Avon Calling

by Rodney Hammett, July 2025, from Bulletin 5/2025

A recent enquiry to the history–heritage website was particularly interesting:

Hi, In 1893 a relative (Elizabeth Squires) lived at 1 Owen Street, Glebe Point before she married Captain Thomas Kay of the ship ‘Earl of Dunmore’ at St Stephens Church, Phillip Street, Sydney on 6th February. I wonder if you have any information on this address as Owen Street no longer appears on maps. I would also like to find possible photos from that time. Any help would be most appreciated. If more appropriate, I can travel into Sydney to search more. Thank you so much, Kind regards, Shaun.

Answering these questions took me on a journey around the world, more than a few times, as I discovered the early purchases of the Lyndhurst subdivision in the 1880s, the methods of goods delivery to and from Australia in the 1890s, and a family that lived in Glebe for over 100 years.

I am indebted to Shaun Kay in Australia and Joseph Kay in the Shetland Islands, off the coast of Scotland, for sharing their family history and photographs.

Owen Street?

Owen Street once existed, not in Glebe, but between Bay Street and Wattle Street in Ultimo. A 1903 map from the City of Sydney archives clearly shows it (Figure 1). However, the name disappeared following ‘slum clearance’ soon after 1903. Part of the original route was named West End Lane, and it can be seen there today.

Investigating Elizabeth Squires led me to Ancestry, where, fortunately, a member had uploaded a copy of the marriage record of Captain Thomas Kay and Elizabeth Squires. Here I read that in 1893, Elizabeth had resided at 1 Avon Street, not 1 Owen Street – a transposition error might explain this. Intriguingly, the marriage record stated that Elizabeth was a widow. I imagine Shaun, our enquirer, had assumed that ‘Squires’ was Elizabeth’s name at birth, and so had I. To learn more about Elizabeth’s family of origin, I would need to keep digging.

I searched Trove to see if I could find any information about Captain Kay and Mrs Elizabeth Kay. It was my lucky day when I discovered a birth announcement on page 1 of the Sydney Morning Herald, dated 13 December 1902 (Figure 2).

With this information, I knew I had found Elizabeth and her married sister, Mrs A Wilkins, who was living next door at number 3 Avon Street. From this information and from consulting the Sands Directory, I determined that shortly before her marriage to Captain Kay, the widowed Elizabeth (Mrs Squires) was living at 1 Avon Street and her sister Christina (Mrs A Wilkins) was living next door at number 3 (see Figure 3 at the top of this page). Both were still there in 1902 (as per the birth notice), although by then Mrs Squires had become Mrs Kay.

I had a start, but many hours of research lay ahead – I’ll give you the potted version.

The Young family

It transpired that Elizabeth was born Elizabeth Young on 12 November 1857 at Auburn, South Australia. She was the second of five children of Scottish parents Andrew Young (1827–1875) and Christina Howden (1826–1869). Elizabeth’s oldest sibling, Christina, was born on 14 May 1852 in Midlothian, Scotland, and had travelled with their parents to Adelaide on the ship Shakamaxon from Liverpool, arriving on 19 January 1853. Christina Young became the Mrs A Wilkins of 3 Avon Street – more of that later.

Following their arrival in South Australia, the family travelled north about 120 km to the town of Auburn in the Clare Valley, then a small commercial centre for graziers with sheep and cattle. Andrew had been a coal miner in Scotland, along with his father and brothers, so he was seeking work as a miner. While the birth records of the subsequent three children list Auburn as their place of birth, the only mining in the area was the copper mine at Burra, located some 50 km to the northeast. In the 1850s, the copper was taken from Burra by bullock dray to Port Henry (now Port Wakefield) via Auburn. The fortunes of the Burra mine ebbed and flowed, so Andrew was not always employed. Hearing of the new coal mines at Newcastle, New South Wales, the family relocated there in 1862, and Andrew became a coal miner once again. Their youngest child, Jane, was born in Newcastle in 1863.

