Wolseley Anzacs
Nearly two hundred years of the Preece family in Australia.
This is the story of a convict who was deported in 1824. He married in Van Diemen’s Land to become one of Australia’s pioneer families. Their children moved to the country town of Wolseley, in South Australia where they were schooled and eventually, off to war. It was here that three brothers fought for the British Empire, in the war to end all wars. The Preece family had to deal with loss, uncertainty, sickness and the military. This story is 200 years of history about the Preece family and the generations that they influenced.
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Allan Preece 1914. |
Allan Preece was the oldest of five brothers who lived in Wolseley, South Australia. He had one older sister, and four younger. Born in 1879 Allan became a member of the Australian Light Horse during the First World War, while two of his brothers served in the AIF, also in the war to end all wars.
Written by Ben Matthews. Allan Preece was my Grandmothers Uncle.
© 2016 ISBN: 978-0-9944682-2-2
Chapter page
1 ~ Evan and Margaret Preece ~ 4
2 ~ Alexander and Jane Preece ~ 7
3 ~ 1900, the Turn of the Century ~ 16
4 ~ After Gallipoli ~ 34
5 ~ Their Memory ~ 50
6 ~ The Next Generation ~ 52
7 ~ After the War ~ 66
8 ~ In Honour of ~ 73
Acknowledgements.
My thanks to Peter John Vesely and Sandra Elizabeth Krake for their support and their input. Without them this story would be thirty pages shorter and a lot less accurate. They are deserving of our accolades.
~1~
~ Evan and Margaret Preece ~
Allan was thirty-six when he bolted out of a trench in an attempt to charge up a narrow ridge with 149 other Australian soldiers of the 8th Light Horse battalion. Only two minutes before, 150 Aussies had already been gunned down, attempting the exact same feat while serving their country at Gallipoli. Allan never had children of his own, yet he was a family man through and through. With that said, I think we should start at the beginning.
It was 1990 when my Grandmother handed me a piece of paper with a story of our ancestors. Unaware of computer technology, she asked me if I could retype a particular story eight times, so that she could give a copy of it to family members that had asked. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I only had to type it once on the computer, and then print nine copies, one for myself of course. I had earned some brownie points for myself that day, and an exquisite chocolate cake for a reward. But more than that, she sparked a desire in me to find out more, which has taken me on a journey and a roller coaster ride for more than twenty-five years while I researched my family history. Some members still elude me while others display a character and lifestyle that helps me understand, not only where I come from, but why I am the way I am. This was the story that she gave me!
Evan Preece was born 12th June 1803 in Herefordshire, England. His parents, John and Mary remained in England while Evan sailed across the ocean to an island far away from home, to an Island known as 'Van Diemen’s Land'. He arrived in Hobart on the 9th November 1824, aboard the 'Princess Charlotte'.
The earliest written record of Evan Preece comes from the Oxford Lent Assizes in 1824, and it is here that the story of the Preece family in Australia begins. This record shows that Evan was 19 years old when he was accused of stealing a sheep worth two pounds, from Mr George Yeld on the 10th of March 1824 at Pembridge, Herefordshire.
Evan was tried in the Oxford Lent Assizes on the 22nd of March, 1824. And although he pleaded 'not guilty' to the charge, he was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to death by hanging. However, this sentence was later commuted to 14 years transportation.
Evan was stored on the 'Princess Charlotte' like cargo, which departed England on the 9th of September 1824. The ship was under the command of Captain Blythe, and had 140 convict on board, none of which he considered worthy of his company. The ship arrived in Hobart on the 9th of November, 1824.
Convict records describes Evan Preece as being 5'9" tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a small mole on the right inner lip. [1] His native place was given as Dilling/Leominister in Herefordshire and his occupation was listed as a farm labourer and ploughman. Evan is described in his gaol report as being 'disorderly and of indifferent character'.
While serving his time in Van Diemen’s Land, Evan, on the 2nd of June, 1829, was reported for insolence and disobedience to an Officer Adey and others, and was sent for six months to Maria Island, which was an isolated and cold place off the coast of Tasmania. This report was made by Captain George Meredith who later played a part in the opening up of more farmland in the southeast of Tasmania. Evan was again reported by Meredith on the 2nd of March 1830 for insolence and violence towards an overseer's wife. For this he received twenty five lashes.
Even’s attitude mellowed over the years, especially when free women were arriving in the colonies. An Irish orphan woman by the name of Margaret Callaghan had sailed from London with 216 other free immigrant woman aboard the 'Bodicea' which arrived in Hobart on the 4th of February 1836. The term free only meant that they were not convicts, and had received free passage as an incentive to leave an overcrowded England, in the hope of starting a new life in the colonies.
