“In all of us there is a hunger marrow-deep to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.
– Alex Haley
FAMILY HISTORY THROUGH THE ALPHABET CHALLENGE
Cc was always going to be about cousins. I have a rather interesting bunch. Some I never knew existed, like the “Crout half-cousins” in Canada and the “Crout full-cousins” in the United States. Then there are the “Ogilvie cousins” I’m now in contact with via the internet; one still living in the “old country”, Leeds, England and his Uncle who migrated down here to the “antipodes” in the 1960’s. The seafaring “Hampshire Crout cousins” make an interesting read with a couple of “kissing cousins” thrown into the mix and there are the “Murray cousins”, here in South Australia, with whom I’ve just re-connected after near on 60 years.
However, it’s “Cousin Lizzie” who has “taken the yellow jersey” and for three reasons:
* The Last Will & Testament of “my Susan“ features her prominently
* She’s been on my mind since writing about “Baby Crout“ last week
* It’s become apparent that many relatives are not clear about where “Cousin Lizzie” fits into the family, nor what it is that made her “different/ special”
~~~~~~~~~
Cousin Lizzie is the Grand-daughter of Susan Kelleher and an integral part of my Family History.
On 13 May 1855 Susan, aged 18, arrived in South Australia from County Clare, Ireland, aboard the ill-fated “Nashwauk”. She and her sister, Bridget, took up service in the Mid-North of the state – the Clare Valley – and on 13 Jan 1856 Susan married Edward Nicholls. They had three daughters;
Catherine Ann Nicholls – abt 1856
Mary Ann Nicholls – 29 Oct 1858
Margaret Nicholls – 5 Aug 1860
Sadly Edward died of pneumonia, just 4 years after marrying, and is buried at his workplace, Bungaree Station, Clare, South Australia.
Bungaree Homestead – 1863
Four years after the death of Edward, Susan married Timothy Rowen at St Michaels Church, Clare, South Australia. They had 4 daughters and 1 son;
Bridget Rowen – 22 Dec 1864
Eliza Jane Rowen – 1 May 1867
Andrew Rowen – 19 Feb 1870
Susan Rowen – 23 Jul 1872
Mary Ellen Rowen – 6 Oct 1874
I’m related through Susan and Timothy’s second daughter, Eliza Jane Rowen, who is my Great Grandmother. Cousin Lizzie is from Susan’s first marriage to Edward Nicholls. Her mother is their youngest child, Margaret.
Only two of Susan’s three daughters, from her first marriage, survived childhood. Their second daughter, Mary Ann died of “Heart Disease” on 12 Sep 1874, aged 15, just one month before her mother gave birth to the youngest child, Mary Ellen. Their eldest daughter, Catherine Ann, married William Walsh. They had 5 children, 4 survived childhood and went on to create a long line of Walsh/Nicholls descendants.
By all accounts Cousin Lizzie’s mother, Margaret Nicholls, had a sad and traumatic life. On 9 Mar 1875 , at the age of 15, Margaret was the plaintiff in a Court Case against her step-father Timothy Rowen. My Grandmother, Eliza Jane Rowen, was just 8 years old and a witness. The “Northern Argus, March 23, 1875” reports,
“Timothy Rewin (sic), who was indicted of an offence against the person at Armagh, on February 7, pleaded not guilty, and as the evidence of the prosecutrix did not agree with the medical testimony, the jury were directed to acquit the prisoner which was accordingly done.”
The court document reads,
“Plea Not Guilty – Verdict by direction of His Hon. the Chief Justice, Not Guilty”.
It seems that, after the Court Case, my Grandfather became estranged from the family. Their home at Armagh (outside of Clare) was sold and Susan moved, with her children, to Laura where they remained until 1887 when she moved to Broken Hill, New South Wales taking the youngest children with her. Over the years, many of the older children also settled in Broken Hill.
Shortly after Susan and the children moved to Laura her daughter, Margaret, married Scottish Immigrant, John William Tait, at St Johns Catholic Church, Laura, South Australia. Margaret and John had 5 children,
Catherine Jane Tait – 25 Jul 1880
Elizabeth Ann (Cousin Lizzie) Tait – 10 Jul 1882
John Edward Tait – 29 Aug 1884
Agnes Melinda Tait – 12 Oct 1886
Margaret Ellen Tait – 19 May 1889
Only Cousin Lizzie and her sisters, Catherine Jane and Margaret Ellen, survived childhood. John died at the age of 18 months and Agnes when she was 6.
Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
As all of their children were born at Laura, it seems that Margaret and John continued to live there until 1889-1892 when they moved to Broken Hill. I believe they moved to “the Silver City” because this is where Agnes Melinda died but this needs to be verified as they may have been visiting her mother/ family at the time.
