100 Years Ago Wedding of Edward Harkness Hurle and Elsie Rosetta Lawson

Transcription

1 100 Years Ago 1906 Wedding of Edward Harkness Hurle and Elsie Rosetta Lawson Geoff Hurle 2010

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Robert Hampton HURLE... 3 Fremantle around Bay St... 4 Johnston Memorial Church... 6 South Terrace... 8 Lawson Wiluna Reflections Sewer Map Table of Figures Figure 1 - Long Jetty Figure 5 - Extracts from the Post Office Directory... 6 Figure 7 - Johnston Memorial Church (1900?)... 7 Figure 8 - Johnston Memorial Church (1950?)... 7 Figure South Terrace (left hand side). Photo c Figure South Terrace (2009) Figure South Terrace (2009) Figure 14 - Edward, Ted &Alf in the rear yard of 141 South Terrace Figure 17 - Bakehouse Wiluna Figure 18 - Back of the Wiluna Bakehouse Figure Sewer Map for 141 South Tce

3 Introduction Edward Harkness Hurle married Elsie Rosetta Lawson on 28 th March 1906, in the Johnston Memorial Church, Fremantle. Their second child, Alfred Robert Hurle was born on 24 th July The address listed on Alf s Birth Certificate is 227 South Terrace, Fremantle. This is now number 141. On the 17 th July 1910 Elsie s father, Alfred Lawson died in Wiluna, where he was buried. This document attempts to tell the story of how the Hurle and Lawson families would have lived during those years. Robert Hampton HURLE Edward s eldest Brother, Robert came to WA from Keynton (Vic) in 1887 to take up a position as accountant with the Kauri and Jarrah Timber Co. in Perth (WA). His wife, Jane Elizabeth (Della) and baby daughter, Kathleen, remained with his parents until he was settled and then joined him. Their next three children, Robert, Phyllis and Allan were born in Perth. However they found the summers very trying so when the Manager offered Robert a comparable position with their affiliated company, IXL in Hobart, he readily accepted. They moved to that city, probably about , their youngest child Majorie being born there in Fremantle around 1900 At the time Robert arrived in Fremantle (1887) the inner harbour had not been built. Sailing ships tied up at the long Jetty. CY O Connor opened up the river mouth for the inner harbour by At the time Edward and Elsie were married (1906) the Long Jetty was a promenade. O Connor died in 1902, just as water flowed to Kalgoorlie along the pipeline he designed and constructed. The population of Fremantle was 3,641 in 1881, 5,607 in 1891 and 14,704 by Presumably Edward came to WA because Robert was here. The Fremantle oval was first used for a football game in Fremantle had electric lights and tramways by 1906, the year Edward and Elsie married. 3

4 When the tramway was being considered a suggestion was made to include provision for motor vehicles, which could then be used as feeders for the tram service. At the time of Edward and Elsie s marriage (1906) the tram service included South Fremantle and East Fremantle. Figure 1 - Long Jetty 1896 In 1905, in London, women were still being jailed as suffragettes. In 1900 the Girls school was built. It became the Princess May School in The Fremantle Technical School opened in It was 1912 before it was housed in adequate buildings. Timber had always been an important export Figure 2 - Long Jetty 1921 for WA and much of that would have been exported through Fremantle port. Presumably Robert would have been involved in that. Roads in Fremantle would have mostly have been Limestone. Pollution would have been Lime dust and the copious droppings from the horses. Bay St According to Edward and Elsie s marriage certificate they lived in Bay St. This is also shown in the Post Office records. 4

5 Only one side of Bay St had dwellings or businesses, the other side would have been railway yards and shipping. During this time the inner harbour works would have been underway and there would have been a lot of activity. Hurle Edwd. is recorded on page 627 of the 1910 Post office Directory as living at 58 Bay St. The Directory is available at: ye/pods/post_office_directories_co ntents.html As Alfred is listed as being born in South Terrace this must have been about the time they shifted. Figure 3 - An Early Map of Fremantle Figure 4 - Railway Yards at Bay St 5

6 Figure 5 - Extracts from the Post Office Directory Bay Street is now known as Elder Place. It has commercial buildings on one side and a car park on the other. Point Street no longer reaches Elder Place. The Market was never built at the south end and much later the site was used for the present railway station. When the railway was built the Fremantle station was adjacent to Moat Street, the East Fremantle station was near the present traffic bridge. Figure 6 - Elder Place 2009 Johnston Memorial Church Edward and Elsie were married in the Johnston Memorial Church. This church was built in 1875 and demolished in It was a Congregational Church. Note that in the second picture the overhead wires for the tram can be seen. It is quite likely that they both attended this church and maybe even met there. On leaving WA Edward and his family moved to Glenhuntly, Vic and attended the Congregational church there. 6

