4. The Moore family becomes established in Ilford area, NSW

In one generation, the Moores went from being convict and free immigrants to land-owners and established residents in the Ilford area of the Central West of NSW. We must bear in mind that they were the beneficiaries of the massacres of the original inhabitants of the land, the Wiradjuri people. 

Their prospects and fortunes, apart from a few minor brushes with the law, far outstripped their compatriots back in Ireland. They had been establishing themselves in trades and as farmers during the years of the Potato Famine back home. The 1860s in Ireland saw an increase in political activity aiming towards Home Rule. In 1858 in the US, John O'Mahony founded the Fenians, a secret militant organisation echoing in its name the Fianna - the warrior band of the legendary Celtic hero Finn McCool.

 
A branch is founded in Ireland by James Stephens, whose Irish Fenians call themselves the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In Ireland during 1867 various ineffectual attempts at uprising are put down Nevertheless there are explosions, violent deaths and executions as Fenians try to spring their arrested colleagues from police custody. 

Read more here 

At the time this was going on, twelve thousand miles away the Moores were buying land in Ilford (then called Kean's Swamp) and nearby.

Laurence Moore 1783 Queen's County/Laois, Ireland - 1836 Mulgoa, NSW (4th great grandfather)

On his arrival as a convict Laurence worked at Harrington Park as an assigned convict. After Mary, Daniel and John arrived, he was assigned to Mary, and they resided in Sydney. In the 1828 census they were living in George Street.  At that time he was an assigned servant, working as a labourer, but also had three head of cattle and employed a labourer named Patrick Murphy. (Piddington)

In 1836 they appear to be still living in Sydney, because Laurence is twice recorded as entering Sydney Gaol.

Laurence is recorded as entering gaol in January 1836. He was 5 ft 7 inches tall, stout, with a pale complexion, grey hair and hazel eyes. He had a tattoo of "mother" on his chest with a crucifix. The does not appear to be any detail about what he was in gaol for.

In March he was arrested for allegedly having stolen a hat from John Monk near the Market Wharf on Darling Harbour. The two men were walking together along Sussex St late on the evening of 28 March when the alleged offence occurred. Laurence was sent to Sydney Gaol on 30 March to await trial which took place on 23 April. He was found not guilty.

The description of him on entry to gaol was that he was grey-haired with a pale complexion. His occupation was labourer, and his year of birth given as 1783.

Not long after, Laurence died. His death is listed in the Register of Coroners' Inquests for 27 November 1837. Cause of death was given as "Visitation of God", which meant "natural causes" in today's parlance. There is no record of a Death Certificate.

He was buried at Sir John's Cemetery in Regentville, not far from Mulgoa. His headstone was inscribed:

"Erected by Michael Moore in
Memory of his father
Laurence Moore Who
Departed this life on
The eighth day of October
1836, aged 53 years.
Request in pace"









The cemetery where Laurence was buried was established by Sir John Jamison, owner of Regentville estate, for his Irish tenants. It was also used by other Catholic families in the area. It was situated on a hill overlooking the Nepean Valley and Blue Mountains. It is located in Lilac Place, Jamisontown.

Source: Penrith City Local History website 

Cemetery from Google maps

Mary Moore 1788 Ireland - 1852 Penrith NSW (4th great grandmother)

As little is known of Mary's life after her arrival in Australia as before.

Mary and Laurence had a daughter, Mary, born in Sydney the year after her arrival. She and Laurence were sponsors at the baptism of James and Margaret Russell's son John in September 1832 and Mary witnessed the marriage of her son Michael to Maria Ring in March 1834.

She seems to have been living with Michael and Maria at Mulgoa at the 1841 Census. The entry for the family includes a woman aged between 45 and 60. Mulgoa is not far distant from where Laurence was buried.