What happened next in Cousin Lizzie’s life is open to conjecture. She would have been about 7-10 years old when the family re-settled and it seems her life would have been quite difficult for, on 17 Mar 1989, my mother wrote,
“… They had a daughter named Elizabeth but who within the family was always called “Cousin Lizzie”. She was rather deaf but understood if you spoke loudly. I rather think she lip-read, she had a speech impediment due to the mid-wife who delivered her deciding to snip under her tongue believing other-wise the baby would be tongue-tied. (this practice I believe was not unusual in those days)”
To read about “ankytoglossia”, the problems it can cause and the ways in which it’s treated, even today, just click here.
Mum talked, and wrote, about how it was said that Cousin Lizzie’s father rejected her because of this impediment. Also that he deserted the family and divorced Cousin Lizzie’s mother who then took her own life. I was told how Susan took custody of her Grand-daughter, caring for, loving her and leaving her well provided for so she would never be “without a roof over her head.”
Aware that there are always “two sides” to any story, I’m always reluctant to pass on negative “family stories” but this one needs to be told, given the contents of Susan Rowen’s “Last Will & Testament” which arrived in my “Dropbox” just last week. Susan did indeed leave all her worldly goods to her Grand-daughter and makes it very clear that she had “issue” with Cousin Lizzie’s father when she writes that the legacy is,
“… for her use and benefit absolutely and I desire that she shall have no dealings whatever with her father or sisters, and if the said Elizabeth Ann Tait cannot make her home with her Aunt Susan I desire that she be placed in a Catholic Home in Adelaide. I want a quiet respectable burial.”
Cousin Lizzie did go on living with Aunt Susan for many years after her Grandmother’s death. They arranged her gravesite memorial and, I have it on good authority, they both continued to tend Susan Kelleher Nicholls Rowen’s grave, in the Broken Hill Cemetery, for many years to come … along with Aunt Susan’s daughter, Ann.
I have yet to discover when Aunt Susan died and when Cousin Lizzie moved from Broken Hill to the Port Adelaide district, in South Australia. What I do know is that she was a strong minded woman, living on her own means and in her own home at 6 Denman Place, Exeter in April 1934 because this is when my dad and his first wife, Connie, were living with her. My understanding is that she continued to lived contentedly and independently, with family nearby, until her death at the age of 60 on 15 May 1943 in South Australia.
Although Cousin Lizzie faced many challenges, especially as a young child, she certainly was not a “dunce” or a “dummy”, as many seem to think. It appears that her father did indeed have difficulty coming to terms with his second daughter’s “impediments” but her mother’s family gathered her to themselves … loving, caring and supporting her till the end of her days.
Elizabeth Ann Tait’s feelings for her Grandmother are very clear in the Memorium Notices she placed in newspapers, both in Broken Hill and Adelaide, for many years. The notice below is but one example.
Barrier Miner- 9 April 1934, page 2
MEMORIAM
ROWEN – In loving memory of my
dear grandmother, Susan Rowen,
who passed away on April 9, 1922, at
Broken Hill.
Always deep down in my heart,
Where love burns bright and true;
There’s a light that will burn forever,
In memory, dear grandmother of you.
Inserted by her loving grand
daughter L.Tait
~~~~~~~~~
FURTHER RESOURCES: http://www.trove.nla.gov.au
Copyright (c) 2012. C.A.Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
FAMILY HISTORY THROUGH THE ALPHABET CHALLENGE
It’s a crisp Autumn morning in Adelaide, South Australia and I wake with the memory of “Baby Crout” nudging through my sleep be-fuddled brain. No more dithering, no more doubting, no more questioning for clearly “the little man” is the Bb for my “Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge”. His story is rather sad, as are many, but always reminds me of the care and com-passion which so often resides in the hearts of strangers.
~~~~~~~~~
Over 41 years ago, through the anguish and confusion of my baby boy’s unexpected death, I glimpsed a side of my father never seen before. He was grief stricken and inconsolable. Many years later, when mum told me the story of “Baby Crout”, I understood.
It was April 1934 and the “Great Depression” continued to cause great hardship but Harry Scarborough Crout and Constance Elsie Evans, married 13 Jul the previous year, were eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child – a new life, a new beginning and re-newed hope for the future. Connie, sufferring from “pre-eclampsia”, was being treated by Dr Porter at the Port Adelaide Casualty, which was the only medical care available to the wife of a long term unemployed worker when, on the 21st April she went into labour and was delivered of a stillborn baby boy at the Queen’s Home, Rose Park, South Australia.
Harry Crout, riding pillion, with Sammy – NSW 1929. Copyright (c) C.Crout-Habel
Mum was ony 9 years old, Connie, her beloved half-sister, was 20 and Dad had just turned 22 when this tragedy struck. He’d only been in Australia for 6 years and most of this was spent in New South Wales, or “humping the bluey” around this wide brown land and sometimes “jumping the rattlers” and/or coastal steamers searching for work and to avoid being sent to a “work camp” in the bush.
