Mary Anne McAuliffe ( 1867 - 1905 )

                Woman                

Let woman keep her sphere; Why should she strive

With man for mastery in the rough life,

Formed not as he, but subtler in strength

To move to mightier ends in homely ways.

  The Numurkah Leader, Sat 4 May 1895, Pg 3.

In 1891 a petition had been presented to the Victorian Parliament with nearly 30,000 signatures and addresses, demanding the right for woman to vote in the colony of Victoria. Of the 64 woman of Numurkah who signed this petition, there is not one I can link to my family. It was a time when many woman were finding their voice, but the newspapers were still publishing articles like the poem above and this below entitled The New Woman

Our Melbourne correspondent thus writes on the above subject:- I am not personally an advocate of woman's suffrage and I give my reasons: the best and most womanly woman do not ask it, and if it were given to them, would not exercise it; and those who demand it would not ( for the most part) improve the tone of the Community or the character of legislation by votes.... The Numurkah Leader, 19 Sep 1895

Against this backdrop, Mary Anne McAuliffe married James Sullivan in Numurkah on 25 May 1894. She was a month off her 27th birthday when she married James, eight years her senior. Mary Anne was my great, great Aunt, the second of eight children, the first of her family, to be born on Australian soil at a place called Ballard's Camp near Toowoomba, Queensland. Her Catholic, Irish, immigrant parents, Jeremiah McAuliffe and Kate Ford, both from County Cork, had married in Southwark, Surrey in 1864, only a month before they boarded the ship Elizabeth Ann Bright that brought them to Moreton Bay, Queensland. Mary Anne's elder sister, Johanna was born at sea during the voyage. A nod to the family's Irish heritage can be seen in the naming of the girls, Johanna after her paternal grandmother and Mary Anne after her maternal grandmother. 

Railway Tunnel near Ballard's Camp 1894
Queensland University of Technology

Being born at Ballard's Camp was an indication of what Mary Anne's early childhood was like, her father constantly moved around the country to find work and took his young family with him. Ballard's Camp had been established on a rounded knoll on a ridge as a construction camp for the building of a difficult section of the railway at 2300ft above sea level. The one consolation to the family living there, unlike Ireland, the climate was the mild with not even a frost. 

By the age of three, Mary Anne and her family were living at Glengallan Swamp near Warwick, still in Queensland where her brother, Cornelius was born in 1870. Glengallon Swamp was the site of another railway camp at that time. However by 1872 the family had ventured further afield to Avenel in Victoria where her sister Margaret was born. A report in The Age newspaper, four days after Margaret was born, stated if favourable weather continued the tracks of the North-Eastern railway would reach Avenel in a fortnight, suggesting her father still had something to do with the railways. By 1874, the family were in New South Wales where my great grandfather, John, was born near Forbes and duly named after his maternal grandfather. Mary Anne now seven and a half had spent much of her young life moving about the country. This came to end in February 1878 when her father was granted over 300 acres of land at Katunga on the outskirts of Numurkah.

Mary Anne and her siblings were finally settled. When Numurkah State School officially opened for the first time on 4 March 1879, Mary Anne and her two siblings, Johanna and Cornelius, were on the enrolment list. Mary Anne was about to turn 12 in the April. Whether they actually attended was a contentious point, as the route to school was some distance, heavily wooded and difficult to navigate, their names may have been used just to make up the numbers to open a school.

By the age of fourteen, Mary Anne and her family were well settled on their farm in a log and iron house, 30 x 14 feet with a fenced and planted garden and 112 foot well for water. Eighty three acres had been cleared and planted to wheat and oats. The property also had a bark hut, bark stable and a bark and log Dairy. Life was comfortable for the family.

Jeremiah McAuliffe, sadly, didn't live to see his daughter marry, having died of influenza four years before the wedding. Not quite six weeks after the wedding, Mary Anne gave birth to her first child, Michael McAuliffe. He was born at 39 Henry St, Hawthorn according to the birth certificate filled out by her mother, Kate, and named the father as 30 yr old, Jeremiah McAuliffe of Shepparton, with the marriage date of Mary Anne and James Sullivan. For whatever reason, Mary Anne did not keep her first son, but gave him to her Aunt Margaret, her mother's sister to raise. Margaret Ford was nearing 60 years of age and had never married. There was a Jeremiah McAuliffe of the same age, who lived in Shepparton at the time, but was he really the father or a convenient way to give Michael the McAuliffe surname. Michael was known in Numurkah as Mick Ford, which came to light in an article written in the local paper, when he was given a rousing reception on his return from WWI. A little over twelve months after Michael was born, Mary Anne, gave birth to her second child, another son, who she also called Michael!

