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THE IRISH CONNECTION

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INTRODUCTION:

In the process of putting together the Knott and Witt Family Stories it is only natural that the

family of Honorah Knott, wife of George James Knott, needed to be put together to finalise that

part of our family. As a child I was always told we had Irish ancestry and all through this I could not

find the connection. This document then makes up the final corner of the family for the Witt and

associated families in Western Australia.

It wasn’t until Catherine Medley stumbled on Honorah’s birth details that the final part of this

jigsaw was put together.

This part of our family starts in County Cork and England and reaches back to 1854 when they

arrived in South Australia. It starts with John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin.

John Edmonds:

John was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire England around 1826. Details are a bit sketchy and it

is quite possible he was born out of wedlock as we cannot find any details of a father in English

records. In the descendant chart below, Johns mother Elizabeth married Peter Moore, but no

father is shown.

• Thomas Edmonds b c1736 m Elizabeth Cooke o Thomas Edmonds b c1767 d c1836 m Ann Verney

� Mary Edmonds b c1797 d 1797 � Mary Edmonds b 1804 � Elizabeth Edmonds b 1808 Buckinghamshire England d

1896 m Peter Moore � John 'Edmonds' (sic) b 1826 Buckinghamshire

England d 1909 m Honora Tobin � Thomas Edward Edmonds b c1856 m Sarah

Ann Fry � Ada Florence Edmonds b 1883 Jerry’s

Flat, South Australia � Edith May Edmonds b 1885 Woodside,

South Australia � Estella Harriet Edmonds b 1893 Forest

Range, South Australia � Elsie Catherine Grace Edmonds b 1897

Mt Pleasant, South Australia

You will notice that the above chart does not list Hanorah Edmonds or Johanna Edmonds. The

reason for this is because no-one had ever been able to link Honorah to John Edmonds apart from

his name on her wedding registration in 1882. This chart is from England. You must appreciate

Edmonds is a relatively common name.

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I have searched through the Ships List online and the only John Edmonds I can find left England in

March 1854 and arrived in Victoria in July 1854. This does fit our family timeline. I can only assume

if I have the right John Edmonds, that he travelled across to South Australia very soon after.

Further research into his English heritage would provide further evidence to support this.

Hanora Tobin: Hanora was born in County Cork, Ireland around 1826 to the best of my

knowledge. We know Hanora arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 3rd May 1854 and

the only discrepancy is her age is listed as 33. This would have made her born in 1821 but I

cannot verify anyone close to that date and have stuck with the age of 28 as it matches her age

when she died. To further complicate the matter, she lists her age as 32 on daughter Honorah’s

birth entry in 1861, which would have meant she was born in 1829.

In records her name is spelt in several different ways (Hanora, Hanorah, and Honora) typical of

the times when many people were either illiterate or of little education and recording was in

the hands of the person making the entry. For the sake of this story I have used the name on

her Wedding Certificate. She was known by the shortened name Nora.

She arrived at Port Adelaide on the 3rd May 1854 on the Taymouth Castle, a ship of 680 tons.

The ship, skippered by Captain Adam Logan, had left Plymouth, England on the 7th Feb 1854 so

the journey took 86 days.

The journey was the eighth government ship for 1854 to arrive with assisted passengers for the

fledgling South Australian colony. There were 6 births and 1 death on the journey, a very

satisfying result for the time I would imagine. On the ships manifest Hanora listed her

occupation as servant.

. . . so that the total number of souls on arriving was five more than the period of departure

from England. We have learned with great pleasure that there has been much harmony during

the voyage, and that the emigrants, who appear to be in high spirits, speak very warmly in

praise of the Surgeon Superintendent, as also of Captain Logan, his officers, and crew. The

Weather is said to have been extremely favourable during the voyage. The Emigrants are chiefly

from England, and their healthful condition is highly satisfactory. Source the Ships List.

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Marriage and Children of John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin

They married at Gumeracha, in the Adelaide Hills on the 29th April 1855. Information from this

period is very scant and little can be ascertained from records.

Their first son, Thomas Edward Edmonds, was born on the south coast and the birth registered

at Victor Harbor. Thomas was born on the 28th April 1856.

Their second child born Johanna was born at Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills on the 15th

December 1857. Sadly Johanna passed away at Cudlee Creek on 11th October 1860 when she

was a couple of months shy of her 3rd Birthday.

Their third and last child was Honorah, born in East Melbourne, Victoria on 29th August 1861.

Whilst there was no second name on the birth certificate, she does tag Elizabeth on the birth

registrations of her children later in life. This name was her Grandmothers name on her father’s

side of the family so this link is very feasible.

The birth details of Honorah proved to be the key to solving a total dead end. Catherine Medley

had a copy of Honorah’s death certificate stating her birthplace as East Melbourne. Years of

looking and many hours trolling all regular genealogy sources could not locate Honorah.

Cath had looked at John Edmond/Hanora Tobin link but could never prove or tie in the link. I

revisited this scenario and sent an email say that the links seemed really strong, we just needed

to prove it somehow.

This led to Cath doing a wild card search on Ancestry and she found a Honorah Edwards, born

in Victoria. She sent the information back to me; I promptly went to Victoria Births, Deaths and

Marriages, found the details and purchased a birth extract. Like magic everything fell into place

and a great family puzzle was solved.

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BELOW: Extract Copy of John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin Wedding at Gumeracha, SA in 1855.

