The migrant Le Couteurs - Life in Australia
The migrant Le Couteurs:
Life in Australia
This is the third in a series of five articles about the Le Couteur family, and specifically brothers George and Philip Le Couteur, who emigrated separately to Australia in the 19th century. The content comes from a booklet, The Migrant Le Couteurs - from Jersey to Australia written by Lindsay Horner, husband of a Le Couteur descendant, and published by the author before a family gathering at Warnambool, Victoria, in March 1991
Arrival
The arrival of the Duke of Richmond on 4 March 1853 found the Portland and Port Fairy districts struggling against a number of infectious illnesses brought on by the variable weather. The sudden changes of temperature were causing much illness among children in the area. At that time Portland did not have a pier suitable for docking of ocean-going vessels. Ships would anchor in the Bay while lighters unloaded and loaded cargo, and a contemporary diary of one Thomas Keane highlights the difficulties of these operations.
- "In 1853 I began lightering on my own account. My first job was the Duke of Richmond from London with a cargo consigned to S G Henty. We started our disagreeable work about 3 am in water for hours until the lighter was loaded. Then we changed our clothes and made for the ship, discharging our ballast and taking in a load of cargo for the jetty."
A local newspaper reported that within a few hours of the ship anchoring, six of her crew made their escape in the ship's boat, but were recovered the next day by the mounted police.
George Le Couteur is said to have 'resigned' a month after arrival, and settled for a time in Portland. It is not known whether he had originally planned to leave his ship on arrival in Australia, or made the decision during his shipboard romance with Frances Ridgway.
Regarding his ‘resignation’, one verbal tradition has it that he went on to Melbourne with his ship, obtained discharge papers, walked back to Warrnambool and then to Portland to make contact with Frances. Another verbal account indicates that each year on the anniversary of the occasion, he used to sing a ditty about leaving his ship:
- ” … years ago today
- Since I ran away
- From the Duke of Richmond
- In Port Philip Bay”
There is a slight snag with both stories, however, as no evidence has so far been found that the vessel called at Melbourne after leaving Portland. As Portland was initially known as ‘Portland Bay’, the rhyme may have ended with those words, rather than ‘Port Philip Bay’. A further variation indicates that he 'borrowed' the ship's boat in Portland and faked a drowning so that he would not he notified to the authorities as a ship's deserter.
According to P J Powing, 29 English passengers on the Duke of Richmond were bound for Port Fairy, then called Belfast. Although the following comments were written about them, they would also have applied to the remainder of the migrants:
- "New arrivals were to find that the laws of master and servant were administered as strictly here as in the countries they had left; a labourer who 'absconded' from the employment of J M Knight of Boodcarra was given three months in Melbourne gaol, and farmers who took the risk of employing sailors who had deserted from ships were also liable to find themselves before the Bench" )this last comment may have particular relevance to George's circumstances).
Warrnambool
1854 George, now 24, apparently moved to Warrnambool within a year or so after his arrival at Portland, as his name and photo are included against the year 1854 on a Pioneer Honour Board located (as at 1991) in the Warrnambool Municipal Offices.
1855 George's brother Philip arrived in Melbourne on 1 January 1855 on the Evening Star. Philip was soon in contact with George as, in a diary entry dated 25 June 1855, he writes:
- "I have sent a box containing many things to my brother George at Warrnambool by the Mary Smith".
Further diary entries indicate that the two brothers wrote to each other regularly during the rest of their lives.
Marriage
George married Frances Ridgway in Belfast on 20 March in the house of William Robertson "according to the rites of the Church of Scotland". Their marriage certificate indicates that his profession was ‘mariner’ and his "present and usual place of residence" was Warrnambool; that for Frances was Belfast, where she had presumably obtained further domestic employment following her initial engagement by Mr Blair. The certificate shows that Frances was born in Surrey, England (in contrast to the shipping record, which indicates Middlesex) and her parents were Elizabeth and William, the latter being a plasterer. The certificate was witnessed by W Robertson and J Robertson and the officiating minister was M S Craig.
