The Continuing History of the Macveans & the Family Property at Little Billabong.

Welcome to the next instalment of the story of Rooksdale. That amazing piece of Wiradjuri land that has meant so much not just to my own family but, as we learned in Part One, to a whole lot of other people too.

If you have read any of my previous posts, you will be aware that you get so much more than just what is hinted at in the title. It is often the history that revolves around the topic, such as Rooksdale in this case, that can really add to the richness of the story and needs to be shared. I am happy to confirm that you will be getting more in this post, too.

We finished off Part One with that amazing photo of the Rooksdale Homestead that Daniel Shaw shared with us, thanks to his Mum. And I think that is a great way to start off Part Two, so here it is once again.

At the end of Part One, we reached July 1895, and my 2x great-grandfather, Alexander Macvean, had purchased the estate from Bridget Crowe and her late husband, James Crowe’s estate.

I think we can be pretty certain that Alexander didn’t take up residence at Rooksdale at this time. In actual fact, I’m certain he didn’t because I have seen many articles and records relating to the fact that his life continued at Howlong along with his family until about 1907 when they sold up and headed overseas for a couple of years.

I have compiled a few mentions of Alexander, my 3x great-grandfather, and his life at Howlong from those first few months after the purchase, just to confirm.

Tiled Gallery 1: Courtesy of Trove, National Gallery of Australia

I had to include this next example, as I had never encountered it before. This article is from 1899 and clearly shows that Alexander Snr and the family were still in Howlong.

Here are the details of the Rutherglen Robbery.

Tiled Gallery 2: Courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

Bushrangers! What a story. Rutherglen is only 23km to the southwest of Howlong, so you can see how the Police would be monitoring in that area.

I just realised that I hadn’t mentioned yet that even though Alexander had purchased Rooksdale, it was for his son, Alexander Ballantyne Smith Macvean, my great-grandfather. We will call him Alex, as I’m pretty sure that is what he was known as.

This next article mentions Alex and is one of those rare finds that goes beyond mere facts and figures, giving us a glimpse of who he was. I know it’s not Rooksdale-related yet, but it is part of Alex’s origin story and shows that he, too, was in Howlong before he took over the Crowe Family holdings.

Alex is 16 years of age at the time and appearing in a farce, yes, a farce.

Article 2: Courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

I managed to find a copy of the script online. Here is the title page and the list of characters below.

Article 3 : Courtesy of GitHub

https://share.google/dJJDGcxDbj2HrmXBM

Just three and a half years later, we find the first mentions of Alex in the press from the Germanton/ Little Billabong area. This is just five months after the purchase of the estate.

Fun fact: The “Draft” Chas. L. Griffith & Co. sold for Alex, refers to a group of livestock ready for sale. Which I imagine would have been sheep or cattle in this case. https://www.mla.com.au/general/glossary/#glossarySection_D

Another aspect of Alex’s life that has come to light through my searches on Trove is his interest in horses and horse racing. Here he is attending the Little Billabong races in May 1897 and doing well in the “Maiden Plate”.

And here is a photo of the “Hostelry”, the Little Billabong Hotel, run by Mr Thomas Cross and his wife, Susanna Oakman.

Actually, I just worked out this isn’t the Cross’s hotel, as it burnt down in 1903; this is the building that replaced it. But it is the site of the “Sylvan Shades“, where everyone would have watched the races from.

I can’t find a record of where the old racetrack was situated, but I imagine it would have been somewhere on this map, close to the hotel, so the “sports” were able view all the action of the races.

Just a month later, we have our first mention of Rooksdale and Alex’s association with the property.

Four months on from this stock movement notice we have the engagement notice for Alex and my great-grandmother, Agnes Brookman Cox.

I have always been curious as to how my great-grandparents met. How does a young woman from West Footscray in Victoria end up accepting the marriage proposal of a young man from the Riverina in New South Wales, some 315km away?

The key, once again (if you read Part One), was my 3x great-grandmother, Christina Strachan, Brookman née Russell, my great-grandmother, Annie’s grandmother.

As discussed in Part One, Christina had moved to the area in 1863 to take up the position of housekeeper for Mr John Smith’s “Traveller’s Rest Inn” at Kyeamba. Below, I have pieced together the two parish maps that show the journey from the Inn to Rooksdale, a distance of about 19km.

I know this is decades before Annie and Alex meet, but Christina was in the Kyeamba Germanton area from this time till the end of her life in 1912.

