John McPhee Family - Blue Vapours

John McPhee Family 

Bernard McPhee 

A supplement to John McPhee and his Family 

1982 - 2007 

Third Edition - online

Memorial to the McPhee and Loney Pioneers of the Natimuk district 

Erected on 1 December 2002, on the occasion 

of the centenary of the death of John McPhee, 

this memorial recalls the pioneering endeavours 

of the McPhee family and the Loney family in 

this Natimuk district, especially John McPhee 

and his wife, Bridget McPhee, and her parents 

Samuel Loney and Catherine Landrigan. John 

McPhee came from “Killiechonate”, on the 

Inverlochy Estate, Shire of 

Inverness, Scotland where he 

was born in 1833, and Bridget 

Loney was born in Melbourne 

in 1845, her parents Samuel 

and Catherine Loney having 

come from Whitechurch, 

Tipperary in Ireland in 1839. 

John McPhee is listed in 

1863 as living at Nurrabiel in 

the first book of ratepayers 

in the newly erected shire 

of Horsham. John McPhee 

is buried in this Natimuk 

Cemetery, and so are his wife’s 

father Samuel Loney, his two 

daughters Janie and Alice, and 

his brother Archibald McPhee 

who died in June 1876. 

Bridget McPhee died in 1923, 

and is buried at Kenmare. John McPhee’s father, 

also John McPhee, who was born in Inverary 

Scotland in 1796, died at Little River in 1867 

after just 14 years in Victoria. His wife Charlotte 

MacArthur had died in Scotland. 

This memorial plaque recalls also the family of 

John and Bridget McPhee: John, Alice, Janie, 

Charlotte (married Billy Brasier of Rainbow), 

Kate (married George Hassall of Wootong Vale 

and Coleraine), Archie (married Mary Murphy 

of Natimuk), Jimmy (married Julia Murphy of 

Natimuk), Margaret (married Harry Sisson of 

Natimuk), Mary Ellen (married James Bernasochi 

of Walhalla), Robert (married Bridget Liston of 

Beulah West), Emily (married John Murphy of 

Natimuk), and Hector (married Katie Liston of 

Beulah West), and this memorial recalls the fifty 

six grand children of John and Bridget McPhee. 

This memorial plaque recalls 

also the Aboriginal neighbours 

and friends, and at times 

protectors, of the McPhee 

family, especially the people 

of the Glenelg and Wimmera 

tribes, at the juncture of 

whose territories the McPhees 

once lived. 

This memorial recalls these 

following other McPhee 

neighbours, relatives and 

friends of early Natimuk: 

Michael Healy, Alexander 

McPhee, Jane, Samuel, Robert 

and Eugene Loney, Fabian 

Ryan, Agnes Ryan, Tom and 

Mary Murphy, Alec Scott, Mrs 

Lamont, Rev. Thomas Barrett, Ronald Cameron 

and Jessie McPhee Cameron, Michael Jackman, 

Henry and Frances O’Bree, William Kenny, 

Charles Wilson, Hector A. Wilson and members 

of the Natimuk Agricultural and Pastoral Society 

with whom John McPhee worked for the 

development of the Natimuk District, including 

E. Haustorfer, J. McClure, G. Klowss, L. Lange, A. 

E. Beard, W. Nichterlein, J. Naismith, W. Kubale 

and T. Blight. 

John McPhee Family

Introduction 

Welcome back to readers of the 1982 book: “John 

McPhee and his Family”. 

This new booklet, which I am calling “John McPhee 

Family” is meant to complement the 

1982 collection. 

The new booklet contains material which I had 

prepared for the Natimuk Memorial Day in 

December 2002, and I have added to that Souvenir 

Booklet some ten pages of photos, old and new, 

with explanatory captions. 

A new section provides information of the Scottish 

historical origins of the McPhee family in Lochaber, 

and another article places the Garrett Liston family 

in a Limerick context. 

There has been an important development 

regarding photographs: following a visit to New 

Zealand and following conversations with Margaret 

Johnston from near Dunedin, and with Bob Stewart 

in Levin, we have concluded that one of the 1860 

McPhee and Stewart photographs in Margaret’s 

possession is definitely a photograph of Alexander 

McPhee (who married Bridget Cunningham) later 

of Natimuk and Bealiba, and not a photograph of 

John McPhee as previously thought. (See page 18, 

in the book: “John McPhee and His Family” Edited 

by Bernard McPhee 1982). Other than this, there 

seems to be no extant photograph of Alexander 

McPhee, brother of John McPhee of Vectis and 

Natimuk. 

Thanks to Jane McPhee Fennessy at Blue Vapours 

Publishing in Gertrude Street Fitzroy for her skill 

and energy in putting this book together. I am a 

happy person now that these photographs can be 

held and owned by everybody, especially by friends, 

relations and studious young people of the John 

McPhee families. 

Bernard McPhee 

berniepmcphee@bigpond.com 

17 December, 2008 

Contents 

John and Bridget McPhee, 1898 

John McPhee’s Scotland before 1853 2 

Samuel and Catherine Loney 7 

McPhee Reunion of 1982 Picture 11 

Scottish Origins of our McPhee family 13 

Photo Album 15 

Thomas Liston of Limerick 23 

McPhee the Explorer 26 

Robert Campbell Scarlett McPhee 28 

Tom & Mary Murphy 30 

The Murphy Story 30 

Tom Murphy’s Letters 34 

Natimuk Properties 36 

John McPhee’s Dwelling 37 

Footnotes to Clement Article 38 

John T McPhee and the Gartland Family 40 

Page 1 John McPhee Family

John McPhee’s Scotland 

Before 1853 

The places of interest to visit are: 

Corriechoille, on the South side of the River 

Spean. Leave from Spean Bridge, and go 

along the well-marked road to Corriechoille 

House, a most beautifully fitted Bed and 

Breakfast. 

‘Corriechoille’ in 1985 

The proprietors of the B&B will guide you out 

to the sparse remnants of John Cameron’s 

first dwelling, in the pine forest of today. 

Remnants of Cameron’s first dwelling 

When John McPhee (father of John McPhee) 

married Charlotte MacArthur in 1826, 

his address was given as “Corriechoille”. 

Whether he meant the new house, now called 

Corriechoille House, or whether he meant the 

older stuff in today’s pine forest, shown on 

maps of the 1750’s, we don’t know. 

Plenty is known however about the John 

Page 2 

John ‘Corriechoille’ Cameron 

Cameron who was known as the Lochaber 

Drover or Corriechoille Cameron. He was 

both master and kinsman to John McPhee. 

(You could read the little booklet on John 

Corriechoille Cameron entitled: “The 

Lochaber Drover ‘Corrychoille’”, by Alistair 

Cameron, FSA (Scot.) 16 pages, No date.) 

The main house at Killiechonate, 1985 

Killiechonate, on the same side of the 

Spean River, and back from Corriechoille 

towards Spean Bridge. John McPhee lived at 

Killiechonate for most of his youthful twenty 

years in Scotland. Apparently the MacDonells 

and the MacDonalds who were in the main 

house there were ‘factors’ or managers of 

the Inverlochy Estate for the Lairds, firstly 

the Gordons and then, from 1836, for Lord 

Abinger. When the McPhees 

lived there in their separate cottage, the 


main man was Captain John MacDonell. 

The census of 1841 and 1851 lists all the 

McPhees present on those dates, and 

with them MacArthurs and others. The 

big house standing on the site today, was 

built in 1836, and today it is a kind of guest 

house, not so well kept, and with dogs, and 

Corporately owned. The Cemetery of Cille 

Choirill contains a splendid monument 

to the MacDonald hero of Culloden from 

Killiechonate. 

Cemetery and Cameron Chapel, Cille Choirill 

Cemetery at Cille Choirill. On the opposite 

side of the Spean River, and some distance 

South from Roy Bridge. You will see 

headstones of MacArthur, McPhee, Cameron, 

Stewart, Beaton, MacDonald, MacDonell, 

McNab, MacKillop, many others, and the 

restored chapel in memory of Cameron, 

the restoration of which was done by 

the late Ann Macdonell. Ann MacIntosh 

presently caretakes the cemetery and 

chapel. Corriechoille Cameron is buried 

here. Charlotte MacArthur, John McPhee’s 

wife, would certainly be buried here. She 

died about 1845, after the birth of her last 

son Archibald McPhee. Roman Catholic 

Bishops and Archbishops made this their last 

resting place, including Archbishop Grant, a 

relation of Ann Macdonell of Spean Bridge. 

Stuart Macdonald numbers the buried at 

Cille Choirill as: “thousands”. (You can find 

details of the cemetery in “Back to Lochaber” 

by Stuart Macdonald, The Pentland Press 

Edinburgh 1994 commencing on Page 255, 


and in “Cille Choirill Brae Lochaber” by Ann 

Macdonell and Robert MacFarlane, a pamphlet 

style production from Lochaber, 1980) 

Vin McPhee in Glen Roy, of the Parallel Roads 

Glen Roy. This is a most extraordinary and 

marvelous Glen. John McPhee describes 

the main feature of its wonder: “the three 

parallel roads on each side of the Glen.” In 

some ancient past, the glaciers delayed in 

the glen three times, leaving these wondrous 

parallel marks. On account of this, Glen 

Roy in now a declared Nature Reserve, so 

that the parallel roads will never be lost to 

sight. Ronnie Campbell lives in the Glen, 

and is the Honorary Warden of Glen Roy. 

Make sure you meet him if you go to Glen 

Roy, or to Scotland at all, for that matter. As 

you enter the Glen at Bunroy, you will pass 

a little inconspicuous mound, and a small 

monu-ment commemorating the last site of 

the castle of the MacDonells of Keppoch, and 

the site of the last great Highland inter-Clan 

battle between MacIntosh and MacDonell 

of Keppoch. The latter won. But it is still 

today all MacIntosh land. Every McPhee 

will have heard his parent or grandparent 

say: “Remember that you are related to the 

MacDonells of Keppoch”. Marie O’Shea of 

Mount Martha is certain that those are the 

words as she received them from her mother. 

There must have been some historic kindness 

to be remembered. 

Page 3

John McPhee’s Scotland: Before 1853 

Ronny Campbell and Bernie McPhee at the 

housekeeper’s cottage in Glen Roy, 2001 

Housekeeper’s Cottage. John McPhee tells of 

the terrible ordeal he suffered in the blizzard 

of 1850. Finally, after taking ten hours to 

cover the three miles, he found safety at 

the little cottage where the house-keeper 

for Mr John ‘Corriechoille’ Cameron was 

anxiously waiting. You can see the remnants 

of that little cottage today. Ronny Campbell 

measured out the distances for us, as we 

followed John McPhee’s desperate path, 

down the slope from the track, his feeling 

blindly down along the edge of the turf wall, 

feeling for the eaves of the cottage, the door, 

kicking the door, the hot whisky, the relief. 

Ronny Campbell and I posed for a photo, with 

me imitating my grandfather’s kicking at the 

almost buried cottage’s door. In grandfather’s 

account of these events, we see a very human 

side of John Cameron who came to the 

housekeeper’s cottage very soon to see how 

John McPhee was, other young men having 

lost their lives that day and night in the force 

of the storm and snow. Cameron speaks with 

them about the days of the famine in earlier 

times, and the nearness of starvation then. 

Cameron died in 1856, after the McPhee 

family had left for Australia. Ann Macdonell 

told me that Donald Cameron and his wife 

Morag were the people at this little cottage 

where John McPhee found safety. They would 

be relatives of John ‘Corriechoille’ Cameron, 

Ann said. John McPhee adds: “Others were a 

servant girl and a herd boy”. These could be 

Alexander McKenzie an unmarried shepherd 

and either Catherine Cameron or Catherine 

McMillan, both unmarried servants. 

Ruins of “Achavaddie”, Glen Roy 

Drover MacArthur’s residence. A little deeper 

into Glen Roy stands the ruin of the former 

house of some grandeur called ‘Achavaddie’, 

the home of the Drover MacArthur. The 

MacArthurs are really important in the 

McPhee history. By 1850, this ‘Drover’ 

Alexander MacArthur, tenant of MacIntosh, 

had come upon bad times, and so the vast 

grazing lands of the Glen Roy were now 

utilized by John ‘Corriechoille’ Cameron, to 

whom MacArthur was related. Now there 

is no simple way of explaining how all these 

people of Lochaber: McPhee, Cameron, 

MacArthur, were connected, but for a start 

it is undisputed that John ‘Corriechoille’ 

Cameron was a cousin of ‘King’ Cameron 

of Penola in South Australia. And also in 

Australia, at Penola, ‘King’ Cameron of Penola 

was related to Donald MacArthur of Penola 

and Lightning Ridge. It appears too, that 

“Corriechoille” Cameron’s mother (Ann 

MacArthur of Breanbach) and John McPhee’s 

wife (Charlotte MacArthur of Stronaba) 

were closely related. It is certain that Donald 


MacArthur of Penola was quite closely 

related to Charlotte MacArthur McPhee. 

One suspects that John McPhee’s mother 

(Ann Cameron) and John Corriechoille 

Cameron were connected by some affinity 

and relationship too. By this time in 1850, 

John Corriechoille’s own fortunes were not as 

great for the man who was once the greatest 

cattle dealer in Europe, they said. A further 

relational thread is established when we see 

that an Alexander McPhee was best man at the 

wedding of Ewan Cameron of the Inch farm 

and neighbour to Corriechoille farm, when 

Ewan married Katherine McPhee. Ewan was a 

cousin of both John ‘Corriechoille’ Cameron 

and of King Cameron of Penola. Ewan came 

to Australia in the early 1850’s. The late Alan 

MacArthur of Mont Albert Rd, Canterbury, 

Victoria, had made a good study of the 

MacArthurs in Lochaber and in Australia. 