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Margaret Preece. [2] |
It is unknown how Evan and Margaret met exactly, although it was over a year later when Evan made an application to the governor to marry. Convicts wishing to marry had to apply for approval to do so, and on the 9th of May 1837, Evan did exactly that. After waiting nearly three weeks for his approval, he was given permission to marry Miss Callaghan.
Although her name was Margaret, all previous records of her maiden name show that the spelling of her family name was uncertain. There are various records where her name had been spelt as 'Callaghn', 'Callahan' and 'Calahin'. This is not surprising in view of the fact that neither she nor Evan could read or write.
Margaret Callaghan was born in 1810 and was twenty-seven years old when she married Evan on the 26th of June 1837 at Great Swanport, Tasmania. Evan was seven years her senior and married in the Parish of Sorrell, where both were recorded as being from the parish of Great Swanport, which is the district around Swansea on the east coast of Van Diemen’s Land. [3] It was common practice at the time for convicts nearing the end of their sentence to be assigned to free settlers as farm labourers and it is most likely that Evan was so assigned at the time of their marriage. Evan Preece received a conditional pardon on the 3rd of February 1838, one month shy of his fourteen year sentence.
Evan and Margaret continued to live in the parish of Great Swanport until at least 1848. His occupation began as a farm labourer and was later promoted to farmer. [4]
On the 20th of February 1851, Evan and Margaret Preece left Launceston Tasmania, for Portland Bay, Victoria on the 'City of Sydney'. They took with them nine of their ten children: George, John, Jane, Mary, Michael, Evan, James, Thomas and William. While birth records exist for three of their children, Mary (born 04.12.1843), Evan (born 13.04.1845) and Thomas (born 14.11.1848), there is also a birth record for another daughter, Maria (born 25.02.1847). Maria was not listed as being on board the 'City of Sydney' in 1851, plus there are no records for any deaths on board the ship. This leads us to believe that Maria Preece had died somewhere between 1847 and 1851. Despite the fact that death records were kept in Van Diemen's Land at the time, no record of her could be found. As for births, they were not legally required to be registered in Van Diemen's Land until the late 1830's and did not become common practice until the mid-1840's. Since Even nor Margaret could read nor write, and that only four of the seven births were recorded prior to 1847, it seems strange that there are no records of the three births that occurred between 1848 and 1851, after compulsory records had been introduced. We can conclude that not all records were enforced by the government of the day, which may have been what prompted the Preece’s to leave Launceston in the first place.
After disembarking from the 'City of Sydney' at Portland Bay, Victoria, Evan, Margaret and the children, travelled by foot towards Mount Gambier, situated in the Southeast of South Australia. A report in the Mount Gambier newspaper, 'The Border Watch', describes how the family were found lost and hungry near the Victoria, South Australia border on the Edge of Mount Shank station by station workers. The owner arranged for provisions to be sent to them. To repay his kindness, Evan worked at Mount Shank station for some time.
Evan died in 1860 and was buried in the Mount Gambier cemetery. He was reunited with his wife after she passed away on the 22nd of October 1877, aged 67. During their time together, Margaret and Evan had eleven children, the youngest was only eight years when his father died. We have already mentioned George, John, Michael and Jane, who were four of the nine that were born in Tasmania. Mary was number five and deserves an honourable mention for having twenty-two children after she married Mr Alfred J. Hateley, yet there were only one set of twins among the siblings. There sheer number dictates that they are well known in Mount Gambier district.
The sixth child for Margaret and Evan was Evan junior, born in 1845, and was followed by the mysterious Maria who had died before 1851. Then came Thomas Preece, who became a government official of Mt Gambier in his later years. The ninth was James Preece who made a name for himself in Sandford, Victoria. William Joseph Preece was number ten and was born in 1850, while our eleventh child, Alexander John Preece, was the only south Australian in the family, born in 1852 at Mount Gambier. It is with Alex that our story continues, since he is my grandmothers, grandfather.
~2~
~ Alexander and Jane Preece ~
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Alexander John Preece, born 1852. [5] |
Alexander John Preece was born in Mount Gambier, in South Australia’s Southeast. It’s a beautiful place with a big blue lake that doubles as a water supply, where the water congregates into an inactive volcano. Talk about one of nature’s great wonders. Alex’s father was a convict from Somerset in England and, to cut a long story short, he married and made his way to Mount Shank, which is also another inactive volcano in the Mount Gambier region.
Although the volcano in Mount Shank is not as big, the soil is fantastic for farming, which was how they made a living.
