The Huttons and Cooring Yering (part one)

George Hutton in the 1930s

The Huttons settle in Lilydale

George Hutton (son of William Forbes Hutton) had arrived in Victoria from England in August 1869. His father arrived in the colony in May 1871. William decided to purchase land in Lilydale several months after arrival in the colony. Many years later (in the 1930s) George recorded his memories of the family's first years on the property.

Father having bought Cooring Yering, a 400 acre farm at Lilydale – a village 25 miles east of Melbourne on the Olinda Creek, a tributary of the Yarra. It was named after Mrs Paul de Castella who was a daughter of Colonel Anderson, the Commander of the Garrison of Victoria at the time. Mt Juliet was named after another daughter. … Father bought Cooring Yering from a Mr de Pury who had formed the farm and then returned to Switzerland for a holiday, but married and settled down there. Guillaume de Pury, his brother had married a Miss Iffitson who had a good bit of money I believe. At any rate he owned a big property 3,000 acres about eight miles from Lilydale and had a big vineyard, about 100 acres I believe in hearing it made a lot of wine each year.

The de Castellas also had big vineyards - Hubert de Castella’s 300 acres under vines being the biggest vineyard in Victoria at that time. There were other Swiss farmers and all had more or less land under vines. There were only 10 acres at Cooring Yering and we made about 4,000 gallons of wine a year. The trouble was that the country was not suitable for vines, being too rough except at the lower end of the existing vineyard, and if we had continued the vineyard towards the flat the frosts would have cut off the flowers every spring. Another thing was that wine requires several years age besides taking a lot of looking after before it is fit to drink and the price procurable did not pay interest on the cost of buildings, presses, casks etc. so was no game for a man unless he had capital. The de Castellas both went broke although Paul de Castella’s failure was really caused by speculating in cattle stations long before I knew them.

The farmers were all dairymen and mostly struggling for a living. It was too far to send the milk to Melbourne and the best butter only bought 6d a lb wholesale and it cost 2d a lb for carriage. Another thing was that many of the cows were poor milkers, pleuro-pneumonia having decimated the herds a few years previously and a good many of the cows then milking were rotten with tuberculosis. It was not until the railway came to the district that the farmers got on their legs again. A good deal of de Pury’s country was high, dry and well grassed and he had a flock of English sheep (Southdowns I think) and did well out of them, but most of the country was only fit for cattle in its natural state and not too good at that.

The flats were alright in the summer time but were too cold and wet during a great portion of the year especially along the river where most of the flats were flooded during the winter and more or less in the autumn and early spring. The soil on the hills was mostly a poor clay and the grasses growing on them of little value as feed except in the gullies between the hills where the kangaroo grass grew. On the flats the principal feed was white clover in the spring and summer months, at least in the improved country, which on the Olinda Creek been a ti-tree swamp originally cleared and drained at great expense. On Cooring Yering 100 acres had cost £11 an acre to clear and I do not know whether that included the cost of digging drains. The flats were too wet to grow wheat and most of the hill country was too dry. A lot of this poor country paid well later on as an orchard and raspberry gardens but I don’t know if it still does.

Father went in for fattening cattle but the flats were the only suitable country and the summer was too short to get off more than one mob or at the most two in a season, say 80 to 100 head, in fact during the winter the flats had to be shut off as the cattle puddled them too much and as there was no shelter from the wind and rain and was too cold for stock to do well on. Father bought the property in November too late in the season for fattening really poor cattle, so put on 80 heads of bullocks fat but wearied by travelling so practically sold as stones on a big market at Flemington and held them to freshen up. I took one lot into market the following May, but it had been a wet summer and they had not done well, besides hitting a big market, so did not sell as well as they ought to have done. Another thing was that we found our cattle from beyond the Murray required two summers to get acclimatised. In fact dairying, unless on had a big area of cheap country to breed on, was the only payable business. 

A cold wet winter and very little growth in the grass, so Father bought 300 acres of rent (ring) barked country on the opposite side of the valley adjoining Cooring Yering. Lots of grass but of course sour stuff, however it kept the stock going until spring. I did not like the country and could not see how it could be made to pay. Father’s idea was to grow hay on it and feed the cattle during the winter like they did in England, but he did not take into consideration the difference in the price of fat stock and also that cattle from New South Wales and the north and western parts of Victoria where the summer was longer could be put on to the market and sold at a profit for less than he could sell stall fed cattle after about 18 months trial he gave up cattle and went for crossbred sheep.

Going back to England shortly after the purchase of the sheep. He had bought Rowe’s Mount – 480 acres – and what was known as Jamieson’s – 200 (acres) just before he went. Both blocks were poor rough country, totally unfitted for sheep and only fenced for cattle. Of course we put in wires where possible, rolled logs under two rail fences and nailed saplings between the rails on the fence between Rourke’s and our flat paddocks. I may remark that this mob of sheep were the worst sheep I have ever known for getting through fences except a mob of 8,000 crossbred wethers belonging to C B Fisher a few years later in the Riverina. I had a pretty bad time with these sheep when Father was away. What between footrot, fluke and want of feed for I had to keep them off the flat as neither creeks nor fences were any obstacles for their wandering propensities. Father was very angry that I had kept the sheep off the flats and thought that I was pulling his leg when I told him that the saplings that he had nailed between the rails of Rourke’s fence crossing the flat were no good, the ewes got their heads under the saplings and dragged them off till he saw them do it himself. He soon stopped that however as he had imported some wire netting and sent for it at once. As soon as it arrived we put it up along Rourke’s fence and spent two or three hours laughing at the sheep trying to get through.

Shortly after Father returned to Melbourne I had told him that I was not going to stay at Cooring Yering but meant joining an over-landing party to bring cattle from Queensland. I had wanted to do this for some time but it was not easy to find a party going north. …

George worked with his father in Lilydale for several years as the property was established. In 1874 the rest of the family travelled from England to settle in Victoria and some of George's younger brothers were now available to assist their father. George told his father that he planned to head north to Queensland and follow new adventures.

