SECONDARY DOCUMENTS
CONTENTS
9 ARTICLE: ABOUT: Biog of Harold Burnham
Curlewis
10 EXTRACT: FROM: The Territory / by
Ernestine Hill (on work done by H B Curlewis)
11 EXTRACT: FROM: The progress of Swan Hill
District / by J Edward Robertson 1912
12 WEB SITE: for The Bellarine Historical
Society Inc ABOUT: CURLEWIS (town near Geelong, Victoria)
13 EXTRACT: FROM: Coast and country :
photographs from the William Henry Corkhill Tilba Tilba
collection / National Library of Australia. Calendar 1977
14:EXTRACT: FROM: Victoria and its
metropolis: past and present / by A Sutherland. 1888 p 228
15 EXTRACT:FROM: The Riverina : people and
properties / by Robert A Ronald p 115
16 EXTRACT: FROM: Letters from Victorian
Pioneers p. 186
17 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: FROM: Geelong
Advertiser 2 September 1958"Rural outlook has
dominated the Hermsley property at Curlewis.
18
EXTRACT: FROM: Swan Hill/ by A Feldman. Rigby, 1973
19 EXTRACT:FROM: Messengers:
Watchinen & Steward/ by W de Villiers
20: INSPECTORS' REPORTS FOR THE YEAR
1899.REPORT OF ALFRED CLARIBEUX CURLEWIS,
ESQ., M.A., METROPOLITAN DISTRICT No. 1.
21. AUTHOR: Unknown SOURCE: Papers of
Philippa Poole HISTORY OF THE CURLEWIS FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA
22 AUTHOR: SOURCE: O'BYRNE'S NAVAL BIOGRAPHY:
William Edward Curlewis: TYPEWRITTEN COPY IN PAPERS OF PHILIPPA
POOLE:
23: Biography of Richard Jeffries
Burnham Curlewis (1917 - 2002)
24 Pretoria News 27.10.36 NEW CHIEF
JUSTICE MR JUSTICE CURLEWIS MENTIONED.
25 PRETORIA NEWS 26.1036 A MAN OF THE
MOMENT: MR JUSTICE J S CURLEWIS
26: Extracts relating to Curlewis/Curlews
from" Wormley in Hertfordshire" by Dorothy Bushby and
William le Hardy first published in 1954
27. Biography of Curlewis, Frederick Charles
Patrick (1876 - 1945) Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography
online
28. James
Frederick Curlewis From:
THE EARLY BRITISH FAMILIES OF PAARL by R.R.Langham-Carter: and his work at St Stephens Church
29: John Jauncey's reminisences of
travelling through the Monaro with George Campbell Curlewis, 1833
and 1834
30: Clive Pemberton Curlewis 1875 - 1940
31 Claire Constance Curlewis: 1909 - 1996
32 John Ormond O'Brien Biography: Jenny
Priestley
33 Francesco Flores Biography by
Eduardo Flores
34 From monograph: Rolf Bolderwood/Old
Melbourne Memories: with an introduction and editorial commentary
by C E Sayers, Melbourne, William Heinemann/ ndate
35 From Mallee Roots: May 2004. On George Campbell
Curlewis's acquisitions near Swan Hill
36 obituary for Jean Curlewis by Dorothea MacKellar
From: Art in Australia 3:32 June-July 1930
37 Skeleton sketch of Movements on Curlewis
brothers in Australia as told to Arthur William Curlewis
From: typewritten copy, various sources
39 Biography of Alfred Claribeaux Curlewis from Geelong Grammarian
9 ARTICLE:
ABOUT: Biog of Harold Burnham Curlewis
SOURCE: Copy held in National Library biographical files lisitng
National Memorial Committee as author
CURLEWIS. Harold Burnham 1875 - 1968
Mr Harold Burnham Curlewis was born (in Sydney I believe) on 6
October 1875 and died in Perth on 8 June 1968. He was first
appointed to the Perth Observatory, as Astronomical Computer and
Observer in 1898, two years after the Observatory was founded.
When the first Government Astronomer, Mr W E Cooke, transferred
to Sydney Observatory in 1912, Mr Curlewis became acting
Government Astronomer, but was not formally appointed until about
1920.
Mr Curlewis was responsible for the major portion of the work
involved in the compilation of the Perth Catalogues of Meridian
Observations, published between 1907 and 1913. These catalogues
contained the observed positions of nearly 10,000 stars. During
1912 to 1922, he supervised the completion of observations,
measurements and reductions for the Perth zone of the Astographic
Catalogues, being responsible for 20 of the 24 volumes published.
From 1922, the staff and budget for the Observatory were pared to
the minimum necessary to maintain public services. Although Mr
Curlewis tried several times to obtain greater support, and even
attempted single-handed to prosecute further observational
programmes, he was unsuccessful. During these years of
disappointment, he nevertheless maintained the services of the
Observatory for the general public and on several occasions
staved off proposals to close the Observatory.
10 EXTRACT:
FROM: The Territory / by Ernestine Hill
(as quoted in handwritten photocopy, origin unknown)
A million square miles of Australia was "The Great
Unfenced". There were no station boundaries, no state
Borders. The eastern border had been a Herculian job for many
noted surveyors/explorers for over fifty years, the endless
building of a legendary fence, the notorious "Queensland
netting" here today and gone tomorrow, finally buried three
fences deep under the Dead Heart sand.
The Western border had no place in the minds of men until 1923
when Messrs G F Dodwell, H B Curlewis,
C M Hambridge and C A Maddern, government astronomers and
surveyors of SA and WA drew an imaginary line for 1500 miles
across state wilderness.
On Argyle Station in Kimberly, with M P Durack, their host, they
carried their radio sets from the homestead sixteen miles east,
and there listened to signals from annapolis, USA, Lyons, France
and Bordeaux's Lafayette, then the most powerful transmitting
station in the world.
They marked the 129th meridian from a point nearly one and a half
miles east. General Ferrie, Admiral Hoogewerffe, Mr Dodwell and
Mr Curlewis worked in the bond that unites men of science across
many thousands of miles while Boner, Ulysses and Billy-Joe
natives of Argyle listened to music of the spheres and at the
right moment, registered delight.
The border was marked by the concrete pedestal on which the
portable transmit and alcamanter instruments were fixed that
night. It disects the desert from sea to sea, but a cairn at
Deakin on the transcontinental railway a thousand miles south was
the only outward and visible sign. Between Deakin and Hall's
Creek it was a border that only the wind and wild dogs would
cross.
11 EXTRACT
FROM: The progress of Swan Hill District / by J Edward Robertson
1912
"Swan Hill was first occupied by Mr Curlewis in the year 1844 when it formed the northern boundary of the Reedy Lake station. Beyond was No Man's country, reputed to be overrun with numerous bands of fierce and treacherous aboriginies"
12 WEB SITE: for The Bellarine Historical
Society Inc
ref: www.zades.com.au/bellhs/curlewis.html.
CURLEWIS (town near Geelong, Victoria)
"In 1850 when the Catholics established a school there, the area was known as Point Henry, however it was renamed Curlewis after a local pioneer family (George Campbell Curlewis was a squatter and purchased land here in 1845)......
Septimus Lord Curlewis, stepbrother and trustee for the late George Campbell Curlewis, built Hermsley. Septimus looked after the family and property until George's sons were old enough to take over in 1866. By the 1880's the Curlewises seemed to have run into financial difficulties as the property was offered in morgagees sales."
13 EXTRACT:
FROM: Coast and country : photographs from the William Henry
Corkhill Tilba Tilba collection / National Library of Australia.
Calendar 1977
The Tilba Tilba District:
"...John Jauncey a young convict overseer for Curlewis
Brother of Ballalaba, near Braidwood, explored the cost with George Curlewis in November 1833. When he
returned with stock in February 1834, the block they had selected
had been occupied by Dr Wilson's men from Braidwood. He crossed
Wallage Lake and settled at Tilba Tilba, not far from the lake
shore. Janucey managed an out-station for his employers until
1843, when he and Septimus Curlewis
began dairying and pig-raising. When they were bought out by
William Campbell of Moruya in 1846, Jauncey stayed on as manager
until Campbell in turn was bought out by Thomas Forster of
Narooma (then called "Noorooma' station) in 1856."
14:EXTRACT
FROM: Victoria and its metropolis: past and present / by A
Sutherland. 1888 p 228
"In 1845 McCallum, Curlewis and Cowper went out to the end of the Avoca River and Lake Tyrell, ...."
15 EXTRACT
FROM: The Riverina : people and properties / by Robert A Ronald p
115
" The Sydney Morning Herald of 15 July 1851 reports the transfer of Cobran to E J Hogg and of Thule to Septimus Lord Curlewis. Later on Curlewis had F S Collins for a partner. Then Cobran and Thule, after being held by a man named Cassel, were held in the name of Ross and Caldwell in the early fifties and the run purchased by them from one, Kemp in 1855 was probably part of Tantonan."
16 EXTRACT
FROM: Letters from Victorian Pioneers p. 186
"On the Loddon, Catto, Brain and Williams, Thorpe, and Bear - all English- took up stations; while a large tract of land was taken on the Lower Loddon and Murray by Curlewis and Campbell from Sydney".
17 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
FROM: Geelong Advertiser 2 September 1958
Rural
outlook has dominated the Hermsley property at Curlewis.
In 1845 when Governor Gipps signed a title in Sydney for an area
of land running from the bay to the Portarlington road and nine
miles from Geelong, it would have required a vivid stretch of
imagination to contemplate that the owner of the new freehold
would have a district and railway station names after him and
that the land or a huge part of it would have as few as six
owners in more than a century.
But that has happened at Curlewis where the Hermsley property is
a link with the earliest days of settlement in the district.
The person to whom the original title was granted was George
Campbell Curlewis whose name is today perpetuated in the name of
the district, a post office and the remains of the Curlewis
station on the Geelong-Queenscliff railway.
When that line was contracted it would appear only logical that
the station to be established at the point where the line crosses
the road would be name Curlewis for the frontage of the property
on the Portarlingon road is immediately opposite the station
site....
Ownership
As for the ownership for the last 113 years after George Campbell
Curlewis followed Edgar Curlewis in 1886, Charles Ibbotson in
1880, Mary Jane Clee in 1882, John Clee in 1919 and then James
Davies in 1927.
The original owner George Curlewis, was a squatter with
interests in the Murray in the Lake Boga district and he
purchased lots 23 and 24 from the Crown at auction towards the
end of 1845.
........Homestead
It would be interesting to know what influenced the original
Curlewis to place the Hermsley homestead where it is....in a
location which would (or may be will command) and "fantastic
price") when bayside development reached Curlewis in the
future.
Not more than 15 chains from the front door is Corio Bay.
Sit on the verandah to watch in comfort the entry of the first
super-tanker to the port of Geelong...or take a grandstand view
of any other bay occurrence.
