History Notes - a mix of short stories
Another successful market on Saturday with visitors drifting in and out sometimes there were only a couple of visitors and then there would be a crowd! The Councillors arrived and interacted with the locals and then after they departed the "firies" visited.
There was also a visitor trying to trace her family history from the lronbark area. This visitor began by saying that her ancestor was born in lronbark Creek and did I know where that was - it turned out that she had not heard of Woods Reef and when I suggested it might be that her ancestor was born on the property lronbark, she was quite surprised.
Checking a few records, I have found that Mr and Mrs Lowe had a daughter born on 2nd October, 1891. She was baptized on 20th October the same year and died in 1891, clearly not this visitor's mother but clearly, she is on the right track.
This morning on the ABC radio we heard that the post office is cutting back on mail deliveries. A regular listener rang in to remark that newspapers and mail were available daily around 1900 so long as you went to the nearest coach stop. This reminded me that grandfather living eight kilometres down the Horton road from Cobbadah, used to remark that he could get the daily newspaper and mail six days a week - just a short ride across the countryside!!!
Back in the 1850's moving the mail around the countryside was difficult and the task often fell to a local landowner travelling to his property, dropping off mail at the stations he passed through on his way north. George Galley was travelling to Gineroi in the 1850's to visit the staff and check out the station for his part owner, A.A.Adams. Unfortunately, he did not arrive and it was some time later that someone came across his remains just north of Bingara - the mailbag and his horse nearby. He was buried where found and a headstone erected on the site.
Actually, horse accidents, especially where one man was riding to or from the nearest town, were relatively common - there were two at lronbark Creek that I know of- James Sinclair in 1875 and Richard Thame in 1894.
A. Adams lived at Barraba Station, his station from the 1840's, until the death of his partner, George Galley. The two eldest Adams children were born at Barraba Station and the other three were born at Gineroi. Barraba Station was managed for A. A. Adams until the eldest daughter married Arthur Witten and he settled on the property with her. They moved to Barraba in the 1870's.
The final book on this family is to be launched in a few weeks·.