6 Year old child buried on Wonnaminta Station

[Kaybron]

My husband's great grandparents married and lived at Milparinka NSW for several years, owning a general store.  They made regular trips to Wilcania for supplies.  On one of the trips their 18 month old daughter died and was buried somewhere.  Cando helped me find the name of the child, Annie Winifred Heuzenroeder.   It was always believed that Annie fell from the back of a wagon and was buried on Wonnaminta Station.  I think this came from an article that appeared in The Western Grazier.  Annie's parents, Selmar and Emma, were interviewed and mentioned that they had to leave one of their children at Wonnaminta.  There was no mention of the station so this could have been the Wonnaminta parish area that was being referred to.  In the 1980's a family member visited the station and was told that they were 95% sure that the Heuzenroeder child was buried on the station and they were taken to see this unmarked grave.  A photo was taken and is attached.
Family members wanted to have a plaque put on the grave and I was given the job of finding her birth and death dates.  I sent away for certificates for Annie and discovered the following:

Birth:  7 April 1888 at Milparinka
Death:  30 October 1889 at Nuntherungie Creek, Female 17 months, Cause of death - Dysentery 6 days, Informant - S Huezenroeder Father, Fort Ottaway,  Registered 3rd November 1889 at Wilcannia.  Buried 1 November 1889 at Fort Ottaway,  Witness Henry Haley.

When we received this our plans to have a plaque on the grave at Wonnaminta went haywire as we are not in a position to know if this is the correct grave.  I have searched inquest records, station records for Gnalta and many other things to try and work if the grave on the station is Annie's. 

Last night I was reading "Beyond the Western Rivers" by Myrtle Rose White.  Myrtle and her husband Con, managed Wonnaminta station from 1922 until the mid 1930's.  Towards the end of the book there is a page about the unmarked graves on the property.  Myrtle writes
"A mile or two down the creek there was a cairn of white quartz stones within a broken railing.  This was the grave of a little girl of six who fell from the travelling bullock-dray and broke her neck.  I never saw that cairn without a pang of pity for the parents of that little one.  What must they have felt as they pulled out with their team early one morning, leaving their treasure buried by the roadside, knowing they would never come that way again."

I was quite stunned when I read this and am starting to believe that this is the grave that some relatives believe is Annies. 

[Neil Todd]

Hi, Do you know where thi "Fort Ottaway" is??

I just did some Googling and there was both a Goldfield in the area and a family by that name in Wilcania.

Sad but interesting times for our forebears!

Neil

[Kaybron]

Hi Neil,
It took quite a while to find out where this place was.  In NSW Parish maps it is referred to as Fort Otway.  If you go into the NSW Government Land & Property Information page
http://www.lpi.nsw.gov.au/mapping_and_imagery/parish_maps  and then click on the Historical Lands Records Viewer this takes you to a window where you can search NSW Parish Maps.  Fort Otway is in the Mootwingee parish so if you use the menu on the right of the screen and type in Mootwingee there are about 6 records that come up.  If you click on the first Historical Parish Maps which is under LTO Charting Maps this takes you to the parish map that you will find Fort Otway on.  You have to change to map 2 at the bottom of this screen.  Fort Otway is at the top of the map. 
We bought an A2 map from the Lands Department after eventually finding where the place was.

[Neil Todd]

As for who child is in that grave it would seem not that of your husbands family. The area that she died is 44klms almost a days travel in the wrong direction for the family to travel. While should they have been going to Wilcania I believe they would have continued south and on to Wilcannia. That is 140 klms and at least a two day trip. Boy they were tough then!!

Wonnaminta Station is roughly 760square klms and may take in part of the road from Milparinka but I dont think so! It would appear that her gravesite may be near the turnoff area at Packsaddle?

A similar cairn may be located nearer there, but a lot of local knowlege by someone who has worked that area for years would be needed.

Neil

[Essie]

Hi

Was Nuntherungie Creek on Wonaminta station?

TROVE mentions Nuntherungie homestead next to a creek and devastated by a flood in 1931.
Nuntherungie appears to be an adjoining Station to the south of Wonaminta on my Atlas.

Essie

[Neil Todd]

This is a "Lone GRAVE" which is on Nuntherungi Station. I would imagine that the poor little Babe was buried close by the travel route which would have been classed as a dry route for stock with waterholes along the way. The norm would be to then erect a memorial when available and this could be visited when passing for trips to Wilcannia. Unfortunatly some of these have either through the ravages of the weather or being removed "Which does happen" and sometimes placed in the grave of the first parent to die. So possibly no memorial now exists.

Nuntherungie is close by that area of Packsaddle that I mentioned in an earlier post.
http://www.australiancemeteries.com/nsw/central_darling/nuntherungiestn.htm
Neil

[majm]

If my memory serves me well,  I did search my CD with the Bourke & Districts papers....  I am not at my home at present, and it could be at least a week before I am back home.   But I will go through again, to see if I missed mention of the sad death.

the papers (13 volumes) are the ones held by many fh groups and it covers from Sth Aust, Vic border right up to Qld border, mainly the Western Land Division   



Cheers,  JM

[Kaybron]

Thank you for your interest Neil and Essie. 

Essie, Nuntherungie Creek is just above Fort Otway, maybe 8-10 miles above Fort Otway.  Amphitheatre Creek is also very close to Fort Otway.  At one stage there was a homestead or buildings there. I have come across somewhere that people voted from here in the 1890s.  I don't think Nuntherungie Creek runs through Wonnaminta Station.  This map gives some idea of the creeks and homesteads    http://www.wilmap.com.au/ftp/atlas/atlas14229/142-29.pdf

Neil, yes I don't think the grave is that of Annie.   I think family have been led to believe this is her grave.  Up until I received the death certificate everyone believed that Annie died after falling from the back of a wagon.  I don't know if her parents would have lied about the cause of death on her certificate, stating dysentery rather than an accident. Someone with extensive knowledge of the area would most probably be able to provide some help.  I think it will be extremely difficult to find the correct grave.  I am leaning more towards trying to prove the one on WS is not the correct one.

majm, I think you did search for a death of an 18 month old child and could not find anything.  I think Myrtle White's entry in her book and the mention of a 6 year old throws a different perspective on things.  If I can find somewhere a record of a 6 year old falling from a wagon in the area, perhaps even an inquest, then this might help clear things up.

Regards Kay

[Essie]

Kay, thank you for the map with creeks (that my Atlas does not show). 

I have doubts than Annie was buried at Wonaminta since it is apparent that Nuntherungie Creek was near Nuntherungie Station.  And anyway, the DC recorded the burial place as Fort Otway further south.

By the 1920s the exact story of a six year old child buried at Wonaminta may have been horribly confused.

Essie