Richard Eddy
Richard Eddy was the second son of John Clements Eddy and Mary Ann Nankervis.
According to his birth certificate, Richard Eddy was born 3 April 1850 in "the District of The Murray" in South Australia. His marriage certificate states that he was born in South Australia, but the place is not legible, appearing to be "Honinga" or something similar, and that he was a miner at the time of his marriage. The birth certificate of his daughter Euphemia states that she was the daughter of Richard Eddy, who had been born at "Burra mines S.A.". Barbara Warren, great grand-daughter of Richard, has clarified that he was born in Kooringa which was one of eight or more villages built around the Burra mining site.
Richard's birth occurred soon after the deaths of his father's two youngest brothers in Burra; Richard Eddy age 12 had died eleven months earlier in May 1849 and William Eddy age 17 had died just 12 days before the baby's birth. The baby was named Richard, probably after his deceased young uncle. In contrast to his namesake, the infant Richard Eddy was to escape South Australia alive and go on to live a long life. The family re-located to Victoria in approximately 1852 to join the gold rush there.
At the time of his marriage to Mary Ann Studds, both were residing at "Mount Cameron" which presumably was a mining settlement somewhere in the Talbot district of Victoria.
According to the birth certificate of his daughter Euphemia, he was a 36 year old farmer at the time of her birth. This suggests that he gave up mining and commenced farming sometime after his marriage. As Euphemia was born in the Dunbulbalane / Invergordon region of Victoria, it suggested that this was the place at which he farmed.
Thanks to John Sigley of the Numurkah & District Historical Society and Nurmukah Family History Group (Heritage Centre, Cnr Melville & Knox Streets, Numurkah or P.O. Box 314 Numurkah Vic 3636) who provided an old map showing the Dunbulbalane district. The map shows an area occupied by Richard Eddy and an adjacent area occupied by his brother Thomas Eddy.
Roads and landmarks have changed over the years; however the area occupied by Richard's brother has been identifed as being located on the Numurkah-Katamatite Road, about mid-way between the towns. In the year 2003, it was identified as being at the intersection with Union Road (Kokoda Road is an extension of Union Road and would probably have been named when land in the area was compulsorily resumed and allocated to returned soldiers after World War Two).
click to enlarge
Richard Eddy's property was adjacent to his brother's and is now bounded by Union Road and Gribben Road. The location of the former Eddy property was confirmed by nearby resident Colin Wellington, whose family has lived in the area since the Eddys were also residents. Colin Wellington's home is located on the site of the once-proposed Dunbulbalane village subdivision .A post office, blacksmith and creamery were once located at what is now the intersection of Union and Gribben Roads, directly across from the former Eddy property. Although the village was named Dunbulbalane, the post office was the Invergordon post office while the Dunbulbalane post office was located approximately two kilometres away. This probably explains why Euphemia Eddy's birthplace has been given alternatively as Dunbulbalane and Invergordon; in practice it would have been very easy to use the names interchangeably.
a picture taken in 2003 of the former Eddy farm, showing Union Road
which is adjacent to the property. The photograph was taken from near
the intersection of Union and Gribben Roads.
photograph of former Eddy farm,
looking back towards Gribben Road
There appeared to be no buildings on the area identified as formerly Richard Eddy's property. A house is located near the boundary between the brothers' properties but it appears to be on the area that would have belonged to Thomas. A photograph is included with information about Thomas Eddy.
Details of Richard's family are included with details of his wife, Mary Ann Studds.
Richard Eddy(standing left) his son John Thomas Eddy (standing right) grandson
Richard Charles Eddy (seated) and baby great grand-daughter, Dawn.
Thanks to Ann Kerin who provided this picture which she had originally
obtained from Beverley Speake of Adelaide. Both Ann and Beverley
are descendents of Richard.
In the absence of other information, Richard's grandson Langton Dunne was asked what he could recall of his grandfather. The following was written in approximately 2001.
My Grand Dad Eddy
....... . there is very little said about Grand Dad Eddy. He was born in 1850, married Mary Ann Studd, had many children but very little else that I can find. Addie and Peter wrote glowing accounts of Grand Ma Eddy but about him all I can find is what Addie wrote: "He was a dear old man."
My recollection of him is limited. To me he never appeared to be what Grand dads are supposed to be and that is a loving and caring person whom most kids think as someone very special to them.
My first memory of him he was living alone in a house not very far from us. Apart from the house block there was a small paddock the size of a building block attached. As little kids Cobber and I quite often would leave our ponies in this paddock and at times for days. There was a shed with no door and we would leave our saddles and bridles in this shed while our ponies were there and nobody ever stole them. How things have changed over the last sixty or seventy years.
Grand Dad never minded us leaving the ponies there as they kept the grass and weeds down for him. We were welcome as long as we did not go into the house block.
There was a large area behind the house and this was full of fruit trees usually with plenty of fruit. To enter this orchard we had to go in the front gate and if we did he would get a little angry. I believe he thought we were pinching the fruit and to be honest we very occasionally did but only when we knew he was not at home. From memory the only fruit we were ever allowed to have was grape. There were lots of them. Maybe he sold the fruit but I do not know.
Some times Mum would send me up to give him a message. It was very seldom I got past the kitchen door. From memory the kitchen was the only room in his house that I ever entered.
He never appeared to be pleased to see us kids and this hurt as other kids would actually boast about their wonderful Grand dads and we wished we could do the same.
