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The mines burrow into the
sides of the Mounts Welsh, Jones, Mutton and Beef,
and into the creeks running between these
mountains.
Moses and John began well
with their digging, finding some good gold. Their
families settled in to the new way of life, but for
the two men, their involvement with their families,
together with Anne's illness and subsequent death,
meant that from here their ways parted. They always
remembered the companionship and support of the
early years and visited when they could.
Mary Connor (Murphy) and her
children c. 1865
 John
and Mary had their first child, Margaret Mary, born
3 June 1855. Mary had been helping Anne with the
education of her boys and, when Anne became ill
during 1856, the two boys stayed with John and
Mary. Moses' and Anne's daughter, Mary Anne, went
to work for one of the local families. John and
Mary's family was further increased when Patrick
Michael was born 23 Nov. 1856.
The Armidale Express
of Saturday, April 18, 1857 reports:-'The
diggers working at the Rocky River are earning from
2 to 4 a week. Some of the ground near Garland's
late store is turning out first rate. Connor's
praty, who are working a horse machine there are
getting very payable stuff, the yield being from 2
to3 cwts. to the bucketfull.' 'Gold, 3 12s. per oz.
for any quantity'.
`The weather is a bit more
settled, but already we can snuff the chill and
bracing air of approaching winter, particularly the
mornings and evenings.'
`Our postal service requires
some remarks, for whenever a river rises, we get no
mails! Last week, for instance, Monday and
Wednesday's bags arrived only on Saturday, and the
newspapers were much damaged, and in instances,
missing altogether. We presume that the down mails
shared the same delay, and that the letters by them
for Europe were too late for the `Columbian'. A
highway like that to New England deserves to be in
a better condition.'
John and Mary became restless
through the long, cold, wet winter of 1857. The
ground was slushy, slippery and boggy, so John,
like so many of the miners could not make any
progress. Once again the family was packed into the
dray and they set off for a new mine John had heard
about at Fairfield (Drake), near Tenterfield.
Mary's third child, Mary Anne, was born at
Tenterfield, 13 September 1858.
This was not a successful
venture, John felt let down by the gold mine and
his losses worried him, so they returned to Rocky
River. John was only one of the many who suffered
such reverses in gold speculating, but to him it
was a stern lesson. He returned to his digging and
sluicing at Rocky River. Now that the weather was
warmer it was better. He also brought more horses
and made up a good team.
With his
earlier knowledge of shipping conditions at Morpeth
to aid him, he now began a carrying business,
taking down the wheat and wool, and any other
produce, that was to be shipped from Morpeth to
Sydney and thence to England and Europe. On the
return trip he would bring back the much needed
food supplies, clothing and building materials. The
value of horse teams over bullock teams was speed,
horses could travel twelve to eighteen miles per
day compared to bollocks
only eight to
twelve miles a day. In wet years
with flooded rim a and boggy flats the trip could
take up to five months whereas in a dry year the
trip could be accomplished in five weeks_ The
teamsters were usually wasted by a mate or a lad,
or as in John Connor's case, by his son It
is told that
even at eight years of age, Patrick could walk (and
ride) with his father's team from Uralla to Morpeth
and back. He knew the special harness that fitted
comfortably on each horse and could assist with the
morning harnessing and evening unharnessing every
day. He even knew the special spiked shoes for each
horse as they were strung on the row of nails along
the side of the waggon. At Morpeth where the flats
were so boggy logs had been laid in neat rows to
form a path for the waggons, but these were so
slippery that the horses were shod with spiked
shoes to enable them to pull
their loads.
This meant that when the teams reached the camping
grounds, each horse had to have its shoes changed
to the spiked ones and then after the waggon was
unloaded at the wharf and the return load on and
the waggon back on firm ground, the process with
the horses shoes had to be repeated, putting on the
normal ones for the homeward trip. What lessons
must have passed between father and son on those
long, quiet times together?
By 1860 most of the Rivers
between Morpeth and Uralla had been bridged or, as
at Singleton and Aberdeen, a ferry provided. John
was among those teamsters who tried the route to
Kempsey and a deeper shipping port, but the
mountains were too steep and hard for the horses.