As neither George nor Frances appear to have had any previous (or subsequent) affiliation with the Presbyterian Church, one may wonder why they were married by a minister of this denomination. There was apparently no resident Wesleyan Minister in Belfast in the early part of 1856 - there was one there in 1854 but the Warrnambool Minister served the area in 1855, at least until a new church building was erected in August. So it is probable that George enlisted the services of the only Protestant minister available at the time.
Following their marriage, George and Frances lived in Warrnambool "which was only in those days, a few tents, with plenty of Blacks in their savage state, and (they) lived under the first iron roofed building".
George was probably employed by a shipbuilder, as a "History of Warrnambool Shire" indicates that he "worked as a shipbuilder until about 1865 when he pioneered land on Curdles River above the present day Curdievale. He built a sturdy house, part of which is still in use by descendants.
George had an early involvement with the Methodist Church in Warrnambool, as the Warrnambool Circuit History written in 1881 indicates that "Fruitful work has been given by ministers and laymen alike, and a roll could be composed of the honoured names of those who have been in labours abundant. Here follow a few of them: Le Couteur senior (ie George)....and many others."
Visit by Philip
After a rather unsuccessful venture into the goldfields, George's brother Philip visited Warrnambool in December 1855. He boarded steamer Champion in Melbourne on the 22nd and, having survived seasickness in Port Philip, arrived at Warrnambool the next day. He had not seen George for three or four years, and had not previously met Frances. An enjoyable time was apparently had by all over the Christmas/New Year period, and Philip finally returned to Melbourne on the steamer Queen on 18 January 1856
Son’s birth
George and Frances’ son George Thomas was born at Warrnambool in January 1856 - probably in a house in Koroit Street,as George Le Couteur is recorded in the Electoral Roll for this year as living in "Koroit Street, Warrnambool; occupation labourer; householder, John Clements, owner".
Son Philip William was born at Warrnambool - probably also in the Koroit Street house, in 1857.
1858: George Le Couteur's eulogy in 1913 indicates that in about 1858 he lived at Wangoom "where he did such noble service for God and the church, he being one of the pioneers of Methodism there and was the prime mover in the building of the church that stands there today"
The Wangoom church was built in 1860. Services had been held in private houses but the people of the neighborhood encouraged Mr Waterhouse to build a church; and a plain, unlined, unfloored church was erected. This was a "neat wooden structure of weatherboards, which will seat 100 persons" and cost £115. The church no longer exists, although it was apparently still standing at the time of the Centenary of Methodism in Wangoom in 1959. Apart from the eulogy, no specific reference to George Le Couteur's involvement with the Wangoom Church has been found.
Son David was born at Wangoom in 1859 but location unknown. George seems to have visited Philip in Beechworth in 1859, as he wrote in 1889 "After an absence of 30 years from Beechworth I find vast improvements. It may have been on his 1859 trip that George obtained walnut seeds which he later planted near his house at Curdies River. At least one huge tree still flourishes there in 1991.
Son Joseph was born at Warrnambool in 1863. At this time the population of Warrnambool was 2,217. (Over the next 40 years it grew as follows: 1874 - 4,350; 1881 - 4,836; 1886 - 5,398; 1901 - 6,404)
Son John was born at Wangoom on 12 May 1863. Son Frederick was born at Warrnambool in 1865.
Although George and his family were probably living in Wangoom at this time, one report indicates that he may have already begun pioneering the land on the Curdies River in the Heytesbury Forest .
Son David died, at Wangoom, aged 7 in 1866. He is understood to have fallen from a tree and broken his neck.