How much detail can you fit into a story? Suffice it to say that Andrew’s parents (Elizabeth’s grandparents) and siblings also travelled to South Australia. David Young, Andrew’s father, died on a sheep station towards the northern boundary of South Australia in 1859. Andrew’s mother, Dorothy, and six siblings made their way to Newcastle or Wollongong in the early 1860s.

On their relocation to Newcastle, the Young family settled in Hanbury Street, Waratah, and established a life that might have been considered reasonably pleasant. Newcastle was on the coast and the gateway to the fertile Hunter Valley and, with the discovery of coal, was fast becoming a boom town. Ships were bringing cargo in and out of the bustling port. However, any expectation of a comfortable future for the Young family was shattered when, in July 1869, Elizabeth’s mother, Christina, died aged only 43. This left Christina’s husband, Andrew, with five children, ranging in age from 6 to 17. A few years later, on 25 April 1875, Andrew was killed in a mining accident, aged only 47. I suspect that in the years following, relatives and friends of the orphaned Young children provided them with the necessary support.

Christina, Elizabeth’s older sister, married master mariner Captain Colin Chadwick in September 1870. Their children were John Colin (1871–1950), Christina J (1873–1956), Isabella Howden (1877–1960), William Andrew (1879–1881) and David Oliver (1881–1952). For many years, Captain Chadwick plied the seas between the east coast of NSW and New Zealand. However, with a growing family, he opted to stay closer to home, becoming the licensee of Newcastle’s Royal Standard Hotel in June 1879. Shortly after, in December 1881, Captain Chadwick died at age 45 of heart problems; their youngest child, David, was only 10 days old.

What brought sisters Christina and Elizabeth to Sydney, and Glebe, may never be known. We do know that Elizabeth married Edward William Squires in Glebe in 1885. Before his marriage to Elizabeth Young, Edward Squires had married Gertrude Rossiter in August 1879.¹ Gertrude and Edward’s first child, Horace, was born in 1881 and died the same year. Their second child, Mimmie, was born in 1882 and died in 1892. Gertrude herself died in August 1884, a month after the birth of their third child, William, who died in October the same year.

It’s difficult to write about all this tragedy, so, on a more cheerful note: not long after his marriage to Gertrude, Edward Squires was appointed in April 1880 as the Inspector of Nuisances for the Borough of Glebe.²

Elizabeth and Edward married the year after Gertrude’s death, and on 28 October 1886, Elizabeth gave birth to a son at their home, 1 Avon Street, whom they named Cecil Lancelot Squires. But Elizabeth and Edward’s time together was short. Edward died at home at 1 Avon Street on 28 July 1888, aged 34; Elizabeth was 31.

Numbers 1 and 3 Avon Street

Land title records show that in October 1882, Edward Squires took out a lease on Lot 15, Section 2 of the Lyndhurst subdivision. This is where we find number 1 Avon Street today. In the same month, the lot next door (3 Avon Street) was leased to William James Burton, who converted the lease to a purchase in August 1886. Described as a stonemason in 1877, William Burton was publican of the Tradesman’s Arms (1873) on Glebe Road and the Burton Family Hotel, St Johns Road (1877). From 1879, Burton was employed as a foreman of works on Glebe Council and later its Inspector of Nuisances, probably from the time Edward Squires died in 1888, until 1894. Burton was the publican of the Volunteer Hotel (1892) in the city. He served as a Glebe Alderman from 1888 to 1893.³

It is likely that 1 and 3 Avon Street were built by William Burton. Christina, whose husband, Captain Colin Chadwick, had died in 1881, purchased 3 Avon Street from William James Burton on 27 September 1886.⁴ A reasonable assumption is that Christina, with her five children, moved to Glebe from Newcastle in 1886, and from the proceeds from Colin Chadwick’s estate, was able to purchase 3 Avon Street. It is also possible that Colin and Christina knew master mariner Alfred Augustus Wilkins (who Christina later married) from when Colin was working as a sea captain, and that Alfred worked in or from Sydney Harbour. Christina married Alfred Wilkins in Glebe in 1886.

