Donald and Catherine McKinnon

© Copyright Geoffrey Svenson 2022
Edited 4th August 2024

When William Coomber opened his Welcome Inn on Caleula Creek, Donald and Catherine McKinnon had lived in the vicinity for about three years. They called their land “Glenfinnon” after the town in the west country of Scotland that had been their home before migrating to New South Wales.

The story of Donald and Catherine McKinnon contains quite a few links to that of William Coomber and his misfortunes. But before launching into that relationship we need to introduce another player – Sir William Verner, usually referred to as Colonel Verner in any mention of him in New South Wales[1].  

Sir William was a substantial landowner in County Armargh and County Tyrone, Northern  Ireland. He also leased a pastoral holding in New South Wales named Mumble[2] at the time William Coomber opened his White Horse Inn at Nurea in 1841.

Mumble stretched from the banks of the Macquarie River to Black Rock [3] on the Bell River  21 or  22 kilometers to the west.   Verner had leased the run since at least 1840 and also held a property named Glanmire, east of Bathurst. As the White Horse Inn at Nurea was almost adjacent to the western boundary of the Mumble Run it seems extremely likely that Coomber became known to the majority of people employed or involved with that enterprise.

Verner had a number of people engaged in the day to day operations of the Mumble run,. Initially his the head man, supervisor, or overseer of Mumbil – David Johnstone – was resident at Verner’s other property –Glanmire with Donald McKinnon employed at Mumble or Glanmire in some lesser role from shortly after his marriage at Green Swamp. However, there is quite clear evidence[7] that McKinnon was directly linked to Mumble between 1850 and 1854, probably as overseer, but certainly as the main contact in regard to the administration of the Run.  

Donald had arrived in Australia from Leochaber[4], Scotland, on 2 January 1839 aboard the Ship Boyne [5], with his father Ewan, mother Marcella (nee McMullin), and their six children. Donald, the second-oldest, was 28 years old. 

 An earlier immigrant ship, the  Brilliant, which arrived in Sydney on 24 January 1838, brought another family from Scotland – Lachlan McKay, his wife Ann, and five children.

Lachlan McKay’s second daughter, Catherine, became Donald McKinnon’s wife in a ceremony held at the Green Man Inn on Green Swamp just east of Bathurst and less than six kilometers from Sir William’s Glanmire  Run. The year  is uncertain but was probably 1841.[6]  Catherine’s father was licensee of the Green Man from 1839 to 1842 after which he was, until 1846, licensee of the inn at Meadow Flat, a little further along the road towards Sydney.

Of considerable significance to the underlying story of McKinnons Spring, Andrew Taylor Kerr, later a magistrate in Orange, and for a short period, MLA for Orange, was also married at Green Swamp in 1841 when Catherine McKinnon’s father, Lachlan, was licensee of the Inn, and at much the same time as Donald and Catherine McKinnon were married there. While a magistrate in Orange, Kerr was involved with the annual licensing meetings, and acted in that capacity at the hearing in April 1858 when William Coomber was finally granted a certificate allowing him a Publican’s License for the Welcome Inn on Caleula Creek. And so the connections between William Coomber, Donald and Catherine McKinnon and Andrew Kerr start to become apparent…

In the early 1840s Donald McKinnon almost certainly became acquainted with William Coomber, either through Coomber being licensee of White Horse Inns in Kelso (1840) and Bathurst (1841) or through Coomber’s opening of the White Horse Inn  (1843) at Nurea. However, by January 1854, an advertisement in the Bathurst Free Press indicates that McKinnon had been replaced at Mumble by a Walter Miller[8].  That year McKinnon applied to purchase Country Lot 27, on Caleula Creek[9] – the first block to be taken up in the vicinity. He and Catherine named their purchase “Glenfinnon”[10]  – the name of a hamlet in the west of Scotland where Donald McKinnon had been born 43 years before[11].

Another probable link between the McKinnon family, Sir William Verner and Coomber is through Donald McKinnon’s younger brother, who, in 1852, became an innkeeper at Limekilns, not far from Sir William’s Glanmire property.[12]  Duncan McKinnon would likely have known some of the people employed on Verner’s property, as well as Coomber from the latter’s time a Bathurst.