The outline, which remains of O’Brien’s Cottage 

in Glen Roy 

O’Brien’s Cottage. Remember how John 

McPhee said that he passed by the remnants 

of O’Brien’s Cottage, and he said of that 

house that is was: “well known in Scottish 

history”. You can still see the remnants of 

that house. Both Ronnie Campbell and the 

late Ann Macdonell had directed me to this 

treasure. I said to Ann: “Why is it famous 

in Scottish history?” She told me that it 

went back to the time of the First Battle of 

Inverlochy in 1431 when the Earl of Mar lost 

the battle against the Keppoch MacDonalds, 


and in piteous flight stumbled upon the poor 

cottage of O’Brien, who was a Cameron, of 

Braegach in Glen Roy. O’Brien (or O’Byrne, 

sometimes) saved him, fed him, all that, and 

set him on the shortest road through the Glen 

towards Aberdeen Shire. The Earl of Mar left 

O’Brien his ring. “Come to me if you ever 

need help.” Well, one day, he did need help, 

naturally enough, because he had befriended 

the enemy of the local heavies, so he fled to 

Aberdeen Shire to the Earl’s Castle, and the 

ring identified him, and 

saved him. 

The stone of Montrose and Alisdair MacDonald 

Sharpening stone. A little off the beaten 

track, one can see a large stone, with a 

very regular rectangular cut in the side and 

top. This is another of those relics, which 

connect Glen Roy with the very history of the 

Highlands. It is said that, on the eve of the 

surprise 1645 attack upon the old Inverlochy 

Castle, the forces of Montrose used this 

stone to sharpen their swords. It seemed to 

work. They thrashed the defenders of old 

Inverlochy. Three hundred Camerons were 

with the Marquis of Montrose in this crucial 

battle in the Wars of the Covenant. It is with 

some misgiving as a McPhee that one reads 

of this because Montrose’s great soldier and 

charismatic leader of his forces, was none 

other than Alisdair MacDonald, son of Kol 

Kitto MacDonald the slayer of the last chief 

of the McPhee (Macfie, MacDuffie) Clan on 

Page 5

John McPhee’s Scotland: Before 1853 

the Island of Colonsay in 1623. I’ll bet that 

John McPhee sat on this stone many a time as 

he meditatively watched the docile Cheviots 

belonging to the great John Corriechoille 

Cameron. 

Mary MacKillop’s footsteps. In a letter home 

to Australia of February, 1874, Mary MacKillop 

mentions her visit to Lady Gordon at Drinnin 

in the Western Highlands. Then, after she 

visited Fort William, Mary MacKillop went to 

the Braes of Lochaber, and commented on 

the poverty she found in the old parish of her 

father Alexander MacKillop. “I saw a number 

of fine old homesteads, which had once been 

the happy and hospitable residence of good 

old families, quite deserted, and their former 

occupants either dead, or obliged to leave in 

poverty, for other countries.” (This extract 

is taken from Page 175 of an old biography 

of Mary MacKillop entitled: “Life of Mother 

Mary of the Cross Mackillop 1842 - 1909” by 

Rev George O’Neill, Pellegrini and Co., 1931) 

Then Mary MacKillop mentions the thrill of 

her visit to Glen Roy in these words: “Just 

imagine my going, accompanied by Father 

MacDougall, to a wild, grand glen – the home 

of five wonderful and eccentric Highlanders, 

all brothers (MacDonald of Cranochan). I 

really must preserve particulars of this visit 

until I see you.” 

Mass stone at Cranachan, Glen Roy 

Two other Monuments. As you are leaving 

Glen Roy, pause for a moment to look at the 

old Mass Stone at Cranachan. Beautifully 

carved on the side of the rock is a chalice and 

host. Ann MacDonell notes that the incision 

on the rock was made by D C McPherson, 

who died in 1880. And then, if you are 

energetic, you can make your way to the Mass 

Stone on the summit of Mael Doire. You 

have to set off from Roy Bridge to get to this 

site, and take provisions for the journey, and 

be fairly fit. The author of this note, and his 

brother Michael McPhee, the former a little 

overweight, with uncertain knees, climbed 

the overgrown hill to see where they used 

to attend Mass in the olden days. You could 

see the Red Coats approaching, from any 

direction. It was bad news if you were caught 

apparently. 



Samuel and Catherine Loney 

Port Phillip & Wimmera Pioneers 

Reprinted from Volume IV of 

Pioneer Profiles, A Port Phillip Pioneers 

Group Project, Compiled by Maree A. 

Posthuma. 

In 1839, a young couple, Samuel and 

Catherine Loney, left their home in Tipperary, 

Ireland to come to the Port Phillip District. 

Samuel Loney had married Catherine 

Landrigan on 1 August, 1839, in St Mary’s 

Church, Cloqheen, in the Parish of Ballylooby. 

Sometimes Catherine’s name was written 

as Lonnergan. The young married couple 

arrived on the “Westminister” to the Port 

Phillip District on 16 December, 1839, in the 

first year of the administration of Charles 

La Trobe, and also the year of the arrival in 

Melbourne of the first Catholic priest of the 

district, Rev. B. Geoghegan. The Loneys were 

devout Catholics. Samuel Loney is said to 

have taught himself to read by following the 

words in the Bible, esp-ecially the Gospels, 

which he knew so well. 

Samuel Loney purchased land in Melbourne, 

between Lonsdale Street and Little Bourke 

Street, along a laneway called Cohen Place 

today: in the 1860’s it was called Ferguson’s 

Parade and by 1870 it was called Brown’s 

lane. It is East from Exhibition Street. Loney 

mortgaged the property twice, in 1866 and 

1869, repaying the mortgage each time. He 

sold the land in 1871 for 205 Pounds. Today 

on part of this property stands the Chinese 

Museum. Loney owned three cottages on the 

land. 

Samuel Loney followed his occupation as a 

tailor for nine years in the infant settlement 

of Melbourne, and Catherine was a mantle 

maker, or dressmaker, and then they ventured 

northwards, where Samuel took a position 

with Firebrace, owner at the time of the 

Vectis Station. He worked for the Wilson 

Brothers, when the Vectis Station and estates 

came to that family. One of Loney’s earliest 

appointments was to Dooen whence the 

family traveled by bullock dray, and the place 

where the Loneys lived in 1851 at Dooen was 

known as Loney’s Corner at the Longeronong 

Road intersection, up until this was recorded 

in the 1940’s. 

As a shepherd for the Wilsons, Samuel Loney 

had to shift continually from one outpost to 

another, to Hindmarsh, Albacutya, Dimboola, 

St Arnaud, Avoca, Darragan, Norton Creek, 

and Nurrabiel, and he always took his wife 

and small children along with him. Alicia, 

Elizabeth, Jane and Bridget had been born 

in those Melbourne years. Many times he 

had to walk between these distant work 

places. To guard against highwaymen on 

these lonely journeys, Sam and Catherine 

hid gold coins in the dripping, which they 

carried in jam tins dangling from their covered 

wagon. Jane Loney had been born in 1842, 

and Bridget Loney was born on 12 June, 1845, 

and baptized by Father Richard Walsh in Saint 

Francis Church in Melbourne on 23 June 1845. 

On 23 June, 1995, a group of grand-children of 

Bridget Loney’s, principally from the McPhee 

and Murphy families, gathered to attend Mass 

Page 7

Samuel and Catherine Loney: Port Phillip & Wimmera Pioneers 

in the same Church of St Francis in Lonsdale Street 

Melbourne, to recall devoutly the 150 years to the 

day since that Baptism so long ago. Bridget Loney 

had fifty-six grand children, of whom the author of 

this article is the fifty-fifth. In his first years working 

in these distant places in North Western Victoria, 

as a shepherd and tailor, Sam Loney brought his 

family back to Melbourne again once a year, so that 

they could receive the Sacraments in their beloved 

Church. 

When the Catholic community had Mass celebrated 

for them for the first time in Horsham in 1857, it 

was Jane Loney who was among the helpers and 

caterers for the refreshments after-wards. She 

would have been about sixteen years old at the 

time. It had only been a few weeks before this, 

when her parents, Samuel and Catherine Loney had 

walked from Horsham to Ballarat, carrying their 

daughter Mary Ellen, and taking her to the Catholic 

Church for Baptism. As a result of the Loney’s visit 

to Ballarat, the priest, Father Madden, went soon 

afterwards to minister to the people in distant 

Horsham. 

In 1871, when he sold the property in Lonsdale 

Street, Loney left Janie and Mary Ellen in 

Melbourne, to be educated. He paid in advance for 

them, for their board and the school costs. He paid 

for everything that the girls would need, and a good 

supply of clothes and shoes. 

The children had been in Melbourne for about 

twelve months, when word reached the Loney 

parents that one of the girls was very ill. At this time 

the Loneys were living up near Lake Hindmarsh. 

When she heard this worrying news, Catherine 

Loney set off walking through the rough country 

to Dimboola, carrying a few necessities she had 

thrown together for the journey. From Dimboola, 

after some time waiting, she was able to catch the 

coach to Melbourne. But in Melbourne, she was 

told that the sick daughter, Mary Ellen, was dead 

and buried. She had died from neglect. 

Catherine Loney could do nothing, but she took 

the other daughter Jane with her, and returned to 

her husband’s side at Lake Hindmarsh. Jane gave 

her parents details of how the girls had been so 

poorly treated in Melbourne, no school, and no 

kindness, from the landlady to whom they had 

been entrusted. Catherine took the coach back to 

Dimboola, and Samuel Loney met her there, and 

took her and Jane home to Lake Hindmarsh, by 

bullock dray. This was their sad and lonely trip back 

to their little home. 

On one occasion, when they were comfortably 

settled in their home, in a lovely clump of trees 

and undergrowth, fires began to rage all around 

them. Fortunately for them, their shepherd’s hut 

was a substantial and solid structure. The children 

who were there at the time, kept filling saucers 

and dishes of water for the many birds, some of 

whom came right into the little room. The fires 

miraculously passed by. They believed that the 

good mother’s prayers were answered that day. 

And the children loved the long trips to Melbourne 

at first, and later to Ballarat, for the Sacraments, 

and the family made these trips into a long picnic. 

They looked forward to the annual pilgrimage 

to Melbourne with feelings of keen pleasure. 

Catherine Loney, whose tastes had been moulded 

by the rustic scenery about her, is known to have 

appreciated especially the Burnbank locality (near 

Lexton) where they would camp on route. 

Later on, the Wilson Brothers asked Samuel 

Loney to go to another outpost on their extensive 

properties, that of Darragan, where he continued 

with his trade of tailoring, which he did by candlelight, 

and with shepherding Wilson’s sheep by day. 

While living at Darragan, the Loney family started to 

receive frequent visits from John McPhee, another 

Wilson employee. The Darragan Creek became a 

favourite pasture and grazing for the sheep under 

McPhee’s care. So in 1864 John McPhee married 

Bridget Loney. 

The marriage, which was celebrated at the home of 


Mr Michael Healy at Natimuk, with Father Thomas 

Barrett officiating, was recorded in the Stawell 

Catholic Parish. Bridget Loney and John McPhee 

made their home at Nurrabiel, and lived there for 

nine years. 

The passage of time saw the Samuel Loney family 

gradually accumulating properties around Dooen, 

on the site of Glover’s shop of the 1940’s, and 

the block of the Presbyterian Church, and around 

Horsham, and helping his son-in-law to get better 

land at Natimuk. 

Jane Loney married James Hammond at Pleasant 

Creek in 1861. James had come to Australia from 

Norfolk, England. Like nearly everyone else in the 

area, Hammond had been working for the Wilsons. 

He was a boundary rider at the Vectis Station at the 

time of his marriage. 

Catherine Loney died in March, 1877, at the home 

of her daughter Jane O’Donnell in Horsham. Jane, 

whose husband Hammond had died, was by then 

married to her second husband John O’Donnell. 

Jane was to live for another forty years in that small 

house behind Weight’s funeral parlors. There is 

a picture of Catherine Loney in the wonderful 

book by the local historian Rev JF Coughlin in 

his: “Horsham Parish Centenary Booklet”, and 

the photo is reproduced on page 41 in the book: 

“John McPhee and His Family”, published at Port 

Melbourne by Bernard McPhee, in 1982. 

Samuel Loney was accidentally killed in 1883. This 

is how it happened: Samuel Loney’s youngest 

two sons Robert, aged twenty three, and Eugene, 

aged twenty, were working with their father at 

Darragan, where it seems they were clearing some 

land. Robert recalled that it was about 10.30 in the 

morning when the accident happened. 

His father Samuel had been talking away cheerfully 

to him a little while before, about some land to 

select, said Robert afterwards. Samuel and Robert 

had been working on their section of clearing, 

about a mile from where Robert was engaged in 

cutting limbs from a big tree. After he had seen to 

Eugene’s going off to look at some other section, 

Samuel Loney approached to where Robert was 


Bridget McPhee, at Kenmare, 1911 

working. 

By the time Robert saw Samuel approaching, and 

had called out to him of the danger of coming so 

close, it was too late for Samuel to avoid a giant 

limb, which fell. Robert ran to him – “Father, can 

you speak?” he said. He called for Eugene, who was 

attracted by the loud cries and at once ran back, and 

then they both together tried to get the big limb 

off him. But they could not move it. And Eugene 

added: “My father did not move.” 

Samuel Loney had been in Victoria for some fortythree 

years, and he died when he was only sixty-six 

years old. He did not leave a will. His son James 

applied to administer his estate, but James also 

died before this could be affected, so Samuel Loney 

Junior got permission to administer the estate. The 

deceased’s estate showed that Samuel Loney had a 

bay mare called “Poll”; he had a black mare called 

“Gipsy” and he had two bay horses called “Prince” 

and “Chance”. 

Samuel Loney had owned a block of land in 

Richmond, what is today 12 Albert Street Richmond. 

In Horsham he owned land on the corner of 

Firebrace Street and O’Callaghan’s Parade. And he 

owned a single block in Urquhart Street Horsham. 

- Bernard McPhee 

Page 9

McPhee Reunion at Bob & Helen McPhee’s, Watchupga Nov ‘82 

On this page and the next is a photograph of the wider McPhee family at Bob and Helen McPhee’s 

Watchupga home and includes grandchildren of John and Bridget McPhee and many of the great 

grandchildren and other descendants including members of the 

Hassall, Herrick, O’Keefe, Liston, Brasier, Murphy, Kelly and Sisson families. 



