HWMT 2016 Bus Trip

For those who are interested in the HWMT Bus Trip and wondering what you will see, below is a list of places. There may be some changes, but this will give you a good idea. ❶  Atholdale Thomas & Zenobia Williams settled here in 1872.  When Thomas passed, Zenobia moved to Waaia, and their son George & Elizabeth (Mills) Williams ran the farm.  George & Elizabeth retired to Numurkah and their son George Thomas & Elizabeth Emma (Bell) Williams took over the 320 acre farm and in early 1930 bought the adjoining 320 acres north that had been selected by E Armstrong.  On George Thomas Williams passing the block was split up into quarters, one quarter for each of the 3 sons and 1 for his wife.  Cliff moved to WA and on Elizabeth Emma’s death, Harry bought both blocks respectively.  Allan’s quarter is now owned by Warren & Karen Williams, who also own the block, north of Christies Road.
There has been 4 houses built on the farm.  The first house was flooded and the second one was burnt down.  After George Thomas Williams passed and the family had all married, in 1962, the third house made way for a smaller house for Elizabeth Emma Williams and still is here today and is commonly known as ‘Nanna’s house’.
②   Girdler’s Blacksmith Shop Edith Maud (Edie) Williams married Alfred George Girdler in 1912 at Numurkah.  George had a blacksmith shop at Yalca South, near where the original Presbyterian Church stood on what is now known as Yalca South Church Rd.  They sold the business and moved to Picola.

            

③  Errindale

Originally owned by the Baldwin’s, cousin to Joseph Henry Baldwin.  Allan & Bev Williams bought the farm in 1963.  Currently owned by Ashley & Theresa Williams, their daughter Helen & husband Heath Plattfuss share farms the dairy.  They are milking 160 cows on the 285 acres.

④ Tweedle Farm

Thomas & Thirza (Williams) Mills share farmed the 640 acre property before leaving to go to Nagambie in 1900.  Currently owned by Ashley & Theresa Williams and is home to the Waaia Tractor Pull.

❺  Baulkamaugh North Primary School

Baulkamaugh North Primary School was on the norh west corner of the Patten farm.  Ellen Patten was the first school teacher.  The Patten & Williams children attended here.

Patten Farm

Original farm of William & Ellen (Gourd) Patten.  Francis & Siss (Williams) Patten farmed here.  After WWII some of the farm was acquired for soldier settlement.  On Francis’ death the farm was taken over by his son, Leonard & wife Peggy (Beer) Patten.  The family sold the farm.

⑥  Biggars Farm

James & Jessie (Mills) Biggar farmed next door to the Mills.  Jessie was Robert & Ellen Mills second child.

❼  Mills Farm

Robert & Ellen (Adam) Mills settled the 197 acre farm in 1880.  The original house, while renovated somewhat still stands today along with the Breathren Hall.  After Robert & Ellen’s passing, brothers James & John continued with farming until their deaths.

⑧  Waaia Hotel

Birth place of Thomas & Thirza (Williams) Mills triplets in 1900.  The original Waaia Hotel was burnt down sometime after 1900 and was rebuilt.

⑨  Robert Adam Mills Boot Shop Robert Adam Mills owned and run a boot shop in Railway St, Waaia until 1910 when they moved to Colac. ⑩ Robert Adam & Elizabeth (Broderick) Mills house Robert Adam & Elizabeth Mills lived in the house on the corner of Waaia – Beari & Nathalia – Waaia Roads.  Their youngest would have been 10 when they moved to Colac in 1910.

⑪ Baglin Farm

Bruce & Edna (Mills) Baglin settled the soldier settlement farm after WWII.

Numurkah

①  Ethel (Williams) Sizer’s house, Eloura – 88 Tocumwal Road, Numurkah

Ethel bought the house with the compensation from her first husband, Leonard’s death in WWI.  She and her second husband Harry moved to Queensland and her parents George & Elizabeth (Mills) Williams retired here.  Ethel & Harry returned to the house during WWI.

Currently the Seventh Day Adventist Church occupies the site.

Toc Rd was known as ‘Blink Bonny’ and a sign can be found on one of the houses in the street.

②  Joyce (Girdler) & Henry Simmons place – 90 Saxton St /

14 Dolphin St, Numurkah

③ Edie & George Girdler shop, 41 Saxton St, Numurkah

Edie & George took over the business H B Mackay & Massey Harris Agencies, which was also an agent for Sunshine Harvesters.  Later they expanded their shop and stocked furniture. 

As Alan was interested in bicycle racing, Alan and his father assembled bikes under the name of A L G Bicycles.

George had a lady working for him and when she became ill, Edie helped out in the shop and ended up staying on working there.  They later stocked crockery, fabric & manchester.  They lived behind the shop. 