The Huttons and Cooring Yering (part two)

In May 1874 Eleonora Hutton and the rest of the family came out to Australia on the ship, Northumberland, six months after William Forbes Hutton's return from England. William had trouble finding a house big enough for his family. Initially they lived in a large house, Blythswood in Kew. There would have been some structure at Cooring Yering as George and William obviously lived on the property, but it was not suitable accommodation for William’s family.

William would have divided his time between the two properties while the house, Cooring Yering, was built. David Mitchell built the two storey, solid brick house with corrugated iron roof and approximately 30 rooms. The exact date that the house, Cooring Yering, was built is unknown but the rate-book entry for 1884-85 has a separate entry for a residence. Cooring Yering was therefore probably built, if not completed, in 1883. A photograph of the house with virtually no garden was taken in 1885.

 

Cooring Yering was a large house built for a large family. William Forbes Hutton and his wife Eleonora had ten children.

The Yarra Ranges Heritage Database describes the building as  - A two storey 35 roomed Victorian mansion of solid brick - cement rendered. Corrugated iron roof. The statement of significance reads - The largest homestead ever built in the region. One of the grandiose vineyard homesteads of the 1880's. Very interesting architecturally. The present cement render is a modern addition.

David Mitchell built the two storey, solid brick house with corrugated iron roof and approximately 30 rooms. The exact date that the house, Cooring Yering, was built is unknown but the ratebook entry for 1884-85 has a separate entry for a residence . The Sands and McDougall entries indicate that the Huttons sold Blythswood in 1883 keeping the second property, Rockingham, until 1886. In his account George Hutton mentioned that William sold Blythswood to David Syme. Checking Sands and McDougall reveals that David Syme had a residence in Carson Court from 1883. Cooring Yering was therefore probably built, if not completed, in 1883. A photograph of the house with virtually no garden was taken in 1885.

We know from George Hutton’s notes and from the ratebooks that shortly after acquiring the Cooring Yering property, William purchased land at Rowe’s Mount and land known as Jamieson’s. An early map of the area shows that H Jamieson owned land in Section 29 in 1860 – this may have been the land referred to as Jamieson’s. I have not yet been able to identify the location of the land known as Rowe’s Mount, but it was probably close to the other properties. Adding to the confusion is references to Rosemount or Rosemount Estate instead of Rowe’s Mount – Rosemount is thought to be another property altogether. An example of this is the following piece from the local paper – “Graziers wanted for portion of Rosemount Estate known as Colonel Hutton’s paddock. Well watered and securely fenced. One shilling per week. Every care but no responsibility. Apply T Williams Castella Street Lilydale”. Rowe’s Mount was possibly near Bald Hill.

The ratebooks also show that from 1873-74 to 1875-76 William owned another 189 acres leased to James T Cashin, a miller. This land was later absorbed into William’s property. The ratebooks also show that William leased a small parcel of land to Chinese market gardeners – Lee Hoy and Tun Key.

The ratebook entries are confusing as the amounts of land are sometimes listed separately and are sometimes combined. Each entry depends on the information provided at the time and may not always be accurate – such as the entry for 1873-74 when George is listed as the landowner when William was in England. From 1876-77 there are two entries – one for 238 acres and the second for 1,371 acres. From 1879-80 there was only one entry - 1,607 acres. From 1883-84 additional small parcels of land were purchased. In the late 1880s some of the land was sold with entries being 540 acres plus house and 322 acres.

When Eleonora Hutton died in 1900 the entry for 540 acres plus house was crossed out and amended to 387 acres. The name Robert Black was added. Robert Black also purchased the 482 acres at Rowe’s Mount. As the entry for the next year shows, Walter and Maurice Hutton retained 149 acres including the vineyard on Victoria Road.

Hutton Vineyards at Cooring Yering

When William Forbes Hutton died in 1896, one hundred and fifty acres, including the vineyard, was left to Walter and Maurice while the rest of the property was left to Eleonora. Subsequent entries in the Lilydale ratebooks are in the names of Eleonora Hutton and her two sons. Maurice and Walter were described as vine growers and wine sellers.

Maurice and Walter continued to develop the vineyard on the property although the economic depression during the 1890s affected winegrowers when wine became a luxury item resulting in a downturn of the wine industry in the Lilydale region.  John Forbes Hutton, Maurice’s son, provided Peter Hutton with information about the vineyard. Maurice had worked at Chateau Yering and Chateau Tahbilk developing his knowledge of grape growing and wine making. The grapes grown on the property were red Hermitage, white Hermitage, Sauvignon and Chasselas. There was an old cottage on the part of the property near the vineyards and a homestead, Cooring was later built there. A solid brick cellar with walls three foot thick was built. Tenders to build the cellar were called for in November 1889. Casks for storing the wine were made from English oak and each cask held from 500 – 800 gallons. There were twenty casks with fifteen in use. Wine was kept in the casks for one to two years then sold to the winemaker for approximately two shillings and sixpence per gallon. The wine produced was 60% red and 40% white.

The vines were grown as individual stands – no trellises were used. Tenders were invited for splitting and delivering 600 vine stakes 5 ft 6 in long 2 in x 2 in. The vines were planted six feet apart and pruned in May. Cuttings from pruning were burned to create smoke to help ward off frost. Birds, especially starlings were a threat to the crop and men were employed for three to four weeks each year using shotguns to create noise to frighten the birds. Ten to fifteen schoolboys were employed to help with picking the grapes. 

Maurice Hutton operated the vineyard until 1924 and there were good and bad years. There was a good vintage in 1901 but severe frosts in November 1914 resulted in three bad years. In 1918 there was an outbreak of downy mildew.

