N.B. Approximate position.. it is hard to pinpoint the position as it's not all that far from Port Macquarie.
Ever wanted to circumnavigate Australia? We still have a way to go...we'll be going on quite a journey, at least virtually, and clockwise. So as to make sure all states and territories are covered, we started in Western Australia and explored a little of the early history of a small part of this massive state via TROVE...from Rottnest Island to Broome..then across to Katherine Gorge, then Tennant Creek, from there to Darwin on the way to the Tiwi Islands, Bathurst and Melville.
We've had to travel back to Darwin, before leaving the Northern Territory, then across to Cairns, in North Queensland... but we didn't stop there, instead headed to the tropical north, to one of the most beautiful areas you can imagine... isolated yes, but perfect for that great getaway... to Cape Tribulation. It seems you loved that area so well, that Cairns was the obvious place to travel to next... not too far south. That was another very popular place...as was our visit to Fraser Island...
We then headed inland, on an approximately 6 hours flight to a place steeped in history.. what a contrast to the sub tropical island of Fraser ...no waterfalls or clear lakes or rainforest, but Longreach has so much to offer.
We then returned to Hervey Bay, by plane, and then took a short drive of approximately 25 minutes to a town founded in 1847... the charming historical town of Maryborough. So many of you loved that place as I do.
What a contrast the next destination was, though it is also very much steeped in history... a beautiful place, but it was a place of horror, of deprivation and loneliness... St. Helena Island. To get there, we left on a ferry from Manly, across to the island.
Then we returned to Brisbane, to explore the beautiful, sub tropical capital city of the Sunshine State. Brisbane today, is the third largest city in Australia and growing rapidly...
It has come a long way from it's beginnings as the Moreton Bay convict settlement, with such an interesting history. In an earlier issue, we explored some of the history of Brisbane, then visited Brisbane of a later period. There is so much to see and do in this beautiful city, once known as the biggest country town in Australia...
After a break, we resumed our travels... heading in to New South Wales... not too far over the border, to a place that literally stands out, begging to be noticed. It was first given a European name by Captain James Cook... he recorded seeing " a remarkable sharp peaked mountain lying inland". That place was the very imposing Mt. Warning.. you can refresh your memory here
The New Year saw us travelling again, refreshed and ready to go to yet another beautiful place. Many of you will have stopped there, if only to get a photo taken on the border between Queensland and New South Wales..Coolangatta one side, Tweed Heads on the other. Hard to believe that this was only known as Point Danger in times past, as indeed it was... the lighthouse is a clue...
That place brought back many wonderful memories for so many of you...it was lovely to read your comments and receive your emails..
We moved south again, to a place that means a lot to my family, but also has a very colourful past. It is beautiful, a popular tourist place, the centre of a very busy district, steeped in Australia's colonial history.. it's the bustling town of Port Macquarie. It is around 5 hours drive south of Point Danger.
I concentrated on the convict history of Port Macquarie, perhaps we will return another time to see how the city has changed.
Heading down the coast a bit, then inland, to another town connected to my family.. the country town of Aberdeen, where my father and five of his brothers were born, him being the youngest.
Courtesy of Google maps
New England Highway, Aberdeen, NSW
Cgoodwin - Own work CC BY-SA 3.0
From Wikipedia
Aberdeen is a small town in the upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Hunter Shire. It is 12 kilometres north of Muswellbrook on the New England Highway.
In 1828 Thomas Potter McQueen was granted 10,000 acres, and named the small township after George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen. In 1837 Segenhoe Inn was built, which Potter McQueen named after Segenhoe Manor, in Bedfordshire, where he was born in 1791.[2] Aberdeen Post Office opened on 1 August 1856.[3]
According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 1,894 people in Aberdeen.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 6.7% of the population.
- 86.7% of people were born in Australia and 90.4% of people only spoke English at home.
- The most common responses for religion were Anglican 34.3%, Catholic 28.2% and No Religion 17.9%
The Upper Hunter Shire Council has an interetesting history of Aberdeen as well... including that the school opened in 1864, with an initial enrolment of 27 students.
Traveller gives more information, much of which I hadn't realised including the origins of one of the best known landmarks, Segenhoe Inn... I hadn't known that it employed a large number of convicts..."Segenhoe was a large property employing about 100 convicts. Being, at the time, near the northern edge of European settlement, it was used, in the 1820s, as a base for explorers such as Thomas Mitchell, Edmund Kennedy and Allan Cunningham. The latter followed Dangar's route north from Dart Brook in 1827 and went on to 'discover' the Darling Downs and the overland route to the penal colony at Moreton Bay (the future site of Brisbane).
