Sarah Murphy: a dear soul.

I first ‘met’ Sarah on the pages of some hand-written family research done a few decades ago. Before the days of internet digitilisation, research meant hours at the State Archives and going through the phone books and cold calling relatives. This is what one of my relatives had been doing in the 90’s, I even remember receiving a phone call myself from him, but I was a young mother with four small boys in the background so had no real time to engage in much depth with him. He sadly passed away before I recontacted him.

This we knew: Sarah Murphy had married Martin Cupit on the 7^th of November 1862. Where Sarah was from was from, I was not so sure. The groom Martin, was a convict, and bride Sarah, was a servant, the daughter of a convict born at the Female Factory, the research presented. With a name like that, I presumed she was Irish. Sarah and Martin were married at the home of John Whitmore of Franklin. Minister of the Wesleyan Church Rich. Cook officiated with John and Julian Whitmore as witnesses. Their son William Edward was born around 1867 and a daughter Martina Augusta born 1870. They lived in a house owned by E.A. Warpole in Franklin.[i] Edward Atkyns Warpole was the appointed Police Magistrate in Franklin from 1854 to 1884, so presumably Martin and Sarah were good tenants.[ii]

Presuming his research correct, or at least in the ball park, my recent plunge into the deep end of the family gene pool left me slightly disoriented and struggling to find any ladders out.

My attempt at finding Sarah was to presume perhaps Ancestry.com would lead me to a correct line, (my recent Ancestry dealings had found this was not always the case). My second mistake was to presume Sarah’s mother was a Murphy and my third was to presume Sarah was born in Van Diemen’s Land, as was earlier suggested. Two unnamed female babies born around that time were born to Ellen Murphy and Ann Murphy, both convict women. I research them both, to come up with dead ends. I searched all 109 female Murphy convicts eliminating them slowly. I searched every Murphy birth on the Tasmanian Names register and children on the Queens Orphanage register.

Finally, after deciding I may never find Sarah’s mother and that I was okay with that, I found a Sarah Murphy I had previously missed on the Orphanage register, but with a date a bit later than I was expecting. Sarah Murphy, was admitted in 1851, her mother was Mary Breen, her father, George Murphy, Mary’s ship, the Blackfriar. Everything adds up.

So now I’m starting to form a picture of Sarah. As a ten-year-old girl, Sarah had spent ten months on board the Blackfriar with her mother and 190 or so other Irish women. She would have had long red hair, that lovely lilting, childish Irish accent and at ten, perhaps would have been excited about this adventure and be

of help to her mother.

                                         
                                                            

                                                                                 
                                                             portrait of a red haired girl by George Frederick Watts 1817-1904


 Did they have any idea of what lay ahead of them in their new home? Upon arrival Sarah was sent to the bleak Queen’s Orphanage in New Town. Here she remained for four years when at fourteen, in 1855, she was old enough to gain employment and was released to Charles Carroll of Hobart. Information on Charles Carroll is thin on the ground, except for the death of the forty-four-year-old Charles at Bathurst Street in 1858. Charles was an Irishman, died of consumption and his occupation was a Messenger. Presumably Sarah was a domestic servant for him and as an Irishman, perhaps he was pleased to hire an Irish lass. I wonder if Sarah had any contact with her mother during these years? Mary was serving in Hobart Town at this time and would not gain her certificate of freedom until 1857.
 [iii]

 

Campbell Street and Bathurst Street intersection ,  date unknown.                                                       stors.tas.gov.au 

How Sarah ended up at Franklin marrying Martin isn’t known, it can only be hoped her life prospects were looking as rosy as possible in a fast developing town south of Hobart in 1862. 