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How long they stayed in Victoria is unknown at this stage and why they went there is also

unknown. It seems strange that they called themsleves Edwards on the Victorian records. It

could simply be mistaken hearing by the registrar entering the name or they had changed their

name for other reasons. We will never know why. It obviously could not have been too serious

as Hanora recorded her maiden name on the birth entry.

They lived at Currency Creek on their return from Victoria, an area north of Goolwa on the

south coast near the Murray Mouth. There were Edmonds also settled in the area and they

may have been related. There is a story which I will relate later in this document from the time

we know they did live in the area. Whilst I am not able to determine the years, Honorah

Edmonds did regale stories of their time there.

John and Hanora (Nora) later settled at Forest Range, an area only a few kilometres east of

Basket Range. I am not entirley sure what they did as an occupation as details are scant and it

was only a small family with two children.

Hanora died on Boxing Day 1894. A copy of her death notices below indicate her last days were

obviously not as wonderful as they could have been.

Dropsy is now known today as oedema and is an accumulation of fluid which can occur in many

parts of the body. It is highly likely Nora’s last days were very unpleasant as her heart would

have struggled with the fluid build-up until it would have given way with the strain.

John Edmonds passed away 15 January 1909 at Forest Range when he was 83 years old. Sadly I

couldn’t find any more information on John and the search needs to continue.

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The Two Living Children of John and Nora:

Thomas Edward Edmonds:

Thomas, the brother of Honorah

Knott, was born at Victor Harbor,

South Australia on 28th April 1856. He

married Sarah Ann Fry at her father,

Mr John Brock Fry’s residence, at

Jerry’s Flat (now known as Lenswood)

on 26th October 1882.

Sarah Ann was born at Stony Creek,

Lenswood South Australia. Sarah’s

mother, Harriet Brown had arrived in

South Australia as an 8 year old in

1840, so they were very much an

original South Australian family. This

was only 4 years after the settlement

of SA. In an article about Harriet when

she died in 1917, at the age of 86, it

states there were only 6 permanent

houses in Adelaide, one shop and not a

lot else (in the area we now know as

the City block) at the time of her

arrival. Bread was very expensive and

they collected water from the River

Torrens, something you would never

do today as it is heavily polluted.

The photograph right, most likely taken around 1885 was provided by Jo Shaw of the Forest

Range Heritage Group. Jo is related via his wife’s family, Sarah Ann Fry.

Thomas and Sarah had four girls in the marriage between 1883 and 1897.

On the 18th August 1892 Thomas wrote to the Editor of the South Australian Register as

Chairman of a meeting held on April 19th in the Forest Range Hotel seeking a better daily mail

service from Adelaide. He expressed his disappointment that they finished up with a morning

service rather than an evening service they preferred and had petitioned for. Seems

Government is no different than today.

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Thomas won contract work with the Onkaparinga District Council to repair roads at Forest

range at 11s 6d per chain. A chain is equivalent to the length of 3 cricket pitches; therefore he

was paid $1.16 per chain for the work.

There seems to have been some sort of illicit affair

in the marriage as there was a child called

Dorothea Edmonds Ellis born to Sarah and a

William Nankervis on 14th July 1899. Dorothea

tragically died aged 14 months on 20th September

1900.

This seems to have fractured the marriage as

Sarah was living with at Grange, South Australia in

1917. Thomas went on to live at Renmark in the

Riverland and died later at Moonta. The article

right from the Murray Pioneer and Australian

River Record from 2 Apr 1942 shows Tom must

have had a good sense of humour.

By 1945 he was living at Highgate in the suburbs

of Adelaide.

On the 28th December 1945 the Governor of South Australia, Sir Willoughby Norrie and the

Mayor of Glenelg held a special luncheon as a tribute to the pioneers of South Australia in the

Glenelg Town Hall. Thomas was one of the special guests, in recognition of his very early birth

in South Australia’s history.

Sarah Ann died aged 77 on 24th January 1940 and is buried at Mitcham Cemetery in Adelaide.

Thomas Edward died at Moonta at the grand old age of 91 on the 27th May 1947 and is buried

in the Moonta Cemetery, South Australia.

Children of Thomas Edward and Sarah Ann:

Ada Florence – born 18th August 1883. Ada died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in SA on 2nd

April 1961 aged 77. Ada never married; she had a son out of wedlock in 1908. Newspaper

records of a court case reveal she got pregnant whilst working as a servant for a Charles Hall,

shopkeeper, at Magill SA. Ada’s grandmother, Harriet Fry was also involved in the court action.

Ada is buried at Mitcham Cemetery with her mother and sister Edith.

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This beautiful photograph is also

courtesy of Jo Shaw. This one is of

Estella and Elsie Edmonds.

Estella Harriet – was born 20th August 1893 at Lenswood. Estella married Wilfred Russel Taylor

in Port Adelaide in 1923. They had two boys and she died aged 74 on the 12th February 1968 in

Adelaide, South Australia. Wilfred seems to be quite a character with articles showing he lost

his license for driving under the influence of alcohol, charged for carrying passengers in the

Riverland and other misdemeanours. Their children Brian and Norman both lived their final

years in the Adelaide Hills.

Edith May – was born in Lenswood on 19th April 1895.

She never married and died aged 63 on the 29th August

1958. She worked as a servant for 24 years for Henry

Rymill, who was very well known as a Scout Leader,

Commodore of the Royal South Australian Yacht

Squadron held a senior position in General Motors

Holden and other senior positions in companies in

Adelaide. Edith, who never married, was nursed by Mrs

Rymill until she passed away from cancer. She is buried

with her mother and sister Ada at Mitcham Cemetery.

