Q is for Monkira Station in Queensland

Orfeur Charles Cavenagh, fifth of the ten children of Wentworth and Ellen Cavenagh, and so one of my great great uncles, was born on 24 April 1872 in Kensington, a suburb of Adelaide.

He died of fever at the age of 18 on 17 December 1890 at Monkira Station in Queensland. My grandmother told me that at the time of his death her uncle Orfeur was a jackaroo (a young man working on a station—a large farm—to learn at first hand the business of sheep or cattle grazing).

Apart from these few facts, I know nothing about my great great uncle Orfeur Charles. I do not even have a photograph of him.

Monkira Station is in the Channel country 120 kilometres east of Bedourie, the closest settlement; Bedourie has a population today of about 120. It is 1300 kilometres north of Adelaide, 170 north-east of Birdsville.

The Channel Country is called this from the many intertwined rivulets that cross the region. The major rivers, which run only after flooding rain upsteam, are the Georgina River, Cooper Creek, and the Diamantina River. The primary land use continues to be cattle grazing.

The Diamantina River runs through Monkira Station which runs 7,800 cattle on 373,000 hectares (921,700 acres). Monkira is owned by the North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo). When it floods the river spreads out widely between sandhill country to the west and lightly grassed low hills to the east.

The Diamantina River runs through Monkira Station which today is a cattle station with 7,800 cattle on  373,000 hectares (921,700 acres) owned by the North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo). The river floods the country which has some sandhill country and some lightly grassed low hills on the eastern side.

Monkira Station, south west Queensland. Satellite view from Google maps.

Monkira Station set a record which lasted for over 40 years from 1892 with the Monkira ox, the heaviest bullock ever slaughtered in Australia. It was bred at Monkira and walked to Adelaide. Its live weight was 1,378 kilograms (3,042 pounds); dressed 902 kilograms (1,992 pounds). When it was slaughtered in 1894 it was claimed to be the heaviest ox in the world.

Monkira has a claim to another world record. One of the world’s largest trees, known as the Monkira monster, is a Coolibah (Eucalyptus coolabah) growing at Neuragully Waterhole on the property, 24 kilometers south west of the homestead. Its crown has a diameter of 73 metres (240 feet).

Mr Bob Gunther, manager of Monkira, and the giant coolabah, 46 feet around the girth. Photograph by Arthur Groom in 1952. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-146211212

In 1995 some of my cousins visited the grave of Orfeur Cavenagh and sent my grandmother a photograph of it.

Related posts:

• K is for Kenneth – another relative who died on a property in western Queensland

Further reading:

• Website of the North Australian Pastoral Company https://napco.com.au/ 
• Kowald, Margaret & Johnston, W. Ross (William Ross), 1939- & North Australian Pastoral Company (1992, 2015). You can’t make it rain : the story of the North Australian Pastoral Company 1877-1991. Boolarong Publications with North Australian Pastoral Company, Brisbane viewed through Google Books pages 133 ff 
• Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation entry for Brooks, Albert Ellison (1908 – 1978) at https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005128b.htm :
  • “In his 1964 book Tree Wonders of Australia, Albert Brooks mentions a giant Coolibah (Eucalyptus coolabah Blakely & Jacobs 1934), also known as the ‘Monkira Monster’. The tree is located at Neuragully waterhole in Western Queensland. In 2010 the tree was still alive and has been protected from stock.”

Wikitree:

• Orfeur Charles Cavenagh (1872 – 1890)

U is for Una

Una Elizabeth Dwyer née Sneyd (1900-1982), first cousin twice removed of my husband Greg, was the daughter of Samuel Charles Sneyd (1863-1938) and Emily Sneyd née Way (1868-1952).

Usually in my family work I am able to find a considerable quantity and variety of information about the person I’m looking researching. I gain, I hope, some small insight into their circumstances and perhaps one or two events of their lives.

Una Sneyd and her family, however, managed to keep a very low profile. They didn’t write to the paper with bright ideas about burials in wicker baskets, weren’t imprisoned for bankruptcy, and weren’t exiled for their religious views. Thoreau said that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation; the Sneyds apparently just led quiet lives, and left few traces of themselves for a family historian to work with.

