Patient Hope
Although there are not many Loudons in County Armagh, it is likely that our ancestors were amongst those who were brought from Scotland to Newtown Hamilton in the late eighteenth century; there is some evidence that they may already have been settled in County Down, the next county to the east, before moving to Newtown Hamilton. There had, in fact, been Loudons in County Armagh in the seventeenth century, since we find a Thomas Loudon in the Hearth Money Roll of 1664 for County Armagh at Creenmore. This locality has not been identified but is perhaps the town of Creeve. Interestingly, there is also at Creenmore a John Thompson recorded as having paid Hearth Tax. There is a Wm Loudon listed in the Hearth Money Roll for County Antrim; so it is evident that members of the Loudon family had migrated from Scotland at least as early as the seventeenth century. This was at the time of Cromwell, over a century before the establishment of Newtown Hamilton.
Map of the Newtownhamilton district in the mid-19th Century, shows Horner's Hill and, a little to the south, Camly Macullagh and the Ruins of the School, as well as the names Loudon and Thompson, which no doubt indicates the positions of their farms.The name is Scottish. It is probably safe to say that all Loudons (as well as those with variant spellings of the name) took their surname from a place called Loudoun in Galston, Ayrshire, where there is a castle that has been the historic seat of the Lords of Loudon. We have no connection with that family, however; their family name is not Loudon but Hastings. The Loudon family belong to the Clan Campbell. The earliest record of the name is that of James de Loudun, about 1189. The name of Adam Loudin appears in the deeds of Balliol College, Oxford, about 1280; and the name of John de Louden is listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Cumberland in 1332. John de Lowden was vicar of Kilpatrick in 1418. Nicholas de Loudoun held a tenement in Irvine between 1418 and 1426; and Thomas Lowdain was a burgess there in 1499. John Claudius Loudon was a distinguished horticulturist in the early nineteenth century; he was born in Lanarkshire, in Scotland, but was largely employed by rich English landowners to establish gardens for their stately homes. He wrote several monumental works on English gardening and, despite having his left forearm amputated at the age of 43, he conducted a very substantial and successful farm at Tew, in Oxfordshire.
Spelling of the surname was not settled until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when different branches of the family opted for different spellings. The oldest of our family to settle in Australia, Samuel Lowden [SL], sometimes preferred the w, since this is the spelling on the Baptismal Record when his eldest daughter Jane [SL2] was baptised in Newtown Hamilton in May, 1845, and on the Birth Certificate of his son Thomas Lowden [SL4] when he registered the birth at Picton, NSW, in January, 1859. However, on Samuel's own Marriage Certificate when he married Mary Thompson [JT1] at Newtown Hamilton on July 21, 1841, there are three different spellings of the surname: the clergyman filling in the Register has written Lowdon, but Samuel himself has signed Louden, and his brother William, who was a witness, has signed Loudon. Samuel's Death Certificate (Townsville, April 4, 1896) calls him Loudon - the informant was the doctor who attended him. His daughter Jane's Marriage Certificate (Gympie, October 3, 1868) records him as Samuel Louden and her mother's maiden name as Mary Thomson (without the p). Jane's Death Certificate (Townsville, August 25, 1909) even gives the name as Loudoun. The informant was her second son, William Buchanan [SL22]. Samuel's older brother James Lowden (JL1], seems to have preferred the Lowden spelling. James Loudon, Samuel's eldest son [SL1], used the spellings Loudon and Louden interchangeably.
James and Samuel Lowden were the sons of William Lowden and Jane Horner (or Harner or Homer), of Newtown Hamilton, County Armagh. The spelling of the mother's maiden name also poses a problem, not because of deliberate variations but because the handwriting on early documents is difficult to read. On Samuel Lowden's Death Certificate, for which the informant was not a member of the family but must have taken the information from the hospital admissions register which would have been supplied by Samuel's daughter or some other member of the family, his mother's maiden name could be taken as any one of the three names given above. However, on the Death Certificate of James Lowden [JL] (Cheltenham, Victoria, August 24, 1874) the name seems clearly to be Harner. However, research at Newtown Hamilton indicates the existence of a family named Horner. This is confirmed by reference to a letter from the Rev David Jamison, Presbyterian Minister at Newtown Hamilton, to James Loudon Junior [SL1], dated May 20, 1904,199 the Minister tells him, amongst other things, "I have often been where the Loudens and the Horners live." Mr Jamison invariably spells the paternal surname as Louden. He also gives us incidentally a few hints about the Loudons back in Newtown Hamilton that would bear further investigation. He says: "I have seen one or two who remember your father and mother & I myself remember that I met a young man called Louden (since dead) in 1870 - & that a Margaret Louden was married to a Robert Conn about 1880"; and "though I have had several conversations with old Joe Haggin, one of the oldest inhabitants here, James McKee, who lives now in what I believe was your farm, Bob Keown, the McIlwaine's & others, none of them could tell me where your mother was buried but I believe you are likely correct in supposing it to be Clarkesbridge" Since James Loudon was a little vague about where his mother was buried, this suggests that he was very young when she died - probably shortly after, or even at, the birth of her second child Jane [SL2] (March 22, 1845), when James was not quite three years of age, although a later letter suggests that he remembers her.1
The Death Certificate of James Lowden [JL] in Melbourne adds further confusion to the spelling of the surname. On this Certificate the informant, who is James's second son David [JL2], gives his own name as Louden and his grandfather's name as William Lowden. Similarly, when the fourth son James [JL4], reported his mother's death at Cheltenham on June 12, 1904, his own name is given as Louden and his mother's name as Lowden. It is likely that all these certificates were filled in by clerks as a member of the family gave the information orally (except for Samuel Lowden's own signature on his Marriage Certificate, which is immediately contradicted by his brother), and spelling was not seen as important.
IT WAS NEITHER JAMES NOR HIS BROTHER SAMUEL who was the first of the Loudons to migrate to Australia, but Samuel's eldest son James [SL1]. When Samuel Lowden arrived in Sydney on the Caroline on Nov 14, 1853, (at the age of 28), with his new wife Elizabeth Rae [sic], aged 16, and his daughter Jane, aged 8, he indicated that he had a son at Campbelltown. Samuel, Elizabeth and Mary did not disembark in Sydney, but sailed on to Brisbane, landing there on November 17. The Shipping Record compounds the spelling problem, since the surname is given as Lauden or Landen. It also indicates that Samuel's parents, William and Jane, are both still living in Armagh, that Samuel can both read and write, that Elizabeth and Jane can read, that all three belong to the Church of England; and that Elizabeth is the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Rae who are still living in Armagh. The same carelessness plagues the spelling of Elizabeth's maiden name: it becomes Reay on her son Thomas's Birth Certificate (East Bargo/Picton, December 28, 1859); and Wray on her husband's Death Certificate (Townsville, April 4, 1896). Samuel Lowden gives his wife's name as Wray on her Death Certificate. She died at 7 Greek Street, Glebe, on Nov 14, 1880, at the age of 44, from pneumonia. The name is also given as Wray on the Marriage Certificates of her two daughters, Mary [SL5] (Townsville, April 9, 1883) and Sarah Ann [SL7] (Townsville, Sept 11, 1886). Elizabeth's Death Certificate also gives the names of her parents: "Thomas Wray, Artilleryman, and Elizabeth Crozier". According to her son Thomas's Birth Certificate, Elizabeth was born at Carramanorm, County Armagh. The only place name in County Armagh resembling this is Carrowmanan, near Newtown Hamilton. It was no doubt rendered Carramanorm by the Registry Office clerk who made the best of Samuel Lowden's Irish pronunciation. The Shipping Record does not give Samuel Lowden's occupation, but the family tradition says he was a stonemason. This tends to be confirmed by his Death Certificate, which says he was a Builder, and also indicates that his father back in Ireland was an Architect. However, when Samuel's son Thomas [SL4] was baptised at St Mark's Church, Appin, on January 22, 1860, Samuel is described as a stonemason. On the Marriage Certificates of his two daughters he is again described as a stonemason in 1883 but as a Builder in 1886. We know from the Rev David Jamison's letter2 that James Loudon Junior [SL1] was born in Newtown Hamilton on October 2, 1842, and his sister Jane [SL2] on March 22, 1845. James Loudon's Death Certificate (Rydalmere Hospital, Oct 24, 1926) gives his age as 85, which is not quite correct: he had just turned 84. His Death Certificate also says that he had been in Australia for 73 years. That is, he had arrived in 1853, when he was 10 or 11 years old. He is not listed as arriving with his father and stepmother and Jane on November 17, 1853, who indicate for the Record that he is already in Australia - at Campbelltown. Neither is he listed as arriving with his grandparents and the Thompson family on October 16, 1852; nor with the Flanagans on July 3, 1849. Other possibilities are that he came as a child convict or as a cabin boy on a ship, and deserted when he got to Sydney. The NSW Government Gazette, March 8, 1853, (p 475), in a notice repeated on March 11, 1853, (p 491) published a list of "Seamen who have deserted from their respective Vessels, as reported at the Water Police Office". Heading the list is the name, James London. In view of the frequency with which the name Loudon is misread as London, it seemed possible that this was James Loudon. This person had arrived in Sydney on the Hooghly (alternatively spelt Hoogly) on February 28, 1853, having sailed from London on November 13, 1852. There are two names given of deserters from the Hooghly - James London and Peter Johnson. The other names listed are of men who have deserted from other ships, and, in every case, a rank or qualification such as mate or Able Seaman (A.B.) is given after each name, with the offer of a reward varying in value from £1 to £5, no doubt in accordance with their usefulness as sailors. No such qualification or reward is listed for James London and Peter Johnson, suggesting that they were unqualified as seamen and therefore of little value to the master of their vessel. There is another significant point: If James arrived in Sydney on February 28, 1853, there would have been time for a letter from him to his father to have reached Newtown Hamilton before Samuel Loudon, with his new wife and his daughter Mary, left to join the Caroline which sailed from Liverpool on July 7, 1853, and would have given Samuel the information, which he passed on to the clerk in Sydney who filled in the Shipping Record, that he had a "Son at Campbelltown".3 All this speculation, however, proves fruitless, since a check of the records of the Hooghly at the Public Records Office at Kew, in England (where maritime records are kept) indicate that, though the name of this deserter was, in fact, James Loudon, his age was 21, and he had been born in Renfrew, Scotland.
Nevertheless, ten was an early age for a boy to come to Australia by himself. It is interesting to conjecture why he did not wait to come with his father. His father's marriage to a girl scarcely five or six years older than James may have caused a rift between father and son. There is certainly a coolness reflected in later letters.4 The next question is: What was he doing in Campbelltown, if he was ever there at all? We don't know whether Samuel and Betsy and Jane ever found him there, after informing the authorities that that was where he was. Samuel, Betsy and Jane certainly went to the Campbelltown district, but that was several years later. It has been suggested by family tradition that Samuel, and perhaps also James, were brought out to work for Colonel Sir Thomas Mitchell, previously Surveyor-General, who was building his mansion "Parkhall" at East Bargo from 1848. There is evidence in a later letter5 that Samuel was a farmer at Bargo, not a stonemason, despite the fact that he gave his occupation as stonemason at Thomas's baptism at Appin. The letter referred to implies that he was farming there on his own account, not working as a farmer for Sir Thomas Mitchell or any other landowner. He and Betsy and Mary had disembarked in Brisbane, not Sydney, and lived first at Fortitude Valley before returning to Campbelltown at a later date. The letter dated May 4, 1864, indicates that Samuel's farming venture at Bargo was apparently a failure, and he went back to Brisbane. His and Betsy's eldest child Thomas [SL3] was born at Fortitude Valley on August 28, 1855; Thomas [SL4], the one born at Bargo on December 29, 1859, was their second child; and they were back at Fortitude Valley again when their next child Mary [SL5] was born on October 4, 1861. Samuel Loudon's name appears on the Electoral Roll at East Bargo in 1859-1860. There is evidence that he was employed as a mason in Brisbane by a builder named W Jewell. However, the Register of Hotel Licences in Brisbane indicates that he kept the London Tavern, in Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, from 1866 to 1868, after which the licence was transferred to H Kelly. Samuel moved to Gympie in 1868, because he is listed in that year as the licensee of the London Tavern there. The Nashville Times, later called the Gympie Times, reported on January 9, 1869, that this hotel was destroyed by fire. Samuel's eldest daughter Jane [SL2] married David Buchanan in Gympie, where he also kept a hotel. The gold rush started there in 1867, but began to peter out by 1871, when we find David and Jane Buchanan moving on to North Queensland, but Samuel Lowden moved with his wife and family at that time to Sydney, where he is listed in Sand's Directory as living in Ultimo Street, Glebe, in 1871.
