Family History WA

In August 2013, Frances Schifferli exhibited a diptych, Silent Witness, in the Shark Bay Art Exhibition. In this quilt Frances, a founding committee member of the Writers Group and newcomer to the Irish SIG at Family History WA, combines her interests in family history and textile art into a uniquely creative storytelling medium. One half of the wall hanging illustrates the journey of almost a thousand kilometres, from Roebourne to Shark Bay, made in 1884 by Thomas Carmody and his wife Emily. At Hamelin Pool their child, eight months old Onslow Thomas Carmody, succumbed and was buried behind the Telegraph Station. The second image on the quilt depicts the family greeting Thomas Carmody’s sister, Ann Barnard and husband John, who were pearling at Denham (Freshwater Bay). The manager of the Hamelin Pool Caravan Park and Café was very taken with the art work. Frances subsequently exhibited the diptych at the QuiltWest Exhibition in May 2014, where it was awarded the President’s Choice. She then donated it to the manager of the Hamelin Pool Caravan Park, because she thought visitors to the park would like to know the history behind the little grave that is still preserved onsite. You can view the quilt where it hangs in the park’s café, which is the former Telegraph Station. Onslow Thomas Carmody was Frances Schifferli’s first cousin, three times removed. Following is the narrative of the Carmodys’ epic journey in 1884.

A Brief Life:

The story of Onslow Thomas Carmody

BY FRANCES SCHIFFERLI

Thomas Carmody, the second youngest child of six, was born to Patrick and Mary Carmody shortly after the family arrived in the colony aboard the Palestine in 1853. They had migrated to the Swan River, from St Lukes, a poverty ridden suburb of London, having previously escaped Limerick and the devastation that accompanied the potato blight of the 1840s. Patrick took up farming in York and son Thomas went on to acquire his own property after he married Emily Snow in 1882. What then inspired this young couple to sell up lock stock and barrel – stripper, reaper and mower, chaff cutter, ploughs, horse, cart and

dray – in May 1883 and set sail for Roebourne? Was it the rumour of possible gold waiting to be discovered in the North-West that lured them there? Perhaps Thomas planned to be first to reap the reward of a new discovery. He had family already in the area. Thomas sailed on 24 July 1883 for the port of Cossack, a thriving pearling town and travelled the short distance to Roebourne, a prosperous sheep raising area. He found accommodation in his sister Jane and her husband William Noonan’s small hotel and boarding house. Thomas most probably just missed the birth of his first child on 22 July. Baby Onslow Thomas and Emily followed a couple of months later, in company with Thomas’ sister Ann Barnard. Today we can marvel at the courage of early settlers like Thomas and Emily who risked all for such a venture. Not only were they travelling into the unknown, far from any real semblance of comfort and security, with a new born child, but there was also the real fear of Krakatoa. The Indonesian volcano had been rumbling for months and erupted with catastrophic consequences in August, not long before Emily was due to sail. The eruption was detected as far as Perth. Reports came through of rafts of floating pumice and tidal waves reaching the North-West coast; weather was affected and skies were coloured unusual shades of green for months afterwards. Emily determined to join her family despite her fears but it was not long before a measles epidemic became a very real threat. News of an outbreak in the colony caused much anxiety. Would their isolation protect them, many wondered in Roebourne? A high mortality rate could be expected if it came, especially amongst the natives. Cossack came under threat however, when the Planet arrived late in December 1883, with two measles cases on board. The ship was immediately quarantined and much consternation was caused when Mr McKay, one of the passengers, broke the quarantine and came ashore. He was summoned by the local magistrate. Everyone was at risk and it was feared the mortality amongst the natives could be so great as to cripple the pearling industry. Thomas and Emily were greatly disturbed by the threat to baby Onslow, as Margaret Noonan, the two-year-old daughter of Jane and William, was already ill. It is reasonable to imagine that Emily panicked. The Carmodys decided to leave immediately. Their fears were later justified because by June, measles was rampant in the district. Several people died and by the end of June there were forty cases at Roebourne amongst both white and black populations. It was 560 miles (880km) to Hamelin Pool, and then another eighty miles to Shark Bay and relative safety with Thomas’s sister Ann and John Barnard. With an embargo in place, sailing was out of the question, making road travel their only option. Long journeys in the North-West were often undertaken by intrepid explorers, drovers and travellers, despite the isolation and nonexistence of adequate roads. Covering about twenty miles a day, the horse and cart would have taken at least twenty-seven days to make the journey to the nearest settlement. The Carmodys planned to follow the track which ran along the newly erected telegraph poles that linked Champion Bay (Geraldton) with Roebourne. They could camp along the way at government wells dug for the surveyors and linesmen, and travel through the evenings and early mornings, sheltering where ever they could during the heat of the day. It would be a horrendous trip for anyone to make during February, the hottest month of the year. When Thomas and Emily finally struggled into the tiny settlement of Hamelin Pool, they were assisted by the family who lived in the newly opened Telegraph Station. The hardships, heat and deprivation during their flight must have been unimaginable and their survival a tribute to Thomas’ bushman skills. Sadly, they suffered the bitter loss of eight months old Onslow, who died either of measles or the rigors of the journey. He was buried on 18 March, 1884 in a little grave behind the Station Master’s house. Because of the isolation, no death certificate was ever issued for Onslow and but for the headboard that marks his grave, his loss would be long forgotten today. Recovering sufficient strength, Thomas and Emily continued their journey and eventually found succour in the arms of the Barnards at Freshwater Bay (Denham) in Shark Bay. Remarkably Thomas and Emily eventually returned to Cossack by ship, to make up their losses and be reunited with Jane and William Noonan, whose little daughter, Margaret, had sadly died a week after Onslow.

