The Spanish Influenza Epidemic

The Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1919 was one of the deadliest outbreaks of disease the world had seen. Soldiers returning home on ships from the First World War brought with them the disease. Campbelltown didn't escape the carnage. The flu was at its worst in the town between April and July of that year.

There is some conjecture about how many deaths it was responsible for in Campbelltown. Between April and July seven burials took place alongside which entries in the St Peter's Registers have the marginal note- "Pneumonic Influenza." The urgency of the situation is emphasised by the notation alongside the Burial entry for Leslie James Jones, aged 8 months- "Died in Emergency Hospital- Campbelltown Public School." Officially out of the 21 reported cases, there were three deaths- an elderly man, a child and the Reverend J.R. Hunter of St Peters who died in July 1919.The death of Reverend Hunter was a severe shock to the community. He had been confined to his bed for only 10 days. He was aged 60 and left behind a wife and daughter.

At Campbelltown school 150 children were enrolled before the disease broke out but when school returned in May less than 30 attended, the rest kept at home by worried parents. A mortuary was erected by council and the infant's school became an emergency hospital (where Leslie Jones died) for 6 weeks from March to May 1919. A Nurse McRae at the hospital also contracted the disease but luckily it was only in a mild form.

In churches masks had to be worn and worshippers were required to be 3 feet apart to comply with Government regulations. Shops were not allowed to hold bargain sales and drinkers could not stay in an hotel bar for more than five minutes.

The above photograph is of Reverend John Ralph Hunter and his family (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written  by Andrew Allen

Sources:

LISTON, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History
Allen & Unwin: Campbelltown

TIPPING, Rev. A.C. 1963
The Parish Church of St Peter, Campbelltown

Camden News, Thursday 1 May 1919, p8

Hugh Vesty Byrne

Hugh Byrne was famous for his role as lieutenant to Michael Dwyer in the 1798 Irish Rebellion. This was an uprising against British rule lasting from May to September that year. He fought at the battles of Arklow, Vinegar Hill and Hacketstown. After being transported for his actions, Byrne eventually settled and died in Campbelltown.

Hugh Vesty Byrne was born around 1777 in County Wicklow in Ireland. He used the name Vesty in honour of a forebear who fought for Irish independence in the 17th century.

With the retreat of the rebel force into the Wicklow Mountains, Dwyer and a small band of loyal followers including Byrne held out against the British and Protestant forces. However, Dwyer ended up surrendering and Hugh was imprisoned at Wicklow Gaol. He managed to escape and re-joined Dwyer in the mountains. He surrendered to English authorities in 1803 and was sent back to gaol.

It was decided that Dwyer and his four lieutenants, including Hugh Vesty Byrne, would be sent as exiles to New South Wales. They became known as the 5 Wicklow Martyrs or Wicklow Rebels. In 1806 they arrived on the convict ship "Tellicherry".

Byrne was promised and given land and freedom once in Australia. Originally given land along Cabramatta Creek, Hugh later sold this and acquired more fertile land at Airds (today's Campbelltown).

Hugh Byrne's good luck turned against him however when Governor Bligh had him and the other rebels arrested on charges of seditious activities. They were cleared by the court only to be re-arrested by Bligh and sent to various convict depots including Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land. After Bligh's arrest and release from office, Byrne and the others were released and pardoned.

Hugh returned to his land at Campbelltown. He made a comfortable living and in 1835 had another 100 acres granted to him. By now he was a respectable law-abiding citizen, a far cry from being an exile and one of the Wicklow Rebels.

Hugh Vesty Byrne died in 1842 and is buried in St John's Cemetery in Campbelltown next to his wife Sarah. There is no headstone.

Wicklow Gaol where Hugh Vesty Byrne was gaoled for his part in the 1798 Rebellion

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

http://home.earthlink.net/~billbyrns/page6.html

Read A Story/ Immigration Bridge Australia Website at www.immigrationplace.com.au

Campbelltown Pioneer Register 1800-1900

Update

An alert reader, Janine, has brought to my attention that Hugh Vesty Byrne has an above ground vault at the cemetery which he shares with members of his family.

The Macarthur Misleader

We recently discovered a copy of the Macarthur Misleader in our collection of newspapers in local studies. This newspaper from the mid-1960s was published by the Apex Club of Camden to raise money for local charity and the community. Its other purpose was to generally amuse readers with various nonsense articles and funny photographs.

Only three or four editions were produced. The issue we have in the library is the second edition and was published just before Christmas 1965. One such amusing article concerned Elizabeth Macarthur Drive in Camden. It announced that the road was to be taken over by the National Trust "to preserve the unique Australian potholes that exist in this wonderful, rugged stretch of road".

 

 

Written by Andrew Allen

 

Australia's First Millionaire

The remains of Australia's first millionaire are buried in Campbelltown's St Peter's Cemetery. James Tyson was born at the Cowpastures in 1819 and was one of eleven children, many of whom married locally and lived in Campbelltown. When James died he did not leave a will and his estate of over 2.3 million pounds was divided among about 30 nephews and nieces, several of whom lived in Campbelltown.

James Tyson had a reputation of being extremely frugal. When he was a boy on the family farm at Appin, his mother once gave him a flute as a birthday present only to find a few days later that he had sold it. Asked the reason the young Tyson explained: "I needed the money to buy a heifer because heifers can breed and flutes can't." He used the same philosophy of money-making all his life. He always boasted that his personal expenditure never exceeded a pound a week.

Later when he was worth an estimated five million pounds, someone tried to upset him by pointing out that his heirs would blow the lot when they got their hands on it. His reply was "If they have as much pleasure spending it as I did in getting it then that money won't be wasted." He was given the nickname Hungry Tyson, which clung to him even after death.

How did Tyson make his money? It started in 1852 when James and his brother set up a butcher's shop at the gold diggings at Bendigo. Within three years they had sold out, having made 80,000 pounds and they invested in grazing stations near Deniliquin. He began to expand his pastoral interests across the eastern colonies, overlanding cattle from Queensland, fattening them on his Riverina stations and then droving or railing them to Melbourne. When he died in 1898 he held about 9.6 million acres.

He also had a reputation for disliking women. A Sydney barmaid is alleged to have won a wager of 20 pounds by kissing him. She achieved this by catching him when he was looking the other way. He regarded women as "wasteful extravagant creatures". Tyson could not understand men "spending their time giggling at girls and multiplying children".

For all the tales about his meanness, there are just as many about his quiet generosity and silent kindness. He made significant donations to the building fund of the Sydney University Women's College and various Church of England charities.

On the morning of December 4, 1898, James Tyson was found dead in his bed at his sparsley furnished room at Felton Station on the Darling Downs in Queensland. He was buried in Toowoomba, Queensland, but reinterred in St Peter's cemetery in 1901.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Fowler, Verlie 1983
A Stroll through St Peter's Churchyard
Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society: Campbelltown

Daily Mirror, October 19, 1977 p58

Sunday Telegraph, April 20, 1986, p142

Liston, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History