James Horn OSBORN & Jane ASH
(Background Material)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Trove Search - “Wentworth Murray Darling” - 1855-1875
Wentworth papers
1855-75...
Riverina Herald 1869 on
Riverina Grazier 1873
on
The Hay Standard 1871 on
Wagga Wagga Adv 1868 on
1870 BIG floods wentworth (also mid 1860s?) 1871?
March 1872 first church
Nov 1870 Drownings Evening News
Jan 1871 Osborne’s Inn Wentworth (recent floods) Aust Town &
Country Jrnl
The Late Floods at
Wentworth, AN occasional correspondent of the Pastoral Times, under date 11th
ultimo, reports that thero were fifty two homesteads under water-in many cases
the roof only appearing above the surfaco of tho floods, whilst thc instances
aro not few in which messuages have either melted or been swept away. Osborne's
Inn across stream, a good substantial building of its classj is destroyed,
and a largo portion of the material borne away by tho strong current whioh set
in upon it ; Moody's brewery is a ruin ; a new wool store, just completed by
Gurney and Smith, when tho floods sot in, was knocked out of its
perpendicularity, and crumpled up as if built of pasteboard ; two substantial
earthen structures, representing hundreds of pounds worth of labour and
material-one with a well stocked market garden attached-have dissolved in tho
flood waters . . . .
>>>>>>>
THE FIRST WIRE FENCE (from John Theodore Schell History)
According to Mr.
Schell, the first wire fence ever erected on the Murray was that between
Kulnine and Mildura. This was put up, under contract, by Ernest Schell and
Billy Baldock during 1869 and 70. What with continuous rains and the land fit
to bog a duck, all the posts for the first thirteen miles had to be carried
into position by the fencers themselves. The ground was too boggy for horse
work.
About this time Osborne's
old pub is recalled just below the junction of the Murray and the Darling,
on the Victorian side. - It was a queer old place of green slabs. During the
1870 flood, Osborne had a small punt rigged up, and this would carry the horses
across the Murray and land them 60 yards from the Crown Hotel.
The crown hotel was?
Is? apparently on the cnr of Darling St and Sandwych St, which doesn’t match up
with the above.
Aug 1872 Carter’s Crown
Hotel mtg (Hay Std)
>>>>>>>>>>
Maitland Mercury Dec
1860 article re Randall delivering goods up river from his store at “The
Junction” (Wentworth)
There’s something about
Burke & Wills exp (1860?) sending stores to a storekeeper in wentworth a
“Mr M’Ogment” ???
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OBIT - McGEORGE, Dinah Sarah (1840-1913)
Parents: James Horn OSBORN & Jane ASH
The Register, 3 April 1913
WENTWORTH, April 1.— Within a few hours last week passed away two
of Wentworth's foremost figures in Social and public life. The late Mrs. J.
McGeorge, who was-in her seventy-third year, arrived at Wentworth in 1858.
Her father at the time was in charge of Capt. Randell's store at Randell Town.
She married the late Mr. L. T. H. Geake, one of the first butchers to start business
on the Darling. There were three children. Afterwards deceased was wedded to
the late Mr. J. McGeorge, well known on the Daily River. There are three
surviving daughters and one son.
>>>>>>>>>>>
McGeorge Family Hist (mylore website)
John (McGeorge) married
Dinah Sarah Osborn in 1868 and they had 5 children between 1871 and 1880. In
1870, John held the publican's licence for the Wentworth Hotel (his brother's
old establishment) and in 1872 and 1873, he had the licence for the Racecourse
Hotel. He then worked as a butcher up until the family moved to Wilcannia
sometime between 1877 and 1880. John died in 1883 in Wilcannia. Dinah moved
back to Wentworth after John's death and died there in 1913, at the age of 73.
>>>>>>>>
Goulborn Chronicle March 1860 – (Court case as witness)
FORGERY AT WENTWORTH.
John Roberts and James
Jones were indicted for forging an
order at Wentworth, Darling Junction, on the 16th January last, with intent to
defraud. A second count charged the prisoners with uttering. Prisoners pleaded
not guilty. Roberts was defended by Mr.
Blake ; attorney, Mr. Gannon. Jones was undefended. In point of fact the trial
was confined to the second count, there
being no evidence of the forging.
