Orange & District Historical Society newsletter Spring 2017

Fire Brigade airs its history

History alive

Meet yournew

committee

In this issue

History Alive 2 Spring 2017

Dalton buildings’ fluctuating fortunesPage 4

Mystery Lucknow photographPages 6 & 7

Long history of Orange Fire BrigadePage 8

Prestigious award for MuseumPage 10

Orange & District Historical SocietyOrange Heritage Centre 148 March StreetPO Box 1626 Orange NSW 2800. Phone: 0458 649 669 Email: orange.history@yahoo.com.auFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Or-angehistory

Patrons: Russell Tym and Marie HammondPresident: Liz EdwardsVice-president: Euan GreerSecretary: Phil StevensonTreasurer: Annette NevilleCommittee: John Glastonbury, JulieSykes, Judy Agland, Jenny Maher,Ross MaroneyPublicity officer/newsletter editor:Liz EdwardsHonorary historians: Ross Maroney,Liz Edwards, Julie Sykes & ElizabethGriffinMembership fees from January 2018Family $45; individual $30; single con-cession $20; couple concession $30.Contact secretary or treasurer. Pleasepay promptly.Research inquiries:The Research Officer, Orange & DistrictHistorical Society, P O Box 1626, Orange, NSW 2800Please supply an A4, stamped, self-ad-dressed envelope. Cost: $20 for the initial inquiry (plus ad-ditional charges for more extensive re-search). Please provide your name, address,phone number and email address, de-tails of your inquiry, any information youmay already have, and the reason foryour inquiry.Bank: Orange & District Historical Society,Orange Credit Union, BSB 802-129,A/c No 34252 (please include nameand reason for payment). If you aretransferring money from your accountat Orange Credit Union, please add S1to our account number.

This newsletter is designed to keep members and other interested peopleinformed about the society’s activities as well as matters of interest in thewider field. If anyone would like to contribute to it they should contact editor Liz Edwards. Our newsletter requires a considerable amount of money to produce each quarter with paper, printing and postage all adding to the cost. Therefore, wherever possible, we email it to those members and others onour mailing list who have an email address. However, if anyone with an email address would prefer also to receive apaper copy, they may do so simply by contacting the secretary. Those who do not have access to email will continue to receive theircopies by ordinary mail.

Cover images:

Main - Enjoying a ride on an historic fire engine are Allen,Isobel and Abigail Omoh, who were among those who attended Orange Fire Station’s open day.

Below: Committee members Jenny Maher, Euan Greer, Liz Edwards, Annette Neville, Phil Stevenson, John Glastonbury, Julie Sykes, Ross Maroney and Judy Agland.

WWelcome to our spring newsletter. As you willsee on page 5, we have a new committee, al-though the faces will be familiar to you. Our

committee members put in untold hours of work behindthe scenes to ensure the society functions well. They allbring different skills and ideas to our meetings and weare fortunate to have such commitment to the societyand its aims.

Everyone loves a mystery, and the large photographon pages 6 and 7 will no doubt invoke some comments.We only know that it was supposed to have been takenin Lucknow in the 1920s or 30s. If any members canidentify faces in the crowd or suggest what the occasionwas, we would love to know.

History, of course, should be fun as well as serious,and our History Alive meeting about the history of Or-ange Fire Brigade, along with the visit to the Fire Sta-tion, was certainly fun. Station officer Matt Jeffery ispassionate about the brigade’s history and his talk cov-ered many aspects of the brigade’s long history.

You will know that some of our members are veryinterested in and knowledgeable about railway history.A recent acquisition of railway time books is proving arich source of information about how the Orange loco-motive section operated between 1916 and 1936 (seeJohn Glastonbury’s article on pages 6 and 7).

You will see that among the myriad jobs undertaken,there were two young lads employed specifically to callat crew members’ homes to wake them up and ensurethey arrived at work on time. It may sound quaint thesedays, but many homes did not have the luxury of tele-phones.