Mary Moore of Mulgoa was buried on 19 November 1852 by a Catholic priest, Michael Brennan, somewhere in the parish of Penrith. The burial register includes a ship's name Thames of London. It is not known in which cemetery she was buried, but as Michael erected a headstone to his father at St John's Cemetery in Regentville, near Mulgoa, she may have been buried with Laurence. 

Moving west 

Aboriginal Land

Laurence and Mary's sons Daniel, and then Michael, were the first of the Moores to buy land in Ilford in 1860 and 1861 respectively. 

The first Australians from this area are identified as the Mudgee and the Dabee people and are clans of the Wiradjuri nation.

A massacre has been documented at the Turon River on 1 September 1824 when a three-pronged attack by armed soldiers in daylight took place. 45 Wiradjuri men, women and children were driven into a swamp and killed.  Another took place in the vicinity of Rylstone on 5  -10 September 1824, when Chamberlaine, William Cox's overseer at Mudgee and two stockmen killed 16 Wiradjuri, probably all men, including a leader known by the settlers as Blucher. Source here.  

Blücher was a Prussian Field Marshall, an ally of the British, who earned his greatest recognition after leading his army against Napoleon at the Battle of The Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. According to his biography in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), Blucher retained, to the end of his life, the wildness and tendency to excesses which had caused his dismissal from the army in his youth, but these faults sprang from an ardent and vivid temperament which made him a leader of people. While by no means a military genius, his sheer determination and ability to spring back from errors made him a competent leader. A popular German idiom, ran wie Blücher ("charge like Blücher"), meaning that someone is taking very direct and aggressive action, in war or otherwise, refers to Blücher.

A curious nickname for the British colonists to give an Aboriginal Elder, perhaps signifying some respect? 

Introduced diseases and illnesses also took a severe toll. The Rylstone history webpage also adds: 

"Dislocation of Aboriginal culture...advanced rapidly. The last coroborees known in Rylstone or its hinterland were held on the Mudgee hills in the 1850s. The dramatic increase in European population as a result of the gold rushes in the 1850s forced many Aboriginal peoples to retreat to the plateau above Hill End and exacerbated their alienation from traditional hunting grounds and campsites."

Bourke by Martin Archer Shee (c. 1837–1850)

On 26 August 1835, the Governor of NSW, Sir Richard Bourke issued a proclamation through the Colonial Office which implemented the doctrine of terra nullius by proclaiming that Indigenous Australians could not sell or assign land, nor could a person acquire it, other than through distribution by the crown. This principle, that there was no land ownership in Australia prior to settlement by the British Crown, stood until the Mabo Decision of the high Court in 1992.

The proclamation was prompted by John Batman, who when establishing a settlement which is now Melbourne, agreed to a treaty with the local Aboriginal inhabitants. Bourke's proclamation effectively declared Batman's treaty null and void and implemented the concept of terra nullius.

In other ways Burke was reasonably enlightened: he abolished the established church - the church of England, and gave all churches equal footing, and he was keen on the emancipation of convicts. Although a British Army officer, he was Irish-born, and a Whig. 

Laurence and Mary's descendants 

1. Michael Moore 1810 Laois, Ireland - 1872 Ilford, NSW (3rd great grandfather)

Michael married Maria Ring (3rd great grandmother - see separate entry) at St Mary's Church in Sydney on 16 March 1834. Maria arrived from Ireland as a 21 year old servant on the Red Rover, a 'bride ship' in August 1832. 

Michael and Maria spent the first few years together in the Mulgoa / Penrith / Windsor / Emu Plains district, during which time their six sons were born. 

At the 1841 Census, the Moore family were residing at Henry Cox's property "Glenmore", Mulgoa. There was also an older woman, most likely Michael's mother Mary. 

House which was the Plough Inn

In 1857 and 1858, Michael held the licence for the 'Turon Inn' at Running Stream on the main road between Mudgee and Sydney. In 1861 he opened the 'Plough Inn' at Kean's Swamp (as Ilford was then known). On 16 July 1861, Michael bought a forty acre block to the west of the village at Tara Creek. Michael farmed that land as well as running the inn. He was variously described as an 'inn-keeper' and 'farmer'. His sons also bought neighbouring blocks. They and their descendants were farmers and carriers, farmers and bee-keepers, farmers and mail-contractors, farmers and butchers, farmers and prospectors. 

