Elizabeth Mary Connor, Pioneer Of Subiaco (1932).
A wonderful story and photographs about one of the early pioneer women in Subiaco, Elizabeth Mary Connor published in The West Australian on 24 September 1932.
The photograph of Mary Elizabeth Connor and her husband John Rowland Jones at their home in Roberts Road, Subiaco is from the Facebook page of the City of Subiaco. No copyright infringement intended.
The article is copied from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended,
West Australian, 24 September 1932.
PIONEER OF SUBIACO.
MRS. JONES'S MEMORIES.
First House in the Suburb.
On April 28, 1853. the barque Palestine dropped anchor in Gage Roads, Fremantle. The vessel had taken six months to make the voyage from England to Fremantle.
Among the passengers who went ashore was Elizabeth Mary Connor, then barely three years of age, a native of Cornwall, who had made the trip with her parents. The child grew up in the colony and later married Mr. J. Rowland Jones, short-hand reporter and journalist, and went to live in the first house built in Subiaco, now 365 Roberts-road, Subiaco, about 20 chains east of the railway station. She lives there still.
In the sitting-room of this house yesterday, Mrs. Jones recalled her long life in Western Australia. Often the corners of her mouth would wrinkle in a smile, and her keen eyes would twinkle, as she wove a humorous thread into the fabric of her story.
There was enough and to spare of work, sorrow and fun in the life of the early settlers. Elizabeth Mary Connor first lived with her parents in a little cottage in front of the Perth railway station. The Globe Hotel now probably stands on the site of the old cottage. From that house they shifted to a cottage at the bottom of Mill-street, near Lefroy's garden, on which Winterbottom's Garage 'now stands. Later the Connor family went to live in Mount's Bay-road.
Mrs. Jones's father went to Victoria in a gold rush. He sent her mother sums of money, and expressed his intention of making a home for his family, but he was never heard of again. Mrs. Jones's mother married a second time. Elizabeth Mary's stepfather was in charge of one of the "Puffing Billies" on the river.
“Pufflng Billy."
This "Puffing Billy" was used to take stores up and down the river. When the Fremantle bridge was being built, timber was taken from the upper reaches of the Swan River at Guildford to the port. Comparatively small lengths of timber were stacked on the deck of the small craft and one or two piles, according to size, were chained on each side of the vessel.
The old bridge, later superseded by the present Causeway, was frequently under water in the winter months. Mrs. Jones and her sisters often went down to see the new Causeway being built. A barge was provided for taking horses and carts across the river during the winter. After being educated at the Convent of Mercy, in what is now Victoria-square, Mrs. Jones undertook dressmaking. She made dresses for the ladies of many of the old families. The Misses Leake were among her clients. When the third daughter of the Leake's became Lady Parker, the wedding dress was the work of Miss Elizabeth Mary Connor. The wife of Bishop Parry, who before her marriage was a Miss Leake. was another of Miss Connor's clients, among whom were the Burts and the Roes, and many other families.
When she was 23 years of age Miss Connor was married in St. Mary's Cathedral to Mr. J. Rowland Jones. Father O'Reilly, who later became Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, celebrated the marriage, and Mr. John Whitely, who was subsequently Commissioner of Taxation in Western Australia, was the best man. In the early days of the colony. Mr. Jones was employed as a shorthand writer to the Legislative Council. With the establishment of Responsible Government he became shorthand writer to the Legislative Assembly. For a time Mr. Jones was editor of the "Western Australian Times," which was later merged with the "Perth Gazette" and became '"he West Australian." There was little money in the colony in the early days and the workmen had to take orders upon storekeepers as wages. The storekeeper supplied the man's needs and gave him cash to pay his butcher and other tradesmen.
About 1886 Mr. and Mrs. Jones decided to build a residence about three miles west of Perth at a spot on the opposite side of the railway line to the Benedictine monastery. Before the house could be constructed, water was essential. Steps were taken to sink a well. The "experts" said water would be found at 18 feet. Bricks were scarce and orders had to be placed with the brickmakers at Guildford a long time ahead. Bricks sufficient to line a well to a depth of 24 feet were obtained. At 24 feet there was no sign of water. Another order for bricks was given, again on the advice of the "experts." But again water was not located. It was only when the well had been sunk to a depth of about 60 feet that water was obtained, and the construction of the house could be begun. The well took nine months to sink.
Camel Teams from Fremantle.
A railway platform had been constructed almost immediately in front of the house, which now stands in Roberts-road, Subiaco. The platform was about 20 chains east of the present railway station. There were three or four trains a day between Perth and Fremantle when Mr. and Mrs. Jones went to Subiaco to live. After leaving Perth, the only other buildings near the railway line were a few houses in Colin street, and a house and woodyard near the Leederville station. Camel teams journeying from Fremantle to the goldfields frequently passed the lone house at Subiaco.
Before Broom-road (Hay-street) was extended to Subiaco it was not unusual for Mr. and Mrs. Jones in their cart to take the wrong track and become temporarily lost in the bush. When Mr. Jones was working on the "Western Australian Times" and on Hansard, a light was left burning behind a window of the Jones's homestead to guide him home. At night the train stopped at the little platform when a match was struck or a lighted lamp was held aloft. Mr. Jones died in 1895.'
Mrs. Jones has many treasures. They include old documents, a copy of the jubilee issue of the "Western Australian Times," edited by her husband, and other papers, an old prayer book which belonged to her father, and which is over 200 years old. She sets great store by two needlework pictures which were brought to the colony by her mother. The pictures, exquisitely worked, are claimed to be over 300 years old. On the voyage to Australia the captain of the barque offered Mrs. Connor £5 each for the pictures. "If they are worth £5 to you," she replied, "they are worth £5 to me."
On Wednesday Mrs. Jones journeyed to Fremantle to welcome a son home from Singapore. She has nine children, 19 grand-children and one great-grandchild. On May 31 last she celebrated her 83rd birth-day. Time does not hang heavily on her hands. "A little sewing and reading,"' was how the "mother" of Subiaco described her interests.
