Index
Introduction
This information has been researched, written, edited, compiled and collated by Meredith Bowman, a granddaughter of Walter Moyle. The website is maintained by her husband Wayne Anthoney.
I am Meredith Aileen Bowman.
Born in 1942 in Clare to Mary Moyle and Tom Bowman. Bowman is my maiden name.
I am married to Wayne Anthoney who was born to Rex and Sylvia Anthoney in 1940.
Wayne has helped me collate and record the facts, collected stories and personal reflections. I have a sister Kate Croughan (originally named Cathrine Parker) born in 1951. Kate is married to Jason Croughan.
I decided to put together the letters, writings and stories of our family because of the uniqueness and significance of our family’s history. Other members of the family have also written and collected records. They include Les Moyle, Colin Giles, Robert Hughes, Ian Longmire, Sue Longmire and Jim Longmire, Jan McLaren, John Bradly and Michele Gregg. A friend in Willunga, Bronte Gould, is a descendant of Peter Moyle, son of John Hill Moyle and she is a genealogist. Her family tree research has also been helpful. Murray Oliver’s research into the Lindo family has also been included.
This writing and history is particularly for our children Christie and Tom and their children, Oscar, Poppy and Edie. It is also for my sister Kate and her family.
This writing is a tribute to my mother Mary and her original family of eight siblings.
She is referred to as Mary Moyle, Mid to her siblings, Mary Bowman after her first marriage to Tom Bowman, Mary Parker after her second marriage to Ralph Parker, Mum, Granny Parker, and Aunty Mid.
Other cousins might be interested and I welcome their reading. It is a fascinating story.
I have attempted to be as accurate as possible and apologise if there is anything amiss. Please tell me –gently.
The central focus will eventually be my mother Mary Moyle and her immediate family. I have great love and respect for all our aunts and uncles and their children. We have all laughed and played together for decades. It has been a family full of positive energy and good fun. There have of course been times of shared grieving.
What is the story of our ancestors in Australia – the early settlers?
Our Moyle forebears were in South Australia at the beginning of colonial settlement. The Moyles arrived in 1847, the Mortons in 1840 and the Lindos in 1849. They were farmers, bullock drivers, miners, teachers, community leaders husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brother, sisters and cousins.
They were pioneers in farming and in the building of communities.
Through letters and diaries we are able to piece together some ideas of their lifestyle and important events. It was often back-breaking work for our ancestors both men and women.
In 1905 Walter, Lucy and their first two children (Aileen and Les) left South Australia and sailed to the North Island of New Zealand.
They settled in Helensville and bought farmland there. Six of their 8 children were born in Helensville.
The New Zealand chapter is an extraordinary one and will follow the history of our family’s first settlers.
The story needs to track backwards.
Timeline
| YEAR | EVENT | other info |
| 1800 | John Hill Moyle born in Wendon Cornwall | |
| 1824 | John Jill Moyle married Frances Moyle in Cornwall | |
| 1834 | Walter Moyle Senior born in Cornwall | |
| 1847 | John & Frances Moyle arrived in Pt Adelaide | with Walter & James |
| With them were brothers Walter and James Moyle | 2 other borthers (Peter & Cuthbert)born later in SA | |
| 1849 | Eliza Jane Lindo born Mintaro SA | |
| 1853 | John Hill Moyle died | |
| 1871 | Walter Moyle (Sen) married Eliza Jane Lindo | |
| 1873 | Eliza and Walter had a daughter Effie who died. | |
| 1874 | ” ” had a son Robert (died in 1901) | |
| 1876 | Frances Jane born | Called Charley to the family |
| 1878 | Walter Lindo born | |
| 1878 | Walter Sen dies | |
| baby Walter Lindo sent to relatives in Silverton | ||
| 1880 | Lucy Morton born | |
| 1884 | Violet Alice Day born (Dies in 1965) | |