Michael died on 26 September 1872, aged 62. 

Ilford Cemetery, general view

Maria outlived him by 20 years, and also outlived three of her six children. She died on 16 April 1895 aged 87. She and Michael are buried together at Ilford Cemetery. 

Children of Michael and Maria née Ring

Michael and Maria's six sons all married, mostly to young women from the Ilford area. 

John Fairfield and Catherine (née Byrne)

• John Fairfield (2nd great grandfather), born 1835 in Windsor, died 10 June 1869 at Round Swamp, married Catherine Byrne (2nd great grandmother) - see next chapter, born July 1833 in Carlow, Ireland, died 8 April 1914 at 'Tara', Ilford, aged 83.  John and Catherine remained at Round Swamp for the first few years. In 1862, he bought two blocks totalling just over 40 acres not far from his father's farm on Tara Creek, and named the property "The Willow", John died of a "low fever" at Tara Creek in1869 aged 34, leaving Catherine with seven young children. With the help of her sons, Catherine kept the farm going.  The eldest, Johnny, was 13 when his father died. Johnny lived to 91 years of age, and never married. he remained on 'The Willow' for most of his life, as did his brother Thomas "Dadder"(great grandfather), who married Fanny Weatherly (great grandmother) in 1893. They had 14 children. The property was enlarged by further purchases. Additional sources of income for the large family included the mail run between Ilford and Sofala.                         

• Laurence Ring, born 1835 at Mulgoa, died 28 March 1908 at Lithgow, married Esther Piesley in 1861, and following her death, Mary Finn in 1894
• Thomas, born 1836 at Mulgoa, died 1876 at Rylstone, married Frances Fitzpatrick in 1860. He died of typhoid and was buried at Ilford.
• Michael, born about 1840 at Mulgoa, died 1919 in Inverell. He married Eleanor (Ellen) Barnaby, daughter of an Inn-keeper at Round Swamp in 1866. 
• Frederick, born 13 September 1842 at Penrith, died 1893, married Anne Murray, daughter of a local farmer. They later moved to Queensland. 
• Robert, born 1845 at Emu Plains, died 9 April 1907 at Lithgow, married Harriet Giles, daughter of a local farmer and sister of Bridget Giles who married his cousin Daniel Bede Moore. Robert also died of typhoid and was buried at Bowenfels. 

Children of John Fairfield and Catherine (née Byrne)

• John (Johnnie), born 12 December 1855 at St Marys, died 5 November 1946 'The Willow', Ilford. Never married.
• Michael, born 11 August 1857 at Round Swamp, died 1908 at Ilford
• Maria, born 1 May 1859 at Round Swamp, died 1939 at Parramatta, married Samuel Stackpoole
• Thomas "Dadder" (Great Grandfather), born 21 February 1861 at Round Swamp, died 2 November 1935 at Mudgee, married Fanny Weatherly, born 1872 Rylstone, died 6 July 1949 at Kandos. They had 14 children! One of them was Thessel Agnes - Tessa- (Grandmother) who married Ted Briggs. 

Tom and Fanny Moore and the girls in the family

• Robert Lawrence (Bob), born 16 December 1863 at Kean's Swamp, died 24 October 1949 at Rylstone, married Hannah Russell
• Daniel Joseph (Dan), born 12 January 1866 at Kean's Swamp, died 11 July 1945 at Ilford, married Catherine Minehan
• Mary Bridget, born 8 May 1868 at Rylstone
• Agnes, born 1869 at Kean's Swamp, died 1959 at Rylstone, married James Guthrie