  

Map of Lilydale Memorial Park 

Section 3 of the cemetery map has reference to the old winery and to the Hutton Function Room. Part of the cemetery is on land where a Hutton family vineyard was located.

Cooring Yering after the Huttons

Cooring Yering was purchased by Robert Black in 1900. The following article appeared in the Lilydale Express 7 December 1900 p2:

We are pleased to note that Mr. R Black of Coldstream has purchased through Messrs E Trenchard and Co., the Cooring Yering estate, together with Bald Hill and Rowe’s Mount owned by the Colonel Hutton and family. The Cooring Yering portion consists of splendid land, proportion being rich flats, divided into 14 paddocks with a large brick house, containing about 30 rooms, outhouses, stable, coach-house. Bald Hill comprises 304 acres of good grazing land and well-watered, and is divided into 10 paddocks. Rowe’s Mount consists of an area of 481 acres divided into 3 paddocks. The whole aggregate to about 1200 acres. This property together with Mr. Black’s Coldstream estate, will make one of the finest and most compact estates outside Melbourne and the purchaser is to congratulated on securing such a splendid property. The price paid was £12,600.

Mr F J Davey is believed to have purchased the property in the 1930s and in 1953 the 375 acre property, Cooring Yering, was purchased by Lindsay Nicholas.

Alterations were made to the house in the 1930s when the original verandah on three sides of the house was replaced and a ‘porte chocere’ was added. The original verandah posts were placed beside a garden path where they can still be seen. An extra window was added on the second storey at the front of the house. A number of the rooms were altered including nursery rooms at the back of the house that were converted into a billiard room and a breakfast room. The brickwork was concrete rendered.

In 2003 the house, surrounded by 114 acres, was still owned by the Nicholas family. The house consisted of 25 rooms including nine bedrooms, a music room, a library, a billiard room, dining and lounge rooms. The entrance to the property at 32 The Gateway was hidden by a new housing estate.

Cooring Yering 2005

Cooring Yering was again sold in 2005. View website contains images of the property at that time - a selection appear below.

Bibliography for the Cooring Yering blog posts

Aveling, Marian. Lilydale: the Billanook country 1837 – 1972. Carlton: Gary Hunt & Associates, 1972

Miller, Russell. The East Indiamen. Time-Life Books, 1980

Moorhouse, Geoffrey. India Britannia. London: Harvell Press, 1983

Tansley, Mark. The conservation of sites and structures of historical significance in the Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong ranges Region. 1978. volume 2 pp 90-91

Yarra Ranges Heritage Study volume 2: Assessed Places. 2000

Patchwork in the garden at Cooring Yering – a pamphlet containing a brief history of Cooring Yering prepared for an exhibition of work by the region’s leading patchworkers and quilters held 24 November 2002

Back to Lilydale – Easter 1931 – souvenir program – collection of reminiscences

Research carried out by Peter Hutton in the 1950s and notes on family history written by George Hutton in the 1930s

Janet Robertson (1780-1862)

Janet Robertson was born 4 October 1780 at Aldergate, Middlesex in England. Her parents were William Robertson (1763-1788) and Jean Urquhart.(b. 1760). In his will, William describes his occupation as mate of the ship, Walpole, of the East India Company.

On 28 October1780  Janet (in some records Jennet) was baptised at St Botolph Without Aldersgate, London.

Janet's father died when she was eight years old.

On 22 July 1802, at the age of 21, Janet married Thomas Hutton (1772-1856) in Calcutta, Bengal, India. So far I have found no information explaining why Janet was in India at this time.

Thomas and Janet lived in Penang from 1802-1808 where Thomas Hutton was employed by the local government as a Malay translator.  When Thomas' brother, William Charles Hutton, wrote his will he mentioned that his brother Thomas was living at Prince of Wales Island. At the time PWI was under the jurisdiction of the East India Company.

Thomas and Janet had ten children - some born in Penang or Calcutta while the others were born in England.

Jean Lidderdale Hutton (1803-1805) was born and died in Penang

Thomas Hutton (1807-1874) was born in Penang and died in India

Eleanora Hutton (1808-1876) was born in England and died in England

Jane Hutton (1810-1893) was born in England and died in England

Elizabeth Hutton (1811-1876) was born in England and died in England

Katherine Hutton (1813-1893) was born in England and died in England

William Forbes Hutton (1816-1893) was born in England and died in Australia but also spent many years in India

James Hutton (1818-1893) was born in Calcutta, India and died in England

Arthur Hutton (1820-1902) was born in Calcutta, India and died in England

Mary Hutton (1822-1900) was born in Calcutta, India and died in England

Thomas probably travelled back to Penang from time to time as in 1812 he is listed as being a Police Magistrate in Penang but the rest of the family probably remained in England for a number of years.

Then on 26 February 1815 Mrs Janet Hutton and Jane Hutton were listed as passengers on a ship to Bengal. One record shows that Thomas was in Penang at the time but was finalising his affairs on Prince of Wales Island to relocate to Calcutta. Looking at the birth records Janet probably remained in India until 9 November 1824 when Janet Hutton and Anna Robertson are reported to be returning to England from Calcutta. 

It was quite usual for families working in India and parts of Asia to return to England taking the children born overseas to live with family in England and to be educated in England.

Once Janet and Thomas eventually retired to England they lived in Bath where Janet died in June 1862 aged 81. Thomas died in Bath in 1856 aged 84. 

Janet was very interested in the plants that she found on her travels and spent time recording as much information as she could about each species and making illustrations of the botanical specimens as she found them.

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London have a book of her work in their collection - Alphabetical listing and descriptive notes by Janet Hutton of Indian, Burmese and Malayan plants, with reference to some of her paintings held in the Royal Botanic Gardens. (169pp) - view on Trove

Janet also collected illustrations of plants by Chinese artists. One of the paintings is included in the book, Raffles Art Redrawn: natural history drawings from the collection of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles by Henry Noltie. The paintings is a picture of Ramatan painted by a Chinese artist for Janet Hutton in Penang in 1805. It has been suggested that Janet's collection may have encouraged Sir Thomas Raffles to start his collection of paintings.