We were pleased to hear that Orange Regional Mu-

seum was recentlyawarded the SulmanMedal for Public Ar-chitecture. The mu-seum is making itspresence felt in manyways.

Our society takes akeen interest in her-itage matters and thefate of two of the city’skey buildings is verymuch on our minds.

The former DaltonBrothers’ store andDuntryleague, both di-rectly associated with the Dalton family, are facing con-servation challenges.

The recently formed Duntryleague Mansion Founda-tion is doing its best to ensure that Orange’s most presti-gious building is preserved, but the foundation needsmore funds and support.

The future of the former store (latterly WesternStores and Myer) is less certain as plans for a new shop-ping centre are formulated.

You only have to glance up at the top of the façadeto be reminded that this building is associated with theearliest days of Orange, and has been central to thecommercial history of Orange. We hope the redevelop-ment will result in the preservation of the key elementsof this historic building.

- Liz Edwards

A message from the president

Spring 2017 History Alive 3 Judy Agland and Gloria and Ross Maroney.

Rhonda and Rob Showell, Margaret and RobHoneysett.

Sally Watson, Phil Stevenson, John and BevGlastonbury at our volunteers’ winter dinner.

Dorothy Noble and Euan Greer. Julie and Dave Sykes and Jenny Hold-away.

Greg and Jenny Maher.

Winter cheer for our volunteers

By Elisabeth EdwardsWhat would James Dalton Junior

have thought if he could witnesstoday the fluctuating fortunes of histwo great edifices – Duntryleagueand Dalton Brothers’ store?

Dalton, who died in 1919, epito-mised the rags to riches story: theson of a convict, he escaped thegrinding poverty of his childhood inIreland, built up a hugely successfultrading company with his brotherThomas, and had Duntryleague con-structed as his family home.

Duntryleague, the Italianate man-sion which was constructed in 1876,was left on James Dalton’s death tohis youngest son Father Patrick Dal-ton, a Jesuit priest. There was a hopethat the building would be turned intoa seminary but the Bishop ofBathurst rejected the idea. The build-ing and surrounding land was pur-chased by Orange Golf Club in 1935.It also served as a military convalen-scent home during WWII.

The club has been extended tothe west while the mansion has beenused for many years as accommoda-tion. The upkeep on the mansionover the years has been considerableand it is now in urgent need ofrestoration work. In addition to themansion, the former coach houseneeds extensive renovations so thatit can be put to use in some way.

The Duntryleague Mansion Foun-dation was formed in 2016 to securefunding for the maintenance of thehouse and coach house. The founda-tion is a separate entity to the golfclub. The most recent fundraiser wasa dinner, held on 22 July.

Urgent work which will be carriedout in the near future will be the re-pair of the porte cochere (the porch at

the entrance originallyused by carriages topick up and set downfamily members andvisitors, giving protec-tion from bad weather),and repairs to the tower.

While the mansionwill require constantrepairs and mainte-nance, the fund willhopefully allow Or-ange’s premier build-ing to continue togive pleasure to visitors for manydecades.

The former Dalton Brothers store(latterly Western Stores, then Myer)was once not only the shopping hubfor locals but attracted customers fromthroughout the Central West. It was thehub of a vast commercial empire en-compassing pastoral interests through-out western NSW as well as a hugeimport-export business with offices,wharves and warehouses in Sydney.Situated in a prime spot in SummerStreet, the store supplied everythingfrom clothes to groceries, liquor, farm-ing machinery and furniture.

The original slab and bark build-ing constructed by James DaltonJunior in 1853 was gradually ex-tended and renovated over manyyears. A description recorded in theOrange Leader in June 1912 con-veys the magnificence of the build-ing following a refurbishment:

‘The alternations effected so farare contained in the re-ceiling of thevarious suites of offices, carried outin steel, the patterns of which dis-plays exceedingly good taste on thepart of the selector; the cleaning andrevarnishing of the cedar work andthe relaying of the whole of the floorspace with inlaid parquet linoleumof an exclusive pattern. The cedarwork in the offices afford a strikingexample of the longevity and thedurability of this timber, whichwould give one the idea that it hadonly just been put in, but which inreality has been there for 50 years.’