As with most women of this time period their are no records of her life except when she had or buried her children. Mary Anne had ten children in her eleven and half years of marriage, only six lived to adulthood. Michael McAuliffe, her eldest child, never married and spent his final years with John Sullivan, who certified his death, as his brother, and that Michael's parents were James Sullivan and Mary Anne McAuliffe. Mary Anne gave birth to twins in Nov 1905, only one of whom survived. At the time she was suffering influenza that developed into pneumonia. She passed away eight days after the birth as described in this newspaper article.

The Numurkah Leader, 10 Nov 1905

Sadly, Mrs J Sullivan suffered the same fate as her father and brother, dying of influenza. A sign of the times and illustrating the difficulty of researching woman ancestors, she was not mentioned by her own name but in terms of being the wife of James Sullivan. Mary Anne Sullivan (nee McAuliffe) was buried in an unmarked grave at Numurkah Cemetery at only 38 years old. In roughly a two and half year period between 1900 and 1902, Mary Anne had given birth and buried three children, Kate, John and Margaret and her last baby, Thaddeus was buried only six days prior to her own death. Gone, but not forgotten. 

Mary Sullivan (nee McAuliffe 1867-1905)
Thaddeus Sullivan (1905-1905)
Margaret Sullivan (1902 -1902)
John Sullivan (1901-1902)
James Sullivan (1860 - 1932)
Numukah Cemetery
Graves 483 & 484

#OnePlaceWomen

Numurkah Railway Tragedy

Numurkah Railway Station c.1908
State Library of Victoria

Numurkah Railway Station opened in 1881 as the terminus of the railway line from Shepparton. The town expanded as the farmers of North-East Victoria brought their wheat harvests into town to be transported. The railway line was further extended in 1888 to Strathmerton, Cobram and Nathalia and then further to Picola in 1896. With the development of the railways, there came the inevitable accidents. Local papers reported many mishaps. A nine year old girl survived a fall from a moving train after she lent on a door with a faulty catch, a train ran into a laden coal wagon, when a switch hadn't been changed back to the main line, a train ploughed through gates narrowly missing the lady trying to open them and a drunk fell from the platform, smashed both ankles and survived being run over by a wagon. Another drunk wasn't so lucky.

Railway Lines c.1930

By far the saddest report, which was picked up by newspapers around the country, was the tragedy that occurred on 5 October 1905. On this hazy Thursday evening, with only a half moon for light, a buggy carrying six people was hit by a train at Allan's Crossing, about two and a half miles from Numurkah, resulting in the death of three people. The buggy, pulled by two horses, was being driven by Mr. George Russell, with him were his two daughters Edith, 20 and Winnie 16, Annie and Lily Callender and Orlando Purton, 14. Mr. Russell, Winnie and Orlando died whilst being taken by the train for treatment after the accident, Annie and Lily suffered serious injuries and Edith survived unscathed. The bodies of the deceased remained in the waiting room of the Numurkah Station until released by the Coroner on the Friday evening, despite a request by police for an earlier release to their families. 

The town of Numurkah mourned. Mr. Russell was from a local firm of Auctioneers & Commissioner Agents. His partner, Mr. Reynoldson was the representative for Deniliquin in the State Assembly. Annie Callender was the daughter of Numurkah Butcher, Robert Callender and Lily was the daughter of Samuel Callender, also of Numurkah. George Russell had lived in Numurkah for 27 years and was well known not just for his work, but his invovlement on several boards and his charitable endeavours. A large funeral for George and Winnie Russell was held 7 October 1905 and Orlando Purton's on the following day. Orlando's parents were not well off and generous donations paid for the the funeral and more.

