Some time ago, a ‘Julia’ wrote to me, saying “I am the granddaughter of Robert Joseph Garnaut, his father was Capt. Thomas Bernard Garnaut whose father was Louise Bernard Garnaut. Louise’s daughter, Philomenia Garnaut is the namesake of the historic ketch Falie.
My grandfather ran away to sea at 16, serving on various ketches along the Yorke Peninsula until he was commandeered for the Navy during WWII. Amongst some of our bits and pieces belonging to him are his beautiful scrapbooks tracing his journeys whilst away at sea.
Both my father and my brother, Thomas, have the sea in their bones. Lulu, Edith Alice and Pengana are names I’ve grown up with indeed.
Much of the family’s history is rooted in Port Adelaide and there are a number of treasures in the Maritime Museum that come from various family members or reflect their stories.
It’s a great little family history to be part of.”
Julia had sent me those details because I had written about the Garnaut family a couple of times earlier. The first time was published in the Marine Life Society of South Australia Inc. Newsletter, August 2012 (No. 394): -
“Thomas Garnaut by Steve Reynolds
Thomas Garnaut was born in Hayle, Cornwall in 1812. In September 1837, he married Honor Gudge in Swansea, in Glamorgan, West Glamorgan, Wales. Their first child, a son called Louis Garnaut, was born in St Ives, Cornwall, England in 1839. Their second child, another son called Giles Gudge Garnaut, was born on 18th May 1846, also in Cornwall. Thomas Garnaut was a Master Mariner and the ship’s captain. He and his family came to South Australia from Cornwall, England in 1846, aboard the Gratitude. Thomas and Honor had two more children after they arrived in Australia. Thomas Garnaut (Jnr.) was born 1st August 1854 (dist. Pt. Adelaide). Amelia Garnaut was born 26th July 1857 (also dist. Pt. Adelaide). Louis immigrated to South Australia on-board the Gratitude. He arrived in SA in 1849. Louis married Mary Cosgriff and together they had seven children. (Their daughter Mary Ann married Patrick Meegan and they also had a large family. Patrick & his son Richard were both ketch owners, and Richard Meegan owned the (original) One and All at one time.) Many more ‘Garnauts’ were born over the years. Honor died on 7th December 1876, aged 61 years, in Port Adelaide. Thomas Garnaut (Snr.) died on 22nd January 1880, aged 68, at Rosewater. The main reason for my detailing all of the above is due to this stained glass window found in St Mary’s Church in Dale Street, Port Adelaide: -
Close-up of window Stained glass window in St Mary’s Church Close-up of dedication to Thomas Garnaut
I had noticed that there was a dedication to Thomas Garnaut at the bottom of the stained glass window. It is not, however, clear which Thomas Garnaut it refers to. The church was built in 1858. As mentioned above, Thomas Garnaut (Snr.) died on 22nd January 1880, aged 68, at Rosewater. There have been a few more Thomas Garnauts over the years, including: - A Thomas Giles Garnaut was born 23-9-1874 at Glanville to Thomas Garnaut & Mary Ann Ferrey. A Thomas Bernard Garnaut was born 3-5-1885 at Glanville to Thomas (Bernard?) Garnaut & Mary Philomena (Falie) Kelly. (A Thomas Bernard Garnaut & a Falie Kelly had a son named Louis Richard Garnaut on 28-3-1879 at Glanville.) A Thomas Gudge Garnaut was born 5-6-1896 at Rosewater to Giles Gudge Garnaut (son of Thomas Garnaut Snr.) & Ruth Duffield. A Thomas Bernard Garnaut was born 13-5-1904 (Died June 1943?) at Alberton to Louis Bernard Garnaut & Annie Horne. A Thomas Garnaut died at Peterhead 13-4-1906, aged 46years (Born around 1860). According to "Autobiography of Gulf St Vincent South Australia & the Port River" by Laurie Garnaut (at http://mp3pray.com/lauriegarnaut/autobiography/), Laurie’s Grandmother (Garnaut) told him that during the French Revolution his great-grandfather’s family fled France to Ireland, and he eventually finished up in Australia as Captain of a sailing ship. While he was in Melbourne, his crew deserted