The Janet Hutton Collection is currently located in Edinburgh.

Note:Some years ago I found the following reference - 'The ship Janet Hutton was wrecked in 1825, on the edge of the sands, on the western side of the channel (India Directory)' - so maybe there was a ship named after Janet? Obviously more research is required.

Janet Robertson and Thomas Hutton are my 3 x great grandparents.

#52Ancestors - Week 40 - Ten

The challenge this week is to write a post with a connection with the number ten.

Branches of my family tree show that in the nineteenth century many of my ancestors had a large number of children with the number ten featuring frequently. Generally these families made a successful transition to life in Australia often acquiring large areas of land.  Many generations on I have had people suggest that we must have inherited some  of their wealth. I just laugh and state that these families had ten children who had ten children. Consequently the family fortune has been dispersed long ago.

In this post I am looking at two branches of the family tree that came together when Arthur Brougham Lord married Nancy Hazel Hutton on 1 February 1922. Arthur and Nancy were my grandparents.
 
Lord Family
The first member of the Lord family to come to Australia was  Simeon Lord, a convict who arrived on the third fleet. Simeon Lord and Mary Hyde, another convict, were married at St Phillip's Church in Sydney on 27 October 1814. By this time they had five children and in the next seven years had another five children - ten children in all.

However the reality was that the Lord family, at this time, consisted of thirteen children, all of whom lived to be adults. Mary already had two children from a previous relationship so she gave birth to twelve children in total. In 1796 Simeon had adopted an orphan, Johanna Short.

Simeon made his fortune largely through trading and manufacturing ventures and also owned large landholdings in New South Wales. When Simeon, and later Mary, died their fortune was distributed between all the family members, including the girls.

Simeon and Mary's eldest son, also Simeon, was born in 1810. He married Sarah Birch and they had ten children. Simeon was a successful property owner initially in Tasmania and later in Queensland.

Simeon and Sarah's youngest son, Alfred Percy Lord, was born in 1852. Initially Alfred worked as a bank manager in Gympie before eventually purchasing a number of properties. In 1877 he married Catherine Anna Louisa Hillcoat. They did not quite make the target of ten children, only having eight. Their youngest son was Arthur Brougham Lord born in Gympie on Christmas Day, 1893.

 
Hutton family
Thomas Hutton (1772-1856), a merchant with the East India Company married Janet Robertson (1780-1862) and they had ten children. For many years Thomas and Janet lived in India and Penang before eventually returning to England.

Their second son, William Forbes Hutton, was born on 25 February 1816. On 27 June 1849 he married Eleonora Mackillop. William and Eleonora had eleven children - but one died when a baby. William served in the British Army in India before settling in Victoria where he purchased a property.

George Hutton, born on 5 May 1850, was the eldest son of William and Eleonora. George and his wife, Annie Hardwick Weston were married on 8 January 1889.  They broke the mould of having large families as they only had three children. Their youngest daughter was Nancy Hazel Hutton.

This pattern of large families also occurs in other branches of my family during the nineteenth century. Fortunately in the twentieth century family sizes were greatly reduced.

#52Ancestors - Week 22 - So far away

Distance is a feature of my family history. Ancestors from all branches of my family tree came from England, Scotland and Ireland. As they had all arrived in Australia by the early 1870s they had to endure a long ship journey to travel to the other side of the world from their home.

Today we complain of the long time taken to travel from Melbourne to London by plane which takes approximately one day. This is nothing compared to the time taken by my ancestors to travel the same distance.

At the beginning of the convict period in Australia, my twelve convicts left England and Ireland to travel to Australia, never to return home. The length of time they spent aboard the convict ships varied. The ships of the First Fleet spent approximately 252 days sailing to Australia. However the longest voyage was that of the Lady Juliana which took 309 days. My convicts arrived in Australia by 1808 and the length of time of the later voyages for this group generally took 150 to 180 days - a long time to be in cramped conditions on a convict ship.

SS Somersetshire

The free settlers on my family tree travelled the same distance but the time taken for the trip was reduced, especially when steam ships were introduced. In 1869 George Hutton travelled to Australia on the steam ship Somersetshire, a trip lasting 58 days. I wrote an account of this voyage as part of the Family Saga unit for University of Tasmania Family History course.

For most members of the family, coming to Australia was a one way voyage. However members of one branch of the family, the Huttons and the Mackillops, made many sea voyages, not only between England and Australia but between England and India.

William Forbes Hutton was in the British army in India and he and his wife, Eleonora Mackillop, made many trips between England and India. This is shown by  the places of birth of their children. George was born in Bath, England, in 1850 but Jean Elizabeth was born in Bangalore, India, the following year.  Eleonora Mary was born in Bath  in 1854, then the next two were born in India - Alice Katherine was born in Secunderbad in 1856 and  Arthur William  was born in Ootacumund in 1857. The remaining six children were born in England. 

It was normal for children born in India of British parents to be taken to England to be cared for by a family member. This happened with the Hutton family who were cared for by Eleonora's parents in Bath. I have a copy of a letter written by Jean Mackillop to her daughter, Eleonora, providing information about three children in her care.

In 1871 William Forbes Hutton arrived in Melbourne to decide where his family might settle in Australia. He chose land at Lilydale and the family home, Cooring Yering, was built on the property. In 1873 he went back to England returning with two family members in 1874. Eleonora travelled to Australia with the rest of the family later that year. Eleonora had previously travelled from England to Tasmania then back to England with her family when she was a child.

For some families, it would therefore appear that the huge distance between countries was not a deterrent.

NB: In 2015, in another 52 Ancestors challenge, I wrote another post on the topic - So far away.