James Horn Osborne, storekeeper at the Darling Junction, for the firm of Randal and
Scott, of Adelaide, proved
that on the 15th January Roberts came
to his store, and after making
selection of £3 or £4 worth of goods, tendered in payment an order for £16 10s.
in favour of James Jones or bearer, purporting to be signed by Murray and
Carstairs, a firm carrying on business about 80 miles distant, and drawn on
Younghusband and Co. of Adelaide;
Osborne was
acquainted with the signature of the firm, and noticed the signature to the order did not at all resemble the
original and that the second name was
wrongly spelt, namely
"Carsteaires," instead of the proper
mode; he asked him where he got it, and he said from Murray and
Carstairs;
Osborne said to
him "it's a lie, they never gave it you
in your life ;" upon which he said he got it from Johnson the overseer; to which Osborne made answer
that Johnson had no right to give him
an order without putting his own name
to it as well as that of the firm ; at
this time Jones was standing at the door of the store, and coming forward said Osborne had no occasion to be afraid ; he (Jones)
knew the order was a good one, and that
it was in John- son's writing; the two
men were in company ;
Osborne did not
change the order, but gave it back and
Roberts having no money could not take
the goods; Osborne also deposed that three or four days afterwards a
number of torn portions of an order,
pasted on a form similar to that at first used, were shown to him, and he identified them as forming
por- tions of the order presented to
him; the fragments so pasted being now shown to him he positively swore to their being portions of
the order presented by Roberts.
Alexander Perry, who in January last was lieutenant in the native
police, but is now a station holder, proved that he and his police picked up
the fragments of the order produced, scattered in the salt bush about a mile
and a quarter from Osborne's
store; this was a few days after the time above-mentioned ; he had the fragments pasted on a form similar to
that which had been used ; he found
also the fragments of a second order, which he put together in a similar way ;
this latter purported to be drawn on
Youughusband and Co., by Murray and
Carstairs, for £10 10s., in favour of
W. Smith or bearer; witness identified the documents produced as those he had
found on the plain; knew the signature
of Murray and Carstairs; it was not
their handwriting to either of these
documents.
Thomas Brown, alias the "Nugget, proved that in January last he was travelling
towards the Junction in company with Jones, who was his mate, when they overtook Roberts at a sta- tion and at his request gave him a lift on their dray to the Junction ; on their way
Roberts asked witness if he could write, as he
had got an order which only wanted filling up ; he made no answer;
subsequently he asked him to take an
order to a Mr. Davy's and get it cashed, telling him he would give him £2 ; did
so, and brought it back, telling him it was no good, to which he said it was
a lie; witness told him not to be
getting other people into trouble besides himself. George Henry Carstairs
proved that prisoner had been in the
employment of the firm, and that while
so employed he had opportunities of
access to the forms of order upon their
Adelaide agents, Younghusband and Co as
he (witness) had been so careless as to allow them to be left loose: witness's
partner was in England, and he used to
sign the orders; the signature to the
document was not the signature of the firm, nor anything like it ; they had a superintendent named Johnson, but
he had no authority to draw orders, and
the writing on this document had not
the slightest resemblance to his writing.
This was the case for the Crown.
Mr. Blake, on behalf of Roberts, addressed the jury at some length, contending that though Osborne
was very confident that the fragments shown to him formed portions of the order
presented by Roberts, yet the circumstances of the case by no means justified
that confidence; and unless the jury were satisfied beyond doubt that these
torn pieces of paper were portions of
the original order, a matter of very great doubt, they must acquit the
prisoner.
Jones said he was innocent of the charge, He never gave any
assistance in uttering the order. The jury, after a deliberation of about half
an hour, returned with a verdict of guilty against Roberts, and acquitted
Jones. Roberts was sentenced to two
years' hard labour in Darlinghurst Gaol.
It may be noticed that the witness Brown was brought down as a
prisoner in connexion with this case, but the Attorney-General declining to
prosecute, he was discharged on his arrival.
In reference to this case, several of the witnesses complained of the
immense distance they had had to
travel. Osborne stated the Junction is about 600 miles from here by
land, and 1700 by way of Adelaide and
Melbourne, which route he took as the easiest, and that he had been ever since the 7th Feb. in coming.
We may observe that this case might have been taken to the District Court, Albury, a distance of 300
miles, but the reason it was not, we
are informed, was that the local bench had
not been officially informed of the fact. The Judge advised the
witnesses to press upon the authorities
the necessity of establishing a court in or near their district, a matter which was under consideration.
The court adjourned at 20 minutes to 7 till half past 9 next morning.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Wikipedia - THE RANDELL’S
William Richard Randell ("Captain Randell") (1824-1911)
An Australian
politician and pioneer born in Devon, England, who emigrated to the newly
founded colony of South Australia in 1837 with his family. He was a pioneer of
the riverboat industry on the River Murray and represented the Electoral
district of Gumeracha in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1893 to
1899.
Born the eldest son of William
Beavis Randell (1799–1876), a miller of Sidbury, Devon, and Mary Ann Elliott
Randell (née Beare) (1799 – 22 December 1874), William was educated in
Exeter. The family emigrated to Adelaide in 1837 on the "Hartley",
probably on the recommendation of family friend George Fife Angas,[2] arriving
at Holdfast Bay on 20 October 1837. His father was appointed as Stock Manager
for the South Australian Company, and was to have overseen erection and
operation of its steam-driven flour mill, but though the mill machinery and
building materials arrived shortly after the "Hartley", it was
stranded on Kangaroo Island and did not arrive on the mainland for some time.