7 Figure 7 - Johnston Memorial Church (1900?) Figure 8 - Johnston Memorial Church (1950?) These pictures are copied from the Fremantle Library. Once demolished the church site was used for multi story units. 7

8 Figure 10 - Johnston Court Flats from Adelaide Tce Note the sign in the car park Johnson Court Commercial Parking Only. The left hand picture shows the Adelaide terrace frontage from about the same location as the second picture above. The T appears to be optional in the name Johnston, but it is on the Marriage Certificate. South Terrace Figure 9 - Johnston Court Flats - Rear View As mentioned above it is likely that Edward and his family shifted into South terrace about 1909/10. The birth certificate for Alfred shows he was born at 227 South Terrace. Attached is an extract of a 1911 map that shows the location of 227, and the outline and use of the buildings. Terrace. It is shown as 139 on Google maps. The dwelling still exists and is now number 141 South Both 139 and 141 are Heritage listed. The notes for the listing include the following: Historical Notes: Duplex, 141 South Terrace was built c for John Bateman, a local merchant and land developer. The duplex was built at the same time as its pair, 139 South Terrace. A metropolitan sewerage plan dated c 1900 shows a pair of long narrow brick cottages at 139 and 141 South Terrace, with full length front verandahs and various attached rooms at the rear. 8

9 The duplex pair were rental properties for many years Description Notes: South Terrace is a single story, limestone, brick and iron duplex pair with a symmetrical façade built c and designed as an example of the Federation Bungalow style of architecture. The walls are limestone with brick quoins. The roof is hipped and clad with corrugated iron. The verandah has a separate corrugated iron roof. The front doors, with fanlights are adjacent to each other There is a timber and wire fence to front boundary Figure South Terrace (left hand side). Photo c.1970 Today the front of 141 is obscured by foliage. The present day photos show that the property has changed very little. The rear of the property can still be accessed via the laneway. The outside loo is still in the position indicated on the 1911 map. 9

10 Figure South Terrace (2009) Figure South Terrace (2009) The photos below are probably at the rear of 141 South Terrace and will show Edward with Ted and Alf. 10

11 Figure 14 - Edward, Ted &Alf in the rear yard of 141 South Terrace In the left photo note the tank and verandah that are in the positions shown on the 1911 map. Judging by the size of Alf the photo must be about mid I wonder who took the photos? Elsie? This listing of Lawson s from 1905 shows a Lawson Mrs. Costumiere, 252 South ter. Could she have been a relation of Elsie and found her a house she could rent? About this time in Fremantle the railway workshops relocated to Midland. This caused many people to shift to Midland and hence more houses would have become available. Lawson This is the 1905 WA Post Office listing for Lawson. Alfred Lawson s children were Arthur, who also a baker in Wiluna, according to the list. Albert Bert Carrie, who married Joe Charles Figure 15 - 'Lawson' Extracts from the 1905 Post Office Directory 11

12 Elsie, who married Edward Harkness Hurle Leonard Syd Leslie There is also a Thomas listed as a miner in Wiluna. It is doubtful that as a miner he would have been Alfred s age, more likely he was a nephew? Was he the Mrs Lawson s son? Elsie is not in the list. Did she stay with the relative who was the costumiere? Wiluna Shown here is the 1905 Post Office listing for the town of Wiluna. Note the absence of Hurle. Perhaps Elsie never went to Wiluna, until her father died in Figure 16 - Post Office Listing for the Town of Wiluna

