The Story of Cyril Ernest Connors / Memories ... June 18

This post tells the story of my paternal Great Uncle, Cyril Ernest Connors  1888 - 1942.

*Our common ancestors are:  Thomas Edgar Connors and Susannah (Susan) Fullagar Hukins.

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

In Remembrance

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

• Cyril Ernest was born in Berry, New South Wales in April of 1888.  He was the eighth of ten children born to Thomas Edgar Connors and Susannah (Susan) Fullagar Hukins.  

• By the time Cyril was 22 years of age, both his parents had died and two of his brothers had passed away.  His brother William had died of tuberculosis at the age of 28, and his brother James had tragically died at the age of 23 of burns received during an accident at his workplace.  

 

• In 1913 Cyril was living with his older brother Percy in Berry, New South Wales, and both were working as 'carters' - typically carters transported goods, such as produce, around the region in horse-drawn vehicles.  

• The brothers had grown up working on farms and were known as excellent horsemen.  Cyril had worked on and off as a horse breaker in the region and had also been a member of the Berry Lancers Militia Regiment for around seven years.

• On the 1st of October 1914 Cyril travelled to Adamstown, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales, to enlist for service in WW1.  He was 26 years old.

Attestation Form - World War 1 - Cyril Ernest Connors

• On his Attestation Form, Cyril listed his trade/occupation as "horse breaker", and he identified his brother Percy as his next of kin.

Cyril Ernest Connors - Lighthorseman WW1

World War 1 Service

• Cyril enlisted with a mounted infantry regiment, the 6th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, 'B' Squadron
• He embarked in December of 1914 aboard the HMAT A29 Suevic
• He spent time training in Egypt before arriving at Gallipoli on the 20th of May 1915
• The 6th Light Horse (without their horses) were responsible of a sector on the far right of the ANZAC line, playing a defensive role until it left the peninsula at the end of 1915
• Just prior to this though, Cyril became ill with influenza while fighting at Gallipoli 
• In October 1915, he was evacuated to Malta aboard the hospital ship HMHS Formosa 
• He spent six month recuperating at the Floriana Military Hospital in Malta, and was then sent to Egypt where he joined the Imperial Camel Corps 
• This unit saw some heavy fighting and Cyril was wounded several times
• He rose to the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant

• In 1918 the Camel Corps was disbanded and Cyril was transferred back to the Light Horse
• He returned to Australia on leave in November 1918 just as the war was ending.

Sadly, Cyril's youngest brother Erice Sylvester (the baby of the family who had enlisted in September of 1915, while Cyril was fighting at Gallipoli) was killed in action in France in December of 1916.  

Cyril was at that time serving with the Camel Corps in Egypt.  I do wonder at what point Cyril found out about the death of his brother, and how that impacted him, both emotionally and psychologically. 

A postcard photo of Vera
that she sent to her brother while
he was away serving during WW1

• In February of 1922, at the age of 33, Cyril married Vera Agnes Coleman at Murwillumbah in New South Wales.

Cyril was aged 33 and Vera was 25 years old.

They went on to have seven children, four sons and three daughters, although sadly their first-born daughter passed away when she was only eight months old.

• Between the years of 1925 to 1936, Cyril worked at the State Government's Wollongbar Experiment Farm.  He was appointed the Dairy Foreman in 1928.

• Cyril changed employment in 1937 and began working as a Stud Master at the Camden Park Estate.

• The 1937 Electoral Roll shows Cyril and wife Vera (and family) living at the Camden Park Estate, near Menangle in New South Wales. 

• By the beginning of 1942 however, the family had moved to Baerami Creek, in the Upper Hunter River region of New South Wales.

• In January of 1942 Cyril travelled once more to Adamstown in New South Wales to re-enlist with the Volunteer Defence Corps.

 

World War 11 Service

• Cyril enlisted in the Second World War in January 1942
• He was attached to the Camp Staff at Raymond Terrace in New South Wales and was likely involved with recruit training.

• Six months after his re-enlistment, Cyril passed away suddenly.  He died in June of 1942 at the age of 54, survived by his wife and six children.