Son George Thomas to Beechworth
Apparently Philip, who at that time was childless, suggested or requested that one of George's children could be brought up with him and his wife Emilie in Beechworth. George must have agreed with this as, on 12 April 1866, he and his son George Thomas, aged 10 years and 3 months, went aboard the Pevril Cutter bound for Melbourne. They arrived on the 19th and George Thomas went on alone to Beechworth by mail coach, reaching his Uncle Philip's place on the 24th. He commenced at the Grammar School on the 30th, and thus started on the road to becoming the most highly educated of George's children. He later became a pharmacist, and was the father of Philip Ridgway Le Couteur, the Rhodes Scholar.
Son Alfred was born at Warrnambool in 1868 and died as a result of scalding the following year.
Son Henry was born at Warrnambool in 1871.
George at Nirranda and Curdies River
George's first farm, at Nirranda: On 3 March 1873 George applied for a licence under Part II of The Land Act 1869 to occupy Allotment 74 in the Parish of Nirranda, located about two kilometres north-west of Curdievale Under this Act a person "was permitted to peg out and apply for an allotment of not more than 320 acres, either before or after survey. A licence to occupy for three years, at 2s a year per acre, was then issued. The land had to be fenced and one tenth part of it cultivated within two years. At the expiration of three years the occupant could either pay 14s per acre (the balance of the full price of £1 per acre), or he could continue to hold the land at 2s a year for each acre, with the understanding that as soon as he had paid £1 an acre in all he should receive a Crown grant"
George's allotment area was 312 acres, slightly less than the permitted maximum. On the application George stated that, at one o'clock on 3 March, he had "placed conspicuous posts or cairns of stones with notices thereon at the corners of the allotment". He gave his occupation as labourer, and his address as Warrnambool South. The District Surveyor reported on the property on 16 April 1873. His plan shows the N and S boundaries as 39 chains each, and the E and W as 80 chains each. A licence was issued on 16 October 1873, and George apparently proceeded to farm and improve the property, with the help of his family. George's son Philip Ridgway was born at Nirranda on 7 April 1873, probably in a house on a rented property just to the west of George's allotment.
1875 Daughter Emily Jane was born at Nirranda, probably also in the rented house next to Allotment 74. It is recorded in The History of Warrnambool by R Osbourne that George Le Couteur (this would probably have been George Thomas, who would then have been 19 years of age) gained fifth prize in the second spelling bee held in Warrnambool in the Odd Fellows Hall, in aid of plastering the inside of the Mechanics' Institute. This, perhaps, is an early indication of the pride some later members of the clan were to take in an ability to spell correctly - and to do mental arithmetic.
Details of property
1876 Having been on the property three years, George made an application to the Board of Land and Works on 3 July 1876 for the grant of the land he was occupying. The application listed and costed at a total of £422 the improvements made to the land, including:
- Fencing by type and length (log and brush 40 chains, chock and log 240 chains - £152)
- Cultivation undertaken (2 acres of English grass, 30 acres of rye grass and clover - £200)
- Buildings (sawn weatherboard 2 room cottage 24 ft x 12 ft - £30)
- Water sources (well 20 ft deep, and pump - £10)
- Other improvements (timber cut etc - £30)
George stated that he had resided in the house "continuously for the last 9 months - occasionally previous to that and always on the adjoining allotment where my wife and part of my family live, but the house was built from the very first and always occupied by myself or some of my family". He said he did have another place of abode "on adjoining block - where my family live", but indicated that he did not hold (ie own) any other land or conduct any other business.
George's statement that he had another abode but did not hold any other land caused concern at the Land Board, and they wrote in July 1876 seeking clarification of his interests in the adjoining allotment (possibly No 75 on the west side, occupied by Simon McMahon). He replied in the same month that "it is rented by me with a view to purchase" (as far as is known, the purchase never took place). On 29 August 1876 the Land Board issued a certificate indicating that George had complied with all the conditions of his licence, and passed the grant of land. A Title Deed was then issued on 19 September and, immediately following this (on 20 October), George took out a mortgage with the Land Mortgage Bank of Victoria Limited, presumably to raise the capital to pay off the property.
