The Blain / Caldow Legacy |
THE CHARD IRISH CONNECTION The Blain Clan from Dromara, Ireland.
and The Caldow Clan from Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland. When nineteen year old Joseph Blain (1834 - 1896) married [1] twenty year old Janet Caldow (1833 - 1918) on 25th December 1853 an Irish component became part of the Chard family bloodline. Joseph was born in Colmonell, Ayrshire, Scotland, the youngest boy in a family of six, to Protestant Irish parents Joseph (1798 - 1857) and Susanna (nee Aitken 1798 - 1862) both natives of Dromara, a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, 30 kilometres southwest of Belfast. Janet was born at Langton farm in Dunlop, Ayrshire, Scotland, one of a family of ten, to Ayrshire (Stewarton) born Scots John Smith Caldow and Agnes Gibson. |
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| In 1838, Joseph's parents sailed across the Irish sea with their two sons James (1825 - 1865) and Alexander (1827 - 1892) and subsequently acquired a ten acre parcel of grazing land in the parish of Colmonell, Ayrshire which they called Drumlea. The 1851 Scottish census shows that the Blain elders had moved to a nearby 270 acre spread called Grizal neighbouring the Caldow's Barrhill farm called Barwinnoch. The Blain newlyweds wasted little time arranging their migration - a decision most probably made in response to Janet's sister Elizabeth's (now Mrs Alexander Kelly [2]) departure for the colonies [3] earlier the same year. The young Caldow women were reunited in Geelong, Victoria when the Blains arrived [4] in June 1854 and together the foursome provided labour on a £100 sponsorship to a farmer named Peter McNaly of Freshwater Creek. |
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| In 1856, upon completion of their contract and with gold fever beckonning the Kellys, now with three youngsters, and the Blains with one son and a baby due, headed to the Castlemaine diggings and staked claims in the Smeaton and Glendonald areas. Their rewards were modest but sufficient to purchase two neighbouring grazing allotments, one at Coghills Creek for the Kellys, the other at Learmonth, for the Blains. The following year brought great joy firstly when the Caldow elders arrived from Scotland [5] and secondly when the Colonial Government Land Policy opened up swathes of grazing land in 1866. The Caldows were quick to purchase lots at Witchipool (outside Donald), Stuart Mill (outside St Arnaud) and Schofield Creek (outside Harrow). Patriarch John Caldow and wife Agnes, along with sons Andrew and Thomas, established a 2153 acre sheep grazing estate outside Harrow which they named Spring Valley whilst the 320 acres of Witchipool land was eventually cleared and developed for cropping by the Kellys and James Caldow's family. Diphtheria ravaged Victoria in the late 1860's devastating the young Kelly family losing sons Peter (8) William (5), and James (3) in the space of 2 months. The Blain's eldest boy James was also infected but he recovered. Desiring what they perceived to be a less infectious environment, the Kelly's relinquished their Coghills Creek equity and headed north for Witchipool whilst the Blains sold their Learmonth farm and set off in the opposite direction, south to Mount Garvoc(k) where Joseph had recently purchased 311 acres at the Government Land Sales on 21st June 1865. Here, at the junction of Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River, Joseph, Janet and their five children set about clearing the scrubland to create a grazing and dairy property named Yallock. |
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| A man of strong religious conviction, Joseph Blain had, for some time, closely followed the groundswell of Presbyterianism emanating from the Reverend William Hamilton's Kilnoorat Church [6] a religion championed by Glenormiston grazier and Parliamentarian Neil Black, so his family's settlement in the western district's “Scottish” heartland would seem “ordained”. On completion of their family's modest homestead, and not a year after their arrival in the district, the Colonial Government proclaimed neighbouring land for the Garvoc Common and, on February 1st 1869, the site of was gazetted for a school (completed a year later) and an additional annex for Presbyterian worship (completed by 1872). Church services began on an irregular basis with local grazier William Clark (later to become ordained) providing gospel readings when a diocese minister was elsewhere. The Blain family hospitality was renowned in the district and their homestead was a regular stopping place for the travelling clergy. Joseph Blain was a member [7] of Garvoc's first Common School (No. 996) committee, a trustee and the manager of the precinct and it's buildings. As well, he conducted Sunday school, and in 1884 became a church elder, a position he held until his health deteriorated. |
