Difference between revisions of "Martha Clendinning"
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==Goldfields Involvement, 1854== | ==Goldfields Involvement, 1854== | ||
| + | Thomas Lloyd and George Clendinning made up a party and went to the Ballarat gold diggings, leaving their wives in Melbourne. Martha and her sister decided that they would join their husbands. They determined to open a store on the Ballarat Diggings, so they hired a cart, provisions, and set out arriving in Ballarat after their husbands who arrived in Ballarat on 1 March 1853. The ride out of Melbourne was bumpy, Martha declaring she would sooner walk all the way than endure the jostling and jolting on top of the cart. She became known as the ‘lady that walked to Ballarat’. Martha soon learnt that life on the diggings was different, often living alone in a tent. She described many incidents, among which was one of the first church services at St Paul’s, Bakery Hill, where she pondered the purpose of the boughs of gum leaves near the altar. She soon learnt that these were to swat the masses of flies that swarmed into the building in hot weather! A Protestant Irish woman, Martha took an active interest in community affairs. She was a member of St Paul’s Church of England, treasurer of the Ladies Benevolent Clothing Society, and was one of the 26 women who helped establish the Ballarat Female Refuge in 1867, the first institution of its kind for single mothers on the Australian goldfields. Martha donated a valuable collection of pressed ferns to the Ballarat Horticultural Society according to their annual report in 1878. Prior to the Eureka battle Martha Clendinning was asked by Alfred Black, the “Minister of War” to surrender her guns. She claimed that she had a piece of the Eureka flag which was given to her by Dr Carr. | ||
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| + | Her daughter Margaret born June 1847 at County Mayo, Ireland, married Colonel Robert Rede in 1873. Margaret and Robert Rede had the following issue: Geraldine b. 1 Dec 1873; George Clendinning Rede b. 1875, d. 1879; Roger de E Strange b. 1878; Violet Holmes b. 1880 (married Teague); Parton Ludovik Herbert b.1882; Fairlie Margaret Hebe b. 1884. Martha and George Clendinning later moved to Melbourne. They lived in Toorak where Martha continued to be active in community affairs and charitable institutions. Martha Clendinning died in 1908 at Ardale aged 86 years. <ref>Dorothy Wickham, Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2009 </ref> | ||
==Post 1854 Experiences== | ==Post 1854 Experiences== | ||
Revision as of 15:15, 25 November 2013
Contents
Background
Goldfields Involvement, 1854
Thomas Lloyd and George Clendinning made up a party and went to the Ballarat gold diggings, leaving their wives in Melbourne. Martha and her sister decided that they would join their husbands. They determined to open a store on the Ballarat Diggings, so they hired a cart, provisions, and set out arriving in Ballarat after their husbands who arrived in Ballarat on 1 March 1853. The ride out of Melbourne was bumpy, Martha declaring she would sooner walk all the way than endure the jostling and jolting on top of the cart. She became known as the ‘lady that walked to Ballarat’. Martha soon learnt that life on the diggings was different, often living alone in a tent. She described many incidents, among which was one of the first church services at St Paul’s, Bakery Hill, where she pondered the purpose of the boughs of gum leaves near the altar. She soon learnt that these were to swat the masses of flies that swarmed into the building in hot weather! A Protestant Irish woman, Martha took an active interest in community affairs. She was a member of St Paul’s Church of England, treasurer of the Ladies Benevolent Clothing Society, and was one of the 26 women who helped establish the Ballarat Female Refuge in 1867, the first institution of its kind for single mothers on the Australian goldfields. Martha donated a valuable collection of pressed ferns to the Ballarat Horticultural Society according to their annual report in 1878. Prior to the Eureka battle Martha Clendinning was asked by Alfred Black, the “Minister of War” to surrender her guns. She claimed that she had a piece of the Eureka flag which was given to her by Dr Carr.
Her daughter Margaret born June 1847 at County Mayo, Ireland, married Colonel Robert Rede in 1873. Margaret and Robert Rede had the following issue: Geraldine b. 1 Dec 1873; George Clendinning Rede b. 1875, d. 1879; Roger de E Strange b. 1878; Violet Holmes b. 1880 (married Teague); Parton Ludovik Herbert b.1882; Fairlie Margaret Hebe b. 1884. Martha and George Clendinning later moved to Melbourne. They lived in Toorak where Martha continued to be active in community affairs and charitable institutions. Martha Clendinning died in 1908 at Ardale aged 86 years. [1]
Post 1854 Experiences
See also
Further Reading
Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
References
- ↑ Dorothy Wickham, Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2009
External links
