by Alison Anderson
Around the year of 1897, a young man of seventeen left his hometown of Riverstone, 25 miles northwest of Sydney, farewelling family, and friends to make his fortune in the Queensland Outback. That young man was Henry Wellington TEALE, Harry to all. Since becoming aware of my great-granduncle Harry Teale’s story, I have been eager to find out more about how he ended up 1400 km or 900 miles away in the outback town of Adavale, near Quilpie.
Harry was born at Windsor NSW on the 8 November 1877, the fifth child and youngest son of John Henry TEALE (1843-1904) and Martha JACKSON (1847-1927), his older brother George Henry (1870-1942) was my great-grandfather, pictured with Harry above, circa 1883.
John Henry’s grand-parents were John TEALE (1789-1851) who arrived on the Indefatigable in 1815 and Diana CABLE/KABLE (1788-1854), the daughter of First Fleeters Henry KABLE (1762-1846) and Susannah HOLMES (1763-1825). Martha’s parents were Irish, Joseph JACKSON and Mary LONSDALE. They arrived in Australia as assisted immigrants on board the Herald in 1841. Martha was born in 1847 at Lane Cove.
The men of the TEALE family had a long association with the Riverstone Meatworks for close to 100 years, starting with John Henry and his son George my gr-grandfather in about 1890, ending with my cousin Philip, being the last to leave in the 1980’s. Perhaps not wanting to work at the meatworks with his father and brother, Harry decided to hit the open road looking for adventure. It is unknown whether he made this journey with others or set off own his own.
How different the landscape, vegetation, and wildlife the young adventurer would have encountered as he travelled north-west, towards the expanse of the red centre with its Emus, Red Kangaroo’s, Wedge Tailed Eagles, so different from the brown landscape of the small town he grew up in with its neat streets of workers cottages, where everyone knew each other.
Harry worked in the Adavale area as a labourer for about four years until his young life came to a tragic end after contracting typhoid fever in the April of 1901, losing the battle at the age of 23 years and 4 months so far away from his loved ones, on Saturday 4 May at the Imperial Hotel. He had been ill for 17 days and was last seen by the local GP Dr Malcolm Webb the day before.
(Description supplied with photograph.) State Library of Qld.
The few scant details I have been able to find regarding this young man have been from his death certificate and his obituary, as any family members who may have had information are long passed. The informant on his death certificate was John Presnell, the licensee of the Imperial Hotel. Sadly the hotel was destroyed by fire on the morning of Friday 1st May 1930.
Harry was laid to rest the following day, in the Adavale Cemetery, I would like to think that there would have been a wooden cross erected by his mates marking his final resting place but if so, it has long disappeared into the red earth.
I was fortunate in July 2022 to visit this now isolated town which today has a population of around 15, so different from the town that Harry made his home all those years ago. In its heyday Adavale’s population was close to 1000, when the Cobb & Co Coach stopped by on its way from Charleville to Windorah and the town boasted 5 hotels, post office, police station and general store.
Adavale was originally intended as a railway terminus but in 1917 the Western rail line was diverted south to Quilpie which then became the major town for the area, soon after Adavale’s population begun to slowly decline.
My gr-grandfather George Henry TEALE would honour his little brother by naming his first-born son, my granddad, Henry Wellington TEALE, also known as Harry.
When walking around the Adavale Cemetery I happened across a headstone with the name TREANOR, this name was familiar to me. My Uncle Sonny born Harry Victor George TEALE (minus the Wellington), married Rita Ellen TREANOR at Forbes in 1944, 43 years after his gr-uncles death.
James Peter TREANOR 1896-1939 and his little sister Philomena 1894-1898, both buried in the cemetery were my Aunty Rita’s second cousins. Coincidence?? Also buried are Robert Dundas DALGLISH and his wife Elizabeth Richardson NEWTON, James’s in-laws.
Perhaps there was a connection between with the TEALE and TREANOR families prior to 1944, was this the reason young Harry Teale came to Adavale all those years ago??
Sources and References
https://www.trove.nla.gov.au/ https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/town/adavale/ https://www.wikipedia.org/ http: / /www.exploroz.com/places/35772/qld+adavale/ State Library of Qld