Dan, Bob and Johnnie Moore

Children of Thomas "Dadder" and Fanny née Weatherly

     (i)    Percy Hayden, born 1893 at Rylstone

Mel and Hayden Moore

     (ii)   Norman Thomas, born 1895, died 1980

Norman Moore

Norman and Eileen with children Bernard and Yvonne

    (iii)   Hilda Celestine, born 1897 at Rylstone, died 1944, married Thomas Partlett

    (iv)   Volney George, born 1899 Rylstone, married Kathleen Ritchie

    (v)    Thessel Agnes 'Tessa', born 27 February 1901 in Rylstone, died 8 August 1959, married Ted Briggs

Wedding of Tessa Moore and Ted Briggs at Moore house, Ilford

Tess Moore and Ted Briggs wedding

Tessa and Ted Briggs in the 1940s

Tessa Briggs née Moore

    (vi)   Daphne, born 1903 at Rylstone, died 1994 at Rylstone, married Douglas Neil Mills

Daphne Moore

    (vii)  Sylvia Mary, born 1904 at Rylstone, died 2001, married Earl Reynolds

Mary Moore and Earl Reynolds

    (viii) Doris Valerie, born 1906 at Rylstone

    (ix)   Colin Ernest, born 12 January 1909 at Rylstone, died 1997, married Marjorie

    (x)    Kathleen Beatrice, born 1910 at Rylstone

    (xi)   Irene, born 1912

    (xii)  Veronica Catherine, born 1914 at Rylstone, died 1994 at Mudgee

    (xiii) Iris J, born about 1916 at Rylstone

    (xiv)  Mavis E, born about 1918 at Rylstone

Daphne, Doris and Mary Moore. Baby ? 

2. Daniel Moore 1812 Ireland - 15 July 1868 Ilford, NSW (4th great uncle)

Daniel was apprenticed to James Russell as a blacksmith at the 1828 census and continued in that trade all his life. It appears he spent several years in the Maitland district, then moved to Mudgee and later to Ilford. 

Daniel's wife was Margaret Russell (née Moore), the widow of James Russell. They were married when he was 21 according to his death certificate. There is no record of the marriage in NSW. 

According to his death certificate, Daniel had nine children, four of whom pre-deceased him. The five living when he died were: 

• Daniel Bede, born 1835 - worked with his father as a blacksmith and also bought a number of larger blocks between the Sofala and Razorback Roads in Warrangunia Parish. He appears to be the only child who stayed in Ilford. He followed his father's trade and became a blacksmith, continuing to operate the smithy for some time after his father's death. In 1864 he married Bridget Giles, whose father was a police officer and later a publican at Sofala. Daniel had already bought land between Ilford and Sofala which, with additional purchases over time, became the property known as "Taraena" still owned by his descendants. He died in 1920 and was buried in Ilford. 
• Mary, born about 1837
• Ellen, born about 1840 - married a horse-breaker named George Light at Mudgee in 1863.
• Catherine (known as Kate Maria), born about 1842 - married in 1861 to Thomas Readford, whose family lived near Ilford. Died in Orange in 1877, following the birth of her tenth child. Buried in Orange.  
• Lawrence, born about 1845 - went north as a young man and spent the rest of his life in Queensland or northwestern NSW. He married Mary Anderson at St George in 1869. After working as a bullock driver around St George and as a stockman on various stations in the border district, he selected a block of land at Goodooga in NW NSW which he later transferred to Mary's step-father Beaumont Broadbent. Lawrence later selected another beside it. The two blocks together known as "Dhuroo" were the family home from 1875 until the early 1900s. Lawrence and Mary's nine surviving children grew up there and two others died as infants and are buried there. While at "Dhuroo" the challenges the family faced included a flood in 1890 which occurred while Mary was at home alone with the younger children and elderly parents. They were forced to take refuge on a nearby sandhill with no food except some flour and dripping until Lawrence was able to return. the waterhole near where the family lived is still known as Moore's Lagoon. 
  
