LILLIAN ROSE 1872
Castle
Forbes Bay was a thriving community at this time, with most men employed by
various mills and timber cutters. Now only six minutes by road and seven
kilometres away from Franklin, in 1872, communities such as this were then
remote, and needed to be self-sufficient. The Governor’s tour of the district
in April 1875 describes well the state of roads which with even a slight rain
turn into a muddy slough, while bridges were remarked on to be in highly
dangerous condition, with most being utterly unsafe for horsemen.
The day His
Excellency visited Castle Forbes Bay, he was reportedly astonished at the
culture of the pupils at the town’s school, and on hearing them read and
examining their writing, granted the little ones a holiday on his behalf before
departing on his brief, but muddy ride to Shipwright’s Point.
Lillian
would have spent her childhood here with her brother Victor (two years older
than her), and her sister Kezia (two years older again). She would have
attended the school and watched her mother bring a new baby into the home every
two years until the family moved to Dover in 1889, where the last four of the
fourteen children were born.
Lillian
married at age 19, to William John (John) Lockley. They married at Strathblane,
he was age 31 and a wagoner by trade. John was the second son of convict Robert
Lockley and Catherine Hingley. This large family settled in the Channel area
and Bruny Island.
I came to
this ancestor biography with no knowledge of Lillian, except for a reference
written after a conversation with one of Kezia’s daughters. When questioned
about her Rose aunts and uncles, Lillian was reported as having many children,
and as having “ran off to New Zealand”. A footnote asks, “did she take the
children?!!”. This comment would seem to reveal that contact with her aunt and
cousins was lost, and that blame was perhaps placed on Lillian.
To settle
the question of how many children Lillian and John had, was found readily in
the Names Index on Libraries Tas site.
1. Charles Albert b 1894
2. William Denis b 1896
3. Alberta Emily May b 1898
4. Cedric Athol b 1899
5. Avaca Ethel Pretoria b 1900
6. Eather Williamenor Vera Elizabeth b
1902
7. Eli Foster b 1903
8. Francis Herbert James b 1905
9. Edith Grace Elizabeth b 1907
Not all was
well for Lillian. In August 1908, Lillian sued her husband for maintenance of
her seven children. It took a brave and desperate woman to take legal
proceedings against a man in these times, as women usually fared badly in the
courts. Lockley, it was reported in the
newspaper, brought provisions home, but as he was locked out, he took the food
and left. The bench dismissed the information, as the man was unable get in the
house.
Records for Lillian disappear after this, however Family Search and other MyHeritage records show Lillian married to Joseph Tippett in New Zealand in 1919. With no proof that this is “our Lillian”, I can pencil in my first clue that may confirm that she did indeed ‘run off to New Zealand’. Records place her at Greymouth. This is where her younger brother Charley worked and enlisted in 1914. Charley is memorialised on the Greymouth War Memorial.
Now begins
my quest to answer the family’s question and to trace the whereabouts and lives
of her children.
CHARLES
1894
I find the
eldest boy, Charles, enlisting in 1914. He states he was born at Port Cygnet,
his age as 20, his family contact as his father, Mr. J Lockley (John as he was
known) of Franklin, and his only conviction as riding a bicycle without a light
at Franklin. His war record tells of his wounding at Gallipoli, injuries to
both legs and fracture of the lower jaw by gunfire at Heliopolis, and of his
being drunk on duty at Abyssinia in Feb 1916. He was medically discharged in
September 1916. On his return home it was reported that his wounds prevented
him from engaging in work.
Online
records state that Charles died 24th of June, 1957 at Greymouth, New
Zealand, and had a wife, Mima.
ATHOL
1899
The next
enlistment I find is Athol Lockley, presumably Cedric Athol as the age is
correct. Athol states his next of kin as his brother Sydney Lockley of Dover.
Sydney now enters the frame as a potential brother, but with no record on the
Name Search, I’ll have to search further.
Charles and
Athol are both named on the Dover State School Honour Roll.
