So you want to research your family history....

 

HEALTH WARNING - Genealogy is ADDICTIVE

These are some free resources to use as a starting point

·         Begin with YOU and search backwards [can add your children and grandchildren later].

·         Do not start with some famous person with the same name and try to find a link.

·         Collect family stories, talk to close and distant relatives, some of those old yarns may have a grain of truth and they add colour to your tale.

·         Collect family mementos eg Bible, photographs, medals, letters, diaries, books, furniture and try to find the story of each piece .... the  ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’.

·         Find birth certificates, they give mother’s maiden name.

·         Find marriage certificates, will give father’s names for both bride and groom.

·         Death certificates are less reliable as someone else is giving the information, nevertheless they can indicate number of children.

·         Visit cemeteries to view gravestones as most give a birth and death date.

·         NSW Records start in 1788, can look online for Births to 1910, Deaths to 1980, Marriages to1960.  The NSW index is at < http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm>

<http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=births>

<http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=deaths>

<http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=marriages>

·         This will give the reference number so you can order the certificate [$30 each online]

·         Naming patterns may help eg first son after father’s father, first daughter after mother’s mother, second son after mother’s father, second daughter after father’s mother. The (grand-) mother’s maiden name may be included as a given name e.g. Matthew Taylorson Barry Ford which give clues that you have found the right person.

·         Many rich resources are located with local Family History Groups who are manned by enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers.  They are likely to hold electoral rolls, P.O. directories, cemetery inscriptions, probate indexes, local newspaper obituaries.

·         There may be local or regional Archives or University with newspapers on film and Government Gazettes which are excellent for land grants, medical appointments, mining leases etc. You may be looking at microfiche or microfilm because multiple copies can be made and originals become too fragile. These can also be accessed from places like the National Library.

·         Make use of the BRILLIANT new National Library web site of digitized newspapers which are searchable by name and place and date....<www.trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper>

·         Your local Latter Day Saints Church has access to extensive records from all over the world. International Genealogical Index , the IGI, compiled from millions of records worldwide but especially UK and USA. You can look up the IGI on line and then order the specific film for confirmation and detail.

<http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true>

·         Use census records, some are available free online  eg the 1881 British and Canadian <http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp>

·         Maps may show land subdivisions with owners

·         Education Records, Police records, Post Office records. Inquests, Gaol returns, Divorce records, Occupations eg lists of Clergy or Doctors

·         If your ancestor was a soldier the AWM has a brilliant set of records available online <http://www.awm.gov.au >and follow links to ‘people’. See my blog called 'Researching Your 8th Division Soldier'.

·         Read books about the area where your ancestor lived as he or she may get a mention and you certainly learn about the place where they lived, you may even identify their old house.

·         First arrival in Australia. When? Death cert of this person will give clues for date.

·         Where did they come from? May be on death cert.

·         Convict records, Immigration and Shipping records are available. Some online.

·         Cyndi’s list has close to 300,000 thousand links to web sites  <http://www.cyndislist.com/>

·         Pre 1837 in UK need to go to Parish records

·         For UK the best site to start is < http://www.genuki.org.uk/>

Once you have collected all the information for one family line you’ll need to chase up the other family names....remember you have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great- great-grandparents, 32 great-great-great-grandparents, then 64, 126, 256, 512... so it doubles for each generation you manage to get back…. it’s a never ending task but the detective in you will find it such fun!

And don’t forget you are part of your descendents family tree so remember to write out the story of your life for your own children and grandchildren.

By Caroline Gaden ©

The Christening Gown

        

The white cotton of the old Christening Gown is delicate with age but it has many stories to tell. Over a century of time it has seen plenty of history. It is well traveled now, but it wasn’t always that way. Its journeys reflect the times of its wearers.

In its first sixty five years it remained in its country of origin, England. Indeed it didn’t even stray from its county of origin, Yorkshire. For its first thirty years it didn’t travel out of its birthplace, Pickering on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors, a Market town in ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Herriot’ county.

The piece of white cotton broderie-anglaise was lovingly fashioned into a Christening gown by a Yorkshire lass by the name of Sarah Smith. It was for the christening of her first child who’d been born in January 1912, just a few days before Sarah herself turned twenty seven.