George retained this property - and the mortgage remained undischarged - until 14 August 1906, when when the land was bought by John McDowall of Nirranda.
1877 On 31 January 1877 the purchase of Lot 74 was finalised at a total price of £312 (ie £1 per acre), of which £93 12s (ie 2s per acre for each of three years) had previously been paid in rent. Daughter Annie Laura was born at Nirranda on 7 March 1877, probably in the house George built on Lot 74. The nurse who certified the birth was a Mrs Flood. George's son William, then about 20, was involved in the salvage of the 130 ton ship Young Australia, which was wrecked at Peterborough on 28 May 1877.
Home in the Curdievale Wilderness
1877 Shortly after George completed the purchase (and the mortgaging) of his Nirranda property, he apparently procured another smaller piece of land in the Heytesbury Forest. On 8 August 1877, allotment 5 on the Curdies River in the Parish Of Narrawaturk, County of Heytesbury, was transferred to George Le Couteur. The property was originally purchased for £138 on 15 March 1873 as a Crown Allotment by Leslie Ogilby, a bank manager from Warrnambool, and Arthur George Wade, a solicitor from Coleraine. It consisted of some 137 acres (56 hectares) on about a mile (1.6 km) of river frontage.
Access to this remote area in those days was by fording or by boat across the Curdies River at Boggy Creek (present Curdie Vale) although even in 1872 there was talk of building a bridge (completed about 1880). A contemporary letter written by a neighbour, Mrs A Roberts, is relevant:
- "My mother was one of 13 children who lived in the Heytesbury Forest when the wild dogs used to prowl around at night. All 13 were born there. Their small mixed farm which they cleared by hand was right on the banks of the Curdies River. Across the river from them lived their closest friends, the Le Couteur family. The Becketts were the only ones to own an organ, which my mother could play, and most Sunday nights found the Heytesbury people coming by boat and through the forest in horse drawn vehicles for a sing around the organ."
The book The Becketts of Brucknell also records this ritual, indicating that
- "they sang the old hymns from Sankey's book - evangelical hymns of the Victorian era, with reminders of man's mortality and the life to come; pioneering hymns with images of the fruitful earth and the perilous seas. One of the visitors was Ern Gardiner, the school teacher whom Pattie Beckett eventually married. Another was George Le Couteur who took with him Captain James Robilliard. Both the Le Couteurs and the Robilliards came from the Channel Islands and were very close friends. To this day (1990) through friendship and marriage, the lives of the descendants of the Becketts, the Le Couteurs and the Robilliards are intertwined."
In describing the area, Sayers indicates that "In the early years the name Heytesbury was given to all the forest lands from Warrnambool to Colac. From the time of settlement the fringes of the thick forest were cleared by the axe, ringbarking, fire and the plough. The border of the Heytesbury lies within the Shire (of Warrnambool). It was to the early settlers a dark, sinister land. One writer said of it in its early settlement period
- `a land erstwhile of arid heath patch and sour swamps, or broad leads swarming with leeches in winter, snake-infested in summer, a land of scrub and bracken, where not only the first settler was a pioneer, but his son and as often as not his grandson after him.
Early settlers
Sayers indicates that George Le Couteur, together with the Duffy family, the Burleighs, and the Becketts, were among the earliest settlers along the Curdies River. In another section of his book, Sayers says
- "A family named Le Couteur came to live a few miles up the river (from the Becketts). He (George) was a seaman who had come from Jersey. He brought in a man named Robilliard, a Jersey Island sea captain who also settled on Curdies River. Eventually two Robilliards married two Beckett girls, Nellie and Alice. Beckett, Robilliard, Le Couteur and a fourth settler, Sleeman, organised church services in an old house. In time they built a church which in later years was moved up the river to Curdies railway siding, which served the lime kiln. The little church finished up at Brucknell North.
