Children of the Land: The Cooramook Births
The parish of Framlingham in Victoria's western district is perhaps a misnomer for the area is more accurately identified as East Framlingham / Panmure on the eastern banks of the Hopkins River and Purnim / Ballangeigh on the western side. The area became known to the wider Victorian community through a series of newspaper articles titled Picturesque Victoria appearing in Melbourne’s Argus in the mid 1880’s. Series four [1] published in January 1885 describes the area as being famous for “turning out good steeplechasers and having many important cheese factories”, although the use of the term “factory” in this instance refers to outhouses (creameries) set up by dairymen on their land. The use of hand turned separators [2] allowed neighbouring farmers to deliver their milk and take home skim milk to feed their pigs. The cream component was then used to manufacture cheese. In the same year government census records [3] indicate that a population of approximately 100 occupied the parish land on a mixture of small freeholds and leaseholds suitable for dairy cattle. The lush pastures either side of the Hopkins River not only supported the Chard’s Devondale dairy cows but other large herds run by prominent pastoral families. Names such as Augustus Bostock (1833-1920) at his Grassmere and Marramook estates, William Edward Stonehouse (1861-1950) on James Dickson’s Guthrie, John Sommerville (1823-1893) on the Cragieburn and Joseph Blain (1834-1896) at the Yallock, were prominent. The swathes of land a little further east of the river - in Keilambete, The Sisters and Kolora were by and large the domain of the graziers, Niel Black (1804 – 1880), John Thomson (1808-1890), Benjamin Napthine (1819-1887), Charles Podger (1833-1886), and Samuel Creed (1837-1889), to name a few. Other settlers like Peter McFarlane (1800-1882), William McKinnon (1832-1898, Charles Clifford (1835-1914, and Thomas Edward Powling (1841-1924) combined the grazing of small numbers of sheep and beef cattle with extensive dairy herds for cheese making. |
Photographs courtesy of the State Library of Victorian.
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Of the same era as the Chard elders, Englishman Charles Clifford [4] (left) and Scotsman William McKinnon [5] (right) ran the largest dairy herds in the Garvoc / Kolora / Noorat district. Both, young immigrants of the 1850’s, started farming in the Purnim / Wangoom area alongside James and Ellen Chard at Cooramook.
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Rivalling Henry Phillips at Bryan O’Lynn was John McGinness (1842-1927) who had established a fine steeplechase stud [6] named Fernbank.
In 1885 Devondale was officially the business of Chard and Sons with 55 year old James leaving all the heavy duty labouring to his sons; 27 year old Thomas and 23 year old Adam. Both boys had been well schooled in their father’s skills and while Thomas would prove to be a lifetime dairyman Adam followed his dream of becoming a jockey and horse trainer. Eldest daughter Helen however was the focus of the family’s attention this year when she became the first child to wed. |
Helen Patison (1859 – 1927) Known affectionately to the family as “Lal”, 26 year old Helen married George Baird. Born just months apart George was the eldest of four sons born to Scots Adam and Margaret (nee Polson) of Chapman's (near Ararat). The couple had met in Ararat where young debutante Helen had been teaching. After their marriage - a Church of England ceremony in Framlingham - the newlyweds returned to the Baird’s property in the Grampians. |
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xThe marriage certificate of Helen Patison Chard and George Baird; rare in the fact that this is the only recorded document showing James Chard’s signature (as witness).
