John Campbell

"Dalmally and the Glens"

(no author cited)

(printed Dolphin Press, Fife)

page 4

Colin Campbell proved himself capable of great responsibility. He was an amazing man by any standards but more particularly by those of his time for he travelled no less than 3 times to Rome. He was made a Knight of Rhodes and became founder of the House of Breadalbane. He also began the great the former MacGregor castle of Cuilcuhorn (Kilchurn) but left it in the hands of his wife while he took part in the Crusades in Spain.He is thought to have started the rebuilding in 1440.

page 5

The MacGregors of Brackley became the Hereditory custodians of Kilchurn, an arrangement suitable to the Campbells of Glenorchy, by now much occupied with their lands in Perthshire. The arrangement lasted for over 30 years, during which time the MacGregors probably built the White House of Stronmilchan. A lease of 1550 was given by Sir Colin Campbell, Colin the Grey to thy beloved servant John MacConoquy MacGregor. By its terms John resigned some land held by his family, including the half merkland of Glenkinglas. Sir Colin, in return gave him the tacks of 3 farms, Arrecastlellan (Arichastlich), Arrenabeyne (Arivain) and Kyncrakkyn (Kinchracken) as well as the grazing land on the Quosche, the land round the castle, for 6 newly calved milk cows. John paid rent of 48 bolls of meal, together with an extra 14 bolls for the use of the mill at Kinchracken, one of the first mills in the district.

Page 8-9

A fair idea of life in the 17^th century, can be gathered from the records of the Black Book of Taymouth, a chronicle of the Campbells of Glenorchy. The land was rented to tacksmen, mostly relations, who, in turn divided some of it amongst cottars, again often relations, who worked in return for their own few animals keep. Nearly all rent was paid in kind. It was said that for every 3 grains of wheat a man planted, one was for himself, one was for the next years seed, and the third to pay the Laird withal.

Page 26-27

William and Dorothy Wordsworth, who came to the Highlands in 1804 were much put out when a women who kept the thatched inn at Cladich charged them 3 shillings for porridge and a feed of oats for the horse. The childs father then pointed out Kilchurn Castle at that time rising from the water, for the loch was in flood. Enchanted they asked him to take the horse and cart ahead to Dalmally. Then sitting on the hill looking at the castle William poured out the verse which began

child of loud throated war,

the mountain stream roars in thy hearing,

by thy hour of rest is come,

and thou art silent in thy age

Page 35

The Breadalbane Estate, at that time stretching from Kenmore, at the east end of Loch Tay to the south of Oban, was one of the largest in Scotland. But Gavin, the Marquess and the 7^th Earl, died in 1928 and the nephew who followed him was quickly succeeded by a cousin. The enormous death duties, combined with enforced payment of a pound a ewe for tied stock of hill farmers going out of business during the Depression of that time, enforced the sale of the Estate. The prophecy of the gypsy that one day the Breadalbanes would have but enough land to stand on seemed to be coming true.

Page 37

Coming down the Glen, the farm of Brackley south of the river Orchy is owned by the Crerars, descendants of John Campbell who rented the farm in 1843. They bought the farm from the Breadalbanes in the 1930s, when the rest of the Dalmally Estate  also changed hands. The adjoining farms of Succoth, Corryghoil, Blarchorain, and Kinchrackine were bought by Mr Jack Kennedy, lately proprietor of the Dalmally Hotel, who then sold most of the land to the Forestry Commission. Kinchrackine farm buildings, close to the junction of A85 and the A819 main road, have now become boarding kennels. Close to the house amongst the trees lies a stone carved by a Campbell ancestor of both Mrs Lynn and the Crerars of Brackley with the mysterious Gaelic words which translated say-

He who will know, will not know,

He who will understand, will not understand.

It was another Campbell, named John, the last Breadalbane tenant of Kinchrakine and Blarchaorain, who had the shop called Noahs Ark in the cottage opposite the bypass and the road up to the Dalmally Village.