This very happy Watchupga gathering was also the occasion on which 

the book John McPhee and His Family was launched. 

The book John McPhee and His Family was produced largely 

at the initiative of Bob McPhee of Watchupga. 

Page 11

More of 1982 Reunion, Watchupga 

Sisson - McPhee Wedding 1898 

Harry and Margaret 

Sisson in front of 

Presbytery at Horsham 


Scottish origins of our McPhee family 

By Bernard McPhee 

John McPhee, (grandfather) came from Inverness 

Scotland to Australia with his father John McPhee, 

whom we have of late been calling “John Inverary 

McPhee” (1796 – 1867), because of the information 

on his death certificate, recorded by Mr Ewen 

MacPherson of Little River. 

The first undisputed Scottish documented 

information about John Inverary McPhee comes 

from his Certificate of Marriage to Charlotte 

MacArthur in 1826. Anyway we know that John 

Inverary McPhee’s parents were Duncan McPhee 

and Ann Cameron, and the Census of 1841 

reinforces the fact that John was not a native of 

Lochaber. But he married Charlotte MacArthur of 

Stronaba in Inverness, and from then on at least 

he lived in Lochaber. Our New Zealand relatives 

have kindly provided the only photo extant of John 

Inverary McPhee. 

McPhee of Lochaline and Glendessary 

It is widely considered most likely that this same 

Duncan McPhee and his wife Ann Cameron were 

also the parents of Hugh Donald McPhee whose 

widow and descendants came to Australia and then 

on to New Zealand in the 1850’s. 

So we know the names of Duncan McPhee’s 

parents also. In latter times they lived at Lochaline 

in Ardnamurchan, but in all probability they 

came from Glendessary on the North side of 

Loch Archaig before this, and fit in neatly with 

the genealogical evidence amassed by Somerled 

MacMillan about McPhee families from that area 

who, after the battle of Culloden were dispossessed 

and scattered. 

Lochaber from 1826 to 1853 

When, after his marriage to Charlotte MacArthur 

in 1826, John Inverary McPhee went to live 

at Killiechonate in Lochaber, and there he 

was in the household of the MacDonalds at 

that residence. (Stuart MacDonald notes that 


Donald MacArthur of Limestone Ridge in South 

Australia was a close kinsman of the MacDonells 

of Keppoch, and we know that he was a close 

kinsperson also of the Charlotte MacArthur just 

mentioned.) 

The MacDonald at that residence was John 

MacDonell Killiechonate commonly called John 

Dubh Aberarder, and his wife Catherine most 

interestingly was the daughter of Colonel Alexander 

MacDonell Keppoch, the 16th Keppoch Chief, who 

died heroically at the Battle of Culloden. Catherine 

died at the age of 90, three years after John 

Inverary McPhee had moved 

to Killiechonate. 

Why is all this important? Because in our family 

there was the saying: “Remember the MacDonells 

of Keppoch”, or in another way of saying it: 

“Remember that you are related to the 

MacDonells of Keppoch.” 

Killiechonate is a long standing residence for 

MacDonells of Keppoch. Stuart Macdonald in 

his ‘Back to Lochaber’, The Pentland Press, 

Edinburgh,1994, notes that families in Lochaber 

had been there in roughly the same 

places for centuries. 

McPhee and MacDonell 

McPhee had been connected with MacDonell from 

the very beginning in Lochaber. 

As far back as about 1400, a certain Miss McPhee 

who was the daughter of McPhee of Glen Spean, 

married the 2nd Chief of the Keppoch MacDonells 

and thence she was to become the mother of two 

Keppoch Chiefs (the third and fifth Chiefs), and the 

grandmother of two Keppoch Chiefs (the fourth 

and sixth Chiefs) and the mother in law of the 

first Captain of Clan Cameron, Allan of the Raids, 

who built the Chapel at the Cemetery of Cille 

Choirill in Lochaber, just over the Spean River from 

Killiechonate. 

Page 13

Scottish origins of our McPhee family by Bernie McPhee 

The MacDonells were entrenched in Lochaber, on 

both sides of the Spean River, and the McPhees 

were embedded in Lochaber with them even 

from the earliest times, and starting this intimate 

association soon after the death of the First Lord 

of the Isles when the Keppoch MacDonells were 

granted the Lordship of Lochaber. One can only 

presume that the McPhee of Glen Spean family of 

Angus McPhee had been in Lochaber for hundreds 

of years before this, to be noble enough to marry 

into the family of Alexander Carrach MacDonell 

Keppoch, whose grandmother was Margaret 

Stewart, the sister of King Robert II King of the 

Scots. It is not unreasonable to conclude from the 

smattering of evidence available that before they 

were ever in Lochaber, the McPhees were in Islay, 

in fealty and sword service to the MacDonalds, 

before the MacDonalds were Lords of the Isles. 

Return to Lochaber. 

At the dedication 

of the Church of 

St Margaret in Roy 

Bridge in 1932, 

are Archbishop 

McIntosh of Glasgow, 

with Crozier and Mitre, 

a native of Moidart, 

and Archbishop 

MacDonald, on his 

right in the picture, a 

native of Roy Bridge. 

Page 14 

And here in 1841 we have John Inverary McPhee 

living a charmed life, as were other McPhee 

families in Lochaber, those who were still under 

the special patronage or protection of the remnant 

of the MacDonells of Keppoch, and under the 

protection of the Camerons, until in 1853, after 

the death of his wife Charlotte MacArthur, John 

Inverary McPhee brought all his seven children to 

Australia. 

In 1841, according to the Census of that year, there 

were 337 MacPhee people in 45 family groups 

and others singly, registered as living in Lochaber, 

and most of them were still there in 1851. Eighty 

per cent of all these MacPhees were registered 

as having been born in the area in which they 

were found to be living in 1841. Six of these 337 

MacPhee people were born in the 1750’s. It was 

only later, in the years 1852 to 1855 that Lochaber 

lost hundreds of McPhee emigrants to Australia. 


Jane Loney, born in Melbourne in 1842, daughter 

of Samuel and Catherine Loney, who married James 

Hammond in 1860 at Pleasant Creek, and after 

Hammond’s death, married John O’Donnell in 1878 at 

Horsham. Photographed by Thos Wyatt, Warrnambool 

Portland and Mt Gambier about 1862 


Left: Samuel Loney, 

born in Tipperary 

Ireland in 1819, arrived 

in Australia on 16th 

December 1839. Loney 

died at the Darragan 

Creek in 1883. This 

photo is by McDonald 

of Bourke Street East, 

Melbourne in 1871 

Right: John McPhee, born 

1865 and Charlotte McPhee, 

born 1867, the two eldest 

children of John and Bridget 

McPhee. Photographed by 

Thos Wyatt, Warrnambool 

Portland and Mount 

Gambier in 1868 

Photo Album 

Bridget Loney, born in Melbourne in June 1845, daughter 

of Samuel Loney and Catherine Landrigan, who married John 

McPhee at Natimuk in 1864. This is perhaps the earliest 

photo of Bridget Loney McPhee; it was taken by Thos Wyatt, 

Warrnambool Portland and Mount Gambier about 1865 

Page 15

Eugene Loney born 1863, sixth son of Samuel Loney 

and Catherine Landrigan. Eugene was generally called 

‘Hugh’. Photographed by C.B. Herbert, Stawell and 

Horsham. 

Page 16 

Left: Jim Loney, born at 

Horsham in 1850, second 

son of Samuel Loney and 

Catherine Landrigan. Jim 

married Agnes Ryan, 

daughter of the well known 

Lanty Ryan family of Natimuk 

in 1877. Jim died in 1884. 

Photographed by Thos Wyatt 

Warrnambool Portland and 

Mount Gambier about 1880. 

Right: Samuel Loney 

born in 1853, third son 

of Samuel Loney and 

Catherine Landrigan. 

Photographed by 

C.B.Herbert, Stawell and 

Horsham. 

Sarah Fox, born 1871, daughter of Elizabeth Loney and John 

Herbert Brazer Fox. Elizabeth Loney, born 1843, Sarah’s mother, 

was the second child of Samuel Loney and Catherine Landrigan. 

Sarah married William Cummins in 1913. The photo was taken at 

studio of E Sands of Bourke Street East, corner of Swanston Street 

in Melbourne. 


Bridget and John McPhee. This is a copy of a photo which had been in the possession of John McPhee’s sister 

Margaret Lloyd of Dunedin, and then Westport in New Zealand and made available by Margaret’s great grand daughter 

Zelda Paul of Para Para Umu, New Zealand. One notices the striking resemblance of Bridget McPhee in this photo to 

her daughter Emily McPhee, later Murphy. 

John McPhee, born 1833, son of John Inverary McPhee 

and Charlotte MacArthur. This photo by Allan Studio, 

318 Smith Street, Collingwood. 


Below: Alexander McPhee, second child of John Inverary McPhee 

and Charlotte MacArthur, born in Lochaber 1830, died at Donald 

Victoria in 1902. This photo taken at Geelong 1860, at the time of 

wedding of Isabella McPhee to James Rollo Stewart. It was previously 

thought that there was no photo extant of Alexander. 

Page 17

Archibald McPhee of Natimuk, 1845 to 1876, youngest 

son of John McPhee and Charlotte MacArthur. This photo 

of Archibald McPhee taken at Jennings Brothers Gray Street 

Hamilton New Zealand. It must have been taken about the 

time his two sisters Margaret and Isabella married and went to 

live in New Zealand. 

Agnes Elizabeth Jenkins, born in Geelong in 1853, who married 

Archibald McPhee in1872 at Horsham. After Archibald’s death in 1876 

Agnes Elizabeth McPhee married David Henderson. Agnes was the 

mother of six daughters, one of whom was Lilian Rosina McPhee whose 

granddaughter Merle Houlden provided this photo of Agnes. 

Page 18 

Archibald McPhee of Natimuk with his daughter Margaret 

Elizabeth McPhee. Archie had married Agnes Elizabeth Jenkins 

from another Natimuk family. There was a second daughter, 

Charlotte Ann Agnes McPhee. The photo taken at studio of J and 

A Smith, Photographers, Horsham, in 1875 a year before Archibald 

McPhee’s untimely death. 

Below: Henry and Elizabeth Jenkins, parents of Agnes Elizabeth Jenkins. 

Henry Cox Jenkins, born 1824, came from Gloucester in England, had worked 

at Sorell in Tasmania, and at Wellington in New Zealand before accepting 

a position with Wilsons at Vectis Station. Henry and Elizabeth Jenkins had 

eight other children. The photo was taken in 1902 for their 50th wedding 

anniversary. Henry died in Horsham in 1908. 


Below: Bessie Drummmond, known as Aunt Bessy, Mrs 

James Drummond, from 10 Bank Street Blairgowrie Scotland, 

about 1860, with message on the back of photo: “Give our best 

respect to yourselves and to all enquiring friends…a Newspaper 

will accompany this.” Photographed by A.F.McKenzie, Birnam, 

Perthshire Scotland. 


Left: John McPhee, who is identified by his birthplace as John ‘Inverary’ 

McPhee, born 1796 and died at Geelong in 1867. John brought his family 

of seven children to Victoria in 1853. This is the only extant photograph 

of John McPhee, and it was taken in Geelong in 1860 at the time of John’s 

daughter Isabella marrying James Rollo Stewart, and before the Stewarts 

left to live in New Zealand. 

Below: Emily Johnston, the aunt of John, Margaret, Archibald, 

Isabella, Anne, Robert and Alexander McPhee. “The younger ones 

in the family were taken care of by my aunt, Mrs Emily Johnston; 

she was like a mother to us, caring for us and educating us.” 

Photographed by A.B.Taylor, Escanaba, Michigan. On the back of 

the photo is the handwritten address: Mrs Emily Johnston, Racine 

College, Wisconsin USA. 

Father Donald Forbes, Catholic Parish Priest in Brae 

Lochaber in Scotland from 1826 until 1878. Parish records 

show that he baptized some of the McPhee children, including 

John McPhee. This photo is from Ann MacDonell of Spean 

Bridge, Scotland 1985. 

Page 19

Isabella Stewart, born in Scotland in 1835, sister of John McPhee 

and second daughter of John McPhee and Charlotte MacArthur. 

The photo taken in Geelong Victoria at the time of her wedding to 

James Rollo Stewart. Isabella and James Stewart lived at Milton New 

Zealand. James died in 1881, Isabella in 1910. 

Below: Margaret Lloyd with her son Wynne Lloyd, 1866. This photo 

by The London Portrait Rooms, Princes Street, Dunedin. Wynne Lloyd 

who was born in 1864, died in 1889. Margaret had shifted from the 

Dunedin area by this time and was with her husband William Lloyd 

at Westport where he was in business as a shipping and commission 

agent known as Lloyd, Taggart and Co. 

Page 20 

Margaret Lloyd, born in Scotland in 1828, sister of John McPhee 

and first child of John McPhee and Charlotte MacArthur. Margaret 

McPhee’s marriage to William Lloyd was in Geelong Victoria and 

this is where her first three children were born. The photo taken 

by Burton Bros Dunedin New Zealand. 

Wynne Lloyd, son of Margaret McPhee and William Lloyd. Wynne Lloyd 

sent this photo to his cousins in Natimuk Victoria from Westport NZ, 

with the following note on the back: “Yours truly, Wynne Lloyd, 28th 

February 1881.” Robert Alexander McPhee his cousin at Natimuk later 

wrote on the photo; “Wynne Lloyd, before his health failed.” Wynne 

came from NZ to live at Natimuk for health reasons, but he was to die at 

Natimuk, deeply lamented especially by his young cousins, Emily, Alice 

and Janie McPhee, only eight years after sending the above photo. 


James and Julia McPhee. James Hughbert 

McPhee was the second son of John and 

Bridget McPhee. James was born at Nurrabiel 

in 1872 and he married Julia Theresa Murphy, 

sister of Mary and Jack Murphy, at Natimuk 

in 1897. This photo taken by their son James 

Thomas McPhee of Box Hill. 