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Elsie Catherine Grace – was born at Mt Pleasant, South

Australia on 28th February 1897. She married Charles

Leonard James ’Jack’ Pinder in 1920. They had two boys.

Elsie died aged only 57 on the 28th January 1955. Elsie and

Jack are both buried at the Mitcham Cemetery on Old

Belair Road.

This is another photograph courtesy of Jo Shaw, Forest

Range.

******

Honorah Elizabeth Edmonds:

Nora, as she was known in adult life, was born in a Melbourne Hospital at East Melbourne on

the 29th August 1861.

Above are copies of the left and right hand pages of Honorah’s birth entry.

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Apart from the family name of Edwards everything else matched and finally resolved the

mystery of where and when exactly Honorah was born. South Australian Births, Deaths &

Marriages listed on her death notice as born in East Melbourne, we could just never find the

date.

Honorah’s Grand Daughter Mary McGuinness related to me several stories about her early life

in South Australia. Mary said she lived at Currency Creek and she thought it was when she was

first married. On researching her life I think this time was before she was married for the first

time in 1882.

Whilst they were living at Currency Creek near Lake Alexandrina at the Murray mouth, the local

Aboriginal families would trade fish for food and other items they needed. On one particular

time the family needed wood cut so they asked the Aboriginal families to do this in trade for

food etc.

Away they went and sometime later Honorah came back to find a magnificent woodpile

stacked in a beautiful dome shape. She was so impressed and thought they had done a lot of

hard work that she gave them extra items as part of the trade.

A bit later Honorah went to get some wood and when she took out a couple of pieces the

whole pile collapsed as they had stacked it so the middle was totally hollow. The joke was on

them and it was talked about for many years afterwards.

Marriage to William Hollow:

On the 15th November, at the St Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Mt Barker, Honorah

married William Hollow (age 25) from the nearby town of Woodside when she was 21. The

ceremony was conducted by Father Thomas Lee at the Old Catholic Church on Daddow Road

which was built in 1851 from local parishioner subscriptions. This church was demolished

sometime around 1912, as a new one had been built closer to the main street of Mt Barker.

For our family it was history repeating itself when my son Bryan started attending St Francis De

Sales College 130 years later in 2012. The college is in the same area as the original church.

There was also a convent in the same location which closed many years ago and is now a

private residence.

William was a miner from St Ives, Cornwall England and was born around July 1857. He was

from a large family of 11 children and he was one of only 2 boys. I have been unable find when

he came to South Australia but is seems it was around 1880. At the age of 13 he was listed in

the 1871 English Census. His father was a Tin Miner, and whilst no occupation is listed against

his name, I would imagine he was a Tin Miner as well. It is most probable he came out to

Australia late 1870’s or the very early 1880’s.

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William and Nora lived the early part of their married lives in and around the Adelaide Hills as

their first three children were born at Glen Osmond and Woodside.

Their first child, William John was born at Glen Osmond on 30th December 1883. Around 17

months later on 18th September 1885 their second child Jane was born at Woodside.

Gold mining activity was very active through the Adelaide Hills with gold being found at Forest

Range, Glen Osmond and Jupiter’s Creek near Echunga. I found newspaper reports of large

nuggets being found at Forest Range around 1882, one weighting 12 ounces and another 4

ounces. This would probably explain how William and Honorah met. Woodside was also only 6

kilometres from Forest Range and it was a larger town where supplies would have been

purchased from.

In March 1886 I found court action where William and 7 other miners sued a Godfrey Egremont

over some wages issues. The claim was bought to court by WH Charnock. The newspaper

records are scant and little detail given. Whatever the outcome it obviously wasn’t beneficial to

William because on the 15th November 1888 he had his first hearing in the insolvency court at

Woodside, SA.

On the 31st August 1887 their third child, Elizabeth Nora was born in Woodside. Elizabeth’s life

was very short and she died at the age of 14 months on the 16th October 1888 and is buried at

Woodside. What a terrible time it must have been for the family, first losing a child and then

facing bankruptcy in the space of 4 weeks.

It was after this bankruptcy that William and Nora moved to Broken Hill for a few years. Again

Mary McGuinness relates a story from her Grandmother about how the dust storms in Broken

Hill used to hit town and they used to rush around shutting all the windows and the incessant

dust used to seep into everything. Whilst they were in Broken Hill their fourth child Robert was

born in March 1891.

Catherine Hollow:

I have also found Williams’ sister Catherine and her husband William Norman Ellis moved to

South Australia, via Queensland, around late 1887, early 1888. They had arrived earlier in

Rockhampton on the ship Scottish Hero on the 29th January 1884. They arrived with two small

children, Robert and William. A further three boys were born in Queensland between 1884 and

1887. Whilst they were in Queensland one of their sons died when he was less than a year old.

Catherine and her husband settled at Woodside and another 4 boys were born there. As

William was a miner, I can only imagine he worked with his brother in law at some time. Sadly

for the Hollow and Ellis families, Catherine was to die at the age of 39 on the 9th January 1896.

She died at the Adelaide Hospital. I have been unable to locate her burial site to this time. This

was on top of the loss of their eldest son Robert Ellis at the age of 18. He died at Mount Torrens

on the 29th June 1895. William Ellis died at the age of 75 on the 14th November 1927 at

Kensington in South Australia.

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In September 1915 their son Thomas George Ellis enlisted in the

10th Battalion, AIF and was sent to the Western Front in 1916. He

must have had a rather tough time of the war as in 1917 he was

sentenced to 5 years Penal Servitude with hard labour for

desertion from the front. It seems he left his post and surrendered

to the Military Police some 3 days later.