By the 1830’s Franklin was the major town in the Huon Valley. The poor, overland route to Hobart was nothing more than a bush track on which mail was carried in on foot twice a week. As it was dangerous due to bushrangers, most trade and transport was done by boat. In 1838 convict labour was used to construct a canal through South Egg Island, an island in the river at Franklin. This would enable more direct access to the busy port of Franklin from all directions. Life at Franklin meant a solid connection with the water and boating, and with timber, as the Huon Valley was then very heavily wooded. This was true for the Cupits. Pioneering here was a life of hard work and risks. [iv]

                                                         Source: .https://www.huonvalleytas.com/service/paddle-huonville-to-franklin-circuiting-egg-islands-via-the-canal/

 Sadly, at age thirty-five, in 1876, Sarah died. The family story states that William, then about nine, and Martin had returned from Egg Island without William’s red coat. This was the 24^th of December, so presumably the young lad was hot, took off his coat and left it there, as children do. Sarah had made the coat and the tale is told that she got so upset that she had a heart attack. An inquest was held, but owing to Christmas Day on the Monday, was postponed by a day. The inquest report would concur somewhat with this story. The inquest stated that ‘while preparing Sunday dinner, (Sarah) came into the back part of her house, saucepan in hand when she was noticed by the children to suddenly drop down exclaiming “oh dear! oh dear!”. Dr Smith was immediately called in, but the woman on his arrival was quite dead. The deceased has always been noted for a hard working, industrious woman, and it is generally believed that her life has been greatly shortened by exposure to rough weather and carrying heavy logs of wood.’ Verdict of death was returned as natural causes.[v]

Was the question asked, “William where is your coat?” immediately before her collapse? The family story could only have come from William himself. Did he spend his whole life believing his mother’s death was indeed his fault? And believing it enough to tell his own children this was the case? Martin died two years later, the day after Martina’s 8^th birthday. What became of the orphan children after this is unclear. William remained in the Franklin area all his life, Martina moved on and lost all contact with her brother. Neither Martin or Sarah had family to take the children. 

                                                  William Cupit

William’s eldest daughter Ada was born in 1892. Her grandmother had been gone sixteen years by then, but certainly many of Sarah’s peers were still alive. This is how a scant piece of remembrance of Sarah has filtered down into the family archives.

Mrs. Diefenbach was Sarah’s friend. Ludwich (Louis) and Maria Diefenbach arrived in the state in 1855 aboard the America and settled in Franklin where they were widely known and respected pioneers. Maria died at age 88 in 1918, so certainly would have known Ada and all Sarah’s grandchildren, including my grandmother.[vi]

“She had red hair”, Maria Diefenbach told Ada “and she was a dear soul”.

---

[i] Hobart Town gazette 1872 page 1391 hobart Archives

[ii] 1889 'Local & General.', The Tasmanian (Launceston, Tas. : 1881 - 1895), 23 March, p. 23. , viewed 09 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199519953

[iii] https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-5$init=RGD35-1-5p269jpg

[iv] 1918 'OBITUARY', Huon Times (Franklin, Tas. : 1910 - 1933), 6 December, p. 5. , viewed 09 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135713912

[v] 1877 'FRANKLIN HUON.', The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880), 5 January, p. 3. , viewed 09 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72522090

[vi]1918 'OBITUARY', Huon Times (Franklin, Tas. : 1910 - 1933),

The Convict Trail II

Eliza Rose.

My assignment (with a bit more added):

On the 4th of August 1842 the ship Waverley left Dublin with 149 convicted women on board bound for Van Diemen’s Land. 

The previous year, 1841, Governor Franklin had complained about the wretched state of the female Irish convicts on their arrival to Van Diemen’s Land. He also complained about the 30 young children aboard the MaryAnne who had to be admitted to the orphanage at a cost to the government of £10 a year.[1]

 Perhaps his complaints had been heeded, as the Waverley’s Surgeon Mr Samuel Mackey reported that all 149 women arrived in a clean and healthy state with no deaths on the voyage, and two births. He attributed the healthiness of the prisoners to the Water Closets and berths being kept clean and ventilated, fortunate fine weather during the voyage and the prisoners and children on deck every day from 9 o’clock in the morning till 6 o’clock in the evening.[2]

