According to the About page: Picture Australia is an internet-based service that allows you to search many significant online pictorial collections at the same time. When you search on Picture Australia, thumbnail images are retrieved from participating institutions on the fly and inserted into the search results.

Participating institutions include libraries, universities, museums and the Australian War Memorial.

Clicking on an image takes you to the institution’s website for details about the picture.

This is a fantastic use of technology, providing broad public access to cultural and historical treasures. It’s a wonderful tool for researchers, saving countless hours and cost.

It’s all under the umbrella of the National Library of Australia as part of the Trove, which is an online collection of digitised archives including newspapers, journals, photographs, diaries and audio.

I’ve done image searches in Trove before, but the Picture Australia page is cleaner and more visually appealing.

Something I hadn’t seen before was the ability for individuals to contribute photographs.

It’s as simple as joining the Picture Australia Flickr group for People, Places and Events.

I added a few photos and will be interested to see if they become part of the collection.

All of this makes it much easier for historians and genealogists to share and find information.

Update: The pictures I uploaded to Flickr are now part of the Picture Australia archive.

Ruins of the Black Swan Hotel at Barfold, Victoria. Picture by Dave Callaway

However, a brief visit today yielded an interesting snippet regarding my great-great grandparents James and Sarah Evans.

I knew from Shire of Metcalfe rate books they owned a property at Barfold in Central Victoria between 1866 and 1876. I also knew that James was at various times a farmer, road building contractor and publican.

Everyone knows that running a pub isn’t easy, as this report from The Argus newspaper in Melbourne on January 24, 1872 confirms:

“A drunken and fatal brawl,” reports the Kyneton Observer, “took place on Sunday afternoon, at Barfold. Two men in a state of stupefaction commenced a quarrel at the house of an inkeeper named Evans. An argument arose between the deceased Thomas Corbin and a man named Isaac Simpson. Before any one could interpose, the two men were struggling in a small room off the bar. After sundry blows had been exchanged the deceased fell heavily to the ground, the accused falling on top of him. At this moment the landlord entered, and took Simpson by the collar and thrust him out. The deceased then called out, ‘Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Evans, I am a done man.’ He breathed heavily, rolled back his eyes, and died within a few minutes of the onset of the row.” At the inquest, a verdict of manslaughter was returned against Simpson, who was then committed for trial.

I searched for the trial report, but couldn’t find one. Unfortunately the Kyneton Observer hasn’t been digitised yet.

I might check the inquest file one day at the Public Record Office.

Note: The picture above is published courtesy of Dave Callaway. It is believed to be the ruins of the Black Swan Hotel at Barfold. I don’t know if that’s the building where the fatal brawl occurred.

Waubra Cemetery, where Edward Gorey was buried in 1922.

The second of my grandparents’ 12 children, Edward (Ted) was aged just five when he died of diphtheria at Ballarat District Hospital on December 31, 1921.

Edward was born at Trafalgar on April 14, 1916 while his father Michael was working as a casual “spud picker” in the district.

Edward’s sister, my aunt Mary Burns (dec) told me that my grandmother believed Edward was wrongly treated by a locum doctor who had originally diagnosed laryngitis. She said the doctor was sincerely apologetic, but a life had been lost. There was no coroner’s inquest.

The death certificate shows that Edward died after a six-day illness. Dr G.E. Hill signed the document, which strangely records the parents’ names as unknown.

Edward’s sister, my aunt Noreen, said she was told years later that “Teddy” had been given a tracheotomy which should have saved his life.

“Adult patients at the hospital said he had been left too long unattended and he was found with the fitting not in position,” she said.

“Not having the parents’ names recorded (on the death certificate) was a further example of incompetence.”

By all accounts Edward was a playful child and very intelligent.

Noreen recalls being told that Teddy achieved grade three status in his first and only year at school.

He was buried at Waubra on January 2, 1922.

The picture above is from this website, which includes a list of all headstones at the Waubra Cemetery. Edward was buried in an unmarked grave.

I noted “the place name of his birth does not survive on maps today, but is situated near Echuca”.

That was before the internet truly developed as a research tool. Today, although there is not much on the web regarding Pannoomilloo, there is enough to identify its location and some of its history.

In particular, I recommend the National Library of Australia digitised newspapers and the Victoria Government Gazette.

