Peter Augustus Dunne
Peter was the son of Patrick John Dunne and Jane Murphy, born in Yass on 23 September 1841. The Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, New South Wales, advises that "a search has been made in the Registers kept by me but no trace can be found of the registration from 1836 to 1846 inclusive of the birth of Peter Augustus Dunne, issue of Patrick Dunne and Jane Murphy". However his birth on 23 September 1841 and christening two days later is recorded in a baptismal register of the Catholic Church in Yass. According to one family story, Peter was reputed to be the first white child born in the Yass area and was once nursed by "King Billy" a leader of the local Aboriginals; however there had been settlement in Yass since the 1820s and it is unlikely that the claim regarding being one of the first children born in the area could be correct. A note, added in Peter's own handwriting, to the birth/baptismal certificate, states "I took the name of 'Augustus' when confirmed in accordance with a custom of my religion".
Click on image for enlargement
Certificate verifying birth and baptism, from
church records. Original in possession of
Kerrie Mullins-Gunst,
Peter's great grand-daughter.
The book Memories of Yass Mission : St Augustine's Parish, Yass N.S.W., compiled by Rev. Brian Maher to celebrate the sesquicentenary 1838-1988, includes a chapter on education in the parish. A slab school was erected by Father Charles Lovat (later to be titled "Dean") behind the Quail's Hotel in Rossi Street. The parish school began in 1847 and was attributed to the parish priest, Father Lovat. The book includes an extract from an undated newspaper clipping written by "a Mr Dunn who wrote recollections on 'The Church on the Murray'" :
I was born at Yass and baptised at Yass in the year 1841. Dean Lovat married my parents at Yass. I was the eldest of a family of 17. I was an altar boy to Dean Lovat. St Augustine's Church, Presbytery and grounds bore the appearance of being some time in use when Dr Goold arrived in Yass in 1848, going to Melbourne. I attended Lacy's school in or about 1845 in a slab building in Quail Street. St Augustine's school was opened about 1847 and its first teachers, the McKenzie family, were drowned in the Gundagai flood of 1852.
St Augustine's Church, Yass.
constructed in early 1840s.
The family moved to Sydney by the time Peter was about ten years of age.
The following is from a newspaper clipping from unidentified newspaper, apparently referring to St Mary's school near the cathedral in Sydney, the nearby Domain and Art Gallery. The clipping was among a collection kept by Peter's widow and now in the possession of Margaret Kelly, of Melbourne, great-great grand-daughter of Peter and his wife.
Domain Cuisine
P.A.D. writes : In 1851 I was a pupil at old St. Mary's Seminary, and at that time little camps of blacks used to squat down in the Domain. Old Jacky Harris and Wingle were two of the eldest and best known. Once I witnessed a little comedy which always makes me smile when I think of it. The present site of the Art Gallery was then covered with broomstuff scrub. When locust hunting one day with a few other boys, I struck a camp in the scrub there. Jacky Harris was tending a little smoky fire on which he was trying to cook a shin of beef - an apparently hopeless task. His gin was sitting down close at hand, wearing only a skirt. Two or three other blacks were also sitting about. They had no humpys or utensils of any kind. Jacky on this occasion had evidently been looking at the flowing bowl, for he was staggering about as he poked the alleged fire and (? rou ed) .. upon his gin; and that was the cream of the joke. He occasionally thudded her with his bare heel between the shoulders, as he persistently remarked : "I'll deach ye to be goin' out getting' drunk, yer old haybag." It appeared to my sense of humour that going out from the scrub, and neglecting her domestic duties, was intensely funny, and I always smile when I think of it.
Peter Augustus Dunne made a career in the postal and telegraph service, being posted to a number of towns in New South Wales. While stationed at Wentworth, he met and, in 1877, married Adelaide Price. (NSW registration no 1877 No. 4716). He also worked in Menindee, Deniliquin and Jerilderie. For many years, he worked in Tocumwal on the Murray River, where he was postmaster. His last apointment was at Moruya.
Peter and Adelaide were parents to ten children.
old telegraph office at Jerilderie NSW. Photograph taken in approx. 1975
by Adelaide Endacott, grand-daughter of P.A.Dunne.
According to family legend Peter Dunne was a hero who stood up to Ned Kelly when the Kelly Gang held up the town of Jerilderie in New South Wales. See Peter Dunne meets the Kelly Gang at Jerilderie.