At that time there was an engineshed at the rear of the premises with

an engine for working the suctionplant that operated the cash tubes,sucking the cartridges with purchasemoney and delivering them to thecash desk, and then sending themback with the bill receipted, alongwith the change. There was also alift working on water pressure.

With Myer now closed alongwith the loss of 50 or so jobs, plansare afoot to revamp the building. Aninitial development application byAlceon Group was sympathetic tothe immense heritage value of thepremises, which has stood in variousforms since 1853. However, a newDA points out that the vertical align-ment is out by between 5mm and40mm on the Summer Streetfrontage and between 4mm and32mm on the Post Office Lanefrontage. The developers also pointout issues with faulty brickwork anddisintegrating lime mortar.

Rather than go to the consider-able expense of rectifying theseproblems, the developers submitteda new DA with plans to demolishthe interior of the first and secondfloors, retaining only the façades inSummer Street and Post OfficeLane. They also intend lowering theground floor level, thus reducing theheight of the historic cellars, whichdate back to the earliest days ofJames Dalton Junior’s enterprise.They have not said if and how theyintend salvaging and displaying his-toric pieces such as a wooden hoistand a spiral staircase.

Our society is concerned that thenew DA seriously compromises thehistorical integrity of the building, andwe will be watching developments.

Spring 2017History Alive 4

The former Myer store in Summer Street.

Dalton buildings’ fluctuating fortunes

Duntryleague Mansion.

Our society’s Annual General Meeting took placein the West Room of the Orange RegionalGallery on Saturday 19 August.

There have been some changes to the committee: LizEdwards continues as president and Euan Greer as vice-president. Secretary is Phil Stevenson and treasurer isAnnette Neville. The committee members are: JudyAgland, John Glastonbury. Jenny Maher, Ross Maroneyand Julie Sykes.

We thank Dave Sykes for his input as secretary dur-ing the past year and welcome Julie Sykes back to thecommittee.

Russell Tym and Marie Hammond continue as pa-trons; Ray Norman continues as public officer, honoraryhistorians are now Liz Edwards, Elizabeth Griffin, RossMaroney and Julie Sykes. Liz Edwards continues aspublicity officer and newsletter editor.

Officiating at the election of office-bearers was Rus-sell Tym.

Following the formal part of the meeting, there wasan opportunity for members to discuss matters of inter-est. Charlie Everett told the meeting that after severalyears of sustained hard work, cataloguing of the histori-cal items relating to Bloomfield Hospital had now beencompleted and the items stored in several locations atBloomfield. He said it was not yet known what wouldhappen to the collection or if there would be an oppor-tunity for an exhibition or permanent display. Charlieand colleagues are now working on cataloguing theRSL Memorial Museum’s collection.

Phil Stevenson told the group about the variety ofwork being undertaken by volunteers at the cottage.There are now groups working on accessioning onMondays, and identifying the Emmco/Email/Electroluxphotographic collection – comprising about 16,000 im-ages – on Fridays.

On Wednesdays volunteers work on researching andwriting statements of significance, cataloguing, theCWD Negative Collection, answering inquiries fromthe public, and administration.

Liz Edwards spoke about the CWD Negative Collec-tion: work is now in progress to transfer all the old-stylenegatives to acid-free envelopes and storage boxes, and

to scan any damaged neg-atives and store them in afreezer to prevent furtherdeterioration. About12,000 negatives, datingfrom 1955 to 1959, havebeen transferred so far,with the years 1960 to1970 inclusive still to bedone.

Afternoon tea wasserved following the meet-ing.