#52Ancestors - Week 12 - Misfortune

Working on the land in Australia can provide many challenges. Farmers and pastoralists can enjoy a run of good years on their properties but they can can also experience severe misfortune in the form of floods and droughts.

Early in the days of the new convict colony of New South Wales some convicts had access to small parcels of land to farm to help support and feed members of the colony. Eight of my family convicts settled near Windsor in the Hawkesbury area where they all farmed land of varying sizes. Although Uriah Moses depended mainly on his bakery and general store for his livelihood, he also owned some land. The Hawkesbury River provided access to large stretches of fertile land but it was also subject to flooding. The 1867 flood, known as the Great Flood, occurred 150 years ago, however the threat of flooding in the area continues.

George Hutton

However, at the other extreme, droughts can dramatically affect the livelihood of property owners in most parts of Australia.

George Hutton purchased his property, The Troffs (near Parkes, New South Wales), largely with money provided by his father. The property was initially run by the Hutton Brothers as his brother, Arthur, also worked on the property from 1883 to 1898. The Troffs was a sheep station and was run successfully until there was a period of years with insufficient rain. Early in the 1890s there was some rain each year but not enough. Then from 1895 to 1902 there was what became known as The Federation Drought.

George tried to run the property with reduced stock however eventually he was forced to concede defeat and sell his land. However he continued to live in Parkes for many years where he worked as a rabbit inspector. Meanwhile his family left the area to live in Sydney.

George was not the only family member to have to contend with drought forcing them to sell their property. Arthur Lord owned a sheep station, Metavale, near Cunnamulla, in south west Queensland from 1924 to 1946. During this time he and his family survived a number of droughts before deciding to sell the property and move to a smaller property, near Toogoolawah, with more reliable rainfall. In contrast to the dryness of Metavale, I have photos of paddocks at this new property, in 1950, covered in flood water.

#52Ancestors - Week 8 - Heirloom

An heirloom is an object, often valuable, that has belonged to a family for generations. Of course there are many ways of placing a value on an item. It may be monetary value, it may be the rarity of an item or it may just be that the item conveys memories of people and places.

Dining area at Rosemount - family china and other items on display (1950s)

In the lounge / dining room family portraits adorned the walls and pieces of fine china and wooden items were on display. Many of these items had come with the Hutton family from England via India, though unfortunately many of the family possessions, including furniture, were lost when the ship carrying them sank on the voyage to Australia. Members of the Hutton family had settled in Australia by 1874 so this ship wreck would have occurred around this time. [Another project to research.]

One of the items that came from Rosemount that I now own is a Wedgwood cake plate.

I searched images of Wedgwood designs online and the closest suggests that it is a variation of the Japan design.

 I found a photo and information about a plate with a similar, but not identical, design on the Hampshire Cultural Trust website.

Hampshire Cultural Trust dinner plate.

Early in the nineteenth century Wedgwood began to use Japanese style designs when making table-ware and the plate above possibly comes from that period.

The following mark appears on the bottom of my plate. Checking a website describing marks on Wedgwood plates I found the information that a vase symbol with WEDGWOOD printed underneath was the 'basic printed mark on porcelain from c1878+' England was added from 1891. My plate was therefore probably made within that thirteen year period.

There is also a second mark on the plate. I found some information about impressed markings used to signify date and potter but this mark is written and sequence used over the years is confusing. Consequently I have not been able to narrow the possible date range any further.

The Hutton family settled in Australia in the mid 1870s. The plate would have come into their possession after their arrival in Australia.

A selection of china with another version of the pattern on my plate was produced with what was called Kashmar decoration in retro style in the second part of the twentieth century. Many images of items with this design can be located online via a Google search.

Over time I may be able to find more information about the plate which appears to have possibly belonged to members of my family for around 130 years. 

Whatever its age turns out to be, the plate will continue to be used to hold a cake (or cakes) on special family occasions.

Another heirloom post

Voyage to a new life

One of the exercises for this unit was to expand one of our short pieces of writing into a more detailed piece. Word limit was 750 words. More details about the Somersetshire can be found in previous post.

As the lugger approached the Somersetshire, surrounded by other sailing ships, the passengers noticed the funnel of the ship among its three masts. This ship would be home to the passengers on the lugger for the next two months.

Crew members assisted the passengers on board before hauling luggage on to the deck. After locating their cabins, passengers watched the ship made ready to sail. Towards midnight the anchor was raised and the Somersetshire began its journey to Australia.

For George Hutton this was the start of a new life. 

Leaving England produced mixed sentiments for George. He was sad to leave the land where he was born and had spent most of his nineteen years, but he looked forward to exploring new opportunities.
George only saw his parents occasionally when he was a child. George and Jean Mackillop looked after their grandchildren, including George, while George’s parents were overseas. Although George looked forward to his parents’ visits from India, they left again just when he became used to them being home.

The Mackillops lived in a large house in Bath and employed four staff. Although the grandchildren spent most of their time with Bessie, their nanny, the children saw their grandparents regularly. It was Jean who taught George to read and write before he began his formal education. We know from Jean’s letters to her daughter that George tried hard at his lessons so he could write to his parents.

George’s grandfather entertained George with stories about living in Australia, a country on the other side of the world. George Mackillop, with his family, had moved to Van Diemen’s Land in 1834. Having made his fortune in India as a merchant, George was looking for new opportunities. 

The following year he explored the region south of Lake Omeo in the Port Phillip District. George’s reports of this journey led to further exploration, resulting in settlers from Van Diemen’s Land, including George, claiming land for grazing sheep and cattle across Bass Strait. 

George Mackillop and his family left Van Diemen’s Land in 1840, but the stories he told his grandson inspired George Hutton to leave England and settle in Australia.

Depending on the weather, life aboard ship quickly developed into a routine. Although we do not have information about George’s participation in shipboard activities, detailed descriptions of this voyage of the Somersetshire are available.