Right: James 

Hughbert McPhee 

and his brother Hector 

Alexander McPhee. This 

photo taken at Mont 

Albert about 1941, at 

the home of their niece 

Lottie Hassall Knowles. 

Kate and George Hassall 

and family. Back row: 

Rowley 1894, Kathleen 

1895, Robert 1901, John 

1898. Front row: Bill 1906, 

George Snr 1861, George 

1911, Kate 1868, Lottie 

1906, Louie 1904. This 

photo taken about 1920. 

Jack and Emily Murphy and family. Back row: Jack Murphy, Marie 

O’Shea, Monica Wilson, Michael Mack Murphy, Alice Guthridge. Front: 

Jack Murphy, Emily Murphy. This photo is from Michael Guthridge of 

Endeavor Hills. 

Page 21

Mary Ann Jane McPhee, wife of Robert Campbell 

Scarlett McPhee. Mary Ann’s parents were M Riley 

and Anne Lyons of Far North Queensland. They 

married in 1873, but Mary Ann died two years later. 

Mary Ann was photographed by JW Wilder, East 

Street Rockhampton Queensland about 1874 

John McPhee 

born at Natimuk 

about 1870, 

eldest son 

of Alexander 

McPhee 

and Bridget 

Cunningham, 

later of Bealiba. 

John was always 

known as 

‘Johnnie Sandy’ 

McPhee. He 

died at Bacchus 

Marsh in 1950. 

This photograph 

taken by 

Charlie Farr, 

Maryborough 

about 1895 

Emily McPhee and Mary Ellen McPhee. Mary Ellen 

married James Bernasochi in 1905, and was living in Cook 

Street Abbotsford at the time. Emily and Jack Murphy 

meantime had commenced farming in the Mallee. 

Left: Emily McPhee and Margaret McPhee. Emily married Jack Murphy 

in 1907 and Margaret married Harry Sisson in 1898. This photograph is by 

Yeoman - Opposite Eastern Market, Bourke Street Melbourne about 1905. 


If you visit ‘THE GRANARY’ in the city of Limerick, Ireland, 

and you ask about the LISTON family, be sure to say that 

the Liston family you are interested in is the THOMAS 

LISTON family. According to Rev Michael Liston of Cratloe 

in the Diocese of Limerick who knows about these Liston 

things, our Thomas Liston, who came from Ardagh, and 

more specifically from the TOWNLANDS of Glensharold, 

was of a family of Listons who in six hundred years, had 

not moved more than a hundred yards from that same 

family place. 

And there is a book that you might consult: “West 

Limerick Families Abroad” by Kate Press and Valerie 

Thompson, Melbourne 2001. Brian O’Shaughnessy 

kindly pointed me towards this great book. 

Well, what about our own family of Liston? Start with 

THOMAS LISTON, born about 1750, West Limerick, who 

married Bridget Cuddie (sometimes written as ‘Cuddihy’) 

born about 1760, from West Limerick. 


Thomas Liston of Limerick 

Three Liston Families to Australia in the 1800’s 

The Beulah West family 

of Tom and Mary 

Liston,1950 

Above: Back- Tom Liston, Bridgie 

McPhee, Gerald Liston, Rose 

Brennan, Jack Liston. Front- 

Alice Liston, Mary Ryan, Janie 

Glowrey, Katie McPhee 

Left: James Liston, died 1933 

Thomas and Bridget Liston had three sons: Thomas 

Liston, James Liston and Garrett Liston: 

� �� born about 1800, West Limerick, 

occupation farmer, married in 1834 in Athea Limerick 

to Ellen Ahern, born about 1800 in Ardagh. Came to 

Australia in 1863. Their children were Ellen who married 

James Skelly, Mary who married John Jess, Thomas who 

married Margaret Ahern and Patrick. Thomas Liston died 

at Horsham Victoria in 1892. 

� �� born about 1800 at Ardagh. Came to 

Australia in 1843, and soon after he married Agnes Smith. 

They had five children: Margaret who married Luke Fay, 

Mary who married Owen Roberts, Garrett who married 

Jane Leahy, Luke and Jim. James Liston died at Beaufort 

Victoria in 1911. 

� �� born about 1800 at Ardagh, County 

Limerick, married about 1843 to Bridget Hayes, born 

about 1820. Garrett Liston died at Geelong in 1891.Ten 

children as follows: 

Thomas Liston, born 1845 at Ardagh Ireland and he came 

to Australia with his parents in 1853. He was a farmer at 

Drung Drung near Horsham at the time of his marriage 

to Mary Leahy in 1881. Mary Leahy his wife was born in 

1860, and died at Beulah in 1935. 

Thomas and Mary Liston had eleven children as follows: 

Thomas who married Ann Britt, Mary who married Tom 

Ryan, John who married Norah Landrigan, Bridget who 

married Robert McPhee, Rose who married Maurice 

Brennan, Catherine who married Hector McPhee, Jane 

who married Gerard Glowrey, James, Alice and Gerald 

who married Catherine McPhee. 

James Liston who married Mary Sullivan of Cork in 1871 

Elizabeth Liston, born 1849, who married John Burke in 

1869 

Mary Liston who married Andrew Wall in 1875 

Bridget Liston who married Patrick Shaw in 1888 

Garrett Vincent Liston who married Mary Heffernan in 1872 

John Liston who married Nell unknown. 

Margaret Liston who married John Toner in 1899 

Ellen Liston who married Alex Way in 1887 

Michael Liston born 1855 died 1935 

Page 23

Thomas Liston of Ardagh, born 1845, grandson of 

Thomas Liston of Limerick, father of Tom Liston, Katie 

McPhee and Alice Liston, all pictured below. 

Joan Liston, Tom Liston 

and Tom McPhee. Tom 

Liston, centre, is a son 

of Thomas Liston from 

photo above and he is a 

brother of Katie and Alice 

shown in the photo below. 

Joan is his daughter (later 

Joan Ryan), and Tom 

McPhee is his nephew. 

Photo taken in Rainbow, 

on a Sunday morning. 

Mary Liston, nee Leahy, wife of Thomas Liston 

in the photo on left. 

Katie McPhee and Alice 

Liston, at Mont Albert 

Victoria. 

Garrett and Jane Liston of Cressy, Victoria. Garrett is a son of 

James Liston the first of the Liston brothers to come to Australia 

in 1843, and a grandson of Thomas Liston of Limerick. Jane 

Liston’s maiden name was Leahy, and she is a sister of the Mary 

Leahy pictured above, the wife of Thomas Liston. 



Watchupga and Natimuk 

Reunions 

Above: Watchupga 1982. 

Bernadette McPhee, Jim 

McPhee, Moira Ryan, 

Helen Forster, Paul Forster, 

Lance Ryan. 

Left: Back to Natimuk, 1947. 

Centre row, left to right: 

Rev. Fr. T. Linane, Robert 

McPhee, Bridgie McPhee, 

Alice Scott, Hector McPhee, 

Emily Murphy, Jack Murphy. 

Page 25

McPhee the Explorer 

Robert Campbell Scarlett McPhee, brother of John McPhee 

Robert McPhee 

The birth of Robert Campbell Scarlett McPhee 

is recorded in the Old Parish Register of 

Scotland in 1841 for the district of Lochaber, 

or Kilmonivaig, in Inverness. Robert C 

Scarlett McPhee was the son of John McPhee 

and Charlotte MacArthur of Killiechonate, and 

was a younger brother of John McPhee. 

In 1873 Robert Campbell Scarlett McPhee 

married Mary Ann Jane Riley, the daughter of 

M. Riley and Anne Lyons. They had a child, 

whom they called Edith Mary. But Mary Ann 

Jane died in 1873, and Edith Mary died in 

1875. Norah McPhee comments: “Perhaps 

this is why he Went Bush. It sounds sad. 

Burdett, the writer of the book The Odyssey 

of a Digger had also lost his wife before he 

met up with McPhee. Perhaps that was why 

they teamed up together, having this kind of 

bereavement in the past, in common.” 

The very good extant photo of Robert C 

Scarlett McPhee shows the written identification 

on the front of the print: “Dad’s 

brother Robert”. This was written on the 

photo by John McPhee’s son, Robert Alexander 

McPhee. The photo itself was taken in a 

studio in Rockhampton in Queensland. 

The special reporter who interviewed Robert 

C Scarlett McPhee in Roebourne in 1887, 

described him as: 

“an Australian colonist of 36 years standing, 

having arrived in Victoria just prior to the 

gold rush.” 

“He is a short wiry man, about 50 years of 

age, who has had his share of exposure and 

hardship, which fall to the lot of the explorer 

or gold seeker. He has a keen grey eye, small 

regular features, and a firm mouth, and seems 

to be cut out for a leader of men.” 

“As a bushman he is almost unrivalled…” 

This is from information provided by Dr 

Cathie Clement, and is located in the same 

source as for Footnote Number 29 on p 28. 

In his book, The Odyssey of a Digger, (Lib. 

No 994/Bur in the Battye Library, Perth) 

Burdett says, on Page 130: “With Mr Price 

was a patriarchal-looking old chap…this man 

was MacPhee, one of the original twenty-four 

intrepid men who had journeyed all the way 

across Australia from East to West. “Burdett 

again, on Page 132: “The courage of those 

twenty-four pioneers was tremendous, and 

now, one of the friendliest and wisest of them 


all was right there in front of me. Poor old 

Mac, how weak and frail he was as I helped 

him out of the boat.” And later (on Page135), 

Burdett refers to McPhee’s: “thin and wasted 

shoulders”. 

Burdett pays this tribute to Robert C Scarlett 

McPhee on Page 213 of The Odyssey of a 

Digger: “Dear old McPhee, possibly the 

greatest of them all, died in the Nullagine 

district, still optimistically chasing his 

rainbow’s end.” Page 213. 

De Havelland, in his book Gold and Ghosts 

(Hesperian Press Carlile 6101 WA 1985) copies 

something of the sentiments of Burdett in 

referring to McPhee’s “rainbow’s end” when 

he says on Page 41: 

“McPhee, the discoverer of the gold bearing 

creek named after him, left the area for 

Nullagine still chasing the rainbow’s end. 

Before he died, he and his two blacks, 

Thursday and Friday, found two rich patches 

of gold. One gave up three thousand ounces 

within a few days, the other slightly more. All 

the gold was won on the surface.” 


How did the child Robert McPhee come to 

be called Robert C Scarlett? He was named 

Scarlett after the owner of the Inverlochy 

Estate, the Lord Abinger, whose family name 

was Scarlett. 

Abinger had only come into the Estate a few 

years before the little Robert’s birth, having 

purchased it some time after the tragic 1836 

death in London of the Marquis of Huntly of 

the Gordon Clan. 

The widowed Lady Gordon went to live 

at Drinnin, where, coincidentally, she was 

visited by Mary MacKillop on her journey to 

that part of the world in 1873. And Queen 

Victoria herself visited and stayed a few days 

at the new Inverlochy Castle in 1873, twenty 

years after the McPhee family had emigrated 

to Australia. Little Robert C Scarlett McPhee 

came close to a silver spoon to put in his 

mouth. 

Dr Cathie Clement published a short 

biography of Robert C Scarlett McPhee in the 

Boab Bulletin, the journal of the Kimberly 

Society. She has very kindly given the McPhee 

family her permission to reprint her article. 

Dr Cathie Clement is a consulting historian 

who specializes in the history of Australia’s 

North-West and is currently vice president of 

the Kimberly Society and Editor of the Boab 

Bulletin. On the next page is her article on 

Robert C Scarlett McPhee, otherwise known 

as Robert C Scarlett Macphee. 

Left: Father Anscar (Pat) McPhee OSB at the Kimberly 

creek named after his grand-uncle 

Page 27

Robert Campbell Scarlett McPhee 

An Early Kimberley Prospector 

Robert C. Scarlett Macphee, 1 prospector and 

drover, contributed greatly to the creation 

of Western Australia’s reputation as a gold 

producer in the 1880s. He failed to grow rich, 

however, and was once said to have found more 

gold patches than anyone else and benefited the 

least thereby. 2 

Born in 1840, in Killachonate in the Lochaber district 

of Scotland, Macphee emigrated to Victoria with his 

parents, Charlotte (nee McArthur) and John McPhee, 

arriving on 16 June 1853. 3 He then spent some time 

in Geelong before embarking on a series of exploring 

trips that included penetration of the Barcoo and 

Herbert country in Queensland. These trips led to 

the opening of extensive tracts of pastoral land. 4 The 

extent of Macphee’s activities in the Northern Territory 

during the 1870s is unknown but it is possible that 

he participated in an ill-fated overland expedition in 

which Price Wynnal Cox tried to take a mob of pedigree 

horses to Port Darwin from Queensland in 1874–75. 

Cox was a brother Dillon Cox who had done earlier 

overland travel. 5 

In September 1880, R.C.S. Macphee rode into Pine 

Creek in the Territory with 74 horses from Townsville. 6 

Like Frank Hann, who had driven cattle to Pine Creek 

from Lawn Hill station in north Queensland in October 

1879 and July 1880, he was subsequently hailed as one 

of the men who pioneered the road to Port Darwin. 7 

Macphee’s standing was further enhanced when he 

contributed £20 to assist parties to search for gold in 

the Margaret River area and then helped the Northern 

Territory Prospecting Association to lobby for additional 

support from the government. 8 

If Macphee had a personal interest in prospecting at 

this time it would have been ancillary to slaughtering 

livestock on the Margaret diggings, taking part in horse 

racing, and travelling to Queensland to purchase horses 

and cattle which he then drove back 

to sell to buyers in the Territory. 9 This pattern of activity 

saw him reach Katherine in June 1881 with 184 head 

of cattle and, just over a year later, working with one of 

the Scrutton men, bring saddle horses, draughts and 

cattle to the Elsey and Pine Creek. 10 A cryptic note in 

the local newspaper in July 1881 indicates that Macphee 

may have had a wife with him in the Territory at this 

time and that the couple suffered the loss of a child. 11 

No other evidence of a marriage or children has been 

found, however. 

