In the Footsteps of Frederic Bonney Mombamomba Thenthen Andand Nownow
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VisitVisit toto AustraliaAustralia In the footsteps of Frederic Bonney MombaMomba thenthen andand nownow Frederic Bonney lived and worked on Momba sheep Station from around 1865 to 1881 during which time he took many photographs of the place, activities and people. I went to Momba station in 2008 to see what I could find. Were there any of the buildings remaining? Had any views changed? CharlesCharles BonneyBonney Charles Bonney was born in 1813 in Sandon. His father was vicar at Sandon church. At the age of 13 his father died and the family was broken up. Charles went to live in Rugeley with his elder brother Thomas who was headmaster of Rugeley Grammar school. Thomas received his secondary education there. RugeleyRugeley GrammarGrammar SchoolSchool asas itit lookedlooked whenwhen CharlesCharles BonneyBonney waswas aa pupilpupil CharlesCharles BonneyBonney • Charles Bonney (Frederic’s Uncle) left Rugeley and arrived in Australia in 1834. • He became a famous Overlander taking the first ever cattle drive to Adelaide in 1838. He helped save the founding city from starvation • Did he inspire Frederic to follow him out there? CharlesCharles BonneyBonney travelledtravelled toto AustraliaAustralia inin barquebarque thethe “John“John Craig”Craig” inin 18341834 CharlesCharles BonneyBonney andand JosephJoseph HawdonHawdondrovedrove cattlecattle acrossacross countrycountry fromfrom MelbourneMelbourne toto Adelaide.Adelaide. NoNo whitewhite manman hadhad everever donedone thatthat before.before. ItIt openedopened upup thatthat partpart ofof AustraliaAustralia toto pasturalistspasturalistsandand helpedhelped inin Australia'sAustralia's developmentdevelopment TheThe routeroute CharlesCharles BonneyBonney tooktook AdelaideAdelaide inin 18391839 aa yearyear afterafter CharlesCharles BonneyBonney andand JosephJoseph HawdonHawdonarrivedarrived withwith thethe firstfirst cattlecattle drivedrive Frederic’sFrederic’s journeyjourney toto AustraliaAustralia Unfortunately we do not know what ship Frederic travelled on and where and when he arrived. However his uncle Charles was by then an important figure in Adelaide so it is more than likely he made his way there first. RundleRundle StreetStreet AdelaideAdelaide inin thethe 1870’s1870’s whenwhen FredericFrederic photographedphotographed itit RundleRundle StreetStreet AdelaideAdelaide asas itit appearsappears inin 20082008 FredericFrederic BonneyBonney • Frederic arrived in Australia in the early 1860’s • He went to help manage Momba sheep station with his brother Edward HowHow FredericFrederic maymay havehave arrivedarrived inin WilcanniaWilcannia inin thethe 1860’s1860’s HowHow wewe arrivedarrived inin WilcanniaWilcannia inin 20082008 AsAs youyou approachapproach WilcanniaWilcannia youyou crosscross thethe DarlingDarling River.River. InIn Frederic’sFrederic’s dayday itit waswas oftenoften inin flood.flood. NowNow moremore oftenoften thanthan notnot itit hashas almostalmost drieddried upup Darling river in flood late 1800’s Darling river in 2008 WilcanniaWilcannia mainmain streetstreet In Frederic’s day a thriving town on the Darling River, now a town of around 3,000 people, mainly Aborigines WilcanniaWilcannia SchoolSchool TheThe MainMain StoresStores th In the late 19 century and in 2008 Late 19th century 2008 ““GoodGood night,night, sleepsleep tight,tight, don’tdon’t letlet thethe bugsbugs bite!”bite!” RoadRoad toto WhiteWhite CliffCliff fromfrom WilcanniaWilcannia lookinglooking acrossacross toto MombaMomba Station.Station. MombaMomba isis aboutabout 100100 milesmiles fromfrom WilcanniaWilcannia WhiteWhite CliffCliff thethe opalopal miningmining towntown onon thethe edgeedge ofof whatwhat usedused toto bebe MombaMomba StationStation Momba in Frederic’s day • Frederic went to help manage Momba Station. It was a sheep station of 2 ¼ million acres. There would have been almost a village on the station. A stores, blacksmith, main house, schoolroom, governess and quarters for the visiting shearers and a shearing shed. • There would also have been many aboriginal workers. • They lived and worked in temperatures often well over 100 0F. LookingLooking acrossacross MombaMomba andand theythey saidsaid thisthis waswas greengreen !! !! !! TheThe roadroad toto MombaMomba StationStation Or lack of it ! The entrance is about 4 miles from the house MombaMomba HouseHouse inin FredericFrederic Bonney’sBonney’s dayday AA friendlyfriendly welcomewelcome whenwhen wewe arrivedarrived !! !! MombaMomba HouseHouse nownow This one was built in the 1970’s next to the old one that is now demolished MombaMomba StationStation onceonce runrun byby manymany peoplepeople nownow runrun byby onlyonly twotwo peoplepeople