The Government Gazette informed me that Pannoomilloo is near Diggora, west of Rochester, and the local school was removed in 1935.

The Argus newspaper carried other snippets, including a push for a railway siding, polling booth results from various elections and cricket scores.

Although the name of Pannoomilloo may not be widely used today, I now know where it is and have some impression of its character as a farming district.

The Wealth Beneath Their Feet has been written and compiled by Marjorie Theobald, a former Reader and Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne.

The book describes the history of the Sutherland, Burgdorf, Robertson, Webber, Madigan, List and Watkins families on the Central Victorian Goldfields.

My grandmother was Eleanor Sutherland and her mother was a Burgdorf.

The book will be available after the launch for $40 plus $10 postage.

Here is an order form if anyone else would like a copy.

I don’t know much about this photo, but apparently it’s of the Burgdorf family and one of them new-fangled motor cars.

According to the Western Argus, Winthrop was living in Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie, at the age of 72 in 1922 when he was shot in the thigh by a 35-year-old married woman.

I think she might have been aiming for his groin.

The prosecutor described the accused, Lillian Haight, as Winthrop’s “housekeeper”.

Winthrop protested: “There appears to be some misconception. The accused is not my housekeeper. She is an old friend of mine, and as she was temporarily without a home, I told her she could stay at my place until she obtained a situation.”

Lily said she went to reside at Winthrop’s house in August 1921. Winthrop promised to pay her 20 or 30 shillings per week, the payments to be made when he received his remittances. On February 21, Winthrop received a remittance from England, but did not pay her wages.

Winthrop was drinking, and, knowing he had a revolver, she was afraid he might use it. On February 22 she asked the postman to withdraw the cartridge from the revolver and he did so (and testified accordingly).

On the night of February 23, Winthrop came home with a man named Spain. Winthrop had been drinking, and Lily told him that if he could spend money on liquor he could afford to pay her wages. The court heard Winthrop caught her by the wrists and threw her onto the floor.

During the struggle she caught up the revolver with the intention of frightening Winthrop. She did not think it was loaded. When she caught hold of the revolver, it fired, followed almost immediately by another shot and Winthrop ran out of the room.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty and Lily was discharged.

I know Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie, of course, from my two and a half years in the gold city.

I also know the Western Argus. There were bound copies in the Kalgoorlie Miner office, where I used to work.

It’s wonderful the National Library is digitizing these old records and placing them on the web. I look forward to finding more snippets about Winthrop, who is sure to have left a trail of litigation.

Mick grew up at Corop and Whroo in north central Victoria. According to the snippets I gathered from my father and aunts, he left home at a young age, became a shearer, and travelled widely around Australia.

This is the “biography” of him that was compiled for a book I published in the late 90s. Contributors included my father, who is now deceased, and other relatives:

Throughout his life Michael John Gorey was a colorful character and hard worker who toiled for his family in often adverse conditions. Susceptible in later life to mood swings and sometimes contradictory, he raised a large family in difficult circumstances marked by natural disaster and human tragedy. Three of his sons (Edward, Archibald and Michael) and a daughter (Sheila) had their lives cut severely short.

Mick was born at Corop on March 25, 1884. According to his birth certificate, his father Edward was employed as a boundary rider. The following year, the family moved to an 80-acre farm south-west of the township and lived there until 1889.

Michael Gorey

The tales Mick told of his childhood include memories of skylarking in the Goulburn River and jumping into the water from a railway bridge. He enjoyed school and once earned praise from a school inspector for drawing a spray of gum leaves.

He left home when he was about 14. His daughter Mary believed he went to work for an auctioneer. Son Peter believes his first job was with a butcher. We don’t know why he ventured forth so young. It may have been a desire to escape from his circumstances, or the origins of a quest for independence and self-sufficiency.

During the early years of last century Mick travelled throughout Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia following work. He was a shearer, potato picker and agricultural laborer. Like many young men of his era he enjoyed a drink and a wager. His brother-in-law Charles Tennant, a policeman at Cobram (Mary Gorey’s husband), apparently locked him up once “for his own good” according to Peter.

Not much more is known of Mick’s early days, although at some stage he made his way to live in Melbourne where he worked as a horse-drawn lorry driver. He was an accomplished footballer and is said to have played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association.

Mick’s mates included characters like Bug Sullivan, a professional boxer, and Crying Dinnie Quinlan, who spoke in a high-pitched Irish voice.