Spring 2017 History Alive 5

Meet your new committee

Liz Edwards, president

Judy Agland, committee

Annette Neville, treasurerPhil Stevenson, secretary

Euan Greer, vic-president

Jenny Maher, committeeJulie Sykes, committeeJohn Glastonbury, committee Ross Maroney, committee

By John GlastonburyWith the recent closure of the Cowra War Museum, the

society was offered a substantial collection of books anddocuments relevant to the railways in the Orange Region.

Of special interest is a collection of 132 time booksfor the Orange locomotive section ranging from the fort-night ending 21 October 1916 to the fortnight ending 9February 1935. From the opening of the railway to Or-ange in 1877 until late 1936, the Orange locomotivedepot was located in the Orange yard opposite the presentstation before being moved to Orange East Fork.

Each time book is a record of the hours worked andpay for the fortnight of each staff member of the OrangeLocomotive Section.

The time books for October 1916, March 1920 and Feb-ruary 1935 have been analysed in detail listing the names ofall locomotive staff and their employment category.

In the March 1920 time book, there are 23 employ-ment categories listed:• Locomotive Drivers – 19 • Firemen – 18 • Cleaners (locomotive cleaning) - 7• Purely extra cleaners (cleaners not permanent staff ) – 6 • Casual hand (general duties) - 1• Storemen – 3 • Washout man (locomotive boiler washouts to removesludge) – 1 • Roster clerk – 1 • Carriage and wagon examiners ( checking carriage and

wagon fitness to operate) – 3 • Fuelmen (transferring coal from rail wagons to locomo-tive tenders) – 4 • Rolling stock labourer (cleaning carriages and vans) – 1 • Firelighter (lighting up cold locomotives after mainte-nance) – 1 • Call boys (young lads on bicycles going to crew homes tocall them for duty before phones were common place) – 2 • On probation – 1 • Casual hands (general duties) – 7 • Leading fitter (maintenance) – 1 • Fitters (maintenance) – 3 • Fitter’s labourers (maintenance ) – 5 • Boilermaker (maintenance of locomotive boilers) – 1 • Boilermaker helper – 1 • Apprentice fitter – 2 • Purely extra fitter (fitter not on permanent staff) – 1 • Pumper Molong. ( pumping locomotive water fromlocal dam at Molong to elevated locomotive tanks) – 1 The names of all employees are listed, their hours workedand resultant pay. Total hours worked in the fortnight for all 90 employeeswas 7,938.The October 1916 time book records a locomotive stafftotal of 98; for the March 1920 book 90 staff; and for theFebruary 1935 book 97 staff. In addition to the above figures, NSW Government Rail-ways had many other staff in Orange; the District Super-intendent’s office, traffic, way and works and stationstaff, for example.

Spring 2017 History Alive 6

A special occasion in Lucknow, This charming photograph, recently acquired by the society, is said to have been taken in Lucknow in 1924. The women’s dressesand hats suggest it may actually be ten years or so later.

A window on the past: Orange

Spring 2017 History Alive 7

These figures are a reminder that the NSW GovernmentRailways was this State’s largest employer until the im-mediate post-war years saw the widespread introductionof the private car and motor trucks, resulting in the starkcontrast of today.

Of nine classes of locomotives listed in the March 1920book, four locomotive classes were worked on in thefortnight period by maintenance staff. These wereclasses:

There are many more women than men and a fair number of children. Perhaps it was a Sunday School picnic. If anyone knowsanything about it or recognises people in the photograph, please contact any committee member. Photo enhanced by Robert Bruce.

but who, when, where and why?

locomotive staff last century

1889 Class Introduced 1924 Wheel TypeClass* Leader Year Class* arrangement# D 255 1889 (Z) 15 4 – 4 – 0 ExpresspassengerP 6 1892 (C) 32 4 – 6 – 0 ExpresspassengerT 524 1896 (D) 50 2 – 8 – 0 GoodsTF 939 1912 (D) 53 2 – 8 – 0 Goods

Notes *Between 1889 and 1924, the NSW Government Rail-ways classified all locomotives with an arbitrarily se-lected alphabetical initial preceding the road number ofthe locomotive that was the class leader. This classification system became unwieldy with therapid expansion of the NSW Railways and was replacedin 1924 with the present classification wherein each loco-motive has a road number of which the first two numeralsindicate the class except where a class exceeds 100 mem-bers when the locomotive road numbers are carried in tothe next 100. Hence the 151st locomotive in the 32 Classwas numbered 3351.