In the nineteenth century it was a matter for family shame to have a convict in the family. It almost appears that Peter Augustus Dunne who was literate, zealously religious, pillar of the community and holder of positions of postmaster which were very prestigious at the time, was over-compensating for being the son of a convict. Although his father could neither read nor write, Peter Augustus Dunne made his living out of post and telegraph, an industry built on the communication of written words. Peter was a prolific writer and contributed articles and letters to newspapers of the time. He is the only family ancestor known to have had an interest in horse-racing; he was a regular reporter of the Tocumwal horse races for local newspapers.
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newspaper item published by P.A.Dunne, postmaster
The Tocumwal Times, issue No 7, date not
recorded, possibly circa February 1894.
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newspaper item reporting P.A.Dunne
as secretary of Tocumwal Progress Association.
The Tocumwal Times, 25 January 1894, page 2.
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newspaper item about local church. The Tocumwal Times,
18 January 1894, page 2.
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newspaper item about church ball in
The Tocumwal Times, 31 May 1894, page 2.
Issues of The Tocumwal Times accessed at State Library of N.S.W.
The National Archives of Australia hold documents relating to applications lodged in 1889 and 1891 (in both New South Wales and Queensland) by Peter Augustus Dunne for a patent for an invention of "improved means for coupling poles, shafts, and traces to vehicles". One version refers to "poles, shafts, traces and whipple-trees". (NAA: series A4617/2, item 3143; series A4618/2, item 3143; series 4618/2, item 1394; series 12572/00041274, item 980A). see http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp and enter "Peter Augustus Dunne" as the words to be searched. The reference to "vehicles" would have been horse-drawn vehicles and, irrespective of the merits of the invention, horse-drawn vehicles were soon to become obsolete.
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The extracts below give a more complete account of the man.
He transferred to become postamster at Moruya in 1901 and later retired to Gordon, in Sydney. According to his death certificate, he died on 29 August 1911 in the Post Office at Gordon, and the informant of his death was his 23-year-old daughter, Flavia, whose address is given as the Post Office Gordon. According to the Sands Directory of Sydney and suburbs for 1911, Miss V. Dunne was the postmistress at Gordon, with the post office being located at Gordon Road, Gordon. This would suggest that Peter's daughter, Violet, followed him into the postal "trade" and other family members including Flavia as well, it is presumed, as Peter and Adelaide, may have been residing in a residence attached to the Post Office at Gordon at the time. The name "Gordon Road" no longer exists, but working with information in the 1911 Sands Directory, it appears that Gordon Road is now the Pacific Highway through that suburb. It seems that St John's Church of England was in its current location on the western side of the road; travelling north the next building was the rectory and the next building was the Post Office; then came H.Little (butcher), George Ernest Locke (fruiterer), John Campbell (hairdresser) and Alfred Whittle (bootmaker), and then Moree Street. In 1999, there is a street called St John's Avenue which was not existent in 1911 and it appears to be close to, if not over, the site of the 1911 post office.
Peter Augustus and Adelaide Dunne with family.
standing (from left) : Violet, Sylvia, Gertrude, Peter Francis, Winifred, Laura;
seated (from left) : Peter Augustus, Edmund, Flavia, Isidore, Kathleen, Adelaide.
A newspaper obituary (publication unknown) for Peter A. Dunne, died 29 August 1911
Mr P. A. Dunne, Gordon
By the death of Mr. Peter A. Dunne, of Gordon, a picturesque figure was removed from Australian Catholic life, one who did yeoman service by his pen, by his good example and by his instruction of the young where there were no Catholic schools. After an illness of three months, which he bore with truly Christian fortitude, he breathed his last on 29th August, surrounded by his sorrowing family, at the age of 69 years. He leaves a widow and ten children to mourn his loss; four of his daughters are professed nuns, and three of them were privileged to be with him to the last. At Tocumwal, on the Murray, he held the office of postmaster for more than a quarter of a century, and for most of that time he taught the Catechism in season and out of season, and was the right hand man of the priests during all those years. From there he was transferred to Moruya, where he was retired from the service and went to Gordon, where he ended his days in peace. A man of genial disposition, fine physique, well read, he won respect wherever he was located. He was full of interesting reminiscences of the early days, and a most entertaining companion. He loved the Murray and its habitues, including the "whaler", the "sundowner", and the "swaggie". He was a constant reader of the "Freeman", and a frequent contributor to its columns. He was all that a good citizen should be. Many a fervent prayer will be offered for his soul among the families he instructed and edified during his long sojourn in Tocumwal. He has left behind him the memory of an unblemished life, which is a sweet benediction to his family. - R.I.P.