But, above all, walk out into the garden and get a complete
bayside scene. Shrubs planted by the occupiers makes that
walk necessary.
But from the garden there is an uninterrupted view of the bay.
From the time that an incoming ship is off Portarlinton its
progress can be watched and there is the complete view of the
opposite side of the bay.
Melbourne lights
The flare from the Altona refinery was plainly visible nightly
until its burning gas was diverted to other uses, and the glow of
Melbourne lights in the sky is always visible on clear nights.
George Curlewis would have found it difficult to visualise when
he selected Hermsley, that there would be electricity,
reticulated water and continuous telephone services provided as
they are today.
Nor did he visualise that the day would come when the area shown
on the title would be decreased without sale. But that has
happened through foreshore erosion. It may not be much but
still a post in the water now does show where high water mark was
at one time.
But all those things aside probably the most interesting point of
conjecture in respect of Hermsley is -
What impulse caused George Curlewis to select such a wonderful
location of the Hermsley home?
18 EXTRACT
FROM: Swan Hill / by Feldmann A, Rigby, 1973
"Major Mitchell travelled on through Lake Boga and on to
the Loddon River...On his return to Sydney, he wrote glowing
accounts of the land he had discovered on his journey through
Victoria and called it Australia Felix. He said that he believed
his footsteps would soon be followed by others....
Mitchell's optimistic forecast soon came true. As early as 1844
two pastoralists and business tycoons, George Curlewis and Robert
Campbell left Sydney to explore the possibilities of Australia
Felix. They picked up the Major's tracks near the junction of the
Murrumbidgee and followed them down through Swan Hill and on to
Reedy Lake at Kerang where they established a pastoral station.
The route taken by Mitchell's party was easily followed, as his
heavy drays had cut deep ruts into the soft virgin earth, and it
was not until many years later that they were obliterated. This
well-defined path of the Major's party was known throughout
Australia as the Major's Line.
Just before Curlewis and Campbell arrived in the area, Edward
Argyle and Salathiel Booth had followed the Major's Line from a
southerly direction and arrived at what they called Duck Swamp,
which is the area now called Durham Ox and Boort. Argyle and
Booth were in fact the first squatters in the district.(pp. 2-3)
One of the most remarkable things about the establishment of the
big stations was the speed with which it all happened. Nearly all
of the big runs were started within a period of eight or nine
years. Hot on the heels of Argyle, Booth and John Hawdon came two
Sydney men, both already experienced on the land and in business.
They were George Campbell Curlewis and Robert Tertius Campbell.
Two of the principal streets in Swan Hill are today named after
these men.
George Curlewis arrived in Sydney in 1824. He was listed in the
census of 1828 as having arrived "free" by the ship Hope;
religion Protestant; address Elizabeth Street Sydney. He
commenced business as a wholesale merchant, and after six years
of this he turned his attention and his capital to agriculture,
taking up land in the Shoalhaven River district in 1831........
In 1845 Campbell turned his eyes southward to Australia Felix. He
and Curlewis set out with a party in that year from Circular Quay
in Sydney. They made their way down the Lachlan to the
Murrumbidgee and then followed Major Mitchell's route down the
Murray until they arrived at Swan Hill. They continued on past
Lake Boga and finally pitched their camp about six miles to the
west of where the town of Kerang stands today on the eastern side
of a large lake.
They were satisfied that the country, watered by three rivers
covered with an abundance of natural pasture and having a chain
of inland lakes, could hardly be improved for the carrying of
sheep. Under the existing leasehold system, they took up all the
country between Lake Meran on the one hand and well below Swan
Hill on the other. To this enormous holdin they gave the name of
Reedy Lake. Part of their run covered lake Boga and the present
City of Swan Hill. The headquarters of the station was about
thrity miles south-wast of Swan Hill............
The vastness of Reedy lake station was relatively short-lived.
Curlewis and Campbell themsevles formed two additional stations
out of the original holding, one of the south-east shores of Lake
Boga which they called the Murrabit Station and the other at Long
Lake to the West of Lake Boga which they called the Swan Hill
Run.
When George Curlewis died in 1847 the property passed into the
hands of Robert Campbell and William Splatt.(pp. 14-18)
19: EXTRACT
FROM: Messengers: Watchinen & Steward/ by W de Villiers
The Revd James Frederick Curlewis
Born: Cape Town, in 1833, the son of James Curlewis and his wife, Christina Petronella Elizabeth Middelkoop. Educated: [? ] Married: Mary Murray, the widow of William Robert Shaw Wilson. [She died on 28 June 1899.] Ordained:\tab Deacon in St. George\rquote s Cathedral, Cape Town on 18 December 1859, and Priest in St. Paul\rquote s Church, Rondebosch on 24 December 1871, by the Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Robert Gray. Career:Catechist and Master, Mission School, Lower Paarl (from 1854), Curate of the Paarl (licensed 19 December 1859), and Rector of Holy Trinity (instituted 8 August 1877), Paarl, in the diocese of Cape Town. Died: The Rectory, Paarl, after an accident, on 12 August 1901. A noble missionary. a saintly \character, a delightful companion, sincere and humble quoted in Lewis and Edwards). [Archives of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, Records.of the Diocese of Cape Town, 1847-1865, p. cxli. Bishopscourt Archives, Licences to Clergy, 1848-1963, Institution of Clergy, 1857-1987. The South African Church Magazine and Ecclesiastical Review, vol. Ill (April 1855), p. 128. The Cape Town Directory for 1865, p. 111. Crockford\rquote s Clerical Directory 1889, p. 310. Death Notice. Cape Archives MOOC 6/9/433, number 2740. C Lewis and GE Edwards, Historical Records of the Church of the Province of South Africa (1943) p. 110. }The Cape Town Directory for 1865 describes him as Missionary Curateof Paarl.]
20:Inspector's Report for the year 1899:
VICTORIA EDUCATION
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR THE YEAR
1899-1900 PRESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT BY HIS
EXCELLENCYS COMMAND
APPENDIX C.
INSPECTORS' REPORTS FOR THE YEAR 1899.
REPORT OF ALFRED CLARIBEUX CURLEWIS,
ESQ., M.A., METROPOLITAN
DISTRICT No. 1.
SIR, Hawthorn, 14th June, 1900.
I have the honour to forward my general report for the year 1899
on the Metropolitan District No. 1.
Owing to the extra ;vork imposed on the Board of Examiners by the
revisal of the regulations, the alterations in. the syllabus of
the pupil teacher course, and other matters, I was unable to
complete my programme.
I find that many teachers have not noted with sufficient care the
alterations made last year in the programme of instruction, and
have not attentively studied the notes, in particular the note
requiring the physical exercises to be taken at each meeting.
Regarding, as I do, these exercises as a pleasant break in the
monotony of school work, as a means of rousing the sluggish
livers, of making the blood circulate, of driving the carbonic
acid gas from the lungs and putting in motion the air in the
room, I am at a loss to understand the disinclination some
teachers appear to have to their use.
I am still of the opinion expressed in my report of last year
that, in view of the introduction of kindergarten and manual
training, of cookery, swimming, and rifle practice, we must still
further reduce our programme as regards other subjects.
In many cases I have found the average age of the second class to
be above that specified by the regulations. To make this nine
years three months would be advisable. It would render
unnecessary what is often done-the promotion to the second of
children too young for that class.
The proposed withholding of the certificate from those who, being
under twelve, have passed the standard would be the means of
preventing much irregular attendance on the part of such
children.
For the last six or seven years I have been endeavouring to get
the elements of arithmetic taught in a more intelligent fashion,
and though, in many cases, I have been successful, there is still
much to complain of. Some teachers tell me there is no time for
such teaching, that preparing the children for the result
examination is as much as they can find time for. It is also said
that the children will pick up an intelligent knowledge of
arithmetic as they grow older. This assertion, however, is not
borne out by the manner in which our pupil teachers answer the
questions on the principles of arithmetic, or by the mistakes
they make in their set lessons. Only the other day, a pupil
teacher-candidate for the first class-was giving a lesson on a
problem involving multiplication. As a preliminary she put the
following :-" There are four bags, each containing two nuts.
How many nuts are there?" This is how she set down the
solution and explained it :- "4 bags
2 nuts
8 nuts
"Four bags multiplied by two nuts give eight nuts." I
wonder what her notion of multiplication really was? When
noticing the almost weekly recurrence in the Australasian of the
question as to the difference between a square mile and a mile
square, and of that on the ancient catch-" This man's father
was my father's son," &~., I have sometimes speculated
whether the poverty of the reasoning faculty implied in the
asking of such questions may be accounted for by the lack of the
exercise of that faculty in the teaching received by the
questioners in the primary or secondary schools.
As regards the programme of instruction for pupil teachers, I
find that it involves for girls- candidates for the third
class-the preparation of, and passing in, nineteen subjects, viz.
:-Arithrnetic, grammar, English classic, composition, penmanship,
geography, history, science, Latin, Euclid, algebra, music,
drawing, reading, theory and practice of teaching, class drill,
physical exercises. Surely, to have all these subjects on the
mind of a candidate at the same time can lead only to distraction
of thought and to superficial knowledge! Latin, Euclid, algebra,
and theory of teaching might well be postponed to the second
year.
Now that the schools are to be properly staffed, I trust that a
regulation requiring that monitors shall teach only half the day
will soon be issued. The plan of allowing them to study by
themselves often means a wasting of their time. I should prefer
seeing them enrolled, taught and examined with the sixth class
for the first year of their monitorship.
It appears to me that sufficient attention has not hitherto been
given to the method and manner of selecting our young teachers.
For the moral and physical qualities of the candidates, we accept
the assurances of partial friends and the family or lodge doctor.
Their literary qualities are gauged, to some extent, by an
examination, but their aptitude for teaching is tested by a ten
minutes' lesson before an inspector, who has, perhaps, never seen
them before. I would suggest that candidates be examined by a
Government medical officer, and that the head teacher of the
school which they attend certify as to their character and
conduct, their mental capacity, accuracy, diligence, punctuality,
obedience, personal habits, health, the amount of teaching they
have. done, and their aptitude for it. The examination in
teaching should be conducted by two inspectors with the
certificate of the head teacher before them. No pains, it seems
to me, should be spared to insure that the guides and exemplar of
the rising generation should be physically, mentally and morally,
"fit and proper persons" for the discharge of their
high and important task.
It has been asserted that, while fifteen or twenty years ago
Victoria was in thevan of educational progress, she is now far
behind Great Britain, America, and other countries. I am not in a
position to say whether this is correct or not, but I would point
out that, while the Railways, Post-office, and other departments
have at intervals despatched officers to Europe and America to
learn the latest developments in their respective spheres,
nothing of the kind has been done by the Education Department.
I have still to complain that much of the examination work of the
pupils is done in a slovenly manner, and without regard to
orderly arrangement. This much increases the work of the
examiner.