Eliza Rose, my ggg grandmother was one of these women. Eliza, a widow, had been charged with larceny in Carlow, Ireland on the 5^th of April 1842. [3]From 1836 a depot had been provided for the female convicts in Dublin, so it was here in the Grange Gorman Female depot in Dublin that Eliza spent four months until her transportation. [4]

Widowed Eliza had three children. Perhaps it was these difficult circumstances that had led her to shoplift several times.

hubpages.com/education/Grangegorman-Female-Penitentiary-Stoneybatter-Dublin-7-female-convicts-transportation-to-Australia

Grangegorman Prison, Dublin

 I’m fascinated how we love to make connections. You see it on ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ all the time. The famous guest looks back and discovers a connection. They discover an ancestor who was in theatre, was artistic, or something else that reaching back through time connects them.  Is it real genetic fabric, or is it conformation bias, I don’t know, but when I discovered Eliza stole twelve yards of calico, I was excited. A woman after my own heart. 

It probably had nothing what so ever to do with the fabric. She was probably desperate to feed her children and could resell the calico.

Upon arrival registers and reports were made and the equivalent of today’s mug shot was recorded detailing physical characteristics. Eliza’s description list states she was a short woman, 4/9”, age 24, fresh faced with very dark brown hair, black eyebrows, dark blue eyes and thick lips. She stuttered and had a scar in her forehead.[5]

Eliza’s conduct record states she was transported for Larceny. Gaol Report, ‘well behaved widow’. She stated her offence, Shoplifting 2 or 3 times. ‘Quiet and well behaved’. [6]

Eliza’s Indent record states she had only one child with her on the journey.[7] There was no definite policy on the transportation of children at the time, but outcomes followed were usually the ones that were cheapest for the government, and transportation of children with their mothers was the cheaper option.[8] Eliza’s children were admitted to an orphanage while their mother served her sentence. Emily Rose, presumably the child listed as accompanying Eliza on the voyage, was admitted to the Queen’s Orphan School on the 20^th December 1842 at age 4 years, five days after arrival of the Waverley. Life at the orphanage in New Town was bleak. It was effectively a prison, with the crime either being born to a convict or the loss of a parent. Much like the convict stain, there was a stigma attached to being in the Orphanage. Children were abused, malnourished and treated badly and deaths common. The years 1841-1844 were particularly bad, with many deaths recorded. [9]

                         Queens Orphan Asylum New Town, 1863, courtesy of Tasmanian Images: Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office

 Eliza had three children, but with only one documented as accompanying her on the Waverley, the records of herother children are a little confusing. Her son James was admitted to the Orphanage in 1841. Considering Eliza with the Waverley arrived in 1842, James’ childhood is unknown. Her other daughter Amelia also spent time at the Orphanage, admitted in 1846 at age six, her whereabouts during the previous four years, also unclear.[10]

Eliza was reprimanded for disorderly conduct in Liverpool St in December 1843. By June the following year she was marked as 3 Class. However, announcements from the Comptroller-General’s Office, December 21, 1844 were pleased to grant tickets-of-leave to ninety-five convicts, including Eliza. [11]

 

These often were granted before the sentence end, as convicts with a ticket could then earn their own money and become less strain on the Government’s purse. [12]

On the 1^st September 1845, Eliza’s conduct record states her being in bed with a T. (ticket) of Leave man and she was sentenced to two months of hard labour at the Cascades Female Factory. Her son Charles was born at the Female Factory two months later, on 1^st November 1845. [13]

Charles must have stayed with his mother as there is no record of him at the Orphanage. Presumably Eliza stayed out of trouble over the next few years as her other children survived their Orphanage years and were released to her. Convict John Williams and Eliza applied for marriage permission twice in 1849 but it was refused both times.[14]

Eliza was granted her certificate of freedom on 13^th September 1852, almost ten years after her arrival, and finally in November 1852, John and Eliza were married at the “light on the hill” church, St Georges.