for the Goldfields in Ballarat and his ship was sold, so he got married and settled in South Australia. His son Tom (Laurie’s Grandfather) went to Ireland as Captain of a sailing ship, and bought out a load of migrants. He married one of his passengers, a Nary Kelly from Dublin, and they settled in South Australia. Laurie’s grandfather had five sisters, Mary Anne (Meegan) Kate (McLay) Margaretta (Riley) Helena (Fisher) and Hetty who was single. He and his wife had four children, Thomas Bernard (3-5-85) Richard Lawrence, Louis, and Falie (Broun). THE DINEENS Daniel Dineen, a Master Mariner from Ireland married a girl from England with the surname Kestrel. They had six children, Daniel, Mary (Laurie’s mother) Doss (Hawkes), Norma (Doyle), Eunice (Ralston) and Eva (a Sister of Mercy in Western Australia. Sister Eva died 18-1-95). Thomas Bernard Garnaut married Mary Dineen in South Australia in 1907 and they had seven children: - Thomas Daniel, born 14-5-1909. Married Jean Rowe from Wallaroo Sth. Aust. in 1938, both are deceased, Tom died in Cairns 15-10-84. (No Children) Mona, born 1910, died about 1917 from Diphtheria. John Authur II, born-3-12. Married Mary Pay from Norward, Sth. Aust. 3I-8-40, Jack died and is buried in Christchurch, N.Z. 6-4-73. (Four Children) Mary died and is buried in Picton, N.Z. Robert Joseph, born 4-4-15, married Thelma Wong from Victoria about I944, they had five children. Robert died 18-9-99. Louis, born about 1916, died accidentally six months later. Monica Philomenia, born 10-3-22, married John (Jack) Schar from Goodwood, Sth. Aust. 25-8-45. Jack died 25-11-72. They had seven children. Richard Lawrence, born 31-8-18, married Agnes Kathleen Eaton from Herberton, Qld. Agnes was born 7-12-18. They were married in St Patricks Cathedral, Melbourne 18-1-47. They had six children. Agnes died 30-9-99. Many of the Garnauts and their relatives were either masters or crew for various ketches and schooners, including the Falie, the Nelcebee and the (original) One & All. There are many details regarding some of the Garnauts at the Laurie and Agnes Garnaut Memorial at http://mp3pray.com/monicaschar/. ‘Laurie’ is Richard Lawrence Garnaut who was born at Semaphore on 31st August 1918. His Aunt Philomena married a Captain Andreas Broun*. Prior to Broun’s marriage to Philomena (Mary Philomena Kelly), he went to Holland to bring the newly-built schooner Hollands Trouw out to Port Adelaide for the Spencer(’s)* Gulf Transport Co. Ltd. He renamed the schooner Falie, a name used for his (future) wife, Philomena. (Andreas Broun is sometimes referred to as ‘Andrew Brown’.) THE FALIE According to “The Fricker Story” by Ronald Parsons, the Falie arrived “from Holland in 1923, travelling via Cape of Good Hope, in the name of ‘Spencer Gulf Transport Company’.” Captain Andreas ‘Brown’ is said to have been a prominent member of the group before it became a limited company. ‘Brown’ (Broun) had been “in partnership with members of the Garnaut family” in 1918 when they “purchased the ketch Lillie May” (Seemingly the shipwrecked ketch at Cape Elizabeth in Spencer Gulf). He renamed the Hollands Trouw the Falie “in honour of Falie Garnaut, whom he subsequently married. The Garnaut family had long ties with the gulf trades in South Australia.” According to Broun’s daughter (to his 3rd wife), Judith, her father designed and “commissioned the building of the ‘Falie’ in Holland and then crewed it (alone) back to Australia”. He “had designed it for his Spencer Gulf Transport Company”. * Broun, however, had picked up his nephews in Norway for the voyage back to South Australia. The voyage is said to have taken either 90 or 103 days. There may be a couple of reasons for this anomaly. Broun did an initial run which nearly ended in tragedy when the vessel hit a submerged rock. Then there was the stop-off to pick up his nephews from Norway on the second run. The 90 days of sailing is said to have been ‘from England’. They arrived in Port Adelaide on 31st August 1923.