I have also to complain that many of the reports, H, H2 and G2,
when returned show errors and omissions. Many teachers do not
seem to understand that the directions on form G2 are there to be
carried out, and that to return a G2 that does not tally with the
G, without calling the inspector's attention to the discrepancy,
involves a waste of time and temper. I consider that every
teacher should be able to draw up a G- report, should be posted
up in the regulations concerning the exemptions as regards age,
&c., and be able to calculate the percentage of promotions.
The questions involved in the separate treatment of the mentally
deficient raised by Dr. Stawell will, I fear, prove difficult of
solution. The number of such children appears to me to be on the
increase. My inquiries show that they receive from the teachers
as much attention as can be fairly demanded. I should like to see
a circular issued to teachers describing the means of testing the
presence of post-nasal growths. In the towns the lodge doctor, as
a rule, discovers them ; in the country they too often remain
undiscovered till the mischief has been done and permanent
deafness and loss of mental capacity have resulted.
A short time ago an attempt was made to abolish the restriction
on the employment of the wives of head teachers as sewing
mistresses. I would make no remark on the subject, but would
merely relate an incident that occurred a few years ago. I had
been remonstratiiig with a head teacher on tbe irregular
attendance of his wife as sewing mistress. He drew me
aside-" You," said he, in a most confidential tone,
"are a married man yourself, and you know well that we
cannot always get our wives to do exactly what we want."
Complaints of the difficulty of the third class school paper are
still made. I think we do not sufficiently take into account that
as a rule, in. the larger schools, the third class is taught by a
young pupil teacher, and that the classes are large with a fair
proportion of dullards. Consider the case of such a teacher in
charge of a class of children, just promoted from the second
class, confronted with such a passage as-" The regimental
dog of the First Northumberland Fusiliers, and that also of the
Remington Guides are both with Lord Methuen's force," or
with such a phrase as-" From Colenso to
Pietermaritzburg." (For all I remember I may myself have
revised the lessons in which these passages appear.) I would
suggest that, say, eleven lessons in elementary science, and the
same number in history, be carefully prepared and graded, and
that two of these appear in each issue of the paper. They might
appear year after year, for to nearly every one of the children
they would still be new. I see no necessity, however, for making
novelty a feature of the paper, for fortunately the Department is
sure of its customers and need not be solicitous as to the
popularity of its monthlies in the home circle. By the adoption
of the series suggested the teacher would be sure of having at
least two well-graded lessons familiar to her, and needing no
previous preparation. More time could then be given by the editor
and revisers to the other lessons. I think that-" News and
notes" might be omitted. I find that compound words and
geographical names beyond the children's vocabulary often prove
stumbling-blocks.
In writing this my last report on the Metropolitan District No.
1, I cannot refrain from saying that as regards nearly all the
teachers in it I leave it with regret. I would here bear willing
testimony to the capacity, diligence, interest in their work,
and, care for their pupils displayed by the large majority of
them.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
ALFRED C CURLEWIS
21. AUTHOR: Unknown
SOURCE: Papers of Philippa Poole
HISTORY OF THE CURLEWIS FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA
George Campbell Curlewis the
founder of the family in Australia, second son of Steavens Lupton
Curlewis of London came to Australia about the year 1817 and
found clerical employment at Campbell's wharf, Sydney, or as it
was then called Port Jackson.
His youngest brother Septimus Lord, followed
him in 1826 and was at first employed by Dawes, Gore & C.
merchants of Sydney.
Another brother, Walter, had arrived
from England and a partnership was formed. The three brothers
taking up property at Krarwaree on the Monaro Tablelands, where
they built or started to build a house known locally as
"Curlewis' Folly."
Later G C Curlewis went on the land at Ravensweed near Bathurst,
previously having been married to Miss Hall of Sydney.
The partnership was dissolved after a time and GCC was the first
or one of the first to bring sheep over to Victoria from NSW and
for a time he held the Heart Estate near Sale.
Walter had the Holey Plains near Rosedale in Gippsland but he
soon sold out his interest there and returned to England, and
later joined his brother James in
South Africa.
Septimus Lord C had for his share in the deal Tilba Tilba,
formerly known as the Leifer Station.
From Gippsland GCC went to Broken River, and thence to Reidy Lake
near Kerang. He and his partner Campbell bought a lot of country
(Crown Land) between there and Swan Hill.
In 1838 or 39 GCC purchased 840 acres of land near Geelong from
NSW government giving 1 (pound) per acre for it.
Several others followed his example but the Government evidently
fearing that too many might leave NSW for the new settlement,
tried to cancel the transaction.
They succeeded in every case but one, GCC refused to give up his
property and continued to hold it.
His must have been the spirit of the pioneer and explorer for
from the scarcity of records left, one can gather a restlessness
which drove him into unknown country. He died at a comparatively
early age on 4th July 1847.
His eldest son George Edward C went
with a friend who arrived from England about 1862 towards the
Paroo River in NSW with the object of taking up a station, but
through the treachery of a black who was acting as their guide,
they were murdered by the natives. Later the bodies were found
and given burial. the original affidavit relating to this tragedy
is still lodged in the Titles Office in Melbourne.
Alfred Claribeaux, the second son
was one of the first students at the Melbourne University, and
after taking his M A degree, went to England where he studied Law
at Lincoln's Inn.
The third son Frederick, in early
life went with a party of four to explore a part of Queensland
through which the Burdekin River has its course, but after a time
of disappointment he settled in business in Sydney.
Edgar, the youngst son bought a
portion of the Hermsley Estate and after some years joined Fred,
in Sydney. Albert, Fred and Edgar all married and had
families.... Judge Curlewis of Sydney, who married Ethel Turner
the Australian authoress, is the eldest son of Frederick
Curlewis. Judge Sir Adrian Curlewis, C.V.O., C.B.E. is their son.
In 1841 Septimus Lord Curlewis sailed for England and in February
of the following year married Miss Collins, of Halifax,
Yorkshire, and almost at once returned to Australia, in due time
taking his bride to his own station Tilba Tilba. In 1846 at the
request of his step brother George, he and his family left Tilba
and for a time resided at St Kilda, remaining until after the
death of his brother by whom he had been appointed guardian and
executor for his family.
From the proceeds of Tilba, he purchased Thule Station near
Deniliquin, afterwards owned by Wolseley, partner of shearing
machines later by Sir Rupert Clarke.
Early in 1848 S.L. Curlewis and his family went to reside there,
but two years after through an outbreak of catarrah in the sheep,
Thule was sold, and they came to Geelong, settling for a time
near the Hermsley Estate, he being wholly responsible for the
lettin (sic) etc. of the four farms into which the property had
been divided.
Later, S L Curlewis and his family moved to one of these farms
where the second George Campbell was
born in 1854, Alfred William in 1860
and in 1862 and 1864 respectively two daughters.
In July 1878 S L Curlewis died and in 1907 his wife followed him.
Their eldest daughter was married to Carl C Moller and they had
11 children and when in 1914 war broke out, four of their sons
joined up and only three returned, the elder Ernest having fallen
in France.
The second George Campbell married Lilla May George and had 4
sons and a daughter. Again 4 sons, George, Selwyn, Gordon
and Arthur enlisted, 3 of whom laid
down their lives falling in Gallipoli.
The third G.C. married in 1916 Elsie Pike. They have two sons, John Campbell and William,
who both served in World War II.
Alfred William Curlewis, who was the third son of S.L.C was in
the Public Service and married Francis Bowden widow of Sydenham
Bowden, Tintaldra, Upper Murray. They had one child Kenneth who was in the same Brigade as his
cousins and was killed in action on 8th August 1915.
22 AUTHOR:
SOURCE: O'BYRNE'S NAVAL BIOGRAPHY
TYPEWRITTEN COPY IN PAPERS OF PHILIPPA POOLE
CURLEWIS (Commander 1841)
WILLIAM EDWARD CURLEWIS was born,
30th July 1789 in London, and died about the commencement of
1847.
This officer entered the Navy 21st May 1803, as Fst Cla Vol on
board the Cerberus 32, Cpt Wm Selby on Sept following assisted
under the flag of Sir Jas Saumarez, at the bombardment of
Granville.
On subsequently proceeding to the West Indies, we find him
wounded while serving in the boats under Lieut. Wm Coote, and
extolled for his unsurpassable bravery, at the cutting out, on
the night of 2nd January 1807, of two of the enemy's vessels,
defended by a most tremendous fire from the batteries, near Pearl
Rock, Martinique, which killed two men wounded 10(see Gazette
1804 p 594). After witnessing the surrender to the Cereberus of
the islands of Mariegalante and Deseada, Mr Curlewis in 1808,
joined the Leviathan 74, Capt John Harvey, and under that officer
was present, 26 Oct 1809 at the self destruction in the
Mediterranean, of the French line-of-battle ships Robuste and
Lion.
He next served for some time in the Victory 100, flagship of Sir
Jas Saumarez in the Baltic and being promoted, 28th Nov 1811, to
a Lieutenancy in the Cressy 74 Capt Chas dudley Pater, was in
company with the St George 98 and Defence 74, in the gale which,
on the 24th Dec. following proved so memorably fatal to these
ships. From April 1813 to Jany 1814, Mr Curlewis cruised in the
North Sea on Board the Cretan 18 Capt Chas. Fred. Payne. He then
became attached to the Warrior 74, Capts Hon Geo. Byng and John
Tremayne Rodd, under the former of whom he sailed with convoy for
the West Indies.
Prior to being paid off, in Sept 1815 Mr Curlewis was caught in
another dreadful hurricane, in which the warrior lost her masts,
guns, boats and stores, and received 11 feet of water in her
hold.
From 30th Sept 1835 until March 1831, he was next employed on the
Coast Blockade as a Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Myperion 42
Capt Wm Jas. Mingaye and 22nd April in the latter year until
promoted to his present rank 23 Nov 1841 he had charge of a
station on the Coast Guard. He continued henceforth on half pay.
Commander Curlewis married in 1817 and had issue nine children.
-------------------------
Extract of a petition by Mr W. E. Curlewis to the Admiralty
" Your petitioner was midshipman on board the Labona in
1810. Capt Chas Southerby, having on board 300 deserters of
"Bonaparte's army, from Cadiz to England, your petitioner
understanding the French language overheard the deserters laying
"a plot to murder the whole of the officers, crew and
passengers and take the ship into Breat Harbour - Your petitioner
immediately communicated this to Capt Southerby by which means
the lives of the officers crew and passengers were
saved"" "My Lord John Russell the present
Secretary of State was on board as a passenger.
(Comments on another handwritten copy by Florence Burnham Curlewis as follows:
"Not: The above is an exact copy of the account of Great Uncle William's life given in the Naval Biography. The numbers appearing after the names of the ships are to show the number of guns carried by each ship. There is no reference to the warrior catching fire of ho his sswimming with despatches.")