In addition, in official lists the road numbers were pre-ceded by letters: C denoting six coupled wheel locomo-tives, D denoting eight coupled wheel locomotives and Zdenoting locomotives of obsolete classes. These letter prefixes were never applied to diesel loco-motives.

# A system for describing steam locomotives according towheel arrangement. The first digit is the number of unpowered leadingwheels, the second digit is the number of coupled drivingwheels, while the third digit is the number of unpoweredtrailing wheels.

Spring 2017History Alive 8

Fires are unfortunately all toofrequent but thanks to the presenceof an organised Fire Brigade in Or-ange since about 1870, local resi-dents have been offered the bestprotection from conflagration.

Fires and firefighters was thesubject of July’s History Alive meet-ing and we were pleased to welcomeformer firefighter Ray Astill, andJune Osborne and her daughterRosanne. June’s husband Bruce Os-borne was station officer in Orangefor some years.

Guest speakers were Matt Jef-fery, station officer at Orange FireStation), long-term fireman and fireengine restorer Peter Fuge, RossMaroney and Liz Edwards.

Matt spoke about the long his-tory of the Fire Brigade (now Fireand Rescue NSW), with some fasci-nating insights into the history offirefighting in Australia.

He said firemen in the early dayswore long beards so that when theyentered a burning building theycould soak their beards in water andclench the wet beard in their mouthsto act as a breathing filter.

Fire stations in Sydney were tra-ditionally built on hills so that thehorse-drawn fire engines could startquickly downhill.

Dalmatian dogs used to stand

outside fire stations tobark and alert people thatthe fire engine was aboutto leave. They would thenrun alongside the horse tothe blaze, and their pres-ence seemed to calm thehorses by distracting otherdogs who wanted to chasethe truck.

Ross Maroney talkedabout the history of thelocal fire station, with thefirst building located inAnson Street opposite whatis now the Woolworths su-permarket. The currentbuilding in Summer Streetwas constructed in 1904.

Liz Edwards showedsome historic photographsof fires and firefighters,many of them from the CWD Nega-tive Collection. They included im-ages of a huge fire at the WoollenMills in 1984. The local brigade wasfamous in the 1950s for its prowessin fire-fighting competitions, win-ning scores of trophies. It even had amascot, Donald Beer, who was agedfive in 1956 and proudly wore aminiature firefighter’s uniform at atrophy presentation.

Peter Fuge was for many years afirefighter as well as working for the

PMG Department (later Telstra). Hespoke about the challenges of fire-fighting in country areas such asGrenfell, Brewarrina and Mudgee,and how improvements in commu-nications aided firefighters. Hebrought along examples of firemen’shelmets, including a replica of animpressive brass helmet which fire-men wore until 1964.

To add to the occasion, Matt Jef-fery organised images of the FireBrigade to be projected onto thelarge roller doors of the Fire Station.

Long history of Orange Fire Brigade

Guest speakers Matt Jeffery and Peter Fuge.

History Alive

Left: June andRosanne Os-borne.

Right: Stephanieand Ross Burton.

History Alive 9 Spring 2017

On Saturday 22 July Orange Fire Station openedits doors to the public with illustrated talks, afascinating display of Fire Brigade memorabilia

and very welcome mugs of hot soup made by Sarah Jef-fery on what was a very cold day.

On display outside the Fire Station were two vintagefire engines which were the subject of great interestamong the visitors.

Visitors were reminded of the need for a 24-hour

seven day a week service when, just before the programwas due to start, firemen were called to a chimney firein Ophir Road.