The Queen’s Home – 1914
So, as he was leaving the hospital and the nurse handed him a shoebox telling him to “take it to West Terrace” he had no idea of the significance of those words. Trudging the 14kms home to 6 Denman Street, Exeter, where they were living with “Cousin Lizzie” she certainly knew the significance of the shoebox dad had placed on the kitchen table and put out the call, “Get Fred!”… Grandpa, Connie’s loved Step- father, harnessed the horse & buggy and took Dad and “Baby Crout” to the West Terrace Cemetery where our precious little boy was interred in a “pauper’s mass grave”, under the name “Baby Crout”. To add to Dad grief his beloved wife took her own life, in an excrutiating way two months later, by swallowing Lysol.
No doubt the unexpected death of his baby Grandson, Jarren Vaughan Habel, 36 years later brought many of those horrific memories flooding back.
Sunday Mail, 10 April 1934
Mum and I often lamented that “Baby Crout” had no grave or memorial then, one day in 1995, there was the newspaper article – Mr David McGowan, the West Terrace Cemetery Manager, announced the creation of a “Baby Memorial”,
“…to acknowledge the 30,000 children who died at birth, or soon after, and their parents who grieved in silence for so long.”
Following the instructions, I soon located “Baby Crout’s” burial site at “Cemetery Extension, Path 4, Plot 6”. The “Cemetery Extension” a field at the rear of the cemetery which had been used as a site for mass graves from the 1920’s up to the 1980’s. This link will take you to the West Terrace Cemetery website where you can access the map, view the position of the “Baby Memorial” and the Photo Gallery. The mass burial site (Cemetery Extension) is marked “Road 5”, adjacent to the “Light Oval A.I.F.”
On Thursday 7 Mar 1996, at 7.30pm and assisted by Mr McGowan, I quietly laid a bronze leaf engraved;
BABY CROUT
21 April 1934
SON OF CONNIE (NEE EVANS) AND HARRY CROUT
CEM EXT. PATH 4. PLOT 6
Although invited to the Formal Dedication Ceremony, the following Sunday, I had no need to attend. My heart, and mum’s, were at peace knowing our little boy had been claimed and acknowledged. This “heart’s ease” was only possible because of the work of David McGowan, and his supporters who were distressed by over 30,000 little bodies who lay in the forgotten fields at West Terrace Cemetery. Below is his description of the Baby Memorial they created.
David McGowan assisting in the laying of a memorial leaf – 7 Mar 1966
Thankyou Mr David McGowan
~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. “Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
FAMILY HISTORY THROUGH THE ALPHABET CHALLENGE
Pauline’s “Merry Month of May Musical Meme” was so enjoyable that I’ve decided to take up Gould Genealogy’s “Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge”, and what a challenge it’s been simply choosing the first topic and getting started. Whenever I think of the letter Aa, and my Family History, it’s precious memories of my maternal Grandpa, Frederick Alexander Allan, which leap to my mind leaving no room for any other thoughts. This is his story.
~~~~~~~~~
As the “Crout-Habel” Family Tree” spreads its roots, is nourished, loved and tended there remains a huge gap right there at the base. How embarrassing to confess that I know so little about my maternal Grandpa’s origins, despite him living with us throughout my childhood and me with a host of memories to continue writing.
The only documentary evidence located, so far, is Grandpa’s Death Certificate. However, as with many Death Certificates, some information is incorrect.
DISTRICT OF NORWOOD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
NAME: Robert Alexander ALLEN, also known as Frederick Alexander Allen
AGE: 78 years
DIED: 12 Jan 1966 at Wodonga Hospital, Kent Town, South Australia
CAUSE OF DEATH: Coronary Thrombosis – sudden, and mycarditis – 2 years
BURIED: 13 Jan 1966, Cheltenham Cemetery, South Australia
CONJUGAL STATUS: Widower
OCCUPATION: Retired Waterside Worker
USUAL RESIDENCE: 34 New Street, Queenstown, South Australia
BIRTHPLACE: London, England. Resident in Commonwealth for 50 years
AGE AT MARRIAGE: Not known
INFORMANT: W.S.Taylor, Funeral Director, Port Road, Queenstown, South Australia
REGISTERED: 17 Jan 1966 by A.Evans
ENTERED INTO DISTRICT REGISTRY OFFICE: 20 Jan 1966 by A.Evans, District Register
Clearly the Funeral Director did not get this information from my mother for she never would have given her father’s name as “Robert Alexander Allen”. I remember how this new name came into my Grandpa’s life. For
years mum had been trying to persuade him to apply for the Aged Pension and finally he agreed. The Waterside Workers Union Secretary wrote to “Catherine House”, in the UK, for his birth certificate but they sent the certificate for his brother “Robert Arthur Allan”. Grandpa objected and said Robert was 4 years older and had emigrated to the USA. Wanting no further delays mum lodged the application, using this birth certificate, and every time the cheque arrived the arguments would start up again – Grandpa quietly refusing to sign “R.A.Allan”, saying “That is not my name, Kathleen!”