This church sits on the highest point of Battery Point and is also known as the mariner’s church. Appropriately, John was a shipwright.  John Williams was 49 and Eliza an understated 30. [15]

Watercolour by henry Grant Lloyd, 1848
Digitised item from: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office

 Presumably their prospects were now better than ever, and they were happy to be building a new life for themselves in their antipodean home. They registered the birth of their first child, a male, in August 1853. John and Eliza were then living at Stoney Steps, a stone’s throw from the Female Factory, quite a way out of the town of Hobart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                       View from Stoney Steps.                     National Library of Australia   nla.pic-an8368182-v

Sadly, after all the high-risk ordeals she had endured, Eliza died twenty days later. Cause of death was listed as influenza, but almost certainly her recent childbirth would have contributed to her death.[16] Another twenty days later their baby, now named Samuel Peter died too.[17]

Eliza’s short life left her legacy in her children and grandchildren who settled in the Huon Valley. Who raised Eliza’s children isn’t known. Once James and Emily left the Orphanage, I’ve found no records of them.  Amelia married convict Andrew Lumsden. Her surname had by then become Williams, perhaps her stepfather raised her. Perhaps he remarried. She and Andrew had at least six children. Charles Rose married Elizabeth Lovell had at least twelve children.  [18]  Charles was my maternal grandmother’s grandfather.

I visited Stoney Steps in Hobart. Now well and truly encompassed by the city, it is a tiny little lane at the end of Davey Street with a fabulous view. An old sandstone cottage on the left could easily have been where Eliza lived and died, or perhaps there was an old house up the old stone wall and steps at number 3.

Eliza's descendants populated and built the colony, started businesses, planted fields of apples and sent their sons and grandsons back to the other side of the world to defend their country. They pushed their convict forebears to the back of the closet and conveniently denied them.

Our UTas lecturer recommended a trip back to Ireland if any students had Irish ancestors. Hmmm, I must do that.

---

[1] “Sources in the National Archives for research into the transportation of Irish convicts to Aus 1791-1853”Rena Lohan, Archivist, Nat Archives Journal of the Irish Society, Spring 1996

[2] Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record>catid=5039006&catln=6

[3] search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON40-1-8,244,225,F,60 accessed 10 May 2018

[4] itsfilemaker2.its.utas.edu.au/fmi/webd#Female_Convicts_in_VDL_database accessed 15 May 2018

[5] Linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/all/search/results?qu=eliza&qu=rose

[6] Search.archives.tas.gov

[7] Linc tas names search convicts

[8] Convict Lives: Women at Cascades female factory/Female Convicts Research Centre Convict Women’s press 2012

[9] www.orphanschool.org.au/suffer.php

[10] www.orphanschool.org.au/listorphans.php

[11] Trove.nla.gov.au Colonial Times 28 December 1844 news article8755874

[12] Colonial Times28Dec1844 nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8755874

[13] www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/lists/ChildrenUnderSentence.pdf

[14]linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=eliza&qu=rose&qf=NI_INDEX%09Record+type%09Marriage+Permissions%09Marriage+Permissions accessed 5 May 2018

[15] linc tas name search marriages

[16] linc tas name search deaths

[17] linc tas.name search deaths

[18] linc tas name search marriages/births

The Convict Trail. Part I

Eight weeks ago I knew I had one convict ancestor, so I happily enrolled in the UTas Convict unit knowing I'd have someone to research.
I pulled out my unorganised records and found the little information I had on him. Martin Cupit, my maternal Grandmother's grandfather. On scanning my records, I spy a mention that her (my grandmother) other grandfather was born at the Cascade Female Factory. Presumably this means his mother was a convict and it starts me on my search for his mother, Eliza Rose.

Just to put her in a little context, Eliza was one of the 12,500 female convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1803 to 1853. Approx half of these women were Irish.

These women were tried in Ireland and shipped off to the other side of the world, often with one or two children in tow. Once docked in Hobart, the women were disembarked and they were trekked on foot, early in the morning ( to avoid mixing with the respectable locals) the few miles to the Female Factory, which was situated quite nicely out of town under the shadow of the mountain by the rivulet. Here they were processed, set to work and had their children taken from them. The children were sent to the Queen's orphanage in New Town. For many, it would be unlikely they would ever be reunited.