Money raised from entry donations was handed overto the Fire Brigade to donate to the Burns Unit at Syd-ney Children’s Hospital.

The society is very grateful to Matt Jeffery and histeam for their efforts in making it a memorable visit.

All action at Fire Station open dayHistory Alive

Former permanent Orange fire officer AlanBurns with a 1984 International 1800C fireemgine which he has been restoring.The truckstarted its life at Hornsby, then Wyong and fin-ished up at Tumut before coming to Orange.

Alison and Graham Strudwick with restorer Peter Fuge and the vintageDennis fire engine outside the Fire Station.

A selection of firemen’s helmets.

Lyndall and William Sykes in the 1984International fire engine on display at theopen day.

There was jubilation in Orange in July when the Sul-man Medal for Public Architecture was awarded to CroneArchitects for their design of the Orange Regional Mu-seum.

The medal had also been awarded to the Orange Re-gional Gallery and Orange City Library complex in 1986.

The medal is presented in memory of Sir John Sulmanand presented annually by the NSW chapter of the Aus-tralian Institute of Architects.

Crone Architects principal and design director NiallDurney and associate Ashley Dennis travelled to Orangeon Tuesday 11 July for a brief presentation ceremony atthe Museum.

Among those who attended were the Mayor, Council-lor John Davis, Councillor Neil Jones, Orange CityCouncil and museum staff , and members of the Friendsof the Orange Regional Museum and Orange & DistrictHistorical Society.

Mr Durney said they were amazed and excited by theaward.

Cr Davis said the museum had been a sensational suc-cess despite many people wishing it could have been larger.

The award citation stated that the museum designaimed to respectfully integrate a new building into the ex-isting cultural precinct and to create a new identity whilestrengthening current civic conditions within the site:

“The building envelope is shaped to keep line-of-sightto the gallery and create a new civic square while protect-ing it from winter southerlies. Stairs create a public am-phitheatre allowing access to the rooftop landscaping thatslopes to create a public hill. With this innovative ap-proach to the brief and site, Crone was commissioned tocarry out the full design and documentation highly sup-ported by the local user groups and Orange Council.”

The Australian Institute of Architects jury com-mented: “This bold, large-scale intervention re-organisesa whole city block through the application of a combinedlandscape, architectural and urban solution. Simple, boldand confident moves have created a destination for locals

and visitors, which provide a clear and active address tothe larger civic precinct.

“A variety of robust public spaces lend themselves toengagement and activation and every surface of the archi-tecture becomes a programmable element. The building’sroof forms a stepped amphitheatre for events at the heartof a civic precinct and a folded lawn provides views backacross the town. The museum interior is open and flexi-ble allowing it to fluidly evolve as the curatorship re-quires. Its plan is tightly packed to ensure adequatepublic address, with circulation around its perimeter. Themuseum’s strong architectural form acts to pivot streetlife into a new public square, fronted by the museum andthe existing Orange Library and Gallery, itself a Sulmanaward winning project.”

Spring 2017History Alive 10

Prestigious award for Orange Regional Museum

Cr Davis talks about the impact of the museum in Orange,with Niall Durney, before an invited audience of museumstakeholders.

A significant award: Crone Architects principal and designdirector Niall Durney and associate Ashley Dennis and Or-ange Mayor Councillor John Davis with the Sulman Medal.

Floor Talk: Orange Regional Museum CollectionSaturday 4 November, 2-4pm

Museum manager and heritage co-ordinator, Ali-son Russell, and collections officer, Allison Camp-bell, will explore the how, what and why behindOrange Regional Museum’s collections. What arewe collecting and why? How do we collect and whatare the plans for the future of the museum and col-lections? Free event, bookings essential.

By Elisabeth EdwardsA remarkable insight into attitudes towards

the Chinese in Orange in the late 19th centuryhas come to light in the scrapbooks of HenryNewman.

The case of Florrie Fowler, her mother whowas living with a Chinaman, the police, and ahost of do-gooders appeared in the OrangeLeader and the Western Advocate in March andApril 1896.