  
  Lawrence later lived at Augathella, Queensland where his son Larry had a small property. He died at his daughter's home near Thallon, Old in 1924 and is buried in the Thallon Cemetery. 
  
  
  Two of Lawrence and Mary's sons served in France in World War 1. Tom was killed at Bullecourt in 1917 and is buried in an unmarked grave in a location described as "in the vicinity of Maricourt Wood." He is commemorated on the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. 
  
  
  Tom's brother Richard was seriously wounded but recovered. 

Margaret is believed to have died in Sydney in 1845, not long after Lawrence was born. 

Margaret had three children with James Russell

• James, born 2 June 1826 at Parramatta, died 31 August 1886 at Camperdown
• Elizabeth, born 19 June 1830 in Sydney, died 17 September 1903 at Oatlands
• John, born 2 March 1832 at Sydney, died 25 August 1907 in Toowoomba

After Margaret's death, Daniel established a relationship with a widow named Johanna Looney née Noonan. They were both arrested on forgery-related charges at Mudgee in 1849, having apparently come into town to be married. Johanna was acquitted, but Daniel, who had also been tried shortly before on a desperate charge of forgery, was sentenced to three years ion road gang on 22 September 1849.  After serving a little over a year, he was freely and unconditionally pardoned on 18 October 1850.

Johanna was pregnant when she was arrested and gave birth to twin girls in Bathurst gaol. They were born in 1849 and named Margaret and Mary. 

The relationship between Daniel and Johanna appears to have continued for a while after he was released from prison, but ended well before his death. Current members of both families were unaware of it until recently. A descendent of one of the twins contacted the Moore family a few years ago, having discovered the connection to Daniel. 

When he entered prison Daniel was described as being 5 feet 61/2 inches tall, of stout build, with hazel eyes, a 'fresh' or 'pale' complexion, and 'brown' or 'dark' hair. 

On 7 May 1860 he bought a 5 acre block of land on which he established a smithy. It was in the village of Ilford on the Mudgee Road near the intersection with the Sofala Road.

Daniel was the first of the Moore family to own land in the Ilford area. Within a year his brother Michael purchased his farm. The descendants of the two brothers live in the area today. 

Daniel died suddenly on 15 July 1868 of a ruptured blood vessel and was buried at Round Swamp. His gravestone was erected by his sister-in-law Maria Moore (née Ring). The inscription reads: 

Sacred to the memory of Daniel Moore who departed this life July 16th 1868, aged 52 years. May he Rest In Peace

All you that my grave do see
Prepare yourselves to follow me
Repent in time, Make no delay,
For I, in haste, was called away. 

Erected by his affectionate sister-in-law, Maria Moore

3. John Moore 1813 Laois, Ireland - ? 1868 Mudgee  (4th great uncle)

John was apprenticed as a baker in 1828. 

He was arrested in Sydney and entered Darlinghurst Gaol on 12 October 1836 to await trial. He was discharged after trial on 1 November 1836. The gaol record describes him as 5 ft 11 inches tall, with a sallow complexion, black hair and hazel eyes, and his trade as blacksmith. 

John Moore of Mulgoa (the same location as his mother and brother Michael married Catherine Dolan at St Nicholas Church, Penrith on 29 January 1855. Catherine was from The Sugar Loaf, which is not far east of Ilford. Witnesses at the marriage were John Byrne of Mount Vernan and Maria Moore (who would be Michael's wife) of Mulgoa. 

A John Moore who had been in the colony for 43 years, that is, arrived in 1826, died at Lawson's Creek in 1868 and was buried at Mudgee. No information about his family is included in his death certificate and his age was stated to be 67, not 55. 

There are numerous people born in NSW, some around Rylstone, in the years after 1855 with parents named as John and Catherine Moore.

4. Mary Moore 1827, Sydney NSW -  (4th great aunt)

Nothing is known about Mary other than she was 11 months old at the 1828 Census. 