| 1885 | Albert Day born (Dies date TBC) | |
| 1887 | Edgar Day born (Dies in 1967) | |
| 1891 | Emma Rose Day born (Dies in 1961) | |
| 1890 | Typhoid epidemic – Robert died in 1901 | Frances and Eliza survived. Walter was in Silverton |
| 1896 | Walter Lindo returned to the farm | |
| 1897 | Frances marries Frederick Hockey | |
| They have a child in 1898 and another in 1899 | ||
| 1900 | Frances leaves her Hockey family and elopes with Ben Howie/McLaren | Frances & Ben go to NZ |
| 1901 | Walter Lindo married Lucy Morton | Meanwhile the McLarens (Frances & ben) had children |
| 1902 | Aileen Laurel born to Walter and Lucy in Jamestown | |
| 1904 | Leslie James born to Walter and Lucy in Jamestown) | |
| 1904 | Eliza admitted to hospital 21st December | |
| 1905 | Eliza dies in hospital in Adelaide Jan 13th 1905 | |
| 1905 | Walter and Lucy take their 2 children and move to NZ | |
| 1905 | June 2nd. Walter and family arrive in Auckland NZ | |
| Also the 3 Day half siblings,.Edgar, rose and Alice | ||
| 1906 | Robert John born born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1908 | Winifred Jean born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1910 | Ada Gertude born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1911 | Mary Ilo born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1914 | Ellen Grace born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1914 | Thomas Harold B owman born Ardrossan | |
| 1915 | Kathleen Frances born to Walter and Lucy | |
| 1915 | Lucy ill family returns to SA | |
| 1918 | Lucy Moyle dies in Clare SA aged 38 | |
| Moyle family shifts to Mills St Clare | ||
| 1923 | Family moves to the new property The Sheoaks Watervale |
The Moyle First Settlers
John Hill Moyle of Wendron Cornwall was born in 1800. He married Frances Moyle of Wendron in 1825 and they migrated to South Australia under the Wakefield Plan, which was devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Robert Gouger, hoping to attract settlers from England, ie “Small farmers and other persons of skill and industry, with some capital, but unable by the use of it to procure a comfortable livelihood”. (Quote from Wikipedia)
Many families in Cornwall had more sons than the one farm could support. The Moyle family no doubt fitted this description. And no doubt there was an element of being adventurers willing to cross the seas and start farming in this new colony.
John and Frances Moyle came to Australia on the ship “British Sovereign”, landing at Port Adelaide in 1847. They had with them their sons Peter Moyle (born 1825), Cuthbert Tremaine Moyle (born 1829), Walter Moyle (born 1834) and James Moyle (born 1835).
Walter was 13 and James 11 when they arrived in Port Adelaide.
Apparently, the family of John and Frances Moyle and their 4 sons started living in the Virginia district, then moved to Kapunda, then Burra and then finally Hill River.
John Hill Moyle died in 1853 and was buried in West Terrace cemetery, Adelaide.
Walter and James were very close brothers and had similar plans and experiences.
The two bothers moved towards Burra in order to find work in the mines and be involved with carting the copper as bullockies.
They carted copper from Burra to Port Wakefield.
They prospered and in 1870 were listed as farmers at Hill River.
In 1871 Walter Senior married Eliza Jane Lindo, daughter of Robert Christmas Lindo of Mintaro.
In the same year 1871, James Moyle married Helen Oakford of Penwortham. They decided to buy new land and begin farming together.
Together James and Walter senior walked north to the Jamestown area (Belalie) when the land was first “opened up”.
The process of acquiring land after it has been surveyed was called “Closer Settlement”. There is more information about the Closer Settlement in the Miscellaneous section under The Moyle Line. Click here for the link.
After this walk they walked back to Hill River – a 144 kilometer round trip – then Walter, James and their wives loaded their wagons and drove the horses to take over the newly acquired Belalie/ Jamestown properties.