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| Two days after their first wedding anniversary, on the 25th April 1886, Helen and George presented the Chard’s with their first grandson. Named George Albert Ernest (and to become known as Albert), the Baird heir was born at Chapman's, the event being recorded at Victoria’s Cathcart registry. At about the same time George’s brother Adam married Isabella Proctor (1864 – 1937) and they decided to set out for Gippsland - reports of new gold discoveries in the area tempting an old miner’s son. Either way it meant plenty of work for a skilled worker of wood. Helen Baird however, now with an infant, was missing her mother’s comfort and when 126 acres of leasehold property at The Sisters became available [7] in early 1887, she persuaded husband George and his younger brother William to take up the dairy farming challenge. Grandson George Jnr. is now only a very short buggy ride away from Chard's Devondale. Here the Baird brothers looked to establish their own cheese making business. The following year third brother Angus joined the business as Lal gave birth to their second child, a daughter Ellen Marion (1888 – 1965). The Chard elders barely had time to acquaint themselves with their new granddaughter when George, heeding a call from his younger brother Adam, sets off to pursue a more lucrative future in Gippsland’s Strzelecki Ranges. George, Lal and their two young children joined Adam and his wife Isabella in a family settlement at Allambee. Here Helen took up an appointment as teacher at the district’s recently opened school [8] whilst husband George tended a few dairy cows. Carpenter Adam had no difficulty plying his trade in the rapidly growing community. The following year second daughter Margaret Eveline (1889 – 1957) was born [9] whilst Adam and Isabella added to the Baird clan with the birth of their second son in 1891. The small Allambee dwelling is now simply too small for 4 adults and 5 children. Whilst George and Lal are keen to remain in the area Adam and Isabella decide to move back to Ararat the following year. In 1897 Lal retired from teaching and the Bairds took up a leasehold property [10] at Sea View (near Ellinbank). The land on the edge of the Mount Worth State Park was part of an estate owned by one of the district’s earliest pioneering brothers William and Allen Graham. Here conditions were extremely hard for the settlers, particularly the dairy farming Bairds, with the landscape comprised of steep ravines and heavy forest. The rugged terrain made travelling climate dependent leading to isolation at certain times of the year. McDonald’s track was their lifeline to Allambee and Warragul via Ellinbank and there are numerous references [11] to George Baird imploring the Narracan Shire Council to repair the carriageway. Disaster - in the form of bushfire - struck the Shire in the first week of February 1898. In what was called "Red Tuesday" 260,000 hectares of South Gippsland [12] was incinerated. Twelve people died and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed. The Baird's were not spared [13] losing everything. |
Courtesy of the State Library of Victorian.
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This painting titled "The homestead saved - An incident of the Great Gippsland Fire of 1898" was painted [14] by James Alfred Turner (1850-1908). Sadly for the Bairds, this was not the fate of their homestead.
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| Not to be deterred, a year later George, Lal and their three children rebuilt at Sea View and once again George partitioned the Narracan Shire Council about the state of the local roads [15] – threatening that if no action was taken he would take the matter to South Gippsland’s Member of Parliament. By the turn of the century the Bairds had spent twelve years dairying in Gippsland. Whilst the children were young, a local school education had been sufficient. Now however, with the girls of secondary school age, a decision was made to relocate to a township. So in the spring of 1902 the Bairds sold up [16] at Sea View; Lal and the girls moved to Moe whilst George and his son returned to labour in Allambee [17]. 1905 once again saw bushfires ravage Victoria with the Strzeleckis affected for a second time. On this occasion the Grampians were also impacted [18] and having experienced the horror first hand and fearing the worst, George and his son set off for Ararat to help care for his elderly parents. Again Baird property was ravaged with his parent’s health, particularly his mother's, severely affected. She died in May the following year. With Adam and Isabella remaining in Mullock Bank (just west of Ararat), George decides to return to the western district, with his father and brother Angus, selecting some prime grazing real estate neighbouring his aunt Johanna (nee Polson; 1842 - 1924) and uncle William Clarke’s (1836 – 1923) Purleigh estate in Garvoc. Upon news of this Lal immediately puts their Moe residence up for sale [19] and with their secondary schooling now complete she and the teenage girls join their father, grandfather, uncle and brother for a 1907 Christmas celebration. For Lal it is a long awaited reunion with her elderly parents and some siblings who she barely recognises, the youngest Frederick being barely five on her wedding day. On their new property named Fairview, 1908 signals a period of fresh challenges for the Bairds - the first being the acceptance of the new farming co-operative, particularly with regard to the dairy and cheese business. In 1910 eldest daughter Ellen married Charles Baxter (1879 – 1923), the fourth son of neighbouring grazier William and Mary Baxter, the union providing the Chards with their first great granddaughter Mavis in 1911. A great grandson Donald followed three years later. The following year Margaret Eveline married storekeeper John McDonald Page (1886 – 1971). They had three children, two girls and a boy. Whilst the girls married successfully, Albert remained a bachelor. He briefly farmed his own land, Inverleigh in the Timboon district [20] but by the age of forty he’d forsaken dairy farming to become a vagabond salesman cum labourer [21]. The 1942 electoral roll shows him as a dog trainer in Geelong West, then five years later, a labourer in Newmarket, Melbourne. He retired to Warrnambool and died aged 78 at Lyndock [22] nursing home. He had witnessed two horrendous episodes in his life; the first at 12 years of age when he and his family encountered the near death experience of fighting the Strzelecki bushfire that left him and his family homeless, then being associated with the tragic shooting accident [23] of his brother-in-law Charles. Fairview estate remained in the family until George’s death in 1938, his wife Lal predeceasing him by eleven years. |
Photographs from Baird and Chard Family Archives.