From his military records it seems he was either pardoned of

maybe they were hard up for cannon fodder, either way in May

1918 he was pardoned and sent back to the front. From his

records a very important link for the Edmonds/Hollow came

about. The letter below, written by Estella Edmonds was further proof of the family links. I had

been wondering if they ever had anything to do with each other. You must remember that

whilst Estella and Thomas had no direct link, her cousin Robert Hollow and Thomas Ellis were

first cousins. Maybe Thomas was her sweetheart, we will never know. Sadly Thomas must have

never communicated his imprisonment to his family, as they wrote via the YMCA in February

1917 looking for information on his whereabouts. It seems he hadn’t made any contact since

August 1916.

On the 10th October 1918

Thomas George was killed

in action and was buried at

Heath Cemetery,

Harbonnieres, France.

The poor bugger would have

been better off staying in

gaol.

Another interesting

connection came from this

information as well. A Gent

by the name of Alfred

Richard Saunders was living

with William Ellis. His

granddaughter, Ena Lorraine

Saunders married Williams’s

nephew, Clifford Lincoln

Stewart. It is such a twisted

family tree.

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Information from a fellow researcher Geoff Quinn also gives a strong reason why William took

his family to Broken Hill after their troubles in Woodside. His Uncle, James Sandow Hollow had

come to Moonta to work the mines and he then moved to Broken Hill. James Sandow Hollow

died there in 1908. It therefor seems logical that he was in the area when they went there for

work. Geoff Quinn’s Aunty, Marjory Quinn married Honorah’s Grandson William Thomas

Hollow in 1948. Then blow me over with a feather, Geoff was a descendant of Kate Elizabeth

Jennings Hollow, cousin to William Hollow.

By 1893 William and Nora had moved back to South Australia and William was working on the

construction of the new Happy Valley Reservoir being built in the southern vales area of

Adelaide.

This project included the construction of water pipeline tunnels under the Mt Lofty Ranges

from the Onkaparinga River at Clarendon and it came out at the other side at Happy Valley. His

mining skills would have been needed for this work. This tunnel was 3 metres in diameter and 5

kilometres in length and is considered one of Australia’s 'milestones in constructional

challenges and advancement' by Heritage Australia.

At 7am on the 18th November

1893 tragedy struck for Nora and

her young family. William was

buried in a tunnel collapse on the

reservoir construction site and by

the time they got him out he had

died. It was apparent he was hit

on the head by some timbers as

they were preparing to set

formwork for concreting.

He was working on the no 5 Inlet shaft at Clarendon when he was accidently killed.

This left Nora with 4 children, their youngest Child, Edith Mary Sandow, who was born only 6

weeks before at Happy Valley on the 6th October 1893. I always wondered where the name

Sandow came from. It is the maiden name of William’s paternal grandmother and was also

shared by his Uncle James.

It is clear now that we know Nora’s family lived at Forest Range, that she most likely moved

home or near to her parents so that she could look after her children aged between 10 years

and 6 weeks. What a tough time she would have had in the days of no child support

whatsoever. William may have been given a payout for his death of some form but I would

imagine it wouldn’t have been very much money, if any.

Again I had wondered how she would have met her future husband George James Knott and as

they now lived near to each other at the two range towns in the hills it becomes very logical

how they met. The Hollow boys are listed as land owners on Blockers Rd at Basket Range

around 1910.

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Marriage to George James Knott:

Nora and George married on 9th September 1899 at the

registry office in Adelaide. Nora was 38 and George 27. They

lived at Basket Range from 1899 till 1917. Three children

were born to this marriage, Doris Victoria, 11th April 1900,

Stella Alice May, 13th September 1903 and George, 25th

September 1905. All three of these children attended the

Basket Range School which had opened in 1885. I have

covered their lives in the previous Knott Family Document

so will not go over this again.

This photo courtesy of Shirley Cayless nee’ Styles, Perth WA is of Honorah and daughter

Stella and was probably taken around 1916 going by the fashions they are wearing. Nora

would have been around 55 at this time.

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In 1909 newspaper articles on Trove

can be found where a person shot

Nora’s cow. It must have been a

malicious act as the shooter

Frederick Rutzen wanted to

apologise and pay for damages and

costs. Nora stuck to her guns and

proceeded with court action.

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George James proved to be a bit of a lad and was known to be a drinker if left to his own

devices. A story from Lena Styles, his granddaughter in WA, goes that whenever he was sent

off to market with produce Nora would send one of the children with him otherwise he would

stop off at the pub on the way home and spend all the money.

When his son-in-law Fred Witt, daughter Doris and Grandson Eric Witt from WA visited George

prior to his death in 1955, they found that George each day walked down to the local Hotel,

bought a bottle of fortified wine, came back and went into his room. Here he stayed until it was

gone then about 2pm each day he would appear and start to socialise with the world.

In January 1917 Nora and George moved to Burton Rd, Athelstone to a property of 17 ½ acres.

It was here that they were to live the rest of their lives. The letter below, from Nora’s son

Robert Hollow’s Army records, was written on 23rd January 1917 advising the Army of their

change of address details. Mary McGuinness can remember the property had a small home

with the usual outside laundry and toilet facilities. She also remembers that it had a well and

that they used to drop rockmelons and the like down in a hessian bag. Later they would pull

them up and enjoy an icy cold treat of fresh fruit.

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This is a copy of the Death Certificate for Nora Knott courtesy of Catherine Medley, Mt Burr

SA.