In February 1883, Macphee served on the Progress 

Committee at Port Darwin Camp where one of his 

fellow committee members was Philip Saunders whose 

recent discovery of gold in the Kimberley was about 

to be widely publicised. 12 A few months later, whilst 

working as a stockman on Springvale station, Macphee 

was engaged by Alfred Giles to examine the country 

between Newcastle Waters station and the head of the 

McArthur River with a view to reducing the distance 

travelled by cattle leaving the Queensland route. 13 The 

route proved impractical but, during subsequent work, 

a Daly Waters Aborigine guided Macphee and the Daly 

Waters station-master to water that proved a great boon 

to the Daly Waters station. 14 

Early in 1885, showing the versatility common to many 

nineteenth century colonists, Macphee established a 

store at Abrahams Billabong and promptly sold out 

to William Hay. 15 He then bought horses that Nat and 

Gordie Buchanan had overlanded from New England 

to Katherine 16 and apparently piloted the Durack cattle 

drive ‘over a difficult pinch across the Victoria–Ord 

River divide’. 17 A longer trip followed in September 

1885, when Macphee rode from Port Darwin with 

three Aboriginal males to prospect where Saunders 

had spoken of finding gold around the head of the 

Ord River. 18 As they rode, colonial newspapers began 

reporting that a party led by Charles Hall and John 

Slattery had discovered payable gold on what became 

known as Halls Creek. 19 As might be expected, other 

small parties set their sights on the Kimberley. 


Macphee found strong indications of gold on the 

head of the Ord and, around Christmas 1885, payable 

gold on the head of the Mary River. Over the next six 

months, he made occasional trips to Cambridge Gulf 

to buy rations and pilot new arrivals up his track to 

the diggings. One of these men, William O’Donnell, 

a more entrepreneurial type than Macphee, found 

some shortcuts on the way back, named one of the 

creeks along the way after Macphee, and wrote out 

a description of the track so that others might reach 

the diggings without a pilot. 20 Macphee meanwhile 

discovered payable gold at the spot known as 

Macphee’s Gully and reinforced his reputation as one of 

the more credible prospectors in the Kimberley. 21 

As the water on the diggings dwindled during the 

“Dry”, Macphee wrote to a friend in the Territory trying, 

without success, to prevent an untimely rush to the 

Kimberley. 22 He also called a meeting of the scattered 

diggers to devise mining regulations, pending the 

appointment of a warden… 23 Knowing that a rush was 

inevitable, Macphee then promptly went back into the 

meat business, purchasing cattle from the Duracks and 

others to butcher them at the various camps on the 

goldfield. 24 He persevered with this business for five 

months before selling out to Peter Fox and going back 

to prospecting. 25 

Early in 1887, Macphee fitted out a strong prospecting 

party and struck south-west from Halls Creek trying to 

reach the head waters of the Oakover River. The route 

was too dry for the horses and a deviation had to be 

made via the Fitzroy River to the coast. 26 They reached 

Mulyie station in April, went on to search for gold at 

the head of the De Grey River, and finally reached 

Roebourne in July. 27 With only their horses and tools 

left, they nevertheless impressed local landholders 

who, on the strength of Macphee’s reputation, 

secured £300 from the government to subsidise the 

continuation of their search for both gold and other 

valuable minerals. 28 

At this time, Macphee was described as a short, wiry 

man who was unrivalled as a bushman and seemed ‘to 

be cut out for a leader of men’. He and his party found 

good prospects of gold on the De Grey in August and 

then began prospecting southward from Roebourne. 29 

Over the next three months, they found indications of 

gold north of the Hardy River, between the Hardy and 

the Ashburton, and on the eastern branch of the Lyons 


River. It was concluded that these indications were 

tending toward the south where other prospectors 

had found good indications of gold on the Murchison 

River. Macphee wanted to push on in that direction but 

could continue to access the government subsidy only 

if he took his party back to do more prospecting on the 

Oakover River. 30 

This life of prospecting continued, broken by the 

occasional droving trip, as Macphee moved between 

the remote mining camps and towns of the Pilbara and 

the Kimberley. 31 He worked around Nullagine with 

an old Kimberley mate, John Schlinke, and found an 

alluvial gully on the De Grey River before returning 

to the Oakover River. Another old Kimberley mate, 

August Lucanus, joined them there in 1891, and they 

prospected around Marble Bar, found Pantomine Patch, 

and went to the Shaw River and Bamboo Creek where 

Schlinke remained behind to work a quartz claim. For 

the next six months, Macphee and Lucanus prospected 

without finding gold and, early in 1892, they camped 

on Cooks Creek, a tributary of the Nullagine, and were 

forced to sit out two days of cyclonic conditions when a 

willy-willy struck. 

Macphee then developed inflammation of the bowels 

and lay ill for several days before dying on 12 March. 32 

His obituary spoke of his good-heartedness and, as 

prospector A.D. Edwards observed in 1896, ‘no history 

of the goldfields would be complete’ without reference 

to the deeds of Macphee and the other ‘original 

prospectors’ of Western Australia.’ 33 

Cathie Clement 

Footnotes on this article can be found on page 36. 

Roper River, Kimberley and 

Pilbara of RCS McPhee 

Port Hedland 

Roebourne 

Nullagine 

Pilbara Area 

Wyndham 

Derby 

Broome Halls Creek 

Kimberley Area 

GREAT 

SANDY 

DESERT 

GIBSON DESERT 

WA 

Kununurra 

Darwin 

NT 

Katherine 

Roper River Area 

Alice Springs 

SA 

Page 29

Tom & Mary Murphy 

Thomas Murphy Born 1843. Died January 25, 1910. 

Buried at Natimuk Cemetery 

Mary Murphy nee Crowley Born 1839. Died 

January 15, 1924. Buried at Natimuk Cemetery 

Thomas and Mary Murphy were married by Father 

Foley at North Gate Chapel Church, Cork, Ireland, 

on September 13, 1863 

Thomas and Mary Murphy and two children, 

Richard and Charles, sailed from Liverpool on 

December 19, 1868 on the Viameria, which seems 

to have landed in Melbourne, and then sailed on to 

Portland, arriving on April 7. 1869 

This is the Murphy Story 

Melbourne to Portland 

The passage from Melbourne to Portland was 

very quiet. We had started with a good few of our 

friends there and it would be our turn next to leave 

the old Viameria. It seemed like leaving a second 

home, we had got so used to the old ship, and 

the sailors and all. Even the old doctor seemed to 

have a few good points about him when it came to 

leaving. 

Eight other children were born in Australia to Tom 

and Mary Murphy. Three of these children married 

McPhees: Mary Murphy (born at Balmoral on 

15-9-1874) married Archie McPhee, Julia Murphy 

(born at Natimuk on 25-10-1886) married James 

McPhee, John Murphy (born at Natimuk in 1881) 

married Emily McPhee. Also: Alice Murphy (born 

at Natimuk on 4-3-1879) married Alex Scott, and 

her twin sister Ellen Murphy (born at Natimuk on 

4-3-1879) married Gordon Wickbold. 

These notes on the Murphy family were kindly 

provided to me by Mary Herrick, the late granddaughter 

of Tom and Mary Murphy. 

Photo shows Mary Herrick with 

other cousins and connections of 

the McPhee and Sisson families 

We were going to Tom’s sister, Mrs Julia Brennan, 

for a start. She lived at Coleraine, and it was 

arranged that we should go by bullock-wagon from 

Portland. Tom saw two carriers who were starting 

for Coleraine – Lear and Patchen were their names 

– and they got our belongings and made me and 

the children as comfortable as possible in one of 

the wagons and off we set. 


Portland to Coleraine 

It was a long journey, through forest and wild 

country, but the teamsters were young and hearty, 

and made light of any mishaps that came their way. 

They were full of fun and devilment, and of course, 

they never missed an opportunity of taking a rise 

out of us new chums. 

A stranger to supper 

Oh! But they had a great joke with me the night 

I saw the first kangaroo. It was after supper, and 

the men were sitting around a fine, blazing camp 

fire. They had fixed up a nice tent for us and the 

children, so that we need not be climbing up into 

the wagon. The children were playing about, but 

after a while they got sleepy, so I took them off to 

bed. 

At the same time young Patchen went off to have 

a look at the bullocks, and the dogs put up a fine 

lump of a bush kangaroo. Patchen managed to 

kill it, and then he thought he would have a lark 

with me, so he brought it back to camp with him, 

and propped it up with sticks between my tent 

and the fire. Then he strolled up to the fire, where 

Tom and Billy Lear were still smoking and talking, 

and poked it together and put on some more light 

wood, that made a fine blaze, and showed up the 

kangaroo nicely. 

I had lain down with the baby, and must have 

dozed off, but the blaze of the fire soon woke me 

up, and I looked out through the flap of the tent, 

and the Lord save us! – Yes! Sure enough, it must 

be him; there he was, tail and all; and I could 

almost swear that I could see his horns! I let one 

unearthly yell out of me, and dived into the bed 

and covered my head. Tom and Billy Lear thought 

there must be a snake in the tent and they came 

running over, but, of course, what they saw was the 

kangaroo propped up, and they guessed Patchen 

had been playing a joke on me. 

It took a lot of persuasion on their part to make me 

come out and see for myself, and many’s the laugh 

they had at me afterwards about “how the devil 

nearly had me” that night. 


Arrival at Brennan’s 

We got to Brennan’s that night, and glad we were 

to get to the end of our journey, I can tell you. 

Bullock wagons aren’t quite as soft and comfortable 

as a feather bed, even if it is upholstered with all 

the acts of thoughtfulness and kindness that our 

good friends Lear and Patchen, could think of. I’ll 

never forget how good they were to us, and they 

were only two young fellows at the time; one 

would not expect them to think of all the little 

things they did for us. We stayed at Brennan’s for a 

spell for a few weeks; then Tom started out to find 

work, so that we could settle down on our own. 

Towards Coleraine 

It was a nice fresh morning when Tom started off, 

in good spirits, with his “bluey up”. He stepped 

it out nice and lively till he got to the crossroads 

outside Coleraine. There he stopped, and said 

to himself: “Well now, which way will I go?” He 

couldn’t make up his mind. Seeing a bit of straw 

on the road, he picked it up, and, says he: “Straw 

shows which way the wind blows; I’ll follow the 

straw!” With that he let it go, and he turned into 

the road it landed on; and a good wind it was 

indeed, that guided that straw, for the road led to 

Wootong Vale, at the time owned by Mrs Hassall, as 

good and kind a Christian lady as ever lived. 

At Hassall’s 

Tom called at the homestead and got a job as 

handyman about the place. He was a very green 

new chum indeed, at the time, about horses and 

implements, or anything like that. You see, he had 

always lived in the city at home, and worked in a 

printing office, but, of course, he never let on. He 

gave them to understand he was a good all-round 

farm hand; but to tell the truth, I don’t think he 

could tell one end of a set of harness from the 

other. He used to be in a quandary at times how to 

do something or another, but he would always get 

out all about it, without them hardly knowing that 

he was trying to find out things. 

Tom soon made friends of all the men, but Jim Ryan 

(or “Yankee Jim” as they called him, because 

Page 31


he came from California) made a special pal of him, 

and he would always tell him the best way to go 

about his work, and help him in many ways to get 

used to station life. Ryan himself was a jovial, lively 

man; the devil himself could not beat him playing 

larks on his mates, but he never tried to take a rise 

out of Tom, so the two became life-long friends. 

Many’s the change came and went, but their 

friendship always stood the test. 

Mrs Hassall’s kindness 

After a short time Mrs Hassall told Tom to fix up a 

little cottage that was close to the homestead and 

bring us to live there. 

Many and many happy days we spent on that 

station; there we met some of the best friends any 

man or woman would wish for; indeed, no-one 

could possibly be a better friend than or kind 

employer Mrs Hassall proved herself be to us, and 

to many scores of people like us. 

At that time, people were all free and easy; the 

squatters and their families never made distinctions 

between themselves and their employees. Mrs 

Hassall herself, many’s the time, went to the 

outlying shepherds’ or boundary riders’ huts, 

and nursed the wives or the children through any 

sickness, with as much care and kindness as she 

could ever show to one of her own station in life. 

Then there were the Messrs Swan, who lived on the 

adjoining station; they were very good, too. And 

Parson Russell – ah! he was a good man! (Church 

of England.) 

A picnic day, and our son Dan 

I remember when my third son, Dan, was born. 

(Daniel Murphy was born on 7-2-1869) He was 

not very strong; we used to have some nursing of 

him. When he was about a month old there was 

to be a picnic, given by the squatters about for 

all their station hands, and that was the kind of 

picnic it would do your heart good to go to, where 

everyone, young and old, squatter and servant, 

went out in the best of spirits and good feeling for 

everyone, with a firm intention to get the utmost 

pleasure they could out of the day. 

Mrs Hassall came to me, and said: “Get the children 

ready for the picnic Mrs Murphy; we will be starting 

early, as we must meet the other station people 

at the ford. Tom will drive you and the other girls 

from the kitchen.” 

“Oh Ma’am”, I said, “I don’t think I had better go 

with the baby!” Besides, I thought to myself, there 

would be too many squatters and fine people there 

for the likes of me. You see, it was my first picnic 

amongst them. She would not hear of my staying 

at home: “Roll your big shawl round the baby, and 

he’ll come to no harm; indeed, I think it will do 

him good out in the fresh air all day”, she said. 

So I got ready, bright and early, the morning of the 

picnic and about nine o’clock we started in buggies 

and carts and some on horseback; and then, when 

we met the other station lots at the ford, I tell you 

it was a pleasant sight indeed; everyone so happy, 

and one team trying to beat the other for first place 

on the road. 

