CHAPTER FOURTEEN Western Victoria:- An elusive trail

Anyone present at the Portland Methodist Church on May 27th 1866 would have witnessed a most unusual event. On that day five children from the one family were presented for baptism! They were the children of Thomas and Caroline Cassidy. The entry in the Church register describes Thomas as "labourer" and records the name, birthplace and birthdate of each of the five children. The couple's first-born, William was allegedly born at Belfast (the old name for Port Fairy in Vic.) on Oct 22nd 1859. I say allegedly because I am sure that the date is incorrect and should be 1858. 1 

The couple's second child, Frances Ann, was recorded as having been born at Hamilton on July 24th 1860.

A second daughter, Caroline, was recorded as being born at Emu Creek on August 24th 1861. This information is at variance with her birth certificate which gives the date as August 11th and the location as Yallock Creek, Terang (V). On the certificate Thomas is recorded as being 27 years of age.

Two years later Thomas's age is given as 31 years on the birth certificate of his son Edwin. His occupation is described as "splitter" and his abode given as "Laing's Forrest, Terang (V)" The place of birth of Edwin given in the Portland Church register is Emu Creek, but at least the dates agree: July 21st 1863. 2

For the fifth child, Samuel however, the dates shown in the Church register (July 11th 1865) and on the birth certificate (July 9th 1865) disagree, but both sources give the place of birth as Hamilton (V). On the birth certificate, Thomas is again described as a labourer, and his age (30 yrs) is consistent with that given at the time of the birth of his daughter Caroline.

Shortly after this the family re-appeared in South Australia - perhaps the children were baptised en-route - as the couple's sixth child was born at Mount Gambier on July 14th 1867, and named Robert Henry Cassidy. Thomas was again described as a labourer when the birth was registered one month later. The family was still living at Mount Gambier when Robina was born on July 4th 1870 and when Elvira was born on August 4th 1872. Thomas being again described as a labourer. Finally, one more son, Arthur, was born to Caroline on Jan 1st 1875, probably at Mount Gambier as well although the South Australian Registrar has no record of his birth. 3

Photograph of Commercial Street Mount Gambier, looking east taken in 1869. The Commercial Hotel is on the left.

Considerable confusion arises at this point which even gives rise to some doubt regarding the paternity of Arthur at least. My mother, a daughter of Robert Henry Cassidy, recalls her father saying that his own father (Thomas) died when he, Robert, was only 7 years of age. This would mean that Thomas could have died about the time of Arthur's birth or before; (Robert turned seven in July 1874) however no record of his death can be found at this time in the records of South Australia, Victoria or New South Wales and there is no record of his burial in Mount Gambier.

What appears to be the final definite official record of Thomas is a notice that appeared in the South Australian Police Gazette in 1872 which records a warrant being issued in Mount Gambier for Thomas Cassidy for the desertion of his wife and seven children. The fact that seven children are mentioned suggests the warrant was issued before the birth of Elvira in August of that year and before the birth of Arthur. Possibly Thomas was unaware that his wife was pregnant with Elvira at the time if in fact he did desert his family. Unless there was a reconciliation after the appearance of this notice, it would also seem that Thomas could not be the father of Arthur. 4

If there was some sort of reconciliation it would seem to have only been temporary as Caroline appears to have entered into another relationship, no later than 1879, with James Spruce in Mount Gambier. 5 At least four children appear to have resulted from this union:- Edgar (b.1880), Florence, (b 1881 and who died at Collingwood, Vic, in 1887), Agnes (b.1884) and Elsie (b Sept 19th 1886). All of these births are thought to have been in Mount Gambier although there is no record in South Australia of the birth of any of them. 6 No record of a second marriage for Caroline can be found in either Victorian or South Australian records, a point which will be taken up again later in this chapter.

Several documents have been found relating to this period however. The first is the marriage certificate of William Cassidy, eldest son of Thomas and Caroline, who married Bridget Hawkins in the Roman Catholic Deanery at Mount Gambier on New Years Day 1880. The ceremony was performed by Fr Timothy Murphy. William is described as a 22 yr old labourer. Interestingly the witnesses of the marriage were Frances Cassidy of Mount Gambier (presumably William's sister) and James Spruce, labourer, of Mount Gambier. This mention of James is one of the few official documents yet located on which his name appears apart from his own death certificate. Like Thomas, James is a very elusive character. Nothing more is known of him except that he died of heart disease on April 4th 1887 at the age of 46 years and was buried in Mount Gambier's Lake Terrace cemetery. He was apparently employed by a Mr Pritchard of Myora as a station manager and his death occured at a place called Red Camp, now called Glenburnie, located east of Mount Gambier close to the Victorian border. 7

 A second document is a rates assessment for the Town of Mt Gambier for the year 1881. Mrs Cassidy is recorded as the occupier of a wooden residence on a half acre allotment in John St. A third document is a letter written by a Henry Loft in Dec 1881 on behalf of a group of parents at Bringalbert South requesting the Education Department of Victoria to establish a school for their children. William Cassidy is listed as a parent and the names of Arthur (6), Elvira (10) and Robina (12) are recorded as the children. One wonders why the children were living with their newly married older brother rather than their mother. Perhaps it was only a temporary arrangement due to illness or perhaps there is another explanation.

 So much from this time is something of a mystery. The absence of documentation makes it difficult to establish the facts, but some of the documents seem to add to the confusion. The fact that Thomas was listed among the living children of his mother Mary at the time of her death in 1882 (see Chapter Ten), adds to the likliehood that Thomas deserted his wife and family, and that Caroline and James entered into a de-facto relationship - hence the absence of a marriage certificate. There still remains the problem of accounting for the absence of birth certificates for several of Caroline's children however. Given that Thomas was obviously on the move regularly in the 1860s, he may have been some kind of itinerant or seasonal worker in which case some of his children may have been born outside of South Australia. The fate of Thomas remains a matter of speculation. He may have indeed died whilst away from home, either working or perhaps on the road looking for work or returning home or Robert's recollection may have been an invention to cover the shameful event of his desertion.