23: Biography of Richard Jeffries Burnham Curlewis
Richard (Dick) Curlewis (1917 - 2002)
Workers' Control Advocate
by Peter Riley & John Englart
Richard Curlewis -
"The Owl of Suburbia"
Could an avowed anarchist be a member of the Communist Party of
Australia? The life of Richard Curlewis shows that communism is
not a monolithic philosophy, but has many currents: some
authoritarian; others radically democratic. Richard Curlewis
dedicated his life to the rights of working people and their
communities, and democracy in the workplace by workers' control.
Richard Jeffries Burnham Curlewis was born on 9 November 1917, 2
days after the Russian Revolution, and spent his first few years
living in the Perth Observatory. His mother was Janet Tassie. His
father was Harold Burnham Curlewis, acting astronomer &
meteorologist in Western Australia 1912-1920 and Government
Astronomer 1920-1940. At one stage his father kept the Perth
Observatory open in the face of Government opposition.
His parents separated when Richard was 4 years old and he moved
with his mother and siblings to Darlington. This separation did
leave quite a mark on him, as he did not see his father again
until he was in his 40's, and his father was blind and in his
90's. His daughter, Megan, remembers his anxiety about his
parents separating:
"He was up until recently still trying to understand how
this separation happened. Although he was living in a single
parent family, his mother's father was quite wealthy, and he had
a reasonably middle class upbringing. I remember him telling me
that he had never been aware that the Depression was
happening."
After school, he was sent to Kalgoolie to study metallurgy. It
was there that the people he was boarding with 'converted' him to
communism, much to his family's horror. He moved to Melbourne,
sometime early in the War.
Due to his poor vision, Curlewis was not able to be conscripted
and worked in the munitions factory in Footscray during the war.
He was a member of the Communist Party then, and stayed with the
party until the bitter end, in 1990. Richard Curlewis attended
Eureka Youth League events at Camp Eureka, the young communists
countryside venue, where he met Joan Reynolds, whom he married in
1946. They lived in Middle Park then North Bayswater. After Joan
died in 1982 Curlewis was desperately lonely, and turned his
attention to politics and community activism.
Richard worked as a print proof-reader for the Herald for twenty
years. He was a Secretary of the Federation of Scientific &
Technical Workers which was later amalgamated into other unions,
and later did archiving work at the Printing & Kindred
Industry Union office in the City.
Although Curlewis was a member of the Communist Party, he read up
on the development of the revolutionary syndicalist international
and the origins in the "split" in the First
International, and also the works of Antonio Gramsci and the
council communists. He became interested in the German political
economists Rudolph Hilferding and Karl Korsch.
He had first found out about Anarchism by travelling to France
and Italy with his wife and saw the example of other ways to
organise. He knew Jim Dawson from the Southern Advocates for
Workers Councils and other locals who similarly looked beyond the
Stalinist Communist Party and Trotskyist
"alternatives"; to worker's control.
This focus on "worker's control" was the main driving
force of Richard's interest in social movements in the community
and industry for more than 40 years. To advance worker's control
Richard Curlewis was involved in The Link, a rank & file
metal workers network and paper. This was a small format
news-sheet, which could be carried in pockets and read at work.
It compiled and contrasted local economic data and reported on
industrial disputes which allowed Metalworkers to compare their
wages and conditions. Members of Croydon Workers Student Alliance
& Secondary Students Union activists helped finance and
produce the paper.
Shop stewards wrote locally of factory campaigns and an
"Eastern Log Of Claims" was recognised by Metal
Industry Employers. Richard Curlewis was involved in initiating a
Northern (Suburbs) Link. The Metal Workers Union Officials
initially encouraged stewards to write for and distribute this
magazine, then banned it after an article was published critical
of an official, probably Laurie Carmichael , for not respecting
Croydon stewards efforts…The union officials would not
tolerate an alternative centre of power.
Curlewis joined the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation in 1989 and
wrote articles for the ASF paper Rebel Worker. From 1995 Richard,
together with Jeremy Dixon, were the Melbourne contacts for the
post-split Anarcho-Syndicalist Network(see Rebel Worker and
Accountability). After meeting with workers from the Brunswick
& other Tram Depots during the work-in, occupation &
lock-out in 1990, Curlewis wrote for and distributed the final
series of Sparks - a rank and file transport workers paper, and
was active in the Keep Conductors campaign. A pamphlet on the
1990 tram dispute by Richard Curlewis was published by the
Anarcho-Syndicalist Network in Sydney. (Anarcho-syndicalism in
Practice: Melbourne Tram Dispute and Lockout January-February
1990)
In May 1999 Curlewis joined the Industrial Workers of the World
and spoke about Wobs he had met and heard of from the first and
second wave of organising. He had a partial collection of the
first series of Direct Action (published during the First World
War Period) and other related material. These papers he brought
along when "life member" of the IWW Pat Mackie launched
his book Mt Isa, the Story of a Dispute in Melbourne in 1990.
Richard Curlewis knew and was respected by many labour movement
people, which assisted in his voluntary work as an active member
of the Victorian Labour History Group doing interviews as part of
an ongoing oral history project. He presented a paper on the
Nurses Strike of 1986 to the Labour History Group, based on
interviews he did with Nurses. Richard was very impressed by the
inter-union and community support for the Nurses and encouraged
the makers of "Running Out Of Patients", a film on that
battle. He also interviewed the Airline Pilots who struck and
were locked out in 1989 by the Hawke Labor Government, and tram
workers who occupied their depots in 1990.
Curlewis was involved with the Union Support Committee (along
with Ted Bull from the Waterside Workers Federation and Joan
Doyle from the Postal Workers) to support the Williamstown
shipyard workers, the Builders Labourers & other workers in
struggle. They provided a caravan and other resources as well as
publicising disputes. Curlewis spoke highly of John Loh from the
Builders Labourers Federation now Construction division of the
CFMEU. John Loh wrote a short piece for the Workers Control
conference bulletin in 1972 which Richard used to refer to.
As a community activist he was involved in
* the Save the Upfield Line Campaign from 1989,
* the Brunswick Unemployed Group from 1991. Here he discussed
& distributed his notes on privatisation and the tram dispute
and argued for thinking globally about finance capital and acting
locally in support groups for workers in dispute.
* Organising speakers and events such as Jim Munro on the
unemployed workers movement in Brunswick at an anarchist owned
resource space.
Towards the end of his active life Curlewis compiled &
distributed information on the role of the IMF, World Bank, WTO
on privatisation and domination of the political economy of the
world at the end of the 20th Century. Just as many younger people
attended the Crown Casino blockade on September 11th 2000,
Richard was there in spirit and certainly followed the events
closely on the radio broadcasts and asked nursing home workers
& visitors many questions on this 'new' movement.
Alas Richard’s "grumpy" disposition alienated a
lot of people over the years & he was so isolated at his flat
in the end that he was apparently scammed by some drug addicts
who befriended him to rip him off. Hopefully reader you will not
end your final days in such a situation.
Curlewis did some genealogical research and found an ancestor he
was very proud of: Edward Smith Hall. It could also be said that
he was proudly continuing in the radical tradition of Edward
Smith Hall, (1786-1860), a pioneer journalist and political
reformer in early Sydney who, through his newspaper the Monitor,
strongly opposed all forms of political oppression and
corruption, and who was one of the earliest advocates of trial by
jury, popular legislature and freedom of the press. His
achievements included:
* founding the second newspaper in Australia.
* the first juror & the founder of the Benevolent Society of
NSW.
* helped found the Bank of NSW (now Westpac,) & was mentioned
in a recent history of the bank.
* being an activist championing the cause of the underprivileged,
the aborigines and the convicts.
* a role in bringing the perpetrators of the Myall Creek massacre
of aboriginals to justice and bringing about the recall of
Governor Darling to England.
* When the first parliament of Australia was opened, in NSW in
the early 1850's, speeches were read attributing to ES Hall
representative government; trial by jury and freedom of the press
in Australia.
Richard was a member of the Dickens Society and enjoyed social
justice literature, classical music & light opera such as
Gilbert & Sullivan. Peter Riley remembers visiting Richard
Curlewis during his final years of life, when he was unable to
get out much:
"When he became ill I visited him at his flat in West
Brunswick then in the various hospitals and finally the Brunswick
Nursing Home. Often we talked about current affairs, listened to
the radio, especially 3CR or the news on Radio National.
Newspapers, magazines and books were also read with and later
aloud to him when he lost his sight. When he became tired I
usually put on some classical music for him and left him to
sleep. In the last weeks he was too tired to be read to
preferring to sleep.."
Richard Jeffries Burnham Curlewis died on Saturday March 16th
2002 at the Brunswick Nursing Home in West Brunswick. He is
survived by son David and daughter Megan, and grandsons, Jim,
Julian and Richard, and fondly remembered by many comrades.
Compiled by Peter Riley & John Englart with assistance from
Richard's son David & daughter Megan. Also thanks to Jan
Carr, Marta Caloni, Joan Doyle, Gerry Harant, Gavin Murray, Steve
Rheganzani & Steve Wright.
Divider: anarchist regional flag coloursGoto Page Top
WRITINGS OF RICHARD CURLEWIS
Richard was not a good or prolific writer. It has been difficult
to track down much other than his recent efforts:
* Privatisation. Notes on the origins of the current domination
of finance capital.
* The role of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund today.
These were photocopied at the PKIU and passed around to anyone
interested by Richard before he became hospitalised and went to
the nursing home.
* Anarcho-Syndicalism in Practice: The Melbourne Tram Dispute
& Lockout.
Published by Jura Media in 1997 Sydney Australia & launched
in Melbourne at an event at the New International Bookshop in
Victorian Trades Hall Building , Lygon Street, Carlton.
* Australian Pilots Dispute 1989
* Report of Mayday in Melbourne (1996) - May 1996 Rebel Worker
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/anarchy/rebelworker/may_melb.html
* Debate on the Bolsheviks & the Vanguard Party - The case
against - June 1996 Rebel Worker
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/anarchy/rebelworker/rw06966.html
debating Chris Gaffney - the case for the Bolsheviks & the
Vanguard Party.
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/anarchy/rebelworker/rw06961.html
* A Critique of Leninism - July 1996 Rebel Worker
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/anarchy/rebelworker/rw07964.html
SUMMARY OF RICHARD’s VIEWS
The earlier origins of the current capitalist institutions eg
World Bank & IMF came about in the 1920's Richard reckoned
this was in reaction to the 1929 Depression.
This he speculated on based on reading the writings of German
economist & Minister in the last non-Nazi Government, Rudolph
Hilferding who wrote about domination in the book "Finance
Capital". Hilferding fled to France but was captured and
murdered by the Nazis when they invaded France.
The system’s recovery from the 1929 Depression via Keynesian
State economic planning & move away from the Gold Standard to
stabilise capitalism was based on finance capital. This came to
dominate then transform Imperialism of the Nation-states of
Europe into the military industrial complex of Monopoly
Capitalism.