• Cyril was buried at the Alstonville Cemetery

Memories ... June 16

Remembering a Wedding Anniversary

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of my maternal grandparents' wedding day.  My grandfather James O'Donnell married my grandmother Sarah Mary Josephine McCane on June 16, 1921.

• James was 33 years old and had lived quite a full life to that point.  He had been born in Toowoomba, Queensland, and spent a lot of time during his teenage years helping out his mother at her hotel.  After James's father had died in 1893, his mother had become the licensed victualler of the Free Selector's Hotel and she held that licence for 14 years, until 1908.  

• James would have begun his apprenticeship as a plumber before then, and that was his trade during his early adult years.  From 1908, when James was 20 years old, to around 1915, James stayed and worked in Toowoomba, living at his mother's second hotel, The Southern Hotel, and no doubt still helping out with odd chores at that hotel.

• In either 1914 or 1915, James and his brother headed over one thousand kilometres to the far north of Queensland, to an area known as Kyburra, near the railway siding named Broadlands and halfway between the very small townships of Gumlu and Guthalungra.  Kyburra was close to Armstrong Creek, and it was here that James and his brother bought farmland and started working the land.

This is where James met Sarah.

• Sarah had been born in Charters Towers, north Queensland.  Her father worked at the Pumping Station outside Charters Towers and this was where Sarah lived with her family until around 1910.  

• At this time Sarah started working as a teacher as Millchester State School, the first school established in Charters Towers.  This was the beginning of her ten-year teaching career which saw her teaching in Charters Towers for around five years and then in small provisional schools in the region around Bowen, Queensland.

• Sarah's father had moved the family to the area known as The Broadlands in 1914, where he had bought two parcels of farming land near Molongle Creek in 1914.  This was of course around the same time that James O'Donnell had moved to the the neighbouring area of The Broadlands with his brother.

• Shortly after her family's move, Sarah was transferred from her school in Charters Towers to Euri Creek Provisional School, near Bowen.  She taught at Euri Creek State School, Merinda State School, Eden Lassie Provisional School and Kuridala State School, all in the area around Bowen, between 1916 and 1921.  Her teaching career ended however when she married in mid 1921.  Married females were not allowed to continue teaching in the 1920s (unless they became the sole bread-winner of the family as a result of the incapacity or death of their husband!)

• Sarah was 26 years old when she married James.  He was 33 years old, and had been working his farm for at least 5 years by that time.  It's likely James felt by that time he was financially able to marry and raise a family on his farm.

• Sarah and James were married at Sarah's family home, on her father's property at Molongle Creek.   

Husband and wife, James O'Donnell and Sarah Mary Josephine McCane (sitting)
with Best Man Maurice O'Donnell (James's brother) and Bridesmaid Susan McCane (bride's sister).

• This photo was taken on their wedding day at Sarah's family home.  If you look closely at the background, you can see the wooden stumps of the family home.  You can also see that the wedding party are standing/sitting on an area that has been covered with a blanket, and there appears to be climbing rose plants behind them.  This spot was most likely the best looking corner of Sarah's family farm, and deemed the most appropriate for a wedding portrait.

• My beautiful grandmother Sarah is wearing what would have been typical bridal fashion for the early 1920s - tube-shaped dress with a short hemline, a mop cap-style bridal hat that had full gathers around the head and a wide forehead brim embellished with beads, lace and ribbon.  Her lace-edged veil was long. She wore long white gloves, white stockings and white pump with straps, and carried a 'shower' bouquet, consisting of flowers, foliage and ribbons.

• My grandfather looks dabber in his suit, with a stiff-collared white shirt and a vest with a long watch chain.  He's also wearing white gloves.

• The marriage ceremony, which took place on a Thursday, would have been performed by a Catholic Priest, but as there was no Catholic Church nearby, he would have travelled to Sarah's family farm to preside over the ceremony.  The wedding was most likely held in the morning and a wedding breakfast would have followed.  Usually the wedding breakfast was a feast of sandwiches and cakes, along with cups of tea for the ladies and glasses of beer for the gentlemen!