"Discovering Argyll, Mull and Iona"

Willie Orr

John Donald Publishers

Edinburgh

1990

page 27-28

The five-storied keep of Kilchurn was built by Colin Campbell in 1440. Quite a remarkable man, Colin visited Rome 3 times and was made a Knight of Rhodes. In 1655 another Campbell, the Marquis of Argyll, was besieged in Kilchurn by Royalist troops. From the battlements he watched them burn and pillage the countryside and finally gather for an assault on the castle. Fortunately, some of General Moncks troops arrived to save the garrison. The castle, however, must have fallen into disrepair for, in 1685, John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane, who hoped to establish a great Highland militia under his command, began to reconstruct the building as a base for this force. Had the Government permitted him to realise this ambition, the Jacobite rebels would have had a ready-made army in the Highlands. Breadalbane swore allegiance to King William but his Jacobite leanings are well documented. However, the castle was used as a garrison by Hanoverian troops in 1745. In 1770 the roof was removed to slate houses and other buildings in the area. Kilchurn remained in Breadalbane hands until 1986. It is one of the most picturesque and well-preserved castles in Argyll.

page 167

Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, Duncan of the Seven Castles, who constructed a line of castles from Loch Tay to the west coast, including Finlarig, Kilchurn, and Achallader

"Is yours an SS Great Britain Family"

Adrian Ball

published by Kenneth Mason, 1988

The Brunel liner, "The Great Britain", was one of the most important ships ever built. The Great Britain made 32 round voyages between Britain and Australia between 1852 and 1875/76, carrying some 15,000 passengers on the outward journeys and perhaps 10,000 people home to Liverpool.

No other ship was more closely associated with the remarkable development which took place in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. And no vessel was held in ever higher regard, as her reputation for reliability and regularity increased with each year that passed.

The Great Britain was not designed for the long and challenging Australia run; Isambard Kingdom Brunel conceived her as being a fast and profitable contender on the much shorter trans-Atlantic route. But a shrewd commercial decision, influenced by the post Gold-rush demand for berths to Australia, led to the fortunes of the vessel being linked  inextricably with those of the booming Australian colonies. 

Grand Concept

A marine historian of the 1920s, writing about the SS Great Britain, described her as the most famous ship which ever floated, excepting Noahs Ark. Many Brunel devotees would accept this as a fair description; others would want to know more about the specifications of Noahs Ark before giving the palm to any other vessel!

Without doubt the Great Britain is one of the most significant ships ever built. In her was combined for the first time all the elements of the modern vessel: iron construction; a steam driven screw propeller; and a great bulk designed to achieve economical and efficient running. This early Victorian marine masterpiece has a proud and permanent place in marine history. By a mixture of good luck, foresight and daring she is still with us, undergoing complete restoration in the dock where she was laid down almost 150 years ago. Craftsmen and artists are serving her today with the same skill and diligence as did their predecessors in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Although a surviving monument of Britains industrial and marine pre-eminence in the last century, she is part of American history because of her epochal Atlantic crossings and the threat she represented to the fast and efficient US sailing packets of the day. But her greatest achievements were recorded between Liverpool and Melbourne rather than New York.

The Great Britain achieved her legendary reputation on the Australia run because of her utter reliability over a vast distance. When she was first conceived, in 1835, she was envisaged as ideal for much shorter journeys to and from a New York growing each year in prosperity and importance. In modern par­lance, she began as a Concorde, but settled down to being an efficient and profitable airbus.

The ships story, however, really begins in the 18th century, in a year which saw the birth of Napoleon Bonaparte in Corsica- and of Marc Isambard Brunel in Normandy. The young Brunel was first destined for the Church but later joined the French Navy and became a junior officer. By 1793, with Napoleans star beginning to rise, Marc Brunel was under suspicion as a Royalist sympathiser and fled the country to the United States. The Americans soon recognised Marc Brunels technical skills and he was appointed Chief Engineer of New York City. By the end of the century, however, the brilliant young Frenchman felt there was greater opportunity in Britain for his innovative skills.