For the information in this chapter I am indebted to Bob Starling and his publication Thames Immigration Ship Cork Ireland to Port Jackson, Sydney 1825-1826 Volume 2. Published October 2012, held in the collection of the Society of Australian Genealogists in Sydney. 

Information also sourced from Over Cherry Tree Hill: 150 Years of Pioneer Settlement edited by Margaret Piddington, The Cherry Tree Hill Community Press, Ilford, 1989.

15. Ted and Tessa Briggs and family - Grandparents (Briggs lineage)

Edward James Briggs - Ted - "Pop" was born at Tabrabucca, Ilford on 15 March, 1895. Tabrabucca was the home of his mother, Louisa Briggs, née Harding. His father was Edward John Briggs.

His mother and father were farmers.

Ted was the fourth-born of his parents. His elder brother, John, was born, and died in 1887. When Ted was born, his sister Mary was aged six, and sister Jean was three.

Another sister, Lily, was born when Ted was two. She died as a two-year old in 1899.

John, Mary and Jean had been born at Cudgegong, before their father in 1890 took up 'Hillgrove' at Ilford, where the family lived in a slab cottage on the farm.

Ted's father ('Old Ted') also drove the horse-drawn school bus from 'Hillgrove' to the Warragunyah school, which Ted and his siblings Mary and Jean attended.

The old house at Hillgrove

As children, Ted and his siblings Mary and Jean helped to clear the land and worked on the farm. 

A glimpse into the childhood of the children is provided by Ivy Farrar, daughter of Mary, Ted's sister,  and her husband, Thomas Farrar, in her memoir:

"My mother was the essence of sweetness and graciousness despite the very hard work which she was accustomed to at an early age. From her I learned to appreciate the beauty of our bushlands, birds and all living creatures. Her heart was in tune with her Creator, the One who tenderly cares for all His people."

"Our mother and Aunty Jean [Ted's sisters] worked hard on “Hillgrove” helping to clear the land and assisting with all kind of work even while they were still school children. They walked to the school in Warragunyah every day, a distance of three miles. 

"The kitchen at “Hillgrove” was of slab walls and they were papered inside and it had no ceiling. The floor was plain boards and had to be scrubbed regularly by the down on the knees method. It was the largest kitchen I ever remember seeing. The rest of the home was weatherboard. It was built a little away from the kitchen. Later a new kitchen was erected. It joined the main house. 

"The dairy was a fine construction which is mud plastered over wire netting which made quite thick strong walls. Outside they were thickly covered with ivy creeper which helped keep the dairy cool. 

"I can remember a funny episode which happened in Gran’s dairy late one afternoon. Grandfather was in the habit of setting a rat trap, having seen a rat disappearing down the drainpipe. Alas! Gran had been there earlier and set the trap. In the dim light he didn’t notice that it was already set with the result that his fingers got caught in it. Aunt said he was a bullock driver and he swore like one, but he was a good sport and saw the funny side as did everyone else.

"It seems that there was always one woman in each area who could perform the duties of a midwife should the need arise. Great Grandma Harding was one who could be called upon. 

"When my Aunty Jean was only fourteen years old she was staying with a lady who was expecting a baby. Well the inevitable happened, and no help to be had, so the brave mother to be had to instruct Aunty as to what she had to do. The result was successful. I feel sure that Aunty must have been one of the youngest persons to deliver a baby. The only antiseptic in those times was lysol. 

Ted was confirmed into the Church of England at Ilford on 10 May, 1913 (age 18)

Tess Briggs in the 1940s

Thessel (Tessa) Agnes Moore was born on born 27 February, 1901 in Rylstone, and died 8 August 1959 in Mudgee.

Tessa grew up at the Moore family property, "The Willows", where she married Ted Briggs on 11 April, 1921.

Ted Briggs and Tessa Moore's wedding.

Family

Ted and Tess had three children:

Clem

Ethel Pearl, known as Pearl, born 12 August, 1923 and died 30 October, 1996;
Clement Douglas, called Clem, born 2 September, 1924 at Mudgee, died 22 November, 2000 in Canberra;
Dudley George, called George, born 11 March, 1927, died 2018.