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Left: Adam Baird (seated) pictured with two of his sons, George (left) and William (right).
Right: The proud great grandmother Ellen Chard nurses the newly christened Mavis. Grandmother Helen “Lal” Baird stands (left) with mother Ellen “Nellie” Baxter (right).
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These Baird family photographs are published with thanks to Cheryl Tofolon.
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Left: Ellen “Nellie” Baxter (right) with her sister Margaret and brother-in law John attending the annual Warrnambool Grand National race meeting. Right: Helen Baird’s death notice in the Terang Express, October 1927.
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| Thomas James (1858 – 1931) It was 1886 and just eleven months after Helen had married George Baird, that James and Ellen Chard’s eldest son Thomas married. Named after his paternal grandfather, Tommy (or T.J. as he became known in later life) took their neighbour’s daughter - 23 year old Emily Fisher as his bride on the 5th May 1886. Emily was the fourth child (third daughter) of Englishman John Fisher (1834 – 1911) and his Irish wife Catherine (nee McLean, 1839 - 1931). |
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The marriage certificate of Thomas James Chard and Emily Fisher. The ceremony, conducted in the Fisher’s Keilambete home, was performed by Framlingham’s Presbyterian minister William Scott. Respective siblings, Adam Chard and Sarah Fisher were the witnesses.
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| John Fisher arrived in the colony in 1852 and like many others found his way to the Ballarat diggings. Here he met and married Catherine at the peak of the gold rush in 1856. Their next twenty years were spent in East Ballarat before arriving in the Keilambete district in 1876 taking up 363 acres of freehold land [24] abutting the Hopkins River and Craigieburn Creek. In the years that followed he established a significant dairy herd as well as grazing sheep and cattle on an additional 533 acres (known as Fisher’s paddock [25]) which he leased from Benjamin Napthine’s Huntingfield Estate. The newlyweds settled into a small homestead on this Fisher leasehold and soon found themselves expectant parents. Sadly for Thomas and Emily their daughter died at birth in February of 1887. A further setback occurred almost immediately with the death of their landlord Benjamin Napthine precipitating the liquidation of all Huntingfield assets. John Fisher subsequently lost his grazing paddock and the young Chards their home. Economic uncertainty was beginning to have an impact Australia-wide, and although the district was overjoyed with the newly established railhead in Terang, Keilambete’s dairy farmers were beginning to feel the pinch. When John Fisher decided to withdraw from the land Thomas and Emily Chard (who was now pregnant) followed, relocating to dwellings in Prahran and Moonee Ponds respectively. It was at 47 Williams Road Moonee Ponds [26] that Leslie Gordon Chard (1888 – 1953) was born [27] in the December of 1888. Two more sons, Stanley William (1891 – 1973) and Eric Alexander (1894 – 1973) followed in quick succession and although Thomas was able to earn a living in the district as a labourer [28], their tiny Moonee Ponds dwelling simply couldn’t cope. By 1895 the family had moved to a slightly larger house in Brennan Street [29] only to have the extra space consumed by the birth of their fourth son Jack Howard (1897 – 1962). By the end of 1898, with Emily pregnant again, Thomas searched for opportunities outside the metropolitan area. When prime grazing and dairy farming allotments were being advertised in the Yarra Valley, the Chard and Fisher families acquired small leaseholds in the Mooroolbark and Gracedale parishes. Situated between Lilydale and Healesville, Thomas, Emily and her two sisters established [30] a cheese making dairy. It is here that the Chard’s youngest son Vernon James (1899 – 1959) was born [31]. The Yarra Valley business lasted a decade and whilst Emily’s sister Sarah (now Mrs Samuel Goodall) remained in the Healesville district, the Chards and their five boys returned to Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Thomas’ eldest boy Les was now 20 and together they set up a large dairy business in Murray Road (between Fettling Street and Gilbert Road) Preston. |
 The newspaper may well have stated that Thomas was “giving up dairying” but barely a year later the local newspaper, The Coburg Leader published [32] the proceeding of a court case taken by the Health Board against Thomas for “watering down his milk”. In truth the Chards have now moved [33,34] to 22 - 34 Victoria Street East Brunswick and are engaged in the processing and distribution of milk and dairy products. Three years later Emily, aged 52, was taken ill whilst visiting her mother and sister at 91 Kooyong Road Armadale. The seriousness of her condition is evidenced by the fact that a doctor is summoned [35] to the Armadale residence on eight occasions. Husband Thomas is notified and informed that his wife has suffered a serious stroke. Over the ensuing six months Emily drifts but eventually falls into coma. Death occurs on 19 April 1916. |
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Emily Chard’s passing was acknowledged in both Melbourne newspapers, The Age and The Argus on April 20th 1916.
