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Showing posts with label Horgan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horgan. Show all posts

29 September 2020

The Catholics of Tarlee - After many years

This article appeared in the Southern Cross newspaper in 1922. It is possible that the author was one of the O'Learys of Salisbury mentioned at the conclusion of the post as David Joseph O'Leary, brother to Hanora Horgan had lived at Stockport for nearly thirty years until his departure for Salisbury in 1896. (1)

AFTER MANY YEARS.

SOME OLD IDENTITIES.

(From an Old Contributor.)

A short while back it was my good fortune to obtain a brief holiday, which I elected to spend where in my youthful days I spent some pleasant times. In the days when Kapunda was the terminus of the railways to the north, Cobb and Co.'s coaches ran from there north to Clare and beyond it, and the fertile valley from Hamley Bridge (then the junction) to Manoora was commonly known as "the Valley of the Gilbert." Riverton and Saddleworth and Rhynie, or "Baker's Springs," then called, were existing and busy, as the roads, such as they were were well lined by teams carting to the towns and stations further on. 

Twenty-five years has made many changes, and most of the pioneers have passed away. Many sleep in the pretty gum tree shaded God's Acre that remains. Where the old church-school stood on the hill at Navan, the church built by those same pioneers and replaced by a small neat mortuary chapel, a monument to and erected under the will of John O'Brien, for very many years an employee of Anstey V. Giles, of Marocard station, now known as Giles' Corner. The Navan church was closed and pulled down, and a new one erected at Tarlee —a very pretty church indeed. It was here I saw that much loved priest the Rev. M. Brady, and it didn't take one long to see the confidence and mutual affection of this priest and his people. They are simply one in all that tends to the advancement of our religion. Fr. Brady may well say he "hasn't a bad Catholic in his parish," when whole families drive nine to eleven miles over heavy, wet roads, and remain fasting up to 12 or 1 o'clock before they can reach their homes, and practically the whole congregation at Tarlee received Holy Communion, and this on an ordinary Sunday. We dwellers in towns and cities think 9 o'clock too long to fast. Shame on us!

It was here at Tarlee I hoped to meet many friends of past days, but the majority had gone. Still a few remain, to prove what a healthy locality this is. I met the present patriarch, Mr. Denis Nash, now in his 91st year, and good for a game of 45's yet. He resides with his son, Mr. M. Nash, at the farm adjoining the township.

I also saw Mrs. M. Mclnerney, now in her 87th year, and but for a severe eye trouble in good health for her great age, while her memory for old times is wonderful and interesting. Her late husband, Mr. M. Mclnerney, was one of the earliest settlers in the district. Mrs. John Horgan, of Linwood, too, I met. She is the juvenile of these pioneers— only 84—and goes one Sunday to Hamley, the next to Tarlee, but always fasting to receive Holy Communion. These are the Catholics of the old Gilbert Valley. 

Then look at the younger group outside—Smiths, O'Deas' Fitzgeralds, Horgans, and others from "over the range," all, young and old, at the rails. I saw that well known racing man, Mr. M. F. O'Dea. He had returned from Adelaide races the night before, but could be at the Communion rails at Tarlee at 10.30 next morning, after a seven-mile drive. These are the people whose children will hold up the banner of the church for all time. It's good to be among them, even for a short stay. I was there again on Ascension Thursday, when Fr. Hayes, of the China Mission, called. Mass was at Riverton early, and Frs. Brady and Hayes started the Tarlee but-half-way their car struck work, as care will if you're in a hurry, and a kind non Catholic, a Mr. Thomas, got out his car and brought the two priests to Tarlee where Fr. Hayes heard confessions until Fr. Brady was well on with the Mass. It was refreshing, too, to see the crowd surrounding Fr. Hayes after Mass, and I saw many little, aye, and some big, trifles presented to help things along. I heard Fr. Hayes was pleased with his reception at Tarlee, and at Riverton, too, where Fr. Brady's small bandbox of a presbytery can't contain all that he would extend his generous hospitality to. When I saw it he had, two priests on a visit to him, and that genial, popular, and skilful medico, Dr. R. McMahon Glynn. Of  Dr. Glynn it may safely be said he is one of Riverton's indispensables, particularly from the Catholic viewpoint, but he is admired and respected by all creeds as a master of his profession, as a townsman, and as a superior in every public capacity in which he is concerned, and they are many and various; and one only need mention Mrs. Glynn to hear a burst of praise and gratitude for her good deeds—from the church, where she cares for, the altar linen, teaches catechism, and prepared and instructs candidates for the Sacraments, to the patients in Dr. Glynn's hospital, a chorus of praise and gratitude is heard, and all this having the cares of a large family, eight sons and one daughter, I was told, the latter now on a visit to an uncle in Ireland. 

It was here, too, I met Mr. John Callary, son of an old friend, the late Phillip Callary, one of the few first settlers on the Gilbert, who was instrumental in building the old church and getting a school at Navan when that place showed a prospect of growing to a township, and before the railway was made. John Callary is a true son of his father. When the church wants him, he's there, and anything he can do is done—a real pillar of the church—and he can find help ers easily. 

John Mclnerney son of the lady at Tarlee is here and his wife, daughter of Mrs. J. Horgan, of Linwood, and their numerous family; and cheery Tom Cleary, erstwhile manager of The Hermitage, and valued of the Tennants and Mortlocks, of squatting fame. Cheery as ever, he is, and his good wife has been one of the principal benefactors to the Riverton Church. To me, after long years of absence, most of the faces are strange, but I can discern that the faith has- not deteriorated, and that people like these, with a priest like Fr. M. Brady, will certainly make their mark in any community, and I was pointed to more than one good convert obtained by their good example. 

