Byaduk’s First Shoemaker

The Harmans arrived in Byaduk around 1863, one of the early families in the area.   Peter Fraser’s Early Byaduk Settlers credits family head, Joseph as the first shoemaker in Byaduk.  He may not have been alone  for long as Bailliere’s Victoria Post Office Directory of 1869 lists both Joseph Harman and John Hurrell as shoemakers in the town. Joseph  had worked as a shoemaker in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire as well as an agriculture labourer.

Joseph Harman was born in Melbourn around 1805 and married Sarah Mulberry in 1827.  There first son James died as a baby, but Sarah had another 12 babies over the next 22 years.  The 1841 and 1851 Census both show the family living in Drury Lane, Melbourn.  In 1852, they said goodbye to their newly married son James and his wife Susan who were sailing for  Australia.  In 1854, they again said their farewells as their next three sons, George, Jonathan and Reuben, followed the path of James and Susan to Australia.  However, by the time the boys arrived in Sydney, Joseph along with Sarah and youngest children Sarah (10), Walt (9) and Alfred (2) were themselves sailing for Sydney.

The Harman family sailed on the “Queen of England” on September 30, 1854.  To that point there are four children I cannot fully account for, Mary Ann (born 1829), Arthur (born 1842), Ann (1848) and Elizabeth (1849).  I have found death records for two other children of Joseph and Sarah, but not these four.  I do feel confident I may find Mary Ann and am now following a lead on her.

The “Queen of England”  arrived in Sydney in early January 1855.  The five Harmans disembarked  and reunited with the three boys who had been in New South Wales for two months.  I lose them for a couple of years, although Joseph’s death certificate states he resided in  New South Wales for two years.  I am looking around the Maitland area for them.  By 1858 they had reached Port Fairy and, after six years, the family reunited.

Joseph died at Byaduk in 1893 at the ripe old age of 89.  Sarah had died 13 years earlier.  Joseph’s obituary in the Hamilton Spectator perhaps gives some insight into Joseph’s character and maybe even relations between him and his sons.  It stated that Joseph was a Methodist, who became a Presbyterian.  Considering James and George’s standing in the Methodist church, I wonder how this decision by Joseph was accepted.

Both Joseph and Sarah were buried at the Byaduk Cemetery. While there is no visible headstone for the pair, there is a large plot enclosed by a rusted wrought iron fence I believe is their resting place.  It is surrounded by graves of other Harman family members in a picturesque corner of the cemetery.

A View of the Byaduk Cemetery

In the News – June 16, 1881

BYADUK PLOUGHING MATCH

The Byaduk Farmers Club held their annual ploughing match on June 14, 1881. The venue was the farm of the Christie brothers and 13 competitors displayed their finest ploughing techniques.

James Harman was a keen competitor of ploughing competitions and on the day won the Champion class.  His plough of choice was the Lennon made in North Melbourne by Hugh Lennon.  Only the year prior the Lennon plough had made news with the capture of the Kelly Gang.  The armour forged for the gang had been made out of Lennon plough boards.

Reuben Harman, James’ younger brother won the B class.  Reuben was 41 at the time and died only two years later.  He was also a fan of the Lennon.  Another Harman, Arthur came second in the C class with a Hornsby plough and along with his uncle Reuben won a prize for best crowns.

BYADUK PLOUGHING MATCH. (1881, June 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), p. 6. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5987319

Other notable Byaduk residents to win prizes were William and Alexander Christie and Peter Fraser.  Thanks to Peter Fraser, then an 18 year old, we now have the book Early Byaduk Settlers, a recollection of his life in Byaduk.

Following the match, the participants enjoyed the annual dinner at Hardy’s Temperance Hotel.  As the Harmans were staunch Methodists, the venue would have been seen as most appropriate.