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| The church building had two reincarnations; the first after an extensive grass fire swept across swathes of the Laang and Garvoc [8] on the 4th March 1878, a devastation which cost all but 50 acres of Blain's Yallock; the second after Ash Wednesday, the 16th February 1983 holocaust that claimed 872 buildings and turned 50,000 hectares across the Cudgee/Ballangeich area into charcoal. The year 1886 provided great excitement for Joseph and Janet and opened fresh opportunities for the Blain family. Entrusting Yallock to 26 year old son William, Joseph took up the lease on 207 acres of homestead property, a portion of The Yallock Marsh Estate, offered by George Spankie Mitchell Burden. This acquisition preceeded the return of sons James and John with their young families from the Riverina who took up portions of dairying land at The Sisters and Kolora respectively. Two years later, with his children fully grown, and twenty year old son Thomas capable of handling the dairy and livestock, Joseph turned his attention to civic duties becoming the local magistrate [9] and Justice of the Peace. Regretably Joseph spent only a few years at his post succumbing to stomach cancer on August 23rd 1896. He was survived by wife Janet and children, James, John, William, Agnes, Mary Jane, Thomas Caldow, Janet and Elizabeth Annie. |
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| Leaving the responsibilities of Yallock with her sons, Janet retired to Terang to live with her daughter (Mrs Janet Kelly) at Rosebank. This was not her last move however for when youngest daughter Elizabeth (Mrs Mellington Darby) was in need of support Janet removed to Melbourne taking up residence at St Arnaud Royston Avenue, Malvern East Dead at 85, Janet survived her husband by 22 years, her sister Agnes by 10 years, her brothers James and Thomas by 4 and 7 years respectively as well as her son John by 3 years. Both Joseph and Janet are buried in the Terang cemetery. |
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| Longevity was a Caldow genetic trait, for although Janet attained a grand 85 years, she was eclipsed by her sibling brothers John (98), William (94) and Andrew (87). Her sister Elizabeth (Mrs Alexander Kelly of Donald) outlived her by 13 years. The average age of John and Agnes Caldow's children was 84 years and 3 months. John and Agnes lived to 75 and 72 respectively. |
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| The Langton Estate which covered approximately 3000 acres of Spring Valley remained in Caldow control for thirty five years, with Thomas, its final occupant, deciding to retire from grazing, selling to Naracoorte (Killanoola) grazier Thomas Seymour [10] on June 18th 1900. |
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| THE BLAIN SIBLINGS |
| James Blain (1855 - 1931) The birth of James on the 29th August 1855 - Joseph and Janet's firstborn - virtually celebrated the first anniversary of the couples arrival in their new homeland. His earliest years were spent with the two Kelly cousins Jane and Agnes whilst his father and uncle Alex shepherded Peter McNaly's sheep at Freshwater Creek. The three infants were barely walking when the families relocated to the Mount Alexander (Newstead) gold diggings to try their luck. |
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| Whilst not making a fortune, sufficient was earned by both families to purchase adjoining grazing allotments in the Glendonald / Learmonth and Coghills Creek district [11]. Building homesteads was the family's first priority - particularly for the Blains as James now had a baby brother John - and news from Scotland heralded the imminent arrival of the Caldow elders along with Elizabeth and Jane's six siblings. Learmonth quickly became a thriving community with a Presbyterian church and school being established in 1859. It was here that James and his brothers John and William received their primary education. For James it was his only education as by the age of twelve the family had relocated to Garvoc. From grazing merino sheep at Learmonth, the Blain family agricultural skills shifted to dairy cattle and cheese production [12]. By his eighteenth year James was droving livestock throughout Victoria's western districts and into the Riverina areas north of the Murray river into New South Wales. In June 1876, on the way back home from one such drive, with sale yard money in his pocket, James attended the Urana Land Sales and made a speculative purchase of four 640 acre plots of promising grazing land. |
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| The joint Goolgumbla land acquisition between James' father and his uncle William Caldow was planned to agist their livestock [14] transitioning from their purchase in Queensland and New South Wales to their final destination at John Caldow's Spring Valley (Harrow), William Caldow's Blue Gum Grove (Mirnee, Winchelsea) or Joseph Blain's Yallock (Garvoc). The property's establishment and management fell to James and younger brother John. In August 1877, twenty one year old James married 22 year old Jane, eldest daughter of Panmure grazier John and Agnes Sommerville; James being identified on their marriage certificate as a “grazier from Jerilderie”. As a wedding present the couple acquired the Caldow Goolgumbla section from his mother's relatives. |
