Maughan Migration 1920s
About 1800 my fourth great grandfather Peter Maughan bought Kirkhaugh Farm in the Northumberland County of England.[1] Generations of Maughans farmed Kirkhaugh but in the 1920s my grandad Syd and three of his brothers left the “northern lands, where chilly breezes blow, and winter rules the calendar with rain and hail and snow”[2] for the sunny lands down under. Why did the brothers immigrate, where did they go and what became of them? These are the questions that will be answered in the next few pages.
Within
three short years, three significant events changed life dramatically for the
Maughan family. Firstly, the head of the family John Maughan died on 24 October
1915 leaving his estate worth £7107 to his widow Elizabeth.[3]
John and Elizabeth had six children – Charlie, Wyn, Arnold, Syd, Eric and
Stewart.[4]
Secondly, Britain was in the grip of World War I and was calling on her sons to
enlist in the military – Charlie was in the army and Syd in the navy. Arnold
didn’t enlist due to a disability, while Eric and Stewart were still at school.
The third significant event was the sale of Kirkhaugh Farm. It is believed that
Elizabeth sold the farm in 1918, not long before the war ended.[5]
While Close House, a cottage on the Kirkhaugh property, was retained the loss
of their father and the sale of the family farm was felt deeply by the whole
family. All three events most likely influenced four of the five brothers to
leave Britain and make their own way in the world.
A
further influence came from relatives who had immigrated to Australia during
the relatively short-lived immigration boom of 1910-1913.[6]
Five Teasdale brothers, all farmers and cousins of the Maughan family, arrived
in Fremantle, Western Australia on 21 March 1911.[7]
The Teasdale brothers took up land at Belka in the eastern wheatbelt and they
encouraged the Maughan brothers to also immigrate to Australia.[8]
After
the end of WWI assisted passages resulted in dramatic increases in immigration
from Britain to Australia. In terms of sheer volume, the largest five-year period of immigration between
Federation and World War II was 1921 to 1925.[9]
It was during this immigration wave that four of the Maughan brothers left
their British homeland and headed southwards.
Elizabeth
Maughan farewelled three sons in the first three months of 1923. Arnold was the
first to leave – boarding the ‘Moreton Bay’ on 2 January[10],
next was Syd who departed on 1 February aboard the ‘SS Baradine’, [11]
followed by Charlie who departed on 8 March on the ‘SS Tainui’. [12]
Not only did they leave on different dates but they all landed in different
ports – Arnold in Fremantle, Syd in Melbourne and Charlie in Wellington.
Why
did the three brothers not go together? There are multiple layers to this
question and no easy answer. Charlie promised his wife that once he was settled
he would send for her and their two small children. This never eventuated and
Charlie did not contact his family, apparently due to a grievance.[13]
After a silence of more than 20 years, Charlie finally responded to his
mother’s letters and in 1946 he sent a letter and photograph to her.[14] Charlie
lived the remainder of his life in New Zealand working as a farm hand and he
died in 1965 not having seen any family members for more than 40 years.
Three
brothers emigrated to Western Australia although they did not arrive at the
same time. Arnold and Syd had intended to take up farming together. It seems
that the Government had other ideas “Australia House decreed, these brothers
must be parted, if they wanted to succeed.”[15]
What appeared on the surface to be cooperation with schemes that would benefit
the Empire as a whole, in reality there was considerable tension as “Australia
wanted to settle her sparsely populated rural areas with young, able farmers
with capital, just those people whom Britain wished to retain.”[16]
Arnold arrived in Fremantle in 1923 and travelled to Belka in the eastern
wheatbelt where he worked as a farm hand for his Teasdale cousins. After
arriving in Melbourne Syd did his year’s service working as a farm hand in
Boort. In the first half of 1924 Syd paid his own passage to Western Australia
and he too worked as a farm hand for his Teasdale cousins. The youngest brother
Stewart also emigrated to Western Australia although his was not an assisted
passage. Stewart was a wireless operator in the Merchant Navy and he worked his
way to Australia as a crew member. He was discharged from the Merchant Navy in
Fremantle on November 1924 and he joined his two older brothers and cousins in
the Belka district.[17]
In
1926 Arnold, Syd and Stewart bought a farm at Nukarni, north of Merredin, which
they named Kirkhaugh, after the family farm in England. It wasn’t easy farming
in the 1930s with severe droughts and a global depression but the brothers
worked hard and showed great resilience. Within six years each had their own
farms and they made a comfortable living farming until their retirement.