Athol
married Mary Winchester in 1927. They had two children. Athol died in 1957 and
Mary in 1995, both buried at Cornelian Bay. They then lived at 90 Hill Street.
WILLIAM
DENIS 1896
ALBERTA 1897
Alberta
married waterside worker Clarence Grant in 1918 and had five children. They
must have had a long and happy marriage as a Silver Wedding announcement was
made on September 25, 1943. She died in 1973 and is buried at Cornelian Bay
Cemetery.
AVACA 1900
Various
online records state Avaca, (sometimes Avonca), as marrying Andrew O’Grady in
1922 in New Zealand. Avaca and Andrew had two daughters.
Avaca’s
second marriage was to Haaken (Harry) Samuelson. Avaca died in 1974 in New
Zealand.
EATHER
1902
Eather was
born on the 27th of October 1902, and died on the 4th of February
1903. Her name is recorded as Heather on her death registration.
ELI
FOSTER 1903
Eli Foster
went by his middle name, as seems to be the case with most of his siblings. He
married Ruby May. Ruby used her surname and was known as May.
At age 12,
Foster was living in Dover, most likely with his grandparents Charles and Mary.
By then Mary and her youngest son Ted (Andrew), had joined the Salvation Army.
The Huon Times reports on the Salvation Army Festival in 1916 when Foster
performed a recital and a fife solo. The following year Foster, still at Dover,
regularly entered, and won cash prizes in the Robor tea competition.
Once
married, Foster lived and worked in Hobart, Gormanston, Cardigan River, Russell
River, but by the late 1930’s he had moved to Moonah. There he worked as a tram
driver. In October 1931 the Mercury reports an incident between Foster and May
and another couple. Foster and May were walking with a baby they had informally
adopted. They had had the baby for at least ten months. The parents stopped
them on the street and the mother grabbed the baby and ran. A scuffle ensued
and the four of them ended up in court.
This child
was returned to the Suttons.
After this
unfortunate circumstance, May and Foster did soon acquire their sought-after
family of two sons, and subsequent ten grandchildren.
FRANCIS
1905
Frank
Lockley escapes detection. One record states he married Beatrice Mabel Brooks,
another Beatrice Mabel Clark, most have no wife recorded and no children. I can
find no death or burial information. The Examiner and the Advocate newspapers
both report on a Frank Lockley who sustained extensive head injuries on
Saturday night 11th April, 1931. He was reported as being in a brawl
in the city, near his home in Melville Street, Hobart. He was admitted for
treatment. If this was our Frank, he was 26 at that time.
EDITH
1907
Information
about Edith is scant. Online records show she married Harry Edgerton in New
Zealand and that she died there in 1987.
HEALTH
& WELFARE
My next
search for indications of their mother leaving and what may have happened to
the children is in the Health and Welfare files, a likely place to find
disadvantaged children in a place and time of hardship and very little social
assistance.
Here I
found the heartbreaking file of Athol Lockley with an Order of Committal to the
Care of the Department for Neglected Children on the 7th of February
1910.
Information
on Athol states he was in 1st Class at Hastings State School, that
he was living with his brothers William (14) and Chas (16) at Hastings, that
his nearest relative of good repute was Grandfather Charles Rose at Dover, and
that his father left the district six months ago. The mother’s details state
she lived in New Zealand and had left the state with a companion (male).
The file
contains the saga of a father, a deaf man, moving from place to place , working
to pay the mounting Welfare bill, at times unable to work, losing a finger in a
sawmill accident, and probably supporting his younger children too. In 1911,
Lockley reports he is ill, but wants the boy returned to him. He reports that
the mother wants the children and he’ll be pleased when she returns because he
is ‘sick of the way I have to look after them and pay for them”. He is denied
the return of his son.
One
document headed ‘Dover 3-6-13’ lists the children and their whereabouts,
perhaps information given by Charles and Mary Rose.