                                                            iccs.arts.utas.edu.au/colonial/old_caia_site/femalefactory.html

For many Tasmanians, like me, its difficult to remove yourself from the sterotype and almost caricature of the convict. We grew up in the era when the convict stain was lifting from the fabric of our families' stories. We would pull the dirty linen from the closet and wear it as a bit of a badge of honour to state we had a convict in our past, but having very little understanding of what this really meant.

                                      Convicts in New Holland 1793  Wikipedia convicts in Australia

For a start, our fixation was often with the crime they committed. Seemingly menial crimes, like stealing an egg or a potato. In reality, the crime was irrelevant. Basically it was a deal. Their government wanted to get rid of a problem- horrific social conditions, starvation, poverty and the human cost that comes with this; our government wanted slave labour to build the new colony and consequently women to redress the gender imbalance that this virtual slave trade created.

Back to Eliza. Eliza arrived in Hobart on 15 December 1842 on the Waverley. On processing and the beginning of her record, it states she had one child with her. Five days later that child, Emily, age 4 is admitted to the Orphanage. I can't imagine the horror and heartbreak of saying goodbye to your child in such a way. And for the children, the trauma of maternal deprivation and subsequent institutionalization in such a dreadful place as this.

                                                                                                                                        linc tas

"There were 463 children at the institution, of whom 411 were the children of convicts and seven were Aboriginal. Reports indicate that conditions within the school were harsh: the buildings were sparsely furnished and cold; food was often in short supply; and many of those responsible for caring for the children treated them harshly. Epidemics of scarlet fever, measles , whooping cough and scarletina exacted a heavy toll amoung the children in the Orphan School."

Orphan School                     source ABC.net.au

Eliza had three children. I cannot unravel their stories. James Rose, 3yrs 6 mnths,  was admitted to the Orphanage on 17th August 1841 and discharged 13 December 1841. Considering Eliza arrived in 1842, this is confusing. Amelia Rose, 6 yrs, was admitted 3 March 1846 and discharged 27 July 1847. Emily Rose was discharged 24 April 1845. Records state all three were discharged to their mother. Obviously the children all had different fates, I can only hope they all ended up back with their mother at some stage.

Eliza was probably in some sort of service when she conceived her fourth child. The father's identity and the circumstances can never be known. Her record shows a few misdemeanors (more in Part II ), but back to the female factory for her to have her baby. After her final punishment of the crime of 'getting pregnant' she was a Class 3 inmate, the worst, and was sentenced to heavy labour, the bleakest corner of the Factory where the solitary cells and the wash yard were placed. The women washed and ironed for themselves, the staff and the citizens of Hobart. This meant carting water, heating it, scrubbing the heavy clothes, drying and heating and handling the heavy irons. How they dried the clothes through winter is a mystery.

                                                                                                                  female factory.org.au

The Factory is a fascinating place to visit. The day I went was sunny but cold. I wasn't sure where it was and I ended up following a rubbish truck. This was my first clue that I was in the right place and the history of the factory. Situated at the Hobart Tip, indicative of the attitude of the then society's wishes as to how to deal with these women. They were the lowest of the low and its taken many years to lift the social amnesia and banishment of these women from our memories and stories. Not only were they banished from their homeland, but then banished from their families stories and memory. These women were the mothers and founders of thousands and thousands of Tasmanians and Australians who built our heritage. The site of the factory had been forgotten and gradually degraded over the decades until it was saved from complete demolition in the 1960's by the National Council of Women of Tas. It had been the "ultimate act of erasing the suffering of convict women from the historical record" to quote Christina Henri.
The death of 1148 babies between 1829-1856 who are buried somewhere under a road outside the factory, inspired Christina Henri to start her baby bonnet project which grew into the Roses from the Heart project which aims to commemorate every convict woman with a replica bonnet.

Needless to say, now I know more of Eliza's life, I will be making her a bonnet.


