#52 ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN COUSIN
RICHARD RAVENSCROFT NETTERFIELD
It appears that Richard Netterfield emigrated from Ireland to Australia sometime before 1857 as he married Amelia Emily Foster in Maryborough Queensland on February 2 1857 in St. Mary’s Church of England. Emily was 22 years old when she and her 3 sisters, (all listed as domestics) arrived in Sydney aboard the St.Vincent
Richard was a joint owner of the Mundubbera sheep station (Mundubbera is about 226 miles northwest of Brisbane, Queensland.) A sheep station is a very large property (the largest station in Western Australia is 2.5 million acres or 10, 117 square kilometres/3900 square miles) whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. Richard listed his occupation on a later ship manifest as butcher. In nineteenth century Australia, a sheep-station was generally on Crown-owned land and the grazier paid a certain price per head for the number of sheep on the land. The usual price for a station with 10,000 sheep was about 10,000 pounds.
an early 1900s sheep station
But it seems that Richard was more interested in his Irish properties and less interested in his Australian ranch . After a son, Richard Wetheron, was born in 1858, Richard sold his interest in the sheep-run and the family returned to Ireland aboard the Daphne.
The Daphne off Cape Horn 1852
A second son, John Travis, was born in Ireland. Both boys were educated at the High School of Erasmus Smith, Dublin, a school that trained boys for colonial service, the army, the world of commerce or entry to university.
Students in the Clockroom, Erasmus School
The family stayed in Ireland for 19 years and returned to Australia in June 1878 aboard the Somerset. But just six months later, Richard returned to Ireland to look after his properties and Amelia remained in Australia with her two sons.
One of Richard's properties in Crossmakellagher Ballyconnell was Cross House--a 6 bedroom, 2-storey home of stone & block construction with a pitch slate roof
Richard's property in Ireland was 133 acres (farm valued at 1.75m E in 2021)
Did the couple ever see one another again? Richard, aged 54, died on May 27 1888 and is buried in Ballyconnell, Ireland; Amelia died on April 10, 1913, aged 88, in Maryborough, Australia.
SECOND GENERATION
Richard and Emily Netterfield had two
sons--Richard Wetheron and John Travis.
RICHARD WETHERON
NETTERFIELD
Richard was born on February 11, 1858 on his father’s sheep station at Wetheron, Burnett District, Queensland. Soon after, he and his parents returned to Ireland and Richard was educated at Erasmus Smith School, Dublin. He briefly worked in the Bank of Ireland before the family moved back to Australia in 1878. He then became a stock broker, customs-clearance official, a commissioner of gold mine claims, a wine and spirit and general merchant. How successful he was in his many ventures is a little suspect as at least twice, in 1895 and 1906, he claimed insolvency.
Richard was also farming sugar
cane. In 1906, he claimed to be one of the largest suppliers of sugar cane to
the Bauple Mill; yet that same year he filed for insolvency. As one of
competitors said, “No doubt from his verandah, he surveys with anxious eyes,
the well-cultivated fields which under present cruel uncertainty, it is not
known who in short time will cultivate these fields." In 1908, he sold off his
plantation.
Sugar cane is the second largest
agricultural export in Queensland because of its hot climate and high rainfall. The
first commercial plantation was established in 1862 and the vast plantations
were supported by the Queensland government desperate for income. Queensland
was using convicts, emancipists, and indentured servants as a
cheap and compliant workforce, but a problem arose when the convict transportation ended. Who would now take on this back-breaking work? A common view was
that white men did not have the physical stamina to cope with the work in the
harsh tropical climate; but it was likely more truthful that many white
Europeans felt that field work was socially beneath them. It was felt that
Queensland could not reach its full potential without the benefit of
cheap, hopefully even free, black labour.
Labourers, called Kanakas, were brought from the islands of the South Pacific—Vanuatu, the Solomons, New Hebrides,
Polynesia, Micronesia. While some Islanders came voluntarily, others were
brought illegally-- kidnapped, coerced, forced or deceived to travel by ship to
Queensland. For easy identification, a metal disc imprinted with a letter of the
alphabet was hung around the neck. Between 1863 and 1904, an estimated 62,000
Islanders were brought; about 30% died while working in Queensland, a figure
that does not include those who died in transit or were killed in the
recruitment process. The majority were male and about a quarter were under the
age of sixteen.
Owners, captains and crews involved in the acquisition of these labourers were termed “blackbirders”. Sometimes the blackbirders would make their ships look like missionary ships in order to deceive the locals. Richard Netterfield was a blackbirder, part owner of the labour schooner, Ethel. In 1884, the Ethel, with 16 recruits, was ordered home by the Colonial Secretary as it was found to be illegally recruiting, tiring the natives, ill usage of passengers, drunkenness, secreting ammunition. An owner could sell the Kanakas from anywhere between 4 and 20 pounds per head.
Poor conditions on the sugar plantations often led to the outbreak of disease and death. The Kanakas were overworked, underfed, whipped, not provided with medical assistance.
The Kanakas were usually contracted or indentured for three years and only paid 18 pounds for their work. Additionally, the Kanaka labourers were influenced to buy overpriced goods of poor quality at designated shops before they returned home. Some labourers decided to stay permanently, but after the 1901 introduction of a White Australia Policy, most were deported.
After he sold his plantation in 1908, Richard, already a well-known local auctioneer, partnered with another stock, station, mining and insurance agent to establish what they intended to be one of the largest auctions rooms in the city. The new firm “Pryce and Netterfield” secured two buildings and had enough yard for their horse and cattle sales and they auctioned a wide of items—from land, horses, poultry, machines, buildings, and businesses to saddles, girls’ boots, draperies, furniture, clothing, bananas, pumpkins. The partnership was dissolved in 1915 as “determined by the effluxion of time”; but perhaps it was because the partners’ City Butchering Company, was charged and fined for selling adulterated mincemeat that had an excessive amount of preservatives and sulphur dioxide in it. Richard continued as auctioneer until his death.
Richard married Constance Beer
in 1896 and they had seven children. Richard was active in the social and
sporting life of his community. He died in October 1918, aged 61; his wife
survived him for another forty years.
RICHARD WETHERON NETTERFIELD b. Feb 11, 1858 at Wetheron Station, Queensland, Australia m. Constance Evelyn Beer (1875-1960) on Sept 24, 1896 in Queensland d. Oct 15, 1919 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia my 2nd cousin 3x removed (Homuth-Netterfield line)
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