Site of Loudon's Stile, Newtownhamilton, Armagh. The rubble in the foreground is of recent origin.Samuel Lowden was said by his descendants to have been born in Canoly, in County Armagh. The only place name in County Armagh resembling this is Camly, only two miles6 south of Newtown Hamilton. Nowadays, there are little more than a lake and a church there. However, there is still a landmark to the west of Newtown Hamilton called Loudon's Stile, which is no doubt on a path across what used to be Loudon's farm.
Ruins of the School, at the end of the road across Horner's Hill, Newtownhamilton, ArmaghThere is nearby a hill known as Horner's Hill, perhaps indicating where Samuel's mother's family lived.7 The Householders' Index for County Armagh lists William Loudon (no doubt Samuel's father} and Samuel Loudon (perhaps our Samuel's uncle) as tenement holders in the townland of Camly Macullagh, Newtown Hamilton, in 1864. This is the year that William died; and the Tenement Revaluations for 1869 indicate that this property of 17 acres, 2 roods and 10 perches (Irish plantation measure) had passed to a William Redmond. The Rev David Jamison's letter, dated September 3, 1904,8 gives the opinion that James McKee was the occupier of the Loudons' old farm at that date. Samuel Loudon's property was vacant in 1875, which probably indicates that he had died just prior to that time. There is no record in the Armagh Diocesan Will Index of a Will left by either William or Samuel Loudon. Unfortunately, the Church of Ireland Baptismal Registers for Newtown Hamilton prior to 1870 were destroyed by fire in Dublin in 1922. There are Church of Ireland Baptismal Registers for Newtown Hamilton for the period 1823 to 1826, but neither the name Loudon nor any of its variants appears. We can be fairly certain, from a number of sources of evidence, including the Shipping Record of those who migrated to Australia, that the Loudons were members of the Church of Ireland, or, in Australia, the Church of England. James's father would have married Mary Thompson in the Presbyterian Church and had his two eldest children baptised there because the Thompsons were staunch Presbyterians. Nevertheless, James Lowden [JL] and his family, who migrated to Melbourne, linked up with the Methodist Church in Australia. A search has been made in the Presbyterian Baptismal and Marriage Registers at Clarkesbridge (a village near Newtown Hamilton where James Loudon Junior thought his mother might have been buried) for the period 1822 to 1845, but the name does not appear there. There is no headstone at Clarkesbridge for Mary Loudon, Samuel's first wife, but the Burial Records have not been searched.
Whether or not Samuel and Jane found their son and brother at Campbelltown, we do know that he was beyond their ken for the next ten years. If they did meet, perhaps there was an immediate falling out and young James left. Or perhaps he refused to go to Brisbane with them. It is more likely that they never found him at Campbelltown. Samuel and his wife Betsy and their young family and James's sister Jane were back in Fortitude Valley by October, 1861, and they were there in 1864 when, out of the blue, they received a letter from James. There are a series of letters9 which, together with the later letters in the possession of Nick Loudon [SL1J34], tell a heartrending story of the relationship between James and his father and sister over the next fifty years. In 1862, or possibly before that, James turned up at Grandma Thompson's place on the Campbell's River. We know that he was there at least from the beginning of 1862 because on February 12 of that year he advertised in the Bathurst Free Press for a lost horse. Here he met Jane Peacock [JP6], daughter of a settler further up the Campbell's River.
Jane Loudon [WP6] (nee Peacock), photo taken ca 1900 - Original in the possession of Ben LoudonThey married on March 31, 1864, at the home of her parents, William and Rebecca Peacock [WP]. The Marriage Certificate tells us that Jane had to have the consent of her father because she was under age - she was 19; and James had to have the consent of W H Palmer, a Justice of the Peace, because he was only 20 and his parents were not available. But, according to the information we have from the Rev David Jamison's letter, James was born on October 2, 1842, and was not under age! It may be that, having left home at such an early age, he genuinely did not know his age, or there may be another explanation. In any case, it is apparent that his grandmother persuaded him to write to his father in Brisbane. There are two replies to this first letter, one from his father and one from his sister Jane. They are both dated May 4, 1864; that is, he has written after his marriage on March 31 - but he has not told them he is married. That comes in a subsequent letter which his sister replied to on July 6, 1864, by which time his eldest daughter Mary [SL11] has been born.
The father's reply to the first letter is terse and admonitory:
"Fortitude Valley, Brisbane May the 4th 64. Dear Son
I was very glad to hear from you and from your grandmother and family for I may thank her for hearing from you If you had Stopped and learned your trade you might be getting 12 Shillings a day now but it is better late than never its 3 years last February Since I came back here and I never was a week out of work Since
We are all well and your Sister Jane is Sewing in a Shop and has 12 Shillings Pr week I got a letter last Mail that my father and betty is dead within 3 months of other my father was in his 80th year and Billy is not married yet.
Dear Mother we are all verry glad to hear yous are well we were always expecting a letter from Margaret10 let us know how you are doing and If you would Come down here If yous are not doing better than any of the farmers that I have Seen where I was the Sooner Yous Come here the better any man will get 7s pr day and a man on a farm will get £1 pr week and board let me Know how Hance is and how many yards long he is. liza Margaret & able, Robert & Mrs. Mr. flanagan and Mrs. betsy wants to Know how many Children Margaret has there is a great many from Newtown Come here William black and family old Murphy, Mrs black died verry soon after Coming here and Mrs. Murphy is dead Hugh harveys son is here and is at the diggings Dear Mother we have 4 Children Samuel tommy and Mary & William is 5 months old we all Join in Sending our kind love to yous when you write Direct Samuel Loudon North Brisbane Queensland."
Jane was so elated that she wrote in exuberant terms. Her joy at finding her brother who had been lost for ten years exceeded the rejoicing in heaven when the lost sheep was found:
"Fortitude Valley May 4th 64
Dear Brother
I now take the opertunity of writing you these few lines hoping thay will find you in good health as this leaves us in at preasant thank God for it I don't think anything ever gave me more joy than your unexpected but very welcome letter i thought of advertising for to find you I am glad you are back with grandmother
Father is well famaly we have three Brothers and one Sister which called Mary after our Mother and our Stepmother sends her love to you all Dear James I am sorry to have to acquent you with the death of our grandfather William Loudon and aunt Betty She was ill for ten months he was only ill two days every letter he sent he asked about you but I could never tell him about you because I did not hear anything of you I got a letter from our uncle Billy about a month ago and the same thing was in it but i could only tell him the same Grandma was in good health and Margret and Sally.
Dear James give my love to Grandma and Elza also Hance and James and Robert and my new aunt also Margret and her little James and Abel send me word how they all are i would be very glad to see you I am very comfortable here I go to work at eight oclock in the morning and come home at Six
Dear James I often wodered how you ware and where you ware and what you ware doing we used to talk for hours about you and wonder if we ever would hear of you there was more joy over your letter you are aware of or would think the Chidren ask me an ennumerable lot of questions about their Brother James.
Betsy sends her love to Granma and I send my love to you all. So no more at present I remain your effectionate and loving Sister until Death
Jane Loudon Write soon direct to Jane Loudon and the same as fathers for my beloved and only Brother James Loudon from his Sister Jane."
The father's letter betrays feelings of a different kind from those of Jane. He gives credit to Grandma Thompson for persuading James to write at all. The rift must have been deep: "for I may thank her for hearing from you." Samuel, in the first paragraph, after scarcely greeting his long lost son, turns to castigating him almost immediately for not staying at his trade. We can assume that the trade was the family trade of stonemason. Samuel says that he has been back in Brisbane for three years (that is, since 1861) and has not lacked employment in that time also (by implication) as a stonemason; within four years we find that he has turned to the occupation of publican, so perhaps the building boom did not last. Then the father, as Jane does too, passes on the news of the death of his grandfather and his aunt Betty back in Ireland; and the rest of the letter is addressed to Grandma Thompson. James is dismissed with scarcely more than a nod. Samuel passes on to Grandma some news about acquaintances from Newtown Hamilton and enquires about members of the Thompson family. There must have been earlier contact with the Thompson family, for Samuel says he was always expecting a letter from Margaret.11 Perhaps Samuel had contact with her in Sydney after she married Abel Schoe, whom he seems to know, when he himself was at East Bargo in 1859 and 1860, rather than correspondence with her. Betsy also seems to have known her, since she enquires about how many children Margaret has. She could only have met her in Sydney. They had not heard from her for some years, for Jane enquires about Abel Schoe and little James, but does not seem to be aware that there have been two or three more Schoe children since James. Samuel does not seem to have informed the Thompsons, furthermore, how many children he and Betsy have had, and he now goes on to relate this. There is no mention of Grandfather Thompson, so it is apparent that he had known about his death. He exhorts Grandma Thompson to leave farming and to move her family to Brisbane to get employment. The vehemence of his advice is perhaps indicative of the extent of the failure of his own farming venture at East Bargo. The Thompsons are at this stage on the threshold of reasonable prosperity and are not likely to take much notice of this advice. It is apparent that Robert Thompson is already married, since Samuel enquires about "Robert & Mrs". Jane refers to her "new Aunt", so they could not have been married long in 1864. It is interesting that Samuel refers to his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, the Flanagans, as "Mr flanagan and Mrs." This formal mode of reference seems to suggest that he hadn't known Agnes and Robert very well, if at all, but one would expect that he should have, since he had married Agnes's sister in 1841, and the Flanagans had not migrated to Australia until 1849. Perhaps they had been in Scotland during all or most of the intervening time. Samuel has special affection for Hans who would have been only nine years old when he last saw him.
This must have been a trying time for young James, despite the excitement of meeting his grandmother and uncles and aunts again. The thrill of getting married should have been a joy; but he obviously had misgivings about his relationships with his father, since he refrained from dropping two bombshells at once - that is, to return from oblivion and at the same time to announce a hasty marriage. He now wrote to his father a second time, no doubt out of a sense of duty which his grandmother insisted on, to inform his father and Jane of his marriage and of the arrival of his daughter. We have only Jane's reply and she is still ecstatic, if a little coy about the marriage. That James wrote to his father we know from Jane's letter: "Father got his and we ware all happy to hear that you ware tied for life"; but we don't have a reply from the father. It is natural to ponder whether he bothered to reply at all. Jane's letter is now addressed not only to her brother but also to her sister-in-law:
"Fortitude Valley July 15th - 64 Dear Brother & Sister
I now take the opertunity of writeing these few lines hopeing they will find you all in good health as this us at prea[sent Tha]nk God for it. I rece[ived] your Kind and welcome letter a[nd] Father got his and we ware all happy to hear you ware tied for life and WISH YOU MUCH JOY with your little daughter if I be allowed to call her little i dare say you think her big I am glad you think of mother I very often think of her and you too
if I was there wouldnt i give you a blowing up for not sending me all particulars never told me when you ware ma-ri-ed or how long or who to I guefs it is to a female did not even tell me her name I [hope] you will pardon me for delaying [so] long in writing to you I have had [ ]itic in jaw and my face was [sw]olen and I did not want to wite to I had my portrait and I suppose you will laugh at it now with hair to one side it would been with my face so you will tell grandmother see it i suppose I would very much like have yours and your wifes and babes by return of post I encose a coller for my Sisterinlaw in this letter I would like to see you all. father has constant work has been rather deer on account of the rain lately flour is 36s per hundred potatoes 11s per hundred Beef 3d per lb mutton 4d pork fresh 6d corned 8d bacon best 1s8d tea 2s6d suger 3( 4 ( to 6 ( Bread 8d loaf 2lb currents 10d plumbs 8d soap 5d salt 2d peper 4d per ( tobacco 10d per lb I hope you don't smoke
give my love to grandmother and aunts and uncles tell hance I am almost a match for him in hight no more at preasant I remain you affectionate Sister untill death Jane Loudon We all join in sending our love to you all and a dozen Kisses to Mary Jane
write soon and give us all particulars do come to Brisbane direct Jane Loudon Kent Fortitude Vally Queensland"
James must have valued these letters, since he kept them and passed them on to his wife, who passed them on to their daughter. Or perhaps James immediately gave them to his wife who was the one who was stirred by them and treasured them, with some slight misgivings of her own. She was a young lady of some character which can still be seen in her face many years later.12 She raised ten very fine children, all of whom were impressive people, even one who was slightly mentally retarded; but she had to struggle against difficulties all her life. She always remained cheerful, patient, good-natured, devout and concerned for others. Against hope she believed in hope; and fortunately, although hope lasts forever, faith is stronger and love is indestructible. As Samuel Johnson said: "Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps the chief happiness which the world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged must end in disappointment."13 Jane Loudon had learnt patience and contentment with her lot from her parents; experience soon taught her not to hope too excessively. James's sister gently reproved him, with some coyness, for not telling her in the first letter that he was married. James was pining for his family, but he had idealised his Mother whom he could not have known for long, and named his first-born after her. His sister says: "I'm glad you think of mother I very often think of her and of you too". But James had not even told her his new wife's name. Jane is eager to establish a relationship with her brother and his wife, but she gets little response from him. In fact, there is a silence for a further fifteen years.