The Falie (Taken by Steve Reynolds)
The Falie was ‘retired’ from service 59 years later, in 1982. Her Captain, Bill Heritage, had been in command of her for 14 years. There is much more to the story of the Falie. She now lies idle in the Port River, moored by the Port Adelaide TAFE. But I digress. According to “Ketches of South Australia” by Ronald Parsons, the ketch Lulu was owned by Robert Ritch & Thomas Bernard Garnaut about 1925. The Lulu was then abandoned on the bank of the Port River in the mid-1930s. According to the web page found at http://mp3pray.com/lauriegarnaut/thegulf/ , the Lulu “was finally beached in the Port Adelaide River and broken up about 1937. The Lulu of 43 tons was built by Grant and Company of Belfast (Port Fairy), Victoria, she was square stern, fifty five feet long with a beam of just over sixteen feet with a seven foot draught. She was two masted with a Jib, Staysail, Main and Mizzen, and she carried a Main and Mizzen Topsails, however like most other Ketches the Topsails and Topmasts were removed when she became equipped with an engine. Prior to the engine era she carried around a thousand bags of Barley and about eight hundred and fifty bags of wheat.” In “Ketches of South Australia”, Parsons goes on to say, “The late TB Garnaut was a well known ketch skipper and at the time of his death in June 1943 the press reported that he was thought to have won more of the ketch races held off Outer Harbour (sic) than any other ketch skipper”. ‘LAURIE’ GARNAUT According to the web page found at http://mp3pray.com/lauriegarnaut/thegulf/, Captain Garnaut was one of the well-known ketch masters and his sons spent most of their early lives going to sea with him. They only attended school between trips. Laurie was the youngest boy of seven children. He was born in Semaphore on 31st August 1918. He was named after one of his father’s brothers, Captain Richard Lawrence Garnaut. The captain also had a son called Richard, so Laurie was always known as ‘Laurie' to avoid confusion. When he was about two years old, his dad had a house built at 73 Fletcher Road, Birkenhead. Laurie lived there right up until he joined the Navy in 1936. Laurie left the Navy in 1950 and then lived in Cairns, Queensland. Laurie also had a son called Richard Lawrence (Laurie). THE LULU Laurie Snr. says that his mother took him to sea when he was only a few weeks old, and practically all his ketch life was in the Lulu. “Wheat and barley were our main cargoes, and it arrived down at the ship’s side on a small railway truck loaded with about eighty three bushel bags. The wheat weighed up to two hundred pounds, and the barley about one hundred and. fifty pounds, the bags were slid down onto the hatch on a shute, and passed down into the hold (my job) onto a waist high stack then carried and stowed by Dad and my brother Jack. After the hold was filled, the hatches replaced, and a tarpaulin tightly stretched over the top and another hundred odd bass stacked on top, and then covered with another tarpaulin and lashed down so as the deck load as it was called would not move in heavy seas. After the Lulu and most other ketches were fitted with engine rooms and lost cargo space in their holds, to trim the vessel it was necessary to stack on either side right aft cargo, the steering wheel instead of out in the open would be surrounded by stacks of grain. Dunnage was used to keep the bags clear of the deck and well covered with tarpaulins, so it is not hard to imagine what it was like to be fully loaded and caught up in one of those southerly busters in the middle of winter, we would be wet cold and miserable, and usually a plank or two would open up and taking it in turns man the pump to keep the bilges dry, and the most pleasant moment was the Outer Harbour breakwater and calm water then home. On arrival back in Port Adelaide we would go alongside whatever vessel we had cargo for, and the waterside workers came on board and put around thirteen bags in rope slings and the ships winches would lift them out. We never had to handle the cargo or use any of our gear to unload. There were occasions when the grain may be for the local market, then we had to unload it ourselves using our own gear, and that was a long job because with a little engine we had on deck we could only lift two bags at a time, and prior to the engine I remember a horse being used on the wharf connected to our derrick and the grain was lifted out in that manner. Any spillage would be swept up after, and our chooks at home must have been the best fed in Birkenhead. There were times when the last bag was lifted out we would be on our way again down the river for another load, and by the time we went through the Outer Harbour breakwater into the open sea all the hatches would be in place over the hold and covered with a tarpaulin and everything battened down ready for another South Westerly battering or a nice smooth trip, life was certainly never dull. I remember one trip when I was only fourteen at the time, we took on a full load at Port Vincent on the Tuesday, my brother Tom loaded up before us, he was the Skipper and owner of the Edith Alice and he sailed for home at midday. The Old Man (Those old skippers were always affectionately