The fifty passengers in first class met for meals, at their allotted tables, four times a day – 8.30 (9.00 on Sundays) for breakfast, 12.00 for lunch, dinner at 4.00 and tea at 7.00. The regular meal times provided the passengers with an opportunity to socialise and, as the majority of the passengers were colonists returning to Australia, George learned about life in the colonies from them.

If the weather was calm the passengers spent time on deck watching out for dolphins, flying fish and even whales. However the weather on this route was frequently inclement with rough seas forcing passengers to remain below decks.

The passengers, with assistance from the crew, soon made their own entertainment. Whist tables were set up. Gambling, an entertainment favoured by some passengers, included betting on the distance the ship travelled each day. On Saturdays the weekly Somersetshire News was read to groups of passengers. On Sundays there were church services, morning and evening.

Social events included tea parties and punch parties, concerts and theatrical readings. The talents of two professional actors travelling to Australia were utilised in several entertainments along with musical abilities or entertainment skills of other passengers. A choir was also formed to improve the singing at church services. Rehearsals for these events kept many passengers occupied during the day. A major shipboard entertainment was a visit from King Neptune when the Somersetshire crossed the equator. However the highlight of the voyage was a ball held in the first class saloon towards the end of the voyage.

Then the ship voyage, the interlude between George’s life in England and the rest of his life in Australia, was over.

It was a bleak day when the Somersetshire sailed into Port Phillip Bay only fifty-nine days after leaving Plymouth. Through the mist the passengers made out the outline of some of Melbourne’s buildings. It was 1869 and this wealthy, bustling city was very different from the settlement George’s grandfather had known. 

As he left the Somersetshire, George realised that this was no longer an extension of his grandfather’s adventure. This was the beginning of the new life that he had chosen for himself - a new chapter in his story.

Reflection:
George’s story is part of my family’s migration story – a story of convicts and free settlers making Australia home. His story is important when studying why ancestors decided to migrate. It is also part of the Hutton family saga.

Ignoring the strong family connection with India and instead to settle in Australia is another reason why George’s story is significant.

Writing this story has forced me to consider aspects of George’s life. What was it like living with family members other than his parents? How did his family’s long term involvement in an overseas country affect his attitude to life? Why did he give up a comfortable lifestyle to change countries?

Piecing together this part of George’s life from a variety of sources was a challenge. Finding an account of the voyage was useful although George was only mentioned once.

As George Hutton spent 67 years in Australia this is part of his life story.

References:
George Hutton’s notes about memories of his early life in Australia plus some family stories as he remembered them in the 1930s.
Letter from Jean Mackillop (written in Bath and dated 23 October 1855) to her daughter, Eleonora Hutton, who was in India with her husband, a Captain in the Madras Army.
Somersetshire News: A Ship Newspaper issued on Board the S S Somersetshire on her passage from Plymouth to Melbourne, Melbourne, Sands and McDougall, 1869 [Digital copy on State Library of Victoria website – accessed 22 June 2017]
Log on Board the S S Somersetshire from Plymouth to Melbourne, July 1 – 30 August 1869. [Digital copy on Christchurch City Libraries website – accessed 22 June 2017]

S S Somersetshire

Looking for a few clues about the SS Somersetshire, the screw steamship that brought George Hutton to Australia in 1869 I decided to have a look in Google and found a 'goldmine'.

Christchurch City Libraries in New Zealand have digitised the log book kept by one of the passengers - W C Walker. There is only a brief reference to George - Mr Hutton an inoffensive young fellow - but there is a wealth of information in Walkers's description of the voyage.

Log on board the S S Somersetshire from Plymouth to Melbourne

The second reference was a link to The Somersetshire News: a ship newspaper issued on board the S S Somersertshire on her voyage from Plymouth to Melbourne.

One of the passengers on board the ship was Dugald McDougall (of Sands and McDougall) who collected the weekly copies of the weekly newsletter read to passengers and had them printed in one publication when they arrived in Melbourne. Copies were then made available for any passengers who wanted a momento of the journey. The State Library of Victoria has a copy which has been digitised and made available online.

Somersetshire News: a ship newspaper

The National Library of Australia also has a digitised copy of another Somersetshire publication - The Somersetshire Sea Pie - April to July 1870.

I did find a web page specifically on the Somersetshire. Not only does it have a picture of the ship but it also includes information about when the ship was built, details of the ship plus a timeline of voyages including significant incidents that took place on voyages.

Somersetshire

A search in Trove provides an article published in the Australasian on the arrival of the Somersetshire in Melbourne.

ARRIVAL OF THE S.S. SOMERSETSHIRE

The magnificent screw steam clipper Somersetshire, of Messrs Money Wigram and Sons'  fleet, entered Port Phillip Heads early on Monday morning from London and arrived in the bay in the course of the forenoon. The present voyage of this fine ship is the most rapid and successful which she has ever yet accomplished, and it is highly gratifying that the prestige which she has acquired on her last run home from this port has been amply sustained by her present achievement. Notwithstanding the difficulties she had to contend with at the outset of her career, there were not wanting those who had faith in the good ship, and who fearlessly asserted that she would yet distinguish herself, and make for herself a name second to no vessel of her class trading to these colonies, and their confidence would appear to be by no means misplaced. But for the Royal Mail steamer putting in the appearance she did on Sunday, the Somersetshire, it may be stated, would have placed us in possession of at least a fortnight's later English papers. On her present trip she has brought out about fifty saloon passengers and 140 in the second and third cabins, and the opinion expressed by them relative to the ship and her commander, Captain Atwood, and his officers, was almost enthusiastically favourable. Previous to leaving the vessel, a very flattering address was presented by them to Captain Atwood. The Somersetshire left Plymouth at midnight of July 1, and had S. E. winds for two days after sailing. With but slight exception, variable westerly winds prevailed to the equator, which was crossed only July 19, and some steady running was made to the Cape of Good Hope, the meridian of which was passed on 4th August. From the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Otway, which was made on the 29th ult., the ship bowled along beautifully, and the distance from the Leuwin was accomplished in four days, the greatest day's work, as shown by the log, being 322 knots. Alter the bustle incidental to arrival is got over, the Somersetshire will be thrown open for public Inspection, and there is little doubt but that opportunity will be taken, as heretofore, by hundreds to inspect this splendid ship.