Sarah was a talented seamstress. A qualified dress maker and tailoress, she had done an apprenticeship with Miss Wood in Norton, eight miles from her home. It was the small town where she’d met her future husband.

Sarah’s nimble fingers were kept very busy. She had five sisters, the Mintoft girls, who all expected to be kept in the height of fashion. They would often appear with a mountain of material and many requests for the latest fashion to be produced immediately. None of them were ever forthcoming with some payment for all Sarah’s hard work.

The small christening gown would have been sown with extra love and care: the treadle Singer sewing machine would have hummed along with ease, it was not something made for other people, or for  her sisters. It was special; it was for Sarah’s own baby. Vera, born in January 1912, was the first to wear the beautiful christening gown.

It would be eight long years before it was needed again; years in which the country was at war; years in which hundreds of thousands of men died. Sarah’s husband Harold went to war, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He came home mentally scarred and with a lung infection. The British Legion built a shed in the yard for him to sleep, so he could have as much fresh air as possible.

Their next child Joan was another January girl, born in 1920, just 5 days before her mother’s thirty fifth birthday. The christening gown would have its second outing.

It is possible that the third and fourth outing was for Vera and Joan’s younger cousins, Bill Mintoft and Peter Belbin, but those ‘notches’ are something we’ll never know for sure. Certainly Peter and his wife Doreen did not use them for their two daughters Angela and Christine, and don’t recall attending christenings of Bill’s two boys Trevor and Philip.

By the time we know the gown was needed again, Europe was in economic depression; Britain and Germany were tossing insults across the Channel in a phony war. Sarah was a widow; her husband had succumbed to the lung infection he’d brought back from service in the Great War, the war between Britain and Germany that was supposed to end all wars.

The gown was needed because Vera had a daughter of her own, Judith Ann born in  February 1938. A year later war became a horrific reality, separation inevitable. Vera’s husband John, like her father before, served overseas. It was four years before Judith had a brother John Adrian, another February baby born in 1942. His christening was during a rushed few days of leave.

Joan worked in the office of the local coal-yard and here she met Frank who ran his own haulage business. Just a few months before she became an aunt for the second time, Joan and Frank were married on Christmas Eve 1941. The young couple continued his haulage business, transporting stone from the quarries for road repairs and aerodrome construction. Their happiness was to be short lived. One day Frank collapsed and suffered fifteen seizures. It was the first indication of a large tumour growing in his brain. He was sent to London for surgery during the height of the bombing raids. The operation failed. He was sent back home to die. He lived for several long painful months, now a diabetic and with a changed personality, finally dying in July 1943. The christening gown would not be needed. It would remain carefully stored in Sarah’s cupboard.

By war’s end Vera’s husband had returned from the desert and another baby was on the way. Out came the gown for Antony James, born in December 1946 and another ceremony in the church at the top of Pickering Market Place.

Joan carried on the haulage business following Frank’s death. For company she kept a liver and white Springer spaniel called Major. One day whilst buying some fuel for her car, she met Ron, a pilot who had been de-mobbed from his Air Transport squadron. He had returned to Pickering to help his brother at the North Riding Garage in Eastgate where he’d done his mechanic’s apprenticeship. He was looking for a spaniel dog to mate with his female. The conversation progressed beyond breeding dogs. A year later, in April 1946, the couple married in the ancient, spired parish church, St Peter and St Paul’s, at the top of the Market Place. Their daughter was born in March 1947.

The christening gown was required again. This time it moved from Pickering for the ceremony, but not too far, just thirty kilometres away to Hovingham, home of the Ron’s parents. But this time its stay in church for the ceremony was very short. The baby bellowed so loudly that the vicar suggested she be removed from the church so the service could continue. She’s rarely been back since.

The gown was retired for another ten years. With the passage of time Judith married John Ripley and became the mother of Bridget. The gown had to move even further afield, to York, over forty kilometres from Pickering.

And here it stayed for Judith’s next two children, Amanda and Jeremy. The gown was an hour by car from ‘home’. By now Sarah had passed away and Vera had become custodian of the christening gown. It moved with her to Leeds, a further forty kilometres from its birthplace. It was now three hours from ‘home’.

In 1963 a hibernation started that was to last for close to fifteen years. And with the end of the hibernation came a huge shock. Joan’s daughter had moved to Australia to work. She’d married an Australian. She was expecting her first baby Down Under. How surprised and excited Sarah would have been.