Ted, Tess and baby Pearl at Bogie Nile 14 April, 1924 (before the purchase
of the Model T Ford truck!)

Tess with babies Clem and Pearl

Ted and Tess with Pearl and Clem on washing day.

George

George and Jack Miller

Clem Briggs baptism certificate 2nd September, 1924

Confirmation of Pearl, Clem and George and Newton children
Ilford Church of England, 1937

Invitation to Pearl's Coming-of-age party

Pearl as a young woman

Clem, 1947

Clem, with baby Ian Cameron, 1948

Clem on horseback

George and Clem

Clem and Stan Reardon at cricket

George, Cliff Cameron and Clem

George, Tess, Cliff and Clem at Terry High Hi

Gwen Cant and Clem 24 June, 1949

Gwen Cant and Clem, 1950

Farming and community life

Ted and Tess were farmers, and it was the farming life and the farming community of Ilford with which they were engaged. Photographs from family albums show sports events - tennis and cricket.

Fat lambs at Hillgrove in the 1930s

Dopey at Hillgrove

Ginger of Hillgrove

Ted shoeing Ginger

Ted ready for tennis

Ted's sister, Mary, married Thomas Farrar, and they lived on a property in the Capertee Valley known as Bogie Nile. There were visits between the Briggs and Farrar families. Mary and Tom had two children, Ivy and Victor. Sadly, Mary took her own life by poisoning herself with strychnine on 22 November, 1926.

Various photos at Bogie Nile

At Bogie Nile. ?Mary née Briggs at right

One of the children at Bogie Nile

Bogie Nile

Bogie Nile

2 May, 1926

2 May, 1926. Clem Briggs at right, sister
Pearl, and mother ?Tess Briggs

Bogie Nile

One of the children at Bogie Nile

Model T Ford at Bogie Nile

Bogie Nile

Victor Farrar

Ivy and Dot on their horses

Ivy Farrar, whose memoir has provided an
enormous amount of background

Ted's sister, Jean, married Hubert Cyril Taylor and had a daughter named Dulcie May.

Jean Briggs

Jean and daughter Dulcie

Jean on the left

Dulcie May

Mary and Jean (from Ivy)

Dulcie May Taylor, daughter of
Jean née Briggs

Ivy Farrar wrote in her memoir about the Model T cars which were starting to supercede the horses: 

"Our uncle Ted Briggs at Ilford became the proud owner of a T model ford truck. A one tonner. My cousins and I have had many a laugh when we remember that truck and its inability to climb the “Pinch” which was a steep incline not far from the home at “Hillgrove”. Because of its steepness the petrol didn’t reach the carburettor so Uncle had a little flat spot at the foot of the hill where he turned the truck round and drove up the “Pinch” backwards. The steep hills were often a problem with these early “Fords”. One friend of my parents was often in trouble on steep inclines. My father came along once when his T model had stopped. He said to Dad “Its the jolly commentator Tommy.” Of course he meant the carburettor.

"My cousin May (??Dulcie May, daughter of Jean) always helped her Dad start his car. He used the crank handle & wound it like fury & May moved the throttle which controlled the petrol flow when the right sound came from the the motor. Really it was like a miniature circus when that car had to be started. Sometimes it would almost start and Uncle would get cranky when it didn’t. He would blame May for not moving the spark lever or throttle quickly enough. She would get the huff & bounce out of Lizzie and run into the house. May had a quick temper just like her Dad, but she soon got over it and back she would come. May was around the 14-15 years of age time of her life, and she didn’t really see the funny side of her father’s temper, but later when we were all grown up, we often laughed about these old cars and the problem they were to get started. In Winter time a bucket of water was heated on the stove or open fire to be put into the car’s radiator to be a sort of warming up process.