Parson Russell’s kindness 

But back to Parson Russell. We had not been long 

on the picnic ground, when he came up to me and 

asked my how I was and if the baby was getting 

stronger. “Let me have a look at him”, he said, 

so I opened the shawl, and he had a good look 

at him. Then he covered him up again, and said: 

“Mrs Murphy, there will be Mass in Coleraine next 

Sunday. Be sure that you get in, and get that child 

christened. I can see that he is not very strong, so 

you must not neglect to have him baptized”. 

You see, it was only at intervals that we had Mass 

at Coleraine at that time. I never forgot it for Mr 

Russell; he said it so kindly for me. 

Then Mr Russell took me up to the tent that the 

young ladies had for opening the hampers in, and 

getting things ready for the table. There he got 

me to a comfortable seat, and brought his wife and 

sister-in-law, Miss Mittson, to see me. Very nice 

ladies they were too. In no time at all the young 

ladies were round me, nursing the baby, and they 

gave me a cup of tea straight away. After that day 

I knew all the grand people as I used to think of 


them as they really were - kind, good friends to us 

all. 

Parson Russell afterwards became Canon Russell; 

he was coming back from a trip to England, when 

he got pneumonia and died, poor man, just in his 

prime. He was a great loss to his Church, and to all 

who knew him. He was, indeed, a true follower of 

his Divine Master. 

Mrs Hassall’s friends 

Many ladies and gentlemen from Melbourne used 

to visit at Hassall’s in those days. One of them 

was a very great lady indeed – the late Janet Lady 

Clarke herself. She used to come there when she 

was a young lady, also many others; and a right 

jolly holiday they would have too. There would be 

kangaroo hunts, picnics, and races got up for their 

pleasure. 

All the young ladies about would ride as well as 

the best of them. Miss Etta Hassall was a lovely 

figure in the saddle, and she could jump a fence as 

easily as a bird could skim over it. She married Mr 

Cunningham, at that time a banker in Melbourne, 

but I think they have been in England for some 

time now. Her sons are in Geelong, I think. If they 

take after either their father or their mother, they 

must be very nice young men. I saw them once 

when they were school boys. They were very nice 

boys at that time, but it must be over twenty years 

ago. Somehow, the years do not seem long to look 

back on! 

It was at Hassall’s that we met another good friend, 

J.G.; he is a small squatter now himself, down about 

the Giant’s Rock, but at that time working for Mrs 

Hassall. He gave Tom many a helping hand when 

he wanted one. He was a shrewd man, and always 

could give the best advice to Tom, but Tom himself 

deserves all that he can get, for he was always kind 

and generous to his friends. I have never seen him 

since we came up here to the Wimmera, 30 odd 

years ago, but we used to hear of him at times. 

A good many from down Coleraine way came up 

here the same time that we did. Some drifted away 

for a time, but a couple are left. 


1869 – 1874 

The following details, written by Thomas Murphy, 

help to fill in the years after Tom and Mary left 

“Wootong Vale” and before they selected land at 

Natimuk. 

The Mrs Hassall mentioned so endearingly by 

Mary Murphy had been a widow since 1862, when 

her husband James Hassall (fifth son of Rowland 

Hassall and Elizabeth Hancox) had died. James 

Hassall and Catherine Payne Lloyd of Cobram in 

Victoria had married in1836. James and Catherine 

Hassall of “Wootong Vale” had a family of ten 

children, the youngest of whom was George 

Earnest Hassall, born in 1861. 

George Earnest Hassall was later to marry 

Catherine Bridget McPhee of Natimuk. 

When Mrs Hassall sold “Wootong Vale”, Tom and 

Mary Murphy and their children moved to another 

station owner, Mr Peter Armytage, of “Caviar” 

Dunkeld, near Balmoral, where they remained, 

until they were granted land which was part of 

the Vectis Estate, Allotment 87, Parish of Natimuk, 

County of Lowan, 1874, where they lived for the 

remainder of their lives. 

Tom Murphy’s Story 

We were fortunate to be allotted the block we 

applied for, close to the Wimmera River. It had to 

be fenced and cleared, which was a back-breaking 

job, grubbing out huge trees and burning the lovely 

timber, when it is so scarce and expensive today. 

On leaving Balmoral, Mr Armytage gave me one 

hundred ewes and three hundred Pounds, which 

was the first of my income, which from then on 

steadily increased, thanks to Mr Armytage. 

As there was no house on the block, we had two 

or three large tents erected on the banks of the 

Wimmera River. Having five children, the wife had 

her hands full baking bread and cooking meals in 

a couple of camp ovens, it was very comfortable 

having the river so close; we also had a couple of 

cows, a few fowls and sheep in the paddock, fish in 

the river and rabbits in abundance. 

Page 33


But there were many times we thought of giving 

up, but we were comforted by the fact that our 

many neighbours all around were facing the same 

problems and hardships. 

Eventually there was enough ground cleared to 

start cultivating, with the two big horses and the 

five furrow plough, and with one who had a half 

bag of seed wheat on the shoulder and walking up 

and down the furrows throwing the wheat with 

each hand, first to the left and then to the right. 

Later on I got a seed sower, which we thought was 

wonderful. It was a start. Then we got a wagon 

and a small machine, which would toss the seed 

out. It was pulled along by the horses. Then came 

Tom Murphy’s Letters 

Letters Of Tom Murphy, 

Selector Allotment 87, 

Parish Of Natimuk 

County Of Lowan 

Letter 1 

Natimuk 

25th June, 1880 

Hon. J.C.Duffy esq 

Minister of Crown Lands 

Melbourne 

Dear Sir, 

I wish to apply to the Government through you to exempt 

me from paying any more rents on my selection as I 

consider that I have paid about what it is worth, that 

is ten shillings per acre. It’s a very thickly timbered 

piece of country. Myself and wife and children are this 

last five years grubbing and clearing about twenty-five 

the stripper, made by Beard and Sisson’s foundry, 

which would put the wheat into a big heap and 

then, by turning the handle on a heavy winnower 

with big saws, the winnower would shake the 

wheat down one chute, the chaff down another 

and the husks into another. 

All the family generally helped in this loading up of 

the harvest. The heat, the dust and the flies were 

very annoying, but all would be refreshed when the 

big lunch basket came along. It did not take many 

years to build a neat log home, stables and outbuildings, 

each year seeing more improvements, 

and lovely horses, ewes and modern machinery 

and the deed of our own farm in our possession. 

acres, and wasn’t a quarter of an acre that you could 

plough without grubbing. I had over three hundred 

Pounds when I came on the ground and that was all 

gone before I got my certificate of improvements, and 

after I got my renewal of lease I had to borrow two 

hundred Pounds from the Ballarat Banking Company to 

enable me to get farming implements. 

So I have as much as ever I can do to pay the interest 

on the loan, twenty Pounds per year payable every six 

months. At the same time I am sure that I can make 

a home now if the rents are taken off me. Sir, you can 

send any land officer from Horsham or elsewhere 

to inspect the quality of land and the truth of my 

statements. I have a wife and eight children to provide 

for and if we are put out of this our home there is no 

knowing what we will do. 

Trusting that you will give my request your earnest 

consideration, I have the honour to be 

Obedient servant 

Thomas Murphy 

Natimuk P.O. 


Letter 2 

Natimuk 

28th Feb. 1881 

Hon Richardson esq. 

Minister for Lands 

Dear Sir, 

In answer to Circular of 22nd inst to know if I am 

going to pay my rents that I am in arrear, I beg to 

inform you that I cannot nor owent be able to keep my 

selection if I can’t get transferred under the Land Act 

1880. The Ballarat Banking Company holds my lease 

on mortgage for two hundred Pounds and I can’t pay 

rent and interest, which is fifty Pounds per year. I have 

a family of ten and all my children are young and they 

are attending State School 1623 within one mile of my 

selection and if I am forced to part with my land it will 

be a great misfortune to them and me, as we as we will 

be thrown destitute on the state. 

If it is possible that my lease could be redeemed from 

the mortgage by the Government, paying over to them 

the rent I have paid on my land, and I to pay into the 

Receipt and Pay Office, Horsham the balance, and grant 

me a new lease under the Land Act 1880, then I would 

be sure of a home for myself and children and would 

for ever pray and thank them. My land, when I took 

it, there wasn’t a quarter of an acre I could plough 

without grubbing and clearing, and now I have 50 acres 

cultivated. 

I remain 

Dear Sir your most obedient servant, 

Thomas Murphy 

(Note: the recipient of the letter observed that the word 

“owent” in Tom Murphy’s letter would mean “won’t”.) 

Letter 3 

SUMMARY 

Date of letter: 13/7/1881 

To Minister for Lands 

In this letter, Mr Murphy referred to a letter he had 

received from the Department of Lands, asking him 

to transfer his lease under the new Land Act 1880 if he 

could not pay his overdue rents. 


Mr Murphy said that he had applied to the Bank of 

Ballarat who held his lease on mortgage to do this, but 

they could not do so unless he paid two rents of the three 

overdue. 

He said he couldn’t pay and asked the Dept of Lands to 

wait until “after the harvest”, that is 1/3/1882, when he 

would pay three rents together. 

A note, made by the Lands Department, at bottom of this 

summary of Tom Murphy’s letter, made the following 

observations: “Under the Land Act of 1880 Mr Murphy’s 

payments were reduced from thirty Pounds a year to 

fifteen Pounds a year. He did succeed in having lease 

transferred.” 

Letter 4 

Natimuk 

25th July, 1881 

Secretary of Lands 

Melbourne 

Sir, 

In reply to communications of 18th inst stating that I 

can’t be granted such a long time to pay my rents and 

asking me to send my licence to have it transferred 

under the Land Act 1880, that I would like very much to 

be able to do. But the Ballarat Banking Coy holds my 

lease on mortgage & ownt consent to it being transferred 

unless I will pay two of the back rents & that I can’t do 

it at present unless I will sell my horses and Farming 

machinery & them at one half their value, and if I did 

that I couldn’t get on with my farm at all. But if you 

could get my lease from the Ballarat Banking Company 

and transfer it under the new Act 1880 it would be the 

means of keeping me and my family in a home. I have 

a young helpless family, eleven in all, the eldest only 

sixteen years and the youngest six weeks. So I hope that 

the Department will do what they can for me. 

I am Sir Yours truly, 

Thomas Murphy 

P.S. If you can’t do this please leave the rents lie over 

until 1st March. But I would rather come under the Act, 

as I want a home for my family. 

T Murphy 

Post Office Natimuk 

On the bottom of this letter there was a hand 

written note from the recipient in the Lands 

Department, who observed that: “Ownt – another 

Irish way to spell won’t”. 

Page 35

Natimuk Properties 

McPhee, Scott, Murphy, Hassall 

Wimmera Highway 

< To Natimuk 

Natimuk - Balmoral - Hamilton Road 

A McPhee 71 

Old East 

Natimuk 

Station 

Wimmera River 

J McPhee 72 

State School 

No. 1623 

Moody's School Road 

A McPhee 

Vectis 

Homestead 

A Wilson 32B, 34 

P Scott 77 

H Scott 86 

H Scott 78 

T Murphy 87 

J McPhee 134 

H Scott 85 

T Murphy 87 

QUANTONG 

Discontinued Railway Line 

Wimmera Highway To Horsham > 

D Hanan 88A 

Page 36 John McPhee Family 

Wimmera River 

D Hanan D Hanan 118 

Moody's School Road 

DARRAGAN 

136 

George 

Hassall 

A Murphy

NATIMUK 


Natimuk - Hamilton Rd 

19.3km 

TOOLONDO 

John McPhee’s Dwelling 

Connangorach Swamp 

Moody's School Rd 

Darragan Pits Rd 

NORADJUHA 

7.5km 

Nurrabiel Church Rd 

Jallumba Mockinya Rd 

VECTIS SOUTH 

Horsham-Noradjuha Rd 

Lower Norton Rd 

8km 

Miss Williamson's Rd 

NURRABIEL 

3.4km 

HORSHAM 

LOWER 

NORTON 

WONWONDA 

NORTH 

Wonwonda - Toolondo Rd 

MOCKINYA 

Connangorach 

Swamp 

This map is not to scale. From Natimuk, go towards Horsham a short distance, turn right into the Natimuk- 

Hamilton Road, travel 19.3km to Nurrabiel Church Road, turn left, and go 7.5km to the Nurrabiel 

intersection, turn right and travel 8km along this road, which is now called the Won Wondah Road. 

Continue south until you come to Miss Williamson's Road, turn left and go for 3.4km, straight mostly, 

but you take a left at little dog leg, and straight again into the gate of the Connangorach swamp. 

John McPhee's dwelling would have been on the side of the swamp opposite the entry point you have made. 

John McPhee was a Wilson employee from 1860 to 1873. 

Henty Highway 

Page 37

Robert C Scarlett McPhee: An Early Kimberley Prospector 

FOOTNOTES by Cathie Clement 

1 The surname spelling used above matches that in R.C.S. 

Macphee’s signature but differs from the spelling used by other 

members of the McPhee family. It is hoped that readers may 

be able to offer insight into this inconsistency and perhaps add 

details to this brief biography, which has been compiled at the 

request of Vern O’Brien for the Genealogical Society of the 

Northern Territory Inc. The information will be used to compile 

a entry which will be added to the Pioneer Register established 

by the Genealogical Society. 

2 The Nor’-West Times and Northern Advocate, 26 March 1892, p. 

3, copy provided by Peter Bridge. 

3 Bernie McPhee (great nephew of R.C.S. Macphee) to Professor 

Jack Cross (University of South Australia), 20 September 1996, 

in response to ‘Any Queries’ in MacFie Clan Society of Australia 

Newsbulletin, 1995. 

4 The Nor’-West Times and Northern Advocate, 26 March 1892, p. 

3. 

5 ‘Any Queries’ in MacFie Clan Society of Australia Newsbulletin, 

1995. This query was submitted by Professor Jack Cross who 

suggested that ‘McPhee the Overlander’ was probably either 

R.C.S. McPhee or Duncan McPhee. The latter man became a 

station manager in the upper Territory. 

6 Overlanders (or drovers) arriving in N.T. 1879–1883, index 

compiled by members of the Genealogical Society of N.T. from 

original records held at Australian Archives Darwin. 

