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!