Anecdotes

Stories from the past

‘Orse Thieves

Ronald Winbury Adams – Toodyay Western Australia

In 1958 when I was about 7 or 8 years old my father, my older brother and I went to Burracoppin to buy some stores for the farm which was situated at Booraan approximately 14 miles distance. Somehow (as was my dad’s want) we ended up “having a drink” with a couple of old timers who lived at Burra. I clearly remember my Dad asking one old bloke if he had known any of our ancestors from Mangowine back in the early 1900s. The answer was “Bloody ‘orse thieves, the lot of em!!!”. Dad thought it was a huge joke at the time and would often relate the story to us until the day he died. Dad also added the fact that his dad’s brother (Charles Edwin) was supposed to have joined the army when a policeman attempted to arrest him for “horse stealing” in 1916. Apparently, he jumped on his horse, leapt the yard rails and headed for the bush. He made his way to SA where he enlisted and sadly was killed in France by the Germans in the same year. This family anecdote got me thinking as to the truth of it all. The following is a collection of information that I have retrieved from old newspapers from Trove.gov.au. Make your own mind up. Read more ›

An anecdote from 1936

To the Editor. Sir,-The late Mr. and Mrs. Charles Glass, of Mugekine (Eastern District), told the following story of the finding of the precious metal: Through an opossum being drowned in their well, their son Alick, assisted by his mother, emptied the well, and scraped the bottom, finally putting the scraping into a bucket, which his mother drew up. On emptying the contents near by, to her great surprise she found gold. Later, as Mrs. Glass and her husband were on their way to Perth, they called at the Newcastle Hotel, Toodyay – (then Newcastle), where I was staying with my eldest sister, Mrs. W. A. Wroth. Read more ›

Snakes at Mangowine

Ronald Winbury Adams – Toodyay Western Australia

Because Mangowine Homestead is built straight on the ground with mud bricks and rock, various venomous snakes and other creatures often came visiting. My mother (SJ Adams – Merredin WA) tells me of the time a large centipede (8″ long) wriggled into her shoe through a hole in the toe one summer’s night and bit
her between the toes. It caused an itchy rash to appear but nothing serious. Or the time my Grandfather (Thomas George Adams) was bitten … Read more ›

Policeman Adams

Ronald Winbury Adams – Toodyay Western Australia

Another story told to me by my father (Eddy Thomas Adams) was told to him by his Grandmother (Jane Adams) when he was a boy. My Great Grandfather was a special police constable for the district and one day he had captured an aboriginal murderer who he chained to the bush timber rafter in the front room down the steps at Mangowine. Read more ›

The start of it all

Ronald Winbury Adams – Toodyay Western Australia

I remember my dad, Eddy Thomas Adams (second eldest grandson of Jane Adams (Glass)) telling me years ago of a story related to him by Granny when he was a boy. It described the first night that the Adams’ arrived at the site that now is Mangowine. To journey from Toodyay (then Newcastle) to Mangowine they used an ox cart drawn by oxen. Read more ›

More snake stories

Joan Adams – Merredin Western Australia

Being 7 months pregnant with my second son Ronald Winbury Adams (some time in 1949) I was washing a few clothes in a tub on the back table at Mangowine. Two aboriginal women came for some tea or whatever we could give them, their names were Eva and Mary. They sat on a seat alongside me while Nanna Adams (Flo Adams) made them some tea. Read more ›

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