Most of the decorations of the Church at Riverton are ornate and valuable, and the Altar rail is, I think, unique. It is a memento of the wife of the late James Buckley, of Tarlee. The uprights seem mahogany, supporting ornamental railing of solid brass. I've seen nothing else like it. I was shown the new presbytery now approaching completion, and a fine block of land, where it is intended, ere many years pass to have a convent and school; and I am reminded that the Archbishop Reynolds would say: "Where priest and people are united there is no such word as failure." And now my time comes to say "good-bye", to old faces and old places, I will not likely see again, and I turn sadly back to the crush and bustle of the town, refreshed and strengthened by the hearty welcomes of a big-hearted, generous people. God bless them all. I forgot to mention, in writing of Mrs. Horgan, that she was originally Miss Honora O'Leary, one of the well known Salisbury family, who arrived in the State in 1840. She is, I believe, the only one living of the passengers of the ship "Mary Dugdale." Her brother, Mr. W. J. O'Leary, of Salisbury, must be one of the very oldest contributors to the "Southern Cross." (2)

1. 1896 'Country News.', Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1954), 1 May, p. 4. ,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166349321

2. 1922 'AFTER MANY YEARS.', Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1954), 14 July, p. 24. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167030380

26 March 2019

1908 Fisher's Implement Factory

A factory and a house

Illustrations from Trove help tell the story of Tarlee, a small rural town in South Australia in the early 1900s. In 1908, the year my father Edward John Horgan was born, the local Kapunda Herald newspaper published this story about a new factory built in Tarlee.

Throughout the years since its establishment, this prominent building has had several owners and a variety of businesses have made it their home.



Mr L. FISHER'S COACH AND IMPLEMENT FACTORY, TARLEE.

For many years Tarlee, though never a town of pretension, was practically at a standstill. During the last two or three years, with the increased agricultural prosperity of the district, business has improved, and there are signs of expansion in the town. The most conspicuous of these signs is the extension of the agricultural implement industry under the management of Mr. L. Fisher.

Mr. Fisher is well-known in the Mid North as a manufacturer of ploughs, cultivators, and other farm implements, and since his establishment at Tarlee business has grown so much as to necessitate larger premises. The above picture shows Mr. Fisher's newly-erected implement factory at Tarlee. When thoroughly completed it will be one of the most up-to-date workshops in the country. Mr. Fisher has a powerful Blackstone oil engine installed to work the machinery ; also half-circle up-to-date portable forges, with blast 'attached. The factory, is well designed, most comfortable, roomy, convenient, and well-ventilated, and no doubt will be a comfort for the workmen, and will enable Mr. Fisher to cope with the very large number of orders for implements which he has hitherto had to refuse on account of no conveniences to turn them out quickly enough.


As well as his famous ploughs, Mr. Fisher has a new design of a stump jump cultivator; which is taking the attention of farmers. Its construction is very light, and in every way seems to be a perfect implement. Mr. W. Clark, of Tarlee. who has one working on his farm, says it is the finest implement he has ever worked, is very light in draught, and a perfect jumper.
Post, telegraph, and telephone offices are within forty yards of the factory, which will facilitate business in case of urgent orders. (1
)

Lewis Fisher was born in November 1867 and had married Ellen O'Leary in the Catholic church in Manoora in February 1893. As early as 1903 many articles in the newspapers of the day were mentioning the implements made by L Fisher. He travelled throughout the mid north of South Australia displaying his cultivators and ploughs at the local shows. By the time his factory opened in Tarlee, Lewis was 41 and had five children.

The business prospered with advertisements .appearing in local newspapers. (2)


IN 1911 the business was featured in The Observer, an Adelaide based paper with a wider reach than the local Kapunda Herald. Once again the article was accompanied by a photo.

Mr. Fisher's well-known Factory at Tarlee, which has had to be considerably enlarged to meet present demands, is now working at high pressure. Among his leading manufactures are S.J. Cultivators, much improved, and his "top action" and "jam beam" ploughs. Over a thousand of the latter are working in South Australia alone. (3)


By 1912 Mr Fisher sold
his new and up-to-date house, together with blacksmith's plant, to Mr. W. Bordman (4) 

By November of 1912 the Fishers had left Tarlee for a new life in Adelaide. (5)
Lewis Fisher died in October 1941(6) and his wife Ellen died in 1952 (7). They are both buried in the Catholic section of West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide.

This post first appeared on justattarlee.blogspot.com by CRGalvin

1. 1908 'Mr. L. Fisher's Coach and Implement Factory. Tarlee.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 10 July, p. 3. (Kapunda Herald Illustrated Supplement.), viewed 25 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132365219

2. 1911 'Advertising', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 24 March, p. 10. (Kapunda Herald Illustrated Supplement), viewed 26 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108334620

3. 1911 'MR. L. FISHER'S IMPLEMENT FACTORY, TARLEE.', Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), 11 March, p. 32. , viewed 25 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164718812

4. 1912 'COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 14 June, p. 4. , viewed 25 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108340412

5. 1912 'THE COUNTRY.', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), 25 November, p. 11. , viewed 26 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5354077

6. 1941 'Family Notices', Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), 23 October, p. 19. , viewed 26 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92409573

7. 1952 'Family Notices', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 26 July, p. 22. , viewed 26 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47405556