7 ibid.; and Northern Territory Times & Gazette (NTT&G), 13 

November 1880, copy provided by Vern O’Brien. 

8 NTT&G, 6 November 1880 and 27 November 1880. 

9 ibid., 18 December 1880, 8 January 1881, 9 July 1881, and 10 

September 1881, copy provided by Vern O’Brien. 

10 Overlanders (or drovers) arriving in N.T. 1879–1883; and 

NTT&G, 15 July 1882. 

11 NTT&G, 9 July 1881, p. 1. 

12 ibid., 24 February 1883. For Saunders’ notes and publicity 

regarding his prospecting trip, see Cathie Clement & Peter 

Bridge (eds), Kimberley Scenes: Sagas of Australia’s Last 

Frontier, pp. 63 and 65–70. 

13 NTT&G, 9 June 1883, and 4 August 1883; and Peter Forrest, 

Springvale’s Story and Early Years at the Katherine, Murranji 

Press, Darwin, 1985, p. 43. 

14 NTT&G, 4 August 1883 and 15 September 1883. 

15 ibid., 28 March 1885 and 16 May 1885. 

16 Bobbie Buchanan, In the Tracks of Old Bluey: The Life Story of 

Nat Buchanan, p. 111. 

17 Mary Durack, Kings in Grass Castles, 1985 edition, pp. 287–8. It 

is noted that, although Mary Durack refers to this man as Jock 

McPhee, he is likely to have been R.C.S. Macphee. 

18 Victorian Express (WA), 17 September 1887, copy provided by 

Peter Bridge; and Public Records Office of Western Australia 

(PROWA), Acc 527, Colonial Secretary’s Office (CSO), 3223/86. 

19 Victorian Express, 19 September 1885; and The West Australian, 

23 September 1885, p. 3. 

20 The North Australian, 11 June 1886; and Government Gazette 

(WA), 15 July 1886, pp. 423–4. 

21 Victorian Express, 17 September 1887; The West Australian, 12 

July 1886, p. 3; and Clement & Bridge (eds), Kimberley Scenes, 

p. 160, citing R.T.S. Wolfe’s recollections. 

22 NTT&G, 28 August 1886. 

23 F.D. Burdett, The Odyssey of a Digger, Herbert Jenkins Limited, 

London, 1936, pp. 173–83, 211 and 235–6; PROWA, Acc 527, 

CSO, 3227/86; and PROWA, AN5/Derby, Police Department, Acc 

738/1 and Acc 738/2, Occurrence Books, entries for 3 July 1886. 

24 Clement & Bridge (eds), Kimberley Scenes, pp. 170–1 and 214; 

Durack, Kings in Grass Castles, pp. 318–9; NTT&G, 2 October 

1886 and 27 November 1886; and PROWA, MN71/3, Acc 

4587A/1, Diary of M.P. Durack, 1886, entries for 17–22 July and 

15–18 August. 

25 NTT&G, 25 December 1886; Clement and Bridge (eds), 

Kimberley Scenes, p. 217; and The Western Mail (WA), 8 June 

1939, p. 11, copy provided by Peter Bridge. 

26 The Western Mail, 20 August 1887, p. 26; and The Victorian 

Express, 23 July 1887, copies of these articles, and subsequent 

articles for this period, provided by Peter Bridge. 

27 May Anderson, ‘Pioneers of the De Grey’ in Helen Weller (ed.), 

North of the 26th, [Vol. 1], The Nine Club, East Perth, 1979, p. 

83; and PROWA, Acc 527, CSO, 2723/87. 

28 The West Australian, 27 July 1887, p. 3; and The Western Mail, 

10 December 1910, copy provided by Peter Bridge. 

29 Victorian Express, 13 August 1887 and 17 September 1887, 

copies provided by Peter Bridge. 

30 PROWA, Acc 527, CSO, 290/88. Macphee’s three-months-long 

diary was published in instalments in The Western Mail on 4 

February 1888, p. 11, on 11 February 1888, pp. 9 and 12, and 18 

February 1888, p. 20. 

31 G.H. Lamond, Tales of the Overland: Queensland to Kimberley 

in 1885, p. 67; Victorian Express, 19 May 1888, copy provided 

by Peter Bridge; and PROWA, AN5/Derby, Police Department, 

Acc 738/3, Occurrence Book, entry for 8 September 1888. 

32 Clement and Bridge (eds), Kimberley Scenes, pp. 38–42; 

Certificate of ‘Death in the State of Western Australia, 

Registration Number 536/1892 in the Roebourne District’; and 

The Nor’-West Times and Northern Advocate, 26 March 1892, p. 

3. 

33 The Western Mail, 24 January 1896, copy provided by Peter 

Bridge. 


Tom Murphy 


J Mitchell V. Housten A. Housten 

Archie 


N Bannar 

Chill 

Murphy 

V Bannar 

Jim 


The Wedding of Harry 

Sisson and Margaret 

McPhee, Horsham 1898 

The last shearing at 

Vectis station, c.1892 

Page 39

John Thomas McPhee and the Gartland Family 

Wedding of John Thomas McPhee and Catherine Moya Gartland 1953 

Left to right: Hector McPhee, Katie McPhee, Maurice Gartland, Cath McPhee, John Thomas (Jack) McPhee, Moya Gartland, 

Jim McPhee, Dot Gartland, Elizabeth Gartland and Michael Gartland. 

John T McPhee and the Gartland Family 

Birthday gathering for Bernie Gartland, 

40 years old, 1997 

Back row left: Christopher McPhee, Mary Gartland, Cath 

Gartland, Bernie McPhee, Edna McCallum, Robbie McPhee, 

Moya Gartland, Marie O’Sullivan, Michael Gartland. Front 

row left: Helen McPhee, Bernie Gartland, Betty McPhee and 

Anthony Gartland. 

Page 40

John Thomas McPhee, the eldest son of Hector 

Alexander McPhee and Katie Liston, was born on 

20th October, 1920 at Rainbow in Victoria. With 

his parents Hector and Katie McPhee, Jack McPhee 

lived at Pullut, Yaapeet, Beulah, Seddon and Mont 

Albert, all in Victoria. 


This photo of John (Jack) McPhee taken at Pullut, Victoria. 

Jack was always very proud of his Scottish heritage. 

In 1953 Jack married Catherine Moya Gartland at 

Oakleigh Victoria. Moya McPhee died in 1999. R.I.P. 

In the following pages are pictures of Jack with his 

parents, his sisters and brothers, and his doubly 

close cousins the McPhees of Kenmare, and some 

other relations and contemporaries. 

Page 41

Jack and Jim 

McPhee at Pullut 

in 1926 on the front 

verandah of family 

home. 

Page 42 

Hector McPhee over three years cleared 

the land at Pullut, put in a new dam and, 

with help from his brother Robert and his 

nephew Billy Brasier, he connected his 

new dam to the main channel with a mile 

long new channel through a neighbour’s 

property. Hector took the above photo of 

his vegetable garden towards side of the 

house; he said: “We grew lovely vegetables 

and melons, and the garden was pure 

white sand.” 

John T McPhee and the Gartland Family


Katie McPhee with Jim and 

Rowley 1926 at Pullut 

Jack and Jim McPhee at the 

Pullut farm in 1926. 

Page 43

Hector McPhee 

drives his T Model 

Ford. Jack McPhee 

in back seat. 

Page 44 

Katie McPhee (left, holding Jean 

McPhee) and Lottie Hassall (who later 

married Adrian Knowles, and here 

seen holding Rowley McPhee). Front 

left: Jack, Jim, Bob, Tom and Mary 

McPhee.1927 



Putting down the Channel at the Kenmare property, about 1914. 

Robert and Hector McPhee involved in the work. 

Visitors to Pullut 1929. 

Back row left: Alice Liston, Hector McPhee 

holding Marie, Katie McPhee, Laura 

Muldoon, Maurice Brennan, Rose Brennan, 

holding Cath. Front: Jim, Rowley and Jack 

McPhee. 

Page 45

Bridgie and Robert McPhee, with Katie 

and Hector McPhee (back row right) 

and their children of the 1920’s in front 

right, together with Mrs Miller (back 

row second from left) and her three older 

children. Mr and Mrs Miller had been 

conducting the post office and wine saloon 

in Kenmare since 1910. 

Inseparable McPhee (Liston) cousins 

in 1920’s. Back row left: Mary McPhee, 

Jim, Jack and Bob McPhee. 

Front row: Jean, Rowley 

and Tom McPhee. 

Page 46 



Hector McPhee (born 1887) sitting, and holding Marie; with his oldest brother 

John McPhee (born 1865); and Laura Muldoon, with Hector’s other children 

from left, front: Jim, Rowley, Jack. This photo taken at the Pullut farm, about 1927. 

This photo was taken in 1929, soon 

after the family of Hector and Katie 

McPhee sold the Pullut farm and bought 

the ill-fated Raggett’s farm at Yaapeet, 

slightly to the North of the town of 

Rainbow. Hector later described this 

sale as: “the biggest blunder of my life”. 

From the left: Marie, Jack, Cath, Jim 

and Rowley. 

Page 47

Page 48 

Back row left: Laura Muldoon, Marie McPhee, Katie McPhee, John McPhee who had been born 

in 1865 and was the oldest brother of Hector McPhee. The children in the front row are Rowley, 

Jack, Cath and Jim McPhee. The photo is taken about 1929. 

From left: Hector McPhee, Rowley, Cath, 

Michael, Jim and Marie. 1932 


Frank Hallam pauses in front 

of McPhee family business, 

Beulah 1937. 


This group of relatives, mainly from the area of 

Shepparton Victoria, includes Jack McPhee 

who was visiting from Beulah, and it includes 

Wally O’Dea, grandson of Archie McPhee 

of Shepparton who was to die in the War over 

Germany only a few short years after this picture 

was taken. Back row left: Norah McPhee, Gerald 

Liston, Unknown, Wally O’Dea, Cath McPhee, 

Jack McPhee, Leo McPhee, Desmond O’Dea. 

Front: Brian O’Dea. 

Page 49

Hassall visitors to Seddon 1941. 

Back row left: Rowley McPhee, Sheila 

(Clancy) Hassall, Katie McPhee, Hector 

McPhee. Front: Marie McPhee, Robbie 

McPhee, George Hassall, Michael McPhee. 

Page 50 

Katie McPhee and children 1937 at Beulah 

Victoria. Back row left: Jim, Katie holding 

Bernie, Rowley McPhee. Front: Robbie, 

Cath, Michael McPhee 



Young Beulah McPhees with friends 1939. Left: Robbie McPhee, 

Bernie McPhee, M.Compton, Terry Lowe, Maureen Lowe. 

Last photo of family all together taken at Beulah, perhaps late in 1939. Soon after this time, Hector with Jim and 

Rowley moved to Melbourne. Jack was already employed with the State Savings Bank of Victoria at the Beulah branch. 

Katie McPhee stayed on in Beulah for a while to tidy up affairs with the business and the property, and then early in 

1940 and with the younger children, she joined Hector and the boys in Melbourne. Back row left: Marie, Jim, Jack, 

Rowley. Middle row: Michael, Katie, Hector, Cath. Front row: Pat, Robbie, Bernie. 

Page 51

Pat McPhee and his cousin 

Vincent Liston in 1940 at 

Beulah West. 

Cousins gather at Beulah West in 1942. 

Back row left: Tom McPhee, Robert McPhee, Rowley McPhee (in RAAF uniform) Gerald 

Liston, Marie McPhee, Frank Liston, Norah Liston, Bridgie McPhee. 

Front: Vincent Liston 

Page 52 


Jack McPhee and his cousin Bob McPhee came on their war-time leave 

to Seddon, the Melbourne suburb where Hector and Katie lived for a 

while before moving to Mont Albert. Back row left: Jack, Jim, Hector 

McPhee, and cousin Bob McPhee. Front: Michael and Cath McPhee. 

During the War, Jack McPhee 

(left) and Rowley McPhee were 

both serving in New Guinea. 

They ran into one another just 

the once while they were there, 

and so this photo was taken. 


Page 53

Family Group at Mont Albert in 1949: occasion was Baptism of John Joseph 

O’Sullivan. Back row: Joe O’Sullivan, Tony O’Sullivan, Mr J.J.O’Sullivan, Michael 

McPhee, Mrs J.J.O’Sullivan, Rowley McPhee, Marie O’Sullivan holding baby, 

Katie McPhee, Cath McPhee, Lottie Knowles, Hector McPhee, Rita O’Sullivan, 

Brian O’Sullivan. Front row: Roger Hartnett, Jim Knowles, Pat McPhee, Martin 

Hartnett, Bernie McPhee, Catherine Knowles. 

Family Group in 1949 at Mont 

Albert. Back row: Joe O’Sullivan, 

Michael McPhee, Marie 

O’Sullivan, Bill Roberts, Cath 

McPhee Owen Roberts, Katie 

McPhee, Rowley McPhee, 

Hector McPhee. Front row: Jack 

McPhee, Bernie McPhee. 

Page 54 


At Donvale Victoria in 1956. A family gathering on occasion of Michael McPhee taking his final profession of religious vows. Back row 

left: Monica McPhee, Rowley McPhee, Cath Gartland, Molly Buckley, Frank Hurst at back, Moya McPhee, Julia Young, Marie 

Gartland, Marie O’Sullivan, Owen Roberts, Alice Liston, Ann Liston, Bernie McPhee, Molly Hurst, Hector McPhee, Michael 

Matthew McPhee, Katie McPhee, George Parsons, Mrs George Parsons, Rose Brennan, Maurice Gartland. 

Centre row left: Betty McPhee, Pat McPhee, Robbie McPhee, Margaret Glowrey, Jack McPhee, Joe O’Sullivan with daughter 

Ann Maree, Bill Hassall, Lottie Knowles, Rene Hassall, Eileen Hassall. In front: Damian O’Sullivan, John O’Sullivan. 


Hector and Katie McPhee’s family in 1997. 

Back Row: Jack, Michael, Robbie, Bernie. 