Despite Edward Squires leasing the land on which 1 Avon Street now stands, there is no record of the title being transferred to his name. The next title change is in 1948, from the Scottish Australian Investment Company Limited to Helen Jean Crowley, wife of Peter Joseph Crowley of Kalgoorlie, WA, an engineer.⁵

The life of a sea captain and family

Returning to the main characters in this story, I wanted to understand Captain Kay’s work as the captain of the four-masted barque, the Earl of Dunmore (Figure 5). Understandably, much shipping information was included in the daily newspapers of that time, because telephones were not in general use and of course it was some 100 years before the internet and emails.

Captain Kay, born in 1851 in the Shetland Islands, arrived in Newcastle from Rio De Janeiro on 25 January 1893. After a short turnaround, on 14 February, Captain Kay and the Earl of Dunmore departed for San Francisco with a load of coal – and with Elizabeth, whom he had married only a few days earlier, on 6 February. Arriving in San Francisco on 9 May, the coal was unloaded, and the barque relocated to Port Gamble in Washington State to load timber, departing on 5 September for Port Pirie in South Australia. After arriving in Port Pirie on 4 December and unloading the Washington State timber, the Earl of Dunmore was loaded with wheat bound for London. They departed on 4 January 1894. A general cargo may then have been loaded in London for delivery to New York, and it was a general cargo the Earl of Dunmore took from New York to Melbourne, departing on 16 August 1896. And so it went, sailing all over the world. Captain Kay did not return to Newcastle, or anywhere else on the east coast of NSW, until 27 March 1899.

What, you may ask, became of Cecil Lancelot Squires, born in October 1886 to Elizabeth and then-husband Edward Squires? Aged about six when the Earl of Dunmore departed Newcastle in December 1893 for San Francisco, we would have to assume he was on board with his mother. So, did he stay aboard all the time Captain Kay was travelling all over the world? We do know that at the age of 13, he was baptised at St Stephen’s Church, Upton Park (near London) on 13 December 1899.⁶ Cecil went on to marry Mary Cecilia Christ in Sydney in 1908. Their children were Edward (1908–1994), Leslie (1910–1964) and Ronald (1911–1979). They lived in Silver Street, Marrickville, where Cecil was a timber carter. Cecil died on 18 February 1922, aged only 35.

Research of the birth records in NSW, Victoria and South Australia have not yet found any children of Elizabeth and Captain Kay prior to the birth of Thomas Andrew Dunmore Kay in Glebe on 6 December 1902. Kay family records and Captain Kay’s death certificate show that Elizabeth and Captain Kay did have other children, but none survived – further research is required (see Figure 6).

Captain Kay and the Earl of Dunmore continued transporting cargo all over the world until August 1903, when while moored in Sydney Harbour waiting to discharge its cargo, a fire broke out in the barque’s hold. The vessel was taken to Rose Bay where it was sunk to extinguish the flames. Refloated a short time later, the Earl of Dunmore required significant repairs to its steel hull, and these were made at the Mort Dry Dock. Here captain and vessel parted company. Captain Kay had started sailing the Earl of Dunmore just after it was launched in 1891 in Glasgow, Scotland, so it would have been a sad parting after 12 years together.

But sailing is in your blood, and Captain Kay had started as a boy in 1863, so it is perhaps unsurprising that he retook the helm, this time on the four-masted barque Falls of Garry. It departed Sydney on 26 December 1903 for Falmouth, England, loaded up with wheat. Elizabeth remained in Glebe with their one-year-old son, Thomas, and Cecil Squires, then 13. The journey took a long 108 days. The vessel was sold in England, liberating Captain Kay to return to Australia in style and comfort, as a passenger on the White Star liner Afric, arriving on 27 August 1904.