Settling in Jamestown
According to Les Moyle, the following lands were purchased:
“Purchase of Allotment 49 in newly surveyed township of Jamestown by Walter Moyle (Senior) was on 21.12.1871 for 8 pounds 5 shillings .”
“Further to that I am enclosing copy of the original Land Grant for Walter Moyle (Senior) of Allotments 518 & 520 .
From the Lands Titles Office – Sections 65 & 68, 441 acres were purchased by Walter Moyle (Sen) in 1876 for 441 pounds.”
Les also says Walter’s brother James bought near by.
“James Moyle bought sections 497, 499, 505, 506 & 518 from James Angas Johnson in 1877.
Sections or some of them were subsequently resurveyed into township blocks and called Moyleton. One of the streets in Jamestown is also named Moyle St.
It is interesting to read in Les’s notes that Eliza Jane’s father Robert Christmas Lindo also acquired land in this area.
(Les Moyle’s notes which include the above quotes are on the website under Moyle Family. There are further references to other land holdings owned by James Moyle.)
(I wish we could have read or heard of references to the Aboriginal people in the areas which they settled. There are no mentions that I can find. And I never thought to ask the questions.)
The above obituary for brother James gives a basic overview of their early lives in Jamestown. They were well respected gentlemen in Jamestown area. Walter and James were committed to helping and supporting each other for their early years of farming.
Unfortunately James did not have any offspring.
Eliza Jane Lindo’s Story
In order to understand the family dynamics which follow it is necessary to understand a little of Eliza’s story. She was born in September 1849. She was a member of the Lindo family, her parents being Robert Christmas Lindo and his wife Jane. They too were early SA settlers.
There is more information on the website under the Lindo Line written by Colin Giles, Walter Crocker and Murray Oliver.
As this family tree shows, Eliza had 2 brothers – Wilson and John – and 4 sisters – Miriam, Emma, Anne and Harriet.
In the past it has been the norm to focus only on the male line in family histories but the female line is an important core of the stories in all cases.
The sisters in all our families are important to each other. Miriam was especially important to Eliza’s family.
Miriam married and became Miriam Bowles, Emma married and became Emma Bray, Anne married and became Anne Boyd, Harriet married and became Harriet Gray.
The girls and their husbands tended to move towards Broken Hill and Silverton.
There are many references in our records to “Aunty Bowles”.
Emma Bray was the grandmother of Walter Crocker, who was knighted and acted as the South Australian Lieutenant Governor from 1973 to 1982. (For further details see Walter Crocker in The Lindo Family pages).
Wilson Lindo bought land in the Broken Hill area –It became Moolooloo Station.
His grandson was Jack Lindo. Jack was well known to our aunts and uncles in their youth. He was a close family friend as well as a relative. There are very few records and no letters to trace the details specifically of Eliza and Walter’s story.
Back to Walter Senior and Eliza Jane’s story.
Walter and Eliza had been married in 1871. Eliza was 22 and Walter, 37. They had started from scratch in a new marriage, in an area which had no town, no facilities, no buildings and no easy way of contacting one’s original family. They had only what they had packed into the wagon. They obviously owned very little, but they did own some newly surveyed land allotments.
I write this as a woman and am in awe of what Eliza our great grandmother and so many other early settler women must have endured.
According to the research of Murray Oliver the Clare register of Births and Deaths has recorded that Eliza Lindo had a baby boy at the age of 17 in Mintaro. He was named Henry and lived for 3 weeks only. Father unknown. A sad chapter there.
In 1872 Eliza and Walter had a son – Robert Moyle at Belalie, Jamestown.
In 1874 William James was born at Belalie, Jamestown. He died in 1875.
In 1876 Frances Jane Moyle was born at Belalie, Jamestown.
The Lindo family nicknamed her Charlie. Our mother (Mary Moyle) and all of the family referred to her affectionately as Aunty Charlie. We never heard her referred to as Frances.
In 1878 Walter Lindo Moyle was born at Belalie, Jamestown.
