

Allan’s family occupied the keeper’s quarters and associated outbuildings. I remember the excitement as a child of visiting the family at the lighthouse and marvelling at the inner workings of the machinery and equipment. I was also terrified of the unfenced sandstone cliffs adjacent to the lighthouse. Allan and Dot later relocated to Queensland.

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Bruce Lyal Robinson I have little information on Bruce. He was too young to enlist during the war but very soon after he did join the Australian Army. For some time he was with the Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME). He rose to the rank of Warrant Officer First Class and was promoted to Lieutenant by 1968.

He spent his early army career at various locations including the North Head Barracks in Sydney and the RAEME base at Bandiana near Wodonga in Victoria with his wife Doris. They had four children.

By 1972 they had relocated to Townsville before moving to Keperra in Brisbane where Bruce worked at the Enoggera Barracks. In much later life they lived in the retirement locality of Victoria Point, on the coast south of Brisbane. Doris passed away in August 2017 when she was 83.

Robinson Family – Back Row: Tom Hayes, Bruce Robinson, Duncan McCowan.

Next Row: Leila Hayes, Bern Robinson, Violet McCowan. Next Row: Dot Robinson, Allan Robinson, Jean West, Keith West. Front Row: June West, Heather West and Warren West. Children: John Hayes, Ross Hayes and Ken McCowan

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Chapter 35 – The Storekeeper’s Wife Clarice Vera Lattimore b 1889 Married 1912 Cecil Reginald O’Connor b 1886 Children: Reginald Matheson O’Connor

b 1913

d 1989

76 years

Noel O’Connor

b 1916

d 2005

89 years

Cameron Elizabeth O’Connor

b 1919

d 2010

91 years

Ted and Jinny’s second daughter, Clarice Lattimore, and her husband Cec O’Connor (as he was known), lived at Kyogle after their marriage in 1912.

Before her marriage, Clarice had worked as a dressmaker with her older sister Bern at Casino.

They worked at Heathwood Brothers where good milliners (hat makers) and dressmakers were in demand.

Senior staff were paid about ₤4/10s a week while junior staff earned about 7s/6d a week. Women would come into the store and select the material for a frock or coat and have it made up at the store. A frock, including the material and all trimmings, fasteners, etc, would rarely cost more than ₤2.

Dressmaking Advertisement

After working at the store for some years, Clarice set up her own dressmaking business in Wheat Street, Casino in 1907. 435 After her marriage, Clarice would have found it difficult to continue working as a dressmaker because married women were not generally employed as staff. Their place was in the home to support their husbands. She did not have the means to set up her own business in Kyogle.

Cec had been working as a butter taster, among other duties, at the Kyogle butter factory. He was later appointed assistant foreman. He had a wealth of experience from his days working in 435

The Richmond River Express 11 January 1907, page 5

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the butter factory at Cathcart in southern NSW which at the time was one of the best quality butter producing regions in the State.

He had spent his life up to then working on dairy farms and new all the tricks of the trade to get the fattest butter out of the local cream production. Butter was prized by the higher its fat content as well as its taste.

The butter factory at Kyogle was comprised of a substantial group of buildings built in 1905 to keep up with the supply of milk and cream from the new dairy herds rapidly spreading throughout the fertile district. It employed up to 20 people and was run by a foreman appointed by a board of directors on behalf of the factory’s shareholders.

Heathwood Bros Staff 1905 – Clarice-second seated on left.

Bernice-fourth standing on left

A new butter factory was built at nearby Wiangaree (previously known as Bean Tree and later Wyangerie) in 1914 by the Kyogle builder George Grove.436 Cec was appointed as the foreman and he and Clarice lived in the premises attached to the factory. Clarice and Cec had three children, Reginald, Noel and Betty (as she was then officially known), who were all born at Wiangaree.

Reginald (always known as Reg) was born in July 1913. Noel was always known to his family as Buddy but almost everyone else later knew him as Ian. He was born in March 1916. His sister Betty was born in January 1919 and was known to her family as Betty but she formally changed her name to Cameron Elizabeth O’Connor, using the clan name of her Scot grandmother Jinny.

After the First World War and before 1926, the family moved to Tweed Heads where Cec ran a newsagency and stationery at Wharf Street. The store also sold books, magazines, postcards and an array of general goods.

436

“Kyogle 95 Years of Commerce 1902-1997”, Monte Hasthorpe 2007

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The Empire Café, a few doors down, was later taken over by Clarice’s brother Arnold Lattimore and the two worked closely together for many years. As the children grew up, Clarice helped out in the newsagency until she was virtually running it.

Kyogle Butter Factory Staff 1912 – Cec O’Connor is in the middle at the back

Larger country towns usually had a number of community learning institutions such as a Literary Institute, a Mechanics Institute or a School of Arts. Keeping family tradition alive, Cec became president of the Tweed Heads Literary Institute, which was a community run public lending library.437 His children, who had the benefit of easy access to the library, became lifelong avid readers.

Cec had spent all his life in country New South Wales and he now took great enjoyment from living on the coast. He became a keen fisherman and was always disappearing with his angler mates for an outing on the Tweed River estuary.

He was also a good card player at a time when card games were a popular social entertainment.

Cec was particularly adept at euchre and took part in many competitions. He often won prizes including once at a function to raise money for the Seagulls Football Club who put on a dance and euchre party.438 In 1930 Clarice was diagnosed as having breast cancer and a mastectomy operation was performed at the Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy at Raymond Terrace in Brisbane near Woolloongabba.

Clarice was at the hospital for nearly four weeks and the operation cost over ₤27, a considerable sum at the time.439 Fortunately, she had a complete recovery and was never again in her long life troubled by that disease.

437 438 439

The Courier Mail 21 June 1926, page 10 The Courier Mail 2 June 1930, page 22 Hospital Account 24 October 1930

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By now Reg and Buddy were old enough to help out at the newsagency and one or both of them would be up to meet the early morning arrival of the papers from Sydney and Brisbane and then head off for the round of home and business deliveries.

This help from the boys gave Cec more time to spend on other activities. He became president of the Tweed Heads Cricket Club and arranged for the club to be affiliated with the Tweed District Cricket Association.440

Fishing at the Tweed Estuary – Cecil O’Connor with Pipe – Dark Trousers Recommended

Not to be outdone, Clarice also took to the outdoors, signing up to play for the Border Croquet Club which conducted very proper competitions on the club lawns around the Tweed district.

On one memorable occasion, the club hosted the Murwillumbah Croquet Club at a luncheon at the posh sounding Hotel Pacifique at Tweed Heads where entertainment was provided by a Mrs George Turner, who played the piano. She may have sung as well.441 At a euchre party and dance held at the Convent School hall to raise funds for St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Clarice this time won a prize in the card competition. 442 Clarice’s health had often been an issue for the family. She suffered from migraine headaches and had frequent bouts of bronchitis and other chest infections (something her son Buddy would

440 441 442

The Brisbane Courier 31 August 1931, page 8 The Brisbane Courier 3 May 1932, page 14 The Courier-Mail 20 October 1933, page 18

295

inherit). Her doctor advised her to leave the humidity of the coast for the drier air of the inland countryside.

By 1934 they were living at Toowoomba in Queensland, a town on the crest of the Great Dividing Range, about 130 km west of Brisbane. They were staying at a boarding house called Carwyne at No 130 Margaret Street.443 The house had much earlier been the home of a Canon Pugh but it had been a boarding house for many decades.

By 1936 Cec and Clarice were living at Yandilla Street, Pittsworth, a small pastoral town on the Darling Downs, about 40 km from Toowoomba, where they opened another newsagency and general store business.444 Clarice, however, was not recorded in the Australian Electoral Roll for 1936 as living at Pittsworth.

Instead, she had been visiting her mother and brothers at Tweed Heads during that year, probably back helping to run the cafe.445 Later in the year, Clarice decided to stay at Tweed Heads, probably caring for her mother. Clarice was the Good Samaritan who the wider family called upon when they were in need.

In any event Clarice was back with Cec by the following year, with the children, helping to run the newsagency and general store.446 The Great Depression that washed over Australia during the late 1920s and early 1930s was still felt in much of rural Queensland up until the Second World War. There were still many unemployed men who had taken to the roads looking for itinerant work.

At Pittsworth, Clarice became known for her generosity to these wandering men, giving them small jobs such as chopping wood and repairing fences in return for a good home-cooked meal.

Clarice had a large dinner table to accommodate the many guests they would receive.

Cec had a spectacular and irreversible falling out with a local Catholic priest over whether funds for a new church could be better spent on helping families who were out of work. He carried that animosity to his death after once volubly rejecting the reading of the last rites. Growing up as an Anglican, I wondered whether I still had a foot in both camps.

During the Second World War, Clarice and Cec decided to move to Sydney where they opened a ham and beef shop (a forerunner of the modern delicatessen) which sold smoked and corned Buddy and Reg in the mid-1930s 443 444 445 446

1934 Australian Electoral Roll 1936 Australian Electoral Roll The Courier-Mail 23 September 1936, page 23 1937 Australian Electoral Roll

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meats, sandwiches, sausages, frankfurts and rissoles, butter, eggs, milk, cheese, tea, sugar and other groceries and provisions.

The shop was in Bondi Road, Bondi, which was the beach then boasted to be the most famous and popular beach in all of Australia (well at least when the sewage outfall system was properly working). By 1948 Clarice and Cec had moved from Bondi to Lakemba, where they ran a milk bar. The shop, which was in Haldon Street near the railway station, also sold newspapers which added a lot of customers. However, the business declined and was sold when other shops also became outlets for newspapers.

They then took over another shop further up Haldon Street at No 151, which sold stationery, greeting cards, books, diaries and a range of goods you would find in a modern day newsagency, but without the newspapers. They were also the agents for various insurance companies, a funeral fund and other bill paying outlets.

The shop also did a great trade in the sale of NSW Government lottery tickets. These lotteries were first started in 1931 to raise money for running hospitals during the Great Depression.

