Camden Calling Volume 17 Number 2 December 2013 ISSN 1329 - 4075 $2.00 OFFICE BEARERS August 2013 – July 2014 President: Ray Herbert 02 9606 6075 Vice- President: Sharon Greene 02 4647 0950 Secretary: Cathey Shepperd 02 4655 9963 Minute Secretary Pat Patterson 02 9606 5720 Treasurer: Barbara Sulley 02 4646 1729 Library Coordinator: Tony Jackson 02 4655 1098 Editor: Ken Hughes 02 46554190 Assistant Editor: Tony Jackson 02 4655 1098 Research Officer: Sharon Greene 02 4647 0950 Assistant Research Officer: Ron Dunbar 0447493055 Public Officer: Rex Dowle 02 4659 6197 Membership: Beverley Booth 02 4229 5220 Social Secretary: Bruce Denison 02 4655 1386 Committee Members: Neil Patterson and Diana Rolfe Honorary Accountant Mr. Jim Hunter Address all enquires to The Secretary Camden Area Family History Society Inc. P.O. Box 679 Camden. NSW. 2570. Australia. Or E-mail: [email protected] Normal Membership Subscriptions: Single A$25.00 Couples A$30.00 Pensioner/Concession Membership Subscription: Single A$20.00 Couples A$25.00 WEBSITE www.camdenhistory.org.au RESEARCH FEES Non- members use of Resources- $5.00 per session. Written enquires $25.00 – provides up to fifteen printed or photocopied pages. A4 size stamped addressed envelope to be included with your enquiry. RESEARCH CENTRE Family History Room Camden Library/Museum Complex. John Street. Camden. NSW 2570 Thursday 10.00am – 3.00pm Friday 10:00am – 3.00pm Saturday 9:30am – 12 noon (Closed late December to late January) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of the Camden Area Family History Society Inc. is held on the first Tuesday of August each year, immediately following the general meeting. THE SOCIETY MEETS ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH (EXCEPT JANUARY) AT 7:30PM IN THE COMMUNITY MEETING ROOM OF THE CAMDEN LIBRARY/MUSEUM COMPLEX , 40 JOHN STREET CAMDEN . MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS ALL WELCOME ~ Camden Calling ~ Contents President’s Report Page 2 Editorial Page 3 Membership Page 4 MATER DEI ORPHANAGE - 1910 Page 4 International Fleet Review -1913 Page 13 Cause of death: Visitation of God Page 14 Bellingham Family History Page 17 A History of 3 Transport Company Page 17 Home Remedies Page 29 Governor Macquarie –Here At Last! Page 30 Schooling in the Cobbitty District Page 33 Interesting WEBSITES Page 45 Recent Acquisitions Page 46 Book Loan Criteria Page 48 Items for Sale Inside Back Cover Camden Calling is the Journal of the Camden Area Family History Society Inc. published twice a year in May and November, it is free to members and $2.00 for non-members. Articles for inclusion are to be handed to the Editor no later than the meetings of April and October. Unless an article is marked copyright, Family History Organisations have permission to reprint from this Journal, providing that the source is acknowledged and it is used only for the purpose of family history research. Copyright remains the property of the submitter. This Society does not accept responsibility for information contained or opinions expressed by authors in this Journal. 1 President’s Report I would like to thank the volunteers for their work in the Research Room many a visitor has left with the information they were seeking in their family research. Thanks to Tony for the talk in Family History Week it was a great success and I would like to have this session repeated next year again during Family History Month . I will be conducting enquires for members of the public into their Ancestors who served in the First World War during the month of April 2014. The sessions will be on Monday during the month. I attended a day of the State Conference in Canberra and found it most informative, it was also a good time to speak to other Societies and to see how they are presenting their work. I found a number of the Societies are putting their publications on to CD this looks like the way to go. Wollongong FHS will be hosting the next conference in 2014 and I have volunteered the society to assist as I think this will give us a good look at running a conference so we can make a bid for one. Find my Past. I hope all members are making use of Find My Past , I am still trying to speak to someone from Ancestory.com in the hope of having access to the site shortly. It was pleasing to have all positions filled at our AGM and the new committee. It is a change from some members holding down two or more positions. Both Andrea and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all members for their support and to wish each and every one a Merry and Safe Christmas. Ray Herbert, President, CAFHS ************* 2 Editorial I want to thank all contributors to this Edition. All your contributions are an inspiration. Hopefully