Bad and all as were the Liverpool and the Moonbi
Ranges, they were preferable to the steep climb up
from the coast. So they continued their method of
using two teams to haul a load to the top of the
Moonbi's, leaving that load there and going back
for the second load.
Twenty years and more John
continued these trips, leaving Mary to attend to
the children. They had seven children though one
little boy lived only eight months. She cared for
them, started them on the road of learning and then
sent them to the local school. When John came home
from his trips, whether that trip had been quick
and pleasant or beset with storms, bogs, or any of
the various frustrations, Mary was always there to
welcome him home and to make his life easier, at
least for a while.
The Catholic Priests had just
come to the area and John and Mary were happy to
have their children baptised and to be able to
attend Mass, even though perhaps, not as often as
they would have liked. Father Timothy McCarthy took
up residence in Armidale in 1853 but it took him
the first three years just to ride once around his
parish which extended from Singleton to Ipswich and
from the Pacific Coast as far inland as he could
go. In 1855 Father John Dunne arrived and it was he
who baptised Margaret Mary Connor on 11 October
1855 when she was four months old, and then Patrick
Michael Connor on 12 December
1856 just a few weeks after
his birth. Later Father J.T. O'Neil came to help in
the parish and when Moses Henry Connor was born in
1868 it was Father J.T. Lynch who baptised him.
Father Lynch had visited the area while he was
still in Singleton. It was he who had organised the
Catholics to build the little wooden chapel in
Armidale, that Father McCarthy found on his arrival
there.
A public meeting was called
at Rocky River and a fund raised to erect a chapel
at the diggings. On 30 August 1856 Father McCarthy
stated that, "a suitable building will be completed
in about a week". It was made of slab, lined with
calico and would hold 150 children. It was to be
used as a school as well as a chapel and stood
mid-way between the two most populated areas,
Mounts Welsh and Jones, near Mr. James Ryan's
residence. A report in the "Freeman's Journal" of
17 January 1857 stated that `Divine Service is
occasionally given by Rev. T. McCarthy, but
generally by Rev. J.F. Dunne.'
By 1860 the population of
Rocky River was declining as the gold was becoming
more difficult to get. Uralla continued to grow as
the centre of a large woolgrowing district. The
little wooden church-school at Rocky River fell
into decay through neglect and not being used when
a new wooden church was built in Park Street, in
Uralla. This was the Mass centre until the new
brick building was erected at the northern end of
Bridge Street in 1880.
Mary's time was well filled
with caring for, and sewing for, the children while
John was away, but the nights were long and lonely.
She began the education of her children by always
having her precious Bible and dictionary on the
table. Every childish question was carefully
answered and they were taught how to seek and find
the learning that would stand by them throughout
life. It is little wonder that the teacher's
reports commented on their level of achievement at
school, or that they were competent and confident
to undertake high responsibilities as young men and
women of their time. Her three sons all entered
into the Public and Civic life of their areas.
Margaret Mary Connor met John
Patrick Henry, a carrier like her father. They were
married at Uralla on 7 January 1871 and their first
child was born 21 December that same year, and
named John Patrick like his father. John built a
home for Margaret at the end of Hill Street, near
the foot of Mount Mutton. There they raised their
family of twelve children.
Mary's youngest boy, Moses
Henry, was only three years old when Margaret's
John Patrick was born so there was no time when
Mary was not caring for or helping with a baby.
The opening of the Railway
Station in Uralla in August 1882, brought mixed
blessings and feelings to John Connor. The speed of
the trains made a great difference to the time for
travelling to and from Sydney, or any of the places
along the way. It made a great difference to the
time for bringing food supplies, and it
considerably increased the
quantity of all types of
supplies that could now be brought to the town. But
for John it meant that he and his horses were no
longer wanted; their life's work was done. He sold
his team, and, being 72 years of age, he retired to
a quieter, less stressful way of life. He still did
some searching for gold and some working in the
garden, but mostly he let go everything. It was
only a few short years until he died in 1887.
