John Henry Whitford &
Ann Curra
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WHITFORD Birth Details Death Details Immigration Details
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Surname:
CURRA
Immigration Details
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Family Stories Life in Australia: Perhaps the mining boom in South Australia drew John Henry (known as Henry) and his family to emigrate. They sailed aboard the "Duke of Bedford", a barque of 720 tons with R. Thornhall the master. The ship's port of origin was London and it stopped at Plymouth, where the Whitfords would have embarked. It sailed past The Lizard on the 25th August, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the 2nd September and arrived in Port Adelaide on the 5th December, 1848. One newspaper account of the day lists some passengers, among them Mr H Whitford, wife and six children. The South Australian Maritime Museum lists the Whitford passengers aboard as John Henry, Farmer; Ann; John Henry (their son, who would have been aged 19 on arrival); Maria; Margaret; and William. Children, Elizabeth (Ann); Mary Jane and Henry are not mentioned on that list. Descendants of Henry's daughter, Maria had been told that the family lived in a tent on the banks of the Torrens River in Adelaide when they first arrived in Australia. Copper had been discovered at Burra three years before Henry's arrival and the family probably made their way there by bullock wagon, carrying the women and supplies, with the men walking. A script by John Collins sent to the A.B.C. in 1957, regarding Stanley Whitford's autiobiography, notes: "The Burra copper mine provides an interesting sidelight on early conditions in the colony. It was discovered by a shepherd named Picket in 1845 and, in order to buy the fee simple of the mineral land, it was necessary to buy a special survey of 20,000 acres, paying the government for it in specie. The survey was taken out by Messrs L H Bagot and G P Aston for the Princess Royal Mining Company, and by Messrs Samuel Stocks Junior and William Allen for the South Australian Association. These two parties were known as the Nobs and Snobs. The Nobs were the aristocracy of the colony and the Snobs were the Tradespeople. The antagonism between them is shown by the fact that the Nobs wouldn't join the Snobs in a joint stock company. Although they united to buy the ground, neither party unaided could raise the hard cash. The land was divided by drawing a line through the centre from east to west. Lots were then drawn and the Snobs were lucky enough to get the part on which the Burra mine was. The Princess Royal property was sold for pastoral purposes. Henry started work as a teamster transporting ore from Burra Mines in the Mid-North to Port Adelaide. "The Touring Guide of South Australia" notes that The Burra, as it was known, consisted of a series of small townships based around the nationalities of the miners who lived there. Kooringa and Redruth were Cornish, Aberdeen Scottish, Llywchwr Welsh, Hampton English. Although the mines were spent in little more than thirty years, the character of Burra remains intact today. The Burra Mine with the world's only reconstructed Cornish engine house, and the miners' dugouts, where as many as 2000 miners and their families lived along the river bed, have been preserved. Henry's daughter, Maria married a miner, James Pearce at Kooringa in 1850. By 1864 Maria and James had moved to Kadina where immensely rich copper deposits had been discovered in 1859. Many of Henry's family settled on the foothills of the Little Para in the Hundred of Munno Para. Land grants were being issued for settlement along the Little Para River from 1844. The town of Salisbury was established in 1848 when John Harvey purchased section 2191 of 80 acres and subdivided it into half acre allotments. Within ten years it had a population of about 300 with four hotels and five churches. Private schools operated from 1849 until the public school opened in 1877. This would have been the closest school to the Little Para (Hillbank) area at that time. An extract of the "Civic Record of South Australia 1921-23" follows: "The Munno Para East district was proclaimed in 1854. A small portion of its northern boundary abuts the municipality of Gawler, in the neighbourhood of Dead Man's Pass. The Council office is at Uley, near One Tree Hill...The district of Munno Para East, the western boundary of which is the Main North Road, extends from Gawler right to the Little Para, near Salisbury, and having the rivers as a boundary, runs easterly nearly through to Kersbrook, taking in One Tree Hill, part of Smithfield, Yattalunga, Gawler Hills, Humbug Scrub and Sampson's Flat, and a small portion of Gawler South and contains over 39,500 acres, comprising some of the finest agricultural and pastoral country in Australia.The Lady Alice gold mine, which created such a furore at one time and disgorged over £20,000 worth of gold, is within its boundary, and Mr T H Bellchambers has