Initially this was extended by the United States who became, via
nuclear weaponry, the major "Super Power" and military
policeman of the world.
The Bretton-Woods agreement after World War Two consolidated
Capitalism & began the IMF and World Bank institution’s
"development" of the "third world" resources
by Bankers and Resource commodity capitalists, which exploited
the post Colonial World. Regions became free of the British or
other Empires only to be over-run by Corporations instead. Local
elites prospered and made their wealth through corrupted armies.
If they did not open up their local resources to
"market-forces" ie Corporationsthey were overthrown by
more "market –friendly" regimes in coups or media
rigged farcical "elections"
The 1950s saw the use of the Cold War against the Soviet Union
and China and other "socialist states as a means to control
anti-capitalist currents in the West.
The ‘American Dream’ was sold to the world after being
propagated via the mass media and schools in America for endless
consumer satisfaction.
The 1960s "boom" also extended the profit motive to new
sectors of society: merchandising of physical culture eg sport
via television wrapped in advertising, music to youth with
disposable incomes etc. Home ownership became achievable for
skilled workers and foundation to the ‘Australian
Dream’.
After the 1970s oil crisis & US military defeat in Vietnam
the "privatisation" of resources & services became
the new strategy.
War from afar via airforce bombing using local regime military,
via militias or "contras" and reduction of the civilian
conscription troops also began to transform the European States
and accelerate the formation of the European Union economic bloc.
Capitalist planners like the Trilateral Commission discussed
implementing the current North American Free Trade Agreement
based bloc which consolidated US based Corporations dominance
from North to South pole over the whole American continent. While
the rich discussed their future plans, In Africa, Asia and Latin
America military regimes crushed popular movements & raped
regional resources for Corporations. Loans via the IMF &
World Bank plunged these economies into a spiral of debt which
required more cuts to civil society to pay off the accumulating
Billion $ interest on these debts.
By the 1980’s accounting agencies like
PriceWaterhouseCoopers worked for the Corporations globally &
in the "first world" now too eg in Britain.
By the early 1990s in Victoria Australia, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
oversaw for example the Kennett lead regime’s sell off of
services which the community had built. Also the sale of public
education buildings, health services, public housing,
"nationalised" resources like electricity, gas, water,
& public transport etc.
The eventual collapse of the "second world regimes" of
the Soviet Bloc from Russia to Yugoslavia opened up of these
regions to Corporate pillage and World Bank debts. This enforced
cuts to the "social wage". Many workers found they had
no paid wages, lost conditions and permanency. This privatisation
has increased profits and caused a shift from the Cold War
ideology of anti-communism to the current war on
"drugs" and "terrorism".
The strategic interest in resources like oil has opened up the
final "backward" areas of the globe to this Machinery
of hyper-exploitation.
In the final days of Richard’s life the World Trade
Organisation has incorporated the Chinese region of the planet.
At the end of the 19th Century workers resistance formed an
International. Internal tensions broke the Internationale up and
the rivalries and competition between founders eg Bakunin &
Marx, other initiators and their inheritors held back
worker’s organisation for a hundred years.
At the end of the 20th Century a new International formed but
this time it is based on peasant’s unions and cooperates
with indigenous societies, and now looks to students &
workers to build this new Internationale out of the combined
anti-Corporate and anti-War movements.
24 Pretoria News 27.10.36
NEW CHIEF JUSTICE
MR JUSTICE CURLEWIS MENTIONED.
Distinguished Career on Bench
I is learned that the appointment of mr Justice Culewis (John
Stephen Curlewis) Judge of Appeal in the Appelate Division, as
Chief justice of the Union, in succession to the late Sir
Johannes Wessels, will be officially announced shortly.
Mr Justice Curlewis has had a long & distinguished career in
South Africa. Hi is the son of the REv J F Curlewis (&
grandson of James Curlewis who was the twin brother of Walter the
soncs of Steavens Lupton Curlewis) & was born at Paarl Cape
Colony in 1863 He was educaed at the Diocesan College,
Randesbosch & the Cape University. In 1883 he joined the Cape
Civil Service, & after resigning this service was admitted as
an advocate of the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony the High
Court of the South African Republic.
He was president of the Special Criminal Court at Johannesburg
for a few months fomr Oct. 1899. He was appointed a Judge of the
Supreme Court of the Trnsvaal in 1903, and in July, 1924 became
Judge-President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the
Supreme Court. In February 1927 he was appointed at he Appelae
Division as a Judge of Appeal.
During the absence of Lord Clarendon overseas in 1934 Mur Justice
Curlewis was appoined as officer Administering the overnment.
25 PRETORIA NEWS 26.1036
A MAN OF THE MOMENT: MR JUSTICE J S CURLEWIS
The Hon. J S Curlewis, Judge of the Appeal Court, will it is
understood, be appointed as Chief justice of the Union in
succession to the lae Sir Joh Wessels.
John Stephen CurlewIS was born at Paarl in 1863. He recieved his
early education at the Diocesan College Rondesbosch, and from
there he went to the Cape University, where he obtained his B A
and LLb degrees.
in 1883 he joined the Cape Public Service; from 1886 to 1889 he
acted as Clrk to the Special Court at Kimberley and also as
amanuensis to the Crown Prosector there. He left the Service in
1888 after he had been admitted an advocate of the Cape Supreme
Court.
? enterprising young advocates of those days. he came to Pretoris
during the Republican days, and he started his first practice as
advocate at the High Court of theSouth African REpublic.
He soon built up a large practice, and became known as one of the
outstanding lawyers of his time. His legal qualifications were
recognised y the Republicn Governent in 1899 when he was raised
to the Bench as acting judge. Owing to the universla confidene in
his indifference to bias and his extensive leal knowledge, he wa
entrusted with the PPresidentship of the Special Criminal Court
which sat at Johannesburg from Octoer 1899 till February, 1902.
In 1903 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Transvall.
in 1924 her was appointed Judge-{President of the Transvaal
Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. Three years later he
went to teh Appellate Division.
During the abence in England of Lord Clarendon in 1933, Mr
Justice Curlewis acted as Governor-General.
Ever since Mr Justice Curlewis arrived in Transvaal he has been
resident in Pretoria
26: Extracts relating to Curlewis/Curlews from" Wormley in
Hertfordshire" by Dorothy Bushby and William le Hardy first
published in 1954
From chapter 3 Dissolution to Restoration
It is difficult for us in the twentieth century to appreciate the
enormous implications of the Dissolution of the Church of Rome in
England by Henry VIII. At first the changes in the religious
service may not have been impressive. The new prayer book was not
to be introduced for another ten years, and only a few,
superstitious uses were prohibited. Otherwise the villagers in
Wormley continued to worship at the parish church conducted by
the parish priest. It is true that Nicholas Curlews, who had been
rector since 1530 and is stated to have built or rebuilt the
Parsonage House, ceased to administer in 1540, but it is not
known whether he was dispossessed on religious grounds or whether
he died. At any rate, John Barnes was instituted the year
following the Dissolution, and he continued to hold the living
until his death in 1566.
From Chapter 8 The Village and its Church
Nicholas Curlew was the son of a wealthy merchant of Friday
Street, London, who with his wife Mabel, lived in the
neighbourhood. There is a note in the parish register in the
handwriting of William Chadwick (rector, I690-I746 ) to the
effect that Nicholas Curlew built the parsonage in 1420, but this
is obviously incorrect. There is however some evidence that he
was correct in stating that the parsonage was built by a member
of the Curlew family from the fact that the initials 'N.C.' could
at one time be read above the door casing of the rectory and
scratchings in several panes of glass both in the hall and
parlour resemble the bird of that name, which was probably an
heraldic device used by that family.
From Chapter 9 Neighbouring Properties
About Perriers (various spellings) It used to be to the South of
Wormley
About the year 1570 Elizabeth I granted this manor to Sir William
Cecil, Lord Burghley, but this grant cannot have comprised the
whole property for in I509 Sir George Penruddock, who had married
the widow of John Cock and mother of Henry Cock, leased
eighty-seven acres of land in 'Peryers' to John Curlewe, woodward
there, whose family was closely connected with Wormley. The Cock
family were associated with Periers before this date, for in I466
Thomas Cock had obtained a lease of part of it and in I543 John
Cock had purchased a freehold in it. At the court held in I544,
at which date William Earl of Essex held the manor, George Cock
surrendered land in Wormley Mead to John Curlewe. In I57I a
Rental of the Manor was made by John Purvey, as steward to Lord
Burghley, and this shows that much property lay in Wormley Meade,
Windmill Field and Turnford.
In I590 Simon Curlew, who had become possessed of the lease of
Perrers assigned his interest to Richard Lovelace the uncle of
the rector of W ormley.
After Sir William Cecil had obtained the manor it became merged
with Theobalds, but on the break up of that estate on the death
of the Duke of Albemarle, Periers became severed from Theobalds
and passed through various hands until it was bought by G. F. H.
Grant
A survey taken during the Commonwealth described 'Perriers' manor
house as being , built with timber, and Flemish wall and covered
with tyle consist ing of a faire hall, faire parlor wainscotted
and another small roome, one butterie, one rnilkhouse, two
roomes, four dairie houses and after staires, six small chambers
and one apple loft. One orchard was meanely planted with apple
trees'. The house was , moated round' and there was a nearby barm
easuring 53 by 25 feet.
NEIGHBOURING PROPERTIES page 143
In the first year of Mary' s reign and during Parr' s attainter,
the Queen conveyed Baas and other Hertfordshire property to
trustees in order to bring in an income of \'a3IOO a year for
Anne' s support. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, Parr was
pardoned and was restored in the Marquisate of Northampton, but
he did not recover his wife' s Hertfordshire property, which was
again granted to trustees for Anne' s benefit, it being then
stated that she was , destitute'. she died in obscurity in I57I
and the property reverted to the Crown.