In Britain he renewed the acquaintance of an Englishwoman, Sophia Kingdom, whom he had met in France when both were fleeing from the terror which came in the wake of the revolution. They were married and settled near Portsmouth Dockyard. Their son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was born there in April 1806. Tutored by his remarkable father until the age of nine Isambard was then sent to school in Hove, Sussex, where he distinguished himself as a bright and resourceful pupil. At 14, with Britain at peace again with France, he was enrolled at the College of Caen in Normandy, then at a famed mathematical establishment, the Lyceé Henri Quatre in Paris. Finally, he was apprenticed to a French manufacturer of chronometers and scientific instruments.

While the young Brunel was studying, his father was struggling with large debts at home for which he was arrested in 1821 and spent almost three months in gaol. Upon the intercession of the Duke of Wellington, he was given a state grant of £5,000 which enabled him to clear his debts. In the following year Isambard, now in his 17^th year, returned from France to work in his fathers London office. He soon became involved in the extraordinary variety of engineering projects which Brunel senior tackled to keep his head financially above water. Through his father he met many of the great scientists, engineers and public men of the day whose views and advice helped mould his character and gave him an assurance beyond his years.

It was at a meeting of directors of that company in a Blackfriars, London, hotel in 1835 that the 29-year-old I. K. Brunel made a quip which was to lead him ultimately to the design of the Great Britain. Talk turned to the 120 miles of railway line projected between the capital and Bristol. Isambard Brunel suggested, either seriously or jokingly, that the line could be extended to New York if they built a steamboat- to be called the Great Western- which could ply between Bristol and New York. His suggestion was taken seriously and a Great Western Railway committee was formed at once to consider the economics.

In January of 1836 the committee produced an encouraging report on the venture with Brunel stressing in an accompanying statement the need for the vessel to be as large as possible to carry sufficient fuel and a payload which was economically viable. The GWR directors were urged to construct a vessel of at least 1,200 tons which could make the journey to New York in less than 20 days and return in 13. (Comparable figures for the sailing ships of the day were 36 and 24 days respectively.)

The Great Britain was launched on 19 July 1843- the anniversary of the launch of the Great Western - and four years from the day on which her own first plates had been laid.

Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, the great-great-great grandfather of the present day Patron of the SS Great Britain Project, travelled to Bristol on the Great Western Railway for the floating-out ceremony. One of his many distinguished fellow guests was the 74-year-old Sir Marc Brunel, a proud and excited parent. Queen Victorias consort was supposed to launch the vessel himself but he s­urrendered the honour to Mrs John Miles, the wife of a Great Western director. Her aim was, however, faulty and she missed the ship. Prince Albert saved the day by grabbing another Champagne bottle and smashing it against the side of the Great Britain as she was floating slowly out of the dock.

The banquet, in a specially built white and crimson pavilion, was one of the most magnificent occasions Bristol had seen. Six hundred guests crowded the pavilion and tens of thousands of Bristolians packed every vantage point around the docks. It was ironically the most splendid marine occasion in the city until the same day of the month in July 1970 when the ship finally came home from the Fauklands.

Australia Bound

As the second half of the nineteenth century dawned, no section of the British commercial population was better placed than the shipping men and merchants to judge the potential of the Australian ­colonies. And among that fraternity, few were more knowledgeable than the Gibbs and Bright families of Bristol and Liverpool. They owned Gibbs, Bright & Company which operated the Eagle Line of sailing packets which traded between. Britain and Australia.

     This enterprise bought the Great Britain for only £18000 in December, 1850, ending the ships long period of idleness in Liverpool. The new owners knew the vessel well: Robert Bright had been one of the Great Western Railway directors who discussed the original Atlantic steamship venture with Brunel and Guppy in 1835. George Gibbs had been on the London board of the railway company. Both appreciated the qualities of the ship and realised the bargain they were getting. Their payment enabled the winding up of the steamship company to be completed in February 1852.