The Ham and Beef Shop at Bondi with my mother Joyce in front

The following year a new lottery was started up to raise funds for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. By 1950 the lottery business was booming and Cec had regular orders from all over Australia and even from syndicates in the United States.

Half of the shop was devoted to a private library of books that were lent for a fee. The books were mainly westerns, crime and romance novels and were hugely popular among the shop’s largely elderly clientele. This part of the business gave the shop its name of Moderne Lending Library.

Reflecting the post war migrant growth in the district, the shop also sold objects of faith of the Roman Catholic Church such as crucifixes, rosaries and other religious jewellery, statues, bibles, baptism and first communion gifts and religious art. I believe the profit mark up on these items was quite high. Cec may have had a problem with the Church but he was happy to take the money.

Moderne Lending Library 1940s

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Cec regularly played lawn bowls at St John’s Lakemba Bowling Club, where he took part in many competitions and represented the club in the NSW championships.

Cec spent the rest of his life at Lakemba. In retirement, he continued to be an avid reader and a competent lawn bowler. Clarice was very productive with arts and crafts, gardening and cooking.

After some heart related health issues in the early 1960s, Cec’s heart gave out and he died peacefully at his home at the age of 81 in July 1968.447 Clarice stayed at Lakemba before moving to a nursing home at the southern Sydney suburb of Jannali, close to her son Buddy. She also passed away peacefully in September 1980 at the age of 91. 448

Cecil and Clarice O’Connor

447 448

NSW BDM Death Certificate 30017/1968 NSW BDM Death Certificate 22332/1980

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Reginald Matheson O’Connor Reg was a builder’s labourer when Australia entered the war on 3 September 1939. He volunteered almost immediately at the age of 26. He had his medical the next month and was formally enlisted in the 2/1st Field Park Company of the 6th Division of the Second Australian Infantry Force. 449 The company belonged to the Royal Australian Engineers and was a support group for managing stores, materials and workshops. When they found out that Reg had plenty of experience as a cook (having helped out at the café and the general store), his main duties became cooking and painting.

His regiment was soon sent to Britain to help bolster the defence against an expected German invasion following the fall of France. In time honoured fashion, he soon went absent without leave for three days while he took in the sights of London. He was then transferred to the 2/13th Field Company, to help look after their stores.

Reginald Matheson O’Connor

With the threat of invasion over, the regiment was sent to the Middle East to re-join the rest of the division which then left for North Africa. Their first action was in 1941 against Italian forces in Lybia around the towns of Benghazi, Bardia and Tobruk, where they helped to crush the Italian 10th Army. After the fall of Tobruk, Reg was promoted to lance corporal.

A German army then arrived at Tobruk to retake the town and there was much heavy fighting over the following months as the Germans besieged the town.

According to his Army records and an unnamed newspaper cutting, while at Tobruk during August 1941, Reg was in charge of the reserve stores for his company when a small group made an assault on a main German position which was heavily defended by barbed wire, minefields, machine guns, artillery and mortars.

The plan called for the engineers to place two large Bangalore type torpedo bombs at the base of the enemy’s barbed wire and explode them, to allow the main assault to proceed.

When Reg saw that one of the sappers carrying a torpedo was wounded and the assault was heading for failure, he picked up one of the reserve torpedoes under his control and carried it out alone under heavy fire.

449

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Reginald Matheson O’Connor – Service No QX4662

299

Unable to reach the others who were pinned down, he dodged and weaved for 90 metres straight for the wire and was able to successfully place and explode the bomb. He then rallied the assault team through the break in the wire and helped carry the wounded back to the base, while the assault team took the German position.

For this act of courage he was given a Commander In Chief’s commendation but being the larrikin he was, he gave his name as Reginald Marmaduke O’Connor, instead of Reginald Matheson O’Connor, his actual name. The citation and newspaper reports all used the wrong name, which Reg and those who knew him would have thought hilarious. Reg always had a wry sense of humour. By December that year he had been promoted to corporal.

The division was then sent to the north of Greece to help stop the German advance in that country, but after the failure to hold the German onslaught and the subsequent withdrawal from Greece, the division took part in the unsuccessful defence of Crete before moving to Syria to fight the Vichy French and take Damascus.

Reg was wounded many times but some of the injuries were from skylarking at the base. One time Reg was wounded in action by an exploding shell and he was badly cut up. He was later interviewed as a patient in the hospital. He said: “Before I was injured I only had a shirt and singlet, shorts and boots and socks on, and afterwards the shirt and singlet were cut off, so it didn’t leave me with much of a wardrobe”.

In July 1942 he received a gunshot wound to the chest and was evacuated to the 9th British General Hospital then based in Cairo. After recovering he returned to the 2/13th Field Company Head Quarters while he waited for repatriation to Australia.

Back in Brisbane he was with the 14th Australian Employment Company doing clerical work and biding his time waiting for discharge. He was admonished for an incident of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline, which suggests he told someone what he could do with himself.

Before his discharge from the Army he found time to marry Alice Martin Hatton at Murwillumbah in March 1943.450 Alice was a nursing sister at a Brisbane hospital.

Reg and Alice lived in Brisbane after the war, spending many years in the suburb of Chermside before moving to Bribie Island, just north of Brisbane. They did not have children but devoted themselves to their work.

Reg in Later Life 450

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 4448/1943

300

Alice became a hospital matron and Reg worked as a restorer of old paintings at the Queensland Art Gallery. He developed quite a talent for running up quick copies of famous paintings which had a habit of turning up on the odd wall of the Gallery.

During an exhibition of paintings by the Australian painter Pro Hart, Reg made some quick copies of a few of the paintings and one day made a substitution. The fake was hard to identify, except for the signature “Pro Fart”.

Alice died in August 1983 when she was 71. Reg passed away in July 1989 when he was 76.

Noel O’Connor Reg’s brother Buddy (he was only ever known as Noel when used officially) had been an active surf lifesaver at Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, played rugby league and was a drummer in a band.

He spent a lot time travelling back to the coast for sport and entertainment.

He was 24 and working as a shop assistant when he applied to enlist in the RAAF as a pilot trainee but he failed the eye test. Eventually he was able to enlist in August 1940 in the newly re-formed 25th Battalion of the Army, previously a Militia force but now known as the Darling Downs Battalion, based in Toowoomba, Queensland.451 He did various training courses but found the Army so boring that three months after enlistment he applied for a transfer to the RAAF as a fitter armourer.

It took another nine months before his transfer was accepted.

Buddy O’Connor

He served five years in the Air Force including in action against the Japanese that was fought in New Guinea and the island groups north of Australia. He saw active service at Milne Bay, Lae, Nadazab, New Britain, Aitape, Arandia, Noemfoor, Biak, Morotoi and Tarakan.

In 1942 when Buddy was at the RAAF base at Townsville in northern Queensland, he dropped a bomb on his hand, splitting the webbing between fingers.

451

National Archives of Australia – AIF Files – Noel O’Connor – Service No 414318

301

When his hand failed to heal, he was sent to Sydney for treatment and while he was there he met a canteen volunteer at Sydney’s Central Station, 18 years old Joyce Hely, who was serving free tea and biscuits to servicemen. This was the start of an intense one week romance before Buddy had to return to Townsville.

They would not see each other again for over three years but they corresponded diligently and often in great detail. Ian (as he was known to Joyce’s family) said that in those years of correspondence he learned more about the Hely family than he knew about his own.

They were married in November 1945, not long after the war ended, when Buddy was 28 and Joyce 21.452 They first lived at Oakey on the Darling Downs while Buddy awaited discharge from the RAAF before they moved to Sydney to live with Joyce’s family in Hurstville.

Ian (Buddy) and Joyce O’Connor

Their new home was built in Georges River Road, Oyster Bay where they raised two sons who they named Geoffrey and Glendon. Ian did clerical and accountancy work for the Australian Taxation Office as a Commonwealth Public Servant.

He became involved in local affairs, including the progress association, the Scout group and the hospital auxiliary where he was the auditor of their books. Ian and Joyce later moved to Currah Road in Como West. In retirement they travelled extensively, both overseas and within Australia.

They regularly stayed at a holiday house they built at Vincentia on the NSW south coast until it became too difficult to maintain.

452

NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 21763/1945

302

Ian was long afflicted with a lung condition caused by his war service in the tropics. He eventually succumbed to that illness in August 2005 when he was 89. Joyce was 88 when she passed away in January 2013.

Cameron Elizabeth O’Connor Cameron was 29 when she married 31 years old David Alexander Watts in May 1948 at St David’s Presbyterian Church at Lakemba where her parents were then living.453 David’s mother, Daisy Willsallen, came from a prosperous pastoral family based near Gunnedah in NSW. As a young lady Daisy enjoyed a high profile city life documented in the social pages of the Sydney Morning Herald. She left Sydney with friends to take up life in London society not long before the First World War. In London she met the dashing Australian born army officer, Bertram Alexander Gordon Watts (known as Bert). They were married in London in October 1915.

Bert, who had been a well-known NSW representative rugby player, had already seen service during the Boer War and had worked his way up to be the most senior artillery officer in the Australian Army during the First World War. He was the Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 4th Field Artillery Brigade when he was killed in action in April 1917 near the village of VaulxVraucourt, becoming one of the highest ranking Australian officers killed in the war.454

Lt Col Bertram Watts

453 454

During the fighting leading up to the First Battle of Bullecourt there was a lot of tit for tat shelling from both sides with a steady stream of casualties among the Australian artillery. A lucky long range German shell landed directly in the officers’ dugout as they were sitting down to have a meal. The Lieutenant Colonel, a Captain and two Lieutenants were killed instantly.

Certificate of Marriage No C759138 “Australians on the Western Front 1914-1918 – The Bullecourt Digger”, The Aust Remembrance Trail

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Bert had already been awarded a number of decorations and honours for gallant conduct. A month before his death he had been recommended for knighthood.