"Then there was the day Uncle, Aunty and May went to the local race meeting. They were travelling down a hill on the way home when one of the back wheels came off Lizzie & went bowling down the hill ahead of them. I can’t remember whether Uncle kept his “cool” that afternoon. "

Dot (?Farrar?) and Lizzie

World War Two

Ted was by all accounts a pacifist. During World War Two he enlisted in the Australian Army and was part-time in the 23rd Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps. He served from  13 May, 1942 until 18 May, 1944.

Bee-keeping

George and his father, Ted, on a bee trip about 1941

Alongside his farming pursuits, Ted raised bees, and travelled to various parts of the country with his beehives. During a visit in 2016, George recounted to Lynelle various of their exploits keeping the truck, fitted with a charcoal burner to fuel it, going during World War Two. George travelled with his father on the bee expeditions, while Clem kept the farm going at home.

Swimming in the Paterson River at Gresford about 1941

Ted amongst the beehives on Hector Harding's property, bottom of Aaron's Pass
mid 1940s

Robbing a beehive in the orchard at Hillgrove.

Pearl, Clem and George's cousin Ivy Farrar wrote in her memoir about one memorable bee exploit. Although the uncle is not named, it is a reasonable assumption that it was Ted Briggs.

"So Dad and an Uncle of ours (who was a small time bee farmer) set off with an axe to fell the tree and with clean buckets for the honey. I was at a safe distance watching proceedings. Everything was going along fine with Dad and Uncle taking it in turns to do the tree felling. But alas! the Bees became angry at the intervention to their quiet home in the bush and down they swarmed all over our dog who in desperation ran to Dad for help. Some of her bees flew on to Dad and away he went round the side of the hill like an Olympic runner with his hat on his hand swishing at the bees with Fly right on his heels. However they managed to shake off the swarm but not before Dad got a couple of stings on his bald head. Everyone said he should have left his hat on. Anyway Uncle did found the Queen Bee and put her in a prepared box and her workers followed her in.

"They took home a lovely bucket of wax full of delicious box honey. Dad and Mum put it in clean hessian and tied it up on a pole so as the honey could drain out, then be stored away. Several pieces of wax were left out for we children to eat."

Tess Briggs with daughter Pearl

Pearl Briggs and Cliff Cameron's wedding

Pearl married Clifford Cameron on 9 August, 1947. They had two children, Ian Gregory, born in 1948 and Ina Gai (known as Gai), born in 1952.

Add caption

Tessa with first grand
child, Ian Cameron

Gai Cameron's wedding

Clem Briggs and Gwen Cant's wedding and family

Clem and Gwen were married at Kandos on 18 October, 1952.  They had two children, Gary John, born 8 October, 1954 and Lynelle Jann, born 23 June, 1957.

Tessa Briggs (left) and Nanna Cant (right)

Gwen and Clem honeymooned in Coolangatta, Queensland

Gwen, Clem and Gary at Cant house in Kandos

Gary and Gwen at Kandos

Gary, Lynelle and Gwen at Kandos

Lynelle

Gary, about 1975

Lynelle about 1975

Lynelle with Governor-General, Dame Quentin Bryce, receiving her Order of
Australia in 2013, for distinguished service to public administration,
in particular for leadership and professionalism

George Briggs and June Honeysett were married on 11 February, 1950. They had four children: Denis George, born 27 August, 1951, died 2004; Edward Kim born 11 May, 1955; Jandy, born 22 March, 1959; Julie Ann.

Clem, June Honeysett and George

George. 29 May, 2016. 

George 29 May, 2016

Death of Tess Briggs

Tess Briggs, née Thessel Moore died on 8 August, 1959 at Mudgee. She is buried at Ilford Cemetery

Ted Briggs enjoyed an 80th birthday in March 1975. He died in Mudgee District Hospital on 14 October, 1976; he is buried at Ilford Cemetery alongside Tess. "He was a great man."

'Pop' Briggs 80th birthday

'Pop' Briggs 80th - George, June, Julie, Gary and Jandy