The family first lived in a large tent rented from Robert Gouger then in 1839
moved into "Park Cottage"[3] of 11 rooms on the banks of the Torrens,
(demolished ca. 1970) on section 256, the site of the present Adelaide Caravan
Park.[4] The mill (1842–1872) was built where Hackney Hotel is now.
In 1840 W. B. Randell
purchased 566 acres as a "Special Survey", then another tranche,
totalling 966 acres which he called "Kenton Park" (probably named for
Kenton, Devon). He completed a home in 1844, and "Kenton Mill" which
commenced operation in 1848, with William Richard Randell (age 24) its first
manager. In 1852 he laid out the town of Gumeracha above the flood level of
Kenton Creek.[4]
As well
as his mill management duties, William Randell assisted his father and brothers
with their vast property which stretched from present-day Gumeracha to the
River Murray. His duties often involved droving cattle to the banks of the
lower Murray, and dreamt of steam-boats being able to transport produce between
South Australia and the neighbouring colony of Victoria. At the time South
Australia was struggling to retain its population due to emigration to the
Victorian goldfields.
In 1852 (age
28), with no experience in the steamboat construction, Randell commissioned
local carpenters to build the frame of a 55-foot-long (17 m), 9-foot beam (2.7
m) paddlewheel boat of shallow draught, capacity 20 ton in Gumeracha. It was
dismantled, taken by bullock cart across the plains to Reedy Creek Station and
the Noa No landing about 2 miles north of the present Mannum. There it was
rebuilt, clad in local redgum. Named the Mary Ann, after his mother, the
steamer featured a 10-inch bore (250 mm) cylinder beam-engine delivering 8
horsepower, made by a German engineer from Adelaide, Carl Gehlkin. The boiler
was an unsatisfactory rectangular affair built by the Randells' blacksmith.[7]
Its first trip, of 24 miles, was made on 19 February 1853.[8] On 4 March she
arrived at Goolwa for her first official voyage and received in grand style by
the lieutenant-governor Sir Henry Young and hundreds of others. He set off on
the return trip that afternoon.[9] On 25 March 1853 he had navigated to Penn's
Reach, a few miles north of Morgan, when low water levels forced him to return.
The following year he reached Swan Hill, 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the sea at
Goolwa.[10] Later that year Captain Cadell won the Government's £2000 prize for
the first practicable cargo boat Lady Augusta[11] (The £2000 was soon raised to
£4000 on Cadell's agreement to build another boat. By the terms of the contest,
the "Mary Ann" was never a contender for the prize.)[2] The Mary Ann was later rebuilt as one half
of a two-hulled vessel named Gemini.[12]
Randell abandoned Noa
No (nth of Mannum) as too subject to flooding and built a small "pug and
pine" cottage, the start of the town of Mannum, and a dry-dock.
His second boat, the
twin-hulled single paddle-wheel "Gemini", despite its small size and
ungainly appearance, managed some feats of navigation into New South Wales. She
reached Lang's Crossing (where Hay stands now), then Brewarrina in 1859,
and on another occasion as far as Walgett.
Randell built (or
commissioned) many more steamers: "Bogan", "Bunyip"
(destroyed by fire in 1863,[1] along with its barges), "Ariel",
"Nil Desperandum", "Corowa", "Waragery",
"Tyro", and "Ruby".[2] Wentworth, New South Wales was
Randell's base for two decades until the 1870s, as he supervised the
expansion of his fleet and the burgeoning of trade on the Murray-Darling.
Randell built a
residence "Bleak House", a floating dock, wharf and warehouse at
Mannum. At its peak around 1860, there would be 20,000 bales of wool unloaded
at Mannum and driven by horse teams to Port Adelaide.[2]
Randell served as a
Justice of the Peace from 1861 in New South Wales, and from 1873 in South
Australia.[1] With the death of his father in 1876, Randell returned to
Gumeracha and had little more to do with the river trade.[2] His son (Richard)
Murray Randell took over the fleet and the title "Captain Randell".
"The most
remarkable voyage, however, which has hitherto been made in Australia most
certainly was one undertaken by Mr. William Randell. That gentleman has
scarcely had justice done here, for he appears to me, from indubitable
evidence, to have been the first navigator of the Murray in a steamer. Yet, as
he started in the year 1853, just before a trip made by the then Lieut.
Governor, accompanied by Captain Cadell — one of the most enterprising, useful,
and, I may say, ubiquitous of Australian pioneers — the official éclat and
general importance of the latter somewhat obscured the more modest pretensions
of Captain Randell. Not merely, however, was he the first to start, despite
slender means and a frail steamer — which I believe he had himself built — but
he actually persevered till he got to Echuca, which is farther by several
hundred miles than Swan Hill, the point reached by Captain Cadell. Again, in
1859, Mr. Randell made another ascent of the Murray, and from it went up the
Darling.