David was born just four months before his father died and never saw him.455 His mother Daisy was heartbroken with the loss of her adored husband and never recovered. She died of sudden heart failure less than 12 months later, leaving baby David an orphan to be raised by Daisy’s mother.

David was brought to Australia in 1923 when he was six years old. He followed in his father’s steps by joining the military cadets in the mid-1930s where he was promoted to lieutenant.

He went back to England in 1936 to finish his university education.

David Watts

After his return in 1938 he entered into business and soon became well known in the Sydney social scene. He married Jean Blake in May 1939 when they were both 22. They were living in the recently built luxurious apartment building at Potts Point known as the Macleay Regis when David enlisted for service in May 1942. His time was spent at an Australian Base Postal Unit in Sydney but his long and constantly changing work hours led to marital problems and separation.

David was discharged from the Army in January 1946 with the rank of Warrant Officer.

After meeting Cameron, David filed for divorce from Jean in 1947. Cameron and David were married soon after the divorce was finalised.

Cameron and Buddy O’Connor 455

Buddy, Cameron and Reg O’Connor

Register Book of Births County of Southampton Sub District of Lymington No 78/1917

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David was the owner of a high end florist business. He was appointed the president of the worldwide organisation known as Interflora, a testament to his business and marketing qualities. He credited the surge in international flower orders from Australia to the post war migrant boom.

Europeans were known for inventing the expression “saying it with flowers”.

David’s florist business operated in partnership with Amy Davies (better known as Betty) under the trade name of Betty Davies of London.

The shop was located in the historic Victoria Arcade located between Castlereagh and Elizabeth Streets in the heart of the up market shopping area close to Martin Place. The partnership was dissolved in 1952 and David took over the business on his own.

Cameron and David Watts

He and Cameron later set up florist shops in the Menzies Hotel and the Wynyard Arcade. They raised two daughters Quentin and Katrina. After leaving Potts Point, Cameron and David spent time at Dulwich Hill before moving to Bellevue Hill and then to Bondi Junction.

David died suddenly in August 1976 when he was 59. Cameron later moved to Bribie Island in Queensland to live close to her brother Reg. In later life she moved to Dunbible, a rural area in northern NSW not far from the land of her Lattimore relatives, where she lived with her two daughters until her death in 2010 at the age of 91.

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Cameron and David Watts

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Chapter 36 – The Water Whisperer Evelyn Gertrude Lattimore b 1891 Married 1917 Arthur Spencer Obadiah West b 1879 Step Children and Children: Dorothy Merle West

b 1904

d 2003

99 years

Keith Foster West

b 1906

d 2004

98 years

Spencer James West

b 1908

d 1998

90 years

Arthur Laurence West

b 1910

d 2006

96 years

Sidney Lyle West

b 1913

d 1916

3 years

Paul West

b 1914

d 1914

0 years

Marjorie Joyce West

b 1918

d 2012

93 years

Gertrude Joan West

b 1927

-

-

Betty Evelyn West

B 1929

d 2021

91 years

When Evelyn (known as Ev) married Arthur West she immediately took on the role of mother to Arthur’s four surviving children. Her husband was also one of the region’s more prominent citizens. His business owned two large sawmills providing timber from the Richmond River region.

Arthur’s father had arrived in the region in the 1880s and helped build the sugar mill at Rous near Alstonville, back when growing sugar cane at a high and less humid altitude was thought a good idea.

With high quality trees for timber in plentiful supply, Arthur’s father set up a sawmilling business to supply the regional housing and building demand. The family lived at the small settlement that grew up around the sugar mill. The settlement was unsurprisingly named Rous Mill.

Arthur became a full time worker at the sawmill when he was 15. His father, who was also named Arthur, gave him a half share in the business when Arthur turned 21 in 1900. They operated as partners under the name A J West & Son.

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Arthur was 23 when he married 24 years old Stella May Foster in April 1903. They soon set about having six children between 1904 and 1914 who they named Dorothy Merle, Keith Foster, Spencer James, Arthur Laurence, Sidney Lyle and Paul. Unfortunately Paul died soon after birth in 1914.

By 1905 local timber stocks had been severely depleted. The sawmill was re-established under a special lease at Rocky Creek north of Dunoon in an area known for its valuable timber. Arthur purchased Portion 31 of the Parish of Whian Whian for the site of a farm and homestead which was located adjacent to the Whian Whian State Forest. He later acquired the adjoining Portion 64 bringing the total holding to 499 acres. His property was next door to the property of Walter Leeson who had married Arthur’s sister Rubina (Ruby) West in 1908. Walter had joined Arthur in the sawmilling business.

In the absence of churches, the home at Whian Whian was made available to all denominations to hold services. Stella contributed much of her time to helping others in the small community as many of the locals worked for her husband.

Arthur’s father sold his half share in 1912 to Gordon Sharpe who was another regional sawmiller.

Arthur and Gordon then ran the business as partners under the new firm of West & Sharpe.

Arthur’s father continued to operate his other sawmill at Nimbin.

Regional Map showing Dunoon, Dorroughby, Rosebank and The Channon

It was in 1914 that West & Sharp pioneered the use of motor lorries in the region to haul logs to the mill at Rocky Creek. Oxen teams were still required to get the logs to a road until the teams were replaced by tractors in the 1930s.

A particularly savage bushfire raged through the Whian Whian district in November 1915. The fire ridges lit up the countryside at night for miles around. Arthur was very lucky as all farms north of his were completely burnt out. Although he lost some property, the workers from the mill kept the fires away from the house.

308

Stella became ill in May 1916 when she was pregnant again. She and her baby died at the Dongrayald Private Hospital in Lismore not long after, despite the valiant attempts by Dr Graham to save her. She was only 38 years old and her passing left Arthur bereft. Local papers reported that a pall of gloom and sadness settled over the whole community as Stella had been a friend to all and was much cherished by those who knew her. For no apparent reason Stella’s gravestone has given her a second name of Mary instead of May. To make matters worse for Arthur, his three years old son Sidney died seven months later in December 1916. Reminiscent of old William Lattimore who needed to find a new wife and mother for his children after the death of Eleanor in 1855, Arthur found a willing and loving bride in the form of Evelyn Lattimore who was 26 when she married the 37 years old Arthur in July 1917.

Ev gave birth to her own child, Marjorie Joyce (but always known as Joyce) in November 1918.

After a long gap, Ev had two more daughters, Gertrude Joan (known as Joan) in February 1927 and Betty Evelyn in August 1929.

Arthur and Ev relocated from Whian Whian to Dorroughby in 1923. Arthur had acquired a 120 acre property (Portions 169 and 188 of the Parish of Dunoon). Dorroughby was named after one of the original settlers, John Dorrough, who named his property Dorroughby Grass.

Arthur built the new house at Dorroughby for Ev as a belated wedding present. It was made from sturdy local timbers with rich red cedar used for interior panelling.

The new house at Dorroughby

Like her sister Bernice, Ev took to country cooking and competing in district shows. She had much success with her pickles, jams and jellies at various shows held during the 1920s including at Dunoon, Alstonville, Nimbin, Mullumbimby and of course Dorroughby.

309

In the early days of the Great Depression in 1929, Arthur bought a bus with the intention of running a local bus service to Lismore. It is thought he was looking after his son Spencer who had worked as a lorry driver and may have found it hard to find work. His older son Keith later ran a bus service between The Channon and Lismore so there was probably a connection.

At the worst possible time with the depression at its height, Arthur’s health failed. He suffered a lengthy illness before passing away at home in June 1931 at the age of 51. A huge gathering of family, friends, employees and assorted locals gathered for the funeral at Dunoon’s Methodist Church. A Masonic service followed at the burial after the church service.

Arthur’s estate was very complex because of his property holdings and business interests. It would be many years before the estate was finally wrapped up. In the meantime, the executors of his Will, Ev, Gordon Sharpe and Walter Leeson, carried on looking after the family’s interests. Ev later felt Gordon Sharpe took advantage of Arthur’s death to give her much less for Arthur’s share of the business than it was worth.

The timber industry was particularly hard hit by the Great Depression after Arthur’s death. Work at the mill remained idle for long periods. Ev was forced to rely on the dairy herd for much of her income. By 1935 with the depression largely over, the demand for timber exploded as the State housing market tried to catch up for the lost years. The timber industry re-employed more men than most other industries in NSW. Ev stayed on at Dorroughby for many years raising the children still at home. The business interests were sold off and by 1949 she was living at a house at No 20 McKenzie Street, Lismore.

She later lived in Ballina Street, Lismore before relocating to a retirement home at nearby Goonellabah. Ev was 92 when she passed away in November 1983. She had been a widow for 52 years.

Evelyn West with her children from left to right - Dorrie, Laurie, Betty, Joyce, Keith, Joan and Spencer

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Dorothy Merle West

Dorrie West and Stan Arthur

Dorothy (who was better known as Dorrie) was the first child of Arthur and Stella West. She married Stanley Gordon Arthur in December 1927 when she was 23 and Stan just a bit younger.

The service was held at the Methodist Church in Lismore. It was an extended family affair with Vi Robinson as bridesmaid and Joyce West as flower girl. Vi’s mother Bern made all the bouquets.

Stan had a large family living at and near Dorroughby. They were among the first settlers in the area. Stan and Dorrie made their home at Dorroughby where they were very much made welcome.

Stan was a keen cricketer for a Lismore team along with his father in law’s partner, Gordon Sharpe.

Stan and Dorrie moved to Mullumbimby in 1937. I am aware they had at least six children who were named Neville, Elva, Cedric, Mona, Shirley and Gracie (not necessarily in that order) but Gracie died in infancy.

Stan enlisted in the Second World War in May 1941 and was away from his family for the next three years. He principally served in the 2nd Australian Engineering Stores Base Depot at Haberfield in Sydney. He reached the rank of corporal before his discharge in June 1948.

