Blackmores – Federation to “Landsdowne”
Born in 1837, Edwin Gordon Blackmore left Bath in Somerset, England in 1854 bound for New Zealand, with his father, Edward and 6 siblings. In 1863-64, he joined the Taranaki Rifle Volunteer Corps and served during the Maori wars. Edwin moved to South Australia in 1864 and became involved, as a clerk, in the houses of State Parliament. In 1897 he was Clerk of the Australian Federal Conventions and later Clerk of the first Australian Commonwealth Parliament in 1901.
Edwin married Eleanora Farr in 1872 and they had 6 sons and 2 daughters including my Granfather, John “Jack” Coleridge Blackmore. Jack married Edith Alexa Kinleside and they had one child, Lewis Kinleside Blackmore who married Loue Bathurst Suttor.
Eleanora died in 1901 and in 1907, Edwin sufferd a stroke and he retired the following year. With three of his sons and a daughter, he then moved to the property “Landsdown”, near Cowra and later passed away there in 1909
Link to – Federation to “Landsdowne”
JC – Jack Blackmore of “Mt View”
This is the story of Jack, the youngest son of Edwin Gordon Blackmore, who with his wife, Edith and son Lew, moved from “Landsdowne” to “Mt View” at Clandulla (near Rylstone) in 1929. Much of his early life is also covered in the Link above titled “Federation to “Landsdowne”.
Link to – J C Jack Blackmore of “Mt View”
Suttors – “Warrangong” to “Warrangunyah”
Walter Suttor built “Warrangunyah” homestead, near Ilford, in 1912, when he was 56 years old. It was built on a 540 acre grant that he had inherited from his father, William Henry Suttor of “Brucedale” Bathurst in 1877. To some extent the homestead represented a ‘jewel in the crown’ of what was, at the time a substantial 10,000 acre grazing property. Testament to its construction quality is the fact that it is still in use today.
Prior to that Walter Suttor held “Warrangong”, near Koorawatha, in partnership with his brother, William “Willie” Henry Suttor. “Warrangong” was believed to be around 21,000 acres of which 6,700 acres was cultivated for wheat and maize. The property adjoined Andrew Kinleside’s “Uppingham” (also a great grandfather of the writer) and local MLA, George Greene’s “Iandra” (famous for its Castle). It is believed that Walter Suttor also had one of the first Sharefarming agreements in Australia for part of “Iandra”
Waler Suttor married Louisa Monro and they had 5 sons and 4 daughters, including Colin Dudley Suttor, who was my Grandfather. Dudley married Elizabeth “Betty” Palmer and they had one child Loue Bathurst Suttor who married Lewis Kinleside Blackmore.
Link to – “Warrangong” to “Warrangunyah”
Kinlesides – Tooma Station to “Uppingham”
Andrew Kinleside was born in India in 1851, the son of Major General Robert Raikes Kinleside and his wife Isabella Barbara (nee Carter)
Andrew had a brother Robert and three sisters, Isabella Martha; Ema Ida and Matilda. There may also be a fourth sister, Frances “Fanny” Matilda who was born at sea on 4th Jan 1844 and died at Richmond, Surrey, England in 1927. In 1851 she was living in the Channel Isles with her grandparents (Census 1851). Her married name was Griffin.
The Kinleside family coat of arms represents the coastal fire towers in England that their ancestors were involved in lighting to warn Sir Francis Drake of the approach of the Spanish Armada.
Andrew was a keen cricketer and in June 1868 he played for Uppingham School in Uppingham, Rutland, England against Haileybury College. He was 17 years old at the time and also captained the team. (In 1929 Andrew attended an Uppingham School Association dinner at Ushers in Sydney.)
It is believed that Andrew came to Australia soon after leaving school in 1868-69.
Andrew married Alexa “Exie” Watson, a daughter of Sidney Grandison Watson of Walwa, and they had 2 sons and 2 daughters, one of whom was my Grandmother Edith Alexa Kinleside, who married John Coleridge Blackmore.
Link to – Tooma Station to “Uppingham”
Gordons – Ten Million Acres
Spain held Florida from around 1512 (first settlement 1565) and from 1763 it was held by the English before again passing back to Spain in 1783 (only 20 years later). The Spanish then held Florida until it was ceded to the USA in 1821.
When Spain ceded Florida to England in 1763, John Gordon returned to Florida and acquired with Jesse Fish about four million acres (some records say ten million acres) of Florida from the departing Spanish. Unfortunately, George III declined to accept the purchases as valid and gave John Gordon 25,000 pounds for the transfer of title.
The Family Connection
The John GORDON in this story married Catherine SMITH and their daughter Jane Drummond GORDON married Edwin GAIRDNER and their daughter Jane Elizabeth GAIRDNER married Dr Edward BLACKMORE the father of Edwin Gordon BLACKMORE, the first Clerk of the Australian Parliament in 1901 who married Eleanora Elizabeth FARR and their son is John Colleridge BLACKMORE who married Edith Alexa KINLESIDE and their son is Lewis Kinleside BLACKMORE who married Louie Bathurst SUTTOR and their sons are Gregory John BLACKMORE and Robert “Bret” Suttor BLACKMORE.
Watsons – The Watson Bros & Gregory Downs
One of the few flowing rivers in Australia, the Gregory River rises from underground limestone springs close to the Northern Territory border, 50 kilometres east of Camooweal and eventually joins the Nicholson River to flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria near Burketown.
With a catchment area of some 12,690 square kilometres the mean flow rate is around 55,348 megalitres per month or 1,819 megalitres per day
The crystal clear running water is fringed with Pandanus palms, Livingstona palms, paperbark trees, fig trees, and a variety of other flora which form a picturesque oasis in the surrounding hills and open plains.
Today the Gregory River is well known for the canoe race held on the May Day weekend as well as the annual Gregory Downs Jockey Club Race Meeting, held on the same weekend, and provides a great camping spot for travellers on the way to the picturesque Lawn Hill Gorge and Boodjamulla National Park.
In October 1876 three Watson brothers left from “Walwa” on the Upper Murray in Victoria, following a survey trip by Greg, one of the brothers, in 1875, to settle on the Gregory River at “Gregory Downs” some 120 kilometres south of Burketown, arriving in August 1877.
Two of the brothers, Harry Frederick and Philip Sidney were twins aged only 19 at the time and the youngest Robert McGregor (Greg or Greggy) Watson was only 17 years of age.
When they arrived, a family friend, who travelled with them and was to be a partner, returned immediately to Victoria and sold his share leaving the three Watson boys to “sink or swim”
Link to – Watson Bros & Gregory Downs
Recollections of Greg Blackmore
Recollection – the action or faculty of remembering something. A thing recollected; a memory. Could also have been reminiscences which are an enjoyable recollection of past events. A story told about the past events remembered by the narrator.
Could they also be memoirs? – a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or an autobiography or a written account of one’s memory of certain events or people.
Most people may think that – “Memoirs means when you put down the good things you ought to have done and leave out the bad ones you did do.”
Anyway why commit life recollections or reminiscences to paper?
Mostly you need to be a good sportsman, community leader, politician or win X Factor. But then you could also be famous for not being famous like Paris Hilton.
I will just do it for the kids and grandkids so that when they reach 60 they can look back and see how things were different or the same. Most of this happened before life as we know it today with big screens, lap tops, iPads, mobile phones and, of course, Facebook!
There are also some photos lying around that this story may make more interesting and then also the photos may do the same for this story.
These recollections will be mostly up to the time when my children may remember for themselves so they won’t have to re-live what will be their own recollections.
Struth it's Blackmores 