John Connor loved the sea and
had great faith in its healing powers. In between
carting trips to Morpeth, particularly during the
cold New England winters, when colds and flu were
prevelant, he would load the family into the buggy
and go down the sea at Kempsey for a few weeks.
When all were restored to good health he would
bring them home and return to the daily grind of
earning a living. The same if any of the children
or Mary or himself, had a cut or sore that would
not heal, down to the clean salt water was better
than to any doctor. Only at the end of his life did
the sea fail him, perhaps he left the cut too long;
gangrene had set in. He spent some weeks at Kempsey
but was no better on his return, then a few weeks
with his youngest daughter and her family at
Ben Lomond, but he returned home still not healed.
Did he remember how many years he had pushed his
body to the limit, working to make a good home for
Mary? To rear and educate his children? They are
all grown men and women now, settled in their homes
and with their families. Even his beautiful horses
had not been needed since the railway line had been
opened in 1882. The Lord called him home, quietly
and gently, Mary as always was there at his side,
God Bless her.
URALLA & WALCHA TIMES
Wednesday, April 27, 1887
OBITUARY.
- We have again this week to announce the death of
one of the oldest residents of this neighbourhood,
Mr. J. O'Connor, who died at his late residence on
Thursday morning last.
Mr. O'Connor, who had passed
the proverbial three score and ten, was born in
Dublin in 1810, and followed the occupation of a
brewer. He landed in Australia in the year 1830 -
56 years ago - and during that time experienced
many changes and saw many ups and downs. The first
few years of his life in this colony were spent in
and around Sydney. Being of an adventurous spirit
and great physical strength, he was just the man
fitted to be a pioneer. He was one of the first
white men to penetrate and explore the Macleay
River, and many a thrilling tale he could tell of
his adventures with the wild blacks in that
district, and it is known that the Macleay tribes
were the most warlike of any aboriginals in the
Colony, From the Macleay he came to the Hunter
River and located himself at Green Hills, Morpeth,
where for 17 years he remained in the employ of
Captain Rapsey, of the old St. Michael storeship as
wharfinger. Maitland and Morpeth were nothing more
than a wild bush when he went there: but, before
leaving, both places were rapidly growing, and good
buildings were standing in place of the ancient
stringy bark buildings that were first erected on
the sites now occupied by the pretty towns of
Maitland and Morpeth. Here again after 17 years as
wharfinger, he took a whaling voyage through the
sunny Southern Ocean; on his return to Sydney,
meeting with his only brother, Mr. M. O'Connor, now
of Bundarra, he gave up the sea and with him
settled down at Moreton Bay, or, as it is now
known, Queensland; but that great epoch in
Australian history, the gold discovery, sent him
moving and he arrived at the Rocky River with the
first rush and has lived here ever since, with one
or two exceptions - for a short time in the
neighbourhood of Tenterfield, and for a while in
Fairfield, where he lost a lot of money,
speculating in mining. For 35 years Mr. O'Connor
has lived in this neighbourhood; he has watched it
grow from a wild bush to what it is now, and we do
not suppose that there are many older inhabitants
in this part left behind him. He leaves a widow, 3
sons, 3 daughters, 17 grandchildren, 1 brother, Mr.
M. O'Connor, and a sister, Mrs. Bermingham, of
Chester, England. Those who knew Mr. O'Connor some
few years back relate many prodigious feats of
strength that he has performed. The cause of his
death was a general break up of the constitution.
He was buried on Friday at Uralla and was followed
to his last resting-place by a large number of old
friends. The Rev. Dean O'Connor officiated at the
grave.
When Patrick Francis Moran
came to Australia as Archbishop of Sydney, in
March, 1884 it was natural that Mary Connor
(Murphy) should write to him, as to an old school
friend, and welcome him to the country that had
given her a new start in life, security and
opportunities for her children and peace and
contentment for herself. It was natural, too that
when he came to Armidale for the Episcopal
Consecration of Rev. Patrick Joseph O'Connor as
Bishop of Armidale on 4 March 1903, that he would
stop in Uralla and pay a visit to Mary.
THE URALLA NEWS
Wednesday, August 18 1909
One of our Pioneers.