JANE MARRIED DAVID BUCHANAN AT GYMPIE on October 3, 1868. He was a storekeeper there, according to the Marriage Certificate. He had arrived in Brisbane from Scotland on the General Caulfield on September 8, 1864. Samuel Louden [sic] is cited on the Marriage Certificate as a Publican. He had already taken up the licence of the London Tavern at Gympie, although the 1868 Brisbane Post Office Directory still lists him as the licensee of the London Tavern in Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley.
David Buchanan [SL2] ca 1880, original held by Peter Buchanan [SL252]The gold rush to Gympie started in 1867, when gold was discovered by James Nash. The settlement was at first called Nashville, and the name was changed to Gympie in 1868. A notice in the Nashville Times, March 7, 1868, indicated Samuel Loudon's intention to apply for a licence for a "Public House under the sign of the London Tavern". According to a later issue of the Nashville Times, the licence of the London Tavern at the One Mile Creek was granted on March 14, 1868, and renewed on April 22, 1868.14 The Nashville Times of May 9, 1868, lists a letter for Samuel Lowden among the "Unclaimed letters lying at the Post Office, Gympie, up to 30 April". Then the local paper, now the Gympie Times, unfortunately reports on January 9, 1869, that the London Tavern was destroyed by fire. "So rapid was the work of destruction that the hotel and theatre were levelled to the ground in the short space of forty minutes".15 A "Local News" item in the same issue reported: "We learn that it is the intention of the residents of the One Mile to raise a subscription in aid of the sufferers of the late disastrous fire". This was a major setback for Samuel Lowden, who obviously did not have the reserves or insurance to start again, for we read in the Gympie Times of January 26, 1869, that one Louis Demetrius intended to apply for transfer of the licence "lately burnt down at the One Mile which was kept as a Public House, under the style and title of the London Tavern, by Samuel Loudon". If Samuel was to receive any compensation under this deal, even this was denied him: the Gympie Times of February 11, 1869, reports that "The transfer of the licence of the London Tavern, One Mile (burnt down}" was refused on the grounds that "the new house was unfinished and unfit for occupation". No doubt, Samuel and Betsy and family stayed on for a while with Jane and her new husband, David Buchanan, but by 1871 they had moved to Sydney, where they lived first in Ultimo Street and later in Greek Street, until Betsy died in 1880. It has not been possible to discover what occupation Samuel followed during that time, but it is likely that he would have returned to his trade of stonemason.
In 1868 there were 15000 people in Gympie and 560 business licences had been issued. David Buchanan, it appears, had started there as a storekeeper, but, with his father-in-law in the hotel business, he decided to try this line himself. The Gympie Times of December 19, 1868, carried a notice that David Buchanan intended to apply for transfer of the licence of the Criterion Hotel, situated in the One Mile; and a notice in the issue of January 16, 1869, indicated that this was granted. Thus began a career in the hotel business for which David and Jane Buchanan ultimately became famous.
The Gympie Times of November 26, 1868, gives us a glimpse of the Lowdens and the Buchanans entering into the community life of their new town, for Mrs Buchanan (good at sewing, as we learnt from the 1864 letter) had donated an antimacassar, baby's shoes and "1 Language of Flowers" (presumably the title of a book); and Mr Lowden had donated two bottles of cordials, for an auction to raise money for the Gympie Primary School Building Fund. The local paper reports the renewal of David Buchanan's licence for a couple of years but, on June 14, 1871, the licence is reported to have been transferred to one Richard Brown. In 1869, David Buchanan was reported as being a contributor to the Gympie Christmas Race Meeting, thus beginning an interest which he continued later in Townsville. The Buchanans also began in Gympie a lifelong friendship with two families who became famous in the history of Queensland - the Burns Brothers and Robert Philp. Subscriptions to help the victims of the fire that burnt down Samuel Lowden's hotel were received by Burns's store. John Burns ran a store in Gympie itself and another at the One Mile. It was his brother James who became part of the Burns Philp partnership. Mrs Burns is listed as one of the mourners at Jane Buchanan's funeral in Townsville in 1909.
By January 22, 1872, when the Buchanans' son William [SL22] was born, they had moved on with the gold rushes to Mackay, in Northern Queensland; and by May of that year they were in Ravenswood, since the Ravenswood Miner of May 4, 1872, reported David Buchanan's application for the licence of the Melbourne Hotel there, and their third child Effie [SL23] was born there on November 16, 1873.16 The gold rush in Ravenswood began in 1870; the Buchanans' sojourn in Mackay was probably necessitated by the imminent birth of William. When Elizabeth [SL24] was born in February, 1876, they had moved on to Townsville.17 David Buchanan held the licence of the Prince of Wales Hotel, on the corner of Sturt and Denham Streets, from 1875 to 1882. He built this hotel, a two-storeyed timber structure with verandahs around the corner on both frontages, to take advantage of what was expected to be the access to the town across the Ross Creek from the new port of Townsville. Another hotel, the Freemason's, almost identical, was built in the same year on the opposite corner. They both flourished for a time, but the Palmer River gold rush shortly afterwards drew the population away from Townsville to Cooktown. Business did not pick up again until about 1880. By 1882 David Buchanan had succeeded so well that he leased the Prince of Wales to Charles Willich and built the Imperial Hotel on a more central site closer to the wharves and the beachfront on the north west corner of Flinders and King Streets. He later had the building moved on rollers to the next allotment in Sturt Street and sold the corner site at considerable profit to Dalgety and Company. The Imperial Hotel was burnt down in April, 1902, and the new Buchanan's Hotel was built on the site.
David and Jane Buchanan were business partners when they bought the site for the Imperial Hotel in 1882 for £2000. They built a two-storeyed timber building, like the Prince of Wales, but larger, with verandahs enclosed with cross-braced timber balustrades, set back from the footpath, in accordance with the by-laws of the time. It was one of the largest hotels in Townsville, second in size to the Queen's Hotel, boasting plunge baths and showers in its advertisements. In 1886, the Buchanans leased the Imperial Hotel to J H Harris and travelled overseas. Harris let the business run down, and the next licensee, Sarah Eaton, who conducted the hotel in 1887 and 1888, built it up again, so that the Northern Age and North Queensland Telegraph claimed it was the leading hotel in Townsville.18 David Buchanan resumed the licence from 1890 to 1899 and the hotel continued to flourish. It attracted such distinguished guests as Lord and Lady Lamington, Governor of Queensland and his wife (1896-1901), as well as clergy attending the Anglican Synod, court officials, politicians and members of the Caledonian Society, of which David Buchanan was Vice President. Hogmanay feasts were an annual attraction, replete with Scottish dances and fireworks. Jane took responsibility for caring for the guests. She and David travelled overseas several times. Young William [SL22] attended school in Scotland from 1895 to 1897. From 1899 to 1903, they leased the Imperial Hotel to Edward Byrnes, brother of T J Byrnes, who was Premier of Queensland in 1898. When Byrnes left, David Buchanan sued him for damages, claiming that the hotel was left in a bad state of disrepair, but the suit failed. From 1903, all their efforts were devoted to conducting Buchanan's Hotel, but their daughter Rhoda [Buttercup - SL26] took over the licence of the Imperial for a short time in 1905.
When fire destroyed his hotel, David Buchanan was in a much stronger financial position than his father-in-law had been back in Gympie. He and Jane were in fact doing a tour of Europe when the Prince of Wales was burnt down in 1902; they cut short their travels and returned to Townsville to start again. David had diversified his financial resources: besides his hotels he had made money in land speculation in Northern Queensland with Robert Philp, his old friend from Gympie.19 David Buchanan was an Alderman of Townsville for a period. The new hotel which the Buchanans built on the site of the old Prince of Wales was a magnificent building, with elaborate festoons of wrought and cast iron, interspersed with stained glass panels, designed by Charles D Lynch, of Tunbridge, Tunbridge and Lynch. The wrought and cast iron was made by Green's Foundry in Townsville. They named the new hotel simply Buchanan's. This was an indication of the personalised service they provided. The Criterion at Gympie had been known familiarly as Buchanan's, and so had the Prince of Wales in Townsville; it seemed pointless to try to dignify the new hotel with any more pretentious name. The cost of the new building was £12000; it had water laid on and patent washstands in every room, an innovation at the time, gas lighting and electric bells. Special rooms were provided in which commercial travellers could display their merchandise. In later years Buchanan's became even more famous. The stars of J C Williamson's travelling shows stayed there; so did Sir Donald Bradman and other famous cricketers. During the Second World War it was reserved for American Servicemen, and amongst its most famous guests were General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the South Pacific, and Lieutenant Commander Lyndon B Johnson, who became President of the United States. When Johnson returned to Australia during his Presidential term, he called back to Buchanan's for a drink.
Buchanans Hotel, Townsville, Queensland, Australia - Built owned and operated by David and Jane BuchananThe hotel was classified by the National Trust and was regarded as the most outstanding example in Australia of decorative wrought and cast iron. It was featured on a ten cent stamp in 1973. Unfortunately, it was completely destroyed by fire in 1982.
10c Australian Stamp of Buchanan's Hotel, Townsville, issued 1973The Buchanans made three overseas tours, the first in 1887 - 1890; the second from 1895 to 1897; and the third in 1902. Jane Buchanan's Obituary in the North Queensland Herald on August 28, 1909, says that the three boys had stayed on for their schooling in England. It is unlikely that they stayed on much beyond their parents' visits. One wonders whether Jane revisited Newtown Hamilton. The Obituary says that Mrs Buchanan was the "mainstay" of Buchanan's Hotel. Does this mean that she played the major role in the business management, or simply that she was prominent as hostess in caring for guests? She is also described as an active worker for the Anglican Cathedral Parish. From the list of mourners it is apparent that her husband was active in the Masonic Lodge and the Townsville Scottish Association; while Burns Philp and Company and the Townsville Grammar School, which Ted [SL25] and Ernie [SL27] attended, remembered old associations. These two younger boys were also said to have attended schools in Melbourne. The eldest son William [SL22] must at some stage have been concerned in the hotel business, since both he and his father were members of the Executive of the Licensed Victuallers' Racing Association in Townsville.
