The original Gibbons family in the Gulgong district, James and Bridget Gibbons, arrived in the Gulgong area in the late 1860s. James was from Devonshire, England (born in 1835 to John Gibbons, a tailor). James arrived in Australia around 1852. He married Bridget Milne in Victoria around 1865. Their children were born in various places including Carcoar and Cowra. The older children were baptised in Gulgong in 1871.
James died in Gulgong on 29 November 1885, aged 50. The cause of death was heart disease. He is buried in the Church of England portion of the Gulgong Cemetery. His 7 children (Ellen, Frank. Thomas, Rose, James, William and Lilly) ranged from 19 to 4 years old at the time of his death.
Bridget Gibbons (born c. 1838 in County Clare, Ireland, to farmer John Reynolds and his wife Ellen Liddy) died in 1892 of "paralysis" of ten days duration. She was 54 years old. Her death record says she was 19 at the time of her marriage (1857) this may be the year she married her first husband.
Prior to meeting James, Bridget was probably married to Alexander Milne, who had died in 1865 in Victoria. Bridget's first daughter, Mary, was from that earlier marriage.
James Gibbons purchased a 2-acre property for six pounds in an area known as Black Lead to the north of the town of Gulgong on 23 May 1888. The property is shown as Lot 342 on early land maps and remained in the family until at least the 1950s. The property was on today's Hideaway Lane.
Hideaway Lane, Black Lead
Source: sixmaps
The children of James and Bridget were:
- MARY (1864-1947) (daughter of Bridget Milne and her first husband). Married George Vile in Gulgong in 1882. The Vile family came to the Mudgee area in the 1840s. George and Mary had nine children. Two of their sons (Edgar and Alfred) were killed at Gallipoli within days of the landing in 1915. Both are named on the war memorial in Narromine where they enlisted. Mary ran a newsagency in Harden during her later life, she died in 1947 and is buried in Harden. George died in 1940 and is buried in Harden.
- ELLEN (1866-1955) Married Louis Augusta Stahl in Gulgong in 1883. The Stahl family came from Germany in 1855 as part of a scheme to bring skilled Labourers to the colony. Louis and Ellen had six children all born in the Gulgong area. In 1948, Louis, then 90, and Ellen, 81, celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary and received a Royal Telegram reading “The King and Queen send you hearty congratulations on your sixty fifth wedding anniversary”. Ellen Stahl died in Dunedoo in 1955. Louis Stahl died in 1953 also in Dunedoo. Their grandson Douglas was the groomsman at the wedding of Roy Gibbons and Val Condon.
- FRANCIS (1869 - ? ) no information found to date on his whereabouts or fate.
- THOMAS (1871-1960) Thomas married Bertha Grace Jordan in Coonabarabran NSW in 1899 and they had 3 children. Tom lived close to James and Mary at Black Lead. A photograph of Tom by John Meredith is in the collection at the National Library of Australia. The caption reads "Father of the popular Teddy Gibbons, Tom used to regale drinkers in the parlour of the 'Centennial' with songs like 'Caledonio' and 'My beautiful Muff'. He was aged 85 when photographed." Tom died in 1960 and is buried in Gulgong cemetary with Bertha who died in 1946.
- ROSE (1873-1954) Rose married James Turner in 1893 at Muswelbrook and they had 9 children all born in Muswellbrook. Rose died in 1954 in North Sydney and James died earlier the same year in Liverpool
- JAMES (1876-1958) James was born at Black Lead and married Mary Halloran in 1901 in Gulgong. They lived at Black Lead in another house near their parents. Mary’s ancestors (Egan, Boyle and Halloran) had also settled in the Gulgong area from the early 1870s. Mary was born in 1882 at Canadian Lead, another gold mining location near Gulgong. James and Mary had 10 children:
- Leslie J (1903) (NSW BDM 12398/1903)
- James H (1904) (NSW BDM 22505/1904)
- Florence E (1907) (NSW BDM 13719/1907)
- Mary L V (1909) (NSW BDM 37053/1909)
- Annie (1911) (NSW BDM 4495/1911)
- Eileen R (1916) (NSW BDM 32960/1916)
- Roy (1919-1996) (NSW BDM 40974/1919) being the youngest boy. Roy and his older brothers all served in the AIF during WW2.