Australasian Saturday 4 September 1869 page 15

I also found another article about Herr Bandmann, an actor, who was a passenger on the Somersetshire plus an article mentioning some of the other passengers.

MELBOURNE.

 (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)

Monday, August 30.

Herr Bandmann the great German actor, came out by the Somersetshire to-day. He was not received as great stars should be. The sudden arrival of the mail kept people so much occupied during the forenoon, that the Somersetshire was at the Heads and well up in the Bay before anybody was aware of it. Those who had seen his portraits, however, could not mistake him as he landed on the pier, and if I am any judge of faces and physique, I should say Mr Harwood has not made a bad selection.

Amongst the arrivals to-day, in the bay, was the steamship Somersetshire. This fine ship proves herself a formidable competitor to the Great Britain, in the swiftness of her passages, as on this trip from England she has come out in 58 days which is the quickest passage she has yet accomplished. Among her passengers are Mr Smythe of the Melbourne Press; Mr W.

C. Smith, of Ballarat: Colonel Thompson, of New Zealand: and Mrs G. C. Levey, wife of Mr G. C. Levey, formerly member for Normanby. Captain Atwood, under whose command she is this trip, deserves the greatest credit for the manner in which he has again brought this favourite ship into these waters.

Geelong Advertiser Tuesday 31 August 1869 page 3

With all this new information I have now changed the focus of my next assignment for Writing the Family Saga unit.
I now have to concentrate on doing some writing.

Challenges of Working on the Land

The Week Two topic for the National Family History Blogging Challenge is to honour our working ancestors and the challenges they faced in their occupations.

Read more contributions here

Many generations of my family have owned and worked on properties primarily in New South Wales and Queensland.The early settlers to the colonies were often granted or purchased parcels of land. When Dorothea Mackellar wrote of 'droughts and flooding rains' in her poem, My Country, the experiences she described were faced by family members who lived in outback Queensland and NSW as well as family members with smaller properties near the Hawkesbury River.

An example of how challenging being a landowner can be can be shown through the experiences of George Hutton (1850-1936). George was born in Bath, England and at the age of 19 came to Australia. Initially he worked on a number of properties in western Victoria and southern NSW before his father arrived in Victoria to investigate settling there. The contrast between life in Bath and life in rural Australia must have been dramatic for George however I suspect he treated it as an adventure, initially anyway, as he spent the rest of his life in this country.

George helped his father in the early establishment of a property in Lilydale before deciding, in 1874, to go north to Queensland to work as a cattle drover. The next time we hear of him he had purchased (with financial assistance from his father) a sheep station, The Troffs, near Parkes.

Articles in Trove refer to the prices obtained at the wool sales and also note that George was a Pasture Director of the Forbes Pastures and Stock Protection Board in the 1890s. There is also a report of George purchasing additional sheep in 1888.

Forbes Stock Report January 13 included information that 2000 ewes on the 6th January had crossed the river travelling from Grawlin Plain to The Troffs.
Australian Town and Country Journal Saturday 21 January 1888 p4

George's brother, Arthur, joined him to help run the property. Lack of water was a problem for property owners and in the early 1890s rain was limited. However worse was to come in the form of the Federation Drought which occurred between the years 1895 to 1902.

Federation drought 1895-1902
The five years preceding Federation had been intermittently dry over most of the country. Very dry conditions set in across eastern Australia during the spring of 1901, and became entrenched over the following months. As the drought worsened, enormous sheep and cattle losses were reported from Queensland, and many rivers dried up. The Darling River at Bourke virtually ran dry, while Murray River towns such as Mildura, Balranald and Deniliquin - at that time dependent on the river for transport - suffered badly. The Australian wheat crop was all but lost. Rain in December 1902 brought temporary relief, with a more substantial break in autumn 1903. The long drought and its severe climax in 1902 had devastated stock numbers, and began focusing attention on planning for irrigation, especially in the three states through which the Murray River flows. Australian Yearbook 2008 - Natural disasters in Australia.

The family property, The Troffs, was sold and George needed to find new employment. His wife, Annie, moved to Sydney and took their two daughters with her but George elected to remain in the Parkes area where he became a Rabbit Inspector for the Molong Pastures Protection Board.

As we all know the introduction of rabbits to this country was a disaster for property owners. Rabbit Inspectors were therefore appointed to check that property owners were complying with regulations to minimise the spread rabbits on their properties. Articles in Trove show that monthly meetings were held which included reports from the Rabbit Inspectors.

Rabbit Inspector Hutton reported that he had travelled 304 miles since the previous meeting, and had made 45 inspections. He reported ten holders to be unsatisfactory, and recommended three owners for prosecution. The board decided to lay poison in reserves at a cost of £25, and to prosecute three holders reported by Inspector Hutton.
Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 23 December 1914 p9

According to the Sands Directory, George was still a Rabbit Inspector in 1926. It was around this time that he left Parkes and spent the rest of his life living with his daughter and her family on their property in Western Queensland.

While trying to make a living from the land in his new country George discovered that the environment provided many challenges difficult to overcome no matter how hard you perservered.

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.

52 Ancestors #33 George Hutton

George Hutton was born in Bath, England on 5 May 1850. He was the eldest son of William Forbes Hutton and Eleonora Mackillop. Later in 1850 his parents returned to Madras, India, where his father was a captain in the 34th Native Infantry. George's sister, Jean Elizabeth was born in Bangalore, India in November 1851. His parents returned to Bath in 1854 when a second sister for George, Eleonora Mary, was born in May. At this stage I do not know if George went to India as a baby but we do know that during the early years of George's life his contact with his parents would have been limited as he and his two sisters lived in Bath with his  grandparents, George Mackillop and Jean Eleanora Hutton.