It is recorded that the manor house of Baas had been rebuilt by
Henry Bourchier, but there is no documentary proof of this, and
it appears more likely that its reconstruction was carried out by
Sir William Say or by his father. Owing to Lady Anne's poverty,
the house fell into disrepair. It had been leased to ]ohn Curlew,
woodward to the Marquis of Northampton, for his life and for the
life of Elizabeth his wife. ]ohn Curlew died in I572 and his
widow continued in occupation of it. At this time the property,
which went with the house is described as Cokkes or Cocks garden,
Foreleys, Pondyards, Dove-cots and the Great Orchard . The
adjoining fields were called Nyneacres, Maryfold
Pond, Hawthornes and Hall Moor. Three years before the death of
Lady Anne, the reversion of the manor had been granted to Sir
William Cecil Lord Burghley, the owner of Theobalds, but this did
not interfere with the tenancy of Elizabeth Curlew. In fact her
son ]ohn became woodward of Lord Burghley, not only of Baas but
also of the manors of Perryers, Geddyngs and Hoddesdon. It seems
evident however that ]ohn Curlew, on the death of his mother did
not in habit Baas Manor House, which is described as being in the
occupation of William Pretie
From List of Rectors
Edward Sharnbrook Resigned before 1530, d 1534
Nicholas Curlews 1530-49 Mentioned in will of Edward Sharnbrook
above
John Barnes 1549 -66
27. Biography of Curlewis, Frederick Charles
Patrick (1876 - 1945)
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography online
CURLEWIS, FREDERICK CHARLES PATRICK (1876-1945), cane-grower and administrator, was born on 10 December 1876 at Bellarine, Victoria, fifth child of Alfred Claribeaux Curlewis, a native-born inspector of schools, and his wife Ellen Jessie, née Curlewis, from England. Educated at Brighton Grammar and Melbourne Church of England Grammar schools, Frederick worked for a shipping agent before becoming a vigneron near Rutherglen. He moved to North Queensland in 1909, reputedly for his health, but two of his uncles had explored the colony's frontier in the 1860s. Curlewis grew sugar-cane for the Mulgrave and Hambledon mills and became active in the Hambledon Cane Farmers' Association. On 23 August 1910 he married a nurse Harriet Ethne O'Brien with Anglican rites at Corowa, New South Wales. As secretary (from 1912) of the Cairns Canegrowers' Association, he wrote on industry matters for the Cairns Post. He sold his farm in 1924, following his appointment as northern industrial representative for the Australian Sugar Producers' Association, which acted on behalf of growers as well as millers.
The A.S.P.A. competed with the United Cane Growers Association (formed in 1914) and antagonism was commonplace. Ill feeling intensified when the latter body, renamed the Queensland Cane Growers Association, used the provisions of the Primary Producers Organization and Marketing Act (1926) to force compulsory membership on all cane-growers. While officially apolitical, the A.S.P.A. was aligned with right-wing politics and the Q.C.G.A. with the left. The Cairns Canegrowers' Association, however, contrived to represent both the A.S.P.A. and the Q.C.G.A.—an achievement attributed to Curlewis's diplomacy and integrity.
After the death of its foundation secretary G. H. Pritchard, the A.S.P.A. took nearly a year to select Curlewis from 238 applicants for the post. He left Cairns for Brisbane and began his duties on 13 May 1931. Unlike his extroverted and confrontationist predecessor, he was pronounced by the Innisfail delegate to be 'the most painstaking man he had ever met'. Curlewis's practical knowledge of sugar politics was of exceptional value in preparing submissions and in briefing A.S.P.A. representatives. A member of the Commonwealth sugar inquiry committee (1929-31) and of the Queensland royal commission on sugar peaks (1938-39), he was respected for his balanced approach. He was a conciliator in an industry where growers and millers had common, and competing, interests.
Curlewis worked well with the Q.C.G.A.'s secretaries Bill Doherty and Ronnie Muir, and seldom raised his voice, although he regarded the flamboyant Muir as something of a playboy. As a matter of principle, Curlewis strongly supported the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations in disciplining farmers to prevent the spread of diseased cane; he also advocated increased funding for the bureau and persuaded the industry to augment the salary of the bureau's director (a public servant). With lean features and a pensive expression, Curlewis was a quiet perfectionist who expected and received devotion from his staff; politically conservative, he was well read, and enjoyed classical music and golf.
During World War II, when vital staff enlisted, Curlewis carried a heavy workload which was increased by wartime regulations and shortages. Survived by his wife, son and daughter, he died of a coronary occlusion on 12 March 1945 at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, and was cremated.
Australian Sugar Journal, Aug 1931, p 87, Mar 1932, p 679, Mar 1945, p 439; Queenslander, 23 Apr, 14 May 1931; Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 12, 13 Mar 1945; private information.
Author: John D. Kerr
Print Publication Details: John D. Kerr, 'Curlewis, Frederick Charles Patrick (1876 - 1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 546-547.
28. James
Frederick Curlewis
From: THE EARLY BRITISH FAMILIES OF PAARL
by R.R.Langham-Carter
published in Familia vol. 28, no. 4, 1991, p. 198-203
By 1856 Holy Trinity had four Europeans and 198 others. Two years
later the numbers had greatly changed. Most of the non-Europeans
had moved to the Noorder Paarl congregation and only 30 remained
while the whites had risen to 70. By 1890 the numbers had risen
to 350 and they contributed £174 to church funds. There were 283
children on the books of the weekday school under a single
teacher. The average daily attendance was only 81 but surely
he/she was still overworked? The Sunday school was much better
staffed with the 56 children having no less than four teachers.
The founder of the mission church was James Frederick Curlewis.
Born on 30 October 1833, he came to Paarl as a catechist in about
1852. He was ordained deacon in 1859 and remained here for the
rest of his life till his death in an accident on 12 August 1901.
Curlewis had married Mary Murray, the widow of William Robert
Shaw Wilson, who died in Paarl on 29 June 1899. Four sons and a
daughter were living at the time of his death. All of them
probably had their early education at Holy Trinity School and the
boys went on to Bishop's in Cape Town. John Stephen (Paarl 31
March 1863 - Pretoria 24 August 1940) was the most distinguished,
living to be Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa in 1936.
John Frederick Inglis Curlewis was a land surveyor and died on 14
January 1944. And George Edward, born on 8 March 1867, was a
manager in the Standard Bank and died on 6 February 1954.
Curlewis' first school-chapel was built by 1858 but by 1869 he
had 178 parishioners and the chapel was too small. St. Stephen's
Church was therefore built, in Paarl granite, in 1877 and this in
its turn was replaced by a new church, the work of the Cape Town
architect J.C. Parker, in 1896. Noorder Paarl was at first under
Inglis at Holy Trinity but later became a parish on its own. Most
of the services were held in Dutch, the home language of its
coloured worshippers. In recent years they had to move out under
the Group Areas Act. The church has become a hall for the Dutch
Reformed Church and a new church has been erected at New Orleans
across the Berg River.
EARLIEST MONARO and BURRAGORANG1790 to 1840 with WILSON BASS BARRALLIER CALEY LHOTSKY JAUNCEY LAMBIE RYRIE/ Alan E.J. Andrews. Tabletop Press
Hearing the names of any assigned servant on Monaro does not
happen often. One, though, whose name has come to be well known
is the main subject of this chapter; I have corresponded over a
period with his great-grandson also John Jauncey. In an early
letter to me John scribbled this bri f but succinct thumbnail
sketch of his great grandfather. With it was a photocopy of a
strong face with a pastorish heard, and the comment, "He was
a fine looking man": {Briefly: John came to Australia in
1833 as a boy of fifteen. He was fortunate in being assigned to
Septimus and George Curlewis, with whom he stayed for over twenty
years, long after his detention period had expired. John's early
years in the colony were spent on and around the Monaro with the
Curlewis' and it was from his recollections of those years that
he wrote his "memoirs". He was gifted with an amazing
memory (of which there is other evidence).
With the Curlewis' he was one of the first settlers in Tilba. He
left Tilba and took his family with him to Bega in 1856, where he
became a prominent landholder; Church Warden, J.P., Committee
member of the Agricultural Society etc., He died in Bega in 1896
In 1889 or 1890 John Jauncey, at the age of about 71 wrote a set
of notes describing his travels to and in Monaro in the years
between 18 33 and 1842. These 'memoirs' certainly do bear out his
fabulous memory. It is possible that some time after 1835 he read
Lhotsky's Journey and retained some of that information but,
where information overlaps, the minor variations suggest that his
memory is independent, though some queries are raised. He first
entered Monaro in the four months that preceded Lhotsky's visit
to Reid's Flat, commencing from Curlewis's station at Krawarree
on the Shoalhaven (the most southern station on Dixon's 1837
map). See Map 21. Here is that portion of the notes dealing with
the first tour in October 1833 and the commencement of the second
which was early in 1834:
In October of '33, in company with Geo. C. Curlewis and an aboriginal (Dick Tool) started with one saddle horse and a pack horse from Krarwaree, on the upper Shoalhaven for a tour through Monaro (Then called new Country) in search of suitable country for sheep. We came by way of Bigbaja (then unoccupied) and came on to the Bredbo Creek, a cattle station of the brothers McGuigan, then on to Dr Reid's cattle station, then known as Reid's Flats, person in charge was known by the name of Joe-the-Miller. The Station Hut stood on the side of the hill, about 300 yards NW from the "Squatters Arms Hotel" (built and opened i n 1841). The large cattle yards was on the flat half a mile from the Hut. Then on to Cooma, Cooper and Levy's cattle station, person in charge -Bath. Finding our supplies were insufficient to take us all through our intended tour (supplies could, not then , be procured in Monara, except, beef and mutton).
We turned back and made another start early in 1834 taking a new track from Big Baja. We made on to the plains on the Umeralla River, at junction of Kybeyan Creek, Robinson's cattle station. Following the river down, we came to a branch station of Dr Reids (a Dairy) down further and off to the right across the River was a cattle station Nuderam-Nuderam, O'Heir and Stanton's. On again to Cooma, then by Joe Slack's (Slacks Plain) on to Coolringdon, Stewart Ryrie's, principally sheep Overseer in Charge, John Hook. On to Wullwye cattle station, Ned Buckley, Manager in Charge P. Coady Buckley. On to the Snowy River S.W side. Hughes and Hoskins Cattle Station, Tom Worcester (Slow Tom) in charge. On south three miles, E. Smith-Hall's cattle station, Jem Hayes in Charge. Then on due east to the Snowy River (afterwards known as Inemongee-Minor), then unoccupied, and decided to form the first head station there. At that time, 1834, there were only six cattle stations on the SW side of the Snowy River, no sheep. Hughes and Hoskins, just below what is now called Barnes Crossing, E. Smith-Halls three miles south (The Springs), Cooper and Levy's, Matong - Dan Moore in charge, A. Crisps, Jiminbuen; W Guise, Boloc o creek, Charley Guise in charge, James McGuigan, Upper Boloco Creek. We then retraced our tracks back across the Snowy River, and went zigzagging through Monaro..
30: Clive Pemberton Curlewis 1875 - 1940
Biography: by Andrew Forsyth
Clive Pemberton Curlewis was born in Sydey on 27th November 1875, the son of Frederick Charles Curlewis and his wife Georgiana Sophia (nee O'Brien). He was educated at Newington College, Stanmore.
Clive wanted to be a farmer but his father Frederick prevailed upon him to stay in Syndey to assist him in the family business. He did so and later established a very successful chemical products business under the name CP Curlewis& Co.
Clive invested wisely in real estate buying blocks of land with magnificent views at Mosman and Palm Beach. He usually chose blocks at the end of dead-end streets so that he and his family would not be disturbed by passing traffic.