- William (Spider) Gibbons (1912-1993) (NSW BDM 29515/1912), spent most of the war as a POW in eastern Europe after being captured when Crete fell in May 1941. He is buried in Gulgong and his headstone plaque reads ‘survivor of the great march’ which is the only clue to his life as a POW.
- Walter A (1913) (NSW BDM 42924/1913)
- Olga L (1922) (NSW BDM 42537/1922)
Mary died suddenly in 1935 and James in 1958. Both are buried in Gulgong cemetery.
- WILLIAM (1878-1944) Married Martha Frances in Narrabri in 1900 and they had 5 children. Two of their children died at birth or very young and only their three sons lived to adulthood. William died in 1944 and is buried in Gulgong.
- LILLIAN (1881-1958) Married Claude Wright in Gulgong in 1908. They had three children and lived at Dunedoo where Claude started a bakery business in 1910. Claude died in 1932 and Lillian in 1958 and are both buried in Gulgong.
The house at Black Lead, mid 1920s
Source: Pedro Gibbons
This photo shows the picket fence and wire frame gate at the front of the house which was typical of many houses of the era. The two children are said to be Roy Gibbons on the right with one of his older sisters.
The house at Black Lead, circa 1950s
Source: Pedro Gibbons
The picket fence and gate remain but the gate posts have been replaced. The lattice under the veranda is also clearly visible.
NEWS ITEMS
1874 - POLICE COURTInsulting Language Gibbons v Makay
1875 - POLICE COURT
1875 - POLICE COURT
Obscene Language - Peter Wilson charged with having used filthy language to Mrs Bridget Gibbons on the Black Lead. This was over geese kept by Gibbons and they worried the Wilson; Wilson agreed he used the words, but Gibbons stated under cross examination that she used simular words first. Walter Lett stated he heard the words used by both parties and they were both filthy. Fined 20/-, 21/- professional cost and 5/6 court costs.
Mrs. Gibbons deposed that at the Black Lead near Wilson dam, Mrs. Makay used the language which was very filthy, about an hour later she came out of her house and offered to fight, and used the filthy remarks again.
Mrs. Gibbons: I did not square up to Mrs Makay but she squared up to me; I did not tuck up my sleeves.
Charles Haddleman: I was on the Black Lead that day and saw women quarrelling, using their tongues rapidly, they were very angry and I could not hear what they were saying.
Henry Kitchen: Saw the women, Mrs. Gibbons put her baby on the ground; couldn’t hear them.
Peter Wilson: Saw the parties, they were calling each other names and quarrelling.
Respondent was fined 10/- and 5/- costs.
,Source: Gulgong Evening Argus, Saturday, July 25, 1874
1875 - POLICE COURT
Illegally Impounding - two horses - Peter Wilson charge James Gibbons with this offence, they are neighbours, Defendant having a garden enclosed with a bush fence and the plaintiff’s horse kept breaking through the fence. Case was dismissed.
Source: Gulgong Evening Argus, Saturday January 30 1875
1875 - POLICE COURT
Obscene Language - Peter Wilson charged with having used filthy language to Mrs Bridget Gibbons on the Black Lead. This was over geese kept by Gibbons and they worried the Wilson; Wilson agreed he used the words, but Gibbons stated under cross examination that she used simular words first. Walter Lett stated he heard the words used by both parties and they were both filthy. Fined 20/-, 21/- professional cost and 5/6 court costs.
Source: Gulgong Evening Argus, Thursday May 20 1875
Gross Cruelty - Mary Ann Riches aged 12 years appeared charged with cruelty to young goats the property of Mrs Gibbons of the Black Lead. Senior Constable John Merrin laid the charges, he went to Black Lead and inspected the bodies of four young kids, he found their tongues had been cut out and the ears of one cut off near the head, it had a dint in the head apparently caused by a blow.