On 23 October 1855 George's grandmother wrote a letter to her daughter in India providing a progress report on the bairns including information on George's first lesson:

George is greatly improved and is reasonable and obedient - he speaks more intelligibly, and does not lose himself so often in a maze of words and thoughts - I hope that when he can read he will learn to express himself well and clearly; he had his first lesson this morning and was very attentive - but I will have to begin with BA again - humanly speaking there will be no more interruptions and I expect to have to give you a good report of his progress in my next. Bessie tells me he was most anxious to do everything "as Grandmama would like". He does not know the Lord's Prayer quite perfect but almost so. I do not think he is quick at learning by heart, at present - but his technical memory will probably improve when he acquires the habit of giving his mind to his occupation. He is to write to you next, if he is a good boy - this goes by Marseilles and therefore must be brief and light.

The 1861 English census shows that George and his family were at the home of their grandfather, George Mackillop, at 26 Grosvenor Place in Bath. George's grandmother had died in 1859. There were five house servants working in the house. George was listed as being a scholar.

The next we hear of George is on 30 August 1869 when he arrives in Melbourne aboard the ship, Somersetshire. In the early 1930s George wrote detailed notes about his his first few years in Australia. He was met by Daniel Stodhart Campbell who took him to his home in Richmond where he stayed for several days before travelling to the property, Bundyulumbah, a sheep station north west of Deniliquin in New South Wales where he worked for Mr D'Arlet until November. George spent the next two months in Melbourne looking for work until he met Dick Creswick who managed a property, Brim, in the Wimmera. Dick Creswick invited George to return to Brim with him so they travelled by train to Ballarat where George purchased a horse and they then proceeded to ride to the property. Unfortunately the horse damaged a leg so they left her at Avoca and purchased a buggy to take them the rest of the journey, stopping off at the Avoca Races en route. George spent more than twelve months on Brim. George estimated the size of one paddock being about 20,000 acres and noted that he never rode the entire boundary fence of any paddock, the area being so huge.

On 31 May 1871 George's father arrived in Australia and he left Brim to meet his father at Ercildoune, a property near Ballarat owned by the Learmonths who were friends and business associates of the George Mackillop. According to George, his grandfather had helped finance the purchase of Ercildoune by the Learmonths. Unfortunately, before George Mackillop left Hobart, there was a dispute about repayment of the loan but the differences were eventually resolved.

George and his father returned to Melbourne and then travelled by ship to Launceston to view the Castra project, a settlement established by the government to encourage the settlement of officers from the Indian Army in the region. George noted: 'It was raining hard when we got to Deloraine and rained all night, so Dad jibbed on a 40 mile drive over bush roads in an open buggy. ' Instead they took a coach to Hobart. 'We had a wretched journey down, frosts and fogs nearly all the way, and as the coach was full inside we rode on top of the coach and were almost frozen.' After a week in Hobart they returned to Launceston by coach. 'Father tried to get inside seats on the  coach but they were all booked, but we brought blankets and rolled ourselves in those during the journey so we did not suffer as much as we did going down to Hobart.' George then added, 'However it cured Father of any inclination to settle in Tasmania.' Not surprisingly winters in Tasmania were very different from the climate in India.

After this adventure George's father decided to purchase land at Lilydale in Victoria and George worked with his father for several years as the property was established. In 1874 the rest of the family travelled from England to settle in Victoria and some of George's younger brothers were now available to assist their father. George told his father that he wanted to head north to Queensland to join an outlanding party moving cattle from Queensland. He decided the best way to do this was to travel by ship to a large port in Queensland and then contact stock and station agents to find employment. Unfortunately at this point in the story George stopped writing his memoir so there is a gap in the story. 

In Parkes, New South Wales, on 8 January 1889 George married Annie Wilson Hardwick Weston. We know from articles in Trove that, at that time, George owned a sheep station west of Parkes named The Troffs. George's brother Arthur also worked on the property and some of the articles refer to the Hutton Brothers. Arthur was secretary of the Parkes Jockey Club and owned and raced a number of horses.
George and Annie had three children - William Clifton Weston (1889-1893), Eleonora Ruby (1892-1990) and Nancy Hazel (1899-1997). Family stories relate that William loved water and would often disappear. One day when visiting friends William wandered off and his body was found in the nearby creek.

The Troffs until the beginning of the twentieth century. Unfortunately there was a lack of rain in the years between 1895 and 1902 referred to as the Federation Drought. George and his family had to sell the property. A family member purchased much of the furniture. Annie and their two girls went to live in Sydney while George remained in the district trying to earn a living. He eventually became a Rabbit Inspector for the Molongo P P Board.


Rabbits were in plague proportion in rural Australia and rabbit inspectors were required to ensure that property owners were following procedures to reduce rabbit numbers on their property.  Newspapers contained reports of the rabbit inspectors at Molong Pasture Protection meetings such as the following report in Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 23 December 1914 page 9:

Rabbit InspectorHutton reported that he had travelled 304 miles since the previous meeting, and had made 45 inspections. He reported ten holders to be unsatisfactory, and recommended three owners for prosecution. The board decided to lay poison in reserves at a cost of £25, and to prosecute three holders reported by Inspector Hutton.

The Sands Directories show that George, who was now 76, was a rabbit inspector in the Molong area until at least 1926. The directory entry also noted that he was a JP. Electoral rolls for 1930 and 1936 show that George was living with his daughter Nancy and her family on their property, Metavale, Cunnamulla, Queensland. My mother has memories of an 'old man with a beard' who used to call her, 'My little gal'. He spent most of his time reading or going for long walks.
George Hutton died in Sydney on 5 November 1936 at the age of 86.

George Hutton was my great grandfather.