Back sailing again in 1906, now as master of the three-masted barque Criffel, Captain Kay departed Sydney in July 1906 for Newcastle with some general cargo. There, he loaded coal and hardwood for Mollendo, Peru, and returned to Sydney in January 1907. Having loaded wheat and grain in Sydney, in February Kay sailed for Queenstown (now Cobh in County Cork, Ireland) where he arrived on 27 July 1907. They parted company there when the Criffel was sold. Captain Kay travelled as a passenger on the steamer, Salamis, departing 31 August, bound for Sydney, arriving home on 19 October.

The agents for the Salamis advertised in the Sydney papers for racing enthusiasts to depart Sydney for Melbourne on 2 November, arriving on 4 November, just in time for the running of the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday 5 November. Captain Kay and Elizabeth, with Cecil (aged 21) and Thomas (aged 5), availed themselves of this excursion and witnessed the favourite Apologue, a three-year-old bred in New Zealand, win the race by three-quarters of a length. They may have even won some money. Tragically, though, Captain Kay fell ill after the race and was admitted to the Homoeopathic Hospital in St Kilda Road, where he died on 11 November. His body was brought to Sydney, then buried at the Waverley Cemetery on 14 November – he was 56. His death certificate lists his children from oldest to youngest as Cecil (in fact he was a stepson), a son (deceased), a daughter (deceased) and Thomas (b.1902).

By 1907, Elizabeth had moved to Durham Road, Dulwich Hill, with her son Thomas. Cecil married in 1908. After her husband’s death, Elizabeth and Thomas left Dulwich Hill, possibly for North Sydney, and then settled at 44 King William Street, Greenwich. Thomas worked as a clerk, living with his mother until she died at the age of 83, at home on 6 July 1940, and was buried with her husband in the Waverley Cemetery. As inscribed on their memorial (Figure 7), they were ‘united at last’. Son Thomas was the only relative mentioned in Elizabeth’s death notice.⁷ Thomas’ name hit the headlines in 1946 when he was involved in some scandalous behaviour, which led to him living with Ida Lewis, his co-accused. Thomas continued living in Greenwich and died there in 1977.

The Wilkins of 3 Avon Street

Now back to the Wilkins family. Christina Wilkins (born Young) and husband Alfred continued living at 3 Avon Street until they purchased a house at 35a Denison Street, Lewisham in June 1924.⁸ Alfred (or Gus as he was sometimes called) was now a contractor mainly working for the NSW Railways at Darling Harbour. Christina died in 1927 at the age of 75. The ownership of 3 Avon Street passed to her youngest son from her first marriage, David Oliver Chadwick, a crane driver, who with his wife Zillah (they married in 1908) had been living at 3 Avon Street with their seven children. Of these children, only five survived to adulthood: Christina (1913–1966), Albert (1916–1983), Jean (1918–1988), John (1921–2006) and Elizabeth (1924–?). When David Oliver died in 1952, ownership of 3 Avon Street was transferred to Zillah, and upon her death in 1966, it was transferred to her son, Albert, a driver. Son John had enlisted for World War Two in September 1943, serving with the 53/55 Infantry Battalion, first with garrison duty in Townsville, then in Bougainville, against the Japanese. Following the end of hostilities in 1945, his unit undertook garrison duties in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, until early 1946, and John was discharged in April of that year. Returning to 3 Avon Street, he became a furnaceman. When Albert died in 1983, ownership of the house was transferred to John. John died in 2006, aged 85, but research has not yet established when 3 Avon Street was sold, but we can sure it was owned by the Chadwick family for over 100 years.

Footnotes: 1. Trove; NSW Government Gazette, 13 Apr 1880, p.1743; 2. An ‘Inspector of Nuisances’ was a public official tasked with maintaining cleanliness, safety, and hygiene within the borough. Their duties included enforcing regulations, investigating complaints, and prosecuting violations related to public health, sanitation, and order; 3. City of Sydney; Sydney’s Aldermen; 4. NSW LRS; Vol 806 Fol 125; 5. NSW LRS; Vol 5356 Fol 180; 6. Ancestry; Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms; 7. Trove; SMH; 13 Jul 1940, p12; 8. NSW LRS; Vol 3415 Fol 93.