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| James and Jane lasted nearly ten years [15] at Toganmain, where they raised four children Agnes Amelia McFarlane (1878–1920), Jessie Caldow (1881–1946), Annie Sommerville (1882–1967) and Leslie Sydney (1884–1959) and established a profitable and well respected cheese making business, much in the face of severe lack of (promised) support from the New South Wales Government. Jane was heavily pregnant when the Blain brothers sold their Argoon business, gathered their brood of nine children (all under the age of 10) and loaded their meagre possessions onto two bullock drawn waggons for their return odyssey to the western district. Their arrival was celebrated by the birth of James and Jane's second son Rupert Harcourt (1887–1952) on the 9th of February. The homecoming was timely as it coincided with the sale of swathes of prime grazing land - portions of Neil Black's Sisters run - previously owned by Henry Phillips [16] of Bryan O'Lynn. Being adjacent to the Blain's recently acquired Yallock Marsh Estate, this Dairy Lane land was purchased by Joseph Blain for James and Jane to take possession of on their return from New South Wales. By the spring of 1887 the Blains had established a Keilambete creamery called The Curragh and it was here that the couple's sixth child, a daughter Alice Maud Mary (1889–1964) was born. Whilst Blain's cheeses enjoyed a similar reputation to that of the Chard, Clifford, Sommerville and Stonehouse family product, the era of the homegrown “vat / cool room” industry was fast coming to an end as cooperative factories quickly became established throughout the western district. James and his family persisted at the creamery until 1904, but with all their children now either working or engaged in secondary education in Warrnambool, they took up residence on a small Dennington allotment to be closer to Jane's widowed mother. |
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| Throughout his life James was a most resolute individual, clearly capable of building construction [17] and engaging his intuitive mind [18]. These traits were handed down to his children in different ways and in no small measure. Agnes (1878–1920), prior to marrying, cared for her infirm maternal grandmother. Sadly, after rearing seven children with Edward Cumerford, she died in her forties. Jessie (1881–1946) remained a spinster for all her 65 years but was fully occupied with the management of Blain's Alma House - a boarding establishment and retail outlet for confectionery, fruit and vegetables [19] and laundry. She also became de facto mother to Agnes' boys - her Cumerford nephews. Annie (1882–1967) completed her secondary education matriculating with a teaching diploma at Saint Anne's Convent School (Convent of Lady of Mercy), Warrnambool and briefly employed her teaching skills in Terang before she married James Chard Jnr. She birthed four children but brought many more into her Terang / Noorat / Kolora community with her midwifery skills. Leslie (1884–1959) closely followed his father's example in the creamery and at the age of 24 was appointed manager [20] of the Grassmere Cheese and Butter factory. When this business amalgamated with it's Framlingham neighbour, Leslie moved to Noorat and became integral in the development [21] of the Glenormiston Butter factory. Leslie married Framlingham lass Daisie Phillpot and also fathered four children. Rupert (1887–1952) was 27 and just married to Olive Bell when World War I broke out. He enlisted just over a year later as a carpenter attached to the 29th Battalion. Corporal Blain suffered severe burns to his hands [22] and was treated at Reading War Hospital, England in October 1918 but was subsequently released and repatriated to Australia in January of the following year. Undeterred by his incapacity Rupert plied his skill to build the family home at 356 Timor Street and then in 1929 when “the most spectacular fire in Warrnambool’s history completely destroyed the Hotel Mansions (previously known as Warrnambool Hotel (1850) and Ozone Hotel (1895))” [23] he tendered successfully for the contract to rebuild the Warrnambool Hotel - a job he completed by March 1931. Following the tragic drowning death of his 11 year old son Walter, Rupert, now a reputable building engineer, decided to abandon Warrnambool with his family and partake in the Heytesbury Settlement [24]. The family remained on their Curdievale farm until 1950 returning, in retirement, to Merri Street Warrnambool. Alice (1889–1964), followed her elder sister Annie, moving directly from graduation at Saint Anne's Convent, Warrnambool to teaching, initially in Warrnambool then at Orbost State School. In 1919 she married fellow teacher Kenneth Campbell, the couple settling in Melbourne and raising three children. A decorated war hero Ken achieved headmastership at University High School, Box Hill High and Mordialloc-Chelsea College. |