founded and established his fauna reserve near the workings of the old mine.The natural beauty of the district is becoming more widely known, and tourists from the city travel through the hills for a holiday outing. The road from Gawler through to One Tree Hill is particularly picturesque, and the view of the plains with the sea as a background as seen from Yattlunga, is one of the finest in the State..." Much of the land Henry later owned was granted in 1853 to the inventor, John Ridley. Ridley made speculative purchases in the area. He is noted for the Ridley Stripper which made enormous changes to wheat farming in South Australia in the early years. Ridley leased sections 3096 and 3097 from 1853 to Henry at a yearly rental of £30. The terms of the lease were "to maintain and improve the arable land under tillage ... with all erections, buildings and fences thereon .... and to keep in good repair ... together with all landlord's fixtures ..." The landlord had the right to enter the premises and examine "the state and condition thereof". No timber on the land could be cut down for sale, except with the permission of John Ridley. The five year lease gave Henry the right of purchase. John Ridley made an Application to bring the land under the Real Property Act (Torrens Title) in February, 1870 after he sold the land to Henry. The Application mentions "together with all erections, buildings and fences thereon". The area would have been very good for farming. It is generally flat but from Adams Road area the land rises gently to the regions of the northern Mt Lofty ranges. Not far from Black Top Road is the Little Para Reservoir. Down the Main North Road is the Old Spot Hotel, the oldest surviving hotel in South Australia. It was here that the teamsters bringing the copper ore down from Burra to Port Adelaide would have stopped during their travels. As a teamster, Henry could have passed this way and later decided to settle in this district. In 1854, Henry's son, John married Ann Matthew/s. William, Henry's second son, married Emily Treleaven in 1855 at North Adelaide. An Eliza Ann Whitford (possibly Henry's daughter, Elizabeth Ann) married Christopher Williams in 1861 and had eight children, including a son, John Henry. Two years after Eliza's death in 1886, Christopher married Henry's grand-daughter, Polly Whitford. At a meeting of the District Council, Munno Para East held on Monday June 19th 1854, Mr Umpherstone "reported that Mr Whitford was anxious to have the ground at once selected for the intended road, as he was about to fence". This relates to a conveyance recording the sale of approximately two acres of the northern angle of Section 3086 by Henry Whitford to the District Council of Munno Para East on 19th July, 1855. Henry was one of the original trustees of Little Para chapel. According to the chapel's Cemetery Lease Book, his sons John and William were curators of the Little Para cemetery. Researcher, James Potter has shared the following information: "John Henry Whitford's first mention in relation to the church was in a report which appeared in the "Adelaide Observer" of Saturday, 16th July 1853. The report stated that arrangements were being made for the erection of a Wesleyan Chapel at Little Para. Mr Whitford had subscribed £5 and had promised timber and limestone. However, the project did not take off for another three and a half years. In December, 1856, a group of Wesleyans eventually came together and purchased half an acre of section 3092, Hundred of Munno Para, from Thomas Williams for the sum of £20. The piece of land was situated north of the Little Para River on Blacktop Road adjacent to what is now Williams Road. The first trustees of the property were listed as: John Barton Hack, John Cotton, James Swann, Samuel Richard Gault, Henry Whitford, Nicholas Goodman, Thomas Mankey, John Woods and Thomas James Mitchell with W. Butters and William Hill, ministers. A chapel was built on the higher eastern end of the allotment and was opened for worship in April, 1857. The lower, western portion of the allotment was allocated to a cemetery. The Little Para Chapel became part of the Gawler Wesleyan Circuit. Two years later another Wesleyan Chapel was built in Chapel Street, Salisbury, only about two miles west of the Little Para (Hillbank). The Chapel Street property had no provision for a cemetery, consequently the Little Para Cemetery was used by them but they also used the Primitive Methodist and also the Anglican Cemeteries in Salisbury. By about 1880 the congregation of the Little Para ceased to use their chapel and the Chapel Street church serviced the Wesleyans over the whole Salisbury area. A report of the tenth church anniversary of the Little Para Chapel in April, 1867 states that the congregations were large and attentive and that at the public meeting, which followed on the Monday night, the chapel was crowded. Heart stirring addresses were given by Revs. R C Flockart, T Lloyd and J Barber and Messrs Tippett, Whitford and others. [The Treasurer's