On Monday last,
August 16, Mrs. O'Connor, sen., of Leighlin
Cottage, Uralla, celebrated her 80th birthday and
was the recipient of many kindly greetings and
presents from friends and relatives. Except for a
troublesome partial deafness, the worthy old
lady is in possession of all her faculties, and her
recollections of the early days of the district
(of
which she has been a resident for 55 years) are
wonderfully clear, and particularly entertaining
when exercised in connection with the history of
the early days of the old Rocky goldfield. She has
reared a family of three sons and three daughters,
all worthy citizens, who had the pleasure of
meeting together to greet her on her birthday. Her
other descendants comprise 41 grandchildren and 26
great-grandchildren - all New Englanders - so that
in wishing our brave old pioneer many happy
returns of the day, the News ranges itself upon the
side of quite a big section of the community.
Mary
O’Connor’s treasured statue of Our Lady(Click
to enlarge)
 In
a corner of the living room in her little
weatherboard cottage Mary O'Connor had set up her
treasures, the statue of Our Lady on top of the
three boxes-cum-cupboard with a tidy curtain
hanging in front. Inside she had her shroud all
ready as was the custom of the time, and on the
lower shelf her treasured Bible and her dictionary,
both now worn and well used. On the wall above hung
the two pictures, the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of
Sorrows. Many were the times when this "Prayer
Corner" was the source of comfort and strength for
Mary as she raised and trained her children and
cared for her husband and came to the aid of her
many neighbors and friends. When one day, by a sad
accident, fire burnt through the cottage destroying
Mary's home and clothing, this one corner was
saved.
The statue is still loved and
cared for in Rita Dawson's home in Hill Street,
Uralla, which is built on the same place as Mary
O'Connor's little "Leighlin Cottage" used be.
THE URALLA TIMES
Wednesday, May 28, 1914
Death of Mrs. O'Connor
On Monday, the 25th, at 2
p.m. there passed away another of our brave
old pioneers in the person of Mrs. O'Connor, of
Hill Street, Uralla, at the ripe age of 85 years. A
native of County Carlow, Ireland, she, accompanied
by a younger sister, ventured upon the long and
arduous voyage to Australia per sailing ship 61
years ago. After a year spent in Queensland she
married her late husband (who predeceased her by
about 27 years) and came from Ipswich per horse
team overland to the then famous Rocky River
diggings where, save for a short interval spent at
Tenterfield, she has lived ever since and reared a
family of three sons and three daughters, all of
whom were assembled at her deathbed. Although grown
very feeble she only took to her bed about 12 days
ago, since when she gradually sank and died as
stated, passing away as peacefully as an infant
falling asleep. She leaves 91 descendants, viz., 6
children, 42 grandchildren, and 43 great
grandchildren. A worthy and patriotic woman she
never, since the granting of womanhood suffrage,
failed to record her vote, and it was a source of
honest pride to her to know that her children
inherited her public spirit; two sons, viz.,
Messrs. P.M. and J.F. O'Connor and a grandson, Mr.
J.P. Henry, being each in turn Mayor of their
native town, Uralla. The first named was also first
President of the Gostwyck Shire Council and J.F.
O'Connor is the present Mayor of Inverell, and the
youngest son, Mr. M.H. O'Connor, is an ex-Mayor of
Hillgrove. Truly, an honorable record; may she rest
in peace!
Four
Generations
Back:-
Eileen, Kathleen, Una O'Connor, Maud Henry, May
Nixon, Agnes Wall. Each daughter standing behind
her parent. Centre:- Moses Henry, John Francis,
Patrick Michael, Mary yMotherJ, Margaret, Mary Anne
and Ellen O'Connor. (Click to enlarge)
The funeral took place on
Tuesday, a large number of relatives and friends
following the remains to their last resting place.
A service was conducted at St. Joseph's Church by
Rev. Father McGrath, and afterwards at the old
cemetery), where the interment took place.
The late Mrs. O'Connor's
daughters are Mrs. J.P. Henry Snr., Mrs. Nixon and
Mrs. Wall
Chapter 11 & O'Connor
Genealogy
Contact Peter O'Connor mailto:oconnorpr@optusnet.com.au
for more O'Connor family details
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