In Celebration of Mothers

by | May 13, 2023 | Gympie District Families, Gympie Women

In celebration of Mother’s Day, Kathy Punter looks back on some strong and resilient women ancestors.

With Mother’s Day upon us, I have been reflecting not only on the effect my own mother and my paternal grandmother had on my life but also the long line of ancestral grandmothers that I never had the privilege of meeting, however, there is little doubt that they have influenced my life not only through the DNA I have inherited from them but also from the resilience and strength of character which has been passed down through the generations. Long lines of hardworking wives of farm labourers, farmers and miners, with a wheelwright and chair maker thrown into the mix.  Given the modern conveniences which we are privileged to enjoy today, it is difficult to comprehend how hard their lives were.  Not only did they have to work hard physically but many of them had to endure the loss of babies and young children as well as husbands, who for one reason or another, did not get to have a long life.  I admire them all and am truly grateful to call them all my Grandmothers. These are the stories of but a few.

One of those women became a charwoman (taking in other people’s laundry) after the death of her Iron Ore Miner husband from lung congestion in 1876 when he was only 35 years of age, leaving her to raise 5 small children on her own. Living in a rural part of Lancashire in England there would have been very few prospects for earning money whilst raising her children.  She must have understood the importance of education though, as her eldest daughter was still listed as a scholar in 1881 when she was 14, at a time when many other children would have been sent out to earn some money to contribute to the upkeep of the family.  The Elementery Education Act 1870 had set the framework for children to attend school until they were 12 although it was neither compulsory or free.  She is one of my Great Great Grandmothers; she never remarried and lived to be 96 years of age.  Her name was Hannah. One of Hannah’s sons immigrated to Australia and he too died young following a tree felling accident leaving a young wife and 4 small children on their own. He was involved in mining in the Wollongong area for his first years in Australia but moved to Queensland with the ‘Moran Group’ in about 1907 to take up a parcel of land near Kin Kin in search of a better life for his family.  Sadly that was not to be for him as it was on that land that he was killed in 1909. His young widow stayed on the land and went on to establish a very successful dairy farm, initially with the help of the others who had made the same journey to Queensland with the family.  Her mother joined her from NSW in 1913 but she was in poor health suffering from heart failure and died after catching influenza only a year after arriving.  One was my Great Grandmother and her name was Teresa.  Her mother was my Great Great Grandmother and her name was Elizabeth.  Teresa died in Gympie at the age of 84 and is buried at the Pomona Cemetery as was her husband and mother.

Another of my Great Great Grandmothers came to Australia as an Irish orphan aboard the John Knox (this ship is featured in the book by Trevor McLaughlin called Barefoot and Pregnant) in 1850 at 16 years of age. She married a convict in 1853 at Ipswich and quickly started a family. She had 8 children over the next 13 years while the family travelled around the South Burnett and as far as Dalby no doubt chasing work. They finally ended up in Gympie soon after the discovery of gold by James Nash and their 9th child was born here in 1869. They had 4 more children in Gympie and she lived the rest of her life here. In her obituary which was published in the newspaper of the time, it states that she was one of the first women on the Gympie goldfields. I was recently pleasantly surprised to learn that she had signed the Suffrage Petition of 1894 along with 2 of her sons. Her name was Margaret and she died at age 99 in 1933 and is buried with her husband at the Gympie Cemetery. Her husband had been a miner and he died in 1893.

I feel that it is most appropriate that these women have the word ‘Great’ in their titles.

This story was written by Kathy Punter for Mother’s Day 2023

Refs: Suffrage Petition 1894; Qld BDM; Trove; Ancestry; NAA UK; GRO UK; OPC Project UK (Lanc) 

If you would like to read about the history of Mother’s Day, you will find that blog post here.

 

My Great Great Grandmother’s signature on the Suffrage Petition of 1894.