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Nora died on the 28th August 1930 from Liver Cancer and Pyelitis, which is severe inflammation

of the kidneys and pelvic area. She was also a diabetic and Diabetes Mellitus is the medical

name for Sugar Diabetes listed on her death certificate. It would have been a painful end to a

tough life for Nora. Nora is buried at West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide. They list her age as 67

but they would have had the same problem finding her birth details that we had 80 years later

and she was actually 68.

George James lived until the 5th July 1955 when he passed away at the grand age of 83 and he

is also buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

The Children of William Hollow and Honorah Edmonds:

Because the children of William and Honorah fell outside the Knott Family, I felt it only

appropriate to fill in a bit of their life story, especially for the descendant families of George

James Knott and Honorah Edmonds.

William John Hollow – was born at Glen Osmond, South Australia on 30th December

1883. He married Teresa Stella Eglington at Swan Reach, on the Murray River, on 30th July 1908.

They were married in her father Roland Eglington’s house at Swan Reach. The Eglington’s were

also originally from Forest Range in the Adelaide Hills. On the 13th April 1915 Teresa was

allocated a block of land, section 85, the Hundreds of Chesson at Mindarie in the Murray

Mallee. This block was a small homestead size

block of several acres to the northwest of the

town site.

Prior to this the Hollow brothers owned Block

93 on Blockers Road at Basket Range. This

information is listed in the book about Basket

Range Settlers by Dr Geoffrey Bishop.

Mindarie was also where Friedrich Witt was

allocated land in 1913 and he would go onto to

marry Williams’s half-sister Doris Knott. Bill, as

he was known and Teresa (Biddy) stayed in the

area until at least 1949 working as a Stock

Agent.

Their house is listed for sale by Tender by the

State Bank of SA in May 1948. It is described as

a 4 roomed stone and concrete residence.

Newspaper reports from June 1916 have Bill

being part of the Mindarie Rifle Club. In this

article are listed members of his wife’s family

and Fred Witt, who was to become his future brother-in-law.

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Bill was an active participant in the local community and I found articles where he was the

founding secretary of the Mindarie School in 1929 and was regularly MC for functions held in

the local Hall.

Whilst they were farming and living at Mindarie they must have

had some tough times as his nephew Bob Witt can remember his

mother Doris telling the kids that Uncle Bill was not a good

farmer, as he never had any money. If you visit the Mindarie area,

it is marginal country, and very understandable they would have

had tough times.

The photo of Bill and Stella (Biddie) Hollow is from around 1950

in Adelaide.

After Bill died in 1951 Biddy lived on the Paddle steamer Decoy

owned by her son Bill at Renmark until the 1956 River Murray

flood.

Bill and Teresa had four children in their marriage. Bill and Teresa retired to Brighton, South

Australia. Bill died from cancer at the age of 67 on the 29th April 1951. Teresa lived on until

1977 when she died at the age of 88. They are buried together at North Brighton Cemetery in

Adelaide.

Children of William and Teresa:

Rose Kathleen (Rosie) – was born at Rose Park, South

Australia on 6th December 1909. She won an award at the

Wanbi Show in 1921 when she was 11 for fancy writing.

Rose married Errol Lionel ‘Jim’ Winton at Loxton on the

29th May 1926 when she was 16. Their first child Dixie

Olive was born 6 months later on the 1st November 1926

and was registered at Burra. The photograph of Rosie is

from 1925.

Records show that Jim and Rosie lived in the schoolhouse

at Mindarie when their second daughter Heather Maxine

was born in 1929 at the Loxton Hospital. Jim had been

head teacher at Mindarie from around 1925 and was

replaced by his brother in law Lance Hocking in 1929 when

they built the new school. They had their last daughter

Berna Kathleen who was born in 1931 at Gladstone when Jim was the Headmaster at

Georgetown State School from 1932 to around 1938.

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They moved to Brighton Gardens, an Adelaide beachside suburb sometime around 1947 as all

future family activity was in this area. Jim taught at Brighton and was a co-organiser of some

very popular soap box derby’s in the late 1940’s.

Rosie then moved to Vinal Street, Dover Gardens for some time and spent her final years in

Victor Harbor to be near daughter Heather and her family.

Rosie died in 1999 aged 90 and is buried at Smithfield Cemetery to the north of Adelaide. She

had donated her body to science prior to her burial at Smithfield. I had contacted the

cemeteries authority about Rosie but details given were vague. Errol died on 8th August 1965,

six weeks shy of his 63rd birthday and is buried at West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide. Jim had

also donated his body to science.

Olive Teresa – was born 17th January 1912 at Mannum, South Australia. She married Lancelot

James Hocking, from Moonta, at the Methodist Church in Pirie St, Adelaide on 22nd August

1931. I have found records that Lancelot was the teacher at Mindarie, SA in 1929.

In the 1950’s they lived in Renmark for a while as Biddy, Olive’s mother went up there to live

after the death of her husband Bill.

They had 3 children, Jim, Neil and Robert. Lancelot died 12th May 1984 aged 75 and Olive

Teresa died aged 86 on the 21st August 1998. They had retired to Seacliff, a lovely beachside

suburb of Adelaide. They were both cremated at Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena SA and

are memorialised at North Brighton Cemetery in Adelaide.

William Robert ‘Bill or Willy’ –was born at Swan Reach, South Australia on the 14th April 1914.

From a letter his grandmother wrote to Doris Witt in WA in

December 1928, Willy spent 8 months with her at

Athlestone. From the tone of the letter it seems he may have

been not well as Nora mentions the marked difference in his

wellbeing. Ian Hollow, Bill’s son, thinks it was more to do with

being able to get work as there was very little going on at

Mindarie at the time.