Stan spent a lot of time not living in Mullumbimby. He spent his last 10 years as a resident of the War Veteran’s Home at Narrabeen in Sydney before passing away in February 1981 at the age 76. Dorrie later lived at the Dorrie Arthur Coolamon Villa retirement and aged care centre at Mullumbimby where she passed away in April 2003 at the age of 99.

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Spencer James West Spencer worked mostly for his father Arthur, at least until 1925 when his father sold the Nimbin sawmill. After that, Spencer worked as a lorry driver, possibly hauling logs to the sawmills.

He was almost 24 when he married 24 years old Winifred May Knight at the Lismore Baptist Church in June 1932. Winnie (as she was known) had as her flower girls Joan West and Dorrie’s daughter Mona Arthur. Joan seemed to be in popular demand as a flower girl.

Spencer and Winnie were very keenly involved in the Baptist Church. Services were sometimes held at their house at Dorroughby. In keeping with the often strictness of personal behaviour adopted by that church, Spencer was also a member of the International Order of Good Templars, a temperance society modelled on both the masons and the medieval Knights Templar. Winnie was also a member as the society was open to men and women. They were both members at the time of their engagement. The Dorroughby lodge of the order was called The Pride of Glenview, presumably named after the first property of the Arthur family.

By 1937 Spencer had taken up working as a farmer while still living at Dorroughby. He and Winnie had three children named Kenneth, Graeme and Joy. The family later moved to a farm at Jiggi to the west of The Channon. It was while living here that Spencer enlisted in the Army in March 1942 when he was 33.

Spencer ended up in the same machine gun battalion as his older brother Keith West although Spencer enlisted after the battalion’s return from the Middle East. He was in time, however, for the torrid fighting in New Guinea. He survived largely unscathed and was discharged in January 1946. Less fortunate was his cousin, Max Leeson, a son of Walter and Ruby Leeson and former next door neighbour at Dorroughby, who was killed in New Guinea in October 1943.

While Spencer was in New Guinea, his nine years old son Ken was doing his best to add more finger damage to the family history. On this occasion in June 1943, Ken put his right hand inside a corn shelling machine and managed to get his third finger stuck. The finger was freed but it was badly lacerated. An ambulance took him to a local doctor for treatment.

The family later lived in various houses in Lismore while Spencer continued working as a farmer. By 1958 he had Spencer West given up farming and worked in a sawmill. 10 years later, Spencer and Winnie were living in Brisbane where Spencer had re-joined the Army and was working at the Enoggera Barracks.

After returning to Lismore and retiring from work, Spencer and Winnie moved into a Baptist Church retirement facility at Alstonville called Maranoa Village. As they grew older they moved to a more dependant aged care facility at Bangalow run by Feros Care. They both reached 90 years of age when they passed away, Winnie in December 1997 and Spencer in September 1998.

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Memorial to Spencer and Winnie West

Arthur Laurence West There is a good chance that Laurie (as Arthur was known) took over from his brother Spencer as the driver of the bus their father bought in 1929. Laurie, the last child of Arthur and Stella West to survive infancy, was 22 when he married a local girl in October 1932, only four months after Spencer’s wedding. Laurie’s wife was 19 years old Elsie Winifred Arthur who was a child of the wider Arthur family who lived in Dorroughby and the surrounding area. She was a near relative of Stan Arthur who had married Laurie’s sister Dorrie in 1927.

They also made their first home at Dorroughby. Laurie continued working as a bus driver until his brother Keith took over the bus business. Laurie reinvented himself as a motor mechanic, no doubt working on buses would have been a speciality.

Laurie and Elsie, like many in the West family, became strong supporters of the local Methodist Church. Elsie took up cooking and fundraising and made a name for herself as an excellent tennis player.

In 1936 or soon after, Laurie and Elsie (who was known in her own family as Tib) took up farming at the settlement of Jiggi, west of The Channon. Laurie was later joined at Jiggi by Spencer and his family. Laurie and his family later moved to Bexhill which was located to the south of Dorroughby and much closer to Lismore. Laurie and Elsie raised a family of five children who were named Jean, Margaret, Janice, Arthur and Neville (not necessarily in that order).

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It was at Bexhill that Laurie enlisted for service in the Second World War in November 1942 when he was 32. His skills as a mechanic saw him attached to a workshop company under the control of what later became known as the Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME). Laurie’s work involved the repair and maintenance of tanks, machinery and equipment.

He was occasionally allowed to return home for a visit. He was discharged from the Army in June 1944 with the rank of lance corporal.

After the war, the family moved back to Dorroughby where Laurie ran a poultry farm. By the late 1950s Laurie and his son Arthur had taken up work as carriers. The two families relocated to the small town of Coraki which sits at the confluence of the Richmond River from Casino and the Wilson River from Lismore. They both worked as carriers including carrying goods on river boats.

After retirement from working, Laurie and Elsie returned to Dorroughby in the 1970s before moving to Lismore and later Ballina. Elsie was 83 when she died in April 1996. Laurie was 96 when he passed away in December 2006.

Memorial to Laurie and Elsie West

Marjorie Joyce West Joyce (as she was known) was the first child of Arthur and Ev West. She was a regular attendee at the Dunoon Methodist Church and the church would change her life. Joyce was 16 when a new minister, the Reverend George Evans, arrived at Dunoon with his family in 1934. Over the next few years Joyce got to know the family well. An attachment to one of the minister’s sons, Robert Bell Evans, soon developed but was interrupted when the minister and his family left Dunoon in 1938 for a new position at Morpeth.

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Joyce had a full social life growing up in the Dunoon district. She was a well-received singer and in demand for songs at weddings and other gatherings. It helped she was an accomplished piano player. Joyce organised concerts and kitchen teas. She was the go to person if you wanted a well organised function. She also served on the committee running the local Junior Farmers Club.

Joyce was a trained dressmaker. She made many clothes for herself and her sisters who prized her designs and fancy needlework.

Despite distances, Joyce and Bob (as young Robert Evans was known) kept in touch and although Bob worked in Newcastle, he found time to return to Dorroughby for regular visits. Joyce also found excuses to travel to Newcastle for a visit. They were both 23 when they finally married in March 1942.

Just before the marriage, a surprise party was held for Joyce at her family home in Dorroughby. The party was organised by the Dorroughby Dunoon Improvement Society, set up mostly by young people in 1937 as a means of aiding progress in the district. The party was in honour of Joyce’s involvement and commitment to the society and to thank her for all her work, particularly the school concerts she organised and the teaching of songs to the children.

The party was a grand affair with an orchestra and lots of musical recitals.

Joyce’s sister Joan and her partner won the major prize for a particular dance known as a Chocolate Waltz.

Bob and Joyce Evans 1942

Bob’s father, the Reverend George Evans, was unable to conduct the marriage service as his ministry had been terminated the year before. Although he had served the church faithfully at many locations around NSW he had committed an act while at Morpeth that the church would not tolerate. He borrowed money or at least obtained goods on credit. The church insisted it could never be a borrower and could only spend money it actually had.

George was investigated by a disciplinary committee which made a recommendation to the annual church synod that George be removed from the ministry. 143 of his fellow ministers voted against him while 19 supported him. Almost all of the Morpeth congregation and many others in the community petitioned the church for his reinstatement but to no avail.

After their marriage Joyce and Bob made their home at Main Creek near Dungog where Bob worked at a sawmill. His main job was making charcoal from the timber offcuts. Joyce soon became involved in local affairs. In May 1942 Joyce and Bob provided the music for a soldier welcome home concert. Joyce also helped raise funds for a local ambulance and for the local school.

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Bob needed to have a chest X-Ray in 1942 at a cost of 10s/6d, which was quite an expense for the young couple. Under workers’ compensation insurance he received a refund of 3s but the insurer paid the balance as a donation. Burning copious amounts of timber for charcoal likely caused the need for the X-Ray. Their first child was born at Dungog in March 1943 but he was stillborn due to misplacement of the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck. They went on to have two more children who were named Marilyn and Warren. By 1949 the family had moved in with Joyce’s mother Ev at McKenzie Street, Lismore. Like others in the family, Bob was now working at yet another sawmill.

An estimated 50,000 people turned out in heavy rain to welcome Queen Elizabeth II to Lismore in February 1954 while on her Australian tour. Little did anyone know that within 10 days the continuing heavy rain would result in the worst floods recorded in Lismore’s history.

The family was badly affected by both the first flood of the Wilson River at the end of February and then by a second flood the following month. Houses that had been built on high timber foundations and thought to be above flood levels were inundated. Joyce and Bob lost many valuable possessions including priceless family photographs.

Part of the 50,000 crowd turned out to see the Queen in Lismore 1954

After the floods the family relocated to Evans Head at the mouth of the Evans River between Yamba and Ballina. After working as a bus driver Bob tried his hand at carpentry.

Joyce and Bob’s daughter Marilyn became a clerical assistant working for the PMG’s Department in 1961. She married William Keith McKenzie in 1967 and stayed in close contact with her aunts Joan and Betty. Marilyn’s brother Warren and his wife Judith moved to Brisbane where Warren became a senior television executive at Channel 7.

Bob wrote to the Defence Department in 1987 telling them he had lost his war service records and medals in the great Lismore flood of 1954. The department claimed they had no record of his

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service and my check of available indexes has not located any service record. Bob was able to supply his enlistment number and some details of where he served but this did not help. Perhaps he should have sent them the photo he had where he was wearing his uniform with the stripes of a corporal.

Bob was 75 when he died in June 1994 at Evans Head. Joyce always had a strong bond with her younger sisters Joan and Betty and spent a lot of time in their company. Joyce moved into the St Matthews retirement village at Goonellabah near Lismore in the 1990s. She died in July 2012 at the age of 93 from complications following an operation.

Flooding of Lismore February/March 1954

Gertrude Joan West Joan (as she was known) found that apart from Sunday School and Church, there was not a lot of social activity for her growing up in Dorroughby. She did, however, become a proficient tennis player, mainly due to the local tennis court being on her father’s property. She must have been a cute child because she was flower girl or junior bridesmaid at quite a few weddings.