The history outlined above of several people who were associated with each other in various ways during the 1840s and 1850s suggests the possibility of a quite strong bond between the McKinnons, the McKays and the Coombers. That Andrew Taylor Kerr, later to become a magistrate at Orange and the local member of the Legislative Assembly, was a contemporary of Donald McKinnon and his new wife, Catherine, at Green Swamp in 1840 or 1841 tends to complete a circle of relationships that combined to support William Coomber when he most needed help almost twenty years later. In this regard, an article dated 27^th February 1837, reproduced in part below, suggests the nature of arrangements that were put in place by Donald McKinnon and his wife Catherine, with assistance from Andrew Kerr when ‘things came to a head’ for William Coomber in 1859.

THE LICENSING SYSTEM

It is generally admitted that in consequence of the repeated warnings of the press on the matter, greater caution was exercised at the last Annual Licensing Meeting than had been before the case, and the result was that many objectionable persons, who had previously held licenses, were refused them.  But there is an evil which can only be checked by the constables doing their duty impartially, and that is that licenses are frequently taken out in the name of a person who is perhaps only a servant in the house, while the actual publican is some old offender who has been refused a license in his own name. This a matter of notoriety for a house which is nominally licensed to Tom Styles, is spoken of by the police, as well as others, as Bill Jackson’s or Jack Nokes’.

Nay, it is not long since one of the Inspectors of police, in giving evidence that he had apprehended a man in  – –  – “Does – – – keep a public-house?” enquired Colonel Wilson, “No” was the reply, “but he lives there, the license is in – – – name.” So far so true, but the Inspector well knew that the house was kept by the man he had named, who had been refused a license in consequence of his having been “in trouble”… [13]

William Coomber appears to have left his wife and children behind at Summer Hill when he tried to start over on Caleula Creek in 1857. However, the magistrates at the 1857 licensing meeting in Orange refused to allow him the necessary certificate for the grant of a license for his new premises, on account of his ”unconquerable drinking propensity”[14]. That year he appears to have made use of the law regarding the grant of licenses[15], in that he did not announce the opening of his new premises until 21st October 1857, so avoiding the need to face the magistrates until April of 1858. At the 1858 Licensing meetings Andrew Taylor Kerr, together with one other magistrate and sureties from Edward Nicholls (or Nichols) and Frederick Irvine, stepped in to ensure Coomber received a certificate for his Welcome Inn. No specific information has been found in relation to the two sureties, but Nicholls appears to have been related to the licensee of a hotel at Summer Hill. Irvine was, in later years, proprietor of a coach line[16] as indicated by a photograph in the Holterman Collection[17].  Edward Nicholls was later an unsuccessful candidate for office at the first election of Councillors for the Municipality of Orange on 9^th February 1860. 

It would seem that no publican’s license was granted to Coomber for the 1859 year, but when the time came to apply to the magistrates for a certificate at the following year’s meeting on17^th April 1860, Donald McKinnon stepped in and applied for the certificate in his own name[18]. Both Donald and Catherine would have been aware, from their family relationships, of the difficulties faced by innkeepers who tended to consume more than their proper share of the wares they purveyed. Clearly they also knew William Coomber and had probably followed his trail of woes from the beginning in 1840. Once again  Andrew Taylor Kerr was one of the magistrates approving the certificate, with sureties being given by Alexander Parker and Daniel Kennedy. Also in 1860, Donald McKinnon took the step of purchasing the land upon which the Welcome Inn  had most likely been erected[19] thus allowing William Coomber to retain access to the few assets he possessed.

Donald McKinnon died of cancer two years later, on 27^th July, 1862 and was buried alongside his father in the General Cemetery at Bathurst.

Upon Donald McKinnon’s death his first-born son,  Alexander,  inherited his estate[20]. Interestingly, the Registrar General of NSW has no record of Alexander McKinnon’s birth, but as indicated by his gravestone in the General Cemetery at Orange he died, aged 21 years, on 16^th February, 1868. 