Sid
Lockley, age 22. Married
Charles
Lockley, age 18. Employed at Saw Mill Clennett
Emily May
Lockley (Alberta), age 16- with Mrs Hope, Argyle Street, Hobart
Topsey
(hard to decipher the handwriting) Lockley, age 12- with Mrs Mackey, Port
Cygnet
Frank
Lockley, age 5
Athol
Lockley, age 14- in Boyshome
Foster
Lockley, age 9.
‘The girls
were together with their aunt in Hobart, but now Topsey is with Mrs Mackey’,
the letter states.
With no
mention of Edith, Lillian having taken her to New Zealand would be the most
likely explanation.
It was the Acting Administrator of Charitable Grants that requested this information from Senior Constable Lisson of Dover. Included in this request was the tragic statement that ‘one son is being maintained at the expense of the State in the Boy’s Home, Hobart, and another has been an inmate of the New Town Infirmary and Consumptive Home for some time but died last week’. This son was William Denis.
.jpg)
Sophia Dembling Louis Fleckenstien, 1912
Research has unpacked some of the lives of Lillian Rose,
John Lockley, and their children, most of who, grew up to lead productive lives
with families and hopefully happiness. Far harder is to solve the complexities
of their lives, motivations, and the hardships of the past that we from our
position can’t help but speculate on. We do this on the living, and we do this
on the dead. Our ancestors are silent, so we fill this silence with our
interpretations. Lillian ‘ran off to New Zealand’, leaving her children, but we
have no context of the true circumstances of her life. It is also impossible to
know of John’s character and struggle.
It cannot be said that Lillian abandoned her children
completely, with Charles, Avaca and potentially Edith, all residing in New Zealand.
Aside from one
criminal record stating- committing a nuisance, detained for 12 hours, native
place (birth) Oyster Cove; John Lockley’s only other records are of his death.
He died in the New Town Rest Home, 17/9/36 , was senile and had no known living
relatives. A very sad end for John, as Foster, Alberta, Athol and perhaps
Frank, were all then living within several kilometres of their father in his
final months. I can’t help but wonder if even Foster, Alberta, Athol and Frank
were strangers to each other, after being separated from such a young age.
SYDNEY
A final long-standing puzzle piece has also been solved,
that of Sydney Lockley.
Sydney, born 1890, was indeed part of the family, but with
no birth record, was he John’s son when he and Lillian married in 1892? John
was 12 years older than Lillian. Was he Lillian’s? For a long time, a John
Sydney Rose had sat on my ‘Charles and Mary Rose’ family tree. He was born 1890
(less than 9 months after his ‘brother’, which MyHeritage had reminded me of as
problematic) and records state he was christened as Charles and Mary’s son.
At 3:00 am one night, I reminded myself to check this “son”, surely, he was
indeed a grandson. With this new theory, his birth record was finally found.
John Sydney, father John McLeod, mother Lilian Mary Ann
McLeod, formerly Rose, registered by Grandfather Charles Rose, Franklin. The
fact that Lilian was married to McLeod was a potential
little lie, her marriage certificate to Lockley states she was a spinster.
At the risk of making this post too long and introducing an
entirely unrelated story, I am going to do this very thing.
I glanced at many articles in Tasmanian newspapers searching
for “Lockley”, but one caught my eye. It was headed ‘A Tyenna Assault Case’.
Mrs Dinah George, of Tyenna, proceeded against Mrs Mary
Lockley for assaulting her at Tyenna on June 22nd(1923). Immediately
this name pinged a sticky note in my brain. Mrs Dinah George was the mother of
Gladys who married Wilfred Rose. Wilfred had also been sitting on Charles and
Mary’s tree as a potential son (but more of him later).
So, Wilfred’s mother-in-law, stated she was at ’home and
went outside to see Mrs Lockley fighting with Richardson(?). As she passed by
Mrs Lockley’s gate, Lockley hurled an insulting remark at her and rushed out
and struck her, as she fell Mrs Lockley jumped on top of her and continued
striking her until her husband and daughter (Thelma) came to her assistance’.
