Nellie Somers

Q for Queenstown

Miss W. Dawson, Smith, Somers , , , , , ,

Queenstown, like Lottah, is a mining town in Tasmania but it is on the west coast of the state.

Around 1862, alluvial gold was found nearby, and in 1881 the Mount Lyell Gold Mining Company was formed. About ten years later they started searching for copper.

In the mid 1890’s, the actual town began to develop – a post office and a general store. The population in 1900 was just over 5000 in the town of Queenstown but around 10,000 in the whole mining district. In the early part of the 20th century, the town had many hotels, theatres, churches and schools but many of these are beginning to disappear since the mining company went into care and maintenance in 2014.

Queenstown had a bad reputation because of the pollution occurring from the Mt Lyell smelting works. Visitors would say it was like a moonscape as the trees had been cut down to feed the smelters needed for melting the copper from the underground mine. The smelters also sent out sulphur dioxide fumes which fell to the ground when it rained and was eventually washed into the King and Queen River.

But the most fascinating fact I have read about is that the Queenstown football oval has been inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame. Why you might ask? Well the oval is gravel as grass was hard to grow due to the pollution and heavy rain.

Now to Queenstown’s link to my family history.

Firstly I thought it was through the Smith line – Robert Edward Smith was a sawyer on the west coast around Queenstown and Strahan. His wife, Irene Somers, was my great grandmother who was born in St Helens or Lottah area. But when my father had a DNA test, we found he wasn’t related directly in the Smith line. All his cousins from there were only half-cousins. They all had  Samoan heritage but dad didn’t.

We found instead that my great grandmother had a child from another person Alexander Dawson who lived and worked as a miner in Queenstown. My dad’s mother was that child. She was brought up as a Smith and was known as the eldest child in the family.

We don’t think Alexander ever knew he had another child. But in 1912, Alexander and two of his brothers survived the North Mt Lyell mining disaster. I am presently researching the miners who died as well as those who survived and were rescued. This research is on WikiTree.

 

L for Lottah

Miss W. Somers, Wyatt , , , ,

Lottah is a town in north east Tasmania. Nowadays it is virtually just a couple of houses at a cross roads. In the 2016 census, the population was 13.

 

Lottah in 1981

Originally it was known as Blue Tier Junction in the late 1870’s. The town was developed around a tin mine which was discovered in 1875. At the peak of the Anchor tin mine operation, there were several hundred people living around Lottah. The town included a school, two hotels, two churches, a bakery and a football club. Many residents were part of a Chinese community. The Anchor Mine closed in 1950.

The ABC put together a fantastic report about the town including lots of images.

How does Lottah relate to my family?

My great grandmother Nellie Somers/Summers/Clark(e) was born at Georges Bay in 1889 – now called St Helens. Her father, Thomas Somers, was supposedly a miner in the Gould Country area which includes Lottah.

But as well as the ancestral link, my father often went to St Helens on holidays as a child. He then took my brother and I there as well. We would often go bush bashing through the scrub looking for stampers of mines and water races. This was usually up in the Gould Country/Blue Tier area.

Closer view of stampers
How the stamp battery works

 

Irene SOMERS

Miss W. Biography, Smith, Somers , , , , , , , , ,

According to her birth certificate, Nellie SOMERS was born on 20 May 1889 to Thomas Somers and Alice Somers nee O’Keefe. Alice was living at Georges Bay area in the north east of Tasmania. No marriage has been found for Thomas and Alice though.

Nellie had many siblings but it is not proven yet if they are full siblings or half siblings as the father is not mentioned on many of the birth certificates.

  • Kate Clarke born 4 Feb 1893 parents as West Clarke and Alice O’Keefe Clarke then baptised as Kate Clarke on 28 March 1893 with parents John Clarke and Alice Clarke
  • William Henry Somers born 6 Dec 1894 mother Alice Somers at Lottah, but baptised as William Henry Clark on 28 Jan 1895 parents as Wes Clark and Alice Somers
  • Jessie May Somers born 15 May 1897 mother Alice Somers but baptised as Jessie May Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Joseph Edward Somers born 30 Oct 1898 mother Alice Somers but baptised as Joseph Edward Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Herbert Francis Somers born 4 Feb 1901 with mother as Alice Somers O’Keefe and her having been married in 1885 in Melbourne but no father for Herbert.

West Clarke was a contractor in Gould Country in north east Tasmania. The following was reported in The Mercury in May 1897.

At some stage in the next twenty years, Nellie moved to Queenstown. It was here that she met Alexander Dawson and had a daughter with him. It is unknown if he knew he was a father at that time. This has been proven through DNA.

This daughter, Irene Ellen Gertrude born in July 1909 on Bruny Island, was brought up by Nellie and her husband Robert Edward SMITH. No marriage has been found for Nellie and Robert but in the Hobart birth records for Robert Edward Ivan Smith in 1910, a marriage for his parents is mentioned as 16 April 1908 at Gormanston on the west coast of Tasmania.

Married life and children

  • Irene Ellen Gertrude 1909-1988
  • Robert Edward Ivan 1910-1910
  • William Henry Basil 1911-1988
  • Madelene Constance Victoria 1912-1999
  • Myra Isobella (Pat) 1913-2003
  • Olga Phyllis 1915-1969
  • Jack 1918-2000
  • Sarah Ellen (Sally) 1919-1968
  • Thomas Allan 1921-2003
  • David 1923-2010
  • Mervyn Leslie 1925-2002
  • Ruby Margaret 1927-2010
  • James Henry (Tony) 1929 –
  • Maxwell Brian 1931-1993
Nellie with two of her children Ruby and Max.

We can follow the family’s moves by looking at the electoral rolls.

  • 1914 – living at Ramsgate in the Esperance municipality and Robert was a  sawmiller.
  • 1919 – living at Garden Island Creek near Port Cygnet and Robert working as a mill hand.
  • 1922 – living in Scottsdale with Robert working as a sawmiller.
  • 1928 – living at 4 Antill Street, Hobart. Robert was a wharf labourer and Nellie home duties.
  • 1937 – living at Oyster Cove and Robert earning a wage as a labourer.
  • 1949 – living at 307A Liverpool Street. Living at home with Nellie and Robert were David (a trainee), Jack (plasterer) and Mervyn Leslie (labourer).

Nellie died on 4 June 1952 and it was reported in the papers.

A bereavement notice was put in the local paper in July by her husband and family who were still living at the same address.

An inquest was held into the death of Nellie. She left home about 2pm with the intention to visit her daughter Irene Ellen Wyatt at the Albion Hotel where she worked. But Nellie did not visit her. She was found the next day, floating near the Domain Slipyards. The coroner found her death to be asphyxia by drowning but no idea how she came to be in the water.

Irene Nellie and her husband Robert Edward Smith (died 1964) are buried together at Cornelian Bay in the Church of England section B53

Memories of Irene Nellie from my father, her grandson. 

When his mother, Irene Ellen Gertrude Smith was walking him home to Goulburn Street, they would sometimes drop in to the house at Liverpool Street to visit his grandparents.