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| John Blain (1857 - 1915) John Blain wed Georgiana McFarlane (his brother's aunt by marriage) in 1878 - John was 20 and Georgiana was 23. In the spring of 1879 after the arrival of their first born Joseph (1879–1949), the couple travelled to Kulki station in the Riverina district of New South Wales to join brother James (see above). Here they established a highly regarded [25] cheese making partnership, James and his family living at Glencore and John at neighbouring Belview. During their time there they raised four more sons, Thomas (1880–1966), James (1882–1939), William (1883–1901) and John George (1885–1976). John and his family returned to the Western District during the autumn of 1887 and took up tenancy on 155 acres of the celebrated Keilambete Estate (previously Black's Run) known as Kolora Marsh owned by Mr L Fallon. On his landlord's death he purchased the property [26] and began construction of a cheese factory, the forerunner to what was to become the Noorat [27] Creamery. |
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| Small holding cheese-making creameries proliferated across the district during the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the daughters of Scottish born Purnim farmer Peter McFarlane (1800-1882) were part of the largest holdings. Agnes McFarlane (1835-1920) married John Sommerville and together they established one of the first factories, Craigieburn, in Panmure. Amelia Stewart (Emily) (1840-1914) married Charles Clifford (1835-1914) and created an extremely sizable estate called Springbrook at Kolora. Jane Cameron McFarlane (1847-1928) married William Noel (1827-1906) and also provided competition from their neighbouring Glenormiston holding. As documented (above), Agnes McFarlane's daughter Jane Sommerville married John Blain's brother James and established The Currah creamery at The Sisters. All these emanated from the original Blain cheese factory at Yallock. |
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| John and Georgiana enjoyed 27 years together dairying in Kolora where they raised a further eight children, Annie (1887–1977), Charles (1888–1949), Jessie (1889–1950), Arthur (1892–1915), Flora (1893–1971), Nellie (1894–1986), Ethel (1896–1964) and Claude (1900–1967). John oversaw the incorporation of his Noorat creamery by Glenormiston Butter and Cheese in 1903 and saw its re-emergence as the Glenormiston Butter and Cheese factory in 1910 [28]. With his health failing John's active role in management was jointly shared with his son George and his nephew Leslie Sydney (James' son, recently recruited from the Grassmere factory management position). John died in 1915 and was survived by his wife who lived on at their Kolora estate until she was 84. The dairying gene was certainly carried through the next generation. Four of the five sons born at Belview Argoon in New South Wales went on to establish factories and local creameries of their own. Joseph (1879–1949) moved to King Island Tasmania after his father's death and married local girl Jean Scott Snodgrass (1890–1972) in 1917. Together with the Snodgrass family Joseph was a pioneer of the island's cheese and dairying industry. King Island cheese is still highly regarded to this day. Joseph and Jean raised six children. Thomas (1880–1966) married local girl Nora May Clancy (1884–1908) in 1907 but sadly became widowed the following year. In 1915 he married another local lass, Emma Banks (1888–1974), and began dairying on Blain land at Glenormiston South. Thomas and Emma raised three children. James (1882–1939) married Grace Rose Quick (1880–1926) in 1903 and farmed alongside brother Thomas at Glenormiston South. In 1925 James and Grace joined their eldest son at Dixie, James becoming the local creamery manager. James and Grace raised thirteen children, eldest daughter Jessie being awarded the MBE. William (1883–1901) died at the family home in Kolora aged 18. John George (1885–1976) married Laang lass Grace Bennett (1888–1976) in 1910. Prior to his marriage John had been an integral part of the Blain involvement with both the Noorat and Kolora creameries and the subsequent establishment of the Glenormiston cheese and butter factory. The couple spent their early years establishing dairying farms at Laang / Garvoc and Dixie before finally settling alongside Blain siblings in Glenormiston South. They raised six children. Of the children born at Kolora, Annie (1887–1977) became a nurse and convalesced her uncle William Clifford at neighbouring Springbrook after the death of her aunt Emily. When her patient died, closely followed by her father, Annie moved to Melbourne where she nursed until late in life. Annie died a spinster in North Fitzroy. Charles (1888–1949) married a local Kolora girl Ada Lillian Rowley in 1923. After initially spending a short period of time farming at Framlinghan the couple moved to Cowley's Creek where they ran a dairy herd until Charles died. They raised five children. Jessie (1889–1950) followed her elder sister Annie's lead and became a career nurse, initially