52 Ancestors #51 Arthur Brougham Lord

Arthur Brougham Lord was born on 25 December 1893 in Gympie, Queensland, where his father, Alfred Percy Lord was manager of the Australian Joint Stock Bank. His mother was Catherine Anna Louisa Hillcoat.

Arthur was the youngest of eight children - Robert Percy Lord (1878-1938), Reginald Simeon Lord (1879-1931), Catherine Ruby Lord (1881-1953), Louisa Pearl Lord (1883-1954), Mabel Beryl Lord (1885-1973), Alfred Victor Lord (1887-1984) and Francis Guy Lord (1889-1927).

The banking crisis in Australia in the 1890s resulted in Arthur's father leaving the bank shortly after Arthur was born. Alfred then invested in and managed a number of properties in New South Wales. He also purchased a house in Sydney, firstly in Lane Cove and then in Hunters Hill where Alfred, Catherine and the two younger boys lived. Arthur therefore spent his early life in Sydney though he probably also spent some time visiting the family properties.

Ruby, Arthur and Louisa with their mother

On 5 July 1918 Arthur enlisted in the A. I. F. at the Central Enlisting Depot in Sydney. The enlistment papers show that he was 5 foot 7 inches tall and had brown eyes. His occupation was listed as grazier and his address was Victoria Downs, Morven, Queensland.  On 5 November 1918 the military documents show that Arthur was a private stationed at the Liverpool Camp. he did not server overseas.

Victoria Downs was a sheep station purchased in 1911 and managed by the Lord Brothers, including Arthur. Although Victoria Downs initially belonged to all the sons, Robert and Arthur were the two brothers who lived on the property until 1922 when Robert bought out the shares to the property from his brothers.

On 1 February 1922, at St John's Church, Darlinghurst, Arthur married Nancy Hazel Hutton. Initially they lived in Manly while Arthur decided their next move. An article in The Queenslander in September 1923 reported on a group, including Arthur Lord, exploring the Gulf Country in Far North Queensland looking for suitable property to purchase. However Arthur returned to south west Queensland where he purchased Metavale, near Cunnamulla, in March 1924.

Arthur and Nancy's son, Michael Arthur Balcombe Lord was born in Sydney in January 1923. A year later the family moved to Metavale - a 56,000 acre sheep station. Three years later their daughter, Rosemary was born in Charleville.

The family lived at Metavale until 1947. Many challenges were faced trying to make a living in this dry part of Australia. The Depression of the 1930s plus prolonged droughts added to the stress of farming in south west Queensland. After twenty-three years Arthur sold the property and purchased a small property (220 acres), this time in south east Queensland. Beriley was a short distance from Toogoolawah and lucerne and potatoes were the main crops grown. Later, crops of carrots, turnips, onions and beets were also planted. There were also dairy cattle and pigs. Having water to irrigate and grow crops must have been quite a change. The farm also had electricity. 

Beriley 1947

The house on the property was very much in need of attention when Arthur and Nancy moved to Beriley. During the next five years they restored the house and created a garden.

Beriley 1952

In 1954 Beriley was sold and Rosemount, a dairy farm between Woodford and Kilcoy was purchased. Running a dairy farm meant getting up early in the morning to milk the cows with a second milking due in the late afternoon. The cream was separated from the milk and sent in churns to the local dairy. The remaining milk was usually fed to the pigs. Rosemount with its green paddocks and the creek not far from the house provided a very different environment from the sparse vegetation of Metavale.

When Robert Lord died in 1938, Arthur became chief trustee of the Victoria Downs estate until 1970. This meant frequent visits to the property as well as working on accounts etc at home at his roller door desk.

Arthur was interested in sport, especially cricket. At Rosemount, during the summer the radio would be on broadcasting a cricket match - either Test Match or Sheffield Shield - or the tennis. When living at Victoria Downs cricket games would sometimes be arranged between Morven and teams from other districts. On 12 November 1922 Morven defeated Mitchell by 11 runs. A detailed article in the Mitchell News (20 November 1922) showed that Arthur had taken three wickets and made five runs.

Arthur always made time for his grandchildren and I remember him sitting on the verandah with the old wind-up gramophone playing records for us such as Teddy Bear's Picnic. We were always allowed to visit the milking shed to watch the cows being milked. From there we would go to the pig sties where the pigs were being fed. After breakfast was the time to relax - sitting on the verandah steps, sometimes eating watermelon - and just talk.

In the mid 1960s Rosemount was sold and Arthur and Nancy moved to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast. Initially they lived in a house named, Nandina, in Clithero Avenue before moving to Buderim Gardens Retirement Village. Arthur died on 18 June 1988. He was 88.

Arthur Brougham Lord was my grandfather.