another newspaper obituary (apparently in Jerilderie, NSW):
It is with deep sorrow and regret we have to record the death of Mr Peter A. Dunne of Leichhardt, on last Tuesday week. The report of his death reached here on Friday morning last but the only particulars of the sad event were that he died while undergoing an operation for a cancer in the face. That the news will be received by all his old friends around these parts with genuine regret goes without saying, for while a resident of Tocumwal for many years, he was very popular and greatly respected. An efficient public officer, a good townsman, and a favourite with old and young, he carried on the duties of Post and Telegraph Master in our border town. Prior to going to Toke he came here temporarily to take charge of this Post Office, during the Kelly scare in February 1879, and although he only remained here for a period of some four months at the time, he made himself so popular with the townspeople, that on leaving they presented him with an illuminated address, so that during his subsequent long sojourn in Tocumwal, he always had a kind welcome for his many Jerilderie friends when they visited the town, which welcome was always returned when he came over to the City of the Plains. When Mr A.D. Fowler, the Postmaster here was removed to Windsor, this office was offered him and although urged by his friends to take it, he at the last minute changed his mind and went to Moruya on the South Coast, as he thought that a change of air especially to the coast would be more beneficial for his health. He retained that position till his retirement some years ago, when he took up his residence where he has lived ever since. While attending to his official duties thoroughly here, and doing what he could for the progress of the place in his private capacity, he did not neglect his duties to his Church. He worked hard towards the erection of a Church and had the satisfaction of seeing the same completed before he left Tocumwal. While working hard for his own particular denomination, of which he was a sincere member, he was by no means bigotted in any sense, and was always charitably disposed and a willing helper, as far as means allowed to those ......
The same edition includes a column title "ACTA POPULI" by "The Flaneur" which included the following :
What delightful articles are those written by my old friend Peter A. Dunne, and what a wonderful, good, and hardy old pioneer he must have been. A book of his life and his recollections of the early days would make capital reading. It would be very instructive also, for, to his credit be it said, no matter what troubles came upon him, Peter never for a second even wavered in his fidelity to the grand old Faith of his fathers. Peter's life out-back at the start of his career was as full of ups and downs as the march of a wooden-legged man over a corduroy road, and I really believe he was the man who with an old-time mate was once excitedly searching for a match so that they might discover where they were, and so save themselves from falling into s deserted shaft of over a precipice. After a long and anxious search by both men, Peter's mate suddenly got hold of something inside the lining of his coat, and joyfully shouted: "I've got it! I've got it! Here you are." Then he puled it out and found it was a toothpick. Yielding to the mad impulse of the moment, Peter then pushed him under the wheels of a passing motor-car, and let it run over him, or rather he would have done so had such a vehicle been passing at the time, which it wasn't likely to do.
Another instance in Peter's life shows how well he deserved to succeed. About the time I first knew him he had been appointed line inspector at Wentworth, with Billy Camper as stationmaster. Peter gave every satisfaction I this new situation, but he had dreams of a higher office, and when Peter wanted anything he kept on working for it until he got it. At that time I was night clerk in the head telegraph office, Sydney, the chief part of my duty being - when I wasn't supervising the girls in the millinery establishment of a French modiste nearby - to keep a sharp watch for the arrival of the English mail at Adelaide. This I generally did by making a bed amongst the instruments, switching on an alarm bell, and going off to sleep. Then it often happened that at any time from midnight onwards the instrument on the Wentworth line would start ticking, and cause me to use language and throw imaginary boots at the imaginary head of Peter Dunne, who would come along at that ungodly hour and endeavour to perfect himself in the use of the Morse signals by practising until he grew too weary, for even such a persevering fellow as Peter was had to sleep sometimes; but he grudged that time, or any other time that might delay him in his brave attempts to qualify himself for the billet of a stationmaster, which of course he soon got at Menindee I think, or some other outback spot on the route that had formerly been trodden by the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition. Peter Dunne is a man of whom we should all be proud; always steady, sober and obliging, he made good friends wherever his lot was cast, and no town was ever the worse for Peter's stay there, nor did it ever part with him except with the deepest regret. He has done as much to build Catholic churches as almost the Cardinal himself, and it would be well for this state if all its young men were to follow in the praiseworthy footsteps of good and brave old Peter Dunne. May he long be spared to cheer us with many more echoes from his early life in the bad old days of hard work and poor pay.
Peter Augustus DUNNE
picture provided by Kerrie Mullins-Gunst
Miss Maud Crang of the Wentworth Historical Society (37 Adelaide St., Wentworth NSW 2648) has been able to find a letter written by Peter A. Dunne to the Wentworth newspaper, The Federal Standard on 27 May 1911, just three months before his death from cancer , during a visit by "my well beloved kinsman Albert Price with his wife and son" and at a time when he was obviously reminiscing about highlights of his life.