At one stage Mick came into some money, possibly by winning a lottery. He used the proceeds to buy a farm and settle at Waubra.

Mick married Eleanor Sutherland in Fitzroy on April 19, 1913. She told her children the story that they met one day when she was walking in Richmond, tripped over, and was helped up by a handsome young man who later became her husband and the father of their 12 children.

The newlyweds had a good start in life, with Mick owning his own farm. It therefore seems strange that he continued a transient lifestyle and followed spud picking work to Gippsland, but that was his nature.

Mick never enlisted in the First World War for political and practical reasons. He was a new husband and father producing food for the nation. He proudly supported the anti-conscription movement which sharply divided Australia at the time. Many people of Irish descent were opposed to the war, which coincided with a major uprising in Ireland.

“When I see a German gunboat sail up the Murray and bombard Echuca, then I won’t hesitate to enlist,” Mick said.

The first five children (Sheila, Edward, James, Michael and Archibald) were born at Waubra, except Edward who was born at Trafalgar. Edward died in 1922 from diphtheria, aged five.

The family moved to Ballarat about 1922 and Mary was born that year. Twins Daniel and Margaret, plus John who was born 12 months after the twins, were also born at Ballarat. They lived in a house on the corner of Lydiard and Gregory Streets. During these years Mick earned his income by shearing and picking potatoes.

In 1927 he took up a farm at Dalmore in Gippsland. His brother Ned worked a neighboring farm which he had acquired under the Soldier Settler scheme. Noreen was born at Koo-Wee-Rup, while the last two children, Eleanor and Peter, were born at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Carlton.

Mick grew potatoes on his Dalmore property, milked about 20 cows and bred some pigs. He was knowledgeable about potatoes, less so about milking cows. He had a mix of Frisians, Ayrshires and Jerseys which he used to trade at Dandenong market.

Mary said the livestock agents “used to see him coming because he didn’t know anything about cows”. Jim Gorey used to say his father was a good farmer and a very hard worker, but not such a good manager.

The family house was enlarged by joining another alongside, with one room occupied by Mick’s father Edward. The massive floods of 1934 caused severe damage in the area and resulted in a government plan to create channels for control measures. The farms of Mick and Ned were compulsorily acquired, with compensation paid. Edward moved away after the flood to live with his other son William at Lemnos.

The Great Depression hit farm commodity prices hard, so the devastation of losing his crop in the flood left Mick with huge debts to repay. Peter Gorey recalls hearing that his father owed £500 to the Dalmore storekeeper. Apparently the pair had struck an agreement that Mick would pledge half that year’s potato crop towards clearing the debt — an arrangement which the storekeeper accepted until the flood. A legal battle followed, with the end result being that the agreement stood.

Nevertheless, Mick was broke. He also had a wife and 10 children to support. He looked far and wide for a new property and eventually settled at Fumina near Mt Baw Baw. He leased a farm from the Rankin family, for a peppercorn rental, on the understanding that he would clear the heavily timbered land. He did this and saved up enough money to later buy a farm at nearby Icy Creek.

The Gorey family’s arrival at Fumina caused great rejoicing in the small community. It meant they would have a school and they hoped a church as well. The staunchly Catholic enclave was shocked to discover that Mick wasn’t one of the flock.

They were further stunned to learn he was communist. Mick read widely on Marx and the Russian Revolution and turned strongly against the Vatican.

Tragedy struck in January 1939 when the family home at Fumina was destroyed by fire in the massive statewide blaze which devastated Victoria. The fire claimed the life of Mick and Eleanor’s son Michael, who suffocated in a dugout at Tanjil Bren.

Mick’s bravery helped save the lives of his wife and children. They were advised to “shelter” in a cleared paddock some distance from trees and buildings. A moving account of the fire was written by children John and Dan Gorey, with help from their Aunt Jemima (Bill Gorey’s wife) and published in the Shepparton News on February 6, 1939:

“We gathered up all the clothes that we could and then father, mother and we seven children ran as fast as we could to the big paddock where dad made us lie under a wet blanket whilst he carried water from a dam two chains away,” the boys wrote.

“All that he had to protect him was a wet towel on his head … the flames were hundreds of feet high and when the wind changed to the south we were caught between two blazing mountains and could not escape. Dad was our only protection by keeping the blanket wet.”