Newspaper reports that Bill was share farming with Mr

Shelton at Mindarie in 1938.

In 1939 both Bill and Jim went to Georgetown in the Mid

North, working on farms I would imagine. Their sister Rosie

was living there with her teacher husband Errol.

He married Valerie May Wilson in the Liverpool District of

NSW in 1943 when he was serving in the Army. He left with

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the Rank of Sergeant in September 1945. Bill and Valerie’s marriage produced 2 children, Ian

and Maxine. They retired to Hove, another beautiful seaside suburb near Seacliffe, South

Australia. Bill died aged 89 on the 8th April 2004. Valerie died on the 13th December 2009 aged

86. Bill and Valerie’s ashes were spread at Mindarie.

The Hollow children all had great long lives ranging from 86 to 94. They all moved to the

southern suburbs of Adelaide and all finished up living quite close to each other in the latter

parts of their lives.

The Mindarie Football Club Premiership team from 1937. Bill Hollow Jnr is 2nd

from right, Middle row.

James Leon ‘Jim’ born at Loxton on 8th August 1916. Jim died on the 2nd October 2002 at Point

Pass, South Australian when he was 86 years old.

At the 1926 Mindarie Christmas Tree James was one of four students who were given awards

for good work and regular attendance for the year. He was a good footballer in his younger

days at Mindarie. In February 1938 Jim was helping his brother Bill remove a well casing on

Shelton’s farm when it slipped and his hand was crushed between a clamp and the casing. It

resulted in an emergency trip to the Loxton Hospital where they amputated his third finger on

his right hand and he suffered a severely crushed thumb.

23

He married Gweneth Smallacombe in 1944 and he was a farmhand in the Georgetown area in

the Mid North of South Australia on and off for a few years.

He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and served in Syria, Tobruk, El Alamein and New Guinea. Jim

was severely wounded in New Guinea in December 1943. He spent many months in hospital

and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant in July 1944. They were all very tough campaigns

so Jim must have been a man of strong moral fortitude.

Jim and his family lived on Goodwood Rd, Colonel Light Gardens in Adelaide for many years.

They then moved to Kings Park for a while before moving to Point Pass, north of Eudunda,

South Australia so Jim and Gweneth could be closer to their daughter. Gweneth died in 2004

aged 87. They only had the one child, Pamela Joy born in 1947.

Jim’s ashes were spread at Mindarie.

Jane Hollow:

Jane who was born at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills

on the 18th September 1885 and married Basket Range

local, William Thomas Raymond. This was keeping it in

the family so to speak as Bills mother was Mary

Susannah Knott. This meant that Bill, who was George

James Knott’s nephew, married George’s step

daughter. Jane and Bill married in George and Nora

Knott’s house at Basket Range on 3rd March 1909.

Jane and Bill stayed in the Basket Range area all their

lives. She worked as a midwife and delivered many

babies all over the immediate area and was a very

popular lady, known by many. Whenever there was a

need for medical assistance in the local area, Jane was

the person they called for.

Jane died relatively young at the age of 68 In the

Uraidla Hospital on the 31st July 1954. William went on to live another 8 years and passed away

aged 77 on the 10th April 1962. They are buried together at Norton Summit Cemetery.

The marriage produced six children between 1910 and 1930.

24

Jane and William Raymond’s Grave at Norton Summit Cemetery. August 2012.

Winifred Jane – was born at Rose Park, SA on 1st January 1910. She attended Basket Range

School and trained as a dressmaker. Around 1940, when she was 30 years old, Winnie was

diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her

brother Roy became her fulltime care

person. Winifred never married and died

on the 19th September 1964, aged 54. She

is buried with her brother Roy at Norton

Summit Cemetery in the Adelaide Hills.

Grave of Winifred & Roy, Norton Summit

August 2012

Roy William - was born 5th April 1911 at

Basket Range, SA. Roy never married and

died exactly one year after his beloved

sister Winnie who had died at the same

age. He was aged only 54 when he passed

away on the 19th November 1965 and he is buried with Winifred at Norton Summit Cemetery.

His niece, Jan McGuigan informed me that the general consensus was that Roy died of a broken

heart after Winnie died; such was his love for his sister who he had looked after for 24 years

whilst she was ill. Roy was a very large man who was renowned for his strength. He could carry

two large bags of bone dust for the market garden straight up the steep hillsides at the bottom

of Raymond’s Road where they lived and worked.

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Mavis Pearl – was born 21st July 1914 at Basket Range.

She attended the Basket Range School and taught there

for a while as well.

She married John William ‘Jack’ Hanretty, who was a

Commercial Salesman for the South Australian Gas

Company, at the Archer St, North Adelaide Methodist

Church on the 7th March 1947. They had one child, a

daughter Janice in 1952. They spent their early married

years in and around Nailsworth and Blair Athol before

they purchased a house at 88 Kintore St, Kilburn where

they lived for many years. It was during this time they

purchased a shack at Christies Beach and eventually

around 1978 they moved there to live in retirement.

The photograph right, supplied courtesy of Mavis’

daughter Janice, was taken on her wedding day in

March 1947.

In the early 1990’s Jack got prostate cancer and he underwent treatment which enable him to

live another 10 years. Sadly at the end he and Mavis were separated as he lived with Janice for

a while and spent his last days in a nursing home in Prospect as Mavis was unable to care for

him. Jack passed away aged 82 on the 3rd October 2003 in Prospect, SA. Mavis passed away

aged 92 on 21st March 2007 at Christies Beach. She was cremated at Enfield Cemetery in

Adelaide and they both have a memorial plaque at Norton Summit Cemetery.