52 Ancestors #50 Nancy Hazel Hutton

Nancy Hazel Hutton was born on 1 September 1899 at Parkes, New South Wales. She was the second daughter of George Hutton and Annie Wilson Hardwick Weston. Eleonora Ruby Hutton had been born in 1892 and died in 1990. There was also an older brother, William Clifton Weston Hutton who was born in 1889 and died in 1893. George and his family owned a sheep station near Parkes called The Troffs and lived there until a prolonged drought forced George to sell the property in the early years of the twentieth century. George remained in the Parkes area working as a rabbit inspector but Annie decided to return to Sydney taking the girls with her. George visited them in Sydney when he could.

The Sands and Kenny Directories for 1903-1907 list Annie as living at 47 McLaren Street, North Sydney. This house probably belonged to Percy Weston, Annie's brother, who allowed the family to live in the house provided other family members could stay there when they visited Sydney. From 1910 to 1915 the directories show that Annie was living at Wyalla, at 46 Upper Pitt Street, North Sydney, which she ran as a boarding house.

Nancy therefore grew up in inner Sydney and would have attended school there. Wyalla was sold in 1916 when Annie and her eldest daughter decided to travel to England to help with the war effort. Nancy, who would have been 16 when they left was sent to stay with relatives. Apparently she was not impressed with this arrangement and the trip to England was never discussed in later years by the family.

View of Sydney Harbour

Nancy was an artist and enjoyed painting watercolours. The family has a number of examples of her work. Unfortunately she did not continue with her art. However many years later, on one of our family holidays to Queensland, I do remember her trying to teach me how to draw the trees growing on a hill on the other side of the creek. I did learn about perspective from her and to attempt to draw what I actually saw rather than what I expected to see, but unfortunately my artistic talents were limited.

On 1 February 1922 Nancy married Arthur Brougham Lord at St John's Church in Darlinghurst. Arthur and Nancy purchased a sheep station, Metavale, 39 kilometres south of Cunnamulla in south western Queensland and Nancy would have found life very different from her previous life in Sydney.

Metavale consisted of 55,000 acres. Cunnamulla is 200 kilometres miles from the major town in the area, Charleville. The nearest neighbours were at Waihora, 16 kilometres away. The property relied on bore water. Tank water was used for drinking. There was also a dam near the house. My mother remembers swimming in the dam and diving from the landing. The climate was hot and dry with only small clumps of vegetation near the house. Nancy planted a garden near the house and my mother remembers the flowers in winter and spring. There was also a bougainvillea growing on a trellis at the front of the house, a saltbush hedge and some oleanders. Arthur also planted a vegetable garden. As well as all the sheep, a few cows were kept for milk and there were lots of chooks plus ducks and turkeys. There were also lots of sheep dogs plus other dogs that were family pets. Bread and the mail were delivered once a week initially - later it was twice a week. Groceries and other ordered supplies would also arrive on the mail truck. The driver would continue on to other properties and then call in once more on his way back to collect any answers to mail delivered earlier in the day.

Nancy and Arthur had two children - Michael Arthur Balcombe Lord (1923-2010) and Rosemary Ann Lord born in 1926. The children initially had a governess until they were old enough to go to school in Brisbane or Sydney.

When the opportunity arose Nancy enjoyed entertaining friends from neighbouring properties. On one occasion Nancy organised a fancy dress party for her daughter and all the guests came dressed as nursery rhyme characters. Pink flowers and white blossom, made from crepe paper, decorated the garden. There would have been lots of food. I can remember parties held at Rosemount many years later where the day was spent cooking special food for the evening entertainment.Christmas was also a special occasion with a large Christmas tree decorated with special decorations.

Nancy and Arthur were at Metavale during the Depression and also a number of droughts and times were hard financially for many of these years. When a cousin offered to give Nancy the furniture that had belonged to her parents at The Troffs, she refused the offer as she could not afford the transportation costs and did not want to tell them of her financial difficulties.

However in 1936  Nancy and her sister, Eleonora, travelled together to Singapore and Japan for a holiday. They had received a bequest from a family member and the money was used for the holiday. They brought back camphor chests, kimonos and other souvenirs. The camphor chests were on the verandah at Rosemount many years later and contained clothes that my sister and I were allowed to use for dress-ups. The smell when a camphor chest was opened was always rather special. The camphor chests also stored pieces of fabric. I was allowed to keep a piece of cream lace which I incorporated into the design of my wedding dress many years later. I also have a beautiful beaded top from the 1920s that was stored in one of the camphor chests.

Eventually trying to survive in the outback became too difficult so in 1947 Arthur and Nancy sold Metavale and purchased a new property, Beriley, near Toogoolawah where they grew vegetables. In 1954 they moved to a dairy farm, Rosemount, between Kilcoy and Woodford. In the mid 1960s they sold Rosemount and retired to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast.

Nancy was very proud of her family history and my brother and sister and I have memories of being cornered so she could tell us stories about the Hutton family in India and the family items lost in a shipwreck on the journey from England to Australia. Now there are questions that I would like to ask but when we were children we were not really interested. I did however remember some of the stories and have since been able to piece together much of the Hutton and Mackillop story via other sources.

Nancy Hutton spent her final years in a nursing home in Toowoomba where she died on 5 September 1997. She was 98.

Nancy Hutton was my grandmother.