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xLeft: This portrait of Emily Chard was prepared by her sister Lillian who was a professional photo colourist [30] . The portraits of her sons (from top to bottom) Stanley, Leslie, Eric, Jack and Vernon were professionally taken in 1916 as a memorial to their mother’s passing. The newspaper entries [36] remembered the second anniversary of death.
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| During the period of Emily’s confinement Thomas had no choice but to employ a housekeeper cum nurse. In this role a 30 year old widow, Sarah Ann Nelson (nee Thomas), with three young children Irene (aka Dolly) aged 8, Rowland (aka Ronnie) aged 5 and Myrtle (aka Bonnie) aged 3 became permanent additions at 22 Victoria Street. Soon Sarah’s youngest sister, 19 year old Helen Millicent, arrives on their doorstep; pregnant. Cast out and scorned by her parents Helen Millicent (to be known affectionately as Nell in her later life) is welcomed under the Chard roof and quickly becomes a favourite especially with Thomas’ third boy Eric. For Thomas, with the eldest boys Les and Jack fighting on the European battlefront and the youngest Vernon, living with brother Stanley and his wife [37] training as an apprentice as a tanner, keeping the Victoria Street dairy business afloat became impossible. Unfortunate circumstance had thrown Thomas Chard and Sarah Thomas together but either love or convenience saw the pair marry on May 16th 1917, the ceremony taking place at the Methodist parsonage in North Carlton [38]. Sarah’s heavily pregnant sister Nell is now Thomas’ sister-in-law. Less than three weeks later, Thomas’ son Eric marries Nell, the ceremony taking place at the Methodist parsonage in Brunswick [39]. Helen Millicent is now Thomas Chard’s sister-in-law AND daughter-in-law. To date, 1917 had been an extremely busy time for Thomas, so busy in fact that an invitation to his parents Diamond Wedding Celebrations back in January had gone unanswered. Although Thomas communicated from time to time with his younger brother James he had not once returned to Devondale or for that matter to the western district in general. Answering a plea from James to return to visit their ailing mother, Thomas and his new wife Sarah decided to “honeymoon” in the Noorat area in September. The account of this visit has an amusing place in Chard folklore and is retold by the Noorat clan thus; Thomas was expected to be travelling alone, the family knowing full well of his wife Emily’s sad demise. So on the appointed day, brother James and his eldest boy Fred – now aged 13 – set off in their horse and trap to meet widower Thomas at the Terang railway station. When the train arrived in the early evening a rather portly 60 year old Thomas alighted with a spritely 32 year old Sarah on his arm. “This is my new wife” states Thomas, “we just got married a few months back”. James is agog, but loads up the new arrivals for their journey back to East Noorat. A somewhat awkward meal transpires, James’ wife Annie having never met her brother-in-law and not prepared to accommodate a recently married couple in their humble abode. Whilst Annie and their small children, with the help of Sarah, prepare sleeping quarters in the barn, James, his son Fred and Thomas settle on the porch for a smoke and a chat. James starts “what on earth were you thinking of man, she (alluding to his new young wife Sarah) will bloody well kill yer”. From James’ perspective this may well have been meant with true fraternal compassion and concern but it was not accepted in the same way. Thomas and Sarah slept the night in the barn and boarded the next morning’s train back to Melbourne”. Brother James’ words were – to some degree - prophetic however. Thomas would indeed sire three more sons with Sarah, Raymond James (1919 – 2003), Alan Thomas (1922 – 1988) and David Maxwell (1925 – 2011), the last boy being born just two weeks after Thomas’ 67th birthday. Thomas and Sarah briefly lived in Louisa Street Coburg [40] with Thomas carting milk whilst Sarah gave birth to Raymond. The other two boys Alan and David were born at Major Road Fawkner (on the corner of Sydney Road), the site of the last [41] of Thomas Chard’s dairies. Apart from his side interest in breeding and racing greyhounds [42] – his two favourite dogs being named Our Nell and Preston Lad - Thomas’ life was dairying and it was only poor health that forced his retirement at the age of 71 from their Fawkner premises. He and Sarah moved back to Bell Street Coburg which was their last home before his death in 1931. |
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xThomas Chard’s passing was acknowledged in The Melbourne Age on September 22nd 1931.