Front Row: Cath, Pat, Marie, Jim and Rowley 

Page 55

John Thomas McPhee and the Gartland Family 

John Thomas McPhee, married Catherine Moya Gartland. 

Hector James McPhee, married Bernadette Young. 

Rowland Joseph McPhee, married Elizabeth Gartland. 

Marie Therese McPhee, married Joseph Bernard O’Sullivan. 

Catherine Cecelia McPhee, married Maurice Gartland. 

Robert Vincent McPhee, married Helen Sandra Waugh. 

Michael Peter (Matthew O.Carm.) McPhee, ordained priest in 1973. 

Bernard Paul McPhee. 

Leo Patrick (Anscar OSB ) McPhee, ordained Priest in 1964 

The Gartland Family 

The parents of Moya, Betty and Maurice Gartland were Michael Gartland and Elizabeth Carey. 

Elizabeth Carey was descended from a Matthew Middleditch who came to Australia in 1824, 

and whose son George Middleditch came across to Melbourne from Tasmania in 1851. 

George Middleditch married the Irish Catherine Anne Fitzpatrick, and their daughter 

Catherine married Maurice Carey, father of the Elizabeth Carey who was to marry Michael 

Gartland at North Fitzroy in 1921. 

Here is a brief sketch of those families: 

MIDDLEDITCH, GORMAN, FITZPATRICK, CAREY, GARTLAND 

Page 56 

Back left: Elizabeth Ann (Carey) Gartland, 

Catherine (Middleditch) Carey. 

Front: Mary Ann (Fitzpatrick) Middleditch. 


Matthew Middleditch married Catherine 

Gorman on 4 October, 1831 (Ref.No. 1761) 

Matthew Middleditch, Convict, came on the 

ship “Chapman” to Tasmania in 1824. He was 

tried at the Norfolk Quarter Sessions on 10 Dec 

1823, and sentenced to seven years gaol. He was 

transported for pig stealing. He spent some time 

on a hulk. Once for housebreaking, he had spent 

eighteen months in Ipswich. His mother was at 

Nature Place, Stanton, Bury St. Edmunds. John 

Middleditch his Uncle, kept the sign of the Ram, 

Norwich. Matthew lived last in England at Stanton. 

Catherine Gorman, Convict, came on ship 

“Providence” to Tasmania in 1826. She stole 

tablespoons from her master, and received seven 

years gaol sentence on 30 June 1825. Francine 

Smith, a descendent, said: “You will notice she left 

a child at home with her mother. We wonder what 

happened there.” Here is what was recorded on 

the official files: 

Catherine Gorman, Mid-London, Gaol Delivery 

30 June, 1825 – 7 years. 5ft 4 ¾ ins, brown hair, 

light grey eyes, age 27, servant of all work, cook, 

get up linen, wash. Native place London. Single 

with child. Offence – stealing tablespoons from 

her master. 

Catherine Middleditch (nee Gorman) died in 

1876 aged 83. 

Born London. Father and Mother unknown. Ref. 

No.11966 


Children of Matthew Middleditch 

and Catherine Gorman 

Children of Matthew Middleditch and Catherine 

Gorman were: 

William Middleditch. Died at Williamstown Vic 

in 1887, aged 58 (Ref.No. 15966) 

George Middleditch. Born in Tasmania in 1832 

The two brothers came from Tasmania to 

Melbourne on the ship “Shamrock”. 

George Middleditch married Mary Anne 

Fitzpatrick in 1864. Ref.No. 625 

Mary Anne Fitzpatrick was born in 1842 at 

Armagh in Ireland. 

Mary Anne’s parents were Hugh Fitzpatrick and 

Elizabeth McMahon, from County Tyrone. Mary 

Anne Fitzpatrick came to Australia in 1857. 

George Middleditch is noticed in the book: 

“Victoria and its Metropolis 1888”, page 675. 

Here is an extract from that book: 

Middleditch, George, Williamstown, was born 

in Tasmania in 1832, and came to Victoria in 

1851, where he was employed at Cole’s wharf in 

the first slaughter-house built in Melbourne. He 

afterwards went to the Forest Creek diggings, and 

then to Bendigo where he worked in Ironbark 

Gully, and stayed there about seven years. He 

was next employed for three years in the Mallee 

country. About 1871 he went to New Zealand 

and engaged in farming there, but returned to 

Melbourne in 1877, and took up a selection in 

Gippsland, where he remained until 1887 when 

he came back to Melbourne and purchased the 

Beach Hotel at Williamstown, containing about 

ten rooms, where he has since commanded a 

steady trade.” 

He died in 1888 at the Alfred Hospital, Prahan, 

aged 53. In Ref.No. 3241 George’s father is shown 

as Matthew Charles Middleditch. There were ten 

living children when George died, and their ages 

were as follows: 

Lizzie (later Pullen) 23 years, George 21, Tom 19, 

Kitty (later Carey) 18, Maud 14, Arthur 12, Bert 9, 

Teanie (later Pike) 6, Margaret (later Day) 3. 

Page 57

Children of George and Mary 

Anne Middleditch 

�� born 1862. In 

1888 she married Richard Pullen. (Ref.No. 

8541) (In marriage record Elizabeth is spelt 

“Middlewich”.) 

Page 58 

Elizabeth and Dick had the children as 

follows: 

Annie Pullen, who married Swanell. 

Swanell died at 40. There were no children. 

Agnes Pullen, who married Penhall. 

Annie and Agnes were twins. Agnes had a 

daughter Amy Delves. 

Bert 

Fred 

Ethel 

The Pullens lived at Richmond and used to 

visit the Gartland family at Oakleigh, as did 

Elizabeth’s sisters, Aunty Teenie (Christine 

Pike) and Aunty Margaret Day. 

�� born 1864. 

�� Anna Middleditch, born 1865, in the 

Wimmera. (Ref.No. 15900) 

�� born 

in New Zealand in 1867 married James 

Edward Carey, son of Maurice Carey and 

Elizabeth Selway, in Victoria in 1889. (Ref. 

No.3344.) 

Maurice Carey born Portsmouth in England 

in 1844. 

Catherine Middleditch Carey died at Kew 

in 1929, at age 59. (Ref.No.14838) 

James Edward Carey was an upholsterer. 

He was born in Portsmouth England on 

18 March 1867. He worked at his trade 

with FOY & GIBSON at their Smith Street 

Collingwood business. The family lived 

variously at Collingwood, Carlton and finally 

Kew. James Edward Carey died in 1944 at 

Oakleigh age 77. (Ref.No. 11559) 

�� , born 1872. This 

Frederick Hugh Middleditch died at 

Orbost.(Ref.No. 2775.) Fred fought in the 

Boer War and received medals for bravery 

in that conflict. Later, Fred received this 

following letter from his sister Kitty, written 

from 528 Canning Street Carlton, and dated 

April 11th, 1917: 

Dear Fred, 

Just a few lines, hoping that you are still 

keeping well and to let you know that I am 

sending that parcel along. I will send it by 

Railway to Jack in c/o Williams Carrier to 

Orbost Station. 

You have not sent me your bank book yet: 

tomorrow is your pension day. I am taking 

seven weeks out of your pension so I will 

have two pounds to bank for you tomorrow. 

We have had terrible weather here for Easter 

but the last couple of days has been lovely. 

Arthur was here last night; he is still trying 

to get into the railway unit. He says if they 

don’t let him go he will make them give him 

his discharge. I will now say good bye with 

best wishes from all. 

I remain your affect 

Sister Kittie 

(Kittie is Catherine Middleditch who 

married James Carey.) 

�� born 1874 

�� Arthur Edward Middleditch, born 1876, 

Melbourne. (Ref.No. 17630) Married to 

Lil. Arthur was in the Australian Army, in the 

Great War. 

�� Bert (Alfred John) Middleditch, born 

1878, Married Kit (Catherine), Berwick, 

(Ref.No. 13620). Children of Bert and Kit: 

Keith Middleditch married Jean. Daughter 

Sandra, and daughter Pam who lives in 

Tasmania. Sandra Middleditch married 

McNeil. McNeills lived in Sale. 


�� 

born 1882, Ref.No. 629, married Joe Pike, 

of Gippsland, at Berwick, in 1905. (Ref.No. 

6605) This family lived in Orbost. 

Children of Teenie and Joe: 

Jack Pike (died about 1983) married 

Phyllis. 

Jim Pike married Ethel. 

Elizabeth Carey Gartland used to meet 

her cousins Jack and Jim Pike quite 

frequently, and was closer to them that all the 

Middleditch relatives. 

Francie Smith, a cousin of theirs, said 

that Jim Pike was still alive in the 1980’s. 

Christine Pike and Margaret Day were the 

ones left alone with their widowed mother 

Mary Anne Middleditch, and her new 

husband John Bruton of Armagh, whom she 

married in 1890. (Ref.No. 3488.) 

�� born 

1885, (Ref.No. 16180,) married Frank 

Merson Day, at Carlton North in 1909, (Ref. 

No. 3229.) Maggie’s daughter Francie 

writes to Marie Gartland in 1985: 

“Mum was born on 2 Sept 1885, so you will 

be able to know how different in age she 

was from your mother (i.e. Elizabeth Ann 

Carey Gartland). If I remember it wasn’t 

a great lot. In photos we have of my mum 

the hair was always up, and all those lovely 

long dresses with wide lace collars and cuffs 

and they always seemed to be dressed up 

at home. Auntie Teanie and Mum were the 

last two at home with Grandma (Catherine 

Fitzpatrick Middledditch Bruton) and when 

Auntie married Uncle Joe, Mum was alone 

with Grandma and Granddad Bruton. She 

must have been lonely but there seemed 

to be so much going on in those days, they 

didn’t notice the loneliness. Mum used to 

ride to Orbost and then at times a crowd of 

them would go to dances out at Cabbage 

Tree, which is on the highway now, but in 

those days it was just what they called it, a 

bridle track, one horse track, and from what 

Mum told us, they had a wonderful time. 


I often wonder how many of the family went 

to Murrangower in those very first years after 

leaving Williamstown. Mum had two sons, 

George and William who went to Williamstown. 

George took over the Black Rd Hotel. It is still 

there in Tuyford Street. I think its 50 or 40. Jim 

and Et have seen it.” 

Children of Catherine (Kitty) 

Middleditch and James 

Edward Carey 

James Carey 

and Catherine 

Middleditch with 

daughter Elizabeth 

Carey. 

�� born 1903. Died in 1930 at 

Cheltenham sanatorium. Family lived at Kew 

at the time. 

�� who married 

Michael Gartland in 1921. 

Elizabeth Carey used to visit her 

grandmother at Murrangower, near Orbost, 

where her grandmother, Mary Anne 

(Fitzpatrick Middleditch) Bruton lived 

with her second husband John Bruton 

who had a hotel in that town, and where the 

young Michael Gartland would stay when 

he came into town. That’s how they met of 

course. 

Elizabeth Carey and Michael Gartland 

were married at Saint Brigid’s Church North 

Fitzroy on 9 July 1921. At the time of her 

marriage, Elizabeth was living at 30 O’Grady 

Street North Carlton. She was 31 years old. 

Michael Gartland gave his address as 

Orbost. He had been born at Hacketstown, 

Ireland on 24-12-1883. He was 38 years old. 

Page 59

Michael Gartland’s Family 

Michael Gartland’s father was Michael 

Gartland, son of Bryan Gartland (Gortlan) a 

shop keeper of Hacketstown, and his mother was 

Catherine Mary Byrne daughter of Matthew 

Byrne, a Ballybrack farmer and Mary Toole who 

died 30.5.1886. 

Michael Gartland had four brothers: Bernard, 

Matthew, Nicholas and Nicholas Patrick. 

�� lived in Western 

Australia and had the family: Cedric, Mary, 

Monica, Kevin, Kate and Clare. 

�� Matthew and Ann Veronica Heffernan 

Gartland lived in Ireland and had the 

family: Kitty and Gerry Rodgers of Newry, 

Co Down: Billy and Teresa Gartland of 

Artane Dublin; Jack and Nora Gartland of 

Kiltegan, Co Wicklow; Nicholas and Maura 

Gartland of Ballybrack, Hacketstown, Co 

Carlow; Michael and Dympna Gartland 

of Enniscorthy, Co Wexford; Tom and Kitty 

Flynn Gartland of Ardmore, Co Waterford. 

In 1979, Kitty Rodgers in Newry, N.Ireland, 

wrote to Moya McPhee, her cousin in 

Australia; Moya’s son Michael McPhee 

had just visited Kitty and the others in 

Ireland. Kitty wrote: “How my father (this 

was Matthew Gartland) would have loved 

to have seen him. Many times he told us 

of his parting with your father (Michael 

Gartland of course) when he was emigrating 

to Australia, how he ran along the platform 

holding his hand as the train was moving out 

of the station. He said he knew he would 

never see him in this world again. (Letter of 

8-7-1979) Matthew Gartland died on 15 

July, 1951. 

�� Nicholas Gartland: born 1889, died 1890 

�� Nicholas Patrick Gartland: born 1890, 

died 1912 

Page 60 

Family of Elizabeth Ann Carey 

and Michael Gartland 

�� (married Catherine McPhee) 

�� (married Daphne Stewart) 

�� (married Jack McPhee) 

�� Dorothea (married Bryan Hart) 

�� (married Rowley McPhee) and 

�� 

Michael Gartland. 

After Elizabeth Ann Carey’s mother Catherine 

died in 1929, her father James Edward Carey 

then came to live with his daughter in Oakleigh. 

Pa Carey, as he was known, died in 1944. 

Michael and Elizabeth Gartland and family, from left: Betty, 

Nick, Marie, Moya, Maurice and Dot. 


Copies of this publication can be obtained via the author. 

berniepmcphee@hotmail.com. 

This book can be found online at 

www.familyjohnmcphee.com

Printed at Victoria University Printing Services, 

Footscray, January 2009. 

PUBLISHING 

209 Gertrude Street Fitzroy Victoria 3065 Australia 

www.bluevapours.com.au

John McPhee Family - Blue Vapours

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