>>>>>>>>>>
The first paddle
steamer on the Murray River was the Mary Ann, built at Noa-no near Mannum by
William Randell. The Mary Ann steamed past Murray Bridge in March 1853. Hist of
M Br (MurrayRiver website)
>>>>>>>>>
History of Mannum (MurrayRiver website)
In 1840, James
Henderson produced The Thirty Nine Sections Special Survey, which made
available land for lease in the area. The first lease was taken up by the
well-known explorer, Edward John Eyre.
In 1851 pastoral leases
classed as “Waste Land of the Crown” were issued and William Beavis Randell
leased 34 square miles from the present dry dock area stretching eight and a
half miles upstream. He gave his land the name “Noa No”. It is not yet known
where the name Noa No originated. In 1853 the Hundred of Murray was proclaimed
and many new settlers took up leases, most running cattle on their land.
William Richard Randell worked at his father’s flourmill in
Gumeracha, but dreamed of building a paddle steamer and using it to trade on
the Murray River.
He, and his brother,
Thomas George, together with a carpenter, built the frame and transported it to
their father’s river property by bullock cart. There, they finished it and
named it the ‘Mary Ann’ after their mother. They launched the ‘Mary Ann’ at Noa
No Landing just upstream of the current Mannum township. It was to become the
first paddle steamer to ply the Murray, but was closely followed by the first
of a fleet of ships run by Captain Cadell.
To service his growing
trade, William R. Randell built the Woolshed, the first building in Mannum. In
1864, a government survey identified an area downstream as the site of the new
town, but despite this, Mannum continued to develop in its original position.
>>>>>>>>>
from Dictionary of Biography -
Randell had married
Elizabeth Ann Nickels on 24 December 1853 and they made their home at
Gumeracha. Later he moved to Wentworth to supervise his trading as well as
his growing fleet. In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the peace for
New South Wales. In the 1870s he returned to South Australia; he lived
first at Mannum, where he installed a dry dock, and later at Gumeracha in the
family home, Kenton Park, with a redecorated dining room resembling a
paddle-steamer saloon. In 1873 he became a justice of the peace for South
Australia. He controlled his various activities until 1899 when he handed over
to his son, Murray. His most serious loss, costing £6000, occurred in 1863
when the paddle steamer Bunyip and its barges were destroyed by fire on the
Murray River; Randell was lucky to escape with his life.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
First Paddle steamers
on the Murray River (MurrayRiver website)
Paddlesteamers memories
: old photosIn 1851 Sir Henry Fox Young (the governor of South Australia) was
concerned that the young colony of South Australia was struggling. This was
amplified with the gold rush in Victoria. He decided to use his influence as
Governor to secure for South Australia a stake in the inland trade. The
Governor set aside 4000 pounds as a bonus to be awarded to the first two boat
owners to navigate the Murray from its mouth to the Darling junction in
iron-clad steamers of not less than 40 horsepower and drawing not more than 61
cm of water when laden.
Captain Randell - Born
in England, William Richard Randell, came to South Australia as a 13 year old
boy with his family in October 1837, only ten months after the Colony of South
Australia had been founded. Whilst helping his father, William gained a good
knowledge of the lands around the lower end of the Murray River. Exposure to
his father’s flour mill at Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills, gave young William
first-hand experience of the enormous power of steam; and formed the resolve
that he would be the first man to put a steamboat on the river.
For years William
nursed his dream, and then in 1851 gold was discovered in New South Wales and
the whole of the Australian society fell into turmoil. William Randell talked
it over with his younger brothers and excited by the stories filtering through
to Adelaide of the fortunes to be made by taking supplied to the goldfields, he
decided that the time for action had come.
William with the help
of his brothers began building their steamboat in July 1852 even though none of
them had ever seen a paddle steamer. The hull, 16 metres in length, was
constructed from redgum timbers cut at Gumeracha and carted by bullock wagon
across the hills to the construction site on the Murray River some miles north
of the present town of Mannum. The boat was named Mary Ann after their mother,
and was powered by ‘a fearsome wood-burning engine of 8 horsepower’ constructed
by a German engineer in Adelaide. A remarkable feature of the contraption was
the boiler which was externally rectangular with furnace through the middle.
During the first test
of the boiler, while waiting as the steam pressure built up and up, the tension
was too much and they all fled over the side of the boat and ran into the bush
to what they hoped would be a safe distance if the worst happened. And they
waited. At last, instead of the mighty explosion they feared, they heard the
steady beat of a piston. As the steam rose to it’s operating pressure the
boiler expanded and bulged till it started to look something like a football.
William Randell had bolts studded into it to try and strengthen the weak spots,
and bullock chains were wrapped round it and tightened by hammering in wooden
wedges. In this unlikely way Australia’s great paddle steamer era had begun.
William Randell took
the Mary Ann for a trial run on the Murray River on the 19 February 1853 and
achieved his ambition 'to be the first man to put a steamboat on the river’.
Twenty-one tons of cargo were then carted across the hills from Gumeracha for
the first trading voyage which commenced on 25 March 1853.