known as the Old Man. Even in my Navy days, it was always the Old Man) told Tom not to leave but he knew it all and said he would race the expectant gale home. By the time we had finished loading, it was blowing a howling gale, so we waited and got under way at daylight the next morning. When we sailed on that Wednesday morning, it was still blowing but had eased considerably and with the winds and seas on our starboard quarter, and we looked like enjoying and having a fast trip home. When we were on our way and about twenty miles into the gulf, Dad, who had eyes like a hawk, spotted a speck on the horizon and said it was a fishing cutter in difficulties. Jack and I were ready to argue with him, but that was not on, so we put the Lulu about on the other tack, which was not an easy job fully loaded in those seas. However, it was a fishing cutter and he was sinking and the lone fisherman could not swim. We got a line on board and, because of the heavy seas, we could not get aboard, so my Dad put me over the side with a life line, and I went hand over hand down the tow line, and the fisherman, Joe Vanente, helped me aboard, and between the two of us we were able to check the flow of water. In the meantime Dad headed for what was known then as Long Spit, it is a long sandy spit always covered with water and stretched for miles out into the gulf somewhere between Pt Wakefield and the Outer Harbour, and at the end of the spit was a flashing light beacon, and it was a great haven for ketches and all types of other craft to get in behind the spit, it was good anchorage and a good spot to ride a storm out. When we arrived, the Edith Alice was there, she had been caught in the gale the day before, and blew out her main and mizzen sails and was having engine trouble, so Dad decided to stop and help Edith Alice, and after we made repairs to the fishing cutter and pumped her dry it was about 8pm on the Wednesday night so Dad told me to take the cutter to Pt Adelaide. Joe had to bail the whole way, but we made it O.K. It was about 11pm when we went past the Outer Harbour wharves, and told the wharf watchman to organise a slip for us and when we arrived at Port Adelaide the slip was ready and waiting for us. Joe was really overcome and wanted to give me the world and he told me I had a friend for life, but strange to say I have never seen or heard of him since. The good part about that experience was home for the weekend and what we always hoped for. I felt I stole a march on the others, and mum did not believe me for a while. Lulu and Edith Alice arrived on Monday morning. (I found a battered old cutting from the Advertiser (1932). Surname is spelt wrong and Black Pond should have been Black Point.)”
The second time was published in the July 2021 edition of the Gangway Bulletin (No.157): -
“The Falie, the Brouns & the Garnauts
At first glance, this may appear to be the gravesite for a ship! According to The South Australian Ketch Fleet’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/234583500036716/photos/a.237879926373740/1732394916922226/ , it is the grave site of Mary Philimona Broun, otherwise known as Falie, the wife of Captain Andreas Broun. “In 1923, the …. Spencers Gulf Transport Company sent Captain Andreas Broun to Europe to find a suitable ship ….. Captain Broun eventually came across the schooner "Hollands Trouw", ….. (and) purchased her on behalf of the Company. …. Captain Broun named the new ship "Falie", after his wife, Mary Philimona (Falie) Broun.” Mary Philimona (Falie) Broun died on the 5th of August 1925. Her grave is at the Cheltenham Cemetery. According to the death notices found on Trove, she was the only daughter of the late Captain Thomas Garnaut* and his wife. She died aged 42, just two years after the Falie’s arrival in Port Adelaide in 1923. The death notice found on Trove reads: - "BROUN (nee Garnaut). — On the 4th August, at private hospital, Mary Philimona (Falie), dearly beloved wife of Capt. Andreas Broun, and only daughter of the late Capt. Thomas and Mrs. Garnaut, of Sandwell street, Peterhead, aged 42 years."
Thomas Garnaut was a Master Mariner who was born in Hayle, Cornwall in 1812. He married Honor Gudge in Swansea, Wales in September 1837. They had two sons, both born in Cornwall. Garnaut and his family came to South Australia aboard the Gratitude in 1846. Thomas and Honor had two more children in Port Adelaide after they arrived in Australia. Thomas Garnaut (Jnr.) was born 1st August 1854 and Amelia Garnaut was born 26th July 1857. Their older son, Louis also immigrated to South Australia on-board the Gratitude in 1849. Louis married Mary Cosgriff and together they had seven children. Their daughter Mary Ann married Patrick Meegan and they also had a large family. Patrick Meegan & his son Richard were both ketch owners. Richard Meegan owned the (original) One and All at one time. Many more ‘Garnauts’ were born over the years. Honor Garnaut died in Port Adelaide on 7th December 1876, aged 61. Thomas Garnaut (Snr.) died at Rosewater on 22nd January 1880, aged 68. This stained-glass window, overleaf, can be found in St Mary’s Church, Dale Street, Port Adelaide: -
Stained glass window. Close-up of window. Close-up of dedication to Thomas Garnaut.