After sixty five years of living in Yorkshire, the gown was to go on the adventure of a lifetime and travel sixteen thousand kilometres to Australia. It was carefully wrapped and packed and entrusted to the care of the Royal Mail. It arrived safely. It was forty hours by plane and truck from ‘home’.

The baby boy was christened in May 1977; the gown was a link to Yorkshire, a bit of English tradition for a homesick young Mum so far from her own family.

The weather was warmer than in England and the gown was not too happy with the bright, burning sunlight on its delicate fibres. This foreign land was brown, harsh and brittle, not the verdant misty gentle of the moorland and wold-land it knew. The gown then journeyed alone back the sixteen thousand kilometres to England.

But as happens in the world, one little boy welcomed a brother and in March 1980 another young Australian was photographed in the beautiful christening gown which had journeyed across the oceans once more for special day on the Southern Tablelands of NSW.

Another return trip to England; by now the gown had over sixty four thousand kilometers of air travel under its belt. It was an old hand at clearing customs and quarantine.

A few years later and it was asked to come to Australia yet again, when another baby boy made his appearance. So in December 1983 the beautiful christening gown faced the hot summer sun Down Under and more photographs were taken of its long skirt and delicate eyelets and embroidery.

On its journey home to England this time the gown was convinced it would not see Australia again. The next generation of cousins was lining up to use it in “England’s green and pleasant lands”. Judith’s daughter Amanda and son Jeremy both welcomed a boy and a girl into their families. The gown was needed for Jonathon in 1988 and Caroline two years later, then for Maria in 1999 and Edward three years later.

The years skipped by. Antony, Adrian and Bridget had no children; sadly Judith died in 1994 followed by her mother Vera in 1996.

On the other side of the globe the three Australian boys grew into fine young men who married and welcomed children of their own. In September 2007 and again in May 2010 the christening gown, so carefully made by great-great grandmother Sarah close to one hundred years before, was in use again. Great-grandmother Joan was there to enjoy the occasion with her daughter, the Yorkshire lass who started the Australian connection.

The beautiful christening gown made with so much love and care a century ago has woven its links between Yorkshire and New South Wales for many years. It has now traveled over one hundred and ten thousand kilometers. It has earned its place in the family’s history in its new home far across the sea from its birthplace.

By Caroline Gaden   ©

Outback Graves

 

Whilst travelling through the outback it is quite common to see evidence of graves or small cemeteries. There are thousands of properties in the Australian outback, almost all have their own small cemetery, or a few graves protected from livestock by rails. For the early pioneers health was a major issue; medical assistance was weeks away, insect borne diseases, poor nutrition, scurvy, dysentery, falling from horses and suicide in the lonely outback all contributed to the death toll.

The deserted town of Farina on the Old Ghan Railway has an extensive cemetery, alas not many of the graves have a headstone. The Afghan ones are located away from the other denominations and face towards Mecca.

Many outback graves have no names. In the early days men tramped from place to place in search of work. Scores perished on their journey through this harsh environment, many succumbed to disease, or the oppressive heat, others were swept away in the sudden floods which poured down the creek channels. Usually those who died ‘on the wallaby’ were buried with a simple wooden cross, but many more have disappeared without trace. Crows and dingoes left little evidence of the victims.  Occasionally, scattered bones were found and buried years later, but usually not identified.

Even experienced Bushmen lost their lives. George Webb, buried on Mt Eba station in the Woomera area of S.A., was obviously a well respected man as his fellow Bushmen of Mt Eba erected a marble headstone in his memory, a very rare event. It reads Sacred to the memory of George Webb, Bushman, who perished from thirst near this place in February 1887 aged 58. This stone erected by his fellow Bushmen at Mt Eba.

“Perished from thirst” was a harsh reality of outback living. It was vital to keep the body at its ideal temperature of 37° C. The temperature of the surroundings can rise well above this normal body temperature for hours every day in many remote areas, thus the body gains heat from the environment. We sweat to try and cool down. In the process we can lose as much as 10 litres of water each day. This water has to be replaced or the core body temperature rises and death is the result. This can happen within a few short hours in the extreme temperatures of an outback summer. By the time a traveller was missed in summertime it was usually too late to save him.

