The following photo and story was kindly sent in by Jan Merry, Thomas Smith Ickeringill is her relative.
Residents of Southern Cross: Bob the Pieman, Tom Ickeringill and Jock Mavor -Photo Jan Merry
This is a fascinating picture showing some of the colourful characters of the Outback.
My relative is Thomas Smith Ickeringill, second from left. He looks relatively prosperous in contrast to the two gentlemen either side of him. They are standing in front of the Exchange Hotel, Bullfinch. I’m guessing the pram or perambulator carried someone’s worldly goods, as well as the pies, perhaps! Best not to think too hard on that one. The dog slinking away is a priceless image. He looks afraid he will end up in the pies. (:
Thomas Smith Ickeringill was born in 1875 Daylesford, Victoria. He and his seven siblings moved to Kalgoorlie around 1900. Thomas can be found in Kalgoorlie-Boulder in 1908 when he applied for a gold mining lease. By 1921 he’s listed as a carrier in Bullfinch. On 27 October 1923 he became publican of the Exchange Hotel after the licence was transferred to him. Thomas died in 1937 in Yilgarn, Southern Cross.
Like many others, his Ickeringill siblings scattered throughout the Outback finding work as they could. James was a collier with the Co-operative Mining Company near Collie River, dying aged 44 in Wyndham. Maurice Lewis became a teacher in Yundaga, Menzies. Charles was a butcher and dairyman in Norseman and so on.
Their parents, James and Sarah Ickeringill, lived out the remainder of their lives in Outback WA. Sarah died in Kalgoorlie and is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery, James is buried in the Karakatta Cemetery in Perth. Family members recently put a plaque in Coolgardie cemetery in memory of patriarch, James who emigrated from Yorkshire to Victoria aged 6. His mother died shortly after arrival. Six years later, his father died too, leaving James to fend for himself in Australia at just thirteen years old. After the tough life he’d had, his 21st Century family wanted to say to him, you have not been forgotten.
James Ickeringill -Karakatta Cemetery – Photo Jan Merry
Thomas Smith ICKERINGILL was born in Daylesford, Victoria in 1875 to parents James ICKERINGILL and Sarah LUCAS (aka LIVINGSTONE); he was their 3rd of their 11 children.
His family left Daylesford for Echuca, Victoria not long after his birth for a short time then by 1880 they were in Shepparton, where his father worked as a sawyer and Labourer. Around the mid 1890’s Thomas’ family went to find work in the black coal mining areas in the Korumburra district of Gippsland, Victoria; Thomas was by then a drummer in the Salvation Army. At the age of 23 in 1898,
Thomas Smith & Ellen Ickeringill – Photo Shirley Jones – Find a Grave
Thomas Smith ICKERINGILL married Ellen DORAN in Korumburra, Victoria where their first child was born the following year. Soon after, Thomas took his family to New Zealand’s South Island for a few years before they followed the rest of his family to the bustling West Australian goldfields area. Thomas & Ellen Ickeringill settled in the then thriving gold mining town of Kanowna, near Kalgoorlie. By 1911 he and his family were in Bullfinch, WA where Thomas worked as a carrier for many years. He later turned to farming and then became the hotel proprietor of the Exchange Hotel Bullfinch .Thomas Smith ICKERINGILL died in Bullfinch, Western Australia in 1937, leaving a wife and 2 children. His wife was Ellen DORAN and they married in Korumburra, Victoria in 1898, they had 2 children, Wilfred Roy born 1899 and Olive Linda born 1918.
Thomas Smith Ickeringill – Southern Cross Cemetery – photo aussiegenealogy – Find a Grave
Moya Sharp
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