Night song services were held in the original building. The leader was James Gardner, the young school teacher. People who attended were asked for favourite hymns. The story is told of one man who always occupied the same long bench with his wife and nine daughters always asking for the tune Where is my wandering boy tonight. Another version of these events is given by Rosamund Duruz:
- "These pioneer settlers were mostly Methodists and were soon holding Sunday services regularly at one home or another. On one occasion Capt Robilliard (formerly a skipper of windjammers) was invited over to speak, from Warrnambool, where he had a tent making business. He stayed on and also married one of the Beckett daughters. Before long a small log church (the first Brucknell church) was built near the creek. Because of the draughts, it was papered inside, the only available paper being newsprint, which was carefully pasted on upside down, so as not to distract the congregation's thoughts."
Making a living
At this stage little is known of the problems George Le Couteur had in clearing and making a living from his land. However descriptions given in The Infiltrators seem particularly relevant:
- "Clearing of the land was a major undertaking, as the areas selected were river and creek flats, and the timber was large. The first crops grown were peas, and pigs were kept to convert the grain to saleable products. As in all parts of the forest, the farmer/settler maintained animals and grew vegetables and fruit necessary for his family's subsistence. They were tied to their selections, initially from lack of saleable products with which to generate income, and when crops were grown, through difficulties in reaching the markets. They saw little else but a wall of brooding forest from within their clearings. However they were true pioneers, with faith in their ambitions and hopes, and it was not long before they began seeking better communications, and social and communal facilities".
- "Settlers were laws unto themselves when it came to clearing their land. Many of them used fire as a preliminary to moving into a new area to be cleared, or where scrub had been cut and dried. Some of these fires got out of control."
An early settler noted that "it took two days to go (in a dray with produce) to Cobden, and three to go to either Warrnambool or Camperdown"
Other problems for the settlers are also outlined in The Becketts of Brucknell:
- "There were material and environmental difficulties such as distance from the markets for barley and other grain crops, and the state of the unmade roads. Recurrent flooding of Curdies River was a problem for the farmers with land along its banks. Periodically the river mouth would be closed by heavy seas piling sand into the outlet. The farmers knew from the rise in the river when this had happened. Action then had to be taken to prevent the flooding of the river flats. The settlers would leave their farms and row down to Peterborough to cleat the sand-bar, thus opening the river mouth."
1879 Son James Archibald was born on 17 March 1879 at Narrawaturk, Shire of Warrnambool, County of Heytesbury. He was subsequently known as Archie and in later years signed himself Archibald James Le Couteur. Archie was the last of George's children, born 23 years after the first, George Thomas.
School
1882 Nirranda East School. The Becketts of Brucknell gives some background on the Nirranda East School No 2475 where a number of Le Couteur children attended:
- "After residents' petitions from 1873 onwards, the Nirranda East School finally opened on 2 August 1882, in a portable building and on a part-time basis. The first head teacher was George Adcock, who held the position until the end of 1883. The school was to have 30 pupils, but 34 were enrolled, a percentage of these being teenage students who had so far missed the opportunity of school attendance. After Mr Adcock, the head teachers at Nirranda East for the remainder of that century were Thomas Cook (1883-86), George Horne (1886-92), and James Ernest Gardiner (1892-1900)."
Edna Mathieson recalls her mother (Annie Laura Le Couteur) telling her that "the younger members of the family (these would have been Annie, who was aged 5 in 1882, Emily (7), Philip (9), and Henry (11) - and later Archie, who would have turned 5 in 1884), went to school at the Nirranda East school from the home at Curdies River - quite a long walk up a big hill and through the bush, often going a long way round to avoid cattle in the bush. Philip had a school bag with a strong strap and mother, being smaller and slower, he would say "Come on Annie - hang on to my school bag strap and I will give you a pull up the hill!"
Edna continued:
- "At that time several of the older brothers were working at the Daindite station near Camperdown, and would only get home occasionally. One of them, or it may have been two of them, arrived home unexpectedly at about 2 one morning and Grandma (Frances Le Couteur) was hand sewing, either by candle or kerosene light - not sure which - and the brothers quietly decided to get her a sewing machine. So in due time the agent brought the machine for Grandma to try out on apro. She was so grateful to the boys, and kept it - a hand operated one - and just quietly often resorted to her own expert method of hand sewing, the new modern machine being apparently a bit overwhelming".