It can be seen that Jane Loudon made considerable progress in terms of spiritual and social development and material prosperity, being owner, with her husband at one time or another, of three very successful and highly respected hotels in Townsville. But in 1879, when she had been in Townsville for only three years, after eight years of wandering in the wilderness of various rudimentary Queensland goldfields towns, she was lonely, she missed her relatives (since her father and step-brothers and sister had gone to live in Sydney), and she was feeling the heat of the tropics. Her loneliness was exacerbated by grief, for she had lost two of her children in 1877 - Archibald, the eldest [SL21], and Elizabeth, the fourth child [SL24]. She still had William [SL22], Effie [SL23] and a new baby, David (later known as Ted [SL25]) - the two youngest were yet unborn. Archibald had died of typhoid fever on September 3, 1877, and Elizabeth had died of croup a month later, on October 4, 1877. Archibald had been eight years of age and Elizabeth only twenty months. In a miserable state of mind she wrote to her sister-in-law, Jane Loudon [SL1, WP6], since her brother James had proved to be an unreliable correspondent; she was making one further attempt to establish a link with her kith and kin. Her father had moved to Sydney after the disastrous Gympie fire; we find him listed in Sands' Sydney Directory as living at 9 Ultimo Street in 1871, 1873 and 1875, and at 17 Ultimo Street in 1877. Janey Loudon (nee Peacock)[WP6] seems to be her last hope of establishing contact with her brother James, for in her letter of September 15, 1879, there seems to be little evidence that she had heard from them in the intervening fifteen years following the 1864 letters announcing their marriage. The letter bears the oval-shaped embossment of the Prince of Wales Hotel, with the three feathers, and the name of David Buchanan, and the address, Denham Street, Townsville:
"Sept 15th/79 My Dear Sister this is rather a hard task to open a corrispondance with an unknown Person but I have made up my mind Thant we shall be Better acquanted another time and that before long it must be very pleasant for you live among such a lot of relations here i am yculated 20 as far as the weather goes for it is very hot here in sumer My uncle tells me you have a lot of children you are very lucky that never had the misfortune to loose any I wish you would perswade my uncle James to come and see us he will be down at the Exhibition i often wondered that James never wrote to me but I dont think he ever cared about me much but for all that I would like to hear from him but if you will be kind Enough to write that will be Equely the same let me know what James does and how you all are employed and what age your children are remember me to all Friends round you I was so very sorry to hear my Grandma was not Able to go about and assist herself it is very bad and poor Eliza seems to be quiet as ever yous must write me a long letter and tell me all about yourself and Family and if my Father ever writes to you I had a letter last week from my sister Mary and they are all well Now I must conclude with my Kindest love to you and james and all the children I have a great desire to see them believe me your very affectionate Sister Jane Buchanan My love to Uncle James.” 21
Jane's joy at finding her lost brother fifteen years earlier had now turned to ashes in her mouth and her songs had changed to sighing. Jane Loudon is a stranger to her but she is desperate to renew contact. James and Jane Loudon by now had seven children and not only lived near Jane's family, the Peacocks (who, though now moved to Queen Charlotte's Vale, were only a few miles away), but were also surrounded by James's grandmother (now very ill), his aunts, uncles and cousins. In fact, they lived on a corner of Uncle James Thompson's property, "Fairview". Jane Buchanan cannot restrain a twinge of jealous resentment at what, over a thousand miles away, seemed to her a great blessing which she did not share. She must have heard from Uncle James: she knew that Grandma was ill and she says: "My uncle tells me you have lots of children"; this added piquancy to her loss. Uncle James seems to have kept in touch (he was only eight years older than Jane Buchanan) and he had indicated that he was going to the Exhibition. This was probably the International Exhibition that was held in Sydney in 1879; but it was a long way to expect a visit from him in Townsville just because he was going to be in Sydney. Of the brother over whom she had rejoiced in 1864 as "my beloved and only Brother James Loudon", the brother she had despaired of ever hearing from again and had thought to advertise for, she can now only lament: "i often wondered that James never wrote to me but I dont think he ever cared about me much". This must have wrenched Janey Loudon's heart, for she was having her own problems with James Loudon. One hopes that she wrote the long letter that Jane Buchanan pleaded for; but the correspondence wilted again before long.
We have a letter that Samuel Lowden wrote to his daughter-in-law, Jane Loudon, just a few months before Jane Buchanan's letter.22 Perhaps there had been some collusion between him and Jane Buchanan over this correspondence, for Jane Buchanan asked Jane Loudon to tell her whether her father ever wrote to her:
Sydney, May 26 79
Dear daughter - we recived your kind and welcome letter and was verry glad to hear yous were all well as we are at present but I was verry Sorry to hear of grandmother being So very Poorly. I hope she will be Better by the time this gets to you I never Seen Mary Clugston what induced her to take that Journey in her old age is best known to herself 23 her daughter Called here some time ago and was to write to me But never did I never wrote a letter to anyone Since I wrote to James Thompson Mary always answers James letters Jane has only 3 Children out of 5 She lost her oldest boy with the fever and their neighbour's store was burnt down and the baby was lifted out of bed and Caught Cold and died let me know how yous are doing and how many children you have now I will write to Jane and tell her to write to you tell James Thompson to write to me and let me know how the are all doing and how mother is I wish she was in Sydney to the Sumer Comes I believe the weather is verry Cold up there I am stil working verry hard you Can See the way my hand Shakes but you will be able to read it Mifs Flanagan has mad a good I hope I would like to hear of Margaret how She is getting on
So I must Conclude with kind love to all
S.Loudon"
Samuel Lowden (who now uses the alternate spelling of his name) is sixty years of age and still working as a mason, as he is listed in Sands' Sydney Directory. The Mary who always answers James Thompson's letters is no doubt his and Betsy Wray's daughter Mary [SL5]; she is now seventeen years of age. Samuel reports for the first time the death of Jane Buchanan's two children which had occurred eighteen months earlier, and he asks Jane Loudon how many children she and James have; so there could not have been a regular correspondence, even with the Thompsons. He still refers formally to the Flanagans, this time to Miss Flanagan - no doubt Jinnie {JT21], his niece, who must have been ill - but Samuel leaves out what we guess is the word recovery. His reference to Margaret would be to Margaret Schoe [JT3] whom he seems to have a special regard for, perhaps because he had been associated with her when she was living at Petersham and he was at East Bargo. Mary Clugston is Grandma Thompson's sister who had migrated to Sydney on the Himalaya, with her daughter Jane and four grandchildren, arriving on March 3, 1865.24 She indicated at the time that she was a native of Newtown Hamilton, that her parents were Robert and Agnes Thompson, both dead, and that her sister, Jane Thompson, was living at Campbell's River, Bathurst. It is fourteen years since Mary Clugston arrived; and Samuel's comment about her journey could not have referred to their original migration, but to her return to America.
The next case in this sad declension of communication does not occur for another twenty five years. By 1904, James Loudon is 64 years of age. After a hard life working desultorily as a stonemason, agricultural labourer and bullock driver, and after his ten children had grown up, he decides somewhat belatedly to seek a share in his Uncle James Thompson's estate. James Thompson [JT5] had died intestate fifteen years earlier and his sister Agnes Flanagan [JT2] had made a successful application for his property; but she too had died in 1898 and the property had passed to her daughter Margaret Hunt [JT23]. James no doubt felt that as his uncle's oldest nephew he might have a claim. Hope springs eternal in the human breast, according to Alexander Pope; but mankind never is, but always to be, blest. He wrote to the Registrar of Probates, and contacted a solicitor, who told him that he must first establish his relationship and supply other details.25 He then wrote to his sister Jane to see if she had any idea about how to establish his relationship with James Thompson. Jane, now the chatelaine of the newly established and most impressive Buchanan's Hotel, no longer feeling bereft of James's affection and, tired of his long neglect, writes back with almost brutal terseness: 26
"Buchanan's Hotel, Sturt Street, Townsville, June 23rd, 1904 Dear Brother,
Your letter of May the 4th re - Uncle James Property - I received: and I would not think of interfering with it in any way we have no claim - as far as I know they have all been very good to you and I never want anything from them.
As to getting any information about the marriage of my Mother and Father - I would not know where to write about it.
I had the Marriage [Cert]ificate but I do n[ot know] what Has become of it. Uncle Robert Conn per[haps knows] all about it.
Yours very Sincerely Jane Buchanan"
The formality of this reply is almost painful: "Dear Brother" - not even "Dear James". What a change since 1864: "Dear James i often wo[n]dered how you ware and where you ware and what you ware doing we used to talk for hours about you and wonder if we ever would hear of you there was more joy over your letter [than] you are aware of or would think; I remain your effectionate and loving Sister until Death".
Nevertheless, James wrote to the Presbyterian Minister at Newtown Hamilton to get evidence of his birth and his parents' marriage. James's Birth Certificate which the Rev David Jamison says he has supplied has not been preserved - perhaps it was passed on to the solicitor - but his parents' Marriage Certificate and his sister Jane's Birth Certificate are still in existence. James did not pursue his claim. He spent the last twenty years of his life driving a bullock team around the central west of NSW and was last at Parkes before he was admitted to the Rydalmere Hospital at Ryde, where he died on October 24, 1926, from senility and tryocarditis. The age given on his Death Certificate is 85; he was in fact 84. The informants are the Manager of the Hospital and James's son Robert Loudon [SL18] from Brooklana. Robert's wife Agnes is also a witness. James's old age had been a period of privation and hard work. People who lived at White Rock recalled that in winter he wore an overcoat that he had made for himself from the hide of a white bullock, which used to glow in the moonlight and earned him the sobriquet: "the ghost of White Rock".
Headstone of Jane Loudon [WP6], George's Plains Anglican Church, near Bathurst New South WalesHis wife had moved to Perth after Grandma Thompson had died and her own parents had moved to Georges Plains. She lived for a time in the little brick cottage next to the Methodist Church on the Vale Road owned by her sister and brother-in-law, George and Charlotte Shute [WP5]; and when she died on January 8, 1918, she was renting a cottage named "Vale View" on the hill behind the Perthville School.
Rev David Jamison in his letter of September 23. 1904, tells something of the Lowden family back in Newtown Hamilton:27 "The Manse. Newtownhamilton, Sept 23, 1904
Dear Sir,
After making a number of Enquiries & writing to the various ministers roundabout I am glad to say that I have at length succeeded in getting you most of the confirmation which you desire - & I send you herewith certificates of the marriage of your parents Samuel Louden & Mary Thompson on the 27th July 1841 - & of your birth and baptism Oct 2 & Nov 13, 1842, & of the birth and baptism of your sister Jane March 22 & May 4 1845.
Second Presbyterian Church, Newtowmhamilton, Armagh. Members of the Lowden family attended the church. Rev. David Jamison was the Minister in 1904 when James Loudon made his enquiries.I may also say that I remember your brother William who mapped the site of my manse where the Castleblaney and Dundalk roads separate - & your sister (Margaret, I think) who was married to a member of my congregation Bob Conn. But though I have had several conversations with old Joe Haggin, one of the oldest inhabitants here, James McKee, who lives now in what I believe was your farm, Bob Keown, the McIlwaine's and others, none of them could tell me where your mother was buried but I believe you are likely correct in supposing it to be Clarkesbridge. If I find out anything more I will write you, all well, again - but meantime I think it better to send you what I have got. Anxious about these things may I hope that you also see to it that by the exercise of a true & simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - who died for us Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. See Revelations 21/27. And thanking you for your kind postal order I am with kindest regards and best wishes (I was born 43 & came here in 65) Yours very Sincerely, David Jamison
P.S. I write on this paper because it is thin & I clip the certificates a little as they are bulky D.J."
He is wrong about William and Margaret: they are in fact James's uncle and aunt, not his brother and sister. The reference to William's mapping the manse supports the view that the family were involved in the building industry. A check has been made at Clarkesbridge, a nearby village, but there is no headstone for Mary Lowden. Finally, David Jamison's concern for James's soul is salutary. Revelation 21, 27, talking of the City of God, reads: "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Even hope for the next world is severely circumscribed.
Headstone in commemoration of Archibald and Elizabeth Buchanan and their grandfather, Samuel Loudon, Townsville Cemetery, Townsville, Queensland.Only five years after Buchanan's Hotel was opened, Jane Buchanan [SL2] died, on August 25, 1909, in Townsville, of Carcinoma of the Breast and Exhaustion, at the age of 63 years.28 Besides the two children who had died in infancy, she had also lost her daughter Effie [SL23], who had died two years before her mother of Carcinoma of the breast and asphyxia. Effie had married only shortly before her death to Benjamin Ross, Crown Prosecutor in Townsville. Jane's second son William [SL22] died on November 10, 1909, only a couple of months after his mother, aged 37. He had distinguished himself in the Boer War, being mentioned in despatches, and had become a very respected solicitor in Townsville. Jane's father had come to live with her in Townsville before he died in 1896, aged 76, of sarcoma of the jaw. His wife Betsy had died in Glebe of pneumonia in 1880, aged 44. We have information about only some of Samuel and Betsy's family. Records in the Supreme Court at Townsville indicate that Thomas Louden [sic] [SL4] died intestate, leaving property valued at £193, and administration was granted to his sister Mary Gillmer. He died on February 2, 1913, at the age of 53, and at the time was a miner at Ingham. After the death of their mother, the girls (as well as their father) appear to have gone to live with their stepsister Jane in Townsville. Mary [SL5] married Eleazer Gillmer, a draper, at St James Church, Townsville, on April 9, 1883, when her sister Sarah Ann was a witness. Sarah Ann [Sl7] married William Robert Goeldner, a clerk, at the residence of D Buchanan, Townsville, on September 11, 1886, when Effie Buchanan was a witness. The Townsville Electoral Rolls list both Eleazer and Mary Gillmer between 1903 and 1934; but Eleazer, Mary’s husband, died in 1902, and the one listed is their son. They had three sons and five daughters. Mary kept on her husband's draper's shop after his death.