Una’s mother Emily was the seventh of ten children of John Way and Sarah Way née Daw. She was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1868 but her family moved to Parkes, New South Wales, when she was about five years old.

In 1892 Emily married Samuel Charles Sneyd, a police constable, in Hughenden, Queensland. I don’t know why Emily, then aged 24, was in Queensland; Hughenden is two thousand kilometres north of Parkes. As far as I know, no other members of her family were in Hughenden. At the time of her marriage Emily was living at Hughenden.

1892 marriage certificate of Charles Samuel Sneyd and Emily Way

Emily and Samuel Charles had six children:

• Lionel Walter Sneyd 1894–1976
• Cecil Sneyd 1896–1954
• infant daughter Sneyd 1898–1898
• Una Elizabeth Sneyd 1900–1982
• Ruth Dawes Sneyd 1904–1996
• Jasper Samuel Sneyd 1906–1991

Lionel was born in Hughendon but the others were born in the Emmaville district of north-east of New South Wales. Samuel Charles Sneyd worked as a miner.

When Emily’s father John Way died in 1911, four daughters were mentioned in his obituary, so it would seem Emily was still in touch with her family. When her sister Mary Ann Waine died in 1938, Mary Ann’s obituary mentioned only one sister, Eliza: the family seemed to have lost touch with Emily.

The Sneyd family moved to Sydney sometime after 1913. In August 1915 Lionel Sneyd enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He gave his father as his next of kin. At the time, he was living in Marrickville, an inner-west suburb of Sydney

Lionel served overseas in France, was wounded in action in July 1916, and was repatriated with a fractured left ankle.

Only limited number of electoral rolls for New South Wales have been digitised. In these I have been able to find  Una Elizabeth Sneyd listed in 1930 as living at  39 Tupper Street, Marrickville. Her occupation was shop assistant. She was living with her parents and younger brother Jasper, who was also a shop assistant. Samuel was a carpenter. Emily’s occupation was listed as home duties.

In 1932 Una Sneyd married Patrick George Dwyer, an engine driver. In 1935 the Dwyers were living at 11 Audley Street, Petersham. Una’s occupation was given as home duties. Petersham is immediately north of Marrickville.

By 1936 the Dwyers had moved to 6 Brightmore Street, Cremorne. The suburb of Cremorne is on the lower North Shore in Sydney, 13 kilometres north-east of Marrickville, across the harbour. The Dwyers were still at the same address at the time of the 1980 electoral roll.

Samuel Charles Sneyd died in 1938 and Emily Sneyd died in 1952.

I have not ordered her death certificate, but I notice from the index that Emily’s mother was named Ruth; her family appear to have known very little about Emily’s parents.

Patrick and Una seem to have had only one child, called John. He is listed on the 1958 electoral roll as living with them and is named in their death notices. As the voting age was 21, he was born between 1936 and 1937. I have not found a newspaper birth notice.

Patrick George (Paddy) Dwyer died 29 December 1981 in hospital. His death notice stated that he was from Cremorne, loved husband of Una. The notice names his son and two grandsons. Una died on 13 February 1982, also in hospital. Her death notice also named her late husband, son and two grandsons. In May 1982 there was a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald associated with the estate of Patrick George Dwyer, retired council employee.

In researching Una I have been able to verify dates, places and relationships with the aid of birth, death and marriage indexes, electoral rolls and notices in the newspapers. The Sneyd and Dwyer families, however, did not attract much notice in the newspapers and it has been hard to find any events that enable me to get to know Una Dwyer née Sneyd.

K is for Kenneth

One of my third great uncles was Kenneth George Budge (1842-1878), the son of Kenneth Budge (1813-1852) and Margaret Budge nee Gunn (1819-1863).

Kenneth Budge the father was a seaman who married Margaret Gunn in 1840. Kenneth and Margaret lived in Wick, Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. Their five children were:

• Daniel (1841-1895)
• Kenneth George (1842-1878)
• Alexandrina (1844 – before 1851)
• Margaret (1845 – 1912) my great great grandmother
• Alexandrina (1851-1911)

In August 1852 Kenneth Budge senior, who was trading between Scotland and the Baltic, died of cholera at sea, in the Øresund, the strait that separates Sweden and Denmark.