Life in Mount Gambier was far from complex, yet there was plenty of work to be done. Alex was the youngest of eleven children, of which eight were boys. Growing up as the youngest is most often met with mixed emotions. Everyone else in the family has more experience, is more educated and has had more life lessons to learn from. As a toddler Alex was learning to crawl while everyone else is either walking past or running rings around him. When Alex finally learned to run, everyone else is taller and faster, even if they are only two years older. Being the youngest is like being the runt of the litter, always being pushed aside and your opinions are flawed with inexperience and most often ignored. Yet when there is work to be done, you’re expected to not only pitch in, but catch up. Consequently, Alex hated the farming life since he could never get approval for what he could do, and because it was family, he was ridiculed for what he couldn’t do. If he tried to argue or discuss his poor treatment, his brothers were not only bigger, they had no problem giving him a fat lip or a bruised rib. Plus their father thought that fighting was a natural part of growing up. Headlocks were the easiest and most common form of torture from his siblings, which is why Alex chose a profession that got him away from farming and away from his family.
Horse training became his passion but training was not about bullying animals into submission, as most people saw it; it was about respect between a horse and its rider. For the horse, it was about learning a new language and forming a partnership with a rider. It took time and patience before a horse would even accept a rider let alone obey one.
Horses were the largest form of transport throughout this vast Australian land, yet more importantly, horses were a reliable asset to farming and agriculture. All Australians had respect for these animals, especially since they were the biggest and strongest in the relationship. You can’t call the family horse a pet, but they were well looked after as if they were one. A rider bonds with their horse as if the horse was their big brother, their comrade in arms, or even their best buddy. A horse and rider was a partnership that is as close as an inseparable friendship. Yet it is also about teamwork, where one has to lead so that the other can follow. To train these horses is an emotionally rewarding experience, especially when they are handed over to their owners. This gave Alex, not only great personal reward, but an income as well. It gave him self-confidence and self-belief which was enough fuel for life, and enough courage to find himself a partner.
Alex was approaching his mid-twenties and the love of his life was a Scottish born lass, named Jane Lamont. [6] Although getting pregnant out of wedlock was not uncommon, it was frowned upon. So when they found that they were expecting their first child, Alex put their other need aside and decided marriage was the priority. Alex had invited his sister Jane to the wedding, although she had moved to Casterton, in Victoria when she had married about ten years before. His sister Jane had travelled with her husband, Robert Lambert and their three children for the special occasion. Although Alex was happy to see his sister at their wedding, he didn’t realise that Robert and Jane had a proposition for the young couple, to go back with them and train horses. They wasted no time in getting there.
The wedding was in 1877 and in May the same year there was a sports event that was taking off, as the Victorian Football Association was formed. It should keep the city folk busy on the weekends. Chester won the Melbourne Cup that year and the population was estimated to have reached the two million mark. It had not even been ninety years since the arrival of the First Fleet, and already people were worried if the country could sustain so many people. Anyway, back to Alex.
The baby was a girl and they named her Margaret Jane Preece. She was given the name 'Margaret' after Alex’s mother who was not well at the time. They added the 'Jane' to honour their new life, thanks to his sister Jane. As for Alex, he was not that accustomed to babies, or young children for that matter. He may have come from a large family, but as the youngest, he spent more time trying to win the approval of his older siblings, not give it. Consequently, he spent most of his time on horseback, especially when infants were around. Alex’s role as a horse trainer also spilled over into droving, which meant some nights were spent sleeping under the stars and with a baby home, that’s exactly where he preferred to be. He would boil the billy over a campfire and hunt rabbits to satisfy his hunger. He also made damper which is bread that is left to cook overnight in the coals of an extinguished flame. Fresh damper in the morning would almost melt in your mouth, but there was work to be done as well. The horses needed water and grazing the night before, and in the morning it was saddling up the horses and getting those sheep to their new owner, since that’s how a drover earns his wage. This was the reality that Alex understood; he had no idea why babies cried.
Casterton was open terrain and sometimes neighbours were too far away for socialising, but luckily Alex’s wife Jane was with people who cared for her. Robert and sister-in-law Jane, kept that isolated feeling down to a minimum, as well as provide advice about the baby, since they had learnt from raising three children of their own. This gave both the girls time to do their cross-stitching, which would hang on the wall when they had finished. Jane’s first one said, 'Home, Sweet Home'. Cross-stitch was a form of entertainment, which is why Jane would only do her hobby after she had hand washed all the dirty clothes, made the beds, fed the chickens and made sure the animals had water and the horses had enough feed. These were all tasks that could be done with a child sitting on your hip. Jane was content in her new environment, and it wasn’t long before she was expecting another baby. During their three-year stay in Casterton, young Allan was born. It was soon after his birth that work had taken the family Southeast, to a place called Sandford.