Receipt Book for 1867 shows Henry to have also been a trustee of One Tree Hill Methodist Church, about six miles to the east of Little Para]. In 1900 the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Churches in Salisbury united to form the Methodist Church and eventually what had been the Primitive Methodist Church became the building used as the Methodist Church. The old cemetery opposite the Salisbury City Council offices was originally the Primitive Methodist cemetery. The Wesley Chapel at Little Para was eventually sold for its materials in 1905 for £5 and the building was demolished. The cemetery remained but as far as we know, no burials have been made since 1899. "Salisbury's Public Library's Local History Collection notes that the Little Para Church served the needs of the small settlement on the Little Para around the Old Spot Hotel. In the early 1840s and 1850s there was a flourishing settlement down by the river near the Old Spot. The settlement declined as the township of Salisbury developed. The post bag was delivered to the Little Para and early Salisbury residents walked down the river to collect their mail. Later a post office was established at Salisbury itself. By 1870, Henry Whitford held 911 acres of farming land . A Whitford house was still standing until recently opposite Blamey and Blackburn Roads. When Henry bought Sections 3096 and 3097, he held other land close-by, e.g. Sections 3130, 3131, 3132, 3086, 3087, 3088, 3089, part 3273 and part 3121. Sections 3086, 3089, 3179 and 3180 are closest to the point where the old route of Adams Road crosses the creek. On neighbouring Section 3179, the house "Whyte Bank" was mentioned in 1870, probably built by the Adams family, who were active in the district by then. Their name was given to the road. A creek, locally known as "Breakneck Creek" further down, at the point where it crosses the Main North Road, used to be a sharp bend and motorists, taking the bend too fast after a long straight stretch of road, used to end up in the creek! The bend was straightened out by the Highways Department in 1960 when they were putting in the second track of the Main North Road, during the construction of Elizabeth. In future years Henry's holdings were divided and transferred to his sons, John, William and Henry Lilley. William was accidentally killed in 1875, aged 42 years and his land was then held by his widow, Emily. His death certificate notes that it was caused by a fall on the head. At 75 years of age, Henry's wife, Ann died on 5th January, 1879 and was buried at the western side of the chapel, near her son.William's headstone read:"In Affectanate (sic) Remembrance of William Whitford Who Departed this Life February 17 1875 aged 42 years. The Lord Gave and the Lord Taketh Away Blessed Be the Name of the Lord". Incredibly, aged 74, Henry married secondly, 26 year old Elizabeth (nee Black) in 1879. Henry adopted four year old Margaret Fountain, Elizabeth's daughter by John James Fountain. Henry's son, Henry Lilley Whitford was born to the couple in 1880, then Eliza Ann Whitford in 1886, in Henry's 81st year. His new lease on life must have proved too much for him and he died in 1889 and was also buried at the Little Para Cemetery. Sadly over the years, the Little Para cemetery has suffered neglect and vandalism and part of Little Para's heritage is lost. A newspaper article dated 21st December, 1993 follows: "HISTORIC CEMETERY DAMAGED: RESIDENT A Hillbank resident says historic headstones have been dragged from gravesites on a block of land earmarked for a housing subdivision. Williams Rd resident Brian Corner said one large, heavy slab at the old Little Para Cemetery had been dragged from its original site and he had photographed the fresh drag marks. He also found other headstones, which previously had littered the surface of the ground, lying inside an open crypt. The previous night at about 8.30 he had spoken to two men who were erecting a real estate sign on the land opposite his house. Landowners, the Uniting Church, and its real estate agent have denied any knowledge of the gravestones' removal. Under the original plans approved by Munno Para Council after an inspection of the unsurveyed site, the graveyard area was excluded from the housing development and was to be donated to the council as a reserve. However, after Mr Corner alerted the council to the removal of the gravestones, a second on-site inspection by council officers discovered the survey pegs were misaligned. One grave was found inside the pegged boundary and it was the slab from the grave that had been dragged onto the graveyard proper. The real estate agents and the Uniting Church say when the mistake was realised, the affected lot was withdrawn from sale. Mr Corner said the block was withdrawn from sale only after he had alerted Munno Para Council and following the second on-site inspection. Munno Para councillor Daryl Bullen said he inspected the site after hearing Mr Corner's concerns and confirmed that the slab had been