④ Alan Girdlers furniture shop, 29 Melville St, Numurkah Alan went to WWII and when he returned he ran the furniture shop across the road from his parent’s shop.  They built the shop and lived above it.   ❺ Numurkah Cemetary Numurkah Cemetary is the home to many past Mills and Williams.  Including Robert & Ellen Mills,George & Elizabeth (Mills) Williams.  RSVP: 26 Feb 2016 Cost for the bus trip is $20 per person, Includes BBQ lunch. 9:30 start for registrations and morning tea.  Bus will leave Waaia at 10am and return at 4pm. Limited seats are available so hurry and book your place. PLEASE NOTE:  Due to the Waaia Cricket Club Grand Final we may not be able to use the Waaia hall.  If this is the case we will be at the Numurkah Football Club rooms.  Please ensure you have given your mobile and or email address with your RSVP so we can let you know.

Hi

Tonight I would like to tell you about our plans to restore Ellen Mills grave.

Some of you may remember, from the bus trip on the last reunion, when we went to the Numurkah Cemetery, that Ellen Mill headstone had been damaged from age and floods.

For those who don’t know who Ellen Mills is, Ellen and her husband Robert Mills came to Australia,16^th Oct 1852 from Scotland with 2 children at the age of 23.  Over 22 years Robert & Ellen had 10 children. 

Robert & Ellen eventually settled in Waaia on a farm, which we also visited on the bus trip.  Robert & Ellen are Great Great Grandparents to most of us, may even be a few more Greats in there for some. Ellen died at the age of 67, in 1896.  120 years later her headstone need repair.

We have sourced a quote to replace her marble headstone and a couple of thousand is not even close to the restoration costs.  Over $850 for the headstone and then $18 per letter for engraving.  If you are able to chip in a little, collectively we should be able to do it.

Thomas Williams

Another one of our early pioneers and Great Grandparent, Thomas Williams, leaving England with his wife Zenobia, 3 of their children and 3 Harvey boys, children of Zenobia from a previous marriage.  They arrived in New Zealand in 1866, where Louisa (Williams) Baldwin was born.

1877 they purchased a farm, 320 acres at Ulupna, which is still owned by the family today.

Thomas at the age of 44, died of phthisis exhaustion – or in English as we would know it – TB.  This was a common death for miners.  Thomas mined back in Tavistock.  West Melbourne had a hospital for TB patients and it was here he spent his last days.  Buried in Melbourne General Cemetery in an unmarked grave, Nov 1882.

Years later, Melbourne General Cemetery in its wisdom buried over the top of the unmarked graves.  Thomas has never had a headstone and will now not be able too. However, we can place a plaque on a rock with his details.  Cost $500.

If you can help us with these cost in any way please let me know.  Donations of any size can be made to our HWMT account. 
 

Accommodation

Have you booked yet, remember due to the Waaia Tractor Pull being on the same weekend, accommodation will be booked out early.

Photos of our Armed Forces.

Don’t forget to dig up those photos of our Armed Forces in WWI & WWII. There would be nothing worse than getting to the reunion and finding all the other photos up, but your grandfather or mother is missing and knowing you have a photo at home.

Not Sure if you are coming

Have a read of what people had to say about the last reunion.

http://hwmtfamilyreunion.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/extended-reunion-reports-by-family.html

If this email is not getting to someone in the family most likely I don’t have their details. At the bottom of this email there is a link to add your details.

Till next time

Ben Williams

HWMT Family Reunion President

0409 946 866

03 9560 1800

Devon and Cornwall: into the depths of the Williams/Mills past

By Nanette (Mills) Bragg

By the rosy cliffs of Devon, on a green hill's crest,
I would build me a house as a swallow builds its nest;
I would curtain it with roses, and the wind should breathe to me
The sweetness of the roses and the saltness of the sea.


These words by Amelia Josephine Burr more than sum up the beautiful region of England from which several of our antecedents departed. During my sojourn there in July this year I was daily left asking “Why?” Why would anyone leave this beauty and why is there so little trace of a family that at the least seemed successful?

I had planned to travel to England to do some professional development for a course I teach; following that wonderful reunion in Waaia at Easter I was inspired to add a journey into Devon and Cornwall. I was determined to see if my actual presence there could break through barriers I had not surpassed on Ancestry.com.

My interest, with a maiden name of Mills and being a granddaughter of one of the triplets (Andrew), is clearly Williams and Mills; in Cornwall and Devon it was Williams all the way. It was in this south-western corner of the United Kingdom that the delightfully named Zenobia George was born; where she married not one but two younger men, and from whence she adopted an entirely new life and made Devon the land of her past: from here she journeyed to the antipodes with her second husband Thomas Williams.



6 Brook St, Tavistock
Zenobia's birth place

Zenobia was born to James and Mary George (Dury) at 6 Brook Street, Tavistock. The 1841 census implies that she had a twin brother, Thomas; they were both 15 and both actively employed. Thomas was in the mines and Zenobia appears to have been working in the wool industry; although the designation is unclear she appears to have an “F-G” next to her name and this usually means ‘Fullers Girl’; a fuller cleansed wool to prepare it for spinning or weaving. There is no real mystery about Zenobia, only her parents, and this is where I was able to use my time in Devon to the most affect.