On 10 June 1854, Margaret remarried, to Ewan Rankin (1825- ?). With her four surviving children she emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, sailing on the Dirigo. The ship departed Liverpool on 10 July 1854 but returned because of a cholera outbreak. Sailing again on 9 August, they arrived in South Australia on 22 November. Kenneth George was then 12 years old.

In 1863 Kenneth’s mother Margaret died at Bookmark station on the River Murray near present-day Renmark. Margaret was 44.

In 1867, in Adelaide, Kenneth’s sister, Margaret, married James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912).

In 1870, in partnership with his brother-in-law James Francis Cudmore, Kenneth bought Gooyea, a cattle station, on the Bulloo River near the Barcoo River, Queensland. In 1875 Kenneth’s brother Daniel joined the partnership.

The Barcoo River near Blackall photographed in 1938

Musterers on Milo station, probably in the 1890s. Milo station was formed from several stations including Gooyea

 

In October 1871 Kenneth was in charge of a mob of 600 cows and 16 bulls travelling from Paringa, a Cudmore station, to Dowling’s Creek, at Gooyea. A herd of cattle this big could travel only about ten miles a day, so the journey from Paringa to Gooyea would have taken nearly three months.

 

Latest News. (1871, October 18). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 2 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197660614

It is 1,224 kilometres from Paringa to Gooyea via Wilcannia or 765 miles

 

A mob of cattle crossing the MacIntyre River from Queensland to New South Wales. Image retrieved from Wikipedia.

From the Wikipedia article on Drover (Australian):

Movement of large mobs of stock was traditionally carried out by contract drovers. A drover had to be independent and tough, an excellent horseman, able to manage stock as well as men. The boss drover who had a plant (horses, dogs, cooking gear and other requisites) contracted to move the mob at a predetermined rate according to the conditions, from a starting point to the destination. The priorities for a boss drover were the livestock, the horses, and finally the men, as drovers were paid per head of stock delivered. Drovers were sometimes on the road for as long as two years. The drovers who covered very long distances to open up new country were known as “overlanders“.

Traditional droving could not have been done without horses. The horse plant was made up of work-horses, night-horses and packhorses, with each drover riding four or five horses during a trip. The horse tailer was the team member responsible for getting horses to water and feed, and bringing them to the camp in the morning. A good night-horse was highly prized for its night vision, temperament, and its ability to bring animals under control when a “rush”, known elsewhere as a stampede, occurred at night.

The standard team of men employed to move 1,200 cattle consisted of seven men: the boss drover, four stockmen, a cook and a horse-tailer. Store cattle were moved in larger mobs, of up to 1,500 head, while fat bullocks going to meatworks were taken in mobs of about 650 head, i.e. three train loads. The stockmen will ride in formation at the front, sides and back of the mob, at least until the mob has settled into a routine pace. Cattle are expected to cover about ten miles (16 km) a day, sheep about six miles (10 km), and are permitted to spread up to 800 metres (half a mile) on either side of the road. A short camp is made for a lunch break, after which the cook and horse-tailer will move ahead to set up the night camp

 

A report in November 1874 mentioned 2,200 cattle head of cattle had been purchased and were en route to Gooyea.

HAY SHIPPING. (1874, November 11). The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141197711

In June 1878 a newspaper article discussed the effort Kenneth Budge and J.F. Cudmore were making to establish a quality beef herd.

The Advertiser THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1878. (1878, June 6). The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29603079

 

In April 1878 Kenneth Budge was appointed a Queensland magistrate.

On 6 November of that year, only 36 years old, he died suddenly of heart disease at Gooyea. He was buried at Gooyea, but two years later his body was exhumed, brought to Adelaide, and re-interred in West Terrace Cemetery.

 

 

The grave of Kenneth Budge at West Terrace cemetery photographed in April 2017

 

Related posts

• Margaret Gunn (1819 – 1863)
• The death of Kenneth Budge (1813 – 1852)
• W is for Wick, Caithness
• Trove tuesday : Daniel Budge
• Q is for questing in Queensland

R is for relatives in Rathmines

While  researching my last post on the Cudmore family in Queensland, I came across an Australian philately blog with a post about a cover that was sent from Queensland via Melbourne to Milo Cudmore Esq, 112 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland. The cancellation stamp is  CAMBOOYA/ MY 2/ 1881/ QUEENSLAND .