One regular duty of outback police was to search for lost travellers. Between 1892 and 1896 the Birdsville police found 9 people who had perished. One colourful character was William Moonie who controlled the dingo fence along the Simpson Desert between the S.A. Border and the Toko Ranges. In 1895 he was last seen buying six crates of whisky from the Birdsville Hotel. His body was found 35 km north on Roseberth Station, surrounded by empty bottles. His grave site is now unknown.

Even today lives are lost, people don’t realise how quickly you can perish from thirst. One family member is a Search and Rescue Coordinator. He told me the story of one girl whose car had broken down just a short distance from town. She was found just a few kilometres away from the car on the roadside. It was flat country and her family couldn’t understand why she had died so quickly. A young policeman set out to recreate the journey. He had plenty of water [the girl had none] and a shady hat [the girl was bare headed.] After walking just 10 km he had drunk all the water and realised he was delusional and in trouble. He only just made it into town where he spent time in hospital and ‘the medics finally decided he was not going to lose his kidneys.’

At Beltana S.A. we came across a grave telling of a family tragedy. Anne Johnson aged 32, wife of William Johnson, and her 4 young children were all accidentally burned to death on 15 Dec 1881. Young William was 7 yrs 6 m, Anne 4 yrs 5 m, Bertha 2 yrs 6 m and baby Agnes just 2 months 2 weeks old. The marble headstone was erected as a ‘Mark of Respect by T Pearce’.

It is the children’s graves which are so heartbreaking. At the J.C. Hotel ruins (formerly Canterbury) on the road from Windorah to Bedourie we came across one oh so hard to read. In loving memory of our dear son George Adam Geiger who strayed away 2 July 1893 and died of exposure aged 2 years and 4 months.

George was the eldest child of George Geiger and Lizzie Newton who had married in 1891 and had 5 sons from 1891 to 1900. One can just imagine his mother heavily pregnant, or occupied with a new baby, and young George is lost. What heartbreak for a young Mum.

Another grave here is for two Bowman girls. Kathleen Charlotte died 12 Nov 1895 aged 1 year 6 months and Eileen died 2 July 1901 aged 2 years 6 months. They were the daughters of Frederick Bowman and Gertrude Annie Bell who married in 1888. They had five children, Kathleen and Eileen, another daughter Hellen who was born and died in 1902, a daughter Gertrude Mary [b 1889] and a son Frederick Alexander William who was born 1896.  He lived to adulthood and married Alice Emma Easterly but their daughter Heather died in 1929 when Alexander himself was in his early thirties.

Next stop was Clonagh Station near Cloncurry. My husband was a jackeroo here in 1970 and remembers two graves at the entrance. Barbara Armstrong was 15 when she died; the other is for William James Reid who died 1 April 1893 aged 2 years 6 months. He was the son of Samuel Gamble Reid and his wife Rosina Ann Ferguson who had several children, William born 1890, Clayne Lorrane in 1892, Leslie Elliot in 1898 and Doris May in 1901. William was another little boy who wandered away and died alone in the bush.

There are now an increasing number of modern plaques to record long ago burials. At the J.C. Hotel ruins is one reading

In one of these unmarked graves lies George Telford Weale who died of dysentery here on 9 June 1886. He was born in London 20 Sept 1840. Arrived Queensland 1864 and surveyor of Darling Downs until 1881 when he went to SW Qld to survey new pastoral leases.

At Lawn Hill there is one erected by the Queensland Police Department to remember one of their own lost whilst on duty.

Erected in memory of Senior Constable Alfred Wavell shot and killed in the execution of his duty at Lawn Hill 27 October 1889 attempting to arrest Joe Flick horse thief. Erected during Police Week 1989. The 100th year of his death

Between Boulia and Bedourie is the lonely grave of Joseph James Dunne. At 10 years 9 months he was kicked to death by a donkey he was riding. The modern brass plaque on the railing adds more detail to the story than the simple stark stone headstone.

We then drove through Glengyle Station, all 5500 square kilometres, north of Birdsville. There is a memorial to a William J.S. Hutchison who drowned on the property on 9 July 1920. He was aged 20. He was droving cattle from Clifton Hills Station and went for a swim in the Georgina River on Glengyle.  He was a strong swimmer but alone. His body was recovered three days later.