Joan’s uncle Arnold Lattimore died in November 1942. Ev and 15 years old Joan left Dorroughby for Tweed Heads to help with running Arnold’s business interests. Joan’s younger sister Betty was temporarily left in the care of her older sister Dorrie Arthur.

Ev and Joan met up with Joan’s aunt Clarice O’Connor who was working the kitchen at Arnold’s café at Tweed Heads. The café was an extremely busy establishment serving hundreds of meals a day for breakfast and lunch. Tweed Heads and Coolangatta were designated rest areas for units of the US Army at the time. These servicemen, coupled with the patrons of the theatre next door to the café, made life extremely busy in the kitchen and the help provided by Ev and Joan was vital for the business and much appreciated by Clarice and the café’s employees.

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Joan found time to enlist in the Australian Women’s Land Army when she was 16. This unit was raised during the war to help make up the shortfall of labour in the farming sector. Joan spent three months working in a canning factory at Leeton and picking grapes and other fruit in the Griffith area of south west NSW. Joan spent a fair bit of her time travelling to Tweed Heads to catch up with Clarice and her husband Cecil and their two sons, forming a close bond with the family that would last for decades.

By 1948 when Joan was 21 and living in Lismore with her mother and Betty, she was working for the PMG’s Department in the Divisional Engineer’s Office at South Lismore. She had by now completed a secretarial course. Joan had previously worked on the switchboard in the post office at Dorroughby.

The Lismore office was the central office for the employment of all linesmen and technical workers between Coffs Harbour and Queensland. Joan worked as the pay clerk, responsible for processing the wages of these technicians.

She became engaged to a man who was quite a few years older than her. Cecil Ian Knight was a local man living in Lismore who at the time worked at a local butter factory. He was the younger brother of Gordon Knight who married Doris Bartholomew (granddaughter of William and Elizabeth Lattimer) in 1939. The engagement did not last, however, and Joan soon accepted a promotion to the Divisional Engineer’s Office in Canberra. One of her bosses at Lismore had earlier transferred to Canberra and suggested to Joan she apply for a higher position in Canberra because there was a shortage of staff.

Joan caught the train to Sydney in April 1950 and then made her way to the Capital. She spent her first few months boarding at a hotel. One of her fellow workers was Geoff Ginns who had married Valma O’Connor in April 1949.

Valma was the daughter of Euie (or Hughie) O’Connor who was the younger brother of Cecil O’Connor who married Clarice Lattimore. No doubt you’ve managed to get your head around that connection.

Euie and his wife Rosie invited Joan to board with them and she moved in for the remainder of her time in Canberra.

Joan Stevens

After leaving the Canberra office late one night, Joan was standing at a bus stop when a much older man walked past and asked “What’s a pretty young girl like you doing out here this late?”

She said she was waiting for the bus. The man said in that case he would wait with her. This was typical of the nature of that man, better known as Ben Chifley, then Prime Minister of Australia.

Joan returned home to Lismore for occasional visits, including one time in 1951 when she flew on a plane to Lismore. She also visited Clarice and Cecil O’Connor who had now relocated to Sydney.

Her mother also caught the train to Canberra to visit her daughter and be shown around the Capital.

Something about older men must have held an attraction for Joan. She was 26 when she married 44 years old Ronald Joseph Stevens in February 1953, a couple of years after her return to Lismore. Ron (as he was known) worked as a hairdresser at Newton’s in Lismore.

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Ron could be quite charming and he was developing a strong following of clients who praised him for his skills as a stylist and colourist.

Ron had originally come from Melbourne where he had an earlier life known as Thomas Vincent Warriner. He had married Frances Davidson in 1929 when he was 21. The marriage did not work out and Ron spent some years travelling and working in Victoria, Western Australia and NSW. He eventually found his way to Lismore. Ron said he changed his name to avoid debts he had left behind. As a hairdresser Ron would be known by the trade name of Mr Vincent, an obvious reference to his past.

For a few months after their marriage they lived in the Hotel Ryan in Lismore which was close to both the hairdressing salon and the wholesale food and produce store of William Blair where Joan was working in the office.

Joan and Ron relocated to Ballina and lived in Moon Street for a few years before returning to Lismore to live next door to Joan’s mother Ev in McKenzie Street. The two houses had their share of floodwaters. In one flood, the water overlapped the carpet and ruined some of the furniture and children’s toys. Ev’s stepson Laurie helped raise other furniture above the water level and placed a board between the two houses to allow the families to cross over.

Joan and Ron went on to have four children who they named Andrew (known as Drew), Michael, Marie and Helene. In the 1970s the family moved to Ballina Street in Lismore. Ev moved in with them and had her own self-contained area off the front verandah.

Joan and Betty with Betty’s daughter Kaye

To supplement the family income, Joan took up washing and ironing at a local boys’ home before taking on the more demanding cleaning and laundry work at a local motel where she worked for

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the next 20 years. When the motel became the lunch stop for visiting Pioneer buses, Joan added waitressing to her repertoire. She later became the breakfast cook.

Ron was 85 when he died in January 1994. Joan joined Joyce at the St Matthew’s retirement village at Goonellabah in about 2003. She remains close to her daughters and grandchildren as well as other relatives and friends and sees most of them regularly.

Joan’s erstwhile fiancé, Cec Knight, never married. He later worked as a blacksmith and was much involved in horse trotting. He remained a friend within Joan’s family. He died in 1984 in an accident during a race meeting.

Betty Evelyn West Betty was a mere 18 years old when she married 25 years old Jack St Clair Thomson at the Lismore Methodist Church in November 1947. Her older sister Joan had, naturally, been one of Betty’s bridesmaids. They made their home at Casino. Jack’s family was well established in that town. His father George was an alderman and deputy mayor on Casino’s Municipal Council.

He also held many community positions over the years including chairman of the local meat co-operative, president of Casino’s Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Casino Hospital board.

Jack had been discharged from the Army two years earlier in September 1945 after the end of the Second World War. He had enlisted in October 1942 and served with the combined 55th/53rd Battalion. The force of just over 500 soldiers was airlifted from Port Moresby in New Guinea to the northern side of the island to help in the Kokoda Campaign against the Japanese invasion force.

The battalion suffered severe casualties in the fierce jungle fighting.

Betty West

From New Guinea the battalion was sent to the island of Bougainville to help with the clearing out of Japanese troops occupying the centre of the island.

Betty decided she was not going to be a fulltime housewife. Before her marriage she had worked in a solicitor’s office in Lismore and later worked at the Fossey’s store in Casino. The first Fossey’s store was set up in Sydney in 1926 but the business expanded to about 160 stores mostly in the rural and regional towns of NSW. Betty continued working at the Casino store after Fossey’s was taken over by Coles Myer.

Jack worked at his father’s motor garage business but later became a salesman. He was also very involved in the progress of his town. He was a long-time member of the local Apex club. The first Apex club was formed in Victoria in 1931 and soon became a popular vehicle for mostly young people to become actively involved in community service as an alternative to Rotary, Lions and similar organisations. Jack became governor of the Casino club.

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Betty and Jack had three children who they named Margaret, Kaye and Geoffrey. Like so many others in her family, Betty developed a love of cooking and her creations were legendary at local shows, fund raisers and social events.

Betty helped out in the canteen at the local high school and within a short time became the canteen supervisor, a position she held for 17 years, long after her children had left school. She even spent some time teaching cooking at the local TAFE. She knew almost all the students by name and became one of the more recognised citizens on the streets of Casino.

Jack and Betty Thomson

The family lived for many years in Hare Street, Casino. When Jack became ill with Parkinson’s disease, Betty secured a place for him in a nursing home in Casino where he could get full time care. Betty was very dedicated to looking after Jack during this time. Jack was 73 when he died in May 1996. Tragedy followed when Betty’s son Geoff died the following year. She also lost an infant grandson who died after becoming tangled in the cord of a blind, an accident that left Betty and her family inconsolable.

In retirement Betty spent many hours doing voluntary work including caring for intellectually disabled people and working in the hospital canteen as part of her service on the Hospital Auxiliary.

Betty joined her sisters Joyce and Joan at the St Matthews retirement village in Goonellabah in 2010. Her mobility gradually deteriorated over time until she became virtually house bound.

Betty had a motor vehicle but due to her infirmity, it was left to Joan to drive the three sisters to the shops once a week, often with Joyce’s daughter Marilyn accompanying them. Sometimes they would drive to Casino to visit there stepsister Dorrie.

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Betty made the acquaintance of a resident named Eric who became a close companion in her later years. Betty was 91 when she passed away from a kidney infection at Lismore Base Hospital in July 2021, only a few months before this edition of the story was published.

Jack and Betty in later life

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Chapter 37 – The Quiet Fruiterer Ernest Owen Lattimore b 1893

Ern left the Dunoon district in the late 1920s and settled at Mullumbimby where he ran a shop mostly selling fruit and other local produce. He bought a truck to make deliveries to the residents of the town and nearby areas and became fairly successful.

Farmland near Mullumbimby

Probably missing his family, he left Mullumbimby by 1930 and went to Tweed Heads where he lived with his mother Jinny and brother Arnold above their café in Wharf Street. Ern supplied the café with fruit but soon became well known around Tweed Heads for his fruit and vegetable business which he did solely from the truck.

Ern was quiet and shy but he was known for his generosity. He freely handed out samples of his fruit and vegetables and gave away anything that looked like it was getting old. There were stories about children regularly helping themselves to the fruit from Ern’s truck when it was parked behind the café.

Coolangatta experienced a surge in development after the First World War. Ern extended his fruit run over the border to include Coolangatta and its adjoining beaches and hinterland. Ern would

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often park his truck in convenient locations along the waterfront and sell his produce direct to the public, especially in the summer months when there were large crowds.

