Tag Archives: Goulburn

Q is for Queen City of the South

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My post for Q in the A to Z challenge has the theme of Queen City of the South. But where is that? It’s location is Goulburn, NSW. I first came across the term when doing some research lately on the history of Goulburn, as some ancestors of mine settled in the Goulburn area back in the 1800s. My google search turned up a lovely old publication entitled ‘Goulburn, Queen City of the South’ which was published in 1946. The publication is filled with some interesting photos and tidbits about the town of Goulburn, and it intrigued me as to where the Queen City of the South part came from.

 

One reason for this name could be the way in which Goulburn officially became a city. Goulburn was declared a city on 14 March 1863 by Royal Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria, which gave Goulburn the distinction of being the first inland city. So I can see how having your city ‘officially’ proclaimed by the Queen could lead to your town being known as the Queen City of the South.

Thomas and Ellen Dawson (centre) outside their ‘Royal Palace’

But this was not Goulburn’s only link to royalty. Further internet digging turns up articles about a local Goulburn woman name Ellen Dawson who was a local to Goulburn in the mid-1800s. What is interesting about Ellen is that she was the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of the South’. Her husband Thomas Dawson was likewise known as the ‘King of the South’ and the couple lived in a hut which they had christened their ‘Royal Palace’ complete with a Union Jack flag. By all accounts, Ellen was an eccentric woman who took her self-proclaimed queenship seriously. Accounts describe her as being regal in her bearing and dress. Ellen and Thomas were even involved in a few ‘royal scandals’ just like real royalty!

Even though the Dawsons aren’t relatives of mine, they lived in Goulburn in the same period as my ancestors so it adds some local colour to the stories of my ancestors. Even though Goulburn was large enough to warrant it being declared a city, even in modern regional cities the unique individuals stand out and I can’t help but believe that my ancestors may have encountered Ellen and her husband or at least have known of them.

G is for . . .

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G is for George. George Cole Milne was my 4th great grandfather and is one of the naughtiest ancestors I have come across.

George was born in 1814 in Kent, England and arrived in NSW as a free immigrant in 1839. During his time in Sydney, George worked as a clerk for the colonial government and got married. But the marriage certificate is the first and last record of the marriage in the archives. There have been no children found to be born to the marriage and the death of his wife has yet to be confirmed, although there is a big clue pointing to when it occurred.

Whatever the case with this marriage, by 1853 the marriage had obviously begun to break down as his first child to Margaret Blakeney was born in Sydney in that year. By 1857, George has relocated to the Goulburn area and was working as a school teacher along with Margaret (also a school teacher). In the years following, from 1857 to 1867, the couple had a further five children. It’s important to note here that these births all occurred out of wedlock. Legally, George was still married to his first wife and Margaret also was married to someone else at the time.

I have been unable to find a record of the death of either George or Margaret’s previous spouses but presumably both had died by 1869, when George and Margaret were at last married after having six children together. They were married in the manse of the Goulburn Presbyterian Church, which was about 20km away from their usual residence of Kippilaw. Following the marriage, there was a mass baptism of all the children, barring the eldest.

The Kippilaw Schoolhouse today (image courtesy of stayz.com.au)

What interest me is the level of secrecy they would have had to had about the fact that they weren’t married. Especially being employed as a school teacher, George would have been expected to be above reproach so it would have been essential that no one find out that he was not legally married to the woman he claimed to be his wife. In keeping with staying under the radar, none of the couple’s children born before their marriage were registered at any time with the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriage. I presume that this was so the wouldn’t have to provide a marriage date for a non existent marriage and be caught out by the local community.