                                      .
                                                                                               a sea of bonnets: Sew Make Believe.wordpress.com
 References:
linc tas names search/convicts
Female Convicts Research Centre Inc
Friends of the Orphan School    orphanschool.org.au
Christina Henri. Redeeming Memories a visual investigation into the lives of convict women

WW1 Part 3.

Another soldier's story.

Charles and Mary Rose were also to lose a grandson to the Great War. Their daughter Kezia, was seventeen or so years older than her brothers, the two Charlies (part 1 & 2).  Kezia married William Edward Cupit in 1895, and their first son was David. The two Charlies were still young boys when their nephew David was born.

Life sounds quite idyllic for a childhood in the Huon Valley in the early part of the 1900’s where the Cupit children grew up. Eldest daughter Ada, was followed by Kezia and William's two more sons, Martin and Albert (Top), then twin daughters Corrie and Ivy with Rene shortly after. Bill, Dick and Slim completed the family. Confusingly for family researchers, this family did not adopt the usage of their often very unusual given names but reverted to either nick names or shortened second or third names. 

A chronological search of the name Cupit in the Huon Times newspaper, reveals William running a Grocer’s store at Franklin, and the children all growing up in an extremely community minded district. The girls did well in the local school, Franklin State School, graduated to Secondary School and contributed in local concerts, fairs and organized social events. The boys dominate the newspaper reports however with their sporting participation. David, the eldest, appears first. He is playing hockey, rifle shooting, playing football and cricket. As the other boys get older, we see the majority of the over one thousand newspaper entries are sporting based. Boxing, rowing, swimming, cricket, football, badminton, cycling and yachting.

                                                   Franklin main street circa 1912 original online source unknown (pintrest)

David must have been a bit of a goer, as in October1913 he was one of the fifty-four car owners to register their cars in the state that month. He must have been one of the few car owners in Franklin at the time. He drove for the local doctor, Dr Anderson. In September 1913, he was booked and fined, not for driving an unregistered vehicle, but for having driven a motor vehicle without lights. As soon as he was old enough, David enlisted for service. In 1916, he left home:

Private D Cupit, who was home in Franklin for a few hours on final leave on Monday prior to leaving Hobart shortly with the engineers, was the recipient of numerous presents from friends, employers, fellow workers. Mr W.J. Thomas presented him with a beautiful wristlet watch and case, and amongst other articles he received a combination camp knife set, a balaclava cap and yesterday Mr Kennedy, his late employer, presented Private Cupit with a cheque, and also on behalf of the employers of the Franklin Exchange Stores with a soldier’s full-cased fountain pen. In making the presentation Mr Kennedy said there was no more popular young man in Franklin than Dave, and deservedly so, for he was willing and obliging to a degree to assist in anything going on. He would be greatly missed by one and all in the town. He was a promising cricketer and footballer, and his companions and acquaintances felt proud when they heard of his enlistment and acceptance, after so many trials to get into camp. He would be sure to give good account of himself wherever placed and trusted he would be spared to come back safe with honors which they all felt sure he would deserve.[1]

Dave was engaged to local girl Charlotte Coleman (Lottie). No doubt she would have been there that day as Dave farewelled his friends and family. When David enlisted for service, he stated his occupation as a driver and was utilized for this purpose. 

The local paper regularly published a Roll of Honour and listed soldiers who had gone to the front. Dave was to spend about fifteen months away from his home town before his return.

On Monday the 17^th of February, 1918, Dave Cupit, Sergt V. Gallaghaer and Pvt Hunt were welcomed home by a large gathering of friends outside the Franklin Town Hall. Councilor Griggs said a few words on behalf of the crowd and wished the men a bright and prosperous future.[2] 

A few days later a night of entertainment was held at the hall. Songs, speakers and musical items added to the pleasure of the evening that ended with dancing. It must have been difficult for the boys to begin to slot back into their old lives.

Dave did, happily, return home but not to the bright future Mr. Griggs had hoped. Dave would never again be the sport loving and healthy young man who was planning a future with Lottie that he once was. 

