Mary Ann's story
Mary Ann is the third child of Eliza Ann and William Edward Carter, born on
17th April 1846. Whereas her
older brother William George is born at Scone, Mary Ann and her sister Sarah
Jane are born at Muswellbrook, so the family must have moved
further south after Williams’ birth to settle in Muswellbrook for a while. Mary Ann is baptised at Muswellbrook by Rev. William F Gore on 31st May 1846.
In 1851 gold is discovered around Mudgee and the young family is on the move. Mary Ann would have been six years old. It appears as if, for the next three years, the family follows the gold from Grattai to Avisford to Maitland Bar until they arrive in Mudgee in 1854 and settle down. Mary Ann is about eight years, Sarah Jane ten years and William George twelve years.
By 1855 a public school is built in Perry Street, Mudgee.[1] I wonder, as their mother can read and write and the family is living in the same street, if the children attend school, although William George may already have been too old.[2] They may also be part of the procession and celebrations when the stone of a new National Schoolroom is laid by Mr. W. H. Cox, MP on 23rd July, 1856.[3]
A procession marched from the present
school-room, consisting of the children of the National School, and a number belonging
also to the two Denominational Schools, amounting in all to about ninety….The
children and friends then returned to the School- house, and were regaled with
tea, cakes, &c
At some stage the original school is torn down to make way for the new school which opens in 1881.[4] By then the family has moved on.
The New School - photo possibly taken in 1881 when Mudgee Public School becomes Mudgee Superior Public School or maybe the time of Mudgee centenary celebrations in 1921[5]
The
move to Burrundulla/Spring Flat
In 1858 crown land is broken into lots
and in 1860 Mary Ann’s brother, William, now 20 years, receives a grant. It is probable that the whole family move
with him as his father, Edward, is listed as living there in 1860 Census (Edward appears to have dropped the 'William'). The family is certainly in the area in 1864.
By the time of the land grant at Burrundulla/Spring Flat Mary Ann is around fourteen years old and Sarah Jane sixteen years, so it is unlikely they are still at school, although a primary school has already open at Burrundulla in 1859.
Then for Mary Ann childhood is over. Three years after the move Mary Ann is pregnant with her first child, George Edward, who is born on 11th April 1864. He is given the surname of Carter at his baptism by Rev. J. Gunther two years later.[6] During this period Mary Ann is living at Oakey Farm, Burrundulla Creek, presumably with her family.
Just over one year later, on 16th May 1867, Mary Ann marries Walter Warner at St John the Baptist Mudgee. The marriage is officiated by Rev. J Gunther and witnessed by William George Carter, Mary Ann’s brother, and Anny McKay. Mary Ann is listed as a farmer’s daughter from Burrundulla Creek and Walter as a labourer from Green Swamp, which is along the Gulgong road on the other side of Mudgee. Mary Ann is 21 yrs and Walter is around 30 yrs.[7]
Walter’s heritage
Walter Warner is born in Sussex, England in 1837 to Levi Warner, a farmer, and Mary Ann (nee Harris), a farm servant. One year later the family of five children, aged one to fourteen years, departs England for Australia on the ship Palmira, arriving on 26th September, 1838. They have been brought out by the government.[8] After a month of quarantine due to shipboard infection the family moves to Maitland where Levi is assigned to Mr. E Sparkes. Unfortunately Levi dies one year later, falling from a cart. The family continues to live, work and marry in West Maitland. By 1867 Walter, now 30 years of age, is working at Green Swamp.
Gold fever and World’s End
Mary Ann and Walter have eight known children together – Eliza, Esther (who dies at or soon after birth), Mary Ann (Doll), Matilda Esther, Emily Wilomina, Flora, Walter and William[9]. Our family has no detailed information where Eliza, Esther and Mary Ann (Doll) are born only the years of their birth.
This map is my adaptation of fig. 1 in The Maitland Bar Nugget[10]
The story passed down through my mother is that my great grandmother Matilda Esther is born at World’s End in 1872, the family lives at World’s End/Meroo Creek and Walter snr. is a farmer and golddigger. Perhaps all the children are born there especially as other details of their birth, such as day and month, do not seem to have been registered for a number of the children.[11]
Soon after gold is discovered in the area in 1851[12], Meroo Creek becomes a popular gold prospecting site, especially among Chinese miners.[13] By 1861 “there were over 11,000 Chinese on the New South Wales goldfields” including around Mudgee[14]. Diane Simmonds writes ‘as many as 700 Chinese men worked the Meroo goldfields’, and the Chinese ‘gave the place its name’.[15]
If the descriptions of World’s End by Diane Simmonds and photographs taken by Kay Frances Gorringe are anything to go by, It looks and sounds like a beautiful, remote and, having left the goldrush behind, untouched part of the country.[16]
It is now a wild bushland with wrens,
kookaburras, magpies, pee wees, top knot doves, echidnas, kangaroos, platypi,
giant tortoises, goannas – and a resident ghost.[17]
My mother and I attempt to go there in 2010 and, apart from it now being private property, we are warned by locals it would be impossible to go further without a four wheel drive.