A large modern plaque records the story and that, at age 14, he had found opal and was considered to be the founder of Coober Pedy.  The following letter from Sidney Kidman was spotted in the Birdsville Visitors Information Centre. It’s dated 12 December 1921, some 17 months after Will Hutchison’s death.

Sidney Kidman

Pastoralist

1 Verco Buildings

North Terrace

Adelaide

12^th December 1921

Mr H.R. Hutchison

Meramie

Wirrega

Dear Sir

I am in receipt of your letter and in reply beg to advise that Mr and Mrs Edwards have not yet arrived from Glengyle yet – We are expecting them any day now and when they arrive I will drop you a note.

I very much regret your Son was drowned at Glengyle and I am sure Mr Edwards will look after his grave for you and should I sell the property at any time, which is not at all likely, I will ask the Purchaser to look after your Son’s grave.

Any information Mr Edwards can give you when he comes down I am sure he will be pleased to do so.

Yours faithfully

Sid Kidman

A check of the current phone book shows there are still Hutchison’s living at Meramie West, Wirrega, SA 5268 and Glengyle Station is still owned by the Kidman Company.

Further research suggests William Hutchison was born in Mt. Gambier in 1900 and educated at St.Patrick’s College Ballarat and was a prominent sportsman during his school years.

On the Birdsville Track itself you pass the Mulka Store Ruins. It was founded by the Scobie family. Alexander Scobie sank many wells on the track, looking for water. It took him two years of adversity, pain and hardship until he found a suitable supply at what he called New Well where he built a home. He ran sheep and bred stock horses but the sheep were taken by dingoes and the horses were sent to war, being those used in the charge at Beersheba. Alexander and his wife Mary brought four children with them, three more were born here. But two of the seven children are buried here, behind the house, under the tree on the hill.  Edith Adeline and George both succumbed to pneumonia. The Scobies sold out to Poddy Aiston who ran the store, renamed Mulka, until his death in the early 1950s. The South Australia Heritage Department has a very informative sign here about Poddy Aiston. Sadly the Scobie family receives but a very fleeting mention.

Returning closer to civilization, near Menindee we visited the small graveyard at Kinchega Homestead where the unnamed graves are the last resting place of the crew of the Paddle Steamer Providence which blew up on 9 November 1872. They were towing a barge laden with wool and had been held up due to lack of water. In November 1872 the river levels were up so they headed south again. They stopped at Menindee for a drink. On returning to the ship they stoked the fire and headed downstream but it appears they didn’t refill the boiler and there was an enormous explosion. The captain John Davis, Edward Sparkes (engineer), John Roach (fireman), and Thomas Gunn, Chinaman (cook), were killed.   Charles Seymour was thrown a considerable distance into the air and fell into the river, receiving no injury but a broken leg. Another man named Henry Trevorah who was in the cabin, escaped unhurt. He was a miner on his way from Wilcannia to Adelaide to visit family.

Also close to Menindee is the headstone commemorating Dost Mahomet. He was one of three Sepoy camel drivers recruited for the Burke and Wills expedition. With 24 camels he arrived in Melbourne in June 1860. Dost was one of four men who manned the Burke and Wills camp at the Dig Tree whilst they headed north. He was subsequently evacuated to Menindee. He was injured by a camel and lost his arm. After the end of the Expedition he stayed in Menindee where he worked for William Ah Chung, the local baker. Dost Mahomet is buried where he used to make his daily prayers. The headstone was erected in 1952, ninety years after the end of the ill fated expedition.

We’ve covered thousands of kilometres in our outback journeys, in the comfort of an air conditioned vehicle. We have excellent maps. We carry lots of water, 50+ litres in the trailer tank and extra jerry cans in the vehicle. We have a Satellite phone, an HF radio and an EPIRB [Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon] to call for help in case we get into trouble. The Flying Doctor is just a radio call away.  Think what it was like for the pioneers who had little knowledge of the interior of this hot dry continent, who wore clothes totally unsuitable for the extremes of heat and cold, who could not physically carry sufficient water to ensure their survival, who faced flash flooding and starkly dry waterholes.

They were brave men and women who ventured out into such inhospitable land to try and make a go of it. I salute them all.

Acknowledgements:

Westprint Outback map, Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks.

Alex Sticher, Vistior Information Centre, Bedourie.

Lyn, Wirrarri Visitor Information Centre, Birdsville.

Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks Heritage Survey 2.0 Historical Background (2002) Lyn Leader-Elliott and Iris Iwanicki, pages 75-7.

http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/heritage/pdfs/surveys/birdsville/section_3.pdf

Menindee History http://members.iinet.net.au/~mewilson/menindeehistory.htm

   ©

A history of the Gillespie family of Glengallan, Warwick

Dedication and unveiling of the plaque and Gillespie reunion 

at Glengallan, Warwick on Saturday 11 June 2011.

We are here to celebrate the GILLESPIE family of Glengallan but we have to include the WAUGH side too as Alexander Gillespie was married to Keena Waugh.


The Gillespies are a Sept or family within the Macpherson clan of Scotland but actually originated, way back, in Ireland. Macpherson means “son of the parson.” Gillespie means “the bishop’s servant”. Their behavior, quite frankly, was not very Christian. The territory of this Scottish clan was in the area inland from Aberdeen in what is today the Cairngorms National Park. In the 1300s the Macphersons were given their land by Robert the Bruce as a reward for expelling the Comyns family from the district.[i] They were men who raided far and wide. In the time of Robert Bruce, in 1322, they were as far south as Pickering in Yorkshire (my home town), having moved south along the old droving route[ii].

The people of the Vale of Pickering, from the River Seven to the west and the sea to the east, purchased immunity for 300 marks, half to be paid at Candlemass (2 February [iii] ) and the other half at Trinity (8 weeks after Easter [iv]) . Three men, at the request of the whole Pickering community, surrendered to Robert Bruce on 17 October 1322 to stay as hostages in Berwick Castle until the money was paid. The Scots honoured the arrangement and all the towns, hamlets, manors, land and tenements were preserved from any damage through the time of the ransom.[v] The Pickering folk took the opportunity to replace the wooden palisade of the castle with a great outer wall of stone.[vi]


These Scots were a feisty lot. The Macpherson, Davidson and Macintosh families continually bickered, scrapped and fought over who was entitled to be known as the “Great Chief of the old Clan Chattan”. There were disputes in the courts going back to 1609. We know milling was a family occupation from early times. In 1660 the Macintoshes started to build a mill which would affect one downstream which was owned by the Macphersons. Battle lines were drawn; opposing clans faced each other across the site of the half built mill. This day the Macintosh clan withdrew and the Macphersons then pulled the offending mill down.


Perhaps the Gillespie family had enough of the fighting. They moved south where they would have met up with the Waughs. The families had much in common, living in the southernmost counties of Scotland, the border counties, the Lowlands. Ancestors of both families are buried in Berwickshire to the east, but also in the western counties of Dumfries and Roxbrugh. The Waughs also had family on both sides of the border. Their name means “foreigner.”


From 1200 onwards the people who lived here, people known as the Border Reivers, had also continuously fought each other. The English raided the Scots, the Scottish raided the English. Robbery, blackmail, arson, murder, kidnap and extortion were a constant part of the social system. No man who lived between the Pennines in the south and the Scottish uplands could go to sleep secure; no cattle could be left unguarded; no women unprotected.  The narrow hill land between England and Scotland was dominated by lance and sword, the steel bonnets and mail shirts told their own stories.


The Reivers also feuded between themselves, Scot pillaged Scot, Englishmen robbed Englishmen, Scots helped English raiders to harry the north line, Englishmen aided and abetted Scottish inroads.
For over 400 years the Borderers had borne the brunt of the battle for supremacy between the English and Scots. It was the dividing line between these two of the most energetic, aggressive, talented and formidable nations in human history. It was not until the reign of Elizabeth I, starting in 1558, that some sort of peace settled over this area. For people to keep body and soul together over the generations they had to cope with hardships, they had to endure, they had to learn the art of survival. [vii]
The Waugh and Gillespie families would have known each of other in Scotland.  We know the Waughs were farmers and famers grow barley and wheat and also need water for livestock. The Gillespies were flour millers, and to mill their barley and wheat they too had to live near running water to turn the mill wheel.