Of course not everyone was happy with this. Locals complained that roads and access were being blocked by customers. Shopkeepers complained about the unlicensed and unwanted competition, particularly during the busy summer season. In early 1936 Ern was one of a half a dozen or so vendors to be prosecuted by the Coolangatta Town Council for operating as an itinerant vendor without a licence. Ern must have been more successful than the others because the council prosecuted him first as a test case.

Wharf Street, Tweed Heads – Lattimore café has the roof arches

After he received the summons but before the matter went to court, Ern applied for a licence and after some hesitation, his application was approved by the council, despite opposition from the mayor and the town clerk. In court, Ern pleaded guilty. The council did not seek a penalty, only a conviction. Ern was ordered to pay 6s court costs or six hours in the lock-up. Ern of course paid the money. The council then commenced similar proceedings against the other vendors.

Ern was in court again later in 1936 when he was charged with failing to drive on the correct side of the road. To be fair, he didn’t really do that. He was leaving Beryl Street in Tweed Heads after visiting his brother Eric when he made a right hand turn. Unfortunately, he rather severely cut the corner and in doing so collided with a car coming up fast around the corner. The police volunteered Ern was travelling slowly and had already paid for the damage. Ern was fined 10s plus 5s/6d costs.

Ern had turned 21 when the First World War broke out in 1914. He enlisted but was probably rejected on medical grounds. It must have rankled when two of his younger brothers got to serve even though both returned early from the war with debilitating wounds.

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When the call went out for volunteers for the home militia battalions in early 1942, 48 years old Ern felt the need to present himself at the recruitment centre at Desmond Chambers in Brisbane.

He was accepted initially but suffered rejection again.

Ern continued living at Wharf Street until early 1945 when he took over a banana plantation between Carool and Bilambil to the south of Tweed Heads. 456 This area had long been known for growing bananas. Returned servicemen after the First World War took up soldier settlement leases here specifically to grow bananas. Ern’s move from fruiterer to grower was probably motivated by a steep rise in the price of bananas during the war years.

Sadly for Ern, he did not live long enough to enjoy what would have been the fruits of his labour.

For many years he had suffered from a condition called Angina Pectoris which involves damage to the heart muscle caused by a narrowing of the nearby arteries. This was a condition common to his sister Clarice (although she lived until she was 91) and to other members of that family.

Ern was only 52 when he died at the Tweed District Hospital in July 1945.457 In the absence of his mother and brothers Arnold and Ivon who had predeceased him, it was left to his remaining brother Eric to take care of the funeral and estate arrangements. Ern’s death certificate was witnessed by Levi Sharpe who was the father of Eric’s wife Laura.

Grave of Ernest Owen Lattimore at the Old Cemetery, Tweed Heads

456 457

Northern Star 10 July 1945, page 4 NSW BDM Death Certificate 18675/1945

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Chapter 38 – The Café King Arnold Harvey Lattimore b 1896

Arnold Lattimore returned from the First World War and quickly picked up from where he left off.

Life in a small country town may have been slow paced for some people but for Arnold it gave him much scope to play a major role in the community.

He was not able to play rugby any more due to his shattered collar bone and the bullet still in his chest but that did not stop him from being involved in the running of the local football club, where he held the traditional Lattimore position of secretary and sometimes, treasurer.458

Gathering of the Clans – Arnold Lattimore is seated second on the right

He and his father Ted were founding members of the Dunoon Football Club. 459 Arnold was also appointed secretary of the Public Hall Committee to raise funds to pay off debts and for enlargement and improvement of the hall.460

458 459 460

Northern Star 10 May 1919, page 8 Northern Star 25 April 1919, page 5 Northern Star 4 July 1921, page 6

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Arnold also took on the role of convenor of meetings for the Returned Soldiers of Dunoon who regularly met at the Lattimore refreshment rooms run by Arnold. They were by now more genteelly known as Tea Rooms.461 His father was appointed treasurer of the organisation.

As part of the peace celebrations held in 1919, Arnold organised a basket picnic and sports day held in Lawrence’s Paddock where there was a procession of returned soldiers and sailors, as well as rejected volunteers (no doubt including Ern Lattimore) and school children from Dunoon, Whian Whian and Dorroughby.462 At those peace celebrations the crowd was entertained by the Dunoon Bagpipe Band, which was part of the larger Dunoon Town Band. Arnold had learnt to play and master the bagpipes from an early age and was happy to take charge of both bands.

He had previously been the secretary of the Casino Pipe Band before his enlistment in the Army.463 Arnold was a tall, imposing figure when leading the pipe band as the pipe major, dressed in full highland kit. He had taken to the Scottish traditions handed down to him from his mother, who remained a fiercely loyal and proud Scot with strong Arnold Lattimore in full Highland regalia clan connections. It was common for her sons and daughters to attend clan gatherings on the north coast, always properly dressed for the occasion.

Arnold, as the resident conductor of the Dunoon Town Band (also known as the Dunoon Brass Band), was keen to see the band improve so it could achieve at least B Grade accreditation with the New South Wales Bands Association.464 This required much band practice, the purchase of new instruments and plenty of performances.

The Northern Star reported on 14 May 1925 (page 6):

461 462 463 464

Northern Star 13 June 1919, page 1 Northern Star 14 August 1919, page 1 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 2 April 1915, page 5 Northern Star 1 December 1925, page 6

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“The band is sorely in need of new instruments. The majority of those in use are second class, and it is almost an impossibility for any bandsman to secure good results with them.

However, with the forthcoming social and concert and other functions, together with the support of the public, it is hoped that Dunoon will have a band that will do credit to the town.”

On one occasion where the band played at a bazaar at Whian Whian to help raise funds for the Church of England at Dunoon, Arnold said that as the band was a publicly funded body, it had a duty to help the public in all their functions.465 Arnold notified the band members in about July 1926 that he intended to leave the district and arrangements were made for a band master from Lismore to come in and take over as conductor. 466 Arnold stayed on a while to ease the new conductor into the job.

The (Rebuilt) Dunoon Village Hall

It may have been a conflict of interest between Arnold and his father over the type of war memorial for Dunoon or it may have been his mother’s falling out with his father that led to bad blood between Arnold and Ted. Whatever the cause, it resulted in Arnold wanting to leave the district.

By 1926 a substantial amount of money had been raised from the community and put into a War Chest fund to help soldiers when overseas on service and after their return. The war had finished over seven years before and the soldiers no longer had need of the remaining funds which amounted to about ₤100.

A dispute soon divided the town as to how the money should be spent. People on the hall committee and other public groups strongly favoured using the money to pay off the building costs of the hall and the Dunoon Post Office 467

465 466 467

Northern Star 18 July 1925, page 16 Northern Star 21 August 1926, page 9 Northern Star 7 July 1927, page 7

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However, others favoured the erection of a war memorial on the basis that almost every eligible young man in the district had enlisted and a memorial was a suitable object to honour those young men. Others seeking a compromise said the hall could be dedicated as a memorial hall.

Ted was of course very keen to support the hall proposal and tried to use his influence to have the money in the War Chest spent for that purpose. Arnold, as a returned soldier, was outraged at the idea of using the money for a totally unrelated purpose.

Arnold convened a meeting of all available returned soldiers on 8 July 1926 and was duly appointed chairman for the meeting. He opened with “an emphatic protest against the hall and post office committee” led by his father.

He described the members of that other committee as “bushrangers” but added that his comment was a poor reflection on bushrangers. 468 He agreed, however, that a monument would be of little use, but a memorial park to be dedicated to the memory of fallen comrades would benefit all.

On Arnold’s recommendation the meeting agreed to set up a Returned Soldiers’ Betterment League, whose object was to obtain advantages for returned soldiers in general.

Ted was present at the meeting as treasurer of the War Chest and wished the new League every success in raising all of the funds needed, but he would not have been able to back away from the needs of the hall.

Getting Ready for an ANZAC Day March

468

Northern Star 13 July 1926, page 13

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Whatever the reason for the fallout between Arnold and his father, Arnold was gone by the end of 1926 and his mother and two brothers were not far behind. Dunoon lost one of its most active and forward thinking citizens.

Arnold first tried his hand at farming near Alstonville, on the main road between Lismore and Ballina. He may have later been joined there by his mother as Jinny became a contributor and exhibitor at the Alstonville Show.

Memorable prizes won by Jinny were for home-made bread and for best crocheted milk jug cover and best collection of crochet edged handkerchiefs. 469 She had previously won a prize for best home-made bread at the Bangalow Show two years earlier.470 Perhaps it was the proximity to his cousin Arthur in Ballina, who had made a success of his café and kiosk businesses, which led Arnold to leave Alstonville around 1928 and head north looking to set up his own café business.

Arnold took over the Empire Café in Wharf Street, Tweed Heads, next door to the Empire Theatre and Picture Palace (separated by Empire Lane, which still exists), where he and his mother took up residence above the café.

The Empire Theatre had opened by 1915 as an open air cinema screening silent pictures and slide shows but had soon been converted to a fully enclosed theatre. The theatre competed with the only other theatre in town, the Gaiety, which mysteriously burnt down in 1915, with the then Empire Theatre owners being the prime suspects.471 These earlier café owners, along with many others along the north coast, resented the influx of mostly Greek migrants who arrived in the country after the First World War and brought much of the modern European café culture with them. There was a concerted effort by the old guard café owners to encourage a “buy Australian” campaign, much like what Dave Lattimore did for his son at Ballina. Except in Tweed Heads, the campaign got ugly. As the advertisement for the Empire Café on this page shows, patrons were encouraged to “Call in Before the Day Goes”, with the last two words meant to be read as one.

During the 1930s and 1940s the 1.45pm Saturday matinee was a regular drawcard for children who would buy sweets and ice blocks mostly from Arnold’s café next door.472 469 470 471 472

Advertisement for the Empire Café pre Arnold

Northern Star 24 February 1928, page 2 Northern Star 5 March 1926, page 2 Tweed Daily News 31 January 2011 “Tweed Thematic History”, Joanna Boileau 2004

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The Tweed Heads area had a large Aboriginal population who were also captivated by the moving pictures (as movies were first known) shown at the theatre. Patrons recalled that a rope and curtain segregated the Aborigines from the other theatre patrons, at least until the 1950s. 473 The Aborigines were last in (through a separate door) and a curtain was drawn around them, but they got to leave first (using the separate door again).