There is no Marriage Certificate to provide information as Nana and Grandpa never married. My Nana, “Mary Elizabeth Murray”, remained legally married to Alfred Evans and it seems that Mum’s Birth Certificate names her as “Kathleen Mary Evans” with Alfred Evans as her father. Apparently this was done to ensure that she was not labelled “a
bastard”. Mum told of the shock, when first sighting her Birth Certificate, whilst preparing for her marriage to “Harry Scarborough Crout”. She knew of her mother’s previous marriage and was very fond of her three older half siblings; “Eric, Norman and Connie Evans”, knew she was Frederick Allan’s daughter and had always been known as “Kathleen Mary Allan”.
Incidentally mum’s name for her father was “Olpell”. That always intrigued me and was told she thought it came about because her mother had always called her husband “the old fella” and mum’s baby language had interpreted it as “Olpell“. What a disappointment that was – I’d fancied a far more exotic explanation.
The other questionable information on Grandpa’s Death Certificate is his age. Was that based on the Birth Certificate of his brother, “Robert Arthur Allan” who was, according to Grandpa, 4 years older? Also, had he really been “a resident in Commonwealth for 50 years”? If this is correct, and not just an estimation, he would have arrived in Australian about 1917. Well, at least we know that he was here before 31 Mar 1925 because that is the day his daughter, my mother, was born 🙂
“SS Edwardes” at Port Pirie
Grandpa told us he was a sailor and first went to sea as a “cabin boy”. For some reason I have the age of 7, in my head, but I don’t know that he actually said that… possibly I dreamt it. Some of my siblings think this was just a “tall story” but, for a variety of reasons, I tend to believe it’s true. Firstly he constantly used expressions such as, “Aye, Aye”, “Shiver m’ Timbers” and “Batten Down the Hatches”… not that you have to be a seafarer to utter these words… Furthermore, a meal that Grandpa would cook and was his specialty was “Scouse”. It was delicious. I knew no-one else who ate “Scouse” and it was many years later that I discovered it was first taken to Liverpool, England, by Northern European sailors, was originally called “Labskause” and later adopted by other seamen.
Another factor with suggests my Grandfather was indeed a sailor is that Nana was living in Port Pirie, the second largest seaport in South
Fred Allan middle back behind his “beloved” Lizzie (Murray) Allan
Australia,when they met, fell in love and ran away to Port Adelaide. I’ve often wondered if he was a “deserter” and “jumped ship” in Port Pirie. A good reason to not hang around the port, I reckon. Mum said that her dad had promised to take his beloved on a ship to explore wild and wonderful places and is why, when she left her husband and three children, they headed to Port Adelaide. However, he took sick , she nursed him back to health, mum was born, the “Great Depression” hit and nobody was going anywhere. True or not? … I don’t know. That’s for others to decide. My job is to pass the family story on to my children, and grandchildren, for them to pass onto their descendants.
Was Frederick Alexander Allan born in London, England, as stated on his Death Certificate? I think he most probably was. According to Grandpa he was a “true Cockney born within the sound of the Bow Bells”. I now know what that expression means but, as a child, I had no idea what he was talking about. Also, meeting with some of my mum’s elderly cousins just last week (for the first time in about 50 years) they talked fondly of Grandpa and mentioned his “strong cockney accent”. Me, the child, heard no accent.
Grandpa had a strong dislike of the British Royal Family and spoke about being a child and seeing Queen Victoria riding along in her carriage with her fingers, “like big fat sausages”, covered in jewels whilst people were starving and dying in the streets. He said his mother was a “Midwife” and saved to pay for “reading and writing” lessons for her children. He did say how much she paid per lesson which I think was a farthing, but I’m not sure.
Well, those are some of the memories of my dearly loved Grandpa and serve as “clues” when seeking documented facts. So far I’ve had no luck discovering his origins but recently a newspaper article, in “Trove”, caught my eye and has given another avenue to explore. Mum had told me about Grandpa’s terrible accident, on the wharf, and why the Union was SO important in improving working conditions. 
Now I know the date and place he was treated, a trip to the “South Australian State Records” to access the “Adelaide Hospital” patient records for Tuesday 25 Aug 1936 might just give me a little more valuable information and bring me closer to discovering my “Allan” ancestry.
