Hobby's Outreach, Vol 22 No 6
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HOBBY'S OUTREACH Newsletter of BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Inc. PO Box 17, WENTWORTH FALLS, NSW 2782 ISSN 1835-301 0 Hobby's Reach, 99 Blaxland Rd , Wentworth Falls Telephone: (02) 4757 3824 Web: www.bluemountainshistory.com Email: [email protected] Volume 22 Number 6 February - March 2011 Mary Shaw them, as if her beloved animals had signed off on Mary Magee, formerly Mary Shaw, was born in her work. The book was eventually published in Malaya in 1936. Her father was Mark McGahey 1988 and is one of our better local histories. Mary (1894-1975) who ran a plantation there. He married, took the approach of detailing the stories of the in 1930, Maxine Dominica Foy (1902-1972, second valley's pioneer families and was able to obtain an ~'lild and eldest daughter of Mark Foy the second outstanding selection of never before published ...-d65-1950)). When the family came to Australia a pictures of the valley's early days and people due few years later, they bought their Chinese nanny to her good relationships with the Megalong Valley Wong Ah Tong. There is a picture of Mary and community. (The book also contained a chapter by her brother Michael (1934-2004) with Wong Ah myself, my first published writing on Gundungurra Tong in John Law's book (Pictorial Memories, history). Blue Mountains, 1991 , page 42). Some of Mary's earliest years were spent visiting Mark Foy's During the book's production my partnership with properties; Sheleagh Cottage in Medlow Bath, the Marlene had begun and I visited Mary Shaw with Valley Farm in Megalong Valley and Eumemmering her, enjoying a number of conversations about Hall in Bellevue Hill. Later in life she lived as a the history of the Megalong Valley and the Hydro boarder in the Hydro Majestic hotel. She said that Majestic. During these fireside chats I noticed that full board there was cheaper than rent elsewhere. she was on the alert to keep her cat out of a certain room. Enquiring as to what was in there, I was Mary's first marriage was to Ken Shaw. They had shown a vast quantity of Foy family papers and a son Max, who was named after Maximilian Foy, photos going back to the 1880s, much of which she the half brother of Mark Foy, who was in turn had inherited from her mother. Included were Mark named after a French ancestor. Mary came to Foy's letters and diaries, detailing the development '---"~ Megalong Valley in 1972, purchasing a pise and management of the Hydro Majestic, his house built in 1926 by one of the Boyd family. financial affairs and travels. I felt that this wealth She renamed it Eummering, a name with long of material offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity associations with the Foy family. Mary enjoyed to write an in-depth history of the Hydro Majestic. doing long horse rides through the largely Mary went through the records selecting the papers unfenced Valley and developed a rapport with the to answer my questions. Her astute analysis and descendants of the pioneer families. interpretation of the evidence, as well as her wealth of anecdotal material, accumulated during her long The Megalong Valley Sporting and Progress association with many branches of the Foy family, Association obtained a bicentennial grant in contributed greatly to the developing book. I found 1987 from Blue Mountains City Council to write it impossible to separate the history of the Hydro a history of the Megalong Valley. Mary Shaw was Majestic during its first 50 years from the biography well qualified to take on this task. She wrote the of Mark Foy and conceived the idea of a book manuscript by hand and the book was typed, as a combining the two stories. voluntary activity, by Blue Mountains bicentennial coordinator Marlene Jones. On sunny days Mary I grew alarmed at the state of Mary's house. The worked on the book at a desk in her backyard. Boyd family pise houses were built without proper On windy days the loose pages would be lifted foundations. Some of Mary's walls were cracked from her desk and blown around her donkey yard. and listing. I was concerned about the fate of the Marlene, when typing from these pages, found Foy family papers if Mary's house collapsed. I was that some of them had donkey hoof prints on able to persuade her to loan me parcels of the papers, which I took to Hobby's Reach and From Mordialloc to Megalong via Medlow - photocopied (when copies for members were the travels of an Aboriginal placename 10 cents per page). Over several years I copied thousands of pages. Eumemmering is an Aboriginal placename in the Mordialloc district of Victoria. Mark Foy senior The Megalong