The Aborigines were not entirely unhappy with this arrangement. They were keen to sit together in their wider family units and not be gawked at or heckled by the other patrons. As a young teenager, my father was sometimes invited to sit with this group by his Aboriginal school friends.

By 1926 the theatre was one of the most popular destinations in the Tweed Heads district and the café did a brisk business. To add to his success Arnold later took over the running of the Empire Dance Pavilion (known as the Palais) which was located on the other side of the theatre.

Inside the Empire Palais Dance Hall

The dance hall was also a major entertainment venue that allowed Arnold to provide drinks and confectionery from a kiosk just inside the hall.

The arrival of US military personnel in the Tweed Heads area at the start of the war in the Pacific dramatically increased business. Jinny worked full time in the kitchen and supervised the other kitchen staff. Other relatives were often called in to help when business peaked.

An article was published in the Tweed Daily newspaper on 16 October 1985 titled “Memories Focus On Old Café” in which the writer said:

473

The Sydney Morning Herald 30 September 1988

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“During the 1930’s one member of our family had the job at 6.30 each morning to run down the street and collect the Tweed Daily and a loaf of bread for the breakfast toast.

Armed with eightpence we would arrive at Cecil O’Connor’s newsagency just as he was opening the bundle of freshly printed newspapers.

After exchanging twopence for our paper, we moved up to the Empire Café and waited until Arnold Lattimore (who was Cecil O’Connor’s brother in law) finished sweeping his footpath and placing his sun covers over his fruit window.

Parting with our remaining sixpence we had our father reading the Tweed Daily and had the toast cooking before 7 am each morning.

This early morning job was performed by dozens of other Tweed Heads’ families, in that easy going period when it was expected that places like Lattimores would be open at all hours of the day and night.

The main entrance of the café was flanked by two large display windows, one containing confectionery and the other a well-stocked display of fruit and vegetables.

The restaurant side contained about 20 tables, which were always made up, and could seat between two and ten people at each table.

If any kid was lucky enough to find a Skinner Lowes drink bottle he could cash it in for twopence and be tempted by the biggest lolly counter in the Twin Towns, which always contained lots of goodies like White Knights, Texas Chews and Allday Suckers.

Mrs Lattimore soon gained a reputation as a great cook and the café became popular with visitors and district people alike.

It was particularly popular with the country people who came in by bus on Saturdays, did their shopping and stayed for the pictures.

White Knights are still made today

The buses parked on the river bank opposite the café and the drivers like Ray Bartlett, Bob Giddy and Jack Tully made good use of the Empire.

Mrs Lattimore, working from her old wood stove, had a day stretching from 6.30 am till sometimes around midnight, and even later during the busy holiday periods. She could supply steak and one egg for one shilling and ninepence or with two eggs for two shillings.

The top meal of ham and chicken was two shillings and pie and peas with a pot of tea was ninepence.

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Fruit prices were also cheap by today’s standard and any small kid sent to get one shilling’s worth of mixed fruit would be struggling under the load.

Money was not a real problem as most kids never had any and they only had to ask Arnold or one of his staff to receive a feed of specks, fruit which was too damaged for sale.

Interval time at the theatre next door was a busy time for the café, with the staff working flat out to try and serve the several hundred people who flocked in for refreshment.

For those patrons who did not want to leave the theatre, boys in white coats with boxes slung from their shoulders went up and down the aisles selling lollies, chocolates and ice cream.”

Wharf Street, Tweed Heads – The Empire Theatre and the café next door

Wharf Street, Tweed Heads – The Empire Theatre is on the far left

Two of Arnold’s brothers, Ern and Eric, came to live at the café with Arnold and Jinny. Ern arrived before 1930 and Eric made the move a few years later. Over the following years, Arnold would employ many staff members. Some of the better known were Laura Sharpe, Daphne and Allan Patch, Joyce Rummery, Clare Hayles and Jessie and Rita Helmood.

With the popularity of dog racing at the Tweed Heads recreation grounds, Arnold obtained the catering rights for the ground and built a kiosk on the top side of the track. It was always packed with customers on race nights and during the Sunday football matches.

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Arnold was elected to the board of the Tweed Heads branch of the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia in 1937 in time to help plan the next Anzac Day commemoration. 474 He was also a member of Lodge Dawn of the Freemasons. 475 Jinny did almost all of the cooking and food preparation for both the café and the kiosks. She spent many hours a day cooking hams, silversides, chickens and rissoles as well as baking cakes, pastries and lots of pies. She relished what she did and took pride in the well-earned reputation of the café. She slowed down after the war started as she struggled with the surge in business.

Her daughter Clarice took over more of the cooking.

Jinny was 75 when she died in March 1941.476 Her headstone at Tweed Heads Cemetery records she was 73, indicating her family had little idea she had actually been born in 1865.

Arnold opened a second café at Coolangatta which was called Lattimores. The name sounds appropriate but hardly headline making like that used by the competition, such as the Hollywood Café and the Border Café.477 All the cafés did a roaring trade during the early 1940s and Arnold US Navy sailors get a warm welcome was still keen to further expand his in Brisbane empire. But the stress of running all of these hectic businesses started to take a toll on his health.

Arnold was taken ill in late 1942 with a recurring peptic ulcer. These ulcers occur in or below the stomach and were thought to be caused by stress, or excessive alcohol, smoking or overuse of aspirin. We know now the ulcers are caused by a bacteria, but those conditions are still looked at as being contributors to a compromised immune system that allows the bacteria to flourish.

The ulcer eventually perforated through the digestive lining and Arnold suffered internal bleeding which led to his death in November 1942 at the age of only 48. His death came less than two years after his mother died and four years before his father’s passing.478 His funeral had a large cortege and was well represented by all sections of the community, particularly returned servicemen and freemasons. A service was first held at the Masonic lodge before moving to the Presbyterian Church. As was the custom for returned servicemen, his coffin was draped with the Union Jack. An obituary recorded that: 474 475 476 477 478

The Courier Mail 1 March 1937, page 22 Northern Star 18 November 1942, page 4 NSW BDM Death Certificate 2136/1941 “Aliens of The Tweed and Brunswick”, Peter Tsicalas 2003 NSW BDM Death Certificate 28245/1942

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“During his residence at Tweed Heads, Mr Lattimore prominently identified himself with all local public bodies and was secretary of the Caledonian Society while it was in existence.

He was an expert player of the bagpipes and made an imposing figure in the Highland national costume.”479 His sisters Clarice O’Connor and Ev West came down from Pittsworth and up from Dorroughby, to take over the running of the cafés until they could be sold off. The Australian Electoral Roll for 1943 shows Clarice living at the Empire Café as the manageress.

Eric took on the role of looking after Arnold’s estate and dealing with the arrangements for the sale of the businesses.

Arnold Lattimore and Allan Patch c 1939

Allan Patch, the young man in the photo above, had worked in the café with his sister Daphne up until he enlisted in the RAAF in April 1942 when he was about 19. He served for four years and was a leading aircraftman at the Operational Base at Cloncurry Airport in Queensland when he was discharged in March 1946.

479

Northern Star 18 November 1942, page 4

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He and his wife Elsie, who he married in April 1945, moved to Bondi in Sydney where he joined the NSW Police Force as a constable. He had only just transferred to the Paddington Vice Squad in February 1949 when he was sent to Bowral in southern NSW as part of an investigation. His motor cycle left the road just out of Bowral and crashed. Sydney detectives who were following in a patrol car picked him up and rushed him to hospital. His wife Elsie was given a police escort from Bondi to Bowral but arrived only a few hours after Allan had died of his injuries. Allan was 26 and left behind a daughter Shirley as well as his wife. He was given a police funeral at Tweed Heads, attended by many police and local dignitaries.

The Empire Café was sold to district identity Charlie Holt and the café continued to thrive. It eventually closed in the early 1960s. The site is now a bicycle shop. Across the lane, the site of the Empire Theatre became a tenpin bowling alley.

Graves of both Arnold Lattimore and his mother Jinny at Tweed Heads Cemetery

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Chapter 39 – The Wounded Wanderer Ivon Gladwin Lattimore b 1898

Not only did Ivon have to put up with a surname that was frequently misspelled (his army record shows a long struggle with the spelling of his surname), but his parents chose for him a Christian name that was simply an open invitation to a misspelling.

Ivon (or Ivan as he was often incorrectly known) was of course literate so he was able to correct a lot of the mistakes but he is a stand out in the Lattimore family for the most number of incorrect spellings over which he had no control.

After returning wounded from the First World War, Ivon found it difficult to settle back in to life at Dunoon. Unlike Arnold who saw less of the carnage, Ivon struggled to cope with the horror and brutality he witnessed and personally experienced.

Walking Wounded headed to a Dressing Station

Soldiers like him were exposed to both clockwork and sporadic bombardment by enemy artillery and the regular and often futile headlong charges into machine gun fire, which left their friends and comrades blown to pieces by shells or torn up by bullets.

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By the end of the war 59,000 Australian soldiers had been killed (with many more missing, presumed dead) and another 166,000 wounded. The casualty rate of 65% of total strength was the highest of any of the armies that participated in the war.480 Ivon had no idea what he was going to do after the war, or if he was capable of doing much at all.

Probably with the urging of his parents, he applied for a soldier settlement farm allotment at Dyraaba, 10 km west of Casino when they came up for ballot in 1921.481 This scheme allowed returned soldiers who were sufficiently able bodied to be given a grant of Government land for farming purposes. However, the scheme was not particularly successful and many of the returned soldiers could not cope and simply walked off their land due to a lack of farming knowledge, assistance, capital or because they were mentally unstable.