It was a drought year,
and they were attempting their voyage in the middle of the low-water season.
When they had gone 125 miles they had to give up the battle to cross
half-exposed sand-bars, and turned back. They started again on 15 August, with
a load of stores to sell to settlers along the river.
>>>>>>>>>>>
BURNING OF THE BUNYIP.
(Adv 14/12/1863, hist report written from Chowilla SA)
The following extract
from a letter from Capt. W. R. Randell, dated Chowilla Station, December 8, to
Mr. Wm. Isbister, was posted in Green's Exchange this morning:—"I grieve
to inform you that the steamer Bunyip and two barges with 500 bales of wool all
for Adelaide, were completely destroyed by fire, excepting iron hull of barge.
The accident happened about seven miles by land above this station. One
passenger and a child perished in the flames, and two (I fear three) of the
crew either drowned or burnt. Mr. E. B. Scott contrived to get into the ship's
boat with three female passengers; one of them, however, broke her leg by
tumbling in, and the other is very dangerously burnt. I have set the poor
woman's leg as well as I can, and they are now under cover, but their
sufferings are very great. Yoy will doubtless be surprised that so many lives
were lost in so small a river like the Murray, and why the boat was not ran on
shore. I will try to explain. There was a strong hot wind blowing up the river.
We were seated at dinner when I heard the cry of ' fire.' Mr. Scott and I rushed
on deck instantly, and saw the flames issuing from about the boiler and cook's
galley forward. Buckets of water were instantly thrown on tbe fire, but seeing
it gaining towards aft with fearful rapidity, I ran to the wheel, put the helm
aport, to bring the vessel's head up stream and to run her ashore if possible,
hoping that, as tbe wind would be from aft to forward, the flames might be kept
in the fore part of the vessel, thus giving opportunity for passengers to
escape by the ship's boat; but before the steamer was half way round—indeed, I
had only just time to heave round the wheel, when the whole roof and wool were
in one mass of flames. As I was in great danger of being burnt to death, I ran
through the fire, and succeeded in getting down on the deck forward, where
several of the men were preparing to jump overboard. I could not get away in
any direction, as all was one mass of living fire. I then jumped overboard, and
had a narrow escape of being drowned, as one of the barges passed over me, and
I was under water some length of time. When I rose to the surface I saw several
men swimming ashore, and Mr. Scott nearly ashore with the boat and some of tbe
female passengers. The effect of the wheel being put down, and I being driven
from it, was that the vessel described a large circle in the river, as the
engines could not be stopped. At last the engines stopped, and the vessel
slowly drifted to the bank, where a few of the men who were hanging overboard
by the chains got on shore. To give you some idea of the rapidity of the flames
it is sufficient to inform yon that not one of either the crew or passengers
saved one iota of anything except what they went overboard with. All that I
have described took place in about five minutes. Thank God I left my wife
and family at Wentworth. l am much distressed in mind, and I return to the
wreck this morning." We have been unable to obtain a list of the
passengers. Mr. Isbister has not yet received it.
>>>>>>>>>
Wikipedia -
Moorna Post Office
opened on 22 February 1855 and was renamed Wentworth in 1860.
In 1876 Wentworth
township was described in the following terms:
Wentworth is situated
on the Darling, about half a mile from the junction, and is plainly visible
from the Murray. The township is built on rising ground, and, save in very
exceptional seasons, is quite out of reach of flood waters. The population is
between 400 and 500. The place appears prosperous and progressive. The trade up
the Darling River, and the supply of stores to the stations in the vicinity,
form the life-blood of its prosperity. Wentworth possesses a custom-house – a
hideous little building resembling a watch-house, and as great an eyesore as
the cause of its establishment is an inconvenience and annoyance to trade. The
other public buildings are a post and telegraph office, for Wentworth is on the
main telegraph line to Adelaide, and a court-house and offices, which are also
used for land offices. There is a resident police magistrate, Mr. Richardson
... The two churches in Wentworth are buildings creditable to the town. The
Roman Catholic Church is a brick structure, the Protestant Church an edifice of
brick and stone... There are three or four stores of considerable size,
and several hotels. The Australian Joint Stock Bank has a branch here. The
river, which, opposite the town is about the width of the Murray at Echuca, is
crossed by a punt.[3]
>>>>>>
Hist of Wentworth
Joseph Hawdon and
Charles Bonney drove cattle overland from New South Wales to Adelaide along the
Murray and arrived at the Darling/Murray junction in 1838. Other overlanders
followed the route, which became known as the Sydney/Adelaide 'highway', and
the river junction spot became an established camp site known as Hawdon's Ford.
The actual junction at the time was called "The Rinty". The
settlement was later referred to as the "Darling Junction".
Right: Plaque at the Junction marking the spot where Hawdon and
Bonney crossed.
A number of squatters
established reign over the land along the Darling and Murray Rivers, expanding
their holdings westwards from the Murrumbidgee area and north eastwards from
South Australia. In the mid 1840's the settlement was known as McLeod's
Crossing", named for the first white residents of the settlement.