PicturePicture takentaken inin frontfront ofof MombaMomba House,House, possiblypossibly ofof EdwardEdward BonneyBonney OverseersOverseers CottageCottage MombaMomba StationStation OverseersOverseers CottageCottage atat MountMount JackJack (then part of Momba) Could this be the one Bonney photographed ? TheThe StoresStores atat MombaMomba StationStation MombaMomba StoresStores todaytoday RemainsRemains ofof thethe Blacksmith’sBlacksmith’s atat MombaMomba SheepSheep werewere broughtbrought inin byby aboriginalaboriginal shepherdsshepherds andand heldheld inin aa longlong penpen untiluntil theythey wentwent forfor shearingshearing SheepSheep shearing.shearing. OftenOften upup toto 5252 sheepsheep shearersshearers workingworking togethertogether SheepSheep shearingshearing buildingbuilding atat MountMount JackJack NatiolaNatiolaCreekCreek onon MombaMomba wherewhere thethe woolwool waswas washedwashed In the late 1800’s and in 2008 FleecesFleeces laidlaid outout readyready forfor washingwashing WoolWool washingwashing PreparingPreparing balesbales ofof fleecefleece readyready forfor transportationtransportation BalesBales ofof fleecefleece takentaken byby wagonwagon toto WilcanniaWilcannia toto bebe loadedloaded onon toto riverriver steamsteam boatsboats WilcanniaWilcannia waswas aboutabout 9090 milesmiles awayaway FredericFrederic withwith somesome ofof thethe aboriginalaboriginal workersworkers atat MombaMomba StationStation SteamboatsSteamboats onon thethe DarlingDarling andand MurrayMurray RiversRivers • The bales were loaded onto the steamboats at Wilcannia. • The boats then travelled down the Darling River and on to the Murray River. • Their destination was the port of Adelaide. AA steamsteam boatboat underunder thethe bridgebridge atat WilcanniaWilcannia inin thethe 1870’s1870’s TheThe bridgebridge atat WilcanniaWilcannia today,today, steamsteam boatsboats cancan nono longerlonger getget thisthis farfar upup thethe DarlingDarling RiverRiver throughthrough lacklack ofof waterwater TheThe steamboatsteamboat industryindustry waswas huge.huge. ItIt startedstarted aroundaround 18531853 andand hadhad aa greatgreat dealdeal toto dodo withwith openingopening upup thethe landland toto thethe pastoralistspastoralists ThereThere werewere manymany steamboatssteamboats carryingcarrying goodsgoods andand peoplepeople upup andand downdown thethe riverriver networknetwork SomeSome boatsboats werewere travellingtravelling shopsshops andand soldsold anythinganything fromfrom lacelace toto wagonwagon wheelswheels PassengersPassengers werewere carriedcarried asas wellwell asas goods.goods. FredericFrederic BonneyBonney mightmight wellwell havehave travelledtravelled thisthis wayway TheThe DarlingDarling RiverRiver fedfed intointo thethe MurrayMurray RiverRiver atat WentworthWentworth wherewhere thethe boatsboats couldcould thenthen continuecontinue toto PortPort AdelaideAdelaide PeriodicallyPeriodically therethere wouldwould bebe droughtdrought andand boatsboats wouldwould havehave toto sitsit forfor daysdays onon endend untiluntil therethere waswas enoughenough waterwater inin thethe riverriver toto movemove downstreamdownstream againagain SomeSome goodsgoods werewere movedmoved aroundaround byby camelcamel train.train. FredericFrederic BonneyBonney photographedphotographed TT Elder’sElder’s camelcamel traintrain arrivingarriving atat WilcanniaWilcannia bringingbringing goodsgoods forfor thethe storesstores TodayToday manymany goodsgoods areare transportedtransported byby roadroad traintrain EventuallyEventually thethe steamboatsteamboat tradetrade dieddied outout asas otherother moremore efficientefficient meansmeans ofof transporttransport camecame alongalong TodayToday aa numbernumber ofof oldold steamboatssteamboats havehave beenbeen restoredrestored ThisThis picturepicture isis takentaken toto makemake JeannetteJeannette feelfeel ayay homehome !! TheThe RubyRuby asas itit lookslooks todaytoday AndAnd finallyfinally ––FredericFrederic atat MombaMomba StationStation withwith somesome ofof thethe aboriginesaborigines hehe befriended,befriended, photographedphotographed andand wrotewrote aboutabout overover thethe twentytwenty yearsyears hehe workedworked therethere PostscriptPostscript SoSo wewe triedtried thethe MurrayMurray RiverRiver experienceexperience forfor 55 daysdays toto finishfinish offoff withwith !! andand thenthen itit rained…rained… The day after we visited Momba Station they had a rain storm and this is what it looked like from the air. We could well have still been there today if we had stayed any longer ! ColtonColton HouseHouse hallwayhallway Photograph of the hall at Colton House taken by Frederic Bonney during his time there, showing his display of some of the artefacts and mementos he brought back from Australia Copyright Gill Sykes 2008.