Nearly all their possessions, except some livestock, were lost in the fire. The children were effectively refugees. They stayed for a week or so with kindly souls in Warragul while accommodation was found. Daniel and John went to live with Mick’s brother Bill and his family at Lemnos. Eleanor, Noreen, Nell and Peter went to stay with Eleanor’s brother-in-law John Robertson and his eldest daughter Doris at Barkers Creek near Castlemaine. They stayed there in the historic sandstone house built by Eleanor’s German forebears.

Mary and Sheila had already left home. Jim and Archibald stayed with their father at Fumina, Jim helping to rebuild from the ashes. Archie, who was ill for much of his short life, died in 1943 aged 22.

The youngest children returned home after about two months away, while Dan and John spent several months more at Lemnos. By this time Mick and Jim had built a shed, which provided some shelter. The children slept in tents, often in wet and cold conditions, until a house was built. The family did receive some assistance to get back on its feet, with donations of food and clothing, however there was nothing like the generous support offered to victims of more recent, smaller bushfires. Mary recalled though that her mother had bought a new lounge suite on lay-by from Myer just before the fire. The store kindly wrote off the debt.

Mary said her parents were devastated by the loss of Michael, who was “dad’s favorite”. Michael was a popular young man, liked by everyone who knew him.

The family moved to Icy Creek in June 1940 after a heavy fall of snow. Mick was 56 and the farm was covered in trees, bracken fern and scrub.

“Naturally it was a long time before any farming of any sort could be done, so my father rented a block of land at Vesper (8km away) to grow potatoes,” Peter said.

“It belonged to a member of the Adams family. While the potatoes were in the growing stage there, he and the elder boys would launch an assault on the jungle that was Icy Creek.”

Peter speculates that his father chose this harsh lifestyle because he disliked working for wages. He could have easily gained work in a sawmill or road gang.

Mick loved growing potatoes. He could have earned much more money cutting firewood on his own farm, but preferred to grow spuds at Vesper, so that’s what he did.

He stayed there in a two-room wooden house with his son Dan and they both went home at weekends. Dan sometimes went home on Wednesday night as well, allowing Mick an evening to indulge his liking for beer at the Noojee Hotel.

Mick had some quaint personal characteristics. Peter said his father loved talking about his past, but he used to get “completely carried away”.

“The funny thing was that no one took any notice, because we had heard it all before. Mum would be darning a sock, Dan and the girls would be playing cards and I would be reading a book, all of us totally oblivious to Mick’s monologue,” Peter said.

“His eyes would take on a faraway look as he recounted how he made a wealthy squatter look a fool, or how he advised the union rep to settle a dispute over a pay rise. He always placed himself in the starring role and his acting was superb.

“These monologues would last about 20 minutes until, like a man coming out of anaesthetic, he would slowly come back to reality. Then he would reach for his deck of cards, and humming away to himself, would start playing patience.”

Mick had a fortnightly shaving ritual in which he assembled all the necessary paraphernalia and inserted his dentures. Then he would hold his nose and shave his top lip. It was the only time he wore false teeth.

Another peculiarity was a tuneless whistle, which he blew incessantly while he worked. He was known for this throughout the district.

Mick was diagnosed late in life with a heart condition. He was supposed to stop work, which he did for a while, before starting again. His favorite job was charring out stumps.

“This involved stacking a quantity of dry wood around the base, heaping clods of dirt over this wood to about three quarters of its circumference, wait for a windy day and set fire to it,” Peter said.

“Then, when it’s well and truly burning, cover the stump completely with more clods and it would create a combustion effect underground, most times burning the stump completely, roots and all.

“It was the only way to tackle the stumps in that district. Grubbing them out would have taken a week a stump. Blasting them out with gelignite would have cost a fortune. Charring, or stoving as it was sometimes called, was the most economical way to do it.”

Noreen remembers her father being a voracious reader who also encouraged his children to read. He used to often buy from the socialist International Bookshop at the top end of Bourke Street, which only closed in the early 1990s. Mick’s favorite fiction included the Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson, and he could recite many of their works.

His children were treated to a broad range of literature and opinions. Noreen read Hitler’s Mein Kampf when 14 or 15. She also read the works of American journalists Edgar Snow and Agnes Smedley regarding the rise of Mao and modern China.