With the arrival of the
river steamers in 1853, the small European settlement found itself to be
ideally situated as an administrative and commercial centre for the untapped
wealth of the vast Outback. For many years Sydney was the only port in New
South Wales to handle more cargo than Wentworth. The steamers brought a new
sophistication to the rugged river towns. They carried the hopes and dreams of
fragile communities for over three quarters of a century.
In 1857, Surveyor
General Barney considered it time to establish a proper township. The town site
was approved in 1859 and was named after the New South Wales explorer and
politician William Charles Wentworth, on June 21, 1859. The area was proclaimed
a municipality on January 23, 1879, and is the region's oldest settlement.
Throughout the
prosperous river trade days Wentworth Shire suffered extremes in fortune and
dispair. The area suffered floods, droughts, rabbit plagues and overstocking
which in turn caused erosion and land degeneration. Nonetheless, the settlements
continued to thrive and grow at a reasonably rapid pace and by 1929 a series of
locks and weirs, to assist navigation and pumping, had been completed on the
Murray River.
Australian settlements.
By the mid-1840s the
junction settlement had become "McLeod's Crossing", named for the
first residents of the fledgling settlement.
With the arrival of the
river steamers in 1853, the small hamlet found itself ideally situated as an
administrative and commercial centre for the untapped wealth of the vast
outback.
For many years Sydney and Newcastle were the only ports in New
South Wales to handle more cargo than Wentworth as the steamers brought a new
sophistication to the rugged river towns. They carried the hopes and dreams of
the communities they served for more than three quarters of a century.
Wentworth became a town
on June 21, 1859, named for the New South Wales explorer and politician William
Charles Wentworth.
The area was proclaimed
a municipality on January 23, 1879.
>>>>>>>>>
Return to SA - Passenger Lists, 1847-1886
Ship Velocity, 682 tons, Captain William Paul,
from London 7th March & Plymouth 23rd March 1855, arrived at Port Adelaide,
South Australia 24th June 1855
South Australian Register Monday 25th June 1855
Sunday June 24th,
1855:- the ship Velocity, 682 tons, Wm. Paul, Master, from London March 7th
& Plymouth March 24th
— 22nd ship from England to S.A. with government passengers for
1855 ; 2 births and 1 death on the passage ; Mr. Augustus Davies, surgeon-superintendent.
South Australian Government Gazette 1855.
Velocity”
Arrived on the 24th
June, bringing to the colony 248 souls ; of these 117 were young women, few of
whom are likely to find employment. The casualties at sea were two births and
one death. Mr. William Paul was the master and Mr. Augustus Davis the
surgeon-superintendent of the ship ; the discipline and the general order of
the people and the clean state of the ship reflect the greatest credit on those
in charge. The ship itself is not particularly well adapted for emigrants ; the
ports are too near the water line, rendering them useless for ventilation.
(Extract from Emigration Regs - Payments)
Before an embarkation
order is issued, the following payments will be required from all persons of 14
years and upwards:—
A) Agricultural
labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and female domestic and farm servants -
14 and under £2
40 and under 50 £6
50 and under 60 £11
60 and upwards £15
B) Country mechanics, such
as blacksmiths, Bricklayers, carpenters, masons, miners, wheelwrights,
gardeners, and females of the working class, not being domestics of farm
servants.
14 and under £5
40 and under 50 £8
50 and under 60 £12
60 and upwards £15
C) Other persons of the labouring class, if deemed by the
Commissioners, desirable for the colony.
14 and under £7
40 and under 50 £10
50 and under 60 £13
60 and upwards £15
All children under 14
will pay £1 each; and if any family contains, at the time of embarkation, more
than two children under 10 years of age, for each such child, £5 additional
must be paid. Wives to pay the same as their husbands, in the several classes.
[14] Out of the above payments, the bedding and mess utensils, referred
to in Article 18, for the use of the emigrants during the voyage, will be
provided by the Commissioners.
[15] The mode of making these payments to the Commissioners will
be pointed out in the Deposit Circular. The Commissioners' selecting agents are
not employed by the Commissioners to receive money. If, therefore, the
emigrants should desire to make their payments through the agents, instead of
in the manner pointed out in the Deposit Circular, they must understand they do
so at their own risk.
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McCafferey Fam Hist online
Their ship, Velocity,
left Plymouth on 24 March, 1855. Catherine and James lodged in the steerage
married couples quarters, and were organised into a “mess” to manage the
distribution of food and water with 4-6 other passengers who were probably also
from central Ireland. Catherine and James experienced rough weather, calms and
icebergs. The smell of the families quarters would have been pungent. In
addition to human food and waste, and infrequently changed babies, Velocity’s
portholes were poorly designed for ventilation. Despite the smells and
inevitable tensions of crowding, however, the passengers were orderly and
well-behaved. James and Catherine arrived in South Australia on 24 June 1855.