Newman, a prominent mine owner and storekeeper at Lucknow, was Member for Orangefrom 1891 to 1904. As a politician and busi-nessman he kept scrapbooks, mainly of news-paper cuttings relevant to mining and localaffairs. They are of great interest to local histo-rians because no full copies of Orange newspa-pers exist before 1899 (it is believed that manywere lost in the floods which regularly sweptthrough Lords Place where the two local news-papers had their offices).

At the time of the Fowler case, East Orange, in particu-lar the area around Five-Ways, was considered a disrep-utable place of slum dwellings and Chinese opium dens.

Local authorities didn’t really know how to deal withthe presence of Chinese in the town, as an East OrangeMunicipal Council meeting of 1893, just three years be-fore the Florrie Fowler case came to light, shows.

Alderman McInnes asked if the Council would takesteps to stamp out Chinese houses of ill repute, pointingout a man had been poisoned in one of these places (thenewspaper referred to them as ‘Chinese dens’). TheMayor, Alderman Stabback, suggested it was the job ofthe Nuisances Inspector.

Alderman McInnes persisted: “There is one placethat is a disgrace to the whole Borough. You can gener-ally see three men hanging on the fence outside theplace until someone else comes out,” adding, “One canhardly believe the trade that is done there by the Chi-nese women.”

The Mayor clearly didn’t want to be involved withsuch an unsavoury topic: “It is the duty of the police au-thorities to do with [brothels]. That is a criminal of-fence. We have nothing to do with them.”

Three years later, when things clearly had not changedmuch in East Orange, someone reported to Orange Policethat a woman named Harriet Fowler (otherwise known asHarriet George) was living with her daughter Florrie,who was aged about six years, and a Chinese man namedCharlie Chin, who was employed as a cook by AndrewEdye, licensee of the Royal Hotel.

The police were aware of Harriet Fowler but theycame to the conclusion that Florrie was well brought upand in no danger.

“[Florrie] goes to Miss Nevin’s school daily, whogives her a very good character,” Inspector Ford of Or-ange Police stated. “Mrs Powter, a most respectable

woman with a family, who lives on the next allotment,speaks well of the woman Fowler and the child Florrie.She says that, during the past 18 months she has had nocause of complaint against Harriet Fowler and that themother is much attached to her daughter. ‘But,’ she said,‘Mr Ford, it is a sad thing to see a little child living inthe house with her mother and a Chinaman’.”

While Inspector Ford had previously given twowomen ‘of bad character’ living in the same house 24hours to leave Orange and arrested a woman living inanother Chinese house for prostitution (she was jailedfor two months), he could find no reason to disrupt theliving arrangements of Harriet and Florrie Fowler.

He said they lived with Charlie Chin adjoining aChinese boarding house where the Chinese ‘playeddominoes etc’.

“I certainly cannot see my way to take the child fromher mother, she being well clad, fed and sent to school,”Inspector Ford said.

“I have also consulted the police magistrate and heagrees with me in the matter.” He noted, however, thatHarriet Fowler had been arrested several times in the1880s for vagrancy and being ‘a common prostitute’, forwhich she received jail sentences.

Senior Sergeant McManamey reported that he hadfrequently seen the child at the house but ‘never saw it[sic] smoking opium or cigarettes’ Andrew Edye gaveCharlie Ching a good character reference, adding he wasknown for his sobriety and punctuality.

As far as he was aware, no offence had been commit-ted. No doubt the police had seen plenty of cases of childneglect, probably as much among white people as theChinese. In fact Sergeant McManamey said Harriet’sown husband was ‘a worthless scamp and living with aprostitute’.

* Continued Page 12Spring 2017 History Alive 11

Florrie Fowler and the Chinese ‘den’

A building on the corner of Summer and William streets in the early1900s. Few images were taken of this area near Five Ways because of itsunsavoury reputation.