One of these investments was a holiday house on the beach at the southern end of Palm Beach and that house, known as "Willeroon" provided wonderful holidays for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Clive was a very keen gardener and at his Mosman home overlooking Taylor's Bay, he tended an extensive garden which was terraced from the house to the water's edge. This garden was resumed by the State Government after Clives' death and now forms the section of Ashton Park immediately below the cul-de-sac at the end of Burrawong Avenue. Unfortunately, however, the park now bears no resemblance to the garden so lovingly nurtured by Clive during his life.
Clive was President of the Palm Beach Surf Club for a term and he donated to the club its first shark tower.
Clive was also a talented inventor and poet whose works of poetry were frequently published inthe Bulletin magazine under the initial "CPQC" as there was another correspondent who published works under the initials "CPC".
Clive was an intensely private person who doted on his wife, Constance and his two daughters Claire and Jocelyn.
Clive died prematurely from a sudden heart attack on 7th June 1940 at the age of 64.
31: Claire Constance Curlewis: 1909 - 1996
Biography: by Andrew Forsyth
Claire was born on 25th May 1909, the daughter of Clive Pemberton Curlewis and his wife Constance Mabel (nee Anderson). She was educated at Frensham, Mittagong where she excelled in all subjects and especially in mathematics.
Claire in yer younger days was a very talented ballroom dancer and in fact met her future husband on a ballroom floor.
Claire married John Forsyth at St Peter's Church in Neutral Bay on 23rd January 1936 and they had three children being Julia (now Julia Dunlop), John and Andrew
Claire's abiding interest was her familt but she also played gold and bridge for elaxation. She was extremely knowledgeable inad interested i npoetry, literature, music and history
Claire died peacefull at home on 19th October 1996 at the age of 87
32 John Ormond O'Brien
Biography: Jenny Priestley
John Ormond O'Brien was born on 19 March 1919 at Double Bay, Sydney, the only son of Eric(Jack) and Annie (Nan/Pat) O'Brien. He was educated at Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill. He was in the first XV football team, and was also an excellent swimmer. Sailing the Cadet Class yachts of the day was his teenage enthusiasm and he, together with the other members of the crew, won a NSW Championship. Major Lee Murray, who then piloted the de Havilaand sea plane flights from Double Bay to Clifton Gardens, taught the teenage John to fly the "La Belle Papillon" This started his love of flying. After leaving school he joined the firm of Hattersley & Maxwell, stockbrokers.
At the outbreak of WWII John joined the RAAF, training initially at Narrandera, NSW, then in Canada where at Moncton he received his "Wings".
From Canada his group went by ship, in an escorted convoy, to England. John O'Brien was then seconded from the RAAF to RAF Squadron No. 49, holding the rank of Sergeant Pilot.
As the pilot on one of the "Pathfinding" flights in June 1942 his plane, a Manchester Bomber, was shot down over the North Sea off the Grimsby coast, and all the crew were killed. Only two bodies were recovered, one being buried in the Schiermonnikoog Cemetery in Holland, the other in Sweden. The crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial to those airmen who lost their lives in the North West Europe and the adjacent seas and have no known grave. Sgt. Pilot John O'Brien's name is inscribed on Panel 113. He was 23 years old when he died in 1940.
33 Francesco Flores
Biography by Eduardo Flores
Francesco Flores was born in Naples on February 24, 1893, second son of Eduardo Flores, Admiral of the Regia Marina Italiana, and of Lady Anna Curlewis.
With the aim of preparing himself for a military career, following a long family tradition, he entered the Military College of Naples and was appointed second lieutenant in the Cavalry Army by a royal decree of may 19, 1912, at the age of 19 years.
In May 1909 had obtained the certificate of sniper, and in June 1910 the bronze medal in a saber competition.
From 1915 to 1918 he participated of the military operations on the front of the Veneto region, during the First World War.
At its conclusion, at the age of 25 years, Francesco Flores was already a captain with six medals for military merit, including two Crosses.
In 1919 he participated with Gabriele D' Annunzio of the armed expedition seeking the annexation to Italy of the city of Fiume, that the peace negotiations had left to Yugoslavia, although being a city of Italian culture and population.
Fiume passed to Italy in 1924 due to the initiative of Benito Mussolini. The occupation of 1919 ended in December 1920, when regular Italian forces attacked their brothers in Fiume, supported by naval bombardment. The attack started on Christmas Eve.
After the dissolution of the forces of occupation, and without consequences for the rebels due to the Gabriele D' Annunzio’s prestige at the eyes of the nation and of the Army, Francesco Flores resumed his place in his regiment. His diploma of superior degree by the Italian Swordsmanship Federation in dated June 1921..
But the years of war had undermined his health, reducing his ability to hear at the point of being obliged to take his leave from the military career to which he had dedicated the best years of his youth.
At theItalian Riviera, at Bordighera, he devoted himself to oil painting, living there the most tranquill years of his life.
After having married Irene Barberis in 1931 he returned to his hometown,Naples, where they lived for about two years in a villa facing the sea, Villa Pica at Posillipo, there continuing his activity as a painter.
In 1932 his son Eduardo was born; but on February 13, 1933 Francesco Flores’ life came to its end, only 11 days before his 40th birthday
34 Extracts from monograph: Rolf Bolderwood/Old Melbourne Memories: with an introduction and editorial commentary by C E Sayers, Melbourne, William Heinemann/ ndate
"For some time after that he was employed as book keeper
on the Murray River run, Murrabit, 370,000 acres near
Swan Hill that was part of the vast runs held by Curlewis and
Campbell of Sydney. Browne is recorded as holding the Murrabit
section of the Reedy Creek run from Frebruary 1862 to February
1863, but he could have been no more than an agent for Curlewis
and Campbell".
p.xii Introduction. (Note, that Rolf Bolderwood was the pseudenym
of Tom Browne.)
"I became possessed of a herd of a thousand head about the same time, which I took 'on terms' , as the arrangement was thus called -- a convenient one for beginners with more country that stock, and vice versa. I was to have one-third of the increase, and to be paid ten percent upon all sales of fat cattle. The were to be 'personally conducted' by me from the Devil's River - a place uncanny sounding, but not otherwise objectionable. They were the property of Messrs Curlewis and Campbell; the first named gentlemen arranged preliminaries with me in town, and in a few days I again started from Melbourne with high hopes and three stockmen..........Our route lay over countrty that has since become historical. One half of the herd was located at Strathbogie.....we met at an extremely small, not to say dismal, hut at Strathbogie, already inhabited by messrs Joe Simmons, Salter, and Hall.*...."pp 76-77
[note] "George Curlewis and Robert Tertius Campbell had a run near Rosedale on the Latroble River when the deal with Shelley cattle was made with Tom Browne, and they had interests in a Strathbogie run south-east of Euroa where the cattle were mustered." p. 82
* This could be Victor Hall, brother in law to George. He was known to have been at Strathbogie, ref letter
35 from Mallee Roots: May 2004
Swan Hill's main street is named for Robert Tertius Campbell
who, with partner George Curlewis, selected Reedy Lake Station in
1845. They were the first Europenas to take up land in the
district. Born in the colony in 1810, Robert Campbell worked for
his father (also Robert) in the family firm in Sydney until the
1840's when the business failed. Advantageous gold dealing
enabled the young man to amass a considerable fortunie which he
believed he could enhance by turning to pastoral pursuits.
Campbell and Curlewis set out in 1845 with a party to find the
land Major Mitchell had described in such glowing terms. They
followed the Major's line - the route which was still to be seen
many years later - from the Murrumbidgee river through the future
Swan Hill and continuing to about six miles west of the eventual
site of Kerang where they pitched their tents.
The land selected by the two men encompassed 170,000 acres
extending to about three miles north of Swan Hill. Watered by
three rivers and a chain of lakes, the run was also favoured with
an abundance of natural pasture. The two principals lived on the
property only a short time so there were few improvements.
When Mr Curlewis died in 1847 William Splatt became Campbell's partner in Reedy Lake Station. they sold it in 1858. Robert Campbell died in England in 1859
36 obituary for Jean Curlewis by Dorothea
MacKellar
From: Art in Australia 3:32 June-July 1930
Jean Curlewis
IT is not easy to speak in public of a much-loved friend,
especially just after her tragic death, but perhaps when one
remembers how many people who never had the good fortune to meet
Jean Curlewis during her brief life have never-
theless loved her, the thing should not seem impossible. And yet
it is hard to decide. She had such deep reserves herself, for all
her crystalline articulateness, that if an intimate discussion of
her were necessary she would probably prefer it to be conducted
by those who were not her closest friends.
I suppose she was about seventeen when we first met: very pretty,
with the colouring of a Fortune’s Yellow rose in her
smooth cheeks, and curling hair. One noticed most of all the
beauty of her dark-lashed green-grey eyes, and her swift,
dazzling boyish smile. But it was her voice that enchanted me,a
sweet, soft voice with unexpected modulations in it, and an
odd little deliberateness singularly individual. This
deliberateness was not the result of slow thinking, but rather
that, much
more quickly than most people, she had surveyed several sidesof
the subject (that perhaps had only just arisen), and she
wished to present them all with scrupulous fairness. For she had
a grasp, a breadth of vision, amazing in one so young and
rare enough at any age. It is not easy to estimate how
muchAustralia lost when Jean Curlewis’ long gallant fight
came to
an end in that hospital room some weeks ago. Her love of life,her
sane and humorous outlook, and her quick, warm power
of observation were reflected in all she wrote, in the
surfingstories that she laughed at and that are such good fun to
read,
as well as in the vivid articles written in England, whither she
went after her marriage.
These qualities found room to show even in the narrow limits of
her extremely clear and practical little book, “Verse
Writing for Beginners.” With a sense of style such as she
possessed, an elementary text-book becomes a delight.
But good as her prose was, from the day the Bulletinpublished her
poem “Suburban”—(it dealt with the War, as
many will remember, and was written when, I suppose, she was
nineteen or twenty) —I longed that she should write more
poetry.
“Suburban” is in free verse—that kind of free
verse still unfortunately, rare, which is not merely prose
chopped up into
irregular lengths, but real poetry swung into shape by the sheer
force of the emotion it contains. She once told me that since
writing it she had taken a dislike to free verse, and wished that
she had given it some other form. To me the form seems abso-
lutely right for that sort of poem, and I thought, and still
think, that she spoke in the irritation of reaction, since she
was gasping
at the moment in a flood of the solemn slovenliness which is
neither verse nor free, not to mention poetry.
Nothing could be more entirely characteristic of her than her
very gracious poem “Youth’s Housekeeping,”
suggested by
the happy serenity of an old lady she had lately met:
Being, this day of Spring, aged eighteen years,
And, since I am no older, very wise—
I should quote it at length, were it not that Jean’s early
death has made its gay wisdom and courage unbearably poignant.
