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by Bettye Ross

Just over two years ago an article appeared in the St. George & Sutherland Shire Leader titled “The Grave Mystery of Will and Eliza’s Death”.

I thought it was a pretty eye-catching headline and on reading through it, found that a headstone had been found in bushes in a backyard in Como which is the next suburb to Oyster Bay where I live. Now the headstone had been thrown over the fence of this property some years before, presumably as a party piece, and had ended up in the bushes. New occupants clearing the block had found it and wondered where it came from, why and whose was it?

Its inscription read:

“William Jonathon Johnson
Died, October 3, 1866, aged 55
This sweet remembrance of the
just shall flourish when he
sleeps in dust. Psm CXII.6″

underneath in smaller letters a smaller tribute stated:

“Eliza Harris who died on December 8, 1878, aged 65”

Eliza’s name and tribute had a pretty insignificant tone about it compared to William’s. Was Harris her surname? The Leader asked this as well as wondering whether the pair were sister and brother or “star-crossed lovers who thwarted convention by not marrying more than a century ago?”

This threw me into a mood of this has got to be solvable so I set to looking up newspapers of the time and found a nice long obituary to William and other notices of his occupations and abilities in various other articles, but so little about Eliza it amounted to nothing. But was she Eliza Harris or was she Eliza Johnson or was she Eliza the de facto of William Johnson or had she remarried after her husband William Johnson died? It didn’t matter what or where I looked she was not there. So if she wasn’t there, when and where had she come from? I was fairly certain of one thing – she had been “lying in state” wherever that headstone had originally stood – I hoped! There was not even a birth registration for an Eliza Harris or Johnson if she’d been related before marriage to William Johnson. There was only a marriage for a William Johnson to an Eliza Tompson. No way you wrote Harris could it look like Tompson!

There were two deaths registered who possibly could have been her, so I sent for both certificates, one didn’t fit because it was a death of an Eliza Johnson before the above date, but the other one did have a possibility although it was for a burial for 2 January 1879 – 25 days after she died! Not only that but between Eliza and Johnson was an H.! That certainly could stand for Harris. Naturally this death certificate didn’t have any more helpful details than that – no date of death, she was a female and she had been buried 2.1.1879 at Camperdown by Mrs. Kinsela & Sons of Sydney and witnesses were Henry Kinsela and William O’Dwyer. No date of death as I said, no age, no birthplace, no husband and no children!

Well I swung into research action – I eventually found where Kinsela’s burial registers were but they were scant and some years missing, but Eliza Johnson was there no date but round about 1879-80, no more details than I had. So I started looking around the date of burial instead of death, nothing. I was starting to get to know Eliza – she appeared in my mind as a pathetically lonely lady, living on her own, her children gone or estranged from her, alone since her husband’s death! Perhaps she’d fallen, lay injured on the floor with no one to hear her cries, no one to come and comfort or cover her emaciated body. Perhaps she’d died of thirst, exposure and loneliness! I knew she was emaciated because I’d now worked out how pathetic were her circumstances! If it wasn’t 120 years ago I’d probably have considered going and forcing her door open to find her!

I didn’t though – I went back to the old registers looking for more clues and decided to follow all the indexes of William Johnson marriages. The one that fitted was Eliza Tompson because the groom had the second initial of J. When hooked it up they had married 21 July 1838 at St. Philip’s, Sydney, her name given as Eliza Harris Tompson and the groom as William Jonathon Johnson. The witnesses were Charles Tompson, Richard Johnson, James Johnson, Jane Ann Armytage and Mary Ann Johnson.

A lot of Johnson’s to say the least and who was Jane Ann Armytage, was she a relation?

This took me back to the 1828 Census and I found Charles Tompson aged 44 who had arrived Free on the “Coromandel” in 1804, his wife Jane aged 34 and children Charles Jnr. 21, Frederick 14, Eliza H. 11, Edwin 9, Alfred 7, Emma 5, Ferdinand 3, and another Eliza H. aged 18 months, but how could wife Jane aged 34 years have a son aged 21? All except Charles Snr. had been born in the Colony.

Then when I looked under the Census for Armytage I found it stated Charles aged 12, George 9 and Jane Ann aged 10 months were the children of Mrs. C. Tompson and in the appendix it states “Children of Jane Morris by former husband”.

I now had two Eliza H.’s, two Charles’ and a Jane Ann Armytage – back to the drawing board and after a few more delvings into archives I came up with Eliza Harris Tompson daughter of Charles Tompson and Jane Armytage (nee Morris) marrying William Jonathon Johnson. I’d solved it!

My findings were sent off to the Leader a couple of months later and it was inserted under the heading “Mystery of Como Tombstone Known” BUT, read part 2 to find out how I fell on my face, and the stories and twists this riddle took me into!

This article was first published in the May 2002 edition of our magazine.