I have no doubt that, in peaceful times, the young Waughs and Gillespies would have become skillful fishermen, expert at catching trout by tickling them (called ginniling or guddling in Scotland[viii]); this required patience, stillness, the ability to tolerate freezing cold water with no tell-tale rod and line on show. They would have been knowledgeable poachers of salmon from the local Rivers, the Liddle and Tweed, rivers still well known for their excellent fishing. They would have learned spying techniques to know just where the bailiff (gamekeeper) was doing his rounds; they would have watched the tadpoles mature into frogs, caught glimpses of the kingfishers, disturbed the moorhen on her nest. They would have tracked animals in the winter snow; learned to set a snare to catch a rabbit for dinner; learned how to set a mole trap, known which stump of wood stored the honey, they would have watched the tawny owl on her branch and the bats leaving their loft as the sun set, they’d know the location of the grouse and pigeon nests as well as the ancient barrows or burial mounds; they would have been comforted by the hoot of the barn owl, spooked by the eerie screams of the vixen returning to her den,  they would have caught hares with their dogs, gone ratting with their terriers, played conkers with nuts from horse-chestnut trees, feasted on wild brambles, elderberries and hazelnuts, brought primroses, catkins and buttercups home for their mothers and, in the long twilight of summer evenings, they would have enjoyed watching the antics of young otters, badgers, squirrels, hedgehogs and foxes. (And if you think that was written with some emotion, it was.  They were all things I used to do as a kid!)

Did the families also use the barley and wheat for the Scottish delight of whisky. Around 1780, there were 8 legal distilleries and 400 illegal ones in Scotland… did the Gillespie or Waugh clan run one of them? We know that from 1780 a number of legal distilleries had been founded and quickly became the heart of the economic life in the Lowlands. Their production waste was used to feed cattle, and the distilleries were rapidly considered as essential to local agriculture. But a tax in 1794 put an end to their prosperity, the Lowland Licence Act,[ix] required the Lowland distilleries to cease trading for one year, with catastrophic consequences on the local economy.  (There are only three Lowland distilleries left, Auchentoshan,  Bladnoch and Glenkinchie. )

What effect did this tax have on the two families? We know three of George Gillespie’s children, brought up in the hard times of the 1790s, migrated to America. They were prepared to look for pastures new.


William Waugh decided on Australia, arriving in 1833 on “The Drummore.” His cousin, another William Waugh, was a corn factor in London and two of his sons, John Neill and Alexander migrated to Australia, Alexander (Keena’s ancestor) came in 1848 in “Woolner Castle”. [x] Was this part of an Assisted Immigration Scheme?  From 1831–1860 over 18,000 people came to Australia every year as Assisted Immigrants.[xi]


It was a later generation of Gillespies, George’s grandsons George and John who came to Australia in 1853… why Australia rather than follow their uncles and aunt to America? Were they also Assisted Migrants, or hoping for luck with the gold rush in Australia? I suspect the latter, they could see bright prospects, they were prepared to work hard for it. They knew they could cope with hardships, they could endure, they could be survivors.


And so the flour milling business was successfully established in Australia and the family also branched out… farming at Glengallan was to be one of those branches but, sadly, it was unsuccessful. Perhaps they did not do their homework sufficiently well, as Glengallan already had a checkered history.


As early as 2 February 1870 John Deuchar, grazier of Glengallan, had filed for insolvency.[xii] But by 19 March the Glengallan creek was so swollen with water that the bridge was not visible and the Allora coach passengers had to spend an uncomfortable night sitting up in the coach. [xiii] The property was then taken over by the Marshalls but in January 1873 the land at Glengallan was thought to be worthless as “Mr Marshall would not have allowed it to become forfeit for non-payment of rent.” [xiv]


But just a few months later, in June 1873, Glengallan had the appearance of a large sea following local floods. [xv]  The cycle of drought and flooding rain continued over the years.

In July 1899 the Government purchased the land for closer settlement, and it was thrown open for selection, with 33 out of 30 blocks being applied for. [xvi]  (Did S.A. Register get it wrong…should that be 30 out of 33?)

Still things did not bode well for the property. In October 1903 the Sydney Morning Herald reported “The offer of sale of the Glengallan Estate to the Government stands good till the end of the month. Although no decision has been arrived at, it is probable that the purchase will be made.”  


The government did in fact buy the property for £86,600 [xvii] . In 1904 George and Alexander Gillespie, in partnership with their mother Clara, bought part of Glengallan, the homestead block of between 1250 and 2000 acres plus an additional 482 acres.[xviii] George soon left claiming there was nothing in it for them,[xix] Alex and his mother stayed on and both had to file for insolvency.[xx]  I have put a few newspaper reports of the court hearings on the board over by the door.  Alex stayed on to manage Glengallan for the new owner until his untimely death in April 1927 and the family left the property for the last time. 