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Three generations of Chards spanning nearly 70 years
Right: Thomas Chard and his youngest son David give greyhound “Our Nell” a final loving pat just prior to their departure from the Major Road Fawkner dairy in 1930. Left top: Thomas’ second son Stanley William Chard, aged 51, pictured at his elder brother Leslie’s wedding in 1942. Left bottom: Stanley Chard’s first son, Thomas’ grandson and James Chard’s great grandson Ronald Stanley Malcom “Don” Chard aged 23, on the occasion of his marriage to Gladys Cook in 1923.
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| The Thomas sisters become Chard mother-in-law/daughter-in-law |
| The Thomas sisters were of Welsh / Scottish ancestry, their grandparents immigrating to the colony of Victoria at the height of the gold rush. On the Welsh side their father Rowland Thomas (1861 – 1932) was born at Strangeways and their mother Janet Russell (1858 – 1923) at Forest Creek, both districts being part of the greater Castlemaine diggings. They were married on Christmas Eve 1884 at Janet’s parent’s residence at Glenlyon. On the marriage certificate Rowland is noted as a farmer of Mount Franklin. Combining farming and prospecting the Thomas family persisted at Mount Franklin until 1893, but when exciting opportunities in Gippsland presented themselves eight year old Sarah, her sister Louisa and her two younger brothers joined their parents on newly acquired land at Wonga Wonga South near Stockyard Creek (now known as Foster). Two more sisters, Florence and Helen joined the family in the next five years but Louisa was tragically lost. Sarah is ten years older than her new sisters and spends much of her teen years assisting her mother in their upbringing. By the age of 20 however she is pregnant and in 1906 gives birth to a daughter Irene Beryl, the event being registered in Foster to an unknown father. The Thomas household is extended further four years later when Sarah becomes pregnant again. This time she has a boy, Albert Rowland and once again the birth is registered in Foster to an unknown father.Uncertainty surrounds Sarah’s next five years but – presumably looking for work - she does bring her two young children to the city residing in Richmond in 1912, this fact being confirmed by the birth record [43] of her third child, Myrtle Lillian. This document also records the father’s name as “Nelson”, although no evidence of a marriage can be found. There are some possible clues to support the fact that Sarah became involved with a Prahran butcher named Albert Henry George Nelson. Albert, a Bunyip born youth, was living a bachelor’s existence at Doon Street Prahran [44] in 1908 (some years before Sarah came to the city) and became implicated in a lover’s tryst the following year. Arrested for wounding with intent, Albert was convicted and sent down for 5 years hard labour in Pentridge Prison, a sentence that was remitted [45] by special authority of His Excellency (The Governor) inside eighteen months. No reason is provided for this unusual event but the newspaper reports of the court case [46] explain that Albert turned the gun on himself causing severe life threatening head wounds. If Sarah and Albert are together upon or shortly after his prison release, their time together is indeed brief as Albert, whilst staying at his parent’s Bunyip house in September 1913, is found unconscious on the side of the Longwarry road [47] following a fall from his bicycle. His death is recorded in the Warragul hospital [48] the same day. Sarah and her young children remain at their Waverley Street Richmond dwelling [49] for a short period before moving into Albert’s Doon Street Prahran [50] residence in 1915. This tenancy is also short as a more permanent home presents itself at Thomas Chard’s Victoria Street residence. Whilst Sarah is fighting to provide a good life for her children, her youngest sister Helen (aka Nell), now a 19 year old, arrives at the Chard residence for Christmas 1916. She probably believes she will get some help and sympathy as she like Sarah on two previous occasions is pregnant and alone. Thomas Chard, who is now running his dairy with 22 year old son Eric, welcomes the new addition to the household. What transpires in the next six months is quite bizarre. Thirty-one year old Sarah, who was employed as Thomas’ housekeeper and nurse carer for his incapacitated wife Emily, becomes Thomas’ second wife [38] on May 16th. Sarah’s nineteen year old sister Nell, who is about 7 months pregnant to some unknown gent, marries [39] Thomas’ son Eric on June 2nd. Nell gives birth to a boy, Leslie Herbert, in August with Eric becoming his stepfather. Sixty year old Thomas, who just one year ago was widowed with five grown up boys, now finds himself stepfather to two young girls (11 and 5 years) and a 7 year old boy, and great stepfather to a newborn infant – all sired by different individuals. For Nell, her older sister Sarah, has suddenly become her mother-in-law. Thomas’ great grandfatherhood is sadly short lived as Nell and Eric’s boy dies in 1919. |
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Left: Family portrait of 19 year old Sarah Thomas.