Together
with their wives and children, Arnold, Syd and Stewart all played an active
part in the communities of Nukarni and Merredin. While no Maughan descendants
now live in the area, my siblings, cousins and I all hold fond memories of our
childhoods growing up on the farms our grandfathers established and the
community they helped to shape.
Two
brothers came from Kirkhaugh
Near
Alston town that be,
The
older one was of the land,
The
other of the sea.
Their
chief point of resemblance –
An
absence of hard cash –
Nor
land, nor sea had yielded them
Enough
to ‘cut a dash’
So
both at once determined
To
leave their native land,
And
see how Fortune favoured them
Upon
a foreign strand.
They’d
had enough of northern lands
Where
chilly breezes blow,
And
Winter rules the calendar
With
rain and hail and snow –
So
off they’d go to southward
As
far as they could go.
Australia
called – they answered her –
“We’re
coming, don’t you know.”
But
this they found more difficult
To
do, than ‘twas to say.
They’d
‘Stralia House to reckon with
And
she had much to say.
They’d
many kinds of forms to fill
Of
every shape and size,
And
medical exams, and fees,
That
filled them with surprise.
But
strangest thing of all was this –
Australia
House decreed,
These
brothers must be parted
If
they wanted to succeed.
They
must not go together
Across
the briny deep,
Nor
make their home together,
Where
they would sow and reap.
Two
thousand miles must part them.
In
‘Stralia’s sunny land
They
do not hold with partnerships,
And
brothers hand in hand!
So
one was sent to Melbourne,
The
other one to Perth,
In
different ships, at different times,
Each
with a lonely berth.
The
rest of this sad story
The
future years must tell;
But
if GOOD WISHES bring success
These
lads will do right well!
They’ll
make a little fortune
In
‘Stralia’s sunny land,
And
bring it home to England
To
spend with open hand.
For
handicapping never yet
Determined
who would win;
And
BRITISH PLUCK will help them
To
grab their share of Tin!
[1]
Joseph Maughan, notes, n.d., copy held by the author
[2] Edith Watson, poem, circa 1923, original held by the
author (reproduced in Appendix 1)
[3] Probate of John Maughan, died 24 Oct 1915, Principal
Probate Registry, England & Wales, National
Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line], Ancestry.com, accessed 13 June 2021
[4] ‘Death of
Mr John Maughan of Kirkhaugh’ unidentified newspaper and undated news clipping
held by the author
[5]
Marian Maughan to Catherine
Maughan, telephone conversation, 2 June 2021
[6]
Langfield, M ‘More People
Imperative Immigration to Australia 1901-1939’, www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/research-guide-more-people-imperative_0.pdf, accessed 13 June 2021
[7]
Passenger list entry for Thomas, John, George, Herbert
and Frederick Teasdale, Orvieto, arrived Fremantle, 21 Mar 1911, Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963 [database on-line], Ancestry.com, accessed 13 June 2021
[8]
Maughan to Maughan, telephone
conversation, 2 June 2021
[9]
Langfield, M ‘More People
Imperative Immigration to Australia 1901-1939’
[10] Passenger list entry for Thomas Arnold Maughan, Moreton
Bay, departed London, 2 Jan 1923, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger
Lists, 1890-1960 [database on-line], Ancestry.com, accessed 13 June 2021.
[11] Passenger list entry for George Sydney Maughan, SS
Baradine, departed London, 1 Feb 1923, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 [database on-line], Ancestry.com, accessed 13 June 2021
[12] Passenger list entry for Jno Maughan, SS Tainui,
departed Southampton, 8 Mar 1923, UK and
Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 [database
on-line], Ancestry.com, accessed 13 June 2021
[13]
Elizabeth Maughan to Syd Maughan, letter, 5 March 1935, original held by
Catherine Maughan, Perth, WA.
[14]
Elizabeth Maughan to Syd Maughan, letter, circa 1946, original held by
Catherine Maughan, Perth, WA.
[15]
Edith Watson, poem, circa 1923
[16]
Langfield, M ‘More People
Imperative Immigration to Australia 1901-1939’,
[17]
Jill Maughan to Catherine Maughan, telephone conversation, 20 May 2021
[18]
Edith Watson was a cousin to
the Maughan brothers on their mother’s side
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