Upon thinking about the apparent lack of feeling towards us I am now able to appreciate or at least understand his feelings. There had been nine of us Dunne kids plus the Herberts and Eddys and others in Tocumwal and other towns that he had experienced over the years and by the time I was around he was an old man and only wished for peace and quiet. Probably, and I would like to think so, he was the loving and caring Grand dad when he was younger. Maybe we were not the best of grand kids either but I believe we tried. He never showed much interest in us but was never unkind.
How long he lived in his house alone I have no idea. Then he moved in with us. He had a room at the back portion of the house and this room remained "Grand Dad's room" up till the house was dozed down.
When he moved in with us he immediately took charge of the wood heap. Dad had to supply plenty of timber and it had to be the best white box. He would spend most of the day at the wood heap each day Monday to Friday. He would cut up kindling pieces for the lighting of fires and continue up to logs for the open fire.
His wood heap covered an area of about six yards by four yards and five to six feet high. Every single piece would be cut to exact size. I doubt if there was ever a half inch difference in length.
This pile of wood was his private possession and no one, even Dad, could touch the wood without his permission. I guess this gave him the feeling that he was still able to take charge and be responsible for at least this one last job and this would help give him some independence.
Mum sometimes would get cranky with him for not allowing her enough wood for the stove then there would be quite a passing of words between them. All his wood chopping was don with an axe, never a saw, and this axe was always razor sharp.
When winter arrived he always came into the dining room with the rest of us at night and we kids, not very kindly, believed he came not so much for the company or even for warmth but to check to see whether too much of his wood was being used up.
Mum always loved to poke at the fire and make the sparks fly and Grand Dad would get cranky with her and say night after night "Leave it alone girl it will burn away quickly enough". Mum never argued but still kept poking at the fire.
Mum always sat in an arm chair directly under the window and nearest the fire with him sitting on the opposite side of the fire place. His chair was really something. The legs had been cut down - he was only small. Part of the back had carvings cut into the wood work. There were two pieces of timber with nobs on top protruding from the back one on each side. The chair was even then rather ancient and no doubt had belonged to a dining room setting in the past probably back on the farm. It had had more than one coating of varnish. Today it would be classed as an antique.
When Vonnie was there during the war years she used it. When she and I came down from Byron Bay a couple of days before Mum died it had disappeared.
Some time back Langton Junr. was here and we were discussing Grand Dad's wood heap on his farm. He (Langton) has seen a photo of it some where. Apparently it was a very large stack. Caroline, Peter's grand daughter also claims to have seen the photo and is going to try and trace it. Vonnie and I are very interested in seeing it.
In part of Peter's written memories of his grand parents farm he wrote "Their wood heap was about 40 feet long and about 6 feet high and cut into post lengths." I guess his wood heap at our place helped Grand Dad remember the one on his farm.
Earlier I mentioned he spent many hours at the wood heap Monday to Friday. Sundays he kept mostly to his room. Saturdays were different. He would head off for the pub soon after lunch and arrive back several hours later. He would always be quite merry but I never saw him out of control.
Dad and Grand Dad would some time play Crib - a game of cards. Grand Dad loved Crib. Crib was a game where there was a small piece of board with many holes in it and the score was kept by placing matches in those holes. Dad taught me to play Crib.
I stated earlier Grand Dad was apparently not interested in us kids but if I would play Crib with him which I often did I was number one on his popularity list. I also enjoyed this time with him.
I do not know when he died. From memory it seems he was there one day then just gone. I can not remember his death or funeral. Maybe they were while I was away ...... (Richard Eddy's death certificate shows he died in November 1943, during which time his grandson Langton Dunne would have been serving in the Australian Army in World War II).
I am confident there are several things he did. Things well worth acknowledging if only we could know of them. To me his greatest act was starting a wonderful family by giving his daughter Effie to marry Peter F. Dunne. So many great and wonderful people have come from their marriage and I am very proud to be one of them. Thank you Grand Dad Eddy.
My Grand Dad Eddy
To me grand parents are special people. I only ever knew one and that was Grand Dad Eddy. The reason for this being I was the last of a big family and the other three had passed on. I believe I missed out on a lot of happiness.
As a grandfather myself I have been greatly blessed. Two wonderful grand daughters and two equally wonderful grand sons have given me much pleasure over the years. A pleasure I would not have missed for worlds. Now I also have one great grand daughter and three great grand sons and they bring much happiness to me.
I can now understand a bit more my grandfather's attitude towards me. He was older then than I am today and I find I can not now keep up with these little ones as I would like and I guess they must wish I was a more active and attentive "Poppy" but I know they love me and they know I love them."
Elsie, daughter of Richard's eldest son John Thomas Eddy, recalled the circumstances of Richard's death. Elsie's family was living at Numurkah at the time so that the story is highly credible. During the war there was an air base at Tocumwal and Grandad Eddy was concerned that there may be a bomb dropped, so he dug a hole (air raid shelter) in his back yard, he forgot to cover it and went out after dark to do so and he fell in. He didn't seem to be hurt at the time, but died a few days later. (Elsie also recalled his famous wood-pile and described him as a very quiet man and very softly spoken.)
Richard Eddy died on 29 November 1943 at 93 years of age (although the death certificate states 94 years).
The certificate was issued in Victoria and states that he died in Numurkah in that state, although his usual residence was Tocumwal, New South Wales. He was buried in the Methodist section of Tocumwal Cemetery.
Thanks to Beverley Speake of South Australia
and Ann Kerin of Victoria
for contributing some of the above information.