Right top: Sarah’s first daughter Irene (pictured left) is married to Norman Hume (centre) in 1928. Sarah (in spectacles) shares the happy event with her first son to Thomas Chard, 8 year old Raymond James. Right bottom: Sarah’s first son Rowland pictured at his sister Myrtle’s second wedding (inset) in 1950. |
| Shortly after Thomas’ death in 1931 Sarah, her 20 year old daughter Bonnie and her three young Chard sons, dispose of their Bell Street memories and move around the corner to 54 Phillips Street Coburg [51] to live with oldest son Ronnie and his labouring mate Stanley Goldsworthy. The following twelve months sees Ronnie marry and move to Oakleigh. Bonnie becomes pregnant to Stanley and after they marry the entire Phillips Street household moves to 11 Lonsdale Street Coburg [52]. Five years later Sarah and the boys have moved again - to 40 Moreland Street Brunswick. The young Chard boys certainly had become experienced nomads. Not one for a quiet life, Sarah marries [53] again in 1937, this time to a widowed custom agent named Henry Cox. He is 58, fifteen years younger than her late husband. The couple have 12 years together at 11 Thomas Street Coburg with the Chard boys benefiting from the influence of a stepfather who had an established career pathway. Henry Cox died in 1949, aged 70 but Sarah lived to nearly 90 spending her last twenty years as a widow in a flat in North Carlton. Sarah Ann Nelson / Chard / Cox (nee Thomas) died in hospital on April 23 1975 and her remains lie at the Fawkner Memorial Park with her parents. Helen Millicent “Nell” Chard (nee Thomas), after the death of her husband Eric in 1972; moved to Frankston where she lived until she was 92. She is buried at the Coburg Pine Ridge cemetery alongside Eric and her only child Leslie. |
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The Thomas Chard’s and the Thomas-Chards.
Top left: Sarah Ann Thomas (centre) and her two sisters Florence Myrtle (left) and Helen Millicent (right) taken as a family group portrait about 1917. Top centre: Sarah, aged 65, pictured on the occasion of her daughter Myrtle’s second wedding. Top right: Helen Millicent aged 70, at the funeral of her sister Florence in 1968.
Bottom left: Eric Alexander Chard and his wife Helen Millicent (nee Thomas) at Thomas’ funeral in 1931.
Bottom centre: Raymond Chard – the boy in the wedding photo – here pictured aged 57 at the Mount Franklin family reunion in 1976. Bottom right: David Chard – the boy patting “Our Nell” – aged 63, pictured on the occasion of his youngest son’s wedding. |
| Adam Dowie (1862 – 1906) Named after his maternal grandfather, Adam shared his father’s passion for horses preferring to be in the saddle rather than tending pigs and cattle. At every opportunity he spent time at either the neighbouring Powling estate or the McGinness stud. Whilst Tom Powling tutored him in the finer points of being a jockey, John McGinness provided him with the opportunity of riding track work on some excellent racehorses. By the age of 17 Adam had become estranged from his father in part due to the latter’s increasing dependence on alcohol. James Chard, a teetotaller since birth, hadn’t just slid into bad habits – he had totally fallen off the wagon. An account of this situation remains part of Chard folklore and is retold by the Noorat clan thus; On one such occasion after attending the September stock sales in Ballarat, James decided to celebrate the birth of his sixth son William Walter. What started off as a harmless “wetting of the baby’s head” with fellow graziers ended in James becoming rolling drunk. James was in such a state that - having spent the night at Her Majesty’s pleasure – he set off for Devondale the following morning without his travelling companion, 15 year old son Adam. Adam spent a week alone in Ballarat waiting for his father to return to pick him up. His relationship with his father was never the same thereafter. On turning 18, Adam purchased approximately 400 acres (lots 27A and B) in Dairy Lane, Keilambete [54] with money he had borrowed from his mother and some savings accumulated through his horse riding. In truth Adam’s mother’s generosity had more to do with keeping the money safely out of her husband’s grasp as he accumulated substantial debts due to his increased drinking and gambling. For three years Adam enjoyed a carefree lifestyle which swiftly came to a halt when Devondale was thrust into financial crisis. James had been constantly selling off livestock to cover his debts but when Warrnambool land agent John Hyland commenced legal proceedings for monies outstanding [55] Ellen Chard had little choice. To settle all Devondale debt, Adam’s Dairy Lane property [54] had to be sold; Charles Clifford becoming its grateful new owner. With Adam returning home and mother Ellen strongly guiding the family’s future, Chard and Sons was born. James no longer had total control with Adam and elder brother Thomas appointed estate managers. Now calling himself “Sam”, Adam