Annie and her family emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, sometime between mid-1881 and 1883. I was able to work this out as the family appeared in the 1881 Scotland census, taken on the 3-4 April 1881, and then next appeared in Berrima, New South Wales, Australia in 1883, for the registration of Annie’s sister, Christina’s, birth.

By the time Annie might have been visiting with her grandmother, in the mid to late 1880s, Christina was a widow again and living just north of the Kyeamba area. Here is a copy of the probate notice for her second husband, James Roy Strachan.

I can’t pinpoint exactly where Daisy Hill was, but I suspect it was the name of the property they were living on in the Tarcutta area. Tarcutta is only 30km north of Kyeamba.

Christina’s moves are confirmed in several different sources: the marriage notices for both of hers and James’s daughters (Annie’s aunts) and a Government Gazette stock branding listing.

First, Jean Strachan’s marriage notice in 1885 to Mr James Ross.

Then, four years later, Martha Strachan’s marriage notice to William Lawson.

Six years after hosting Martha and William’s wedding, this stock branding notice showed that Christina was residing at a property called Willow Cottage, in Germanton itself.

Did you notice that with Martha and William’s notice, we got the name of the house that Christina was living in? Unfortunately, it is of no use to us in helping to locate where it was situated, as the name, “Lela Villa“, does not appear in any searches. It is the same with “Willow Cottage“, nothing.

I did, however, have some luck on the NSW Land Registry Services site. I wonder if these lots, noted with “Strachan” on them below, might have been where “Lela Villa” and “Willow Cottage” were situated in Germanton?

I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to believe that Christina could be shortened to Kate. Those two blocks with Kate’s name marked on them are located on Swift Street. You will notice in Albury Street, right behind, the lot with “Jean Ross”, noted on it, well, that is Christina’s daughter, who married James Ross as noted above.

I wonder if it might have been Jean and James’s wedding that provided the opportunity for Annie and Alex’s meeting? Annie was 9 years of age at that time and Alex 8 years old. Perhaps the friendship and the eventual love they felt for each other developed over the next ten years.

I could imagine Annie and her siblings visiting their grandmother for summer holidays in the Riverina from Footscray.

Below are those properties on Swift and Albury Street today. I wonder if this could be where Annie and Alex courted, perhaps chaperoned by Christina or Jean.

It may have been the same story for Alex. His grandparents, John Hugh Macvean and Hannah Hill (my 3x great-grandparents), were not far away, living in Albury, about 40km south-west of Germanton, from mid-1888.

I discovered the most fantastic description of the property, “Hauteville” from 1899, when John and Hannah’s daughter, Mary Macvean (my 2nd great-grandaunt) and her husband, John Boadle, put the property up for sale. They had inherited the property on John’s death in 1894.

How incredible is that description, so specific. Unfortunately, there is no photo of the “…Splendid Brick Residence…”, but the mention of the platform being on the property allowed me to find exactly where the estate started from (I think).

I started searching for Albury Racecourse Railway Station, and the first hit I got was from this site, titled “NSWrail.net”. Incredibly, it had the coordinates of the old platform recorded in its database and then displayed on Google Maps.

This made it very easy to find this section of Albury on the historic County and Parish maps. You can see the access route from the station to the Racecourse is clearly marked out on the map below.

Depending on the configuration of the 133 acres, the two lots I have highlighted in yellow above most likely made up the Hauteville Estate.

I think also from the description of the estate in the for sale notice above, “overlooking the racecourse“, that the house was probably in the southern section of Lot 38, below the rail line.

I know I stated above that there are no photos of the house online, but I just remembered, I think I have one in the archives.

Early last year I had the great fortune to be able to purchase an old photo album of my 3x great-grand aunt by marriage, Helen Elizabeth Macvean née Griffith, married to Dr Peter Macvean. (my 3x great-grand uncle) I created a post at that time on its discovery and how it came to be in my possession titled, “Long Lost Family Found”.

One of the cabinet cards in Helen’s collection is thought to be of Hauteville. It was taken by a company of travelling photographers by the name of Farrell & Martin.

There is absolutely nothing to support this next theory of mine, but I’m pretty sure the man holding the child on his lap on the verandah is Alex’s father, Alexander Macvean Snr of Howlong. At the time that Alexander’s father and mother (John & Hannah) lived there, 1888-1894, Alexander was in his mid to late 40s.