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WENTWORTH
1846-1860: Squatters and
Townships
A number of squatters established reign over the land along the
Darling and Murray Rivers, expanding their holdings westwards from the
Murrumbidgee area and north eastwards from South Australia. The junction of the
Murray and Darling Rivers was the site of the settlement now know as
"McLeods Crossing". Transport to the area has been improved with the
coming of the Murray River boats and steamships. The land proved to be an ideal
location for grazing large stocks of sheep. Squatters continued to take claim
to land along the frontages disregarding the territory of the Aborigines.
1861-1870: The River Trade
The river boat activities along the Murray and Darling Rivers
encouraged further active growth of the area. Settlements and stations
continued to concentrate around the frontages to take advantage of the river
trade and a reliable water source. The arrival of the first river borne wool at
Goolwa was start of an important era in Australian history. Steam navigation of
the river followed and the junction of the Murray and Darling naturally became
the site of the township to become an emporium of the river traffic and a depot
for the supply to the interior. Further settlements started to spring up as
points of exchange along the river, and located where the steamships could
renew their supplies of wood.
1871-1880: Municipality
and Pastoral Expansion
The great flood of 1870 was the largest to be recorded in the
Shire. The township of Wentworth had gained recognition as a major port and
growth centre within New South Wales. By 1879 the town was proclaimed a
municipality.
1881-1890: Droughts,
Deluge and Rabbits
The western land was thrown open for settlement and the wealthy
western squatters had their vast lands reduced in size. The settlers and
squatters were stricken with seven seasons of dry weather and subsequent poor
wool clips. The additional onslaught of the rabbit plague coupled with
overstocking began to cause much erosion and land degeneration. Nonetheless,
the settlements continued to thrive and grow at a reasonably rapid pace. Across
the Murray the Victorians had been investigating the possibility of developing
an irrigation area at Mildura.
GUMERACHA and KENTON
VALLEY
The South Australian Company took up a parcel of land in 1839,
based on the 'Sources of the River Torrens' Special Survey. The settlements of
Gumeracha, Kenton Valley and Forreston all developed on it. Well before
Gumeracha was laid out, the Company established a district headquarters and
opened it up for sheep grazing. The station was called Tinmath and was
originally run by William Beavis Randell. After a short time Randell set up
business on his own account and became a pivotal figure in Gumeracha's
development.
He built for himself and his large family a home which he named
Kenton Park, after his home town in Devon. This estate later gave its name to
the small community of Kenton Valley, along the Gumeracha-Lobethal road. There
was also a need to house his workforce and their families. Six cottages were
built from local bluestone, another for those who worked his dairy farms, and a
further one for the mill manager (who, for years, was Randell's son John).
The Randells were Baptists and at first gatherings were held at
Kenton Park. When numbers became too large Randell donated land and funds for a
church. Salem Baptist Church was built in 1846 and is the oldest Baptist church
still in use in South Australia. Enlargements made over the years don't hide
the somewhat austere original. Baptism for this denomination involves total
immersion of the body. At Salem Church they achieved this across the road,
where a permanent pool of clear water was fed by a spring. The congregation
planted a ring of 14 Oak trees around it. Today the spring has dried up and the
ground levelled, but the ring of oaks - tall and stout trees - still stand.
The Torrens waterhole around which the South Australian
Company's enterprise centred was called by the Aborigines 'Umeracha'. How the
'G' came to be added remains a mystery, but as early as 1841 the Company used
the spelling Gummaraka. A formal town began in 1860, predictably at the hands
of William Beavis Randell. It became the regional centre and these days
supports the district council. The busy main street reflects the presence of
commercial businesses on an unexpected scale. Its heritage is scattered
throughout: along Victoria Street, close to Kenton Creek, is the core of old
Gumeracha - Randell's Mill (now a private residence), the mill manager's house
and mill workers' cottages, Salem Baptist Church and the Ring of Oaks, as well
as Gumeracha's first police station and courthouse.
Also still standing are the two homesteads which so influenced
Gumeracha's development. There is an irony in the fact that William Randell and
the South Australian Company parted company at Gumeracha, for now his home and
the Company's are separated by the entire township. Randell's Kenton Park is on
the Birdwood side, while the Company's original home, Ludlow House (a rare
tangible reminder of this all-powerful firm) is a kilometre or two on the
Adelaide side. Spend a little time relaxing at Gumeracha's major tourist
attraction - the Toy Factory and Big Rocking Horse, with wooden toys,
souvenirs, Australian art, coffee house, picnic gardens and a native flora park
with more than 4000 Australian trees and shrubs.