May you always Rest in Peace, Frederick Alexander Allan and know you are loved and remembered.
~~~~~~~~~
Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of mum singing as she went about her daily work, always with a song on her lips and a tune in her heart. So, it’s with great pleasure that I take up Pauline’s “Merry Month of May Music Meme”.
It’s been fun reflecting and writing about “My first live concert” and “Music to get married by” … now I’ll enjoy working through the entire list, proposed by Pauline, and then reading the reflections of others. 🙂
~~~~~~~~~
(1) Song(s)/Music from your childhood: The Littlest Angel, Little White Bull, Where Will The Baby’s Dimple Be?, Davy Crockett, Little Blue Coupe, Rawhide, Ghost Riders in the Sky, the Naughty Lady of Shady Lane.
(2) Song(s)Music from your teenage years:Rock Around the Clock, Blue Suede Shoes, Jailhouse Rock, Little Bear, Peppermint Twist, Good Golly Miss Molly, Flaming Star, Wooden Heart, Coming Down With Love, Rock a Billy, Blowin’ in the Wind, Lemon Tree, We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday, and lots more…
(3) First live concert you attended: Johnny O’Keefe Show… The 2nd and last teenage concert I went to was the Beatles
(4) Songs your parents sang along to: Dad: only 2 that I remember.. “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane & Cock of the North” (opening words only… when he played it on the piano). Mum sang all the time… My favourite was “Hi Lilly Hi Lilly Hi Lo” which she sang so beautifully and with such feeling.
(5) Song(s)/Music your grandparents sang/played: Don’t remember Grandpa ever singing but he used to whistle tunelessly through his teeth. My youngest son, who never knew my Grandfather, whistles EXACTLY like him 🙂 ~~~ Nana died when I was very young & only remember her being ill but mum used to tell me how Nana would rock my eldest brother to sleep, singing “What will we do with a Drunken Sailor” and one time she rocked so hard the chair, Nana & the baby ended up backwards on the floor.
(6) Did your family have sing-a-longs at home or a neighbours: Mum used to buy copies of the “Boomerang Song Book” every time a new one came out and she and I would learn the words of all the new songs and sing to our hearts content. Sometimes my brothers would join in. For years, every Christmas Eve, mum & I would sit out the front and sing Christmas Carols for hours. My mum, my girlfriend and her mum (Margaret & Mrs Jordan) used to drive regularly from Adelaide to Mildura (to visit their “rellies’) and we’d sing all the way there and back. My unanswered question still is: … what did “The Sergeant Major” DO after that second kiss???… they never would tell us but would just laugh their heads off …
(7) Did you have a musical instrument at home: Mum bought a 2nd hand Pianola from a work colleague’s brother so I could learn to play and my brother who didn’t have the use of one arm could still be involved in the music making. She bought it on “Layby” and seemed to take forever for her to pay it off. My eldest brother had a guitar. My youngest played piano and was very good at “Alley Cat”. Dad taught himself the Piano Accordian, mouth organ, piano. He used to play “the spoons” & graduated to a set of “bones” (yep real bones which I still have) Dad also made an apparatus for himself which would hold the Mouth Organ so he could play the Piano Accordian and the Mouth Organ at the same time…
(8) What instruments do you play (if any): Piano very badly, Irish Whistle reasonably OK… with tunes I know but takes a long while to learn them. Bodhrán quite well and I love this best of all 🙂
(9) What instruments do you wish you could play: Wish I could pay Piano & Irish Whistle properly…
(10) Do do/did you play in a band or orchestra: Used to play with “Celtic Music Club” which are a part of the “South Australian Irish Australian Association”. We’d play for a “Bush Dance” at club once a month, St Patricks Day and at various country festivals. Also used to be one of the “musos” every Friday night at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. It’s the companionship in the “making” of the music that’s the joy and I love the “protocols” when playing in such a group. e.g. who is permitted to initiate a tune etc…
(11) Do you/did you sing in a choir: Only at Primary School because I was forced to and used to get growled at for singing out of tune… so then I’d pretend to sing and get into trouble for that. Was a bit of a no winner…
(12) Music you fell in love to/with or were married to: “We’ll Build a World of Our Own” … also when hubby and I were first dating we went to see the movie “Dr Zhvago” and I loved “Lara’s Theme”. “My Guy” by Mary Wells – I used to go into the top room and play it REALLY loud at the time that mum was so critical of my boyfriend/ fiance who later became my husband.
(13) Romantic music memories: A boyfriend was “lead guitarist” in a cover band for “The Shadows”. My girlfriend’s boyfriend played “rhythm guitar”. We’d go to their concerts, sit at a table close to the band, carry their guitars & act very smug and superior when the other girls were “swooning”. My excuse is that I was very young and I thought that was so so romantic. ha ha ha…
(14) Favourite music genre(s): Folk Music, Country & Western, Celtic Music, Australian Bush Ballads. I love the Bagpipes.