In the same year, 1878, Eliza’s husband, the new baby’s father, Walter Senior died. He was 44 and she was 29.
He died of a respiratory illness. There is some question as to whether it was Typhoid but the major typhoid plague was usually dated in the 1890s.
He had only been married for 7 years. And it was for only 7 years he had been able to farm on their new property.
At the time of his death –
Eliza was widowed with a property to care for and three babies. They had only been married for 7 years.
She had Robert Moyle aged 4,
She had lost William aged 1.
She had Frances Moyle (Aunty Charlie) aged 2
and Walter Lindo Moyle, newborn.
Eliza’s father Robert Christian Lindo came to help her run the property.
The Lindo family helped by taking care of the baby Walter. He lived with the Lindo family members in Silverton until he was 17. He was then old enough to return home and help on the Jamestown property.
Aunty Miriam Bowles cared for him as a child. She lived in the Silverton area.
Eliza’s sister Emma Bray (nee Lindo) also helped.
Frances (Aunty Charlie) also spent different times with the Lindo family.
There are no records of Eliza’s mother, R. C. Lindo’s wife Jane, helping on the farm. Perhaps she did help. She and R. C. jointly held land in the new Jamestown area.
We know Jane died in Jamestown in 1895 “as a faithful wife and devoted mother.” They are both buried in the Jamestown cemetery.
In the early 1880s Eliza Jane married Henry Day (commonly called Harry Day). He had been helping on the farm.
They had 4 children
Effie Day was born in 1883 but she died in that year.
Alice Day was born in 1884 in Jamestown In later life in NZ she married John Bradly.
Albert Day was born in Jamestown in 1885 and died in 1887.
Edgar Day was born in 1887in Jamestown. Later in NZ he married Emma Russell.
Emma Rose Day was born in 1891 in Jamestown. Later she married Les Ness in Clare SA.
In 1890 Typhoid raged and both Robert and Frances (Charlie) were affected. It killed Robert in 1901. Frances and her mother Eliza had contracted typhus but survived it.
Robert Moyle died of typhoid in 1891 aged 19.
Harry Day eventually headed for the gold fields in WA. Maybe it was to make good gold money for the family but the effect was that Eliza was deserted.
(In the 1980s, Cousin Ian Longmire searched in WA records for Harry Day. He found a record in Kalgoorlie but then nothing beyond that. There is some question as to whether he searched for Henry or Harry Day. He was known by both names.)
Eliza Jane had lost two husbands. Her first husband Walter Moyle Senior had died after 7 years of marriage and she had been deserted by her second husband Henry (Harry) Day.
Eliza Jane had lost 5 children- William Moyle, Robert Moyle, Effie Day and Albert Day and an illegitimate son Henry.
Alive were 5 children who were :
Frances Moyle (Aunty Charlie)
Walter Lindo Moyle
Alice Day
Edgar Day
Rose Day.
Walter Lindo returned to the farm in 1896…aged 17.
Frances married Edward Hockey in 1897.
Walter now had alive a half brother Edgar and two half sisters – Alice and Rose – and his own full sister Frances.
Colin writes that Robert Christmas “for many years lived with our great grandmother Eliza Jane at Jamestown”. He was with Eliza after Walter died and returned when Harry left.
Walter was a fine young man and took family responsibility very seriously. He was the oldest male in the family. He would also have been responsible for running the property.
Eliza Jane became unwell and one can understand why. She had given birth to 10 babies. She had lost 5 of her offspring . Her daughter Aunty Charlie had married and left home. She had lost two husbands. She must have been overwhelmed with responsibilities and exhaustion. Her mental health was at risk.
Walter was running the property with some help from his grandfather Robert Christian Lindo. Colin reported “He had lost his sight and our grandfather Walter Lindo Moyle escorted him everywhere including regular attendances to church.” The affection between the two can be seen even in the early photograph above.