The business partnership of the Gibbs and Bright families had started in Bristol in 1818 but the enterprise was now firmly Liverpool based. In 1853 an associated company known as Bright Bros and Company opened its doors for business in Melbourne, acting as agents for the Eagle and Blackwall sailing ships. The Great Britain was therefore acquired just as the trading activities of the company were about to enter the most vigorous stage of their development.

Gold was discovered in Victoria in 1850 and more substantial alluvial deposits in the following year. With the Californian gold rush still fresh in everyones memory, there was a rush for berths on ships plying between Britain and Australia. Apart from the prospect of sudden wealth in the diggings, there were jobs a-begging in Melbourne where a large part of the local population had downed tools to pick up nuggets in the bush.

The Gibbs, Bright directors had made a shrewd assessment of Australias potential and the discovery of gold endorsed their decision to place their main faith on the colonies down under. The first ship to reach Liverpool with Victorian gold was one of their own fleet - the Eagle Line packet Albatross which arrived with £50,000 worth of gold in August of 1852. The first gold to be landed in the UK was from the Aberdeen White Star liner Phoeni­cian which docked in February of that year.)

The Great Britain was to prove to be the right ship, at the right time, for Gibbs, Bright but even that companys far-sighted direc­tors did not realise just how successful she was going to be. Clearly, her size would enable her to carry many passengers and a good cargo and, being steam-powered, she should be able to complete the passage in around 60 days against the 80 to 120 days taken  by sailing vessels.

Life on Board

There was a happy consequence, for later generations, of the two months at sea spent by Great Britain passengers. The long jour­ney, in usually tranquil conditions, made them hungry, thirsty and sometimes troublesome; but it also prompted many of them to write. From ships newspapers (hand written at. sea and then printed properly upon arrival in Melbourne or Liverpool) from diaries, logs and lengthy letters home we have fascinating pen pictures of life afloat in the iron ship.

The passengers in the early voyages in the 1850s were often heading for the diggings in Victoria. As with California a few years earlier, the lure of gold threw together people from every social background. Young men from sheltered middle class homes abandoned professional appointments or training and rubbed shoulders aboard with the impoverished and criminals of all nationalities. Young women seeking well paid appointments in a Melbourne crying out for labour, or just in search of hus­bands, found themselves in a ship with more than its fair quotas of gamblers and drunkards.

Time aboard was commonly spent in the sun, read­ing, chatting, playing cards and sewing. The celebrated Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope completed a novel between Liverpool and Melbourne when he and his wife sailed on Voyage 37 in 1871 to visit a son in Australia. With them travelled the family cook as Trollope had been given lurid accounts of the terrors of bush cuisine. The writer started on his novel Lady Anna on the first day at sea, and wrote a precise 66 pages by hand each day. He had the manuscript ready for the publisher by Melbourne.

A memoir of a passenger who sailed on the same journey as Trol­lope gives a glimpse of the simple diversions on board: reading and sketching for the studious, singing and dancing for the more exuberant. Among the steerage passengers the music of two professionals enable dancing to be gone into with spirit, and a few of the more intelligent public give recitations and readings in good taste, with a few songs to enliven their entertainment. In our case a concert or two, and a mask ball, successfully managed, give a little life to our otherwise monotonous voyage.

Although the passengers were chiefly young and youngish people, death aboard was a commonplace event. Some were in advanced stages of consumption when they came aboard; others were suffering from years of under nourishment or the effects of excessive alcohol. Childish ailments were often fatal.

Excerpt from the Passenger Lists

Voyage 28 leaving Liverpool on the 18th February 1866 with 436 crew. The passage Liverpool to Melbourne took 58 days. The return voyage 157 days.