To finish I’d like to read this poem which I think is most appropriate. By a bush poet called Dal, it is called HARD TIMES and was written around the turbulent time of the Gillespie family being at Glengallan. [xxi]   He is referring a cotton flour-bag with the Gillespie Brand on display.

HARD TIMES
When Gillespie’s Anchor Roller’s shining through your cotton shirt
When Gillespie’s Anchor Roller’s on your knee,
When Gillespie’s flour bag linen is the most important part
Of the trousers which when new were dungaree.
When the women folk are patching & a-saving all they know
With a cheerful smiling face o’er all that hurt,
But a fellow doesn’t seem to take a labour-giver’s eye                                   
With Gillespie’s Anchor Roller on his shirt.
When you’ve left the place you’re known in, with but very little cash,
Struck for better with your children and your wife,
Why they said the place was booming when we set the sail for here
You could get a job as quick as saying “knife.”
But you’ve used what little money that you had when first you came,
And supplies are getting lower every day,
You have asked for “tick” so often that when this consignment’s done
You are doubtful as to what Grocer’ll say.
And of course he’s very civil, “mister” here and “mister” there,
This to chaps of inexperience sounds warm,
But to those who understand it, it’s a very different thing
For they know it’s but the “calm” before the “storm”.
When the horse hair stuffing’s bulging in a very homely style
From the saddle you have counter-lined yourself,
You were thinking as you did it, it would last till times improved
And in consequence you’d save the bit of “pelf.”                                                                                 When you try to sell your neddy, of a pretty decent stamp
And the stuff that she is made of isn’t waste,
But they bid for half her value, while the Squatter’s nags are rushed
And to stand amongst such “mongrels” she’s disgraced,
But you mustn’t be downhearted you must keep your spirits up,
You can swear by all the coin you might have had,
Tho’ perhaps you mightn’t know it you can wager pretty strong
If the “Women” are not worse they’re just as bad.                                                   
But they never even grumble and they always make the best
Of everything (although it’s hard to do).
But the brave are not forgotten and you get a job at last
And from that a fellow mostly worries through.
But it all goes in a lifetime, it’s experience at worst
Gives to all your whims and vanities the sack.
And while you live and labour you will not despise the man
With Gillespie’s Anchor Roller on his back.                                                       


1905 By Donald (Dal)

This is a long version of the information compiled for the Gillespie reunion, the actual talk was cut back!

---

[i] George Eyre Todd, Highland Clans of Scotland, 1923.

[ii] Shirley Toulson, The Drovers, Shire Album 45, Shire Publications and Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott.

[iii] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_of_Jesus_at_the_Temple>

[iv] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Sunday>

[v] Gordon Home,  The evolution of an English Town, London, JM Dent, 1905. P 107-8.

[vi] Keith Snowden, Pickering through the Ages, Castleden Publications, 1988.

[vii] George MacDonald Fraser, The Steel Bonnets, the story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers, Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, 1971, (or London, Pan, 1974).

[viii] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_tickling>

[ix] http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/HistoireEntre1788et1823_EN.shtml

[x] Neville Malony (compiler), A History of the Waughs, 1996.

[xi] Price, Charles (1987). "Chapter 1: Immigration and Ethnic Origin". In Wray Vamplew (ed.). Australians: Historical Statistics. Broadway, New South Wales, Australia: Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates. pp. pages 2–22.

[xii]  Sydney Morning Herald 2 Feb 1870.

[xiii]  The Queenslander 19 March 1870

[xiv]  Brisbane Courier 17 Jan 1873.

[xv]  Brisbane Courier 24 June 1873.

[xvi]  South Australian Register 13 July 1899.

[xvii]  Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1904. 

[xviii] Glengallan Homestead History  

 <http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/chims/placeDetail.html?siteId=14782>

[xix]  Brisbane Courier, 19 May, 1911  

[xx]  Brisbane Courier, 19 May, 1911 and 20 September 1911.

[xxi]  <http://www.everypoet.net/poetry/blogs/dunc/my_grandpa_s_younger_brother_1886_1919_0>

                                                                                                                                                                

 © Caroline Gaden,  May 2011