Valley changed rapidly in the decade (1828-1884) purchased a 10,000 acre swamp in after Mary Shaw's book came out, with the invasion this area and persuaded the government to drain of 'treechangers', commercial developments and it. It was initially developed as market gardens and increased fencing, which inhibited her horse riding later for residential development. His son Mark Foy through the valley. Most of the descendants of junior (1865-1950) named his Bellevue Hill mansion the pioneer families left the valley. Mary felt that (completed in February 1894) Eumemmering the Megalong Valley had become too 'busy'. She Hall. One of Fay's real estate subdivisions in sought a quieter environment to live with her Medlow Bath included a Eumemmering Street. collection of elderly horses and donkeys, eventually Mark Foy junior's granddaughter, Mary Shaw, after choosing a peaceful property at Bogee in the purchasing her cottage in the Megalong Valley Capertee Valley. I helped her pack the Foy family renamed it Eumemmering. She believed, on the records into archive boxes. When I visited her I was basis of family tradition, that the name meant impressed with the beauty of the surroundings and 'murmuring waters'. However, there are both her remarkable view. She said her animals "had not alternative spellings and meanings. I have seen lifted their heads for weeks" as they enjoyed the the spelling Eumernering on a Foy family photo superior grazing of the Capertee grasslands. She dated 1887. Aldo Massola's 'Aboriginal Place "--./ then married her second husband, Charles Magee. Names of southeast Australia and their meanings' Mary visited the Hydro Majestic on the fourth of (Lansdowne, Melbourne, 1968) has the following July 2004. She was very disappointed that the entry: hotel's management had no official celebrations of the hotel's centenary. She invited me to her private 'Eumemmering Creek:Um-um-mir-ring, um-um, celebration, during which we played a game of yes, to agree, pleased with, to like, mirring, to hear.' croquet on the lawn (it's not as easy as it looks). I don't know if this is correct either as Massola's Charles and Mary's life seemed idyllic but information came from sources of variable reliability. unfortunately Mary was diagnosed with cancer. Alleged Aboriginal placename meanings, especially This did not stop her from doing a new edition of those passed down in non-Aboriginal oral tradition, Historic Megalong Valley, two decades after it first are often incorrect. Their pronunciations are also appeared. She travelled to the Megalong hall for often quite different to how they were spoken by the launch. The hall is beside the sports ground Aboriginal people. where Mary had helped to organise the valley's Jim Smith annual gymkhanas for many years. Last year I visited her with representatives of the News from the Book Shop Hydro Majestic's new owners. She viewed and was excited by the redevelopment plans. This was the The Society's book shop is an absolute treasure last time I saw her. Mary had strongly expressed trove of Australian local history books, mostly at her wish to die at home surrounded by her beautiful very competitive prices. hills. However she needed professional care at the Two new books are now stocked, Dr William Bell's, end and was moved to a facility at Mudgee. Here Settlers Guide or Modern Domestic Medicine and she died a few days after her 75th birthday. Surgery, Windsor, NSW, 1849, priced at $30. Read and practice the advice if you dare! I finished the first scribbled draft of the Hydro The second book is a second edition of Mary Majestic history in 2003. Immediately after I began a Shaw's Historic Megalong Valley, priced at $20, a Ph.D. which took two years longer than I expected. fascinating account of the first families and their Due to other commitments and opportunities I occupations. regret that I was not able to produce a draft of the book readable by Mary before she died. The new managers of the Hydro Majestic have agreed to Editor's Note publish the book in a lavish edition in time for the hotel's reopening in late 2012. It will be dedicated Last date for copy for the April HOR Fri 11th March to Mary. to - [email protected] Jim Smith 2 Walks and Talks February - March 2011 Saturday 5 February MEETING - Speaker: Jan Barkley-Jack, 'Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed : Australia's Third Mainland Settlement 1793-1802'. Ill-health prevented Jan giving this talk last year and we are glad to be able to welcome her as our first speaker for 2011. She is a well-known and highly respected historian and this talk will focus upon her most recent book, an exciting new look at the history ~f the Hawkesbury region .