David Buchanan remained the licensee of Buchanan's Hotel until his death on November 24, 1913, at the age of 71. He had contracted diabetes and, seriously ill, had been admitted to a private hospital in Sydney - "The Terrace", Cooper Street, Paddington - where he had a leg amputated. Here he married his nurse, Elsie Hall, who had accompanied him from Townsville, and in his Will he left her most of his property, except for legacies of £500 to each of his sons, Ted and Ernest, and also to his grandson, Benjamin Ross [SL231], and his grand-daughter Jean Brown [SL263], with provision that any residue be divided amongst these four.
SAMUEL LOWDEN'S ELDER BROTHER, JAMES LOWDEN [JL], aged 42, migrated to Port Phillip on the Monteagle, arriving with his wife Sarah, 34, and six children, leaving Liverpool on June 30 and arriving in Melbourne in October, 1855. The eldest, William, was eleven years old, David and Susannah were nine, James five, Lisa Jane three, and Sarah was recorded simply as an infant. Three further children were born after arrival in Australia. The Monteagle, a ship of 1000 tons built in Newfoundland in 1852, was made of timber sheathed in yellow metal. The family paid their own fares, so they must have had reasonable financial means. The two brothers do not seem to have had any further contact with one another. Samuel Lowden was a resolute traveller, moving backwards and forwards a couple of times between Brisbane and Sydney, and finally to Townsville, no doubt by ship, but he does not appear to have had any inclination to visit his brother in Melbourne. It is interesting that his letter from Brisbane (May 4, 1864) mentions Hugh Harvey's son, evidently a mutual acquaintance from County Armagh. James Lowden's wife was Sarah Harvey, daughter of Fraser Harvey. She died of senile decay and asthenia on June 12, 1904, and is buried with her husband in the Old Cheltenham Cemetery. In Australia, James was a market gardener in Cheltenham Road, South Brighton (now known as Wickham Road, Moorabbin), where he owned 30 acres of land, though his address given on his Will dated June 6, 1874 is Arthur's Seat Road. Like his brother and his nephew James he was recorded as being a member of the Church of England (on the Shipping Record and on the Death Certificate). He died at South Brighton on August 24, 1874, at the age of 60. The name is spelt Loudon on the Death Certificate, but a notation says: "should be Louden". He is buried in the Methodist portion of the Old Cheltenham Cemetery, where the Register spells his name as Lowden. His Death Certificate indicates that his father had been a stonemason back in Ireland. His wife lived for a further 30 years, and died at South Brighton in 1904 at the age of 81.
James Lowden's Will, dated June 6, 1874, is marked with a cross, but an affidavit in the Probate Court signed by his son D H Louden on October 2, 1874 states that his father was "a literate person able both to read and write but at the time of the execution of his said Will was from physical weakness caused by the illness he was then suffering under unable to write his name and therefore affixed his mark thereto." His Death Certificate says he died from "Softening of the brain" and "Exhaustion." He left his market gardening property and business to his two sons David Harvey Lowden [JL1] and [JL4] and James Lowden, with provision for them to care for his wife and his unmarried daughters.
Their eldest son, William Louden [JL1], was a builder, thus carrying on the family trade. He was omitted from his father's Will, perhaps because he was already well established as a builder. Among other things' William Louden built the Church of England at Dingley, now an outer suburb on the eastern side of Melbourne, near Dandenong. He was also said to have worked on the Exhibition building in Melbourne. No doubt because of his trade, he and his family moved around a lot, being recorded on Birth and Death Certificates as living in South Brighton, North Melbourne, Deniliquin, Richmond (Victoria), Brighton, Leongatha and Dandenong. He died at Dandenong in 1914, but is buried, with his parents, in the Methodist portion of he Old Cheltenham Cemetery. The other three sons, David [JL2], James [JL4] and Benjamin (JL7), were market gardeners with their father at Moorabbin, and carried on that business after his death. However, the Death Certificate of William Louden [JL1] (who died of Carcinoma of the jaw as his uncle Samuel did) says that his father was a Contractor. What this means is not known. William had also become a Presbyterian, although he had married Elizabeth Holgate in the Moorabbin Wesleyan Church and was buried in the Methodist section of the Old Cheltenham Cemetery. She was born in Melbourne, according to the Marriage Certificate and baptismal records at St James Church, Melbourne, but her descendants say they have evidence that she was born at Markethill, near Newtown Hamilton, in County Armagh. There is also a tradition in that family that there was a Lowden, a naval officer, with Wolfe at Quebec when he scaled the Heights of Abraham to capture the city in 1759.
The spelling variations also plagued the Melbourne branch of the Lowden family. The Victorian Sands and McDougal Directories list Loudon in 1873-5, and Louden from 1876 to 1895, although William Lowden [JL1] is listed as Lowden in 1889, while his brothers remain Louden until 1896, when the whole family became Lowden. There is a story that this was a deliberate choice when a signwriter painted the name as Lowden on the side of their cart taking vegetables to the market, and they decided to retain that spelling to avoid further confusion. Nevertheless, Benjamin Harvey Louden [JL11], James's grandson, seems to have used the Louden spelling, and this was retained by his branch of the family. Four of James and Sarah Lowden's children married members of the McMahen family. This family, also from Northern Ireland; lived near the Lowdens in South Brighton, as did their maternal grandparents named Keys, after whom the suburb of Keysborough is named. The McMahens were insistent about the spelling of their name which they pronounced McMann, in order to distinguish themselves from the McMahons, pronounced McMarn. The McMahens were Protestants and the McMahons were Catholics.
Among the descendants of this family, Victor Lowden [JL122] was a teacher in Victoria and became Principal of a number of Primary Schools; and Don Harris [JL5111] has been for several years a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at the Melbourne Institute of Technology. Harold Lowden [JL171] is a farmer at Corowa, and his daughter Jane [JL1713] is a Major in the Army.
IT WAS COMMON IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY and the first three decades of the twentieth century for daughters of the less well-off country families to go into service in the homes of the more affluent settlers or of residents of nearby towns. James Loudon's and Janey Peacock's second daughter Eliza [SL12] went to work for Captain John Brown, of "Brownlea", Dunn's Plains, in 1880, while Belle Loudon [SL19], some seventeen or eighteen years later, worked for the Mann family at "Woodlands", the family for whom her brother-in-law, Crawford Holden [SL17], later worked, the Holden family living in the homestead.29 She also worked later for the Crago family, the owners of one of the big flour mills at Milltown (South Bathurst)30 and the Craig family in Bathurst. "Brownlea", where Eliza Loudon [SL12] worked, had been pioneered by the Browns in 1828. They were made of sterner material than the Steeles and the Sealeys who had settled at Rockley but moved closer to Bathurst to avoid the risk of attack by bushrangers. The threat was real enough as late as 1863 when Ben Hall's gang held the Keightley family to ransom at Dunn's Plains; but bushrangers were no longer a problem when Eliza Loudon went to work for the Browns in 1888. Nevertheless, we can appreciate the anxieties of a young girl of twelve years of age, twenty miles from home by sulky or cart, living in what is still a fairly isolated spot even today. We have some letters home31 which tell some of the conditions of the time:
Letter 1: "Brownlea, March 9th, 1880.
Dear Mother. I now take the pleasure to pen these few lines to you. I hope they will find you all well as they leave me at present. I want to know all the news from home for we seldom see or hear anything up here. Today we have three visitors from Mount Tamor tell Herbert 32 John and a Mr Wilson who is staying there for a while from Orange. My new dress is very nice but it is very short. I Wrote to Aunt Lizzie 33 that was how I wanted another stamp. Please send me all the news about Grandma34 and I want to know all about my new relative 35 Aunt Rebecca's son tell me what his name is going to be if you know.36 My birthday falls on Easter Sunday Mary's is over and I hope this year in her life has found her wiser than the last 37 You never said a word about any of my Brothers nor sisters please tell me how they all are and if the cows come into the corn as much now. Please I want a nightgown of some sort or other for I have only one and that is an old one. I have not got any money yet. And now I must conclude. I remain your Loving daughter Eliza Louden"
Letter 2:
Ten days later she is getting anxious about not having heard from home:
"Brownlea, March 19th, 1880. Dear Mother, I am very much surprised that you have not written or if you have I have not got your letters. I am not very well but I hope this will find you all quite well. I suppose Will is going to school yet 38 I have written to Aunt Lizzie and have not got an answer. Tell me how Granny is and give my love to her and Aunt Eliza39 and let me know how Grandma is 40 and all my aunts and friends and let me know how Aunt Rebecca is 41 and tell her to write to me if you see her. Has Punch42 come back to uncles yet. pray tell me how you find yourselves at present. You may be thinking of me when I am miles away. I lay awake in the night thinking of you all.
Now you must listen to a story I am going to tell you that happened up here. The master and Missus went to Morriset town on Monday and they said they would be back either friday or Thursday.43 Well that may be they came home on friday. When they went they took Ruth with them so I was left at home with the other girl. On the day after they went she was washing and I was getting some wood there is a step going from the verandah. Somehow or other the girl went into the kitchen while I was putting the wood under the boiler to make the clothes boil when I turned round I was about to step on the place where she was washing to wash my hands when all at once out pops a big snake. I screamed she came running out to see what was up when I called out to the man there was a snake lying there he ran she got the poker but it was too late he disappeared and on Thursday the girl was going out of the hall leading from my room into the pantry when she saw another one coiled up outside in the sun. she made a rush for the poker and me for the tongs in our hurry we forgot to shut the hall door. The girl had by this time got close to the snake when I sang out for the man. He came and the girl made a blow at the snake. Quick as thought it glided in at the open doorway into the hall and behind the big box I had the tongs and opened the pantry door. The man now got a stick and they pushed the box on one side. when the snake got out again the man hit it on the back and then on the head and it was dead. You all would have laughed if you had seen the three of us no doubt
Now read these verses and tell me what you think of them Conductor when you receive a fare, Punch in the presence of the passengere. A blue trip slip for an eight cent fare. A buff trip slip for a six cent fare. A pink trip slip for a three cent fare. Punch in the presence of the passengere. Chorus: Punch Brothers, punch with care. Punch in the presence of the passengere. P.S. Give my love to all the children. I remain
Yours Eliza Rebecca Louden Brownlea Near Rockley."
The snake story and some girlish nonsense help her to forget for a while her homesickness.
Eliza Loudon married Robert Pym, a member of a mining family from Victoria who migrated from Exeter, in Devon, in the 1860s. Other branches of the family had migrated from Somerset to Queensland and South Australia. They were probably related to, but not directly descended from, the famous John Pym, (since he had no children) one of the leaders of the parliamentary rebellion against Charles I. Robert and Eliza Pym went to the Eastern Goldfields in Western Australia during the gold rush there around the turn of the century. Their two eldest children, Dick Pym [SL121] and Kitty Pym [SL122], were born there in 1904 and 1905, but they had returned to Sydney when their youngest child, Ted Pym [SL123], was born in 1906. Eliza died in 1915, at the age of 48, and the father took his family to live in Perthville. After living there for a few years Bob Pym disappeared and was never traced. The children had attended Bathurst High School. Dick was about eighteen at the time and had finished school, and Ted was about sixteen. Dick was working for a chemist in Bathurst and Ted was in his final year at school. Ted immediately left school and went to work for Mr and Mrs Victor Taylor on their farm at "Hereford Flat", and they treated him as one of the family. Dick married Beryl Robens, of Bathurst, got a job at Bracey's departmental store at Lithgow in 1926, and worked there for the rest of his life, retiring after 45 years' service. For more than thirty years he had the responsibility of supervising branch operations of Bracey's in Portland, Cullen Bullen and Lidsdale. He was an expert locksmith. He was an avid reader, a clay pigeon shooter and a golfer. During the Second World War he was a member of the Volunteer Defence Corps. He was an active member of the Lithgow Historical Society, the Lithgow Cemetery Trust and Hassan's Walls Trust. He was also a devoted chess player. But his greatest interest was his active involvement with his wife and family in the Lithgow Baptist Church, where he was variously a Deacon, Secretary, Treasurer, Sunday School teacher and superintendent, a lay reader and one time president of the Blue Mountains District Baptist Association. His eldest daughter, Noreen Pym [SL1211], trained for infants teaching, gaining her Bachelor of Arts degree and Diploma of Education from the University of Sydney. She taught for a while on the Blue Mountains, while completing the degree of Bachelor of Divinity from the Melbourne College of Divinity; and then joined the Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1971, and was a translator and linguist with the Iwaidja aboriginal people until 1979, when she became Technical Studies Coordinator and manager of field personnel for three and a half years. She then did linguistic survey work amongst aborigines in North Queensland. She trained Australian aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in the principles of translation. Dick Pym's son, John Pym [SL1212], trained in Civil Engineering at Sydney Technical College. He subsequently gained the Local Government Engineer's Certificate and is a Member of the Institute of Engineers of Australia. He worked for the Commonwealth Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission as a hydrographic engineer at Tumut from 1949 to 1959. He was Senior Assistant Engineer for the Macleay River County Council in 1959 and 1960, and County Engineer for the Clarence River County Council from 1960 to 1965. In these two positions he was responsible for flood control and flood relief structures, as well as for flood forecast procedures, in conjunction with the NSW Bureau of Meteorology. In 1965 and 1966, he worked with Dowsett Engineering Australia Pty Ltd, specialising in the construction of port facilities for mining ventures and similar undertakings. In 1966 he became Engineer and then General Manager of Stang Australia Ltd, a firm engaged in the construction of pumping, fire fighting and sluicing equipment, and de-watering of foundations of structures in unstable conditions. His major projects involved the two runway extensions of Mascot Airport into Botany Bay, iron ore unloading pits for Mount Newman Mining Company at Port Hedland, de-watering of the Kwinana Wheat Terminal at Fremantle, and work with various sewerage projects all around Australia. He also worked as consultant on the Kwinana Freeway interchange which was built on the mud on the northern end of the Narrows Bridge across the Swan River in Perth. Since 1974, he has worked with the Metropolitan Waste Disposal Authority in Sydney as Deputy Chief Engineer. He is Project Manager responsible for design and construction work for the Olympic Playing Fields being developed at Homebush Bay and won an award for his work there in 1994.