Mary Ann Gibbons daughter of the owner of the goats gave evidence, knew the defendant as they lived near one another, saw her with one of the kids, her older sister said I would have to prove what she had done to the kids.
For the defence: Elizabeth Riches when question by Sergeant Keenan, stated she was with her sister near the goats, she was sewing and she was never out of my sight; my mother and Mrs Gibbons had been in court for quarrelling.
Mary Ann Gibbons was recalled and gave further evidence, with my mother we showed Mrs Riches the kids, none of her children were present.
The Police Magistrate said the case was one of unheard cruelty and the kids had been killed in a most revolting manner. Young kids were beautiful to look at and he could scarcely conceive how such a barbarity could ever enter the minds of anyone; there was little doubt the sister had assisted in the act from the concise evidence of Mary Ann Gibbons. Had the case been brought against a grown-up person, he would have most certainly have inflicted the highest penalty the law would allow; but with such a young child of the female sex, the fine would be 20/- or six hours in the lock-up. The mother declaring she knew nothing of the matter, paid the fine.
Source: Gulgong Evening Argus, Saturday September 9 1876
1876 - GULGONG.
Matters here after the election are in a very quiet state, there being scarcely any news to record. On Friday last Mr. T. A. Browne, coroner, held an inquest upon the body of a man found on the banks of Reedy Creek, with his throat cut. From the evidence of Mana Mason and James Martin, residents on the creek, it appears that the man was seen with another upon the previous evening, and that from the former he obtained a drink of water and filled his billy, and that then they were proceeding along the
Talbragar Road. On the morning of Friday, while out with a dray, the body was discovered by James Gibbons and his wife.
The medical evidence taken was to the effect that there were three incised wounds dividing all the vessels to the vertebrae, and the nature of the wounds, commencing on the left side of the throat, led to the belief that they were self-inflicted; an open verdict was thereupon returned.
On the deceased was found a silver watch with steel chain attached, and a small piece of paper upon which was written "Timothy Ford, log paddock." The deceased was unknown to Ford, and the direction is accounted for by the fact that Ford met an acquaintance of the deceased at Carter's Hotel, Mudgee, where he was drinking, and gave his address. The swag contains a mixture of various articles usuallycarried by bushmen. Deceased was a man about thirty years of age, bushy red whiskers and moustache, reddish brown hair, the point of the nose turned a little to the left. He had on a gray tweed vest, Crimean shirt, and tweed trousers, with small white stripe up and down, blucher boots and white felt hat.
GIBBONS.—November 30, at Gulgong, James Gibbons, aged 50 years.
1885 - GIBBONS.
FRANCIS GIBBONS, who left his home at Gulgong in 1883, is requested by his Mother to return at once, his father having died. Mrs. JAMES GIBBONS.
On Wednesday, 18th inst., [at the Presbyterian Church Gulgong], Claude William Richard, eldest son of Mr. W. Wright, Gulgong, was married to Lilly May, youngest daughter of Mr. James Gibbons, Gulgong. Rev. B. D. Morris performed the ceremony. The bride, who was given away by her brother, Mr. William Gibbons, was attired in a dress ot white Indian muslin, the bodice being elaborately trimmed with all-over lace, silk chiffonm and insertion, elbow sleeves, wreath and veil. Her bouquet and a gold brooch were gifts of the bridegroom. The first bridesmaid, Miss Ruby Stahl, was attired in a pale blue silk voile, made pinafore style, with white silk blouse, trimmed with insertion; blue hat, trimmed with velvet and wing. The second bridesmaid, Miss Maud Wright, wore a royal blue voile, trimmed with white lace, chiffon sash, white hat, trimmed with white ribbon and flowers. Mr. Robert Parish was best man and Mrs. Morris was organist. A reception was afterwards held at the residence of Mrs. I. Stahl. The usual toasts were honored. The bride's travelling dress was a grey Sicilian cloth, trimmed with silk and hat to match.
Mr. James Gibbons has his left hand in a sling, the icsult of a very severe gash caused by a sliaip knife whilst the holder was in the act of cutting bread.. 'Jim' evidently sliced off more than, the staff of life. No work for a week or two is now the result.
