Thomas Wakefield Chambers

Published 27th December 2021
– last updated 19th September 2024

Introduction

Thomas Wakefield Chambers was the publisher of “The Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser” and left for us, in the pages of that newspaper, almost all of the detail contained in these pages about Milparinka and the far west of New South Wales. Although at least two short-lived local newspapers were published in the area before he showed his hand, neither had the consistent eye for the detail that would matter more than one hundred and twenty years on. Tom Chambers’ legacy to us is an incredibly perceptive record of life in a small, isolated outback community just prior to the turn of the 19th Century.

The Sturt Recorder Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser was published for just six years between 2^nd June 1893 and 5^th August 1899, but the image Tom Chambers created brings the town, and the various groups who interacted with it, to life in a way that official reports, headstones in a cemetery and a list of who owned which block of land can never do. The ledgers of the bank and of bank branches in Wilcannia do help a little, because their managers wrote quite useful letters to their superiors outlining the character and financial status of various customers, but, in reality, without the Recorder almost everything that we know about the community at Milparinka would be in the reminiscences of a few people that date from around 1910 or later, five to ten photographs, those few  headstones in Milparinka cemetery. The majority of graves in the cemetery are unmarked, and the few that are don’t tell much of the story. The official record of who is buried where is said to have met a sad end in a policeman’s bonfire.

Fortunately, Tom Chambers gives us quite a few names for people who are buried somewhere in that cemetery and often the story behind those burials. In addition, he leaves for us a detailed account of happenings in the town and the district – the stories of the children who found a bottle of strychnine, the theft of a heifer that belonged to the local police constable, the shooting of someone’s horse in reprisal for informing the police, and the squabbles amongst the Chinese about gambling debts. And, of course, things like the theft of Cocky the Chinaman’s horse…

The first issue of his newspaper set the tone, with a byline that he maintained throughout “Truth and justice are golden qualities and should ultimately prevail if earnestly striven for”. The evidence tends to confirm that this was his motto in life, but there were occasions when his tone was quite different, and one might think he was just a little fed up on April 3rd 1896…

“The truth must be told even should the heavens fall…
pig!-pig!-pig! pig!-pig!-pig! Pigtown!… Wanted (badly) the owner of two porkers (who answer to the names of Barney and Bridget) who cleaned out the swagman’s nosebag on the creek the other night, to a friendly interview.
Towels and Marquis of Queensbury rules on the Flat … ”
(The Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser 3rd April 1896)

It is clear that Tom Chambers knew the importance of the legacy he was creating and crosschecking his account of things against the official record certainly supports the conclusion that his record is accurate. Those copies of his newspaper that he sent to Sydney were printed on very high rag-content paper – not the flimsy stuff used for the run-of-the-mill copies. Thomas Wakefield Chambers put icing on a cake made from the bare bones and gives us a real taste of what Milparinka and nearby parts of the Far West were like in those few years that he had to build his story. The great pity is that although he lived for more than twenty years after the newspaper ceased there is no subsequent record to match what he left for us. The reason why his record ceased is an integral part of the Milparinka story and the story of many other small outback communities. The political landscape that surrounded the turn of the nineteenth century was but one part of the matrix.

Thomas Wakefield Chambers had a good education and, above all, very firmly held views of how things should be. He was quite intolerant of those who failed to conform to his ideals, yet he was also a supporter of the underdog and a champion of those who otherwise would have had no voice.

At Milparinka he was a supporter of the Chinese when others were giving them a hard time, but he foamed at the mouth about the prices they asked for the grapes that they alone managed to produce.   He also objected strongly to the camels that camped on the town common alongside their Afghan handlers, but he went into battle for the ‘Ghans when he perceived that they were being unfairly treated. He didn’t mind hinting that there was something fishy about the theft of a safe – and mentioned two names that came up in Court in connection with the matter. He also tells us that the charges were dismissed. His tone suggests he did not approve…but by the time the safe matter required attention he had learned it was better, in some situations, to be wary of what you put in writing…

When Milparinka had the good fortune to meet him, Tom Chambers had been around long enough to know that there was good and bad in every community and that ethnicity or religion or wealth didn’t have much to do with the matter. Either you loved him or you didn’t – and there were some who definitely didn’t…

Early Life – to 1852

Thomas Wakefield Chambers was born in Duxford, Cambridgeshire (UK) in 1832, the son of Charles Chambers, an Accountant and Merchant. That his name includes “Wakefield” suggests a link to South Australia, which Colony was established two years after his birth. However, his name may also suggest a direct ¹ It was common to include the surnames of both mother and father in a child’s name – so Tom Chamber’s mother was from the family Wakefield link to the family of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the man who had proposed a radical concept of systemic colonisation which was gaining momentum the year that Thomas was born. Wakefield’s system was applied to the efforts of the South Australian Colonisation Commission when a British colony was established at Adelaide, in what is now the state of South Australia.

He arrived in the Colony of Victoria as a passenger from London aboard the ship Dinapore in November 1852. He was twenty years of age and headed straight for the goldfields which were then only about twelve months old.

Ballarat 1852-1862

Although there is a little uncertainty for the period from 1852 to 1855, Thomas Wakefield Chambers does not appear to have ever been involved in actually digging for gold – he became farmer and gold-fields storekeeper in a partnership with Thomas Adamson. Their store, on Bakery Hill, Ballarat, was called The Lightning Store.

An evaluation of what later occurred suggests this took place no earlier than mid-August of 1855, but by mid-December 1856 they had run into trouble – Ferdinand Bauer, who appears to have been a merchant with a penchant for immediately taking action in the insolvency courts when repayment of a debt became overdue, wanted his £167-4s-3d. They also owed George Warner £121-12s-11d, but by 18th December the overall situation looked much worse – debts £2,141 18s 0d, assets £982 3s 0d with an overall deficit of ￡1,160 15s 0d.

On 23rd December 1856 Thomas Adamson and Thomas Chambers were supposed to appear in the Geelong Insolvency Court, but Tom Chambers was not present, and the matter was deferred until 3