at Warrnambool and Terang in the immediate post WWI years, then in Melbourne until her death in 1950. Jessie never married. Arthur (1892–1915) died in active service on 11 December 1915. His 23 year old remains were interred in Malta. Flora (1893–1971) married Melbourne fitter / engineer George Ralph Lee in 1929. They lived in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield and had one son. Nellie (1894–1986) never married. Up until her mother's death in 1939, Nellie was her constant Kolora companion. She remained the sole occupant of the Kolora family home until it was sold in 1943. She moved to a Noorat cottage and briefly dabbled in confectionery with younger brother Claude. Clearly she had been born with “Caldow” genes as she lived until she was 92. Ethel (1896–1964) married Melbourne photographer Stanley Harold Fletcher in 1922. They raised one daughter. Claude (1900–1967), as a 15 year old survived a shotgun accident. In 1924 he married Terang lass Doris Sargeant. They had one son. |
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| William Blain (1860 - 1942) William was Joseph and Janet's firstborn at Coghills Creek and moved to Garvoc with his parents and older brothers as a six year old. In 1878, with elder brothers James and John in Argoon, William experienced the devastation of the family's Yallock property by widespread bushfires around Garvoc and Laang. Their 540 acres of grassland and grazing paddocks were reduced to barely 50 [8] workable sections. Their dairy, out-buildings and part of the homestead were also ravaged. During the following year 19 year old William, alongside his dairyman father, set about rebuilding the family's home, stock numbers and business infrastructure. It was at this time William learnt his carpentry and building skills, producing the foundation for what became the first of Blain's creameries and cheesemaking factories in the district, his elder brothers following suit at The Sisters and Kolora / Noorat some years later. In 1886, when his parents and younger siblings moved to the neighbouring Yallock Marsh estate, William remained at the Yallock and by 1891, three years after the first creamery incorporations at Warrnambool, Grassmere and Cobden, Blain's Garvoc creamery was registered [29]. Whilst there were numerous creameries in the district by now, few produced cheese, and certainly none of the acclaim of Blain's award winning [30] cheese of Garvoc. In 1891 William married Terang lass Elizabeth Allison Kelly and together they raised six boys Thomas William (1892–1955), Albert Joseph (1894–1966), Edward John (1896–1977), Archibald Claude (1899–1990), Charles Angus (1905–1981) and David Ross (1907–1982), none of whom showed the slightest interest in dairy farming. In 1914, with Elizabeth now incapable of assisting around the farm due to an earlier accident [31], the couple and their youngest boys relocated to a small Gippsland farm in Lower Tarwin. Yallock become a leasehold property [32] managed by eldest son “TW” who had taken up teaching music - firstly in Noorat and then in Panmure. William never settled in Gippsland and the family's move created a rift that never healed. After a short period in Dandenong as a proprietor, William abandoned Elizabeth and their sons to return to Yallock. Welcomed back into the community of his upbringing, William spent his elderly years assisting in carpentry projects with his dairy farming nephews at Dixie and entertaining the locals with his harmonica playing at community dances. William lived 82 years and was interred with his siblings at Terang. Elizabeth died the following year, aged 78, her remains being cremated at Springvale. |
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| Thomas Caldow Blain (1866 - 1945) Thomas was born at Coghills Creek but had no recollection of his birthplace as he was only a baby when the family moved to Yallock farm at Garvoc. Thomas was 20 when the family acquired the leasehold of the Yallock Marsh Estate, a move which changed his agricultural direction. Whilst his older brothers had strong preferences to be dairymen, “TC” was more a “Caldow” and believed grazing sheep and beef to be the more sustainable option - a belief which proved correct with the imminent advent of the large cheese and butter factories at Glenormiston and Camperdown. In 1897, a year after his father died, 31 year old Thomas married Terang lass Florence Nixon (1873–1962); the couple virtually inheriting the Yallock Marsh Estate when his mother and his youngest sisters Janet (now Mrs Edward Kelly) and Elizabeth preferred a more comfortable lifestyle at the Kelly's Terang residence Rosebank. The two Blain properties in Garvoc - William's Yallock and Thomas' Yallock Marsh became a significant burden during the next decade and periodical assistance was required by brother John's sons, particularly when Thomas was appointed the local magistrate [33] in 1910 - a position his father had held [34] 20 years previously. Thomas and Florence paid off the mortgage to Yallock Marsh upon the death of Mary O'Brien Butler in 1922 and remained there until their respective deaths in 1945 and 1962. They raised five children Stanley Basil (1899–1976), Emily Janet (1900–2000), Gordon Lindsay (1902–1999), Hedley Caldow Hewlet (1910–1984) and Alma Beth Victoria (1913–1965). Hedley and bachelor Gordon, remained at Yallock Marsh late into the 1960's finally handing over the management of the property to Hedley's son Barry and his wife Helen. |