Kitty Pym [SL122] became a stenographer and worked as secretary to the Manager of Caltex Oil and later as secretary for the Royal Australian College of Physicians. During the Second World War she worked in the Women's Emergency Signals Corps, teaching Morse Code to members of the forces, and had the distinction of teaching Lieutenant Roden Cutler, who later won a VC and, as Sir Roden Cutler, was Governor of NSW for many years. She was active in the Congregational Church and, after church union, in the Uniting Church, in Mosman and Parramatta. She was a foundation member of the Congregational Businesswomen's Club in Sydney.
Ted Pym [SL123], after his father's disappearance, completed his Leaving Certificate as a private student in his own time, and went to Sydney Teachers' College from 1924 to 1926. He taught at MacLean (1926), Dorrigo (1926 - 1938) and Leguma (1939 - 1941). He served in the AIF in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945, serving in New Guinea as a gunlayer on 25-pounders in the 2nd/1st Australian Field Regiment. From 1946 to 1948 he was Headmaster of Torrington Public School, near Armidale, and in 1948 he was appointed Headmaster of Tarcutta Central School, near Wagga, where he worked until he died of cancer in January, 1969, at the age of 62. Although Tarcutta School had classes only up to the end of Year 10, Ted supervised many students who completed their schooling to the end of Year 12 by correspondence. He was very highly regarded by his students. He was an accomplished cricketer and tennis player, accumulating several tennis trophies while he was at Sydney Teachers' College and at Dorrigo. He was a strong influence on one of his students at Tarcutta, Tony Roche, who became a Davis Cup player. He was an active worker for the RSL at Tarcutta and was made a life member in 1968. Ted Pym's eldest son, Robin Pym [SL1231], became a sugar farmer at Mackay, in Queensland. He is an elder and Lay Preacher in the Uniting Church, and so is his second wife. Michael Pym [SL1232] is a photographer in Wagga. He and his family are keen musicians: he plays trombone and euphonium in the Riverina Brass Band (now a Concert Band), and his son Russell Pym [SL12322] plays a clarinet and a saxophone. Michael's wife and their daughter Samantha [Sl12321] both play piano and organ.
Bill Loudon [SL13] ca 1890BILL LOUDON [SL13] MARRIED KATE PEARCE, daughter of William Pearce, who lived at Georges Plains. The Pearce family had migrated from Strucumber, in Somersetshire, in 1849. They were members of the Church of England, and keen supporters of St John's Church, built at Georges Plains in 1867.44 However, the third son, William Pearce, had married a staunch Catholic named Annie Kelly, and they had eleven children, many of whom became prominent supporters of the Catholic Church at Perthville. Kate Pearce, however, reverted to the Church of England when she married Bill Loudon. They lived for some time at Georges Plains where their eldest children were born, and then established a sheep and wheat-growing property at Webb's Siding, Narromine, owned by the Webb family, one of whom later married Anne McKenzie [JT2317]. Their first property was on the Tantitha Road, across the railway near Webb's place. Their weatherboard home and the nearby church were burnt out in a bushfire many years after they had left the district. All the children went to school in Narromine, catching the train at Webb's Siding. They later moved to a larger property on Brummagen Creek on the road to Dubbo. It was quite a struggle, but with the help of his three sons, Harold [SL132], Jim [SL133] and Alby [SL135], he managed to make a living. He also established a sawmill at Tomingley, near Peak Hill. When Vanderfield and Reid went broke in Sydney, Bill Loudon and his sons did not get paid for the timber they had delivered, and they lost everything, including the farm. Bill Loudon's wife moved to Dulwich Hill, with the younger children, but she died not very long afterwards; and he retired to do some gold prospecting on Davy's Creek, a tributary of the Campbell's River not far south of The Lagoon, at a spot remembered from his youth as gold-bearing country, but made no spectacular gold discovery. George Peacock [WP27], who married Margaret Pearce, a relative of Bill Loudon's wife, Kate Pearce, also moved to Narromine in about 1906; it is not known whether the two families had any contact there but, in view of their relationship on both sides of the family, it is likely that they did.
All of Bill Loudon's family except one had bright red hair, inherited from the Peacocks, and compounded by the genes of the Loudons, some of whom had hair of a delicate sandy colour, and of the Pearces. The one exception was Gladys Loudon [SL138], who, because she was brunette, was always called Brownie. Bill Loudon's son Harold [WP132] took up a new farming property at "Roseneath", Weethalle, near West Wyalong, which proved successful, and is still carried on by his son, Gordon Loudon [SL1321]. Gordon's son, Ross Loudon [SL13211], also has a farm in the West Wyalong district, at Tallimba. Harold and his wife Phyllis lived a life of pioneers in a slab hut when they first married in the 1930s. Harold was a fine horseman who cleared the mallee scrub with heavy rollers.
Jim Loudon [SL133] and his daughter Beryl Loudon [Sl1332] on her wedding day, March 1950Jim Loudon [SL133] got a job on the Railways at Binnaway and later at Hornsby, while Alby [SL135] got work as a tram conductor in Sydney. Alby met with an accident when he fell from the footboard of a tram and was hit by a car. He was not seriously injured, but did not return to tram conducting; he married and moved to Bathurst. It was during the depression of the 1930s and only odd jobs were available, mainly navvying on the roads at "£1 a week and find yourself".... not as good as the jobs available in Brisbane in 1864 which Alby's great grandfather mentioned in his letter.45 He joined the RAAF during the Second World War, and worked in Sydney after the War.
Chubb Loudon [SL1333] (right) with his son Robbie [SL13331]. Taken in 1972Jim Loudon's son, Chubb Loudon [SL1333], joined the Commonwealth Bank, and served at Pennant Hills, Bathurst, Kiama, Mittagong, Hornsby and King Street, Sydney, before being appointed Manager at Asquith and later Petersham. On retirement in 1984 after 40 years' service he received a congratulatory telegram from the Managing Director of the Bank and a valedictory letter from the Managing Director of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation. Chubb's brother Lex Loudon [SL1334] worked for the ES and A Bank for fifteen years and then conducted two newsagencies in Hurstville. After selling these he worked for a time as a Bulk Bread Vendor for Bakehouses of Australia, and then retired to run a small farm with Hereford cattle at "Braedon", Barry. Chubb's son Robbie Loudon [SL13331] served for 27 years with the Commonwealth Bank and, reached the status of Manager, with special responsibility for computers and automatic telling machines in the Sydney City area. He retired in 1994 to conduct a service station and store at Eumundi, not far from Gympie, where Samuel Loudon ran his ill-fated hotel. Robbie's daughter Annette Loudon [SL133311] studied Computer Art at Wollongong University and at the University of California, San Diego, and has contracts with large advertising agencies in the United States. Her father's cousin Glenda Lees [SL13321], daughter of Beryl Lees, is a Primary School teacher, and her sister Margaret Lees [SL13322] is a High School teacher. Lex's daughter, Christine Davis [SL11342], was for several years Secretary to the Assistant Deputy Registrar of the Land Titles Office in Sydney, and has more recently worked in the office of Asquith Girls' High School.
Bill Loudon's eldest daughter, Phyllis Loudon [SL131], married Bill Pringle, a shearing contractor. They lived in Kingsgrove, in Sydney. Their second son, Jock Pringle [SL1312], was a student in the Economics faculty at the University of Sydney when the Second World War started. He had been a member of the University Regiment, and was one of the first to volunteer for the AIF. He went to Singapore as a Lieutenant in the 2nd/18th Battalion and was killed at the fall of Singapore. He was later reported by an eye witness as having been captured by the Japanese, but does not appear to have survived for long. It is likely that he was executed during the interrogation. Ted Brown, of the 2nd/20th Battalion reported in Singapore and Beyond that he saw the Japanese interrogating Jock Pringle.
Madge Loudon [SL136] married Alf Edwards from Narromine. The forebear of the Edwards family, George Edwards, had migrated from Camberwell, in Surrey, and settled in the Bathurst district in the mid-nineteenth century, and lived variously at Turon, The Rocks, Farrell's Grave and Molong. He married Mary Hodgson at Bathurst in 1857; she was the daughter of a convict named Thomas Hodgson, transported from Lancashire in 1815, and his wife Elizabeth Lowe. The records show that they had a link with the Hamer family at Bury, in Lancashire, since they applied in 1848 to have a son and his wife join them in New South Wales, stating that the son lived at Summerseat and worked at Mr Hamer's cotton factory.46 Alf and Madge Edwards ran a general store, first at Mortdale and then at Belmore, in Sydney. Their son, Pete Edwards [SL1362], became an Accountant. Their daughter, Gail Edwards [SL1363], married John Atherton, a senior manager in Telecom (then the Post Master General's Department.) Their daughter Kylie Atherton [SL13631] holds a Bachelor of Business degree in Accounting from the University of Western Sydney, and works for Rothschilds, Merchant Bankers, while their second daughter Melissa Atherton [SL13632] works for the Westpac Bank.
IT WAS THE USUAL THING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY for babies to be born at home. The alternative, a trip to hospital of several miles over rough roads in a sulky, sometimes at night, might have been a greater hazard than the lack of expert attention and hospital facilities. In any case the midwives were very experienced. Prudence Hamer [AH4, WC4] and Martha Nolan [AH6] were midwives, but the one most commonly called on at Perth was Maggie Hicks, sister-in-law of Ellen Shute [WP12] who married Maggie's brother-in-law. But childbirth at home had its risks. One casualty of this was James and Jane Loudon's fifth child, Sam Loudon [SL15], who was brain damaged, perhaps by temporary lack of oxygen during birth. In appearance he looked normal, and apparently was a lovable child and man. Ralph Hamer [SL194] has Janey Loudon's postcard album in which she has preserved a rich variety of postcards of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of them are addressed to Sam, from loving sisters, aunts and cousins. Allen Callaghan [WP228], in a letter to Bob Loudon [SL154, WP654], recalls that Sam Loudon often visited the home of his parents, "The Pines", Vale Road, Perth, when Allen was a boy. Allen was born in 1903, and Sam, born in 1873, was already an adult. Allen recalls that Sam "was a grown man, bearded so far as I can recall and mentally retarded, but charmingly kind and friendly. My parents quite obviously had a sympathetic affection for him. One of my first vivid memories is the look of amazement and great wonderment on Sam's face as he looked into the gramophone "funnel" when he heard it for the first time." To have had a sub-normal child in those days, with nine other children to care for, and a frequently absent husband, must have been a great burden; but obviously the family, even the extended family, were most sympathetic and helpful. Following his mother's death in 1918, Sam's care was taken over by his brothers and sisters. Mary Preece [SL11], living at Bankstown, and Bill and Kate Loudon [SL13], now living at Dulwich Hill, shared responsibility for his care. When he became entitled to an old age pension, he was placed in the Old Men's Home at Lidcombe State Hospital. His sister, Maggie Holden [SL17], and her family lived not far away in Bankstown from the mid-1920s, and she and her family took a close interest in his welfare. When he became ill in 1942, they had him admitted to a private hospital at Lakemba, where he died on July 10, 1942, at the age of 69.