Noreen said Mick’s literary and political tastes were unique in the remote district where the family lived. She said the reading offered some escape from the hardships of what was effectively a 19th century lifestyle, without electricity.

Mick’s children all drifted away from Icy Creek except Dan. After a major operation in the 1950s which required ongoing medical attention, Eleanor went to live with Jim in a house he had bought at Drouin. Mick, who never owned a car in his life and never had a licence, made his way down to see her when he could. His transport was usually foot, train or bus depending on availability. There was a mail car which travelled from Icy Creek and Fumina to Noojee and Warragul. This provided a link by motor vehicle into these towns.

Mick’s children respected their father and enjoyed his company, but his erratic behavior made him difficult to live with.

“He was at times a moody person, even to the point of becoming morose or sullen,” Peter said.

“But for the most part he was quite cheerful and you always knew where he was by the sound of his unique whistle.”

In 1997, Noreen said: “As he grew older, I realise now that dad began to suffer from depression and mood swings. The death of Arch and then Sheila in the mid-40s didn’t help.

“Sometimes he would work cheerfully around the farm whistling tunelessly and at other times a black mood would take over to such an extent that he would speak to no-one for weeks.

“Nevertheless, dad could be great company. He had fascinating stories of outback New South Wales and his shearing days. He recalled travelling on Cobb and Co coaches and even riding a bicycle incredible distances from one shed to the next.”

One of his tall stories was: “I’ll never forget the mosquitoes at Wilcannia. They were huge. I didn’t mind so much the bites. It was the ruthless way they dropped me when they’d finished.”

Mary recalled that her father always maintained an interest in lotteries, but without much success. Contrarily, he was a committed socialist. He was never religious, but on his death bed asked for a priest. Questioned about this contradiction, he said: “You never know”.

Because he lived mostly in Gippsland, Mick had infrequent contact with his brothers and sister, except Ned while he lived at Dalmore, although there were occasional visits each way. Mick was said to be closest to his brother William. Mick would send potatoes to his brother and receive fruit in return. Their sister Mary Tennant used to occasionally visit Dalmore with her husband Charles and younger children. In contrast, Mick might never have seen his brother Charles again after leaving home about 1898. There are no recollections among Mick’s children of Charles, who was a transient war pensioner, visiting Gippsland.

Mick died on January 31, 1959 after a short illness, aged 74.

He was buried at Drouin cemetery on February 2, 1959. In his will, written 1954, he left everything to his wife Eleanor. In the event that she might have predeceased him, he made provision for his son Daniel to have the farm at Icy Creek.

Robert Winthrop

The connection is that one of his victims was the widowed sister-in-law of my great-grandfather Edward Gorey.

The full story is published here on my personal wiki, as written mostly by Cheryl Lean.

I likened Winthrop to George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman character.

Harry Flashman was Fraser’s fictional creation of the Rugby school bully who persecuted Tom Brown and was finally expelled for drunkenness.

Although somewhat cowardly, Flashman enjoyed enough good fortune to be mistaken for a hero while remaining by his own description a scoundrel, liar, cheat, thief and a toady.

He was also a notorious womaniser, as was Winthrop – a rogue with gold fever who left a trail of women and children in his wake.

Winthrop was a “remittance man” who came from a long line of distinguished Royal Navy commanders and admirals. In fact one of Winthrop’s ancestors was John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts.

I won’t recount the full story here, but highlights include:

• Winthrop sired 18 children by five women, but there could be more, as he never stayed in one place for too long.
• He lived at various times in five countries and four Australian states.
• In New Zealand he owned champion cattle and a prized racehorse.
• He eloped with a married barmaid from Auckland to Melbourne.
• Several of his sons served in the First World War.
• Winthrop at one time lived in Kalgoorlie’s Hay Street brothel precinct.

It’s a fascinating story of lust and greed.

One of Juliet’s cousins, Johann, is a genealogist and he contacted me recently after discovering my family history website.

Johann sent me a gedcom file, which I’ve now uploaded to show the Claassen family tree.

Claassen is a Mennonite name that originated in the Netherlands.

Juliet is descended from Claus and Marlene Clauszen, of Delve, Germany. Their son Claus was born at Delve in 1695 and sailed with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to Cape Town in 1720.