Madge Rups (nee Rope), great granddaughter of Mary Ann
Madge describes ‘granny Warner’ as riding horseback into town and back to collect stores. Simmonds also writes of ‘7 river crossings to face’ to get out of the area,
The road into World’s End is a doosey –
a horse track of 4WD or 4 hoof mountain climbing. The road travels into the
mountains for about 13kms, through locked gates (phone for permission to
enter), over boulders and rocks and chasms, through streams, up mountains and
down valleys until you reach Bindarie – an Aboriginal title meaning ‘abandoned
country’. But when you get there – WOW![18]
We don’t know whether the family settles in one place or moves around. The area seems to have been busy, with a population always on the move. According to one article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1851, “…on account of the way in which they shift about when one place is reported to be more prolific than another…”[19] Johnston writes of “a constant ebb and flow of people on the goldfields due to adverse weather conditions or news of new strikes”.[20] It could also be that they have a small plot where they cultivate vegetables and, in addition to the horse, keep animals for meat. My mother remembers being told by her grandmother of 'sheep to be fed' there.
I imagine the children love life there with hills to roam and a creek in which to play, although the creek is probably muddied with the runoff from the pudmills and other separating processes.[21] When we were young my mother would pack a pan on our trips to Mudgee and ‘pan for gold’ in any creek that happened to be nearby. Some things remain.
Even though the family is living at World’s End the children are still well educated and can read and write. There is a teacher who travels from family to family, staying overnight before moving on. The Inspector’s report, which gives us some idea of what life was like for the teacher, mentions Maitland Bar, Commissioner’s Flat and World’s End.[22]
World’s End: This station is nearly 9
miles from Commissioner’s Flat and 17 from Maitland Bar. The track is a most difficult one. It ascends over 800 feet in a few miles. There are 4 pupils between 6 & 14; three
work Compound Rules – An elder Sister is quite capable of teaching the younger
member of the family – There is no place enclosed at this station – so that the
Teacher has to let his horse go in a paddock containing 800 acres.
The teacher lived at each station while
teaching – he was charged very high – he had no alternative but to pay what
they asked. I am of the opinion that
most of the pupils are sufficiently educated – that others can go to Hargraves
and that the World’s End is not a fit place for a teacher. I recommend that the school be closed from 18th
January 1894.
By the time the remote schools close all the children,
except William, are beyond school age and it is likely the family has moved
again.
The move back to Burrundulla Creek
Mary Ann’s father,
Edward Carter, dies at Burrundulla Creek in 1889.[23] Her mother, Eliza Ann, continues to live
there. Ten years later it appears as if
Mary Ann’s first child, George Edward Carter, and another of Eliza Ann’s grandsons,
William Edward Sawyers, son of Sarah Jane, are living at Oakey creek as well.
At some time around 1895 two blocks of land are purchased in the names 'Mary Ann Carter' and 'Sarah Jane Carter', her sister, in Cox Street, Mudgee. Mary Ann's plot is number 66. According to the Statement of Heritage Impact, 21 April 2023, p.6:
The land at 66 Cox Street now represents only approximately 50% of the original lot which has been subdivided up as the layout of the street overall changed in time. When the first owner Mary A. Carter bought the land it would have potentially been a small holding, being an area of 2 acres. There was probably a home garden, and horse and cow paddock, and in the then centre of the land is an intermittent stream passing through it.
Up to 2023 there is a house on Mary Ann's plot which has been dated c. 1895 and the earliest house in the vicinity by the heritage assessment. It could well have been Mary Ann's house.
By this time Mary Ann's youngest child, William, is about 12 years, Walter about 15 years, Flora about 18 years, Emily about 20 years and my great grandmother Matilda Esther is about 23 years and married. The other older children are probably living independent lives.
In the meantime George
Edward Carter, Mary Ann’s first child, has been increasing his land holdings around
Oakey Creek to over 300 acres and is mentioned as living with his grandmother Eliza Ann and cousin W.E. Sawyers at Oakey Creek house until 1902. He must have been doing well.