Another possible clue to the fate of Thomas is provided in the enrolment records of Caroline's children at the Mount Gambier school. Here the father's occupation is described as 'station manager'. There was quite a large station known as 'Muddy Waterholes' in the Caroline district to the east of Mount Gambier at that time, and there also appears to have been a number of outstations on the property. Perhaps Thomas worked at or managed one of these outstations and upon his death was buried on site. On the other hand it is possible even likely that the information refers to James Spruce who may by then have assumed the role of father for the children. 8

 Then again there are other possible simple explanations. Given the number of missing official documents from the Mount Gambier area it may be that they were somehow lost or destroyed at some stage. Or maybe Caroline was just careless about registering such events. Nevertheless, none of these explanations is particularly satisfying, but until further information comes to light the fate of Thomas must remain a mystery

 The time of Caroline's return to Victoria is not known. If one interprets the sixteen years in Victoria on her death certificate as a total time then one arrives at a date of around 1886, about the time of Elsie's birth, which seems the more likely date. As this coincides with the time of the death of James Spruce in South Australia, it seems that a simple and logical explanation is that following James' death she went to live with other family members by then in Victoria. This is further confirmed by the enrolment of her son Arthur at the Mount Gambier school in 1885 and by the place of death of her daughter Florence which occurred at Collingwood (Vic) in 1887. 9 What is known is that Caroline was living in Melbourne at the time of her death which occurred at the home of her daughter Mrs Annie Morris (Frances seems to have been known as Annie throughout her life) at 23 Ramsden St Clifton Hill, on Thursday Feb 21st 1895. The funeral left from this address two days later and Caroline was buried in the Melbourne General cemetery. 10

House at 23 Ramsden St Clifton Hill photographed in 2022

 Caroline was only 55 years of age at the time of her death, but her life seems to have been a difficult one with more than its share of tragedy. Her photograph gives the impression of a strong, determined, even severe woman, and the only two memories of her that have survived among her descendants tend to bear this out. It is alleged that on one occasion she became so impatient with some of her children that she threw them into a nearby river! Fortunately she repented of her action fairly quickly and was able to rescue them herself. 11 The second incident related to the fact that Caroline took in some dressmaking or mending to help support the family at some stage. Apparently her method of dealing with one of her unruly offspring on this occasion was to throw a pair of scissors at the offender! It is not recalled whether or not the throw was accurate. 12 Recalling the behaviour of her father William recounted earlier, it is not difficult to guess the source of this impetuous and fiery temperament that she inherited.

 Both of Caroline's parents had passed on by this time. Her mother, Caroline, had died at Ninnes Plain in South Australia on Nov 20th 1882. Ninnes is a tiny hamlet on the Yorke Peninsula, approximately 125 km north west of Adelaide. The informant for the death certificate was George Francis Ormsby, a farmer of Ninnes Plain. He was Caroline's son-in-law. Her age was recorded as 83yrs although this contradicts the age given in the Wallaroo Times account of her death. published on Wed 29 Nov 1882 which reads:-
Death of an old Colonist.
Like Waterloo veterans our very old colonists have now nearly all disappeared. Last week another passed over to the great majority in the person of Mrs Francis, wife of William Francis, mason, of Adelaide, and mother of Mrs George Ormsby, of Ninnes Plains, at whose residence she died. The deceased was about one of the first women that arrived ...the colony. Her oldest daughter, who was born in Adelaide, is now nearly 45 years of age. There were few houses in those days, the majority, like Jacob's people of old,'dwelt in tents." Mrs Francis who was 82 years of age enjoyed excellent health up to within a year ago, when she gave signs of a general breaking up: but she was seldom confined to bed, and a week before she died was walking about apparently in her usual state of health.

The grave is well tended and on my visit early in 1999 the headstone had recently been repaired and braced and a small picket fence erected around the grave. See photo below. 13

Grave of Caroline Francis (Evans) at Kulpara, SA. Two of Caroline's descendants Meagan (l) and Bridie Bond (r) are also pictured.

 William Francis survived his wife by about seven years, dying in Adelaide on May 11th 1889, and was buried in West Terrace cemetery. His age was recorded as 85 yrs. Possibly William had become estranged from his family late in his life, as when was admitted to the Adelaide Destitute Asylum in 1887 on the recommendation of the police he "had been living in a shanty in Norwood by himself with no-one to look after him." He was also suffering from senile decay. This was in spite of the fact that he had a son living in Adelaide, and that one of his married daughters had earlier taken in and cared for his wife in her old age. According to the admission records William claimed that he had an order of the court made against his son for 8 shillings per week for maintenance, and that there was an arrears of over twenty pounds. If however William was suffering from dementia this information may not be accurate. Nevertheless the fact that he was obviously uncared for and subsequently buried in an unmarked pauper's grave strongly suggests an estrangement from his family. Perhaps this estrangement, if it did occur, stemmed from the time of his earlier trouble with the law in Adelaide. Some hint that things were not all that they could have been between himself and Caroline can also be detected in the account of the fight between William and Thompson described in the footnotes to the preceding chapter. 14

 Thus by the end of the nineteenth century two generations of the Cassidy and Francis families in this country had passed on. It was at about the time of the death of his mother Caroline Francis/Cassidy/Spruce that her son Robert married and so took his first step towards raising part of a new generation that would continue the Cassidy name into the new century.

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