Diary September - December 2017Mondays and Wednesdays: Work days at Heritage Cottage10am-4pm. If you would like to volunteer, please contact co-ordinator Phil Stevenson.

Millthorpe Golden Memories Museum: open on weekends,public holidays and school holidays 10am-4pm.Molong Museum: Open on the last Sunday of the month12.30-3.30pm, 20 Riddell Street.Molong and District Servicemen and Service women’s Portrait Gallery: This can be viewed whenever the MolongRSL Club is open (phone 6366-8105 for details).Wentworth Mine: open Saturday and Sunday on the first fullweekend of the month 10am-2.30pm.Wednesday 13 September: History Alive, ‘Show and Tell’.Bring along your favourite local historical items. All welcome.Friday 22 - Sunday 24 September: Family History Soci-eties Conference in Orange. For details go to:www.ofhg.com.au/conference or contact Orange City Li-brary.Wednesday 4 October: ODHS committee meeting, 4.30pm.

Wednesday 1 November: ODHS committee meeting 5.30pm.

Saturday 4 November, 2pm-4pm: Orange Regional Museumfloor talk. Museum manager and heritage co-ordinator, AlisonRussell, and collections officer, Allison Campbell, explore thehow, what and why behind Orange Regional Museum’s collec-tions. What are we collecting and why? How do we collect andwhat are the plans for the future of the museum and collections?Free event; Bookings essential on 6393 8444.

Wednesday 8 November: History Alive meeting 6.30 for 7pmat Orange Senior Citizens Centre. Member for Calare AndrewGee will talk about the campaign to make  Orange the federalcapital of Australia. All welcome. Entry $4 members, $6 non-members. Supper provided following talk.

Friday 1 December: ODHS Christmas dinner at Duntry-league. Drinks on the terrace from 6pm, dinner at 7pm. Pleaselet a committee member know if you would like to attend.

Wednesday 6 December: ODHS committee meeting 5.30pm.

Christmas break:The cottage will be closed between Christ-mas and the end of January.

Spring 2017History Alive 12

Florrie Fowler and the Chinese ‘den’* From Page 11

The matter didn’t end there:Mrs Bullen, of Lucknow,decided to take charge.

Henry Newman was persuaded to write to theBishop of Bathurst, Dr Byrne, to see if Florrie could betaken into a convent there.

The Orange Leader took the moral high ground, as-serting that its rival, the Western Advocate, had under-stated the danger to Florrie.

The Bishop agreed to allow Florrie, although under-age, into the convent immediately and Mrs Bullen per-suaded Harriet Fowler to relinquish her child.

“ . . . this paper will feel satisfied in having done itsbest to perform a public duty,’ the Leader crowed, withscant regard, it would seem, for the feelings of eitherHarriet or Florrie.

Henry Newman appears to have contacted theBishop largely to stop the war of words between the twonewspapers:

“I was thinking whether Your Lordship could notmake an exception in this very painful case and allowthe mother to place the child at the Convent at once andthus save these two newspaper men from abusing eachother, and, perhaps, the girl from a fearful end,” hewrote to Dr Byrne.

Dr Byrne wrote to Mr Newman: “Rev Mother Superior of the Mercy Convent here

tells me she is willing to receive the girl Florrie Fowlerinto their orphanage here at once.

“She would prefer to take the child now, when she isonly six years old, than later, when perhaps she wouldbecome vicious and be fit, not for an orphanage but areformatory.”

The Leader had the last word, declaring that it hadbeen ‘determined to have the child removed from itspestilential surroundings’.

What became of Florrie is unknown. Did she thriveat the orphanage? Did she ever see her mother again?Did she recall in later life her time living with hermother and the Chinese man in East Orange?

Harriet Fowler died in 1906 aged just 32, of an ab-scess on the lung, when Florrie was aged 13.

Charlie Chin died in 1910 of heart failure result-ing from kidney disease. It was said he had a Chi-nese wife somewhere but her whereabouts wereunknown. He was buried in the Chinese section ofOrange Cemetery.