The original home of Bill and Jane Raymond built at Raymond’s Road, Basket Range around

1937. This photograph was taken in March 2014.

26

Robert John ‘Bob’ – was born at Stirling

West on 2nd December 1916. Bob

married Doreen Eva Hockham at the

Basket Range Methodist Church on

31st May 1941. They had two girls, Kay

and Heather and two boys, Brian and

John from their marriage. The photo

right is of Bob and Doreen, courting at

the Adelaide Show.

Bob joined the Australian Army at

Aldgate in March 1941. After he

completed his basic training he left the

army and returned to his work as a

market gardener. His son John said it

was a standing joke that he was never

actually formally discharged from the

army. It is most likely he was returned

to his job as a lot of agricultural jobs

were reserved occupations during the

war years.

Bob was a very good fast bowler in his

youth and he played for the Basket

Range club. He was selected to go

down to Adelaide to play District Cricket but he didn’t get there. It must be assumed the War

years must have interrupted his opportunity.

Bob was then struck down with polio in 1949, and then to top that off his two sons contracted

it as well. Any brush with this terrible disease left people with some form of disability.

In January 1966 Bob and Doreen made the very difficult decision and moved from the Hills,

where they had been farming as market gardeners and settled at Clearview in the inner

northern suburbs of Adelaide. He spent the years up until his retirement working as a

groundsman for the University of Adelaide.

Bob and Doreen lived at Clearview until 1990 and they then moved to Crestview Retirement

Village at Hillcrest. Bob passed away aged 91 on the 20th October 2008, having spent the last

few weeks of his life at a Parafield Gardens nursing home. Bob was cremated at Enfield

Memorial Cemetery.

Doreen spent her final years at Helping Hand, North Adelaide and passed away peacefully aged

97 on the 14th March 2014. Doreen was cremated at the Enfield Memorial Cemetery.

27

Great photograph from Lyn Pittaway of the Raymond’s. From Left we have Winifred Edie and

Jane and Unknown lady with the dog. Help with this photograph would be greatly

appreciated.

William Thomas - was born at Basket Range on the 16th November 1920. Bill and his brother

Bob both joined the Army on the same day, 3rd March 1941. Bill married Majorie Jane Quinn of

Broken Hill on the 27th March 1948.

They lived at Basket Range all their married lives. He was an orchardist growing fruit, mainly

cherries, rhubarb, flowers and other horticultural crops. Their son Harold describes the years as

very hard and money was never easy to come by.

Bill worked for a while with his father on his orchard and later helped his Uncle, Roy Raymond

work his block. Bill also worked for a time with the Bishop family, another very long term

Adelaide Hills family.

They had two children June and Harold. Bill died aged 69 on the 23rd March 1990. Majorie

passed away aged 83 on the 14th May 2006. Their daughter June passed away from cancer in

2005. Harold and his wife Cheryl have retired to Mount Barker after working many years for the

Adelaide Hills Council.

28

This is the wedding of William Raymond and Majorie Quinn in 1948.

This beautiful photograph of Jane Raymond nee’ Hollow and Hazel, her youngest daughter

was supplied by Lyn Pittaway, Northam WA. Jane was Lyn’s Great Aunt. I would think this

photograph would be from around 1953.

29

Hazel Mae Raymond – Hazel proved difficult to trace. She was born around 1930 and she

married John Leonard (Len) McCullagh on the 3rd December 1949. They had two children,

Margaret and John. They lived for many years at 100 Kintore Avenue, Kilburn which was just up

the road from her sister Mavis. They were living at Christies Beach in 1995. Len died on 5th

August 2007 and Hazel not long after on 29th November 2007. Len was aged 87 and Hazel 78. It

is known she kept contact with her cousin Doris Victoria Witt who lived at Reynella and later

Strathalbyn, South Australia. Hazel also met her cousin Edna Starcevich, nee Witt in the 1990’s.

############################

Robert Archie Hollow: (Corporal)

Robert (Bob) was born at Broken Hill, NSW in March 1891.

A newspaper report from the SA Register on Thursday, 19th March 1903 states that Robert

spent the night in the Adelaide Hospital. He had sustained a scalp wound after the horse he

was riding turned sharply and he fell off.

William and Robert Hollow at Mindarie, SA circa 1925.

30

A classic family story we were told is of Robert being a bit of a practical joker. Whilst he was

attending school (at Basket Range I would imagine) he had a particular dislike for his teacher.

The story goes she was a very strict teacher. Robert in his wisdom decided he would set up a

contraption in the toilet. It was a flat piece of board with and a spring and this was held back by

a string to the outside. When his teacher went to toilet, he cut the string and the board

smacked the lady on the bottom. Apparently she landed out in the play area with her knickers

around her ankles, much to the mirth of all the students. I can only imagine the recriminations

after the event.

Bob’s 4th Grade Certificate that advises he has passed and is promoted to fifth grade for 1904 at

the Basket Range School.

Bob joined the First Australian Infantry Force on 18th May 1915 at the Keswick Barracks in

Adelaide. He joined the 1st Reinforcement 27th Battalion and he listed his occupation as a

labourer.

Robert was 5ft 10 inches tall and weighed 142 pounds when he joined. He proved to be a bit of

a lad as he has many instances of being charged for being AWOL, drunk and for creating a

disturbance in the street in late 1916. He had embarked from Australia on the 26th August 1915

to go to Alexandrina, Egypt for training. He transferred to France and landed at Marseille on

the 21st March 1916. His record of being AWOL continued throughout his career in the army

with many days pay forfeited.