Beaton Euph. age 22 spinster Scot

Campbell Donald age 25 Scot

Campbell Catherine age 20 spinster Scot

Mary Jane Campbell

Mary Jane Campbell was born on the 18^th August 1879, Bundalaguah, Shire of Maffra, County of Tangil, Gippsland. On her birth certificate are recorded:

Father- Donald Campbell, Farmer, age 38 birthplace Argyllshire, Scotland, married 9^th May 1866 Tinamba other issue- Catherine 8 years, Euphemia 6 years. Mother- Euphemia Campbell m.n Beton (sic), age 34 birthplace Mull, Argyllshire, Scotland

She worked in treacle factory in Maffra and met Patrick Owen McNally, who was originally from the Yass District in NSW. They were married in 1898 in Maffra and had one child, Mary Victoria.

Mary Jane and Patrick Owen moved to Yass in 1900-01. The couple separated and Patrick Owen moved back to Victoria, probably to Seymour, while Mary Jane remained in the Yass District, possibly to Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary Smith's farm at Blackburn, halfway between Yass and Blakeney Creek. Aunt Mary was a sister of Patrick Owen McNally.

Mary Jane then had a defacto marriage to Jack Bell, a farmer at Blakeney Ck. She lived with Jack Bell from 1902 until his death about 1918 and had 6 children- William, Beatrice, Lillian, Donald, Harold and Leonard.

Jack Bell had previously been married to Janet Bush with a number of children from this marriage. Janet Bush, who had died as a young woman, was a member of the pioneering Bush family of Jerrawa Creek, north of Yass. The family owned large areas of farmland in the district.

The children of Mary Jane had an uncertain fate. The eldest, Mary Victoria was taken from the family and placed in  Renwick House in Mittagong. Other children were probably also taken from the family and put into homes.

Mary Jane also had a second defacto marriage after the death of Jack Bell to Francis (Essie) Cooper in Katoomba and had one child, Mary Alice.

Mary Jane had moved to Katoomba, possibly with Essie Cooper or to met him there. She may have spent some time in the Cowra district on the way though nothing is known of this period.

She worked in Katoomba as a cleaning lady (char lady) until her death in 1935. The electoral rolls show that she lived at Fernell St and Redhill St, Katoomba during 1930-35, and probably with daughter Beattie. Beattie's husband, Joe Davis, was a witness on her death certificate.

Mary Jane and Essie Cooper probably mostly lived however at the Catalina Racecourse camp below Katoomba in one of the several small houses there. This settlement has a long tradition and was probably connected to the Cooper family.

Mary Jane died on the 18^th April 1935 and was buried at Katoomba Cemetery Church of England Section, grave 28, row B1 on 20^th April 1935 by the Rector, Rev. Leonard Gabbott. Her death certificate recorded:

Died 18^th April 1935 at Home of Peace, Invalid pensioner

Usual residence- York St. Katoomba

Female 54 years

Carcinoma of Uterus, duration 1 year, GT Ferris registered last seen 11^th  April 1935

No details on father and mother

Informant- Joseph Henry Davis son-in-law, 4 Kanimbla Flats, Main St, Katoomba

Buried- 20^th April 1935 in the Church of England Cemetery, Katoomba, undertaker- Percy Hayden in conjunction with TG Andrews

Minister- Leonard Gabbott, Church of England, witnesses CW Wilson and E Glanville

Born- Gippsland, Victoria

Marriage- NSW, 22 years to Jack McNally

Children- William 30, Beatrice 26, Donald 24, Leonard 22, Lilly 20, Harold 15, living none deceased

JOHN (JACK) BELL

Mary Jane Campbell, was married to Patrick Owen McNally in 1898 and produced one child, Mary Victoria McNally in 1899.

Mary Jane moved to the Yass area and met Jack Bell in Blakeney Creek. This relationship produced 6 other children, William, Beatrice, Donald, Lillian, Leonard and Harold.

Jack Bell had previously been married to Janet Bush and had children to this marriage. Jack Bell owned land at Blakeney Creek in the 1880's.