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by Molly McDonnell

In March of 1982, we celebrated the Golden Jubilee of St Francis Xavier’s Church, Arncliffe. The present beautiful edifice with its magnificent façade, round tower, and beautiful interior will forever stand as a monument to the great and untiring efforts of the late Monsignor Joseph Patrick Rafferty. With his great band of helpers he was responsible for the building of our present church which was opened in 1932 and only 4 years later being declared free of debt, was duly consecrated. Given that all this was achieved during the years of the “Great Depression”, this itself stands as a tribute to the generosity of parishioners and others and the hard work of all those who committed themselves wholeheartedly to this project.

Prior to this we had the original school-church, but the first of the ecclesiastical buildings was the convent, about which we shall talk.

The Convent

There was much speculation as to when the convent was actually built and by whom. But the first name to appear in Sands Directory was a Mr Parrish, in 1887, who lived there with his family until about 1900. In 1901, it became the property of a Mr Herd who died in 1909, leaving the property to his wife who remained in residence until 1911. There is letter extant in the Kogarah Parish archives written by the sisters of Charity saying that they could no longer staff the Kogarah Parish school. There would have been a reply and correspondence requesting help from the Sisters of St Joseph, North Sydney. These letters no longer exist, unfortunately. They would have given us definite dates. However, 1911 seems to be the year when things began to move. The convent at Arncliffe was purchased by the sisters of St Joseph. The Superiors at the time, of the Sydney Province of the Sisters of St Joseph, signed the Certificate of Title on 14 September 1911. Their names as they appear on the deeds were:- Mary Molloy, Bridget Howley, Veronica O’Brien, and Mary Meskill. It would have been shortly after this date that 4 sisters took up residence: They were Sisters Gerard, Conception, Ignatius, and an unknown postulant. From Arncliffe they travelled to Rockdale and Kogarah to teach in the parish schools. As at that time there was no school in Arncliffe, the first pupils about 12 in number, were taught in the convent until the church-school was completed in 1912.

Over the years there have been many alterations to the present convent, mainly interior. New additions were also added upstairs. What is now the chapel was once the music room and later the room adjoining it became the music room. In these days the chapel had to be upstairs in 2-storey type buildings. When our new church was built, the passageway leading to the sacristy and church was added, giving the sisters direct and easy access to the sacristy and their own chapel at the side of the High Altar, this later is no longer in use as a chapel. In recent years the small vestibule leading into the present music room has been considerably altered providing the sisters with a beautiful dining-room and access to a very modern kitchen

To the best of the writer’s recollection, sister Marcellus was the first music teacher, with pupils numbering over 90. Lessons were given at all hours including Saturday.

The Church School

The district stagnated during the 1850s as the lure of gold enticed many families to the goldfields but by the time Alexander Brodie Spark died at Tempe House in 1856, there was a well established village at Arncliffe, with an inn and several substantial buildings. As the population increased, the need for schools and churches was increasingly evident. There were other denominational churches and schools in the district but none for the Catholic population. About 1862, and due to the untiring efforts of Archbishop Polding, there were at least 2 schools in the Cook’s River district. One at Rocky Point Road Kogarah, and one at Cook’s River, Tempe.

In the early 1900s Hurstville appeared to be the central church for all the surrounding districts, including Kogarah. Pastors were Rev. Fathers O’Driscoll, Walsh, Peoples and Cusack. Then Kogarah became the parent church and Arncliffe was incorporated in it.

Before these parishes were established, the nearest church was St Benedict’s Broadway. It was nothing for families to travel a distance of 20 miles there and back to mass, sometimes on foot. With the establishment of St Peter and Paul’s, Tempe, some of the Arncliffe Catholics were able to attend Sunday Mass there. Later on some of these families were privileged to attend Mass at St Magdalene’s Retreat (on the former Tempe House estate) for some years until the number of people increased and the problem of accommodation arose, and the Rev. Mother was forced to revoke the privilege. From Arncliffe and Banksia nearly all went to Rockdale church which by now had been established. It was a normal sight to see several families grouped together going to and returning from Sunday Mass all on shanks’s pony (on foot / walking). Members of the Hardge, Stone, O’Keefe, Scott and other families used to walk to Rockdale to school and back, because trains were few and far between.

In 1904, Farther O’Driscoll was placed in charge of St Patrick’s Kogarah. He erected Catholic buildings in Rockdale, Arncliffe, Hurstville, Penshurst, Cronulla, and in later days completed St Patrick’s Kogarah which up to that time was an unpretentious stone church. The foundation stone of St Joseph’s, Rockdale, was laid in 1891, but even the establishment of Rockdale church did not suffice for the ever-increasing number of Catholics common in to the district; and on 5 February 1911, Fr. O’Driscoll presided over a meeting, held in the convent, Arncliffe, to discuss the desirability of erecting a school-church to meet the requirements of the Catholics of Arncliffe, and to relieve the congestion of Sunday morning at Rockdale. It was decided to erect a school-church at a cost not to exceed £600. As the sisters had acquired their convent on Forest Road, the site of the school was purchased from them at cost of £200.