13 In about 1990 Ted wrote this story. Ted would have been 4 at the time the story took place. Mother was a tough Lady I always knew my mother was tough but it was really brought home to me when I came across an old family photograph. It was taken in thew first half of 1911after my mother had brought her mother back from Wiluna. Delving into my memory, the recollection goes like this. My Grandparents had set up a bakery business in the Goldfields town of Wiluna near the Hammersley Ranges of Western Australia, apparently soon after the opening of the branch railway line from Kalgoorlie to Leonora in The transport to Wiluna was then by coach for some 250 kilometres. My grand father died at the end of 1910 and the family determined that my grandmother should come and live with us in Fremantle. My mother decided to go to Wiluna to bring her back. My recollection of the journey from Leonora to Wiluna, is predominately, the continuous dust. The coach had blinds that were supposed to keep the heat out, but there was no control of the dust. There were several stops to change horses and refill the water bags. I had a canvas water bag to myself-my brother spent most of the time asleep or on the breast so the dust did not worry him much. Eventually we arrived at Grandma s where it was hot and dry. On the horizon there appeared to be a bushfire, which I was told, was a corroboree and would be gone in the morning. We stayed two days at grandma s, long enough to pack her personal possessions into two small trunks and for me to find out that she too was a tough lady. I found out that she used to deliver bread to some of the nearer stations. She would load up her jinker first thing in the morning and as soon as it was daylight she would set out and drive all day, only stopping to rest the horse for a while at one of the rare waterholes. Arriving at her destinations she would complete her transaction, stay overnight and return the next day. (This paragraph is Ted s fantasy but, he says quite likely) We got back to Fremantle by the same transport facility as we used to get to this desolate corner of Australia. Time passed, two years in fact, and the whole family, including Grandma, came to Melbourne by ship and settled eventually in Glenhuntly. This was to be the place where most of our family life was spent and here I will tell you of another incident to prove Mother was a Tough Lady. I had a day off school for Arbour Day and mother announced she was going to Prahran, about 5 to 6 kilometers from our place. I said the tram doesn t go from here. Ah she said, I am going to walk, which she did, pushing the pram with baby onboard. Its too far for you, you can stay at home and polish the silver and see that Grandma gets her cup of tea two or three times during the day. Oh, and another thing pay the milk man when he comes for his money. For me the day was quiet, mother arrived back home about 4 o clock, and what did she buy? Why, sheets and blankets of course. I forgot to tell you that mother had six brothers and they often stayed with us for long or short periods. I remember asking at one time, who is that man sleeping on the 13

14 back verandah? Oh, he is your Uncle Len, he is just back from the war, he is going to stay with us for awhile. Which he did. Two and a half years in fact. There was the brother from America. He was the star border for several weeks, but mother never flustered she took it all in her stride. As I said, - My Mother was a Tough Lady she also gave me two sisters and seven brothers. At the head of the Wiluna entry in the Post Office directory there are instructions for getting to Wiluna. Take the train to Nannine, then coach to Wiluna miles The train would have left Perth, and gone via Geraldton, Mt Magnet then North to Nannine. Nannine is about 40 Kms south of Meekatharra and presumably as far as the train went at that stage. Ted s story gives some indication of coach travel. There is a coach in the Kalgoorlie Museum that would be typical of the type used then. 14

15 Nannine is on Polelle Station. Quinns Patch, on the station is where Jen s gold nuggets were found. Maybe the coach travelled close by. There is discrepancy between these instructions and Ted s story about going via Kalgoorlie and Leonora. The Shire of Leonora web site says the railway line linking Leonora and Kalgoorlie was opened in June Living conditions in Wiluna, during this time would have been hectic. The town would have been growing with lots of building activities. As well as the present town there used to be a suburb adjacent to the mine. The layout of this town is evident in Google Earth. The town buildings could have been similar to the buildings that remain in Gwalia, just out of Leonora. 15

16 In the book A History of Wiluna there is a paragraph about an early baker. It goes: Mr Howard, who later took up Mt. Keith Station, employed the town s first baker. One night Mr Howard happened to be passing the bakery. He looked in the window and saw the baker in an inebriated condition lying across the tub of dough. Mr Howard walked in, hauled him out of the dough, helped him off the premises, returned to the tub of dough scraped away the contaminated part, and proceeded with the business of making his first batch of bread which was to be delivered to the towns people the next morning. This would have been between 1896, when the rush commenced, and 1898 when the population had reached 200. I wonder what year Alfred arrived? Figure 17 - Bakehouse Wiluna 1906 Figure 18 - Back of the Wiluna Bakehouse

17 New Wiluna Cemetery, Grave No 6. Walk to the right, next to fence line Wiluna still has an active gold mine. During the second world war it produced arsenic, and was, according to Tokyo Rose, a target for Japanese bombs. Reflections How come Edward at 34 married Elsie at 20? There was a shortage of women. How did they meet? How did they afford the house in Glenhuntly, and educate the children. Ted and Alf were well educated. Kate learnt the piano. Bill was apprenticed? Edward was a butcher who worked for someone else in an abattoir later in his life. 17

18 The Lawson s must have had a lot of enterprise. Going to Wiluna as the baker must have required a lot of courage particularly with all those children. The Hurle s must have also had enterprise. Robert leaving Kyneton for Perth in 1897 then being followed by Alfred. Life during those times must have been tough but I guess that anyone who came to Australia must have expected hardship. It does make you wonder how bad it must have been back in the mother country to make people tackle the new land. Sewer Map 1911 This is a copy of the 1911 Sewer map for Fremantle. Lot 227 is Number 141 Figure Sewer Map for 141 South Tce 18