Then in 1902 George Edward is taken to Mudgee Hospital with erysipelas, which is an infection of the upper layers of the skin most commonly caused by streptococcal bacteria. He develops pneumonia and dies on 21st July at the age of 38 yrs. [24] Mary Ann is not mentioned in the Funeral notice however the death registration does mention her and gives George the surname ‘Warner’.[25]
Photo: Mid Western Council
By 1903 Mary Ann seems to have moved to Spring Flat with her mother Eliza Ann and nephew William Edward Sawyers (mentioned as living there in 1903) while Walter, who I assume refers to her husband, remains mining at Windeyer[26]. Mary Ann’s work is listed as domestic duties. Her mother, Eliza Ann, is now c. 88 yrs. By this stage all of Mary Ann’s daughters are married and independent. Her two sons are single and it is not clear where they are as I have not yet located them on the electoral roll. Both sons, Walter and William, marry two years later in 1905. By 1908 Walter, who I assume is Mary Ann’s husband, has also moved to Oakey Creek and is listed as a farmer.[27]
Meanwhile Granny Carter appears to have moved to Mudgee by 1906 while Mary Ann and Walter (snr or jnr?) continue to work the farm. No mention of nephew William Edward Sawyers. There are no details of Granny Carter’s address except for four years later when, on 17th July 1910 she dies at Denison St, Mudgee.[28] [30]. She is being cared for by her daughters Mary Ann and Sarah Jane. Although Mary Ann is in Sydney when her mother dies, one of the obituaries positions her ‘now of Mudgee’ and living at ‘Denison Street’, so she must have moved in to be with her mother. Sarah Jane has been living in town for a while and at the time of Granny Carter’s death is living in Mortimer St.[29]
Sydney connections
In
Sydney Mary Ann could have been visiting her daughter Emily Wilomena, now
married to Albert Stuckey and living at Rozelle and/or her son(s). Granny Carter has also previously visited Emily in Sydney and in Granny Carter's obituary Mary Ann’s sons, Walter
and William, are listed as being from ‘Mudgee and Sydney’ although it could
well be that William, who dies later at Glebe, is the one who moves to Sydney. In a later obituary both William and Walter
are designated ‘both of Sydney’. Perhaps Walter jnr. is just visiting.
Back in Mudgee
Three years later the 1913 electoral roll mentions two Walter Warners: one a miner at Pipeclay creek, which is on the other side of Mt. Buckeroo, and the other a storeman at Short Street, Mudgee. I assume Walter snr. has returned to mining.[30]
By the 1915 Electoral roll Mary Ann is at Inglis St Mudgee. She is now around 69 years. It is likely she has moved in with her daughter Matilda Esther, Matilda Esther's husband James Augustus Smith and family. Mary Elizabeth Smith, James’ mother, has been living there but dies in January that same year.
Mary Ann still has holdings passed down to her from her mother at Spring Flat. We do not yet know whether Walter (snr. or jnr.) or anyone one else in the family is looking after the property at this stage. It may be that no one in the family, including Mary Ann, has any interest in farming or living there. On Mary Ann’s death these holdings are passed on to Walter jnr. who is also the executor of the estate.
Then the following year on 25th January 1916, Walter Warner snr. dies at Mudgee Hospital from ‘atheromatous disease’ (build up in the arteries) and ‘cerebral haemorrhage’ at 78 yrs. On the death registration he is designated a ‘miner’ and ‘old age pensioner’.[31]
The obituary states:
OLD RESIDENT GONE.
The death occurred at
the Mudgee Hospital on Monday night last of
Walter Warner, of Mudgee, aged 79 years, the cause of death
being senile decay. Deceased was one of the oldest residents of
the Mudgee district, and lived about this district practically all
his life. He worked principally at mining. He leaves a widow and grown-up
family, including two daughters and two sons, viz., Mrs. James Smith, Inglis
street, Mudgee; Mrs. Michael Morgan, of
Oakfield, Mudgee: Mr. Walter Warner and Mr.