(15) Favourite classical music: Because I was a dancer… it’s Swan Lake, Giselle & Nutcracker Suite
(16) Favourite opera/light opera: mmmhhh???
(17) Favourite musical: Bye Bye Birdie, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar
(18) Favourite pop: Don’t Worry Be Happy, Shuttupa ya Face, Pushbike Song,
(19) Favourite world/ethnic: Celtic
(20) Favourite jazz: Jazz does nothing for me at all
(21) Favourite country or folk: So many it’s hard to pick but particularly like Johnny Cash; Ring of Fire, Walke the Line, Folsom Prison Blues. Also Peter, Paul & Mary… The Seekers
(22) Favourite movie/show musical: South Pacific, Oklahoma, West Side Story,
(23) Favourite sound tracks: As above
(24) What music do you like to dance to: Age & infirmity have curtailed my dancing but I’d dance to anything. Earliest memory of music to dance to is “Sway”. I was very tiny, dad would push back the kitchen table and he’d dance me around the highly polished lino floor with me standing on his feet. This is how I learnt to dance. Mum & Dad were beautiful dancers.
(25) What dances did you do as a teenager: Started with jive and then moved with the trends… to the Twist, the Stomp etc. My three brothers & I would gather our friends & records and we’d regularly have “record parties” at various houses on a Saturday night. I used to wear out a pair of moccasins each night and it took hours to starch & iron the petticoats… I also enjoyed “progressive dances” like “Military Two Step” and “Canadian ???” The “Duke of Erin” was another favourite but not many my age enjoyed those … and I also loved any sort of ballroom… the “old chaps” were the best to dance these with.
(26) Do you use music for caller ID on your mobile: No
(27) What songs do you use for caller ID: –
(28) What songs do your children like or listen to: Now they’re adult I can’t really say … as children “Aga Doo” was a particular favourite. Mr Clicketty Cane, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Alice the Camel . Teenagers… Redgum, Uncanny Xmen, Cold Chisel, Abba were some of their favourites. My youngest Grandson adores “Celtic Thunder” and tells me Damien is his favourite. Grandaughter is mad about “New Direction” … or is is “One Direction”??? … {chuckle}
(29) Favourite live music concerts as an adult: Lord of the Dance, Cats
(30) Silly music memories from your family: Purple People Eater, A-hab the A-Rab, The Thing, The Battle of New Orleans, Itsy Bitsy Teen Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, My Old Man’s a Dustman, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose it’s Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight… are some of the tunes. Silliest family fun thing was that we’d go to the “Drive-in Theatre” every Saturday and whilst waiting for it to get dark music would be played over the speakers. When “The Little Blue Coupe” was popular we used to take turns in beeping the car horn in time with “beep” in the lyrics. Loads of fun …
(31) Silliest song you can think of: “The Thing” – just WHAT was it he found on the beach “that bright & sunny day” and couldn’t get rid of ??? …
(32) Pet hate in music/singing: None really, except neighbours playing really loud music early hours of the morning with “base” turned up SO high it makes my walls vibrate… grrr
(33) A song that captures famiy history for you: “Bound for South Australia” and also “The Song of Australia”… then there are the songs like “Just a wee Deoch & Doras” which reflect my heritage.
(34) If you could ony play 5 albumns (assume no iPolds or mp3) for the rest of your life what would they be: Songs of the Protest Era, Treasury of Australian Music (2 records), Hard Day’s Night, Oklahoma
(35) Favourite artists (go ahead and list as many as you like): Elvis Presley (but only in the early days), Roy Orbison, Petula Clerk, Rod Stewart, Abba, the Beatles, Dig Richards, Cliff Richard, Little Patty, Johnny O’Keefe, Cilla Black, Tommy Steele etc…
Thanks Pauline… the remembering has been great fun.
~~~~~~~~~
Our South Australian German/Prussian immigrants are a crucial part of the successful settlement of this State. The first wave arrived, as religious refugees, with Pastor August Ludwig Christian Kavel in Nov 1838. They travelled on two ships, the “Prince George“ and the “Bengalee“ just two years after the first settlers arrived on these shores.
Kavel’s people rented 150 acres of land, for seven years at 5/- an acre three miles up river, from “South Australian Company” director George Fife Angas, who had sponsored their assisted passage to the new colony. They named it “Klemzig” after their village in Germany. It is said that the aboriginal people called it “Warkowodli Wodli”.