Jim Loudon [SL14] moved to Sydney as a young man, to get work as a wharf labourer, and married Nellie Moore, whose parents had lived at Redfern from the mid-nineteenth century. Jim and Nellie, at first lived in the Paddington - Woollahra area, and then moved to the Moore's home at Redfern where they lived for the rest of their lives, and raised three children, losing a fourth in infancy. Their son Jack Loudon [SL153] also worked on the wharves, and after the death of his parents, lived on in the same house until he died in 1992. Bob Loudon [SL144] joined the Commonwealth Public Service, and rose to a senior position in Hobart. He married Joan Coggins, who became one of the most senior English teachers in the Tasmanian Education Department, holding the position of Acting Superintendent of English at one stage. She was active in the State branch and nationally in the Australian English Teachers' Association. Their son Rolf Loudon [SL1442] is a Computer Systems offer with the Tasmanian Police Department.
Deborah Loudon [SL16] married Christopher Hetherington, at St Matthias Church of England, Paddington, on May 5, 1906. James Martin, perhaps Deb's Uncle James, who had married her Aunt Annie Peacock [WPJ], was one of the witnesses. According to the Marriage Certificate, Christopher was a soldier. He had served in the Boer War but later became a Warder at Goulburn Gaol. He came from County Fermanagh in Ireland; family tradition says that he was a very strong Orangeman and Mason. They had seven children. Deb had the very delicately fine honey-coloured hair that was a feature of many of the Loudons, and was a strikingly attractive person. Her domestic service was in the household of the Governor of Victoria, Lord Hopetoun, in the 1890s. She also worked in the vice-regal home in the early years of the twentieth century when Lord Hopetoun became the first Governor-General of the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia. Perhaps she met her future husband as he served on duties of an official nature with the governor-general.She was reported to have been clairvoyant, a gift that was both a blessing and a burden. The Governor-General had her entertain his guests on social occasions with her remarkable powers; but she also had dreadful portents of coming events, including her own death, which occurred shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, when a soldier, riding a pushbike to a training parade and carrying a rifle, collided with her on the side of the road in the dark and the rifle went through her head. Her two daughters also reported having premonitions and second sight but found these experiences so disturbing that they did not cultivate them. Descendants of later generations have felt similar psychological (or spiritual) stirrings also. Her eldest daughter, Belle Hetherington [SL161], married Hilary Percival, who was station master at various towns in southern NSW.
The second daughter, Barney Hetherington [SL162], so named because she reminded her father of an old mate of that name, married Harry Sidwell, a cousin of Bill Sidwell, the Davis Cup tennis player. Their only daughter Carmen [SL1621] worked in computing with an insurance firm. Their eldest son, Bill Sidwell [SL1624], has a Ph D in Chemistry from the University of Sydney and has done post-doctoral research at the University of Basle, in Switzerland. He is also a qualified pharmacist and works as a technical director of a multinational pharmaceutical firm in Sydney. Barney and Harry's fourth child, Alan Sidwell [SL1624], was until recently Personnel Manager with a shipping and trading firm and lived for many years in New Guinea. Bill's three children are strong swimmers who have competed at State and national levels. Cassandra [SL16221] was educated at the International School at Basle, at the Black Forest Academy in Kandem, Germany, and at Ravenswood School, Gordon. William [SL16222] and James [SL16223] were educated at the International School, Basle, and at the Sydney Anglican Grammar School (Shore), at North Sydney, where James rowed in the winning First VIII in the Head of the River Regatta in Sydney and at the Hong Kong International Regatta in 1988. He was also a member of the NSW Youth VIII in 1989-90 and was one of the pair that won the Australian Universities Heavyweight Men's Pairs in 1990. Both boys studied at the University of Sydney, William as a Chemical Engineer and James as a Civil Engineer.
MAG LOUDON [SL17] MARRIED CRAWFORD HOLDEN, an Ulsterman from County Antrim, who had migrated to Australia with his brother. Crawford was an expert horseman and registered jockey who rode bush-bred horses in the Turon Cup and other race meetings around Bathurst. He delighted in the tale of how, after a very successful day at the Turon Races, he travelled back to Bathurst along the Bridle Track and a defeated rival tried to frighten his horse over the cliff by firing rifle shots in his direction. Before marriage he had worked in shearing sheds throughout NSW and had availed himself of the libraries set up there by the Australian Workers' Union; he learnt by heart, and loved to recite, whole slabs of Victorian poetry, such as Thomas Moore's "Lalla Rookh". His own library revealed a wide catholicity of interests ranging through literature, history, theology and politics. After their marriage he and his wife and family lived in the homestead at "Woodlands", at the junction of the Fish and Campbell Rivers, where Crawford was manager. The owner at that time was a Mr Mann, who died in 1923, and the property was sold again and the job was discontinued. The family then moved to Bankstown, where Crawford built a home with his own hands, and worked as an agent in the Sydney Vegetable Markets. On half an acre of ground they established a vegetable garden and ran a cow, from which they were able to assist destitute neighbours in the depression that ensued in the 1930s. They were close friends with a Mr Grimshaw, a brother of the novelist Beatrice Grimshaw, who lived at Kelso in the historic Wayside Inn, now demolished. The old homestead on "Woodlands" was later destroyed by fire. Crawford Holden was one of the horsemen who met Field Marshall Lord Kitchener at Kelso and escorted him into Bathurst where he unveiled the Boer War Memorial on King's Parade. Irene Holden [SL173] has the invitation issued to her parents to attend the ceremony on Monday, January 10, 1910, with afternoon tea to follow in Machattie Park. There was a local legend, since disproved, that Kitchener refused to unveil the memorial until the name of the local soldier, Lieutenant Handcock, was removed, since he had been convicted and executed with Breaker Morant for murdering a Boer missionary. The local citizens added the name at a later date. The afternoon tea was, in fact, not held, because Kitchener refused to attend. This may have been what gave rise to the legend about his alleged refusal to unveil the memorial. In 1920, Crawford Holden was again a member of a Mounted Escort, this time to accompany the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) into Bathurst from Kelso, where he had disembarked from his train. At "Woodlands" the Holdens continued a close friendship with the various branches of the Thompson family, especially Uncle Hans Thompson [JT7], Eliza Schoe [JT23] and Queenie Callaghan [JT34], and Harry and Agnes Clifton [JT35], who frequently visited "Woodlands" for quail shooting. When they moved to Sydney their home at Bankstown became the centre for various branches of the Loudon and Thompson families visiting Sydney, not only those from the Bathurst district, but also the Loudons [SL18] and Thompsons [SL61] from the Dorrigo district, the Loudons [SL1J] and the Hetheringtons [SL16] from Goulburn; and the Pyms [SL12], and Jim Loudon's family [SL15] from Redfern; and Bill Loudon's family [SL12], now scattered, also paid frequent visits. The Hamer home [SL19] filled a similar role at Perthville for those relatives returning to the district of their origins.
Mag Loudon [SL17], like her husband, was a fine horsewoman, having had the responsibility of breaking in horses, both draught horses and saddle horses, on her parents' farm after her older brothers had left home. She rode side-saddle. George Holden [SL174] and Irene Holden [SL173] were keen riders like their parents. On the outbreak of the Second World War, George joined the Remount Section of the AIF, but it soon became apparent that there was no role for horses this time, and he transferred to the Infantry. Irene was the accountant for the textile firm of Davies Coop at Marrickville and later at Rydalmere for 22 years, and her home at Pymble, after she moved from Bankstown, was long regarded by many country relatives as their Sydney headquarters. Her eldest sister, Linda Holden [SL171],was a buyer for the Sydney stores of Ashleys' and Buckinghams'. She married Bill Walmsley who, after service in the RAAF in Europe during the Second World War, when he was a flying instructor, became Senior Engineer and Spinning Mill Manager with Davies Coop and later Bradmill, when that firm took over Davies Coop.
Jack Holden [SL175] presenting the George Holden Memorial Trophy at the Cooma Show 1995.Jack Holden[SL175] was a keen bicycle rider and took part in many road races, including the Goulburn-Sydney race on several occasions before the War, when he worked for a Japanese woolbuying firm in Sydney. He was still riding 30 and 40 miles a day well into his seventies. He joined the 8th Division, AIF (B Coy, 2nd/30th Battalion) which went to Singapore and was prisoner-of-war at Changi and on the Thai-Burma Railway for three and a half years. Despite contracting typhoid and being reduced to 5( stone in weight, he survived the ordeal, though his family received no news of him until the War was over. His mother gave up in despair, especially when other families were getting news of their p.o.w sons through the Red Cross, and she died within a couple of days of the end of the War. Only a couple of days later, news came that Jack was on his way home. After the War, both George and Jack moved to Cooma where George did bulldozing contracting and, with Jack, took up a sheep property; later Jack ran a general store. Jack married Joan Reid, whose cousin George Reid, from Berridale, had earlier married his sister, Jane Holden [SL172], who unfortunately died in 1945, at the age of 33. Jane had been active in the Berridale CWA and Red Cross and had introduced basketball to the local school. Jack took a very prominent part in the RSL at Cooma, and attended the Annual Congress at Sydney for 36 years (at the time of writing). He twice held the office of President of the Cooma Sub-branch, was vice-president for ten years and treasurer for twelve years. For 42 years he was delegate to the district council and was district council president for seven years. In 1967 he was made a Life Member of the RSL and in 1978 he was awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Monaro and South Coast District Council. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 1995, the RSL's highest award. He was Anzac of the Year in Cooma in 1984. He was a member of the Cooma-Monaro Sub-branch of the Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women for 35 years. He was an active member of Cooma Legacy, caring for the families of deceased ex-servicemen for over 30 years. In Legacy he served variously as chairman, secretary and treasurer. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Cooma Ex-Servicemen's Club for 40 years, serving seven years as President, five years as secretary, six years as vice-president, and has served for two periods as treasurer. He was also at one time vice-president of the Monaro Cricket Association and vice-president of the Southern Districts Cricket Council for one year. He was a committee member and one time treasurer of the Cooma United Rugby League Football Club. He was an active member of St Paul's Anglican Church, Cooma, where he has served as sidesman and vestry member. He was also President of the Cooma Girl Guides for two years when his two daughters were members. Irene and Jack Holden donated a perpetual trophy that is contested annually at the Cooma Show by horse riders under 18, in memory of their brother George.
THE FIRST RECORD WE HAVE OF ROBERT LOUDON [SL18] consists of letters he wrote to the Bathurst paper as a schoolboy. Then he is listed in 1900 and 1901, when he was nineteen years of age, as a member of the Parochial Council and collector for Lagoon for St John's Church of England Parish, Georges Plains. In 1881, his father had been listed as a collector at Lagoon. Other collectors were listed for Sandy Creek, Cow Flat, Caloola and Fitzgerald's Valley. Apart from his father, Robert appears to have been the only member of the family who took an active role in Church affairs. Robert Loudon and his wife Agnes Hunt, moved from the Campbell's River to pioneer new farm land at Pickett Hill, Valla, in the Dorrigo District in 1912 or 1913. They were later joined by Bob's father's cousin, James Thompson [JT61], who married Agnes Hunt's sister. The Loudons drove a covered cart, called "Old Sociable", with all their goods and their three eldest children, Bill, Ron and Cherrie. The journey took six weeks; a young foal, six weeks old when they started out, walked all the way with its mother pulling the cart. They named their property "Robley". There was much clearing to be done in establishing a farm, and the Loudons and Thompsons took out much timber for local sawmillers, becoming expert timber-cutters in the process. Cedar was still plentiful in that district at the time. Bob Loudon and Rolfe Thompson [JT611], Jim Thompson's son, who was then about twenty years of age, were balloted blocks of land adjoining one another, but the Loudons later moved to a selection at Upper Bobo. After he married, Rolfe Thompson moved to Urunga, but later went back timber-cutting with the Loudons at Upper Bobo. Cherrie Loudon [SL183] moved back to the farm in the 1980s and restored the old family home. Her father, Bob Loudon, in the latter part of his life had been a member of the Dorrigo Shire Council. The eldest son, Bill Loudon [SL181], and the second son, Ron Loudon [SL182], took part in competitive wood-cutting. Ron won the Underhand 12" Grindstone Handicap at the Urunga Show in 1934, and also the 12" Underhand Grindstone Handicap at the Sydney Royal Show in that year. Bill was an expert with the bullocks which they used in hauling logs from the forest. He drove a team of his own at eleven years of age, and began breaking in bullocks at the age of fourteen. A skill had been passed on from his grandfather, who had no doubt taught his father. Ron's son, also Ron Loudon [SL1821], was a schoolteacher, but unfortunately was killed when kicked by a horse. The youngest of Bob Loudon's sons, Rolfe Loudon [SL185], was burnt to death when the hut he was sleeping in while working in the bush caught fire when he was asleep. He was forty years of age and unmarried.