Some of Jack Bell's life can summarized as:

? Jack Bell born

1868 John Bell m. Janet Bush

1870 Janet Bell b.

1873 John Arthur Bell b.

1876 Clara Bell b.

1879 Amelia Eleanor Bell b.

1883 Thomas W.L Bell b.

1884 John Bell purchased block nr. Blakeney Creek for 80 pounds

1886 Edith Emily M. Bell b.

1888 Elsie M. Bell b.

1889-1890 John Bell acquires 2# leases each of 80 acres at Blakeney Ck.

1891 James A.E. Bell b.

1896 Janet Bush d.

1899 Mary Victoria McNally b.

1900-1901 Mary Jane McNally to Blakeney Ck.

? William McNally b.

? Beatrice McNally b.

1910 Donald B. McNally b.

1913 Lillian McNally b.

1916 Leonard L. McNally b.

1918 John Bell d.

1919 Harold McNally b.

1924 John Bell's leases revoked

An investigation of Aboriginal settlements and burial patterns in the vicinity of Yass- a report to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Queanbeyan by Ian White and Scott Cane (ANU Archaeological Consultancies) October 1986- Pg 29-31

3.3     Phase II  1865-1885 Gradual Accommodation with Europeans

Little can be gleaned from the historical record of Aboriginal life in the Yass district in this period as there are no official records between 1855 and the beginning of the Aborigines Protection Board in 1883. Mention of Aborigines in the Yass Courier generally occurs only about once a year, around about the time of the Queens Birthday annual blanket dole, or on the death of an Aboriginal celebrity, such as a native King or Queen heralded as the last of the tribe. Apparently the native question sank into unimportance suggesting as Stanner (1977:20) has commented, that nobody bothered any more about it.

Nevertheless, this era appears to have been a period of comparative official benevolence. In the late 70s and early 80s some Aborigines began taking up farming leases. In 1875 Aboriginal Reserve 43 of 80 acres under the name of Amos Lewis and others, was gazetted at Pudman Creek near Rye Park (Amos Lewis was born in 1831 to Aboriginal Narnanya Mary and European Paul Huon [(Mr Stuart Hume private papers courtesy of Mrs J McDougal (Hum.))]. In 1881 and 1883 at Blakney Creek two reserves were gazetted under the name of Henry Wedge of 40 acres and 120 acres respectively. In 1884 Aboriginal John Bell purchased a piece of land near Blakney Creek for 80 pounds, and later, in 1889 and 1890 two Reserves were gazetted under his name, both of 80 acres. In 1890 he was reported as having 17 acres under cultivation 12 acres of wheat, 4 acres ploughed for maize, and 1 acre for potatoes. The demand for land by whites was not sufficient to put these Aboriginal farms under pressure at this stage.

Around Yass the remaining individuals perceived as Aborigines by the white community were no longer considered as a threat, and these, by now well-known, personalities were consequently patronised as figures of curiosity. For example the Town and Country Journal (2-1-1886) announced that the Yass tribe of Aboriginals was now extinct. The last of the tribe, Jacky Leather died in one of the camps of the half-castes near Douro paddocks last week. Earlier in his life in the 1850s Jacky Leather had lived in a group with his father King Simon near the present railway line at Boorowa (Clark 1977:15).

3.4       Phase III 18851955 Shifting People About (see Tables 1 and 2)

Forced Movements of Aboriginal Populations: Dispersal-  6 living areas in 50 years.

By the late 1880s Yass had become more prosperous and established (see Bayley 1973), and members of the white community began to demand that the government should move to control the Aboriginal population around the town. The Aborigines Protection Board (APB), had been established in 1883 and was initially non-coercive. Thus the Aboriginal farming communities in the Rye Park and Blakney Creek areas remained secure (by 1889 there were five farming reserves with Aboriginal families living on each). Inevitably the attitude of official benevolence hardened under pressure from the townspeople and the Town Council.