His Battalion fought at Pozieres in July 1916, the Battle of Menin Road in March 1917 and

finished the War at Villers-Bretonneux from around July 1918.

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He was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 23 December 1916 in France. In February 1917 he

was demoted back to Private for escaping from Hospital and going AWOL for two days in

England.

He was wounded in action on 31 August 1918 and was invalided to England on 4th September

1918 with a gunshot wound to the right buttock. The wounded in action turned out to be

‘Gassed’ by the terrible mustard gas used by the German Army and was to affect Robert badly

for the rest of his short life.

In his time in hospital he complains about his chest, sweating and fatigue after short exertion.

On the 31st December 1918 his level of disability was classified as less than 40%. On the 24th

January 1919 he left England on the ship Delta for home.

At one stage Bob planned to go to Western Australia to visit his sister Doris and her family. My

understanding is that he got to around Port Augusta on the train, took a turn for the worse and

had to come back to Adelaide. Sadly it was a journey he never got to make as he passed away

at the age of 34 on the 8th September 1925 as a direct result of his WW1 gas wounds. He had

been living at the Myrtle Bank Soldiers Home in Adelaide and is buried in the Commonwealth

Graves Section of West Terrace Cemetery.

32

This photograph is of the 27th

Battalion 3 Reinforcement which was Robert Hollows Infantry

battalion when he joined the Army in May 1915. It has to be assumed he is in this

photograph somewhere.

Edith Mary Sandow Hollow:

Edith, born on 1st October 1893 at Happy Valley, South

Australia was a six week old baby when her father died in

November 1893. Edith was known for her long Red hair.

She married Clifford Thomas Stewart who was born on the

16th Jul 1890 in Hectorville, South Australia. They married at

St Ignatius Church, Norwood SA on 21st June 1919.

Edie, as she was known and Cliff had two children, Clifford

and Charles whilst they were married. They separated

sometime around the second war and Edith filed for divorce

on the grounds of desertion on the 6th September 1951. It was short lived and Edie and Cliff got

back together and stayed this way for the rest of their lives.

The Styles family, which included Edith’s niece Lena, visited her in the early 1970’s and they

remember her living in a tiny cottage in the Adelaide Hills at Basket Range. There she lived

alone with a milking cow and garden in a very quiet picturesque setting. Edie had scones and

tea made for them and a pleasant day was had.

Edith passed away at Basket Range in 1974 at the age of 81 and is buried at Norton Summit

Cemetery. Clifford died on the 11 August 1970 aged 80. Members of Edie's family are still living

in the area (2014).

33

The flat area behind the tree and beside

Sixth Creek on Merchants Road at

Basket Range is the former site of Edie

and Cliff’s house. This photograph was

taken in March 2014.

Clifford Lincoln Corry: Their first son was born on the 13th April 1920 and his birth registered at

Norwood. Linc, as he was known joined the Army in WW2 and married Ena Lorraine Saunders

of Mount Barker, SA on the 3rd July 1942 at Semaphore, South Australia. The marriage was

conducted by Reverend Curtis.

The marriage produced five boys and they suffered the grief of losing a son, Ian Robert, who

was killed in an accident on the 2nd

June 1955. Ian is buried at Norton

Summit Cemetery. Linc died in 2003

aged 81 and Ena died in 1992 when

she was 71. Photograph was taken

August 2012. Two of their sons still

live in the area as of March 2014,

Malcolm and Alan.

Charles Thomas: Was born in 1921

and again the birth was registered at

Norwood.

I have found no record of Charles ever marrying and the only thing found was that his car was

hit by a tram at Burnside in November 1945 and he was fined 4 quid for his troubles. Bad luck

for Charles as it happened outside the Burnside Police Station and his car nearly hit a constable

riding his bike into the station. There were 4 others in the car at the time and two of them

finished up in hospital.

Charles died on the 11th December 1980 the age of 59 in Adelaide and was cremated at

Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena SA.

34

Conclusion:

This closes the bulk research that I plan to do into our family. I will do further refining and

clarification but the task is now largely done. I would welcome anyone tackling the English and

Irish ends and still welcome the provision of information of each individual family in Australia

to add to my tree. I personally thank all the people who have contributed in photographs, time,

verbal and written contributions and please keep it coming.

I hope this gives as much pleasure to each of you who have read this as I got from digging into

the past.

Graham Witt

Mount Barker SA

August 2012

Revised July 2013

Revised Mar 2014

Ph. (08) 8398 2889 Email: graham@loadex.com.au or wittfamilysa@internode.on.net

It is with many thanks to the following people for their valuable contribution.

Catherine Medley – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Mt Burr SA

Lyn Pittaway – Great Grand Daughter of Mary Susannah Knott – Northam WA

Shirley Cayless nee Styles – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Perth WA

Trish Stone nee Styles – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Scaddan WA

Keith ‘Sandy’ Taylor – Great Grandson of Mary Susannah Knott and Great Nephew of William

and Jane Raymond – Basket Range SA

John Raymond – Grandson of William and Jane Raymond, son of Bob Raymond – Mission

Beach QLD

Harold Raymond - Grandson of William and Jane Raymond, son of Bill Raymond – Mt Barker SA

Janice McGuigan nee Hanretty – Grand Daughter of Bill and Jane Raymond – Paralowie, SA

Jo Shaw – descendant of the Fry Family – Forest Range SA

Kathryn Dennis, nee Barnes – Great Granddaughter of William and Stella Hollow, Goolwa, SA