Mr. Editor, - Forty years on the first of this month of May, 1911, I landed in Wentworth and resided there for 6 years, got married there and mixed up considerably with the life of the place, and knew everyone and everyone knew me. Then I left for Deniliquin. It (?) was not possible to take the dear old place with me, so I was compelled to leave it behind me, and I have never been able to visit it since and I have met very few with whom I could exchange gossip about it. But a change has occurred; my well beloved kinsman Albert Price with his wife and son are now my esteemed guests. You can imagine how we have threshed out the sayings and doings of the men and women who peopled Wentworth in the days gone, and who, alas have in most cases passed away. If I review the names of those who have been mentioned by us and place them before your readers, I am sure they will evoke many happy memories, touched with a tinge of regret that so many eyes have closed and hearts ceased to beat for ever. Some of those I mention may still be alive, many of them I know are, even thought they are in the sere and yellow. Well there's Tom Alcock, who used to belt knowledge into W.P.Crick and others, Dad Allen, Amey, Allanson, Ah Choy, then Brooks of Tapio, Ned Bartlett, Barber, my esteemed friend Bowring, Brown, Brereton, Black, Snagger Byrnes, Burns, Bringolt, Betts, Brett, Bennett, Butcher, Baker, Burton, Bung (poor Johnny went bung long ago), Bonnar, Barrett, my old boss Wm. Camper, now living at Beecroft, Sergeant Carter now a retired Sergeant of Police. The Cricks, Croziers, Cunningham, Cahill, Coombs, parson Cocks who built the first church in Wentworth, Castles, Cummings, Davie (poor John Davie followed Mr Felgate sen's funeral, a cockatoo belonging to the deceased flew along the procession and lit on the head of Mr Dayie, some one then remarked "He'll be the next!" so he was.) There's the Dunns, I am told that John is still sturdy, more power to him, Dunne of Netley used to shake things up. Duke, Delaney (Jim still hangs out at Marrickville, 80 old not out). Dewhurst is in Bank of Commerce, Sydney. Jesse Deare, burly John Oliver Edwards, good old John Egg, Eastwood, Tom Everitt, ... etc. etc.
another newspaper article (possibly newspaper in Deniliquin or Jerilderie NSW) date unknown
"The telegraph office - Mr P.A. Dunne left here to take the position of Station-master at the lately opened office at Tocumwal. Previous to his departure, a very handsome engrossed and colored testimonial was presented to him by his fellow officials and the wishes therein expressed we are sure will be endorsed by all who know the recipient. It read as follows : - "souvenir of the regard and esteem of his brother officers and friends, presented to Peter A. Dunne on ... promotion to Tocumwal, Sept. 5 1881 with hearty good wishes for the happiness and welfare of himself, Mrs Dunne, and family. Signed on behalf of the above, Deniliquin, Sept.6, 1881, Robert Buckley, H. Phillips, Thos. O'Connor, W.F. Burgess, Thos. Barclay, and J.T. Allanson. Vive. Vale."
His daughter Flavia May Dunne married Alfred Beck (eldest son of Mr & Mrs T. Beck of Gordon, NSW) on 2 October 1916 in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. On the occasion of her 25th wedding anniversary she was residing at 7 Ellis St., Chatswood, NSW. Alfred Beck died on 20 February 1960, at which time Flavia was still alive and living at 10 Kingsford Avenue, Five Dock. A newspaper note of Alfred's death refers to no children but states "guardian of Jose".
Dunne family at Moruya Post Office.
Photograph endorsed on rear "To Mrs McConaughty
With love & best wishes from Mr & Mrs Dunne Easter 1901".
Peter Francis Dunne (whose family nickname was "Gargie") is on horse-back at the right of photograph.
Peter Augustus Dunne died on 29 August 1911 and was buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Gore Hill, Sydney, which is now in the shadows of the multi-story Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. His grave is located in the "new Catholic" part, section C, lot 25. It is now most easily located by looking for row 30. The burial records are now located in the Willoughby City Council Library and this resource allowed the grave site to be located in 1999 in a row of grave sites, covered with shrubbery and weeds about five feet high. With aid of a map from the library, the location was identified and some weeds removed, revealing a monument with the name "Peter A. Dunne". Subsequently, the weeds were removed and the monument set right again.
The grave is a double plot and it had obviously been intended that his wife be buried there as well. Although she died and was buried in Walwa, Victoria, the monument includes a memorial to Adelaide. See : map of location of grave.
The monument on Peter A. Dunne's grave includes the image of the shamrock.