During his time in the Army Ivon probably made friends with many soldiers who had come from all over Australia and he may have been keen to catch up with some of them to re-share the camaraderie and speak of the joy and guilt of being a survivor.

Whatever the reason, the Australian Electoral Roll for 1925 records Ivon working as a farmer at Millaa Millaa, a small settlement on the Atherton Tableland in the far north of Queensland. This was a long way from the family who loved him.

A later Electoral Roll for 1925 records Ivon working as a newsagent at Red Hill, an inner city suburb of Brisbane.482 Ivon was certainly a wanderer who seemed to have trouble settling down in any particular place but his travelling days ended abruptly. In April 1928, the family received a telegram saying that Ivon had died at the Murray River town of Mildura in Victoria. He was 29 years old.

A young Ivon Lattimore

The family was uncertain and possibly suspicious about the cause of death. Details of his last movements were not known. The family agreed to send Ivon’s nephew, the robust and likeable teenager Reg O’Connor, to Mildura to find out exactly what had happened. Reg made his way to Lismore on 25 April where he left by train and arrived at Sydney at 7.30 am the following day. He then caught a train to Melbourne half an hour later, arriving at 2.30 pm on 27 April. From here he took the 5.30 pm train to Mildura, arriving at 7.30 am the next day. 483

480 481 482 483

Australian War Memorial – Enlistment Statistics and Standards, First World War 2013 The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser 28 February 1921, page 2 1925 Australian Electoral Roll (Second Print) Ivon Gladwin Lattimore – Lilley Diary Extract of Reginald O’Connor 1928

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In the meantime, the local Mildura newspaper, the Sunraysia Daily had reported Ivon’s death (and even in death there was no reprieve for the incorrect spelling of his names): “Mr Lattamore’s Funeral The funeral of the late Ivan Lattamore took place yesterday afternoon at the Mildura Cemetery, where the graveside service was conducted by Major Templeton. The pall-bearers were Messrs L Mansell and F P Gaynor (representing Mildura branch RSSILA), F S Clarey (Red Cliffs branch) and S J Whiting (Merbein branch). Mr E York had charge of the arrangements.

Mr Lattamore’s name was inadvertently printed as “Nattamore” in Monday’s and Tuesday’s issues of “Sunraysia Daily”. (Note – the spelling was mistaken)”.

When Reg arrived at Mildura he first went to the Mildura District Hospital where Ivon had died and here he spoke with the Matron, Eileen Fillet. The Matron said that the hospital had burned Ivon’s clothes after he died. She also said the nurses and staff spoke very highly of Ivon who they got to know during his stay.

Reg received Ivon’s other belongings which included a bank book for an account containing ₤13.

He then went to the undertakers and after talking with them, he bought a wreath and went out to the cemetery to pay his respects.484 The next day was a Sunday and he went by bus to the Army base at Merbein, about 9 km west of Mildura, which was the home of a company of the then 7th Battalion (North West Murray Borderers). Here he met Steve Whiting who had been at Ivon’s funeral. Steve said he was an Army friend of Ivon’s and had arranged for Ivon to come to Mildura and be employed at the Army base.

Reg went home with Steve and they then went to visit a Mr Stanley who Ivon had been staying with. For some reason Mr Stanley had left earlier that day (evidently packing up in a hurry and shifting somewhere else). Steve said that Ivon was given a military funeral with the Union Jack on the coffin.

Ivon’s Funeral Hearse 484

Presbyterian Portion Section G Allotment 13

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Reg then called on Doctor Ernest Spargo at Merbein who had previously been treating Ivon when he was brought in to the hospital as an emergency patient. He said that Ivon had died at 9.15 am on 22 April and the cause of death was partial paralysis of the lungs caused by the ingestion of food or fluid or both into the lungs.

Ivon had been in the hospital for 24 hours before he died. However, the doctor noted that Ivon had earlier been a patient for a month, being discharged three weeks before he died. Reg did not record what Ivon had been treated for. Perhaps he didn’t want to.

Reg believed that Steve Whiting and the others he had spoken to were very decent people. With the information collected, Reg started the return trip the following day. This was quite a journey for Reg and it carried a high level of responsibility, considering he was only 15 years old at the time.

The family was very shocked by Ivon’s sudden death. For some years after his passing they put an In Memoriam in the local paper: “In Loving memory of our dear son and brother, Ivon Gladwin Lattimore, A.I.F., who died in Mildura Hospital on April 22nd 1928. Inserted by his father, mother, brothers and sisters.”485 Dr Spargo continued to be a well-respected practitioner in the Mildura area. He would also feel the pain of losing a child when his only son Keith, a 20 years old RAAF pilot, was killed in 1943 in a training accident at Sydney. 486 There are 60 or so graves at Mildura Cemetery of air crew who died in training accidents at the Mildura base during the Second World War.

Mildura District Hospital in the 1930s

Northern Star 23 April 1929, page 6 (the date of death actually inserted was April 22 nd 1929 which was a mistake) 486 The Argus 21 July 1943, page 2 485

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Chapter 40 – The Cook and The Chef Eric Lionel Lattimore b 1906 Married 1941 Laura May Sharpe b 1913 Children: Helen Kay Lattimore

b 1944

d 1974

30 years

Ian Lionel Lattimore

b 1945

d 1993

47 years

After most of his family left Dunoon, Eric Lattimore stayed on working as a farm labourer and sometimes living as a boarder with the West family at Dorroughby. Eventually he made the move to Tweed Heads and moved in with his mother Jinny and brothers Ern and Arnold above the café in Wharf Street.

Eric helped out in the running of the café while continuing to work as a labourer. He was a keen follower of horse racing and helped out the local bookmaker who was also in Wharf Street.

Unfortunately for Eric, this type of off-course bookmaking was and remains illegal.

Wharf Street, Tweed Heads in Summer

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Eric managed to get arrested in 1937 for assisting in illegal betting. He pleaded guilty and was fined ₤10.487 Off-course bookmaking was often tolerated by local police because it was largely a victimless crime and they had better things to do.

Eric was rather unlucky, as an experienced police officer was sent up from Sydney to crack down on illegal betting and Eric became caught up in the raids that followed. Interestingly, the magistrates refused a police request for expenses. The following year Eric was again in trouble with the law. This time he and others were charged with cruelty to a hare.488 The live hare was used to train greyhounds at the recreation ground where his brother Arnold had one of his kiosks.

The hare bolted with a rope still tied to one leg but was caught by two of the dogs and killed.

Eric was holding one of the dogs that were let loose when the hare bolted. Eric pleaded not guilty because live hare training was not illegal but the magistrate decided that the practice was “cowardly and cruel” and fined him and the other two accused ₤5 each. The case made the news around much of NSW. Luckily for Eric, his redemption was not far off. Eric fell in love with a very popular staff member at the café by the name of Laura Sharpe. Eric and Laura were married in September 1941.489 They soon moved to Yandilla, which just happened to be not far from Pittsworth in Queensland where his aunt Clarice was currently living. They later returned to Tweed Heads where Eric worked as a cook at the café, following in the footsteps of his recently deceased mother Jinny.

Eric was too young to serve in the First World War but had no problem finding a way to serve in the Second World War. In 1943 he enlisted at the age of 36 in the Civil Constructional Corps which had the job of building airfields and defence installations around 490 Australia.

Laura May Sharpe

During Eric’s year of service, Laura lived with her family in Beryl Street, Tweed Heads. She and Eric had two children in the mid-1940s who they named Helen Kay and Ian Lionel.

487 488 489 490

Northern Star 21 October 1937, page 9 The Courier Mail 28 October 1938, page 2 NSW BDM Marriage Certificate 18614/1941 Australian War Memorial Online – Civil Constructional Corps - March 2013

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Laura’s mother had died in 1939 before Laura was married. Her father Levi passed away in January 1948. His second wife Totti moved to Sydney and Laura and Eric took over the Beryl Street house. Eric continued working as a cook but his skills set was commendably improving.

The family relocated to Longreach in Queensland in about 1954 where Eric took up a position as a chef. He would be employed as a chef for the rest of his working life.

They returned to Beryl Street in Tweed Heads after their time in Queensland which now became their permanent home. Laura’s health gave her a scare when she suffered two heart attacks in 1985. According to Reg O’Connor, there was a history of heart problems with members of the Sharpe family.

Eric and Laura’s daughter Helen married Aloysius Hendriks (known as Louis) in June 1967. They had two daughters. The family was living in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, not far from Helen’s aunt Clarice O’Connor, when Helen passed away in September 1974 after a long illness. My family, who had kept in touch with Helen and Louis, were immensely saddened by her very untimely death at the age of 30.

Helen’s brother Ian and his wife Jennifer lived and worked in the twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads. Ian had worked as a driver but had also become a cook. He was a chef at the Tweed Heads Bowling Club in 1985.

Eric was 82 when he died in 1988. Laura passed away three years later in November 1991 at the age of 78. To add to the family misfortune, their son Ian died in January 1993. He was 47 years old.

Farmland Upper Northern Rivers

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Chapter 41 – Homage This book started out as a story about the earlier members of the Lattimore family beginning with those who came from the Eden River area of northern England and who made the long and perilous journey as potential settlers to the penal colony of New South Wales.

The story ends as a homage to the early settler families and their children who helped to instil in the growing nation a defining culture of hard work, dealing with adversity, supporting your neighbours and serving the community in the pursuit of shared happiness, comfort and prosperity.

There is also a homage to those who left their families to go off to fight a war in foreign countries, sometimes under pressure to enlist, with little idea of the mental and physical price (or the life) they would be called on to pay.

They sacrificed a simple, home based lifestyle surrounded by people who loved them for a destructive nightmarish world where they were largely held together by the tight bonds of mateship and not wanting to let down their comrades.

The characteristics that best describe this Lattimore family are often mentioned in the eulogies of those who have passed – gentle and generous, courteous and tactful, honest and sincere, loyal and steady and possessing a quiet but strong sense of humour (and a propensity for being appointed the secretary of yet another organisation).

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