In 1901 Walter Lindo Moyle married Lucy Morton.
Lucy was from the family of James and Lucy Morton.
There were 5 sisters (Sarah, Janet, Mary, Lucy and Nell.)
The Morton sisters were very close and Auntie Janet appears in many references.
The Morton Line has many entries on the web page.
This photograph shows their beauty and serenity.
Aileen Laurel Moyle was born in 1902 and
Leslie James Moyle in 1904.
Both were born in Jamestown.
Back to Eliza Jane’s story.
Eliza Jane was admitted to hospital in Adelaide in an infirmary in Parkside. She was very unwell. According to our oral history she wasn’t there very long before she died on January 13th 1905. I have read that the cause of death was “Exhaustion from melancholia and general debility”. She was 55. Poor Eliza.
Eliza Jane Day died in 1905.
She is buried in West Terrace cemetery as was her sister Miriam Bowles.
“Auntie Bowles” as she was affectionately known, had looked after Walter Lindo when he was a baby. Miriam Lindo was born in 1844. She was 5 years older than Eliza. She is spoken of with great respect and love.”
This headstone is a tribute to Eliza and Miriam’s sisterhood.
A New Life in New Zealand
Why New Zealand?
What was happening in Jamestown?
Robert Moyle had died in 1891. Albert Day had died in 1887.
In 1897 Frances (Aunty Charlie) married Fred Hockey. They had one child born in 1898 and another in December 1899.
The story of Frances (Aunty Charlie) is very important .
In the late 1890s she had met a man called Ben from McLaren Vale who had a cabby business in the mid-north.
In March 1900 Frances and Ben eloped to Melbourne and from there to New Zealand, where they started a new life. This is a simple sentence to write, but this action seriously affected many people’s lives. It is a romantic, semi tragic and quite extraordinary story.
In 1901 Walter Lindo had married Lucy Morton. They were then living on the property in Jamestown.
Their daughter Aileen was born in Jamestown in 1902 and their son Les in 1904.
Frances and Ben were living in Helensville. It was a happy family and a beautiful environment for the family to develop and prosper.
As the oldest male child, Walter needed to care for his siblings. He was always very fond of Aunty Charlie and would have had a lot of correspondence with her.
She seemed to be very settled and happy in NZ and by 1905 she and Ben had three children.
Eliza Jane had died in 1905 and Walter and Frances, as the only Moyles, had inherited the property.
The land was good in the north island of NZ especially in the Helensville area and by selling the Jamestown property Walter could afford to buy a farm there.
In 1905 Walter decided to sell the Jamestown property and make the shift to NZ and the Helensville area.
Walter’s half brother Edgar Day, his half sisters Rose Day and Alice Day, his wife Lucy and their first 2 children Aileen and Les all sailed to New Zealand in 1905.
Walter had bought a farm in Helensville which was very close to where Aunty Charlie was living with Ben McLaren and their first two children.
This photo is their home in Helensville. Walter and Lucy are on the front verandah with their two children Aileen and Les.
Despite the fact that this photo is somewhat dilapidated it is possible to see the young family on the verandah. There is a furnace. There are already chooks and no doubt a cow nearby. Lucy was probably already carrying Bob as he was born in 1906 in Helensville.
This photo was taken by one of the relatives visiting in the 80s . It was thought to be the site of the original farmhouse, and possibly an extension of the very house. Can anyone clarify this? It has the name Te Aneau on the photo.
I know our cousin Ian was very moved when he visited and saw the land which Walter and Lucy had once owned. He could see it was good land and what a sadness that life took different twists for Walter and his family.
Copies of the title deeds are in the web site under Moyle Family
The family all knew Aunty Charlie well.
Their half brother Edgar Day and two sisters Alice and Rose Day all settled into their new life at Helensville.
Aunty Charlie and Ben and the children were very close relatives and lived on adjoining properties for some years.
The story continues under the chapter Mary Iloe Moyle.
Moyle Family History 