Claus, ook bekend as Claas Claasz gaan op 21.7.1720 aanboord van die “Blijenburg” as matroos indiens van die VOC. Op 20.8.1720 ontvang hy sy matroospak na ‘n maandlange opleiding as matroos. Hy arriveer aan die Kaap Desember 1720. Gedurende 1722-1734 is hy ‘n boerkneg nadat hy op 16.2.1722 met Goewerneur Swellengrebel se toestemming bedank. In 1734 verkry hy met waarnemende goewerneur Jan de la Fontainne se magtiging vryburgerstatus. Na sy troue in 1735 vestig hy hom op die plaas “Hemelrood”,Herbertsdale.

Op 21.10.1735 verkry hy die plaas “Elandsrugge” en op 10.5.1752 die plass “Buffelsfontein”. Op 4.8.1764 leen Claus die verlate plaas “Langetouw” (nou genoem “Langfontein”) van Jacobus Visagie Op 27.11.1767, na die dood van Claus, leen Dirk Uwes vir “Buffelsfontein” en op 16.2.1785 gaan die plaas oor aan Jacobus Rademeyer.

Op 6.5.1772 word die agterstallige huurgeld van Claus betaal met geld en velle, vermoedelik deur sy seun, Cornelis.

Clausz is gedoop deur Pastoor Dethlevi in die Lutherse Marienkirche van Delve. Die kerkie is opgerig in 1250 en bestaan vandag nog.

Delve is geleë aan die Eiderivier en was ‘n hawedorp. Die dorp is deel van Ditmarschen, tans in Schleswig-Holstein, Noord Duitsland. Destyds was dit deel van die Koninkryk van Denemarke.

Claus left the company service in 1734 and settled on the farm “Hemelrood” at Herbertsdale in 1735.

Michael John Gorey, farmer of Waubra, married Eleanora Augusta Hermitage Sutherland at 101 Gore Street, Fitzroy, on April 19, 1913.

Rev John Hosking, who celebrated the marriage of my grandparents.

I thought my grandmother was Presbyterian, but she may have been Congregationalist at that time, or maybe it was close enough.

Although my grandfather was said to be ambivalent about religion in his later years, he cared enough to have his eldest child (my aunt Sheila) baptised a Catholic in August 1914.

I can’t imagine he would have been too impressed at being married by a Congregationalist and temperance advocate, or perhaps he was so much in love he didn’t care.

This post isn’t meant to be a genealogical reflection.

Rather, I discovered some interesting information about Rev Hosking.

Born at Copperhouse, West Comwall, in 1860, he was educated at Redruth Public School, and at Victoria Park College, the UMFC Theological Institution 1883-1886, and received on probation at the 1886 Conference. He offered his services to the Committee for Colonial Missions and was sent immediately to Australia where he served at Ballarat (1886-1887), Melboume (1887-1888), and Brisbane (1888-1891). He apparently had offered to come to New Zealand in 1890, and the following year a New Zealand layman on a visit to Australia was impressed by him, and an appointment was offered. He served at Christchurch, 1891-1896, and during that time was Chairman of the UMFC District in 1894. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the Shaw University and Barritt College, of Raleigh, North Carolina in 1895.

While in Christchurch he established the Christian Evidence Society and the Moral League. He was something of a controversialist, and gained prominence through his very public exposure of the confidence trickster Arthur Bentley Worthington. Morley describes him as a voracious reader and voluminous writer, and in the New Zealand Bibliography he has ten entries, including a 565 page treatise on Christian morals, theology and history. After the Union of 1896 he was stationed at Hastings (1896-1897) and Hamilton (1897-1899). He was clearly a man with leadership ability.

After his time at Mt Eden he was appointed the pastor at the Fitzroy Congregational Church in Melbourne. While in Melbourne he was prominent as a leader of the Protestant Federation, and was also active as an Orangeman and as a temperance advocate. During the 1914-1918 War he visited the United States, and on his retum he became minister of the Chapple St Baptist Church, where he spent only a few months prior to his death, at Broken Hill, on June 27th 1919.

Even more interesting, the good reverend was happy to endorse a commercial product.

He appeared in an advertisement in The Advertiser (Adelaide) on August 24, 1912 to promote Clements Tonic.

The “splendid tribute to this great nerve and brain tonic” was written on March 1, 1912 from the minister’s manse at 101 Gore Street, Fitzroy, where my grandparents were married just over a year later.

Rev John Hosking endorses Clements Tonic.