Read more: http://www.traveller.com.au/aberdeen--culture-and-history-65f9#ixzz5eRBOQWs2 "
My grandparents, and their then family of four, moved from Bellingen where they had owned a cafe in the main street, to Aberdeen, to return to the farming life that my grandfather loved. He had migrated to Australia in 1904, leaving his young bride of a few months in their home town of Potamos, on the island of Kythera. He had a job to go to, working in a cafe for a friend.. it wasn't quite as he expected, his "accommodation supplied " was some bedding on the floor of the room at the back of the cafe. This didn't deter him, he worked as hard as he could, and saved most of his wages, small as they were, to give himself a chance at a better job and to save to bring his wife out. He moved to various places, worked in a few cafes, before going into partnership with a cousin in a cafe in Grafton. You can read more about him here and here.
The call of the land was too strong and he yearned to be back on the land... I never did find out why Aberdeen was chosen. They moved there sometime in 1916, and another son was added to their growing family. Though they lived outside of the township, I have no doubt that my grandfather would have been involved in the community, as he always was. Their house was still standing a few years ago... at one stage, it was a market garden, long after my family left. There is now a large brick home behind it and it has been vacant for awhile.
Aberdeen family home ©Crissouli 2015
Aberdeen family home ©Crissouli 2015
Please click to enlarge images...
I wonder what my grandfather's thoughts on this were? As he wasn't a drinker, he probably thought little of it.
The Maitland Daily Mercury 6 Jun 1916
Browsing through Trove, I chose snippets at random, to give an idea of what was happening in Aberdeen over a period of time...
One of the entries in MISSING PEOPLE, a popular column of the time, is from someone trying to contact 'Joseph Coulthard' who had given his address as Aberdeen, NSW, as 'important news awaits him'. What it doesn't include is who to contact... I wonder if he was ever found..
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Saturday 22 December 1917, page 8In 1918, a young correspondent wrote to a column in the
Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), Thursday 21 February 1918, page 46
The effects of the first world war didn't escape this small country town.. The Farmer and The Settler 22 Oct 1918
It seems dairy farmers weren't getting a fair price even back in 1919..
The Farmer and the Settler 11 Feb 1919
Another mystery... whatever happened to The Teapot Inn?
Smith's Weekly 1 Jan 1921
At least we can see that they were quick thinking... good to be prepared for anything.
Smith's Weekly 15 Oct 1921
This ever growing community was in need of more resources... The Farmer and the Settler 11 Aug 1922
However the biggest news to happen to the Aberdeen community was the Railway Smash of 1926.. My family were still there then, my Dad was just three, but I'm sure some of his older siblings would have been aware of this. The questions I could have asked them will remain unanswered as all the family have now passed on.
Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer (NSW : 1898 - 1954), Friday 17 September 1926, page 6
trains and more trains, Aberdeen, NSW 1926 Some rights reserved
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trains and more trains, Aberdeen, NSW 1926 2 Some rights reserved
On a much lighter note, this item made me smile... you can rely on Smith's Weekly to do that often..
Smith's Weekly 31 Jul, 1926
Sadly, when my family moved from Aberdeen in 1927, they left something precious behind... their eighth child, and sixth son, who
was just 13 months old. He died of convulsions, though the family story was that he choked on a mandarin seed when his older sister gave him a segment. She lived with that guilt all her life, how I wish I had gotten his death certificate before she died, so I could have reassured her it wasn't her fault. The death certificate says that he was buried in the Church of England section of the Aberdeen Cemetery, however enquiries to the council and a visit to the cemetery resulted in no listing at all.
From his death certificate..
1921/013914, lists convulsions as the cause of death. It states that an inquest was unnecessary. He was aged 1 year and 1 month. As he died on the 18th September, 1921, that makes his birthdate August, 1920.
He was " buried in the Church of England Cemetery at Aberdeen, NSW, with Reverend Walter C. Latham of the C of E officiating. Witnesses were Con Coroneo and A. Jamieson, the undertaker was W.R.D.Stephens."
I can't imagine how hard it was for my grandparents and my Aunts and Uncles to leave this baby behind, in an unmarked grave.
C of E Aberdeen, Menedimos Catsoulis unmarked grave
©Crissouli 12-06-2015
Muswellbrook Chronicle (NSW : 1898 - 1955), Tuesday 13 February 1951, page 2
I have driven through Aberdeen but not stopped - I'll take more notice next time. Lovely to know about your family there and it must have been so sad to leave the little boy behind. And I feel for the sister who carried the guilt.
ReplyDeleteIt always bothered my Aunt. She loved children and was one of the kindest and most caring person you would ever meet. It is a small town, but has quite an interesting history. Most of us just know it as a place to drive through, but there is much more to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.