seems to want to “divorce” himself from the family and their dairy farming roots. Horses are his animal of preference; riding both hurdlers and sprinters at every possible race meeting [56] from Warrnambool to Cobden. When Thomas departs Devondale in 1887, Chard and Sons is dissolved and Adam is keen to reacquaint himself with the racetrack - a situation made possible through the keenness of his younger brother James Atkins Junior. Now 18 he proves a more than capable assistant to his father. Whilst dairy farming may have been James Junior’s future, it certainly wasn’t Adams. In the early 1890’s, carrying references from Warrnambool Racing Club trustee Francis Tozer and respected local breeder John McGinness, Adam heads to Western Australia [57, 58] to seek his own racing destiny. After setting up stables in Guildford, Adam trains [59] under a provisional licence in 1897 and has moderate success in The York and Perth Cups with a Gull Brothers horse named Newbold. Later the same year a horse named Prince Charlie owned by Mr C. E. Dempster is added to his stable [60]. This was also the year that the Eastern Railway coupled with the Eastern Goldfields Railway to provide a service [61] between Perth and Boulder – Kalgoorlie. The discovery of gold had sparked a Perth exodus with more than a third of the colony's population [62] relocating to the Eastern Goldfields. With horseracing also flourishing in the mining towns, Adam handed control of his Guildford stables to his assistant trainer William Meredith and headed east to South Boulder where he built a house [63] and new training premises in King Street. Whilst many in the racing industry prospered during the ensuing years, Adam was not one; although he did manage to win 50 sovereigns [64] in the 1903 Kalgoorlie Hurdle training Thackaringa who he would take ownership of the following year. If Adam Chard reached the happiest and most prosperous time of his life in the spring of 1903, the winter of 1904 saw him plumb the depths of destitution and despair. Becoming a father [65] was not in Adam’s life plan, so when in October the child’s mother took him to court [66] in pursuit of maintenance support, Adam is cited as a felon of the Bastard Act. By the end of the year the boy had died [67], but Adam not having obeyed the court’s payment order [68] was finally arrested in September 1905 and imprisoned for 10 days. Upon his release, Adam returned to his Boulder [63] stables but not long into the New Year a severe illness laid him low. With his goldfields’ doctor recommending specialist attention back in Perth, Adam suddenly finds himself undergoing surgery at Perth Hospital for a severe case of parasitic hydatid disease. Adam does not survive the operation, his death being registered on March 4th 1906. |
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These bereavement notices appeared in the Terang Express some time after Adam’s passing. The sad news obviously took some time to reach the folk in Keilambete.
The memorial submitted by his sister Helen, is a three year memorial as she signs it as a resident of Garvoc, a situation which did not occur until Christmas 1907. This would also indicate that there was no communication whatsoever between the Bairds in Gippsland and the Chards in Keilambete.
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| Adam Chard’s passing was quite tragic in many ways. Not only was he was young man taken too early but also a pauper – not having sufficient funds to cover his £10 funeral / burial costs. Sadly at this time he had only one friend – a Mr. G. L. Bond who arranged for Adam’s interment and who organised a “whip-around” [69] to cover his costs. Adam’s body lies in an unmarked grave somewhere in Guildford’s Anglican cemetery. |
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The funeral notice (left) of Adam “Sam” Chard as it appeared in Perth's major newspaper, The West Australian on 5th March 1906. Six months later Perth’s Sunday Times published (right) a brief synopsis of Adam’s contribution to racing in Western Australia along with a formal acknowledgement, by Mr Bond, to those who contributed to Adam’s funeral fund.
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| Mary Atkins (1864 – 1937) Five years younger than her elder sister, Mary was the last of the four Chard children born at Mary’s Vale Cooramook. She would however be a child of Keilambete growing up at Devondale and residing in the Garvoc district until her death. Not twelve months after her sister’s wedding, Terang’s Presbyterian minister Samuel Fraser married 21 year old Mary to 24 year old James Henry Williams on 17th February 1886. James was the eldest son of grazier John Henry Williams and Mary Ann (nee Wilson), residents of the Fernhill estate East Framlingham. |
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Mary Atkins Chard marries James Henry Williams in the Terang Presbyterian church – a building that predated the current Thomson Memorial Presbyterian church.