Truly the threat of measles was taken extremely seriously in the early colony and drove people to desperate measures to protect the lives of loved ones, often without success. Their resilience in adversity was remarkable. The Carmody family finally returned to Fremantle on the Otway, in March 1885, together with their newborn baby, Alfred Patrick, to take up farming life again in York. (An account of the Carmody lonely graves can be viewed in Y. and K. Coate, More Lonely Graves of Western Australia, Hesperian Press, Perth, 2000, p.62.) If you visit the Stromatolites in the World Heritage Area at Hamelin Pool, you may like to view the dyptich quilt commemorating the epic ride of Thomas and Emily Carmody from Roebourne to Denham in 1884, which hangs inside the Hamelin Pool Café, and visit Onslow Thomas Carmody’s historic grave, situated behind the café. The tiny grave was eventually fenced with white pickets, and a small wooden headboard was installed. It read, In Loving Memory of Onslow Thomas Carmody, who departed this life, March 18th 1883. Aged 7 months. The date has proved to be incorrect. Research has shown he died in 1884. The original headboard deteriorated through the effects of time and termites and its damaged date was misinterpreted in a replacement, made by the manager of the Caravan Park at that time. The replacement states the baby died on 18th March, 1898! A new interpretive sign was commissioned, with much effort, in 2015, through the Shire of Shark Bay. It reads, A Brief Life. Onslow Thomas Carmody, the son of Thomas and Emily was buried here in March 1884… The present headboard is an inaccurate copy of the original one (image right). Little Onslow lies near a pathway to the Hamelin Pool stromatolites. His grave has a Local Heritage number and is preserved as a site of cultural significance in the settlement of Europeans in Shark Bay. It is one of the earliest European graves in the area and is perhaps a memorial to a little Irish-Australian measles victim.