Although Alexander McKinnon inherited his father’s estate, Catherine McKinnon became licensee of the hotel on Caleula Creek. There is scant record of the Welcome Inn from this point onwards. However, the reason probably relates more to the loss of historical resources than to a lack of news. In this regard, the archives of a local newspaper – The Western Examiner[21] – published in Orange from 1861 to 1875, are said to have been destroyed by the flooding of a basement in which they were stored. Of another newspaper – The Western Advocate – there is also scant record. One or two issues of these newspapers survive, but a few items did appear in the Sydney press, some of which were attributed to the aforementioned sources..  Of these, the following is of particular interest…

REWARD – To District Constables and Others – A carrier giving the name of GEORGE WILSON, and stating that he lived within fifteen miles of Molong, loaded a four-horse team on the 7^th March last for Bathurst and Glenfinnon, near Orange, and has not since been heard of.

The loading consisted of – 4 cases drapery and slops, RW in diamond, Nos 85, 94, 98 and 103; and one hogshead Martell’s brandy, quarter-cask sherry, 5 mats sugar, 1 bag rice, 1 chest congou, HB in diamond, choice oopack congon; 1 box soap, 2 bags salt, and case sundries.

The person giving the name George Wilson is quite a young man, thin, and with dark hair. Any person giving such information as will lead to the recovery of the property or conviction of the party will be handsomely rewarded by applying to JOSIAH HARPUR and CO., 426, George-street, Sydney.  [22]

In addition, a few articles appeared in the Sydney press in the 1870s which are useful in dating the evidence for mining operations variously located in the vicinity of McKinnon’s Spring. In regard to these it should be noted that, although Country Lot 27 and Country Lot 40 had been purchased by Donald McKinnon, the remaining blocks that now make up McKinnon’s Spring were at this stage Crown lands, and remained so until at least 1886.

The articles mostly relate to gold mining operations in the vicinity of Mrs McKinnon’s Glenfinnon. But the last mention of Glenfinnon, “about 18 miles from Orange” is that she had sent an 8 cwt piece of marble to be polished in Sydney, before being put on display at “The Exhibition”.[23].  This “beautiful specimen” had come from “(a) locality… on the Stony Creek road… within a very short distance of the railway line[24] from Orange to Dubbo and in close proximity to the platform about to be erected.” The exhibition, of course, was the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879, in the Garden Palace. The platform yet to be built was that at Mullion Creek, and the marble came from the marble quarry not so far away, west of the railway.

The  Garden Palace was destroyed by fire in the early morning of 22^nd September 1882 together with a significant part of the colonial archives and, probably, an 8 cwt piece of marble from the vicinity of Mullion Creek…

Licensing of the Welcome Inn

A detailed evaluation of licensing certificate records as published in the NSW Government Gazette, and of Publicans’ Licenses issued, was completed using copies of the Gazette now available on line. In so doing, close attention was paid to the location and name of the hotels for which the licenses were issued, and the licensee involved, with two underlying objectives:

1. To consider the possibility that William Coomber was the actual host at the Welcome Inn on Caleula Creek even though Catherine McKinnon held the license and probably maintained an oversight of the premises.
2. To evaluate the possibility that when a Welcome Inn opened in Orange about 1880, Catherine McKinnon had transferred the license from Caleula Creek.

The outcome of this assessment was to conclude that:

1. The Welcome Inn on Caloola Creek was licensed to Catherine McKinnon continuously from 1 July 1865 until 30 June 1880. No license was issued after that date for the Inn  on Caloola Creek. 
2. There is no record of a certificate being issued at the Annual Licensing Meeting held in April 1874, but one was issued at a Special Meeting of the magistrates two months later, with the approval being published in the Gazette  on 6^th November 1874. On this occasion, there was, perhaps, a need to review the circumstances surrounding the license, or, as possibly suggested by some anomalies[26] in the record, the Welcome Inn was being relocated at that time of the 1874 Annual Licensing Meeting.
3. William Coomber probably left Caleula Creek in early 1874 to return to England, having profited sufficiently from the gold-workings in the vicinity to finance this journey. His decision to return to England perhaps created a hiatus in the operations of the Welcome Inn while Catherine McKinnon gave some thought to her options.
4. The name “Welcome Inn” had also been applied to a hotel in Orange since 1874, but at no time was there a link between the Inn at “Caloola”, “Calula” or “Caleula” as licensed to Catherine McKinnon and the similarly-named premises in Orange.[27]