Ploughing matches were a popular activity for farmers in the late 19th century.  They were an opportunity to display skill, show off the latest farming implements and to gather socially with other farmers.  The first ploughing match was held in the Portland area in the 1850s and they appear to have peaked in the 1880s when Inter-Colonial Ploughing Matches were held at Werribee Park and Ballarat.  The sketches below depict the 1882 event at Werribee Park where 3000 spectators were attendance, including several parliamentarians.  Farmers came from New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania.

INTERCOLONIAL PLOUGHING MATCH. (1882, August 5). Illustrated Australian News (Melbourne, Vic. : 1876-1889), p. 120. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63185745

Ploughing Matches. (1896, January 31). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876-1953), p. 1 Edition: EVENING, Supplement: Supplement to the Portland Guardian.. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63634032

By the mid 1890s, the Portland Guardian was lamenting the demise of the ploughing match.  This was put down to a number of reason including the move of young people off the land and more advanced implements.  The writer sees horse racing as no match to the social and competitive nature of the ploughing match, which were also free of the “curse of Australia”, gambling.  In the 20th century, the rise of the tractor meant ploughing by horse became almost unknown.  The skill required to plough was not as great as that of horse ploughing and there was no longer a need to demonstrate one’s abilities.  Field days today, allow for the display of the latest farming equipment and techniques filling a void left by the end of ploughing matches.

The Ploughing match results offer another insight into the lives of our Western District families.  They often have a comment on the highlight of the day and list the farmers’ place of residence.

The Harmans of Byaduk

I grew up in Hamilton, with Byaduk only about 20 kilometres from my home.  I passed through it on trips to coastal Port Fairy, visited the nearby dormant volcano Mt Napier with school and heard stories about the Byaduk caves.  Never for a minute did I know that I had any link to the small town with its drystone fences and rocky paddocks.

I  had heard of the Harmans from the conversations of my great uncles and aunties,  but when I asked who they were Nana would just say they are “cousins”, so I figured they were not that closely related.  It was not until I started finding out more about my family tree and Nana told me all the names she knew, I discovered that her mother Sarah was a Harman.

My Great Grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Harman

When first researching, I would look through records for certain family names and would often come up with very little. That was until I started on the Harmans.  There was loads of information and they soon became my favourite family, and not just for the ease of researching them.  I discovered an upstanding, religious family that always dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.  A family that got involved in the community whether it be building schools, ploughing competitions, the Methodist church or the Farmers Union.  Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s,  they were a well known family in the district.

Coming to Australia in three separate groups, Joseph and Sarah Harman and their mostly grown up children, reunited in Port Fairy during the mid 1850s.  They established themselves in the town, but with the land opening up in 1861 they moved to newly settled Byaduk around 1863.  Joseph was the first boot maker in the town, while  sons James, Jonathon and Reuben began farming the stony land.  George, who was second eldest, seemed to have no wish to farm and by the late 1860s had returned to Port Fairy where he worked for the local council.

The family grew and by the turn of the century another generation of Harmans were raising families with the union of marriage linking them to other well  known families in the district, including the Kinghorns, Bishops and Olivers.  The family was also beginning to branch out to other parts of the state, including Gippsland. In 1907, three members of the Harman family appear in a photograph of Byaduk pioneers, James, Jonathan and Reuben’s wife Elizabeth.

Byaduk Pioneers 1907

I eventually left Hamilton and did not return to Byaduk until the 1990s to visit the cemetery.  By this time I knew something of the Harman’s standing in the community but had not realised that there was so much recognition of it.  While not that surprised to find a road named after them, I was surprised the Byaduk Caves had names Harman’s Cave No 1 and Harman’s Cave No 2 and that the volcanic lava flow that runs from Mt Napier to Byaduk is called “Harman Valley”.  Also the Byaduk area has been recognised as part of the Kanawika Global Geopark

The Harman Valley, Byaduk

The name of Harman is not common in  Byaduk today but I am proud that ongoing recognition of their presence there is ensured.