William Warner, both of Sydney. The deceased had been in the hospital
for about three weeks. The remains were interred in the Church of England
portion of the General Cemetery on Tuesday last, Mr. L. M. Dunstan officiating
at the graveside. To the sorrowing relatives we express our deepest sympathy.[32]
The Spanish flu hits
The ‘Spanish flu’ pandemic begins to spread through the United States and Europe after World War I, arriving in Australia in 1919. That same year Mary Ann’s sister. Sarah Jane, and Mary Ann’s son, William, die[33]; William from ‘pneumonic influenza’ and Sarah Jane from ‘influenza’ after nursing her sick husband Peter Salisbury, who also dies. It is estimated that forty percent of the population becomes infected and 15,000 known persons die in the first year.[34]
Mary Ann lives another nine years, dying on 19th March, 1928, just shy of 82 years of age at Oakfield. Her death certificate lists a number of causes including myocarditis and infection due to stone in the common duct.
The funeral notice states:
Mary Ann 19/3/1928 mg funeral
Notice THE friends of the family of the late Mrs Mary Ann Warner, late of
Spring Flat, Mudgee, are hereby kindly notified that her funeral will move from
the residence of her daughter, Mrs M. J. Morgan, Oakfield, tomorrow (Tuesday)
morning at 10.30, for the Mudgee Cemetery.[35]
.JPG)
'Mrs. M. J. Morgan' in the funeral notice is her daughter Mary Ann (Doll) who marries (Mick) James Morgan and lives at ‘Oakfield’ where Mick works for the Cox’s. It appears as though Mary Ann is visiting or living with her daughter at Oakfield when she dies.
Mary Ann with grandson Bill Morgan
As for Mary Ann’s remaining children,
Eliza has married Robert Scifleet and lives around Wyong;
Matilda Esther has married James Augustus
Smith and lives in Ingles Street, Mudgee
Emily Wilomena (Min) has married Albert (Herb)
Stuckey and, according to my mother, ‘lives
at Narrabeen House, on Narrabeen Lakes, where the sisters visit’.
Flora has married Charles Moucher in Perth and
at some stage they move to the northern part of Western Australia. In later years they return to Sydney and stay
with my great aunt Elsie.
Walter jnr. has married Margaret ‘Sis’ Fittler and seems to remain in Mudgee, where he dies in 1972.
Flora, Walter, Emily Wilomena (Min), Matilda Esther (Till)
© A. Maie, 2021
POSTSCRIPT. This story is an extension of research my mother, Madge Rups (nee Rope), undertook from 1970’s to 1990’s (prior to internet) of birth, death, marriage, church and land records, arrival records, obituaries and other sources, supplemented by information from Mudgee Historical Society, other descendants and my own searches.
[1]
“Following upon
representation to the National Board of Education a National (Public) school
was opened in October 1855, Mr. Murray being the first Master-in-Charge”. (An
unreferenced article provided by Graham Parsons on Mudgee Historical Society
Facebook).
[2] Education was not compulsory until the Public
Instruction Act of 1880 (ibid.)
[3] The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tue 29 Jul 1856. Thanks to Peter Johnson (Mudgee Historical Society FB) for the reference,
[4] A description of what Perry street is like in 1873, including the information about the dismantling of the old school.
[5] Photographer Percival Stuart
Garling lived from 1873 to 1951, was a newspaper proprietor and photographer who ran Garling's Royal Studio in
Mudgee in the early twentieth century. From Mark
Pearce (Mudgee Historical Society Facebook) “Here’s the official entry from
the list of Government Schools - Public School Oct 1855 to Mar 1881, Superior
Public School Mar 1881 to Dec 1907”
[6]
As noted in the previous story
George Edward’s paternity is unknown. In
his obituary he is called ‘Mr. George Carter’ and Mary Ann’s name does not
appear. However the church records name
Mary Ann as mother and the death registration is under ‘George E. Warner’. The name ‘Henry Batten’ has come up but
no-one so far seems to know how or from where.
[7]
Although it cannot be
confirmed whether George Edward goes with Mary Ann when she marries Walter
Warner or stays with his grandmother Eliza Ann, and there seems to be no census
records to clarify, he is only one year old and is baptised a year after the
marriage with Mary Ann present. I can
only assume he remains with Mary Ann for some time. By 1898 he is listed as a ‘tenant of Mrs
Carter’, his grandmother, at Oakey Creek house, Spring Flat. He would have been c. 34 yrs by that time. (Our records and Mudgee Historical Society).
[8] My mother has a copy of the Warner’s
immigration records.
[9]
Eliza marries Robert Scifleet, Esther dies the same year she is born, Mary Ann
(Doll) marries Michael Morgan, Matilda Esther (Till) marries James Augustus
Smith, Emily Wilomina (Min) marries Albert (Herb) Stuckey, Flora marries
Charles Moucher although may have had an earlier marriage to a McDonald, Walter
marries Margaret (Sis) Fittler and William marries Maud Mary Blueitt.