1880s
1883 The Eulogy to George continues:
- "And it was here that the Heytesbury Forest Home Mission Station commenced its work of spreading the Gospel through the forest 30 years ago (from 1913). Services were conducted at the home of our good brother (George Le CouteurR) for five years."
1886 The Camperdown Chronicle reported the forest was ablaze with fire, and that 5 January was "a day that will long remain in the memories of residents". More than 20 families were stated to have been made homeless, and many more lost everything except their homes. Many of them had nowhere to shelter against the "pitiless rain" that fell overnight following the fires.
1887 It is reported that in January 1887 "practically the whole of the forest was on fire". Once again from the Eulogy: "26 years ago the present Curdies River Church, which has only recently been removed to the Lime Siding, was erected, the prime movers in this being Bro Le Couteur and his good family, our late Bro Beckett (who just recently passed away and who was such a close friend of Bro Le Couteur) along with Bro Slleman and others. The missionary in those days came from Cobden, and he had no better friend than our late brother, whose home was ever open, and where awaited a most cordial welcome. Our Missionaries in bygone days innumerable enjoyed his kindly hospitality. Heytesbury Forest Home Mission station pays a great tribute to the late Mr and Mrs Le Couteur also to their kindly family for the good service rendered and that work which God alone knows of and will reward".
1888 The Eulogy continues
- "And then an empty hut a little distance away known as Cooks Hut was furnished and made comfortable and the (Home Mission) services were continued here. While in this hut our late Bro Le Couteur and Mr Hazelwood formed a Sunday school, and in this capacity he showed great ability. The services here so grew and were such a great success that it was decided to build a Church."
It is probable that, in this year, George and family moved from Curdievale to "Uncle Vic's place" (Vic Mathieson) in Nullawarre, and that people called Fletcher rented the Curdievale property.
1889 From entries in brother Philip's diary, George apparently visited Beechworth in 1889 for the first time for 30 years. George also recorded advice to Philip's son Frederick:
- "To Fred from Uncle George. Play the man always. Strive to be useful, never be idle, never associate with anyone lower than yourself. Take care of yourself. Live as well and as long as you can. Keep up a brave heart and never be afraid to look a man in the face - never act deceitfully for gain. Fear God and not man. With best wishes from Uncle George".
1889-1890 Serious flooding apparently occurred in the Heytesbury in July 1889, damaging a number of bridges. In the following summer there were bushfires in the area. Life would certainly not have been dull - or easy - for the Le Couteur pioneers.
1890s
1892 The railway from Camperdown to Timboon was completed. However the roads in the area were apparently still in a shocking state, with deep mud and fallen trees being among the hazards for travellers.
On 22 May 1985 the Heytesbury area was proclaimed as a separate shire. Prior to this it had been part of the Shire of Hampton, but as early as 1880 there had been local dissatisfaction with the low priority being given to road and bridge construction in the area. With the gradual increase in production of saleable goods - grain, fruit, vegetables, animal products, timber - the demand had grown for severance from Hampton and the formation of a new shire
1900s Some time before Frances died in 1903 the family - by this time only Emily and Lizzie were at home - moved again to a house called Ridgevale, near the present Nullawarre school. After Frances died and Emily married, Lizzie "couldn't manage Father on her own" and the two of them moved to a three-roomed cottage built on the north-west side of the old Errawallun home. George was apparently very reluctant to leave Ridgevale and it is said that Archie Mathieson only persuaded him to move by convincing him that he was needed as manager at Errawallun.
1903 On 9 March 1903 George's son Philip Ridgway Le Couteur acquired the allotment (99 acres, 2 roods and 38 perches) immediately to the west of the Curdievale property.