There is a dedication to Thomas Garnaut at the bottom of the stained glass window. It is not, however, clear which Thomas Garnaut it refers to. The church was built in 1858. As mentioned above, Thomas Garnaut (Snr.) died on 22nd January 1880, aged 68, at Rosewater. There have been a few more Thomas Garnauts over the years, including: -
Thomas Giles Garnaut who was born 23-9-1874 at Glanville to Thomas Garnaut & Mary Ann Ferrey.
Thomas Bernard Garnaut who was born 3-5-1885 at Glanville to Thomas Bernard Garnaut & Mary Philomena (Falie) Kelly.
Thomas Gudge Garnaut who was born 5-6-1896 at Rosewater to Giles Gudge Garnaut (son of Thomas Garnaut Snr.) & Ruth Duffield.
Thomas Bernard Garnaut who was born 13-5-1904 at Alberton to Louis Bernard Garnaut & Annie Horne (and died June 1943?).
A Thomas Garnaut who died at Peterhead 13-4-1906, aged 46years (so born around 1860).
It is, however, thought that the dedication to Thomas Garnaut at the bottom of the stained-glass window refers to the first Thomas Garnaut, Thomas Garnaut Snr. More details can be found in my article titled “Thomas Garnaut” which was published in the August 2012 MLSSA Newsletter.
According to The South Australian Ketch Fleet’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/234583500036716/photos/a.237879926373740/1732394916922226/ , “Captain Andreas Broun died in Dulacca, QLD, in Jan 1932, he was found dead in his paddock with a broken neck. Apparently, he fell from a horse. He is buried in the Miles, QLD Cemetery.” “
Just recapping on the message received from Julia: -
“I am the granddaughter of Robert Joseph Garnaut, his father way Capt. Thomas Bernard Garnaut whose father was Louise Bernard Garnaut. Louise’s daughter, Philomenia Garnaut is the namesake of the historic ketch Falie.”
As I wrote above, “A Thomas Bernard Garnaut** was born 13-5-1904 (Died June 1943?) at Alberton to Louis Bernard Garnaut*** & Annie Horne. …..
Thomas Bernard Garnaut** married Mary Dineen in South Australia in 1907 and they had seven children: - (including) Robert Joseph*, born 4-4-15, married Thelma Wong from Victoria about I944, they had five children. Robert died 18-9-99. …..”
* Robert Joseph Garnaut, Julia’s grandfather
** Capt. Thomas Bernard Garnaut, Julia’s great grandfather
*** Louise Bernard Garnaut, Julia’s great, great grandfather
And “Both my father and my brother, Thomas, have the sea in their bones. Lulu*, Edith Alice and Pengana* are names I’ve grown up with indeed.”
* Lulu, Edith Alice and Pengana are names of some of the family’s ketches – “According to “Ketches of South Australia” by Ronald Parsons, the ketch Lulu was owned by Robert Ritch & Thomas Bernard Garnaut about 1925. The Lulu was then abandoned on the bank of the Port River in the mid-1930s. According to the web page found at http://mp3pray.com/lauriegarnaut/thegulf/ , the Lulu “was finally beached in the Port Adelaide River and broken up about 1937. The Lulu of 43 tons was built by Grant and Company of Belfast (Port Fairy), Victoria, she was square stern, fifty five feet long with a beam of just over sixteen feet with a seven foot draught. She was two masted with a Jib, Staysail, Main and Mizzen, and she carried a Main and Mizzen Topsails, however like most other Ketches the Topsails and Topmasts were removed when she became equipped with an engine. Prior to the engine era she carried around a thousand bags of Barley and about eight hundred and fifty bags of wheat.” …… Laurie (Garnaut) Snr. says that his mother took him to sea when he was only a few weeks old, and practically all his ketch life was in the Lulu. ……. my brother Tom loaded up before us, he was the Skipper and owner of the Edith Alice and he sailed for home at midday.”
I thank Julia for the details that she sent to me, bringing me to review my past writings.
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