[10] McQueen & Barnes, ‘The Maitland Bar Nugget: A KeyLink to the Gold Rush Heritage of New South Wales’, Journal of Australian Mining History Vol 8j September 2010.
[11] When my mother researched for details she found that most
of the miner’s records have been destroyed, some from Mudgee area: 1851-1852,
1872-1874, and 1886- are held at Kingswood, while others may be at Mudgee
Historical Society.
[12] According
to NSW Dept of Primary
Industries newsletter "Prime Facts", Feb 2007 cited in https://branchesofmyfamilytree.weebly.com/gold-in-the-mudgee-area.html, gold was discovered in July 1851 by an Aboriginal stockman in the employ
of Dr Kerr near Hargreaves. The Muse describes him as an ‘aboriginal shepherd’ named
Daniel, no traditional name recorded. I
have been wondering if there were any free people of the Wiradjuri nation still in the area of Meroo creek or if they had been
killed or displaced. ‘Daniel’ seems to
have been working for one of the landholders so there were probably others. I also wonder if they were being paid or not
(ie slaves?)
[13]
According to Chinese Gold Miners, “The
majority of Chinese immigrants to Australia during the gold rush were
indentured or contract labourers. However, many made the voyage under the
credit-ticket system managed by brokers and emigration agents. Only a small minority of Chinese people were able to
pay for their own voyage and migrate to Australia free of debt.” Some of these work for the Colonial Gold
Company at Louisa Creek, and others on stations such as Fitzgerald’s Dabee near Rylestone. A number run off and breach their conditions;
ending up mining, including around Meroo creek, or in Bathurst gaol. Lin
Johnston, …and numerous Chinese.
[14] Lin Johnson, ibid. In the same year “the NSW Gov. passed the
‘Chinese Migration Act’, which introduced a tariff for Chinese people only.” Anti-Chinese sentiment grows and more
regulations follow. Chinese on the Goldfields.
[16]
I have been unable to confirm
whether any local clans of the Wiradjuri
nation are living along Meroo creek at the time. It looks such a beautiful area, with easy
access to water and food, I can’t imagine they are not there.
[17]
Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Sydney
Morning Herald, 3
October 1851.
[20] Lin Johnston, Op.cit.
[21] It is interesting
to muse whether they know the Chun family around which Simmonds bases her
story.
[22] Madge has a copy of this report.
[23]
records held at St. John the
Baptist, Mudgee
[24] Funeral notice. “21/7/1902 Death in the Hospital. It is with great regret that we report
the death in the hospital to-day of Mr. George Carter, of Spring Flat. The
deceased who was 38 years of age was admitted on Friday afternoon last
suffering from erysipelas, and pneumonia afterwards developed with fatal
results. The deceased was a nephew of Mrs. Salsbury.” (Mudgee Historical
Society and Trove)
[25] “reg 10119/1902 George E Warner – Mary A –
Mudgee” (Mudgee Historical Society)
[26]
Mary Ann’s son, Walter is
married in 1905 to Margaret Fittler, who was born in Spring Flat. Our family has no records of where the couple
live.
[27]
Electoral roll. Women were granted the right to vote, but not
stand for parliament, in NSW in 1902.
[28] 1909 Electoral roll lists Granny
Carter as in Mudgee, Home duties.
[29] Obituary, ‘Death of Mrs E. A.
Carter: A Truly Remarkable Woman’, Western
Post, 21/7/1910
[30] Granny Carter's obituary lists a 'Mrs. Warner (Denison St)'. If this refers to Walter jnr.'s wife then Granny Carter could well have moved in with her grandson's family (Mary Ann's son, Walter's), Walter jnr. and family are living in town and Walter jnr. is working as a storeman.
[31] Madge has copy of death
registration.
[32] From Trove. Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954) Thu 20 Jan 1916 Page 18 . Not all Walter snr.’s daughters are mentioned. Both Walter and William are described 'both of Sydney'.
[33]
William marries Maud Mary Bleuitt and at some stage moves to Sydney, dying at
Glebe. According to my mother his wife,
Maud, ‘moves to Ettalong in later years’ to be with her daughter Dorothy and
husband Williiam Frederick (Bill) Anderson.
[34] The death toll is probably greater than recorded, especially in remote
communities…“up to 40 per cent of
the population were infected, and some Aboriginal communities recorded a
mortality rate of 50 per cent.” https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/influenza-pandemic
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