Mary George, at the age of 42, is represented as ‘independent’ in the 1841 census. So where was James? Unfortunately, this is a question that remains unanswered, but there are some interesting things to note:

 

• James was a tin dresser (according to Mary’s death certificate) – this occupation was one of many notoriously dangerous occupations in the mining industry in Cornwall; average age of death was 28 years – usually due to chronic lung conditions
• However, there is no death certificate for a James George of the right age in Cornwall or Devon between the birth of Zenobia and Thomas and the 1841 census.
• James and Mary married in 1817 and while they had one son in 1818 their other children were born in the late 1820’s – quite an extraordinary wait for the period. Did James travel? He certainly would have to have gone to Cornwall to dress tin.
• Until 1828, ALL tin dressing was done in Cornwall and then the industry had a fairly spectacular collapse and tin dressing would no longer have been a viable occupation. However, James’ mining skills should have been useful at the many copper and manganese mines in Devon so he should not have needed to leave the family for work.

My search for James continues, but my search for Mary was successful due to the incredibly helpful Cemetery Officer from Tavistock Council. I was aware that there was a non-conformist cemetery in Tavistock and, considering the tendencies of the Williams’ to be religious non-conformists in Australia I suspected I might find them there. I made my way to the Dolvin Road Cemetery and began a hands-on search; unsurprisingly, between the heat, waist high grass and weeds and centuries old headstones I was unsuccessful.

Dolvin Road cemetery before its haircut …

 

The George family headstone,
after the weeds had been removed

I returned to my roots of being a history teacher; what do I tell my students? There’s always a record somewhere … in Devon the council is well-equipped with both records and incredibly helpful employees. My one simple request to find if Mary was indeed buried at Dolvin Road led to a delightful small army of men armed with whipper snippers journeying to the cemetery, providing me with a brief lecture on the bizarre grid numbering system used at the cemetery, and then literally unearthing not only Mary’s grave but that of several of our forebears. It is unfortunately in bad condition, having broken into three pieces and laid flat on the grave.

As you can see from my facsimile, there was lots of information on the gravestone. Henry, born in 1818, looked after his mother in her old age. The 1871 census tells us he was a Mine Agent; an important and well paid job and he actually lived in a house supplied by the Mines authority. As you can see from their ages at death, apart from Henry’s first wife, the Williams’ clan tended to long life in an age when 46 was the average life expectancy.

I was overjoyed with that find and considered it the highlight of my couple of days searching, but there were other gems to be experienced. The beautiful River Tamar at Gunnislake where Zenobia and Thomas lived before departing for Australia; Tavistock Parish church where Zenobia and Thomas were married, the lovely house on Brook Street, the River Tavy and the township of Tavistock that was central to so much Williams and George activity. I rouse on my students for using too many superlatives, so I won’t start; I will recommend that if you ever have the opportunity to experience this pearl of the world then take it. If you have time to plan join the Devon Family History Society – they will laugh if you say you’re seeking Williams in Devon and Cornwall (it’s a very common surname in that corner of the world) but they are extremely helpful and have amazing resources.

So to my first question, why leave? As noted, the tin mining industry in Cornwall died in 1828, but this was not the end for the region – there were plenty of mines and plenty of opportunities for diversifying into copper, manganese, arsenic etc… the industrial revolution needed to be fuelled and this region provided every single necessary ore and mineral, except coal. The region remained strong in mining until the 1890’s, but from the 1850’s there was a concerted effort to encourage skilled workers to try their hand in the new regions beginning to boom; one of these was Australia. Assisted fairs were affordable to a reasonable number; often churches aided in payment of these schemes, particularly non-conformist churches, as they too wanted to spread their influence, but even the unassisted immigration scheme did not require an arm and a leg to afford. The Cornish diaspora began with the urging of a weakening economy and a promise of a stable future, albeit on the other side of the world. It is estimated that up to 250 000 Cornish miners and their families, as well as other tradesfolk who grasped the opportunities, emigrated between 1860 and 1900. We know that Thomas Williams was a copper miner, so perhaps my question is answered.

We must remember that in the midst of its industrial might the area would not have been quite as pretty as it is now; the landscape would have been scarred and pock-marked and the air would be rank with the detritus of the mining process. Perhaps Thomas and Zenobia were not turning their back on the beauty that Cornwall and Devon had to offer; but turning their face towards the beauty and splendour of a new life and new opportunities in this unique and beautiful land of ours.
 

The River Tamar at Morwellham Quay;
a copper mining site near Tavistock

The wheel remains at the mine at
Morwellham Quay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extended Reunion reports by family members