KERSBROOK
Steep hillsides which form so much of this part of the Ranges
give way here to more gentle, park-like slopes. Small wonder, then, that settlers
had discovered this favoured country by the late 1830s and established farms
here. John Bowden arrived in 1841. He had managed the South Australian
Company's dairy farm at Hackney, then bought an 80 acre section in the hills,
built a home and named it "Kersbrook" after the Cornish farm where he
was born. By 1844, Bowden was recorded as having '800 sheep, 62 cattle, one
horse, 13 pigs, 16 acres of wheat, eight acres of barley, plots of oats, maize
and potatoes and a fruit garden'. By this time he had other interests as well,
not least the Yorke Peninsula sheep station "Penton Vale".
Kersbrook always remained his home base, and he died here in
1877. A stone and timber frame barn which he built in the 1840s can be seen in
Scott Street, a fine reminder of Kersbrook's origins. The creation of a
settlement came from William Carman, a blacksmith who had found work at the
Enterprise copper mine near Williamstown. In 1851 he built the Wheat Sheaf Inn,
a blacksmith shop and wheelwright beside the increasingly busy road to the
Barossa. It attracted a number of settlers; a private school was started and by
1858 Carman had some of his land to form a town.
This he had called "Maidstone", after his Kentish
birthplace, and though the locals preferred the identity of Kersbrook, they had
to wait until 1917 for an official name change. The district became a noted
agricultural area, especially for fruit. One orchardist was quoted as having at
Kersbrook the largest fruit-growing business in Australia. These days it is a
quiet rural town with enough glimpses of the past to tell something of its
history. Carman's Wheat Sheaf Inn is still there, though camouflaged as a
private residence in Scott Street; some early cottages and outbuildings, the
Church of Christ from the 1860s all reflect Victorian Kersbrook.
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POWDERHAM (Co Devon)
Extract from Devon by W.G.Hoskins (1954), included by kind
permission of the copyright holder:
POWDERHAM consists of little more than the red sandstone
church, familiar to all who travel on the Great Western Railway beyond Exeter,
and the castle and park of the Earl of Devon. The church (St. Clement) is
entirely a 15th century building with the usual Beer stone arcades. Margaret
Courtenay says in her will (1487) that she and her husband had made the new
aisle and the body of the church at their own cost "except that I had of
the parish to the help of the said building 8d."(Cresswell, Churches of
the Deanery of Kenn, 131) They were both buried here, almost certainly under a
fine tomb as the builders of the church; but not a single Courtenay monument
remains to-day except that of Elizabeth, Countess of Devon (1867), hidden
behind the organ.
On the N. side of the chancel is the cenotaph of a lady who is
probably Elizabeth de Bohun, daughter of Edward I, and mother of Margaret de
Bohun who married Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon. Powderham then belonged to
the Bohuns and Margaret brought it with her as her marriage portion. By her
will dated 1390 she bequeathed it to her fourth son, Sir Philip Courtenay. So
began the long line of the Courtenays of Powderham, who are still there, though
Powderham did not become their principal home until after the attainder of
Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter, and the forfeiture of all his lands to the
crown in 1539.
Sir Philip Courtenay, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1406),
began the building of Powderham. There is no evidence that a castle existed
here before his time.
Sir Philip Courtenay's building must be regarded as a strongly
fortified manor house (like Compton Castle in Marldon) rather than as a true
castle, but the site was much stronger than appears to-day as one steams by the
placid and almost level park, catching a fleeting glimpse of the battlemented
towers of the castle between the trees. Until the late 18th century the Exe
spread its waters almost to the E. walls of the castle, and its tributary the
Kenn almost washed the S. walls.
The original building comprised a hall, kitchen, and other
offices, strengthened by four angle-towers and an entrance tower facing the
Exe. This building can still be traced, though swamped by later alterations.
Leland describes Powderham as a strong castle, with a bulwark or barbican to
protect the haven here. This would be the small harbour of Kenton. By the
attainder of Henry, Marquess of Exeter, all the great estates of the elder
branch of the Courtenays were lost for ever. Though Edward Courtenay, son of
the Marquess, was recreated Earl of Devon by Mary in 1553, the family did not
recover their ancient honours and castles; and from this date onwards Powderham
became their principal residence.
In the Civil War, Powderham was garrisoned for the king.
Fairfax, in the final campaign in the west, sent a party to attack it on 14 December
1645. Meeting with unexpectedly strong resistance they fell back and took
possession of Powderham church, which was then attacked by a royalist
detachment from Exeter, during which hand grenades were thrown into the church.
No doubt the Courtenay monuments suffered severely on that occasion. The next
day Sir Hardress Waller relieved the parliamentary garrison in the church. The
castle surrendered a few weeks later (25 January 1646).
In the 18th century the medieval house was transformed by a series
of large-scale alterations, beginning in 1717 when the chapel was built,
together with the library above. The major reconstruction took place when the
2nd Viscount Courtenay succeeded to the estates, particularly between 1770 and
1788. The great hall was divided into two parts, one of which was transformed
by the insertion of a grand staircase. The park was improved by the making of
an embankment along the Exe estuary, and extensively planted with fine trees,
and the Belvedere was built (1773) on the ridge NW. of the castle.
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