Another delightful and characteristic song of hers begins:
I have a painted table and a little yellow chair—
I have no copy of that. I only read it once, years ago, and
someof the words elude me, but, as a whole it is unforgettable.
“The
World Lover,” quoted elsewhere, was written about thirteen
or fourteen years ago—she was eighteen at most. It, too, is
very
like her, though it lacks the sure touch that distinguishes the
later poems.
I do not know if she ever redised that for many of those she met
she herself filled the world with freshly apprehended
beauty, like the lady of her young and chivalrous imagining, for
she was no egotist.
She was the best kind of Australian. A young country needs
enthusiasms more than an old one, and more especially does
it need them to be clear-sighted, as hers were. Who can say how
many lamps she lighted by what she wrote about her own
land, and those others that she could appreciate and contrastwith
it so well? She gave us a great deal, in the short time
she had.
Skeleton Sketch of Movements of Curlewis Brothers in Australia Compiled by A.A.W.Cur1ewjs,from the memory of notes suplied by his Mother, and since accidently destroyed. A.W,Curlewjs brother of Ellen Frances Jane Curlewis,later married to Carl Christian Mollerr.
George Campbell Curlewis the founder of the family in Australia, second sonof Steavens Lupton Cur1ewis of London,came to Australia about 1817, & found clerical employment at Campbe1l's Wharf, Sydney or as it was then then called,Port JacksonHis youngest brother ,Septimsu Lord Cur1ewis, followed him in 1826,& wasat first employed by Dawes Gore &. Co merchants of Sydney,Later on G.C.Cur1ewis went on the land at Ravenswood, near Bathhurst, previously having married a Miss Hall,of Sydney, Another brother,Walterhad arrived from England, & a Partnershjp was formed , the three brothers taking up property at Krarwaree, on the Manaro tableland, where they built, orstarted to build, a house known locally as “ Curlewis's Folly".
The partnership was dissolved after a time,and G.C.Curlewis was the first or One of the first to bring sheep over the Victoria border from New SouthWales,& for a time he held the Heart Estate,near Sale Walter Curlewis had the Holey Plains in Gippsland, but very soon sold out his Interest there, & returned to England & later joined his twin brother in South Africa
S.L. Curlewis , (Grandfather) had for his share in the deal Tilba Tilba formerly known as the Heifer station. From Gippsland G C Curlewis went to Broken River and thence to Reedy Lake Station,near Kerang. He and his partner, Campbell , had a lot of country Crown Land between there & Swan Hill,, In 1830 or 1839 G.C.Curlewls purchased 840 acres of land near Geelong,from the New South Wales Government,giving a pound an acre for it. Several followed his example,but the Government evidently fearing that too many might leave New South Wales for the new settlment tried to cancelthe transaction. They Succeeded in every case but one; G.C.Curlewis refused to give up his property, and Continued to hold It. His must have been the spirit of the Pioneer & explorer, for from the scanty records left one gather a restlessness which drove him into unknown country. He died at a comparatively early age on July 4th,l847,leaving a widow, four Sonsone daughter, His eldest son George Edward, went with a friend , who had arrived from England (about l862)towards the Paroo River in N.S.w, ,with the object of taking up a station,but through the treachery of a black who wasacting as their guide,they were murdered by the natives, later their bodieswere found and given burial. The original affidavits relating to thistragedy are still lodged in the Titles Office,Me1bourne,
Alfred Claribeaux,the second son,was one of the first students at theMelbourne University,& after taking hIs degree went to England where heStudied law at Lincoln's Inn. The third son, Frederick, in early lIfe went with a party of four to explore a part of Queensland through which the Burdekjn River has it's course,&after a time of dIsappointment he settled in business in sydney, Edgar, ‘the youngest of the familv,bought in a portion of the HermsleyEstate after some years joined his brother Fred in Sydney, Alfred ,Fred and Edgar all married & had families. Judge Curlewis ofSydney (Herbert) who married Ethel Turner, an Australian authoress, was the eldest son of Frederick Curlewis, his son is Judge Adrian Curlewis. In 1841, S.L,Curlewis sailed for England,& in February of the following year married a Miss COllins of Hallifax, Yorkshire and almost at once re-turned to Australja,in due time taking his bride to his own station,Tilba Tilba. In l846,at the request of his brother George,he & his family,left ‘Tilba Tilbe and resided at St,Kilda, remaining there until after the death of hisbrother , by whom he had been appointed guardian & executor for his family,
From the proceeds of Tilba-Tilba he purchased. Thule Station,near Denil-quin,afterwards owned by Wolseley,patenter of shearing machines, and later by Sir Rupert Clarke, Early in 1846 S.L.Curlewis and his family went to reside there,’but two years later, through an outbreak of catarr in the sheep, Thule was sold, and theycame to Geelong,settling for a time near to the Hermsley Estate,he being whollyresponsible for the letting, etc., of the four farms into which the propertyhad been divided.
Later ,S.L.Curlewjs and family removed to one of these these farms, where the second George Campbell (our Uncle George who went with his family to W.A) was born in 1854, Alfred William in 1860 & in 1862 and 1864 respectively, two daughters.In July 1878 S l Curlewis died and in 1907 his wife followed him
Their eldest daughter was married to Carl C Moller and when war broke out, four of their sons joined up, and only three returned, the eldest Ernest having fallen in France.
The second George Campbell Curlewis married Lilla May George and had a family of four sons and one daughter Kathleen.
Again, four sons, Gordon, Selwyn, Campbell and Arthur enlisted, three of whom laid down their lives for their country, falling in Gallipoli. The 3rd son, Campbell, returned and in 1916 married Elsie Pike. They had two sons John Campbell and William, who both served in 2nd World War and returned. Alfred William Curlewis who was the third son of SL Curlewis, was in the Public Service and married Frances Bowden, widow of Sydenham Bowden, Tintaldra, Upper Murray.He had one child, Kenneth who was in the same brigade as his cousins, and was killed in action on August 8th 1915, on Gallipoli.
Curlewis Family – G C & S L Curlewi
George Campbell Curlewis, Squatter with interests on the Murray (Lake Boga station attacked by blacks, early in 1846) and in Gippsland (Holey Plain) bought sections 24 7 25 Moolap, from the crown (at auction) in August and October 1845 respectively.He died in 1847,
SEPTIMUS LORD CURLEWIS was G C CURLEWIS’Sstep brother. He becamse Trustee of G C Curlewis’s estate and in consequence lived at Hermsley during the eighteen-fifties and eighteen-sixtees.He was apparently succeeded there by his nephew Alfred Claribeau Curlewis, whose son Arthur Claribeau Curlewis (living at Sydney in 1951 but now dead) was also born there. Alfred Claribeau Curlewis was still living at Hermsley as late as Nov 1880 when he took the chair at a lecture in the New ShireHall, Drysdale.He was Inspector of Schools.
This last re G C Curlewis and S L Curlewis was found out from reports etc for the Jubilee Celebrations of the Centenary of St Mark’s Church of England, Leopold.By P L Brown of GeelongGrammar School..
39 Biography of Alfred Claribeaux Curlewis from Geelong Grammarians
CURLEWIS, ALFRED CLARIBEAUX (1841-1913) Public servant. Born 27 June 1841 at Ravenswood, near Goulburn, NSW.Son of George Campbell JP and Matilda Curlewis. George C Curlewis, born 1803, was the son of Steavens Lupton Curlewis, by his second wife. Stcavens also had a further son, Septimus Lord Curlewis, by his third wife. George sailed to Australia after hearing stories of (it) from his cousin, Edward Smith Hall, and he arrived in Sydney in May 1824 on the Hope. Later Septimus Lord came to Australia. George married Hall’s daughter Matilda Martha Birnie, 30 Sept 1835 at Lake Bathurst NSW, and had a daughter, who died in 1837. Then the family settled at Ravenswood, where they had five children: Alfred being the fourth child. By June 1844 the family decided to move to Port Phillip, taking up several licenses with Septimus. George and his family lived at Richmond, near Melbourne, where he died, 4 July 1847. His eldest son, George, was declared heir at-law in 1848, but was later killed by Aborigines. Hermsley, his other house at Geelong, was later demolished to make way for a woolshed, and the two sections became three farms, with a homestead on Section 24 now bearing the name.
Alfred, the second son, sat for matriculation in Feb1857, attended GGS gaining a prize for Divinity in Dec 1858, and played in the School Xl. He also had private tutors as had the rest of the family, with the result that Alfred entered the University of Melbourne, and graduated MA. He then went to England and was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn London. Alfred married Ellen Jessie Curlewis in 1869 and they had scvcn children: Caroline, born Sept 1870 at Mooroolbark (died 18 Aug 1882 at Geelong; buried I Sept at Leopold); William Edgar, born I 872 at Kensington (died 1933 at Kew); Adelaide Mary. born I873 at Kensington (died 30 Aug 1896 and buried at Brighton); Ritchie, born 9 Mar I 875 (buried 15 May 1875 at Leopold); Frederick Charles Patrick, born 1877 at Kensington; Arthur Claribeaux, born 1870 at Kensington; Charles Herbert, born 1881 at Gcclong.
Alfred was active in civic affairs in Bellarinne shire. He was elected auditor for Bellarine in 1871, waslicensing magistrate in 1873; and in 1874—75 was Presidcnt of the Shire. On 28 Dcc 1874 Alfred was appointed Assistant Inspector of Schools and resigned his post at Bellarine soon afterwards, being replaced by G Henderson. As Inspector he toured many schools and his surviving reports show a very dry wit in which he criticised the pronunciation of the children. In 1985 the Victorian Education Departmcnt in their Back History’’ campaign, were aiming to turn the old Queensberry St Primary School into a Nineteenth. century school museum complete with a choir, flags and buntings and a large photograph ot Queen Victoria. The Minister of Education arrived in an old carriage and actors played out the role of many of the people in the Education Department in the 1870s. One man, taking the role of Alfred Curlewis, read his reports verbatim amidst much laughter and general amusement. Alfred, a civil servant, was living at 55 Walpole St. Kew, in 1899 with William and Frederick (both clerks). William died in 1933. Frederick had attended Brighton Grammar School, and Melhourne Grammar School 1891-92. He moved to Queensland and worked as a sugar planter, dying in 1945. Charles married Lottie Speed in 1904 and they had three children. Alfred moved to Queensland in 1909/10. His wife, Ellen, died 15 Mar 1911, aged 75, and was buried in Brighton cemetery. Alfred, after an illness of several months duration, died 21 Dec 1913 at Alexandra St. Townsville
| Letters
from A C Curlewis on Gippsland are held at the
RHSV MS 585. Box 148/21; Will of A C Curlewis, PROV 132/828 (lists date of death as 25 Dec); Marriage & death certificates for A C Curlewis and information from Jenny Priestley; The Argus .v 5/7/I 847 & 15/2/1848: Brownhill,
p17. CIyde Company Paper Vol 5.
p243—4; |