These were supposed to be happy times for a husband and a wife with two children, but for Jane it was a lot of hard work looking after two children when she became pregnant with the third. Over the next two years little Jane junior and Alexander junior were born. It was now four kids demanding their mother’s attention.
As for Alex, his line of work was consistent with a builder, farmer and drover. He made and mended fences, erected stables and sheds; he chopped wood for the fire and then stacked it into a storage shed close to the back door, which unintentionally helped to attract spiders. His biggest building project was the long drop; virtually a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on top. Once that was done, a shed like structure was built around it for privacy, where three walls and a door turned it into an outhouse. It was called an outhouse because it was built out the backyard away from the house to keep the smell away, as well as those god-dam flies. There were thousands of the little buggers; it was ridiculous how they found a toilet fragrance appealing. With the necessities complete, Alex found himself spending long hours training horses at the stables, or was away droving, transporting horses and sheep. Even though these were pioneer days when families were semi-isolated and family was the only company, Alex was hardly at home, let alone having input into the raising of their children.
Placing his skill of fatherhood aside, Alex was highly regarded as a competent horse trainer. Even though most people didn’t like his methods, they were impressed with the results. As we said before, horses were invaluable for transport and farming. They were a necessity for pioneering Australia, as were a good pair of shoes, since most people spent the best part of the day riding or walking.
There were no race horses in his repertoire, but there were plenty of work horses that Alex had trained. Just getting a horse to accept a saddle took time and patience. It was a whole other story to train a good droving horse, as speed and agility were needed to get around the sheep. Riders needed to be trained as well, to get the horse to respond to the bridle, which was used to directed and re-directed the horse quickly and swiftly. Then there were the Clydesdales, the work horses. These horses were heavy, yet strong and reliable. They were often placed in teams for pulling ploughs, buckboards and wagons. The wagons only needed one or two horses to pull the weight, but ploughing needed muscle, and sometimes there would be up to six Clydesdales to a team, for the soil can be harsh and the days can be long.
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Ploughing the harsh soil. |
When all the horses were trained in Sandford, the family moved to sheep country, to the town of Merino in Victoria, where their next child was born. When Murdoch arrived, little Margaret was seven. He mother Jane was slowly teaching her to help around the house. There was only enough work for a year in Merino before the family travelled across the border to a little town that is not really on the map. The only way to find Teatrick is to look up Teatrick Road, a little way out of Bordertown. Where the road ends, that is Teatrick.
Margaret was ten when her baby brother, John, became the sixth child to be born into the family. Margaret had become like so many other first-born children who had been given too much responsibility at an early age. Although she was great with the kids she was also a bully at times. As for the eight year-old Allan, he was starting to rebel against her methods and was prepared to argue with her when she went overboard. Even though he was younger, because he was a boy he felt he was stronger, which gave him the confidence to stand up to her, just in case their arguments came down to a fight. Luckily it never did, or so we’ve been told, however, slowly but surely Allan began to show compassion for the younger children as he found himself responding to what seemed like injustice from Margret. It was as if he was being caught in the middle, trying to negotiate with his older sister who was demanding and aggressive, while being punished by his mother when Margaret complained that Allan wasn’t helping. Allan may have only been eight, but he had already displayed a heart for the underdog. As for his father Alex, he was proud of his first-born son, but like so many dads, he had never taken the time to tell him. What he did make time to do, was to teach Allan to ride a horse. The ability to ride was almost as basic as the ability to walk to these early pioneers. The first time Allan was placed on a horse by his father, he sat high in the saddle and looked down, the ground looks so far away for a young boy. Then the command comes as Alex tells his son to kick the beast. The boy had a horrid look on his face as he turned to his instructor. It was a look as if he was stepping into a boxing ring against the heavy weight champion of the world, knowing full well that his destiny was to be beaten to a pulp. With the expression noted by his father, Alex repeats himself, “kick the horse.”
Reluctantly the boy digs his heels into the belly of the beast, and then to his surprise, nothing happens. The horse gives a little shake of the head, but does not move a step. The response from his father was a simple bow of the head in disbelief, although he fully expected the result. He raises his head and raises his voice to the boy and says, “Kick the bloody thing”.
The boy tries with all his might to dig his heels into the animal, and then with a raised head, the horse slowly takes a few steps forward. Since the boy didn’t have a tight grip on the reins, after four or five steps, the horse came to a halt. The horse knew full well that his rider was not in control. It was as if the horse was thinking, ‘either give me some instructions,
![Mrs Margaret Preece [nee Calaghan]](/book-images/1552193417/image-1.jpeg)