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| The Williams family had arrived in the Framlingham district nine years earlier [70] having been prominent grazing pioneers on the Murray River at Gol Gol. With their eight children - ranging in age from 18 year old daughter Eliza to 3 month old daughter Edith Jane - they took up 1000 acres of dairying and grazing land [71] just a mile south of the Framlingham township on the Panmure-Ellerslie Road. Their grand homestead named Fernhill became the venue of Eliza’s wedding [72] to Wentworth and Mildura merchant William Bowring on 20th November 1878. At its zenith Fernhill carried over 1000 head of sheep and in excess of 100 dairy cows, certainly a number requiring a full family commitment to daily milking. Eldest son James’ passion however was for horse racing, and just like Mary’s older brother Adam, all of his spare time was spent in track work. In the 1883 Boxing Day races at Warrnambool, James Williams greeted the judges [73] in three races – a first on Mr H. W. St. Quintin’s Kynoona and minor placings in separate races on Francis Tozer’s Jupiter and Acme. Not only were Devondale and Fernhill estates geographically close but their respective owners - being around the same age and sharing the same farming acumen – became the best of friends. Their close relationship may well have been forged by the fact that both their father’s had been transported from England as petty felons. The fraternity was also shared by the older children - being closely matched in age and interests. It was a surprise therefore for the Chards when in the spring of 1886, John and Marion Williams sold most of their Framlingham holding and with their younger children in tow moved to Melbourne to become hoteliers. For James and Mary Williams, whose wedding gift had consisted of 640 acres of Fernhill grazing land and another 20 acres of prime dairying land opposite the Hopkins river at Framlingham bridge, relocation to the city was not a consideration. Mary however was six months pregnant, and she chose to accompany her in-laws to the city for the birth. Named after her grandmother, daughter Ellen Marion (1887 -1951) was born at the Williams’ residence in Essendon on 1st March 1887. |
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The birth certificate of James and Mary’s first child, Ellen Marion Williams.
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| After a brief period of convalescence with the in-laws in Melbourne, mother and child returned to Garvoc and took up residence in a newly constructed homestead called The Ridge. This would become the family’s lifetime holding [74] with son John Ernest (1892 – 1942) heir apparent. John Ernest’s arrival - in Garvoc on the 27th March 1892 – effectively meant that James was left to single-handedly co-ordinate the running of their two properties. A solution was found when 23 year old brother-in-law James Atkins Chard Junior took up the responsibility as manager for the Framlingham 20 acres [75]. James and Mary were first and foremost graziers with a strong interest in breeding and training racehorses, their most notable being the thoroughbred colt Cyclops who went on to sire the exceptional steeplechaser McGinness [6, 76]. In November 1894 heavy spring rain caused substantial flooding in the Woorndoo Riding of the Mortlake Shire. The impact to property and council infrastructure along the Hopkins River and Mount Emu Creek was significant. From as far north as Chatsworth through to the cascading falls at Wangoom raging water wreaked havoc resulting in the aging wooden bridge at Framlingham being extensively damaged and ultimately closed by the shire engineer. For the local farmers and graziers this impost was simply not acceptable and two of the most impacted were James Williams and James Chard whose livelihood depended upon the bridge being accessible. Every time the engineers blockaded the bridge entrances, the two James would tear them down – much to the council’s chagrin. At one council meeting [77] criminal charges were mooted but one suspects any council with a “Black” as a sitting member would be quietly sympathetic to the grazier’s plight. However, ten years later, at the height of a rabbit plague, James Williams was found guilty [78] in the Mortlake Court of breaching the Vermin Destruction Act of 1890. A charge of "failing to take all practicable and reasonable means to destroy all vermin on his land" was upheld and a fine of £2, with £1/1/- costs was imposed. James Williams died on September 21st 1926 with Mary continuing to farm The Ridge with son John until her own death eleven years later. |
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The respective deaths of James and Mary Williams are recorded in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper.
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Left: Mary Atkins Williams (nee Chard) posed formally by a Terang photographer for her 70th birthday in 1934. Right: Ellen Marion Baxter (nee Williams) and her daughter Ivy in an informal family snapshot taken about 1944.
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| Of their children, daughter Ellen married a near neighbour - grazier William Baxter’s youngest son Leslie Albert John (1886 - 1956) - thus presenting the Garvoc community with first cousins becoming sister-in-laws with the same name "Ellen Marion Baxter". Ellen and Leslie had only one child, the Chard elder's first great granddaughter - Ivy, born in 1911. In 1933, 41 year old John Ernest married 43 year old Terang local Ellen Lambert (1890 – 1970) and continued farming at the family’s Garvoc property until his death in 1942. They had no children. |
References
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