Check out the photo I have of Alexander below. That hairline is a match with the one above.

Now, back to Albury Racecourse Station, unfortunately, it is no more. It opened in February 1881 and closed in June 1962. https://nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Albury+Racecourse

I had some extraordinary luck once again and stumbled upon these rare gems. A couple of photos of the remnants of the old platform and also the station master’s house. Views that I’m sure Annie, Alex and the rest of the Macvean clan would have known very well.

The view above is looking south towards Albury station, showing the train approaching the remnants of the Racecourse platform. You can clearly see the walkway from the platform, heading left toward the racecourse.

That area to the left is the southern section of Lot 38, where I’m suggesting the house was located. It is so tantalising to think that we could be looking straight at it. Perhaps that is the roof of the house on the left of the photo between the two posts of the station sign, surrounded by the orchard, and then the numerous outbuildings are to the right.

And here are the remains of the station master’s house below. I’m fairly sure that it sat on the western side of the rail tracks, opposite the platform or just up from it.

There is some precedence for this layout of the house and station being on opposite sides of the line. I found this photo of Clarendon Station and the Station Master’s house in the same configuration.

Now that we have theorised how Annie and Alex may have met, through visiting their grandparents, we get to their big day, Friday the 17th December, 1897.

Here is a photo of Rev. Buntine below, thanks to a very generous “Weebly” content creator who shared it as part of their post on “Australian Chaplains in World War 1″.

The Presbyterian Church at Footscray, known as St Andrew’s, was situated on the corner of Barkly Street and Geelong Road. The church where Annie and Alex were married was the second church on that site, opening for worship on June 6, 1886. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3624562288/view?partId=nla.obj-3624648784#page/n3/mode/1up

This is most likely what the church looked like on Annie and Alex’s big day, just eleven and a half years after its opening.

Here is another photo of the church, about 70 years later.

And here it is from November 2023 (yes, the church is still standing), when I was lucky enough to visit the site. It has had a name change and is now known as “Footscray Community Uniting Church“.

On that visit, I rang and spoke to the current minister of the church at the time, Rev. Lavingi Fine Tupou, and he very kindly invited me to come back the next day, when the church would be open, and to come inside and stand where Annie and Alex stood 125 years earlier. I, of course, took him up on his offer.

I know the back wall behind the altar most probably didn’t look like that, but this is the exact spot where Annie, Alex and the rest of their families would have been.

This next shot I took standing in the spot I assume Annie and Alex would have stood to make their vows to each other, right in front of the altar. I could almost make out their families, my family sitting there watching them. I know it makes no sense, but it was an emotional moment for me.

It might seem like we are a long way from Rooksdale at the moment, but this is where Annie and Alex commenced their journey as a married couple. Their next step was to start their lives together at Rooksdale, where Alex had already been living and working for almost three years in preparation for that journey together.

Before we delve into the trove of information I found out about that journey, I have a gift to share with you.

Like earlier, there is nothing to support my assertion here; it is just me theorising, and thanks once again to Aunt Helen and her collection of recovered family photos, I now have this phenomenal photo to share with you.

A photo of Annie and Alex on their honeymoon. (Possibly)

The photograph has some writing on the back, which you would think might help.

It is easy to make out the Alex above, but then is it Age, Agie, Annie or Eve? Here is a great close-up of their faces.

I don’t have a photo of Annie when she was younger to compare with, but I have one of Alex, thanks to the Woolpack Inn Museum at Holbrook.

Could that be the same face, just four years older?

There is some evidence to suggest that a family connection to Western Australia may have existed, providing a possible reason why Annie and Alex were in Perth and having their portraits taken.

Tiled Gallery 4: Courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia

Now I have no proof that any of these Macveans mentioned above were related, but I am aware that at the time, it was a pretty small sample size of Macveans in the country. A couple of Alex’s father’s cousins were called Campbell Cameron Macvean and his brother, Thomas Chalmers Macvean. Maybe it was them who brought Annie and Alex over for a visit.

It could be that Annie and Alex had just stopped off in Albany on the sea journey back from their honeymoon in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, I can not uncover any mentions of them in a shipping or passenger list anywhere, so just theorising once again.

Even if it isn’t our Annie and Alex in the photo, it is still a real gift to have in the family archives.

With that, we have reached the end of Part Two of the Rooksdale story. Part Three will pick up Annie and Alex’s story as they begin their 25-year tenure of the Rooksdale Estate.