Dave had been gassed and had TB. By the 1^st of July 1918, a Welcome Home Committee was formed in Franklin. By 1920 the committee had a balance of £82 in their kitty when it was decided to divide the funds between Pvts A Fulton, L. Wicks and Driver Cupit.[3] The local ladies also gave Dave a travel bag as his brother Top, took Dave to South Australia thinking the climate might improve his health, but it was obviously no help as Dave and Top were to return. Lottie became part of the Cupit family, helping them to nurse Dave till he died in 1926 at age 30. She lived until she was seventy-three and never married. Family members recall that Lottie would weep whenever she saw Ivy, Dave’s sister, perhaps they were alike.

Obituary

Mr David Cupit, son of Mrs and the late Wm. Cupit, of Franklin, dies at his sister’s residence, Gordon, on Wednesday morning. Deceased was, prior to the war a popular member of the Franklin Football and cricket club. He was one of the first to answer the call for volunteers to the war and spent three strenuous years on active service. Unfortunately, he was one of the victims of that cruel method of warfare- gassing, and was invalided home a physical wreck. He had an indomitable spirit, and though his lungs had both been severely affected he fought hard to regain his strength and at brief intervals surprised even his medical advisers at the apparent progress he was making. The strain however at last became too great and a few weeks ago he had to take to bed and never rallied. He suffered considerably during the last stages of his illness. The funeral took place at Castle Forbes Bay cemetery this afternoon in the presence of a very large following of his former associates who deeply mourned the loss of a generous hearted companion. Many beautiful wreaths were placed on the grave as tokens of affection, including one from the Franklin Football Club. “The Last Post” was sounded by Bandmaster W. Vincent and no soldier on the battlefield better deserved the tribute. Deceased was in his 31^st year. He was unmarried.

In the earlier decades of the 1900’s, steamers provided daily transport for the southern waters and areas of Bruny Island, The Channel ports, Hobart and Huon. It was one of these steamers the SS Excella that transported Dave Cupit on his final journey.

His funeral began on a Friday afternoon on the arrival of the SS Excella to Jackson’s Point. The boat left at 3:30, headed up the Huon River to Castle Forbes Bay Cemetery. David had died at his sister Ada’s home at Gordon.[4]

                                                                                                   SS Excella online source unknown

It would have been a much longer route to travel by road from Gordon, north, up through

Cygnet to Huonville where a bridge crossed the river.

The road then headed south again down through David’s hometown of Franklin and on to Castle Forbes Bay. SS Excella had a reputation as being a slow steamer, a bit of a plodder, but she did the job of transporting David and his mourners to his final resting place.

Charles and Mary Rose both reached old age in their hometown of Dover, Tasmania. Mary died in 1924, from accidental drowning at age 74. Charles snr died two years later at age 81, six months before David’s death.

                                                                 Photos Arthur Garland www.monumentaustralia.org.au

The Port Esperance Soldier’s War Memorial was unveiled by the Governor Lord Allardyce on the 21^st May, 1921. A local committee had been working for some time to raise sufficient funds for a memorial to honour the brave lads who gave their lives. Out of the forty men who left Port Esperance to serve, twenty lost their lives and are memorialized on this monument.[5] The impact on this small community must have been catastrophic. Every family would have been affected. For Mary and Charles it touched two generations of their family.

 While Dave Cupit's name is not memorialized here with his Uncle Charlie (L.C.G. Rose), he is remembered as one of Franklin's boys who gave their life in this war. 

---

[1] Huon Times Tues 2 May 1916

[2] 1919 'FRANKLIN RETURNED SOLDIERS', Huon Times (Franklin, Tas. : 1910 - 1933), 18 February, p. 2. , viewed 16 Mar 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135716302

[3] 1920 'FRANKLIN WELCOME HOME COMMITTEE', Huon Times (Franklin, Tas. : 1910 - 1933), 23 April, p. 2. , viewed 16 Mar 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140943804

[4] Huon Times Fri 6 August 1926 trove.nla.gov.au  accessed 3 March 2018

[5]http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/multiple/display/70227-port-esperance-soldiers%60-memorial/

Shoes of Magnet Town

One of our sons face-timed his dad for his birthday, but we were in the car on our way to Waratah for the weekend.
"I hope you've got a good book" he chuckled. Oh dear, the boys been out of Tasmania too long.