Funeral of George & Winnie Russell
The Numurkah Leader, Fri 13 Oct 1905

An Inquest was held, before the funeral, on the Saturday morning, 7 October by the Coroner, Mr. Read Murphy, P. M. where Edith Russell, the surviving daughter, the engine driver, William Welsh and the Fire Guard all gave evidence. There were representatives for the Russell family, the Railway Department and the Crown. As the evidence unfolded, it appeared this was an accident that could easily have been avoided. Edith stated they were all aware of the train as they travelled in the same direction along the road parallel to the railway line, although she was unsure whether the train whistle had blown. They were returning from a day at the Nathalia Show. As they drew closer to the crossing which was at an angle to the road, her father whipped the horses as he believed he could beat the train, which they had also thought and it wasn't until the last minute when they turned to cross the track that they realized the danger and yelled to stop. It was too late, the train hit them. Edith said she was seated between her father and Orlando and remembered a big bump and coming to on the ground. She also added her father was a good driver and perfectly sober. The engine driver and the guard both said the whistle had been sounded, the lights were in good order and they were travelling at a rate of 30 miles per hour.

"Mr. Read Murphy said it was perfectly clear that Mr. Russell had seen the train a long distance off. The whistle was sounded and the lights in good order. No blame was attachable to anyone. Mr. Russell had formed an inaccurate idea of the distance. He (Mr. Murphy) did not intend to make any comment. Nothing had any effect on the public who regarded too highly the danger connected with these crossings. He found the deceased came by their death by being run over by a train at Allan's Crossing." The Argus (Melbourne) 9 October 1905.

It was considered an accident, but one can't help but wonder whether the same verdict would be given today.

 A chilling postscript to this story appeared in the Euroa Advertiser, 20 October 1905. Winnie Russell had recounted a bad dream to her mother on the morning of the accident. "Oh mother, I have had such a terrible dream. I dreamt that father and I were killed." When her mother asked how, her reply was " I don't like to tell you, it is too terrible." Another daughter, Elsie, away at school in Melbourne, had made an unexpected visit home on 28 September, the week before the accident, because she too had had a bad dream. In her dream she had been summoned home because Winnie and her father had been killed, which is exactly what happened a week later! 

#OnePlaceTragedies

Brick Water Tower - A Landmark of Numurkah

Brick Water Tower, Numurkah c.1890
unknown photographer, State Library Victoria

This year I have decided to follow the monthly blogging prompts of the Society of One Place Studies. Prompts will be a different topic each month. My One Place Study is Numurkah, a town in north eastern Victoria. It was declared a town in 1875, and the first land sales occurred in 1878, the same year my Irish great, great grandfather, Jeremiah McAuliffe selected land and settled with his family at Katunga on Numurkah's outskirts. The prompt for January is Landmarks and I have chosen the Brick Water Tower.

The Brick Water Tower was built in 1888 on the west bank of the Broken Creek. Initially Numurkah's water supply had come from a lagoon in the Creek (sometimes referred to as Baala Creek, the aboriginal name) and a well on the south-west corner of Gray and Quinn Streets outside the Bible Christian parsonage. The lagoon was often dry and, with the population growing from 96 in 1881 to 1011 in 1891, a more reliable water supply was needed. Tenders were called for in October 1888 for a water tank, tower, engine house and settling tanks. The 70 foot tower was constructed using 70,000 bricks and was finished with an iron tank on top.

The height of the water tower also made it a useful vantage point to take photographs for postcards of the growing town as can be seen below:-

Numurkah from Water Tower, c.1907
Shirley Jones collection of Victorian postcards
State Library Victoria

Broken Creek in Flood from Water Tower, c.1908
Shirley Jones collection of Victorian postcards
State Library of Victoria

Moira Shire, Stage Two Heritage Study 2007, identified the Water Tower, a footbridge and the showgrounds as culturally significant places built between 1880 & 1900 in what they classified as the Recreational Precinct of Numurkah. They noted the Water Tower demonstrated original and early design qualities associated with water infrastructure development of Numurkah. The Study also stated:- 

"The materials and workmanship seen in the significant timber bridge and brick and iron water tower infrastructure are technically important and increasingly rare examples in Numurkah."

This Recreation precinct now has a Heritage Overlay and it is Shire policy to retain the significant buildings in the precinct, so the Brick Water Tower should be a landmark for many years to come.

The Footbridge over the Broken Creek
 with Brick Water Tower 

#OnePlaceLandmarks