The author of the blog post, Maurice, was uncertain of the connection between Milo Cudmore of Dublin, Ireland and the Australian Cudmore family.

Milo Clanchy Cudmore (1808-1900) was my fourth great uncle, the brother of Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811-1891).  They were the sons of Patrick Cudmore (1778-1827) and his second wife Jane Sarah Cudmore née Russell (1792-1879). Milo and Daniel were born in County Limerick, Ireland.

Milo Clanchy Cudmore was evidently named after Milo Clanchy, the husband of his aunt Mary Clanchy née Cudmore. Milo Clanchy died 3 May 1817 and left an inheritance from which Milo Cudmore’s father Patrick benefited, with some residue for Milo and Daniel.

Milo and Daniel’s mother Jane was a member of the Religious Society of Friends, a Quaker. Evidently to further their education Milo and Daniel were placed in Quaker homes in England.. Between about 1822 and 1828 Milo was apprenticed to Levitt Edwards, a baker and flour dealer of High Street, Chelmsford, Essex. He boarded with the Edwards family.  Daniel was placed with Mary Levitt, a relative of the Edwards family, and her husband William Impey at Earles Colne, a village north-west of Chelmsford.The boys saw each other from time to time while they were in England.

In 1830 Milo and Daniel returned home to Limerick in Ireland.

In 1835 Daniel Cudmore married Mary Nihill (1811-1893) and emigrated with the Nihill family to Australia.

Milo married Rebecca Harrison in 1839.

In 1840 a newspaper notice lists Milo as the proprietor of a grocery shop in Sackville Street, Dublin.

Dublin Morning Register 12 December 1840 page 1 from FindMyPast.com.au Image (and subsequent newspaper images) reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Milo and Rebecca Cudmore had at least five children, including a son named Milo (1840-1892) and a son named Henry Russell (1842-1919).

In 1875 Milo and his brother Henry were listed as applicants for land at Eton Vale near Toowoomba, Queensland. (OPENING OF THE HOMESTEAD AREAS. (1875, October 14). The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1858 – 1880), , p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77765831 ) There is a Milo Cudmore listed in the unclaimed letters of 1865 for Port Denison, Queensland. It may be that the brothers were in Australia earlier than 1875.

The brothers were evidently successful in their 1875 land application. Milo Cudmore is listed on the 1875 electoral rolls as being at Emu Creek which is just north of Toowoomba.

In 1892 it was reported that Milo Cudmore of Woodlands, six miles beyond  Cambooya, fell from his horse and broke his leg. Cambooya is near Eton Vale, 20 km south-west of Toowoomba on the Darling Downs of Queensland.

GENERAL NEWS. (1892, February 6). Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 – 1922), , p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170728557

Milo died at the Club Hotel, Toowoomba on 24 February 1892.

GENERAL NEWS. (1892, February 27). Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 – 1922), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170730897

The Club Hotel Toowoomba. 442 Ruthven street (cnr Margaret street). Originally know as Commercial Hotel and later the Queens Arms Hotel. It is no longer standing. Image from Flickr.

Milo Cudmore’s grave in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery Image taken by Roderick and shared on this blog using the terms at the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Newspaper passenger lists show Henry Russell Cudmore leaving Brisbane on 29 January 1892 on the Buninyong, which sailed for Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Henry returned from his trip to administer his brother’s estate. He left Brisbane again in September.

It seems that the letter of 1881 was written either by Milo or Henry to their father in Dublin. It was possibly written by Milo and hence the sender’s name is the same as the addressee.  Milo Junior seems to have regarded Dublin as his home address for the purpose of the mail.

Milo and Rebecca Cudmore. Photograph from page 45 of For the love of the land : the history of the Cudmore family

Manister Lodge, 112 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland. Home of Milo and Rebecca Cudmore. from page 44 of For the love of the land : the history of the Cudmore family

The house at 112 Leinster Road, Rathmines, South Dublin still stands. It is a heritage protected structure (#4712 of Dublin City register). The image from Google street view shows the building is the nineteenth century house.