In the Freemans’s Journal and Catholic Press of 7 December, 1911, the following article appeared: “New Church At Arncliffe, his Grace Archbishop Kelly, ceaseless in his efforts to provide for the spiritual wants of his flock, opened a new church at Arncliffe on Sunday, 3 December 1911. The rapid growth of that part of the Illawarra District has increased the religious responsibilities of the energetic Father O’Driscoll. During recent years he had his hand to the busy plough of Catholicity, furrowing a road that leads sons to their eternal home and, with the co-operation of generous parishioners, new schools and churches have studded the picturesque heights of the district.”

The new church will be of brick. The building will be 70-foot long and 30-foot wide, with walls 15-foot 6 inches in height, and will accommodate 400 persons. The windows will be of Gothic design and the church is to be well lighted and ventilated to the apex of the roof with patent cowl ventilator. The site is alongside the convent in Forest Road, and is convenient to the railway station. Architect is Mr J Frank White, 94 Pitt St Sydney, and the contractor Mr W J Symons, Forest Road, Arncliffe.

The school-church was eventually completed in 1912 with pupils numbering 72. By 1914, it had increased to 76. The 4 extra pupils could have included the writer’s 2 sisters and brother, whose family had arrived from England in April that same year. The writer also recalls Father O’Driscoll. In August, 1914, World War I broke out. It was a very sad and hard time for all concerned and, no doubt, raising money for the completion of the church must have been a problem.

The building was one long room with two long red curtains dividing the school from the sanctuary where the Blessed Sacrament was kept. The curtains were easily drawn aside for the altar to be exposed and for Mass to be celebrated. Large heavy desks were supported by adjustable brackets in such a way that they could be dropped perpendicularly on their hinges. Ink pots, of course, had to be removed from ink-wells! The front of the building did not reach the footpath alignment, as at present. There were a few steps leading into a porch and thence into the classroom.

By now the number of Catholics continued to increase; and in March 1916, the Rockdale-Arncliffe portion was divided from the parent Parish of Kogarah and made a separate parish under Father J P Hyland. A year later the parishioners of St Francis Xavier’s rejoiced to learn that the Archbishop had formed a separate parish in Arncliffe, with Rev. Father Andrew Mulvihill as its first pastor.

This article was first published in the April 1991 edition of our magazine.

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by Margaret Collister

John Bowmer, aged 25, arrived in Sydney on the “Irene” on 16th October 1852 with his wife, Eliza Maria aged 28 and their infant daughter Fanny, born in 1852, another child having died at sea on the way out.

John was a gardener and was born at Rephem in Lincolnshire, England where his father, Abraham, was a groom. His mother was born at Bully Gloucestershire.

John and Eliza Maria were married at Cottesmore in Rutlandshire (the smallest county in England) in 1849 and when they first arrived in Sydney they lived at Woolloomooloo before moving to Stanmore near where Newington College is now situated.

In 1862 John bought land in Rockdale at the corner of West Botany and Bryant Streets where he worked a market garden. He later sold some of this land to James Wilson who built the stone house still standing opposite Rockdale Park in West Botany Street which now belongs to Bayside Council and is known as “Wilson’s farmhouse”. The stone for this house was quarried nearby. The Bowmer house was in Bryant Street at the side of the Wilson farmhouse and the property stayed in the family for three generations until it was sold in 1968.

There were 10 children of this marriage and 17 grandchildren.

John played a leading role in municipal affairs. In the early days of the West Botany Council his work in West Botany Street had so impressed the Council that it decided to form a further 24 chains (482 metres) of road in the street at a cost of £30, he being employed almost full time by the Council as its first road construction contractor.

In 1876 John was elected to the Council. The only unfortunate incident on the Council that year occurred in April when some person with evil intent sent John a packet of black spiders through the post. In one of its very few unanimous decisions the Council recorded its “disgust at the unmanly conduct of the person or persons who sent the packet to the Mayor”. The reason for this was that Bowmer was a most gentlemanly and patriarchal figure and enjoyed enormous popularity both with the Council and the other residents.

During stormy protests and complaints during the years to 1880 only the steady hand of Alderman Bowmer (now in his third term as Mayor) kept the ship of state on an even keel. He presided at the luncheon on 15 October 1884 to celebrate the opening of the railway line as far as Hurstville. He was mayor for seven terms from 1878 to 1884. In 1884 he was appointed the first Returning Officer for the State electorate of St. George. To celebrate this fact he was given a medal by his fellow clerks to be hung on his watch chain.

He is mentioned in the Centennial history of N.S.W. in 1888.

He was one of the founders of the West Botany Wesleyan Church (now the Uniting Church in Bay Street, Rockdale). In those days it was known as the Rocky Point Chapel, attached to the Newtown circuit.

The movement towards municipal incorporation in Kogarah began at a public meeting held on Monday, April 7, 1884, at the Beavers’ Gardeners’ Arms Hotel, Kogarah at which there was an attendance of 40 persons and J. Bowmer, Mayor of West Botany presided.

He died on December 13, 1903 at Rockdale aged 76 and was buried in the Wesleyan cemetery at Sutherland.

As one of its pioneers John Bowmer made a significant contribution to the development of our district in the days when life was a very different proposition from what it is today.

This article was first published in the September 1981 edition of our magazine.

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