THE NAMING OF ONSLOW THOMAS CARMODY. A PARTLY FICTIONAL ACCOUNT…

Background: Thomas Carmody setting out from York with his brother-in-law, John Barnard, to sail to Shark Bay and on to Cossack in July 1883… The horse snorted and tossed his head impatiently as John held the reins steady. “Say your goodbyes, Tom. We need to be off,” he called. Tom reached out once again, clasping Emily to himself in one last emotional embrace. He could feel the unborn child wriggling in protest in its mother’s cramped womb. “I am so regretting we Top: Photo of original headboard. Copy of a photo held by Lawrence Carmody. Middle: 1967 photo of replacement headboard. Photo credit John Warman. Bottom: The gravesite, May

can’t stay a moment longer. Our ship sails in four days and I can’t risk missing it. I need to pick up last minute supplies in Fremantle. I so fear for you with me not being here to support you.” Emily tried to put on a brave face, to allay Tom’s concern. “It will be fine,” she assured him. “I have faith in the Good Lord. You know I’m in town, close to our fine doctor and with dear Ann’s help, we will be sure to all join you as soon as I and the baby are strong enough. ‘Tis you I am fearful for,” she protested. “At least it is not willy-willy season, but I tremble at the thought of the dangers you will face without me… what if Krakatoa erupts? There are reports of volcanic activity, hissing steam vents and rumblings… Think of the tidal waves, the diseases, the isolation…” Tom laughingly kissed away her concerns. “For goodness sake, Darling. Do you realise how far Sumatra is from Cossack? Em, Dear, we have been through all of this before. You know the benefits out-weigh the risks. Just imagine if we are amongst the first to find gold there. “Now, remember if it is a little girl, she is to be called Hilda and if a boy, he’s to be named Onslow Thomas,” he stressed firmly giving her a final kiss. “Oh Tom, surely he is to be named for you!’ she protested weakly. “You have my final word on the subject, Dear. It’s important to me,” he insisted. Onslow Thomas Carmody was born on the 22nd July 1883, only two days before Rob Roy sailed. It is reassuring to think that perhaps Tom’s brother Patrick, made a flying dash to Fremantle to deliver the happy news, before the ship sailed. Why did Thomas Carmody defy convention and choose the unusual name of “Onslow” for his son, ahead of his own or his father’s name? Thomas and Emily were the first of eight Western Australian couples, six of them from Beverley or York, to choose the distinctive name “Onslow” between 1883 and 1911. It is likely they all named their sons after Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow, controversially interdicted from the office of Chief Justice by Governor Broome, and later reappointed in 1891. The naming of these children after Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow paid him the highest compliment and indicated strongly in which political camp many in the York area fell and where their loyalties lay. In this Thomas Carmody had started a trend. ☘ As we move into the later months of 2021 the Irish Special Interest Group (Irish SIG) at Family History WA (FHWA) is making the transition back to face-to face meetings, though the option to meet online via Google Meet can be exercised at short notice if the Covid-19 situation changes and restrictions are placed on the number of people permitted in our meeting room. Next meeting will be on 17 October when we will meet at May Street to celebrate forty years of the Irish SIG! In future meetings we plan to provide a forum for informal exchanges of members’ Irish research successes and challenges, while continuing to keep members informed and updated about useful resources for finding Irish ancestors. New members and visitors are always welcome to our meetings - simply book your place using the online booking site TryBooking, details below. At this stage you can book for the October meeting. Immediately after each quarterly meeting, bookings for the next meeting will open. FHWA also hosts lots of other exciting face-to-face and online events - some for beginners, and others for experienced researchers, so check out the full suite of presentations, workshops and meetings. Nonmembers and new members are welcome to attend, though bookings are essential. See the link below to FHWA homepage and choose the ‘Events’ tab. A small payment may be required for some events. We invite you to visit FHWA’s extensive library and resource centre at 6/48 May Street Bayswater, but it is wise to phone ahead to check whether there is a capacity allowance on the building, as this may vary with the ebb and flow of the pandemic. Opening hours are given on the FHWA homepage. Happy and successful researching!

CHRISTINE TIMONEY

ON BEHALF OF THE IRISH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

MORE INFO

ROBYN O’BRIEN

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