Most of the English settler were builders, engineers and land speculators not farmers, and relied on their food being brought by ship from New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). This became increasingly unbearable when,
“Even their bread tasted of seawater and pitch from
the barrels in which the flour was shipped.” [1]
The new arrivals set to work building and farming and within a month were selling radishes, the first freshly grown food in South Australia, at a shilling a bunch. They were well rewarded for their hard work – a cucumber was also worth a shilling, and 7 equalled a worker’s daily wage. These hard working peple certainly needed the money as Angas had to be repaid for their ship passage and also for the lease of the land. A young man often acquired the “ship debt” of his new bride upon marriage.
Captain Dirk Meinhertz Hahn
The ship, the “Zebra”, arrived the following month with another 187 Lutheran migrants on board. It was captained by Dirk Meinhertz Hahn and, after a brief stay in Klemzig, 38 families left and settled on 150 acres in the Adelaide Hills, purchased from William Dutton & partners for $14 per acre. They named their township “Hahndorf” and they too had a huge debt to repay. The Hahndorf Pioneers soon set about clearing the land, planting crops, breaking in the cattle and milking the cows. They built their first houses with any avaliable materials to quickly provide protection from the very different climatic conditions in their new country.
“Their first winter in the Adelaide Hills was far from what they had expected. Food was often lacking and many went without at times.
Some even died of hunger. Eventually the new migrants managed
to produce a surplus of farm products which were sold in Adelaide
by their women. They walked all the way through the hills to town
in the hope of selling them to pay pay off their husbands’ or
fathers’ loans or to buy more land.” [2]
These pioneering women followed the 36km “Paramuk Aboriginal trail” [3] in the dark, arriving at Beaumont at dawn, where they’d freshen up in the creek before walking the final 5 kms into the Adelaide markets. Often they carried bricks back 36 kms to Hahndorf for the building of more substantial homes.
The “South Australian Road Runners and Walkers Club”, along with the “Burnside” and the “Hahndorf” branches of the “South Australian National Trust” have organised a run/walk for Sunday, 13 May 2012, aong this “Pioneer Women’s Trail” as part of the “About Time: South Australian History Festival”. [4]
Commencing at the “Hahndorf Institute” in Main Street, Hahndorf, the route follows the main road out of Hahndorf, crossing the Onkaparinga River before joining the official trail at Verdun. This historic trail winds its way through the back streets of Bridgewater and Stirling, traverses the beautiful bush trails of Mr George Conservation Park and Cleland Conservation Park before finally opening out onto stunning city views and the descent to Burnside. Following the run, a BBQ will be open to the public all day at historic “Beaumont House” to bring the event to a celebratory conclusion. Participants requiring further information, just click here.
Historic Hahndorf
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Johann Caeser
Our German/Prussian immigrants are not only an important part of South Australian History but aso my own Family History. Wilhelm Emil Habel, my husband’s Grandfather of “Habel’s Bend”, is the eldest child of Johann Friedrich August and Johanne Henriette Siefert. They travelled from Brandenburg, Prussia aboard the “Johann Caeser” with family and some 260 other German/Prussian immigrants, arriving at Port Adelaide on a hot summer’s day, 1 Jan 1855 and settling in Dutton, South Australia where Wilhelm was born.
“Skyjold”
Wilhelm Emil Habel married his second wife, Maria Mathilde Grosser, on 19 Jul 1890 at Dutton. Her father, Hermann Eduard Louis Grosser, arrived with his parents and 5 siblings aboard the “Skyjold” on 3 Jul 1841. They were amongst the congregation of Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzschke whom Pastor Kavel had encouraged to emigrate. Whilst his congregation was committed to making a new life in a new land, their Pastor was initially undecided. Fritzschke’s people settled at Bethany, in the Barossa Valley, and experienced many of the same difficulties as the Hahndorf settlers. They too owed a “ship debt” and land lease payments to their sponsor, George Fife Angas.
Maria, Wilhelm’s second wife, bore him 9 children bringing the total number of children he fathered to 16. Eight of their children survived childhood and little Elisabeth Clara, is buried near the “Habel Homestead” at Loxton, South Australia. You can read about Elisabeth by clicking here.
Wilhelm, like many descendants of the German/Prussian Pioneers prospered and he displayed the fruits of his labour in a lavish celebration for the Wedding of Lina Martha Habel, his third daughter with first wife Marie (Martha) Emilie Fielke. Click here to read about this extravagance.
We, the descendants of these courageous pioneers, owe our Ancestors a huge debt of gratitude which is described movingly in the poem posted here on the first day of this blog, Australia Day 2012.
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SOURCES:
[1] “God’s Lost Acre” by William Reschke, Sunday Mail, 9 Mar 1975, p. 11.
[2] Flinders Ranges Research – Hahndorf
[3] “On the trail of settler history” by Sam Kelton, The Advertiser, 10 May 2012, p 15.