those Members who missed this Edition will be encouraged to record their memories as well as place on public record your Family and our Community histories in a public Journal. We need everybody’s assistance. It is dangerous to single out individuals in a voluntary group as the people not mentioned may feel slighted – but – thank you to the people who man the CAFHS room; investigate queries; Juggle the Accounts books; keep the membership records; go to Conferences; attend our meetings; and organise brilliant Christmas dinners – You know who you are!! When I told the members that as the new Editor, that I would introduce an Editorial style with humour, they laughed at me. Well, they’re not laughing now. Ken HughesHughes,, Editor ************* 3 Membership C.A.F.H.S. Inc. Membership fall due on the 1st July each year , the prompt renewal of your membership is appreciated. To ensure all your details are current, e.g. telephone number and email addresses, please complete a Members Information Update form if they have changed or notify the Membership Officer. Normal Membership: Single $25.00 Couple $30.00 Pensioners/Concession Membership: Single $20.00 Couple $25.00 We welcome new members from Australia and Overseas. MATER DEI ORPHANAGE - 1910 Transition From Manly to Narellan The Orphanage and Industrial School established at Manly in 1881 had done noble work for almost thirty years, but the rapid encroachment on the grounds for building purposes made it imperative to seek more suitable surroundings. Gone were the quiet and seclusion that had made the old Convent such an ideal spot for its work in connection with the Orphans, for the “Village” had grown space, and was fast becoming City – like in its traffic and din. To sell a portion of the property at Manly and purchase a new home that would be capable of expansion with the years was the obJective of Mother General (Mother Mary Berchmans) for several years. That her aim was achieved, the fine home at “Mater Dei” ample attests. For many months the Sisters and children Joined fervently in special prayers and Novenas for a “good sale” and a suitable site. Their petitions were graciously heard, and on the feast of that great friend of destitute children, St. Jerome Emilian, in 1910, the doors of the new home were opened to the little children of Manly Orphanage. The elder 4 girls forming the Industrial Classes, were drafted to the Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Balmain, where they continued their training in needle-work and domestic service. Mother Mary Athanasius Fitzpatrick was placed in charge of the new Institution at Narellan. Mother General deemed herself fortunate in the extreme in having secured the delightful home at Narellan, with its eminently adaptable surroundings for the favourite proJect of her heart. Her search for a suitable site had been long and arduous, and often bitterly disappointing to one whose whole soul was engaged in her enterprise, and who regarded every moment as lost which was not spent in ministering to the poor. How many times she went on a voyage of inspection to reputed likely places, only to find them not at all to her mind; how many fruitless Journeys she made hither and thither she could scarcely remember, until at long last, in 1910, by some stroke of good fortune, her notice was attracted here. At first glance she knew it for the ideal spot she sought. It offered all the advantages of a fine residence, with plenty of scope in the 896 acres with which it was surrounded for the development of her idea, and the far-famed healthiness of the resort was greatly to her liking. Having secured it, she at once set about furnishing it in readiness for the little ones already at Manly, and in transferring them to their new abode, and her chief delight was to note the change in the children removed from the too strong breath of the ocean, to the light, clear atmosphere of Narellan, spiced as it is with the tang of mountain freshness. The Orphanage is approached by the road running in a northerly direction from the little Kirkham Lane platform, distant from which it lies about two miles, right on top of the hill long before reaching the gates, you catch a glimpse of the emblem of all goodness surmounting them, holding aloft it’s perpetual promise, and sharply silhouetted 5 against the pale clarity of the sky. And as you pass under the Archway, near which the quaint little presbytery – formerly a lodge – nestles, the first view of the home is sighted – a large, white pile, set in a girdle of terraced gardens and fruit tress, in the midst of its acres of fine, undulating farmland, the greater portion of which is still densely covered with hardwood timber, the remainder under cultivation.