The Story of Thomas Owen McCane / Memories ... January 13

This post tells the story of my maternal Grand Uncle, Thomas Owen McCane  (1899 - 1967).  

Our common ancestors are:  Owen McCane (Muckian) and Margaret Farrell.

I'm publishing his story on the anniversary of his birth.

Anniversary  of  a  Birthday:

(also for my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Thomas Owen McCane  c.1920

• My maternal grand uncle, Thomas Owen McCane (known as Tom) was born on January 13, 1899 in Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia.

• His parents were Owen McCane (Muckian), an Irish immigrant, and Margaret Farrell, an English immigrant.  Both emigrated to Australia in the late 1880s and married in Charters Towers.  

• Thomas had six siblings, two older sisters, an older brother and three younger brothers.

• He grew up in the small community that was established at the Pumping Station, the site of the steam powered water pumping station on the south bank of the Burdekin River, about nine miles north of the town of Charters Towers.

• His family lived in one of the workers' cottages and he attended the provisional school (a temporary structure) built to provide basic education to the children of the men employed at the pumping station, as well as children of the local farmers and woodcutters who lived nearby. 

• Thomas and his family moved to the town of Charters Towers briefly around 1912, but then the entire family moved in 1914 to a parcel of land on Molongle Creek, near Gumlu, where they worked together to establish a farm.

• Like his two older sisters, Thomas became a teacher.  

• In 1919 Thomas was admitted into the Education Department.  He took over as teacher of Molongle Creek State School, near Gumlu, when his older sister Susan married and was no longer able to continue teaching.  At that time regulations stated women could not continue teaching after they had married.   (See Susan's story here:  The Story of Susan Mary McCane)

• Just before Thomas began his teaching career at Molongle State School, it had been a provisional school.  These were set up at the request of parents, who would generally provide the building and some of the essentials requirements like slates.  The Education Department supplied the teacher and some basic essentials such as books.   Thomas was to spend many years teaching at provisional schools during his early career. 

• In the case of the Molongle Provisional School, the Education Department originally procured a tent building in 1913 from the railway department and the parents had to erect the structure.  Tenders were called for the construction of furniture and the erection of water tanks among the local residents, and they also provided a parcel of books and slates.   It became a state school in 1915, but the building was still very basic by the time Thomas became the teacher there.

• Thomas spent almost two years at that one-teacher school, 1919 to mid 1921.  The name was changed to Gumlu State School in 1920, during his time.  He was then transferred in July of 1921.

McCane family gathered for my grandmother's wedding day 1921.
Thomas is second from the left in the back row.

Back row L-R:   Tom's brothers -  James Patrick, Thomas (Tom), John Michael, Edward Joseph

Front row L-R:  Tom's sisters and parents - sister Sarah Mary (my grandmother), father Owen, mother Margaret, sister Susan Mary   

Thomas Owen McCane 1921

• In mid 1921 he moved to a provisional school over two hundred kilometres from Gumlu.  Crystal Brook Provisional School was near Proserpine, in Queensland.  

• His time there was short, as he was transferred to another provisional school in the same area.  

• In 1923, Thomas was transferred to Eden Lassie Provisional School, which was closer to Longford Creek in the Proserpine area.

• In between these two years, Thomas married Agnes Therese Parnell.  They went on to have two sons.  

• Unlike his two older sisters, he was allowed to continue with his profession after marriage.

• He returned to teach at Gumlu State School once more in mid 1924, and remained there for over 14 years.

• This photo shows Gumlu State School (previously known as Molongle Creek Provisional School) as it existed in 1925. The children in the photo were all Thomas's pupils that year.
•  The building was totally inadequate for the increased attendance in the 1930s, when Thomas was there.  He was the only teacher and student numbers ranged between 35 to 45.  Unfortunately that little wooden building with one room was Thomas's school when he returned to the area, and it remained the school until just after he moved on, 14 years later.

• Thomas's students came to school on horseback, on the train, on push bikes, on foot.  They played marbles and cricket during their lunch breaks and were barefoot most of the time.  The younger students would often be sent outside to sit under a tree to learn their spelling or tables, while Thomas taught the higher classes in the school room.  The 'Manners Chart' was brought out at least once a week.  Singing lessons were part of the learning and "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" was one of the most-often heard tunes. 

• There was a large group of the McCanes, O'Donnells and Bidgoods living in the area around Gumlu, all related and working mixed farms.  The photo above was taken sometime around 1934 and includes Tom's mother, sitting on the chair in the middle of the group, his sisters and brothers and brothers' wives, along with children of his siblings and his own two boys.

• At the end of 1938, Thomas was transferred to Sybil Creek State School at Finch Hatton, which was near Mackay in Queensland.  

• The local newspaper described the sendoff he was given upon news of his transfer.

• Thomas spent the remainder of his teaching career at Sybil Creek State School.

• During his life time he experienced two world wars.  

• When war broke out in mid 1914, Thomas was 15 years old.  He would have been keenly aware of the war, as they was a group of young men living in the Gumlu area who went off to fight in the great war, and never returned.  

• His oldest sister married the only soldier who returned home in 1919, and Thomas would have been at the wedding.

• Twenty years later, world war broke out once again.  Thomas had been teaching for that twenty years and was 39 years old.  He had just begun teaching at Sybil Creek State School the year before and he and his family were living in the school house at Finch Hatton.

• In 1942, at the age of 43, Thomas enlisted and served nearly three years with the Citizen Military Forces (CMF).  His posting at the time of his discharge in late 1945 was with 15 Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps.

• At the age of  68, Thomas died suddenly.  

• He was by that time living in Mackay, Queensland.  

• He was survived by his widow, Agnes and two sons, Edward Joseph and Kevin Thomas.  Edward Joseph followed in his father's and his aunts' footsteps by becoming a teacher as well.

I'm joining Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023 Challenge  (even though so many of my posts now are not about my direct ancestors).

This time I'm catching up with the prompt for Week 4  - ''Education".

You can join by blogging or posting on social media with the tag #52Ancestors.

Check out Amy's FB pages:  Generations Cafe  or  Amy Johnson Crow