[4] South Australian Road Runners and Walkers Club
Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of mum singing as she went about her daily work, always with a song on her lips and a tune in her heart. So it’s with great pleasure that take up Pauline’s “Merry Month of May Music (& Melody) Meme”.
It’ll be fun retrieving memories and reflecting on how music and song has been, and continues to be, an important part of my life, especially when the going gets tough. It’s also an opportunity to share a little of my own life story with my beloved children, and grandchildren, and have fun doing it 🙂
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The theme I’ve chosen today relates to the date, i.e.10 May 2012, which is my 45th Wedding Anniversary and was prompted by Pauline’s suggestion of “Music you fell in love to/with or were married to”.
I was 17years old and Steve was 16 when we met, fell in love and before long decided that a life together was what we wanted more than anything else in the world. Incidentally I’m now horrified at the thought of my 14 year old Grandson making such a decision in a little over 2 years time, but that’s life, eh? …
Not surprisingly neither sets of parents were happy, however they did agree to our Engagement, which happened on 27 Apr 1966, and it wasn’t until plans were well under way for the Wedding to take place the following Dec 12, that first one set of parents withdrew permission and then the other. Then the first changed their minds but the second continued with their refusal. It was like being on an emotional roller coaster.
At that time you could only marry under the age of 21 with the approval of parents or a Judge and Court Order… so, we eloped. Steve joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and, after basic training at Edinburgh Air Base, South Australia, was posted to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. I followed him, lived in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), gained employment as Secretary to the OC (Officer Commanding) at the Base and we applied to the Court for permission to marry.
It was all very romantic and my favourite song, at the time, was “We’ll Build a World of our Own” by the “Seekers”.
Sadly the marriage ended after 20 years, almost to the day, and the following song personifies this.
Life is full of ups and downs, happiness and sadness, joy and pain and so it was with our marriage. Without the pain you can not know the joy and it’s the happy times, the fun, laughter and especially our beautiful children, and now grandchildren, which remains with me and continues to enrich my daily life. Thanks Steve.
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Let’s go a Merry Month of May-ing
Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of mum singing as she went about her daily work, always wth a song on her lips and a tune in her heart. So it’s with great pleasure that I take up Pauline’s “Merry Month of May Music (& Melody) Meme”.
It’ll be fun retrieving memories and reflecting on how music and song has been, and continues to be, and important part of my life especially when the going gets tough.
“Fun & Frivolity” is the name of the game… so why not join in and do it your way… Oooh… am I channeling Frank Sinatra now? 🙂
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Looking through the list of suggestions, “No3 – First live concert you attended” pops out at me as Johnny O’Keefe and the Delltones flash before my eyes, “SHOUT!” rings in my ears along with the screams of hundreds of teenage girls. Technically speaking it was not my first live concert but all those chidren’s shows paed into insignificance when “The Wild One”, Johnny O’Keefe, came to town.
It would have been about 1960, I was in the early years of High School and only allowed to attend the “Johnny O’Keefe Show”, at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, South Australia because my eldest brother, Ken, was chaperoning. So, so exciting! The memory is indelibly imprinted on my brain.
* Girls were crying, screaming and fainting.
* The noise shook the walls.
* Police officers patrolled the front of the stage.
* “The Wild One” unbuttoned and flung back his black coat, showing
the red lining, and the screaming was ear shattering.
* I cried with happiness.
* My brother was grumpy ‘cos he couldn’t hear a word.
These were the early days of “JO’K” when he was still quite “wild”, by the standards of the day. As his TV career took off, with shows such as “Six O’Clock Rock” & the “Johnny O’Keefe Show” he quietened down somewhat, even when he was singing “Shout”. Am glad I got to see Johnny when he was still rather “naughty” 🙂
Choosing a favourite song to share was not easy. “She’s My Baby” came runner-up simply because this version of “Shout” truly represents that memorable night of my first “adult” live show.
Here’s Australia’s “Wild Child” of the 1960’s for your entertainment and amusement… enjoy.
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Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
Let’s go Merry Month of May-ing
ABOUT TIME
http://www.abouttime.sa.gov.au/events
SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY FESTIVAL – 1 to 31 MAY 2012
Settled in 1836, and one of the last European settlements in Australia, South Australia has a unique history which is proudly showcased in the “About Time History Festival”.
Come along and enjoy … walks, talks, displays, openings etc. A whole range of events, spread throughout the state, are designed to interest, enthral, and entertain both locals and visitors.
click on map to enlarge
If the location is a little too distant just “travel with your fingers” by clicking on the “About Time” link above, trawl through the events, read through those that interest and gain a little more knowledge about my unique State – the State of South Australia.
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Copyright © 2012. Catherine Crout-Habel. Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family
Seeking Susan ~ Meeting Marie ~ Finding Family 