| Agnes Blain (1862 - 1922) Agnes, born at Coghills Creek, was Joseph and Janet's first daughter. Not surprisingly given she followed three dairymen brothers, Agnes was a dairywoman. It was also natural that in 1890 at the age of 28 she would marry John Sommerville (1861–1932), eldest son of neighbouring Panmure dairy farmer / graziers John and Agnes (nee McFarlane). A strong family bond had already been formed between the two families when Agnes' eldest brother James had married John's eldest sister Jane thirteen years earlier. Her husband was actually her “uncle” John. Her other brother John had married her mother-in-law's sister twelve years earlier, making her sister-in-law, her “aunt”. The newlyweds managed the Sommerville family's Panmure property Craigieburn raising five children Murial Janet (1891–1951), Olive Agnes (1894–1963), Herbert John (1896–1952), Gladys Annie (1899–1979) and Lewis Roy (1902–1960). Wishing to downsize, a dairy farming opportunity arose at Rosebrook (Port Fairy) in 1905 which saw the family relocate for the next 15 years. A further move in 1920 saw John and Agnes move to Warragul, with their son Herbert and his wife Mary on a small property named Carrington. Here they both died, Agnes in 1922 and John ten years later. Mary Jane Blain (1864 - 1937) Twenty one year old Coghills Creek born Mary married local Mepunga grazier John Gaul (1861–1926) at the Garvoc Presbyterian church in 1886, the service being performed by the Reverend Samuel Fraser. The couple started dairying at Crossley (Tower Hill) where their first two children Jessie Jean (1887–1896) and Amy Evelyn (1888–1972) were born. Her family's acquisition of Yallock Marsh in 1888, coincided with Mary, John and their daughters move to a larger property outside of Mortlake. Here their family grew by four, Mary Agnes (1889–1969), William Alexander (1891–1953), Stuart Joseph (1893–1953) and Ruby Blain (1896–1983). Like many western district dairying families at the turn of the century, the Gauls - priced out of marketing opportunities by the factory cooperatives - abandoned their birth lands for the fresh marketplace of west Gippsland. Mary, John and their five children began life afresh at Darnum, 8 kilometers south east of Warragul. Their property was called Strathblain. At 45, John became actively involved with the Warragul Agricultural Society, becoming a trustee and it's president in ensuing years. John died in 1926 aged 65, but Mary stayed on at Strathblain with her boys William and Stuart and their families. Mary died in 1937 aged 72. The Gauls were highly respected members of the Darnum community and their family's district heritage continued well into the 1980's. Janet Blain (1869 - 1953) Janet (aka Jessie) was the first of Joseph and Janet's children to be born in Garvoc. In 1892, at the age of 23, she married Terang's general smith Edward John Kelly (1868–1943). The Kelly's took up residence at Rosebank upon their marriage and raised six children Ella Janet Williams (1894–1971), Myrtle Elizabeth (1896–1999), Austin William Blain (1897–1980), Olive Emily Patricia (1900–1982), Ivor Edward (1907–1988), and Neil William Caldow (1909–1987). In 1896 Edward sold the family's foundry and set up Terang's coach and buggy factory at 68 – 80 High Street with his brother Samuel - the partnership's success being attributed to the manufacture of iron water troughs. When fire consumed the business in 1916 the Kelly family set about rebuilding a multi level structure which became the Kelly Building's department stores. Terang's prosperity was aided in no small measure by the Kelly family's philanthropy with portions of Rosebank being allocated for the construction of the township's higher elementary school in 1911 and the Norah Cosgrove Community Hospital in 1936. Edward died at Rosebank aged 75. Eighty three year old Janet survived her husband by 10 years passing away at her daughter's Kilmarnock home in Ormond in 1953. Both are buried in the Terang cemetery. Elizabeth Annie Blain (1869 - 1953) Elizabeth spent the first thirty years of her life living with her parents, firstly at their Yallock Marsh Estate then at Rosebank in Terang. Here, in 1904, she married a publican's son, 34 year old James Isaac Mellington Darby (1868 - 1941). Financed by Elizabeth's mother the couple bought into a hotel business in Castlemaine. Both the couple's business and marriage failed after only eighteen months. After divorcing James, Elizabeth remarried fellow divorcee, 55 year old Alexander John Dixon (1867–1941) in 1922 and they lived their remaining years in the inner Brisbane suburb of Auchenflower. |
References
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