Mary then stated her side of the story and that she was
going out of her gate when Dinah and Thelma ‘went by, insulted her, and picked
up a piece of wood and struck her over the eye. In self-defence, she struck
back’. They both fell and Mrs George caught hold of her hair and wouldn’t let
her up. Olive May and Esther Lockley corroborated this evidence.
The case was dismissed.
But wait, Joseph George (husband) and Dennis Lockley (son)
were involved. Dennis Lockley pleaded not guilty of assaulting Joseph George on
the same day. Going to the women’s assistance, Joseph caught Mrs Lockley by the
arm and Dennis struck him a severe blow on the mouth and broke four teeth. With
Mrs George’s hands entwined in his mother’s hair, Dennis admitted to pushing
Joseph but not striking him. The Bench found him guilty, and ordered him to pay
a fine, costs and witness expenses.
A scrap on the streets of Tyenna between two women makes for
exciting reading, and perhaps it was exciting gossip for the locals in the
following days.
My first response was where is Tyenna?
Wikipedia tells me its is 44 km’s inland from New Norfolk
and states its history:
Many settlers had already
settled and started to clear the heavy forest in
the area when it was officially gazetted as a town in 1918. Early timber
fellers established sawmills in
the area. The mills were reliant on the Tyenna River and Marriots Falls Creek
for steam power. Before the establishment of the towns of Fitzgerald and Maydena it
was the resupply base for Adamsfield osmiridium miners travelling McCullum's Track.
At its peak it boasted at least two hotels, two dance halls, a combined shop
and post-office, a school, cricket ground, a blacksmith's shop, sawmills and
Millars Timber and Trading Company. During the 1930s hops were
grown along the river, processed in oust houses and sent on the rail to
Hobart, Raspberries, currants, and
other produce also went by rail to Hobart.
Tyenna Post Office opened on 1 August 1893 and closed in 1957.
Bushfires have since claimed much of
old Tyenna, but there are still many small holdings along the main road. In
spring, these farms are ablaze with Vansion daffodils that have naturalised.
Distant view of TYENNA township date unknown. Libraries Tas
Tyenna was, it seems, quite a township, and quite close to
Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had come up in my research as where both Andrew Rose and
Wilfred Rose were living at around this time. These men had presumably found
work here and relocated.
Fitzgerald, logs for newsprint mills. Libraries Tas
While Mary and her son Dennis are relatives only by marriage
to Lillian, Olive, Esther and were Lillian’s childrens’ first cousins and
Dinah’s daughter Thelma was Wilfred’s sister-in-law. The reporting of an
incident on the streets of Tyenna does give some insight and context to the
hard times experienced by folks like the Roses in this era.
In the immediate
Post-war years Tasmania’s apple industry collapsed when growers could not get
space on ships. The timber industry would have also collapsed as a result. This
would have been catastrophic and directly affected families in the Huon extremely
badly, with bushmen like the Rose men losing their livelihoods. Funds were
being directed to returned soldiers, and by 1923, Tasmania’s economy was in
decline with population loss reaching
'alarming proportions', according to Sir Nicholas Lockyer in his 1926 report on
Tasmania's financial position.
By 1930 the world,
not just Tasmania, was on the brink of the Great Depression.[i]
I must say, researching both Lilian’s and Linda’s families has saddened me, but is beginning to explain stories of the Rose family I have gleaned over the last several years. These stories are of family dispersion, parental conflict and loss, grief, trauma, dreadful economic conditions, and coercive, voluntary or forcible removal of children.
Also, it
reveals stories of much tenacity and strength. At times I have felt I am
exploring and feeling the burden of, very personal and intimate family matters.
I try to recognise that records are only that, and records don’t include the
myriads of life’s joys, sorrows, reactions, personalities, and love.
[i] https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/B/Boom%20and%20Bust.htm
All other references from Libraries Tas Names Index,
Trove, Google Images, Wikipedia and
THE LOCKLEY FAMILY - as of May 2021 Compiled, collated
etc. by Kathy Duncombe (Bruny Island History Room, Alonnah).
