The Story of George Thomas Connors (Jnr.) / Memories ... March 23

This is the story of my paternal Uncle, George Thomas Connors (Junior) 1914 - 1990.

*Our common ancestors are:  George Thomas Connors and Grace Olive Brown.

I'm publishing this post on the anniversary of my uncle's passing.

 In Remembrance

(also for my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of the passing of my paternal uncle, George Thomas Connors Jnr.

(The photo above that appeared on the Ancestry.com site is not a photo of my Uncle George.  I've had to review this post and change photos below as I had previously made a mistake in identifying the man above as George - it is in fact his younger brother.)

This is George Thomas Jnr.
(Photo shared by my cousin Keith Connors)

 

• George was the fourth child and third-born son of my paternal grandparents, George Connors and Grace Brown.  He was born in 1914 in Lismore, New South Wales when his father was 34 years old and his mother was 29.

• George was one of ten children born to George (Snr.) and Grace, although only eight of those children reached their adult years.  

This photo of George and his older brothers was likely taken around the mid 1920s
L-R:  Thomas Richard Connors, George Thomas Connors, Colin Vincent Connors
(Photo shared by my cousin Keith Connors)

• George Jnr. spent the first ten years of his life living in New South Wales, but then around 1924 the family was living in southern Queensland, and that is where George spent the remaining years of his life.

• His father was working on / managing various dairy farms around southern Queensland between the mid 1920s and early 1930s (for the influential Collins family who owned the Mundoolun, Tamrookum, Rathdownie and Nindooinba stations), and the Connors family moved quite a bit during that time.  Eventually George Snr, his wife Grace, and most of the family left the area and moved to Gympie, but George Jnr. and his older brother Colin stayed.

• The brothers worked as farm hands in the area around the town of Beaudesert.  The 1936 Australian Electoral Roll has both of them listed as living and working in the Beaudesert area in the Moreton District.

• George Jnr., aged 22, was working on the large pastoral station Mundoolun, and apparently remained working there for a number of years. 

• The 1941 Australian Electoral Roll has George Jnr. listed as working as a farm hand at Mundoolun, although he now had a wife, and his older brother Colin appears to have moved on.

• George Jnr. met a young lady at a Canungra Dance during the time he was droving cattle at Tamrookum Station  and a lifelong love story began.  George Jnr. married Ivy Joyce (known as Joyce) Ball in 1941, at the age of 27, and they remained married for 49 years until George Jnr. passed away.

• By 1949, George Jnr and his wife Joyce had taken over Joyce's father's farm and moved onto the dairy farm in the Boyland area, north east of Beaudesert.  George Jnr. and Joyce bought that farm and worked it together for many, many years.

George Connors Jnr. and his wife Joyce 
Photo likely taken in the 1950s
(Photo shared by my cousin Keith Connors)

• While George Jnr. and Joyce did not have children of their own, they certainly welcomed the children of their brothers and sisters to their home whenever possible.  I do have vague memories of visiting them when I was quite young, but details do not come to mind unfortunately.

• George Jnr. passed away in March of 1990, aged 75. 

Photo courtesy of The Beaudesert Times, Oct 29 2019

• His wife, my aunty Joyce, amazingly lived on until a few months passed her 104th birthday!!!!

Memories shared by other family members:

From my cousin Carmel:

"My Mum’s brother, the lovely, gentle George and his wife Joyce lived on a dairy farm outside of Beaudesert and on many occasions they would host visits from various members of the family.

They were fun times especially for us “townies”. George, who played the accordion, was also a member of a local band. Country dances in small community halls meant great times long into the night.

I remember at Granny’s and at our house that George would also play many a tune accompanied by Uncle Bunny on the banjo. Looking back there was so much joyous mayhem. The house was full of singing, dancing, laughter."

From my cousin Ann:

"This is a little story of John and myself, we are cousins, and when we were children we would go for a holiday to my Uncle George and Auntie Joyce's farm which was just out of Beaudesert. We had many wonderful times there.  

There was this time when Johnny and I were going for a walk around the paddocks when we looked up towards the cow bales and we could see our Aunty Joyce standing up on the cow bales. She was calling out to us. John and I looked at each other and said "What is she saying?" John said, "I think she said there is a black fellow watching you", and I said "No, I think she said there is a black snake watching us". Well, with that we both took off, running as fast as we could. 

The next thing, Johnny's hat flew off his head, he ran back to get it, but I didn't wait for him. I kept running as I didn't want him to get ahead of me. When we got up to the cow bales, our Auntie was still waiting for us. She said "I asked you two to bring the cows home with you". There was some cows grazing in the paddocks near us. We were only about 10 years old at the time. We laughed and laughed."