removed. He observed four cornerstones marking the grave where the gravestone had lain. "You have got to understand the headstones are loose and are moveable, and people could have moved them one way as well as the other. "(Whoever shifted headstones) certainly weren't acting on our direction - we are certainly not in the business of upsetting people". The real estate agent handling the development denied any graves or headstones had been disturbed. "You can't shift a grave - it's all still there. It's rubbish", he said. The church still planned to sell one lot for housing, and had since offered to sell the original graveyard site along with the disputed lot, to the council for a "special price" of $20,000. The council has made a counter offer of $3000, saying the site cannot be developed. Subsequently, the white marble headstones including Henry's, Ann's and their son, William's, were relocated to the old Primitive Methodist Church cemetery next to Salisbury Council Chambers. Henry and Ann's headstone reads: "Sacred to the memory of Ann, the beloved wife of Henry Whitford Who departed this life January 5th 1879, aged 75 years. Verily there is a reward for the righteous. Also Henry Whitford, beloved husband of E. Whitford, Died 6th August, 1889, aged 84 years. My God I am Thine What a Comfort Divine What a Pleasure to Know My Saviour is Mine." Henry's will left an estate valued at £1372-0-0. An extract follows: "This is the last Will and Testament of me, Henry Whitford of Para Plains in the Province of South Australia, Farmer. I desire that all my just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses be paid by my Executors hereinafter named as soon as conveniently may be after my decease. I give, devise and bequeath all my property both real and personal unto John Henry Afford of Adelaide in the said Province, Grocer and Samuel Bell Labott of Adelaide aforesaid Solicitor (hereinafter called my said Trustees). Upon trust as to my Real Estate to permit and suffer my wife Elizabeth to use, occupy and enjoy the same for her own benefit and support and for the benefit and support of my son, Henry Lillie and my daughter, Eliza Ann and my adopted daughter Margaret Fountain until my said son Henry Lillie shall attain the age of twenty one years and as to my Personal Estate/except the furniture and effects in my dwelling house and the horses, cattle and other animals and the agricultural implements on my farm at Para Plains, which I give and bequeath to my said, Wife, Elizabeth to use and enjoy for the purpose of using same in the working of the farm for her benefit and support and the benefit and support of my said son, Henry Lillie and my said daughter, Eliza Ann and adopted daughter, Margaret until my said son, Henry Lillie shall attain the age of Twenty one years/ to realise and convert the same into money and invest the proceeds thereof on Mortgage of Real Estate and pay the annual interest thereof unto my said Wife Elizabeth for her maintenance and the maintenance education and support of my said son, Henry Lillie and my said daughter, Eliza Ann and adopted daughter, Margaret until my said son, Henry Lillie shall attain the age of twenty one years .." (other pages). Adelaide Hospital admissions records show Elizabeth Whitford, aged 43, widow, admitted with a haematoma of the scalp on 21st January, 1896. She was discharged on the 28th. In 1911 she married Anders Lawson, a 65 year old widower. She passed away on 4th December, 1922 and was buried at Cheltenham. Her death certificate shows her usual residence as Berkley St, Cheltenham, and number of children living as three males, two females, with one female deceased. Life Before Australia: Henry was the son of Richard
and Maria Whitford (nee Farrel) who married in 1797 at Newlyn East,
Cornwall. In former days it was a mining village, there being five
mines in the parish producing lead, iron and copper. In 1846 a dreadful
tragedy overtook the East Wheal Rose Mine when, as a result of a severe
thunderstorm, the waters gathered on the surrounding hills and suddenly
rushed down the mine shaft, drowning 39 men who were in the lower
workings. Henry was a miner at Silverwell, Cornwall. Describing Cornish
mining conditions around the 1850's, an autobiography by Stanley Whitford
(relationship unknown) notes that work commenced at seven years of
age. "The hours of labour were from 7am to 5pm, six days a week.
There was an hour for dinner, 9.45am to 10am for crib, and 2.50pm
to 3pm "smoke-oh". Girls worked at the mines too, and were
known as Bal (mine) maids. Girls never worked underground, but the
boys did as soon as they were strong enough. Except for the non-employment
of maidens, these conditions prevailed in the mines at Moonta and
Wallaroo Mines in my memory. The descent in the mines was by ladder-way.
The fathers lashed their young sons to them by rope, and the boys
took the ladder first..." |
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Date : March 1999
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