My mother's parents were married in St Paul's Church of England, Cobar, on September 29, 1910.
He was Isaac Bateman
of Cobar, labourer, aged 27, born in Forbes, NSW. Father: Isaac
Bateman, miner, deceased. Mother: Margaret surname not known (deceased).
She was Barbara Thorburn
of Tiltagara Station, near Cobar, "private life" aged 21, born in
Cobar, NSW. Father: John Thorburn, caretaker. Mother: Elizabeth Jane
(Livingstone) who was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1867. Elizabeth's parents
were Richard Livingstone and his wife, Sarah Winter. It appears that he was involved in the fishing industry in England. They came to Australia in 1879 at at the behest of a relative already here. After initially trying to find gold, they went into a Hansom Cab business in Sydney, Hotels in western NSW, chicken farming in western Sydney and finally kept a Store there.
Elizabeth Jane met her husband at Tiltagara Station where she was a companion to Mrs Brigstocke, wife of the owner, Charles A. Brigstocke.
Tiltagara
Station was owned by the Brigstocke family until 1899 when the long
drought, the predations of rabbits and the sudden death of Mr Brigstocke caused the mortgagee to take over the property.
As
Barbara Thorburn's usual place of residence in 1910 was given as
Tiltagara Station and her father was a caretaker, it seems reasonable
to conclude that he and his family were there in that role at the
behest of the mortgagee.
Isaac and Barbara Bateman had three
children: Right (seated): John (Jack), Left: Burt and Jessie in the middle. Jack
had contracted poliomyelitis as an infant. It affected his right leg
rendering it useless. It is artfully disguised in this image.
By
the time I was born, the Thorburn family had moved in close to Cobar
where Granny Thorburn (left) very firmly ruled the roost. Her husband
had died in 1922. The stable household consisted of Granny, a daughter,
Mildred, and husband, her two grandsons Burt and Jack, and, after my
father died, my mother and me.
Some of my earliest memories are of
this house and the things that happened there. It had a vegetable
garden and small orchard tended by the Jack and Burt. I remember a
large copper for washing and making soap and boiling ham. There was a
tiny circular lawn, probably no more than 3 metres diameter, which was kept
going with any spare water available. It must have had great
sentimental value because Cobar is a very dry place. On weekends, friends
of my mother and uncles came to play tennis on the clay court.
At
Christmas, other members of the family would come to stay including
Granny's other daughter, Sarah (Sadie), and her daughter Wilma (Billie
to me) who was my age and who died on April 1, 2008 in Nyngan, NSW.