Deaths
Deaths of Frances and George
1903 George's wife Frances died at Warrnambool. The Warrnambool Standard of Friday 12 June 1903 carried two references :
- "Died Le Couteur - At Nullawarre, on Thursday 11 June 1903, Frances, the dearly beloved wife of George Le Couteur, aged 68 years. A colonist of 50 years. [The funeral will leave Nullawarre at 9.30 am tomorrow (Saturday) for the Warrnambool Cemetery, arriving about 2.30 pm]"
- "Current news: It will be learned with great regret by her many friends throughout the district that Mrs Le Couteur, wife of Mr George Le Couteur, sen, of Nullawarre, died yesterday of pneumonia after a short but severe illness. Her demise removes another of the old identities of this part of the State. The deceased lady was one of the earliest residents of Warrnambool. She was born in London and landed at Portland in 1853. After a short residence there she removed to Port Fairy, where she was married. Coming to Warrnambool in 1855 she has since resided continuously in the district, and is the mother of a large grown-up family of 13 sons and daughters, 11 of whom are living and all well-known locally. She was of an unobtrusive and kindly nature, and will be much missed by many friends, her husband and family. She was 68 years of age. Her remains will be
buried tomorrow in the Warrnambool cemetery."
1907 The Camperdown Chronicle reported that Mr Le Couteur (George's son Jack, then aged 44), who managed Mr Hindaugh's Cowley's Creek property, was preparing 30 acres for the plough, and that he was then working the farm with a three furrow stump jump disc plough drawn by a team of bullocks. The indication is that this was probably the first plough of its type to come to the district.
1910 A company was formed to develop the lime deposits in the Heytesbury and the government agreed to construct a railway line to a siding near to the works - the Lime Siding to which the Curdies River Methodist Church was removed in 1913.
1911 George would have been proud of the fact that his son Jack (then aged 48) was elected president of the first school committee for the Cowley's Creek School.
1913 George Le Couteur died on 25 June 1913 at Nirranda.
His death notice in the Warrnambool Standard for 27 June reads as follows: Le Couteur - On 25th inst at Nullawarre, George, dearly beloved husband of the late Frances Ridgway Le Couteur, aged 85 years. [The funeral will leave the residence of his son-in-law, A Mathieson, at Nullawarre, at 11 o'clock this morning, arriving at the Warrnambool Cemetery at 2.15 pm]
On the same day, under the heading "Personal", the following paragraph was printed:
- "Another of the pioneers of the district in the person of Mr Geo Le Couteur passed away at the residence of his son-in-law (Mr A Mathieson), Nullawarre, on the 25th inst. The deceased gentleman was born in St Peter, Jersey on 18 July 1828 and came to Australia by the Duke of Richmond, arriving at Portland on 1 March 1852. He came to the Warrnambool district in 1853, and had resided in this locality ever since.
- "He married Miss Francis Mercy Ridgway, and leaves a family of seven sons and three daughters. The sons are G T Le Couteur (chemist, Hawthorn), William (Terang), John (Cowley's Creek), Frederick (Ouyen), H J (Murrayville), Cr P R (Nullawarre), and A J (Warrnambool). The daughters are Miss Le Couteur (Nullawarre), Mrs Murfitt (Perterborough) and Mrs A Mathieson (Nullawarre). The deceased did not take any active part in public affairs, but was a consistent worker in connection with the Methodist Church. In the early days of Warrnambool he worked in connection with the lighters at the jetty. Prior to arriving in Warrnambool, the late Mr Le Couteur followed seafaring life for 11 years, in course of which he had many experiences. The funeral is appointed to leave Mr Mathieson's residence, Nullawarre, at 11 am today, arriving at the Warrnambool Cemetery about 2.15 in the afternoon.
Other articles
- Part 1 - introduction
- Part 2 - early life and voyage to Australia
- Part 4 - Philip Le Couteur
- Part 5 - other Le Couteurs
Family trees