Bob Loudon's granddaughter Isabelle Singh [SL1826] lived in Canberra after her marriage, and her daughter Bronwyn Singh [SL18262] graduated from the Australian Catholic University in Canberra as a Bachelor of Arts in May, 1992. After a few months' relief teaching at government and independent schools in Canberra she travelled to the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf where she works as an infants' teacher. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Education degree by distance education from the Bathurst Campus of Sturt University.
Joseph Loudon [SL1J] ca 1920JOE LOUDON [SL1J], THE YOUNGEST OF JAMES AND JANEY LOUDON'S CHILDREN, worked for the Railways as a train guard, stationed at Goulburn. He married Susie Thompson, of Cowra, and had four sons and a daughter. He served in the AIF in the First World War and was wounded in France. Irene Holden [SL173] has a letter which he wrote to his sister Mag Holden [SL17] from a military hospital at Oxford in England:
"3rd Southern General Hospital Oxford England June 1st 17 Dear Mag
I Hope you don't think I Have forgotten you, because I have not written more letters, but it is not often a person can write a letter, when in the firing line, and I was in it pretty constant from January until I got Hit, but I sent some field p.Cards when I could, and they are not much use I was wounded on 3.5.17 at Bullecourt got a couple of machine gun bullets in me, one in abdomen and one in Hip, but I am out of bed now, and will soon be about again. I Have been Here a week now it is a lovely place, the Hospital I am in, is the examination rooms of Oxford university I was out for a motor drive yesterday and Had tea at a farm, it was bonsa, the country looks like one big flower garden shearing started a week ago and will be Harvest time in about six weeks. and the weather is lovely not Hot or cold. tell Crawford that the pipe he gave me saved me from getting an extra bullet wound, but it got smashed into three bits I am saving it for a souvenir. A bullet Hit it on the silver part of the stem, it was a good friend to me before, and at the last it saved me from getting an extra bullet so it Deserves Keeping I can't write too much as I am a bit shaky give the Kids a Kiss for me and remember me to all good bye with love from Joe 2412 Pte J.Loudon B.Coy 18 Batt A I F Abroad"
Susan (Susie) Loudon, nee Thompson
(unrelated to the Bathurst Thompsons)
wife of Joe Loudon, ca 1923Joe's eldest son, Ross Loudon [SL1J1], served in the AIF in the Second World War, and then worked all his life with the NSW Railways Detective Service, rising to become officer-in-charge of that organisation.
The second son Arthur Loudon [SL1J2] served in the RAAF as a navigator in Lancasters during the Second World War and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) and was promoted to the rank of Pilot Officer. He flew 33 missions over Europe. He married Dot Johnson, a Scottish girl, and brought her back to Australia with their eldest daughter. After the War he joined the NSW Railways, but transferred to the Commonwealth Public Service, where he worked for the National Capital Development Commission in Canberra, rising to a senior position.
Ray Loudon [SL1J3], known as Joe to his friends outside the family, served in the AIF in New Guinea and Borneo. After the War he returned to Goulburn High School to complete his Leaving Certificate, and then went on to the University of Sydney to complete the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He married Bonnie Smith, of Goulburn, and worked in Sydney as a compositor while studying. He served as a schoolteacher at Moss Vale and Tullibigeal, before transferring to the Commonwealth Public Service in Canberra, where he worked first in the National Library and then as Senior Inspector for the Public Service Board, chiefly selecting and training graduates for the Commonwealth service. His wife was a pre-school care and guidance worker, and then a teacher of the deaf in Canberra. Ray resigned from the Public Service in 1974 to pursue full-time wood-carving and painting, with occasional jobs as a relieving teacher. He has had several exhibitions - in Goulburn, Sydney, Melbourne, Bathurst, Orange, Canberra and Paris. He has also had a number of poems published, in the Bulletin, the Canberra Times, and other journals.
Bill Loudon [SL1J4] was educated at Bourke Street Primary School in Goulburn and at Goulburn High School. He began employment with the Railways as a junior porter and progressed to the position of senior shunter. He joined the Army in the Second World War and at the end of the War was given the task of transporting live sheep to Japan. He then served with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan, and afterwards returned to the Railways at Griffith, where he met and married Lyla Knight. He then joined the NSW Health Department's Division of Mental Hygiene and qualified, after four years' study, to become a male nurse. After ten years in that profession he took up Automotive Mechanical work and became a Motor Vehicle Repairer, specialising in hydraulics for trucks and agricultural machinery. He then became a plant operator and truck driver in local government at Parramatta, living first at Pendle Hill and later at Merrylands. He served as a District Counsellor of the RSL at Merrylands for fourteen years and Sub Branch President for seven years. He and Lyla have four children.
JANE AND DAVID BUCHANAN'S SON, TED BUCHANAN [SL25], was a medical practitioner who trained at the University of Sydney, graduating Bachelor of Medicine, and at Edinburgh, where he gained his Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and at Glasgow, where he completed his Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his training in 1908 and worked at the Townsville General Hospital for a brief period, and then was Medical Superintendent of the Rockhampton General Hospital for one year in 1910, before going into private practice in Rockhampton, where he remained until he died in 1939. He served in the Royal Australian Medical Corps in the First World War. He was President of the Rockhampton Golf Club and was Rockhampton billiards champion for several years. His son, Peter Buchanan [SL252], went to school at Southport Grammar School; and served in the RAAF in the Second World War, and rose to the rank of Group Captain. Among other posts, he once held the position of Liaison Officer at Australia House in London. After retirement from the Air Force, he took a senior role in the Department of Defence in Canberra as Director of the Defence Training Centre. His specialty is computers and systems analysis.
Rhoda Buchanan [SL26], known as Buttercup because of the characteristic Loudon hair colour, married a NSW grazier named Bert Brown, a son of J G Brown who opened a general store in Dubbo in 1882, which in 1916 amalgamated with the Wellington Stores to form Western Stores, conducting department stores in several western NSW towns, including Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Wellington, Gilgandra, Trangie and Narromine.47 Buttercup was educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne. Their son Robert Brown [SL262], after completing his schooling at the King's School, Parramatta, took an Engineering degree at Sydney University, and then went to Cambridge University where he studied Engineering for two years while training with the English Electrical Company. He completed this in 1934, and, because the worldwide economic depression was then at its worst, he took a job in England where he has remained ever since. By 1938 he had become Deputy General Manager of the Wessen Electricity Company, based at Newbury, in Berkshire. He joined the British armed forces during the Second World War, and spent the period from 1941 to 1945 in a Tank Division in North Africa and in Normandy after the invasion, where he was captured and spent some months as a prisoner-of-war. After demobilisation he returned as General Manager to the Wessen Company, which was nationalised in 1948 as part of the Southern Electricity Board, of which Robert was Chairman from 1954 to 1974, when he retired, and is now living in Reading..
Clive Hamer [SL198], Ralph Hamer [SL194]
and Peter Buchanan [SL252],
at the Family Reunion, Bathurst, 1985Bert and Rhoda Brown's daughter, Jean Brown {SL263], married Dr Bill Morrow, who was a prominent New South Wales surgeon. He was President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1967 and 1968, Chairman of the Australian Drug Evaluation Board for a number of years, and an Honorary Physician at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Consulting Physician at various other hospitals in Sydney. He was Lecturer in Therapeutics at the University of Sydney from 1937 to 1963, and President of the NSW Branch of the British Medical Association in 1958 and 1959. He served in the AIF in the Second World War. He was Surgeon to the NSW Governor and to the Queen when she was on visits to NSW, and was knighted in 1959.
Ernie Buchanan [SL27] was a First Grade Rugby League player in Queensland, and was chosen for a tour of the United Kingdom in 1909, but declined to go because he was about to marry Jessie Mackay. Their only son, Bill Buchanan [Sl271] served in the RAAF in the Second World War as a bomber pilot. He was shot down over Java, survived, and spent several years as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese.
1 99 In the possession of Nick Loudon [SL1J34]. 1 See p 149.
2 See p 157.
3 This reference to the desertion of a James London was first sighted as a result of research by Bob Loudon [SL144].
4 See p 147.
5 See p 147.
6 The Irish mile is 2240 yards, compared to 1760 yards for the Imperial mile.
7 This information has been received from Mrs Blackwood, a member of the Thompson family in County Down. See map facing page 161.
8 See p 157.
9 Given to the Mitchell Library by Irene Holden [SL173].
10 Margaret Schoe [JT3]
11 Margaret Schoe [JT3]
12 See photo facing page 145.
13 Boswell's Life of Johnson, June 8, 1762,
14 Apparently April was the month for annual renewal regardless of when the original licence was issued.
15 This is quoted from a Letter to the Editor written by D H Dinte thanking helpers at the fire. Dinte was perhaps the owner of the theatre that was destroyed at the same time. This research has been done by Peter Buchanan [SL252].
16 The Illustrated Sydney News, July 6, 1870, complained that the hotels in Ravenswood "are little better than dog kennels, and their pretentious advertisements... as to sitting and bedrooms are inventions of the brain..... All of them are miserably short of space."
17Townsville had been flattened by a cyclone in 1870.
18 Jan 5, 1888.
19 Besides his part in the very successful Burns Philp enterprise, Robert Philp became Mayor of Townsville and twice Premier of Queensland - 1899 - 1903 and 1907 - 1908; he was knighted in 1915.
20 isolated
21 Formerly in the possession of Irene Holden; [SL173] now in the Mitchell Library.
22 Formerly in the possession of Irene Holden [SL173], now in the Mitchell Library.
23 See p 135. Mary Clugston migrated to Australia with her daughter and her daughter's family in 1865, fourteen years before this letter was written. They then apparently went to the United States. This comment probably refers to a promise by the daughter to write after their arrival in USA.
24 Shipping Records, NSW Archives. Information about Mary Clugston, omitted from the First edition, was was researched by Ross Loudon [JT11J1, SL1J1]
25 Letters from these offices in the possession of Nick Loudon [SL1J34].
26 The replies are in the possession of Nick Loudon [SL1J34].
27 In the possession of Nick Loudon [SL1J34].
28 Obituary, North Queensland Herald.
29 See p 168.
30 This was the flour mill founded by Alexander Crilly. See p 136. The other very successful flour mill at Milltown was owned by the Tremains who moved their milling operation in from "Rainham". See p 48.
31 In the possession of John Pym [SL1212].
32 Unidentified. Mount Tamar adjoined Thompson's property on the Bathurst side. Perhaps Herbert was someone who lived there.
33 Elizabeth Shute [WP1].
34 Eliza's great grandmother Thompson died in July, 1881, after a long illness.
35 Probably a cousin just married.
36 Cyril Drew [WP84], born Feb 22, 1880.
37 What has Mary been up to? She has just turned sixteen.
38 Her eldest brother Will Loudon [SL13] is eleven years old. All of the children went to the Lagoon School, which was built in 1850, riding a horse double-banked up along the Campbell's River.
39 Eliza Thompson [JT4].
40 Perhaps this refers to Rebecca Peacock [WP], called Grandma to distinguish her from Granny Thompson who was actually Eliza's great grandmother.
41 Rebecca Drew [WP8].
42 The word is indistinct - perhaps a horse that has strayed.
43 Morisset is just south of Newcastle. It would have been a hectic journey by sulky to have gone there and back in four or five days. It was named after an early military commandant stationed at Bathurst, spelt Morisset..
44 See p 101.
45 See p 147.
46 See p 39.
47 It is interesting that the Narromine store was owned by G W Barlow, who was descended from the Rope-Pulley connection. (See the Peacock Family chapter).
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