I was surprised to read in the report of Milo’s death that there was only one relative in Australia, a Mr J. Kingsbury. Milo Cudmore had a lot of Cudmore cousins but it would appear they were not in contact.

I have not heard of J. Kingsbury before. This is research for another day. It is possible that Kingsbury was John James Kingsbury, a future member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. J J Kingsbury MLA was was the son of Andrew Kingsbury and Emily née Chadwick. In that case he was not a close cousin, perhaps the newspaper was mistaken about the relationship.

Further reading

Chapter 3 of Ritchie, Elsie B. (Elsie Barbara) For the love of the land : the history of the Cudmore family. E. Ritchie, [Ermington, N.S.W.], 2000.

Q is for questing in Queensland

My Cudmore forebears were pastoralists with stations in Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia.

My third great grandfather Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811-1891) arrived in Australia in 1835.

Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore about 1865. Image from the State Library of South Australia reference B30912

From his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography:

In 1847 he inherited property in Ireland but sold it to take up a pastoral lease of 80 sq. miles (207 km²) at Yongala, which carried 18,000 sheep. In the 1850s he also leased Pinda, Beautiful Valley and Paringa stations. In the 1860s, after a 1700-mile (2736 km) exploratory journey from Rockhampton, he acquired still larger leases in Queensland and New South Wales.

Detail of 1867 map of Queensland published in Pugh’s Almanac showing Rockhampton in the south and Rockingham Bay in the north. The map indicates treks by explorers such as Leichardt. (click on image to enlarge)

There is mention of Cudmore’s exploration in the Brisbane Courier of 10 December 1861:

Local Intelligence. (1861, December 10). The Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1861 – 1864), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4602679

Burdekin River at Sellheim, ca. 1925. Image from the State Library of Queensland and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Rockingham Bay was named by James Cook in 1770.  It is 150 km south of Cairns. To the immediate south is the town of Cardwell and Hinchinbrook Island.

Daniel Cudmore wrote a report of his journey in the South Australian Advertiser of 8 January 1862

My great great grandfather, James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912), the oldest son of Daniel, took over and extended his father’s pastoral enterprises. From 1859 he managed  Paringa, 208 sq. miles (531 km²). In 1860 he leased Ned’s Corner, further up the Murray. From these properties he overlanded sheep to Queensland and took up leases there. In 1870, in partnership with his wife’s brother Kenneth Budge (1842-1878), he bought Gooyea station on the Bulloo River, Queensland . He expanded Ned’s Corner in partnership with Robert Barr-Smith and A.H. Peglar. He then acquired Welford Downs on the Barcoo River and combined it with Milo, formerly Gooyea, making a run of 5100 sq. miles (13,209 km²). He took on additional partners Sir Thomas Elder and W. R. Swan, and with them established the Milo and Welford Downs Pastoral Co. .

In the 1880s James Francis Cudmore ran into financial difficulties. He moved from cattle to sheep on some properties with substantial costs in changing the yards, fences and equipment required. He was also badly affected by the rabbit plague which reduced his wool clip by 80%. James Francis Cudmore transferred his unencumbered Queensland leases, Tara, Dartmouth and Blackall, to his sons.

James Francis Cudmore had six sons. Five of his sons went onto the land. His other son Arthur Murray Cudmore, my great grandfather, became a doctor.

Some of my Cudmore cousins are farmers. A 1951 article in Queensland Country Life, however, when reporting the sale of a Queensland property by Robert Milo Cudmore (1889-1969), the youngest son of James Francis Cudmore, spoke of the Cudmore family’s leaving the land.

Further reading

• An account of the Yeates family settlement of north Queensland by Neil Yeates in 1981. In 1857 Sidney Yeates (1831-1918) married Dymphna Cudmore (1836-1899) Dymphna was the oldest child of Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore. Other Cudmore relatives are involved in this settlement story.
• There is a national park in Queensland near Barcaldine named after the Cudmore family  http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/managing/plans-strategies/statements/pdf/cudmore.pdf