Waratah:
Well, actually, a weekend wasn't long enough. We missed the Athenaeum Hall, the museum, the Philosophers hut, the church/gallery, the cemetery and the walk to the old 1890's hydro power scheme site. Our intention this trip was to go to Magnet, the old silver lead mining town a few miles down the road from Waratah. We booked in to the Bischoff Hotel.

Having recently read Jewelled Nights, a novel written by celebrated author Marie Bjelke-Petersen, I was chuffed to be staying in Room 9 , a room with a perfect view of the town.

 In Marie's book, chief protagonist Dick/ Elaine Fleetwood stayed here in a room overlooking the township and waterfall of Waratah while dealing with the heartache of being in love with a man who thought she was a man, and who obviously had feelings for her, even as a man, but really she was a woman cross dressing and mining for osmiridium. Confusing.
Marie herself stayed here while doing her meticulous research for the book. The book was later made into a film, shot on site near Savage River and starring the lovely Louise Lovely, former Tasmanian, but then Hollywood, starlet.

photo:National Film and Sound Archive Australia

Louise Lovely's character Elaine Fleetwood, masquerading as Dick Fleetwood.

But, back to Waratah, actually,back to Magnet. My Dad started going there in the 1980's on little fossicking expeditions. We used to go down with him occasionally with four wheeled motorbikes and explore the old town. One trip he brought back a little kiddies boot, it sat on his bookshelf for many years. It would be about one hundred years old.

Magnet: 

You need a good imagination to believe that a town with such facilities that history and photos attest to, existed here in this pretty wooded valley where a creek bubbles and winds through a lovely wilderness of myrtle, sassafras, man fern all covered in soft green moss. It doesn't take long to see plenty of clues though.

Underfoot and littered down the valley are old bottles of all colours and variety (a lot of grog), old bricks, building materials and leather, soles and bits of shoes. And then for the observant, theres trees and plants that don't belong. The first one is an old holly tree that stands in what was the town centre right near the bridge. It has gone strangely feral. Perhaps through being eaten by wallabies, its more like a thicket than a tree, with an umbrella structure and leaves that have all but lost their spiky profile. There are a few palm trees, a daisy bush and a quince bush dropping its sparce load of severely underdeveloped fruit. The willows follow the creek, but are sparce, distorted into strange shapes and haven't choked the creek like they do in other Tasmanian waterways.

 Further down the valley conifers tower above the natural tree line. This was where the school was. These pines, including a Canadian Redwood, were planted commemoratively. Walking up through the conifers, its impossible to imagine a fine school house, thirty or forty neatly dressed children and their teacher, who was housed in the school master's house nearby. The outline of the stone foundation of both the school house and the toilet blocks can be seen in what looks like a site that should be preserved by the Time Team. If you bush bash up the slopes on either side of the valley, the flattened areas that were once house sites can be made out with steps, foundations, water pipes.....

 ......old buckets

......and even a finely preserved set of old boots sitting there as if  the miner came home from work one night, took his shoes off at the door and never came back for them.

I'd booked a tour with Tarkine Magnet Tours. Even though I'd been to Magnet quite a few times, this was a wonderful tour. Paul, the guide, knows details of the town's history, has old photos and shows us tourists the sites of the churches, the school, the hospital, the hotel and the tennis court, and happily shares his stories with the punters.

                                                        Magnet Boarding House: source online, unavailable site

town centre and bridge photo: www.miningmayhem.com.au

Magnet Catholic Church. Source tasmanianpioneers.com:Weekly Courier,linc

www.facebook.com/themagnet/

I would thoroughly recommend this tour to everyone, worth every dollar and every minute. But lets just keep it between ourselves because we don't want the masses to discover our special, secret places ;) 

I'm left with questions about Magnet, the main one being why did they leave behind so many shoes?