The sequence of license issues for Caloola Creek contained only one aberration that begged further examination – why was there a hitch in the issue of a certificate for the Catherine McKinnon’s Welcome Inn in that, although Licensing Bench meetings were held during the second week of April each year, the license for the Inn on Caleula Creek appears to have been subject to a special meeting, held as late as early November 1874. The most likely answer is a combination of outcomes 2 and 3 above.

Cessation of the Welcome Inn and the death of Catherine McKinnon

The licensing sequence appears to confirm that the Welcome Inn on Caloola (or Caleula) Creek finally ceased trading the year construction of the Dubbo-Orange railway was completed in 1880. When licensing of the Welcome Inn ceased, Catherine McKinnon was 58 years old, but it was not until 1887, at the age of 65, that she left the property.  Glenfinnon was sold to Alexander Brown, a boundary-rider from Beri Station, a property that then occupied part of the former Mumble station at a locality referred to as Warne.  According to the newspaper notice[28] of her passing, she lived in Sale Street, Orange at the time of her death on 5^th December 1898. She was 77 years old.

Catherine is buried alongside her son Alexander and daughter Marcella[29], in the old Presbyterian section of the Orange General Cemetery.  Her gravestone, as seen on 1^st July 2019, although broken and somewhat derelict, is a work of art – golden lettering with an inscribed anchor and a bower of golden ivy leaves over all. It is by far the most poignant but quietly refined of all the memorials in that section of the cemetery. Clearly, someone had a very great regard for the person who had passed.

10 December 1898
DEATHS.
McKINNON. – December 5th 1898, at her residence in Sale street, Orange, Catherine, relict of the late Donald McKINNON, of ORANGE, in her 77th year. [30]

An Epilogue

According to the records of the NSW Registrar General, Donald and Catherine McKinnon had the following children:

However, other avenues of research reveal at least three more –

• Annie, their eldest daughter, who married James McClymont on 13^th November 1865
• Alexander, first-born son, buried Orange General Cemetery. He died 16^th February 1868, aged 21 years – so born 1847.  

• Marcella, second daughter of Donald McKinnon, who died 30^th August 1895 aged 48. Marcella is buried adjacent to Alexander and Catherine in the General Cemetery at Orange. She was born in 1847- the same year as Alexander, which might suggest they were twins.

Lachlan McKinnon, born the year that Donald obtained a license for the Welcome Inn, was killed on 14^th December 1895 after a fall from his horse at Whylandra, near Dubbo.

Isabella, Catherine and Emily Ellen McKinnon never married, but appear to have moved to Sydney around the time of their mother’s death. In 1903 the trio were the proprietors of “The Misses McKinnon Luncheon and Tea Room”, located in the Equitable Buildings, George Street, Sydney. At the same time (the “Misses McKinnon”) Isabella and Catherine were proprietors of a boarding house at 239 Macquarie Street, Sydney.[31] 

Mention was found in newspaper articles of two other McKinnon children, Marcella and Margaret, who lived at Woodford, in the Blue Mountains until their deaths in 1926 and 1931. The records of their passing, published in the Gundagai Times and Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, mentioned that their home at Woodford, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, was called Glenfinnon[32] [33], the name that Catherine and Donald McKinnon had given to their home on Caleula Creek.  The Registrar General’s records indicate Marcella, who died in 1926, was the daughter of Duncan and Catherine McKinnon. The Registrar General’s records do not include a record of the Margaret McKinnon who died at Woodford in 1931, but the newspaper report states that she, too, was the daughter of  Duncan and Catherine.  Margaret, the second daughter of Donald and Catherine, buried in the Cemetery at Orange, had passed in 1895. For completeness, a further search was made of the Registrar General’s records. This search, this time for records of births, indicated that Duncan McKinnon, younger brother of Donald, who also married a Catherine, had daughters named Marcella and Margaret, so resolving the apparent anomaly. It also explains why the house at Woodford was named Glenfinnon.

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[1] Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet, KCH (25 October 1782 – 20 January 1871), was a British soldier who served in the Napoleonic wars, was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo and resigned as a Colonel. He served as a politician, including 36 years as a member of Parliament. Two of his sons were also members of Parliament. Verner was made Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Order and a Baronet, and was Grand Master of Armagh and Orange Order of Ireland. – (extracted Wilkipedia 14 August 2020) Further research has found that he was created a baronet in 1846, denominated “of Verner’s Bridge”, County Armagh. (http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-verner-baronetcy.html) This is a hereditary title. Perhaps the reason why he is generally referred to in New South Wales as Colonel Verner can be found in the fact he was already a lessee of lands in NSW at the time of his being created a baronet. 

[2] The name appears to  have derived from the district of “The Mumbles” in Glanmorgan, Wales. The town of Mumbil in New South Wales is in the centre of what used to be the Mumbles Run.

[3] Black Rock was on the Bell River opposite Neurea and Coomber’s 1841 Inn.

[4] Named “Lochaber”on Google Earth  – located 15^th August 2020 –

[5] Index to Miscellaneous Immigrants State Records NSW on-line search 4 August 2014.

[6] According to Donald McKinnon’s Death Certificate,  Donald and Catherine McKinnon were married at the Green Swamp when he was aged 31. This would give the year as 1841 or 1842. . However, Catherine McKinnon’s death certificate indicates marriage “near Bathurst” at age 21. She died at Age 78 on 5^th December 1898, meaning marriage in perhaps 1839 or 1840. Perhaps it is appropriate to assume 1840. The NSW Registrar-General’s records do not include this marriage event.

[7]    “About the 9th of this month, two travellers, having with them grey horses, stopped at Butler’s Inn, stating they had arrived from the Big River. While there they passed an order for £1, purporting to be drawn by Donald M’Kinnowne, of Mumble, and which turns out to be a forgery. One was an old man, and the other much younger and dark. They also passed at the   same place a cheque for £3, the genuineness of which has not yet been ascertained, but it is strongly suspected that it is a forgery also.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March 1851, p6)

^5a  NOTICE is hereby given to parties holding CASH ORDERS drawn by the undersigned on Mr David Johnstone, of Glanmire, on Colonel Verner’s account, that the same will be paid by Messrs. Thacker & Co., Sydney, when presented at their office.  DONALD M’KINNON, Mumble, August 12^th, 1851 (Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal, 16 August 1851, p4)

^5b Public Notice

All parties holding ORDERS drawn upon the undersigned by Mr. Hugh Smith, Brymedura, or Mr.Donald McKinnon, Mumble, can have them cashed on presentation to DAVID JOHNSTONE, Glanmire. September 2^nd, 1851. (Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal, 3 September 1851, p3)

^5c 30s Reward

Whereas Charles Hodgett absconded from Colonel Verner’s Station at Mumble on the 10^th inst., and took with him a light colored dog, with rough hair, short stumpy tail and about a year old, belonging to the Station, this is to give notice that a Reward of 30s. will be paid to any party upon giving such information as will lead to his apprehension. He is an Englishman, a railor by trade, is fair-haired and has small whiskers. Apply to DAVID JOHNSTONE, Glanmire  or to DONALD  M’KINNON, Mumble (Bathurst Free Press, 24 August 1850, p6)

[8] Strayed. FROM GLANMIIRE, a grey pony, rather inclined to a roan, branded TC near shoulder, and a bay gelding branded WW or W near shoulder, and supposed to have gone towards Wellington. A reward of £1 each will be paid on delivery to the undersigned at Glanmire, or to Mr. Walter Miller, Mumble. DAVID JOHNSTONE Jan 21st, 1854.  (Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal, 21 January 1854, p3)

[9] During the 1850s and sometimes later, the name of Caleula Creek near Orange was alternately spelt as Calula, Caloola and Caleula Creek. There is also a Caleula Creek in the vicinity of Bathurst. However, for clarity, unless the location of the creek involved is nominated as being near Bathurst, any reference to the creek in this research report is to the creek 25 or more kilometres north of Orange.  

[10] Glenfinnan UK – Glenfinnan is a hamlet in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. In 1745 the Jacobite rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel. Seventy years later, the 18 m Glenfinnan Monument, at the head of the loch, was erected to commemorate the historic event. Wikipedia

[11] Donald’s father, Ewan, is buried in Bathurst General Cemetery under a headstone that records he was a native of (Leochaber).

[12] Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 25 September 1852, p3

[13] The Sydney Herald, 27^th February, 1837, p3

[14] Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 29^th April 1857, p2

[15] If a person wished to open a public house, Clause 11 of the Licensed Publicans Act (1849) required “persons desirous of obtaining any license…to deliver…a notice in writing of his intention to apply for the same…and affix a copy of such notice…on the outer side of the front or principal entrance door of the house…until the third Tuesday in the month of April…’  There was no provision for  interim meetings of the Magistrates to consider applications new licenses  so such applicants were excused from applying for a certificate until the next annual licensing meeting.

[16] Conveyance of mails to and from…Orange, Toogong, Murga, and Forbes, three times

a week. J. and A. Irvine, by coach, 3 years, £498 The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 October 1868, p2

[17] See copy in appendices

[18] Archives Athy of NSW,NRS 14403 [7/1512]; Reel 1241 (License #209)

[19] This aspect is addressed in a separate chapter entitled – The Welcome Inn.

[20] See copy and transcription of land sold to Commisioners for Railways in appendices.

[21] Full title was The Western Examiner, Orange, Molong, Wellington, Dubbo and Lachlan Advertiser

[22] Sydney Morning Herald, 14^th April 1863,  p1 c8

[23] Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 – 1907), Saturday 9 August 1879, page 39

[24] The railway from Orange to Dubbo was not opened until 1 June 1880 but perhaps construction gangs were already making use of the section then constructed when this article was written.

[25] Helen Haynes Kerr’s Creek – the village and the district H.M.Haynes, Mount View, Kerrs Creek, 1990 p37

[26] Two hints are found that the Welcome Inn was relocated at some point. The first, which dates from a description of the road from Orange to Wellington in 1874, is that the road then travelled passed Kater’s Mill after ‘Mrs McKinnon’s inn’. If so, the hotel at that time may still have been on the land applied for by William Coomber in 1857. But the road adopted from that point was not that of Simpson’s marked line but the road to Mr. Kater’s marked by Thomas Mitchell in his 1851 field book. The second, which dates only from 16^th August 2006, is an advice from Les Sweeting, then owner of Cultowers (originally Donald and Catherine McKinnon’s Glenfinnon) that the hotel – he said wine shanty – was on the site then occupied by his honey shed. During an earlier visit to the property a concrete-lined excavation, reminiscent of a cellar, had been noted within that shed.

[27] See Appendix “McKinnon Coomber McKay Families for details of these licenses.

[28] Sydney Morning Herald, 10^th December 1898, p1

[29] Marcella, too, merited gold lettering, but not the golden ivy leaves forming a bower over all… Marcella’s grave simply states Marcella, 2^nd Daughter of Catherine and the late Donald McKinnon, but, buried with her is a boy, 9 years old. He was Harold Malcolm, son of Mary Isabella McVickar, who died 28^th January, 1896.

[30] Sydney Morning Herald,  10 December 1898, p1

[31]  Records NSW – search on 20/08/2019 of general index for McKinnon – Indexed as  NRS 12961 Above: search www.records.nsw.gov.au general index McKinnon as previous

[32] 6 July 1926 The death occurred at Woodford recently of Miss Marcella McKinnon daughter of the late Mr. D.McKinnon. Since leaving Brungle deceased lived at ‘Glenfinnon,’ Woodford, on the Western Line. (The Gundagai Times and Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 6 July 1926, p2)

[33] 10 July 1931 The death occurred at her residence, ‘ Glenfinnon,’ Woodford, on Monday last, of Miss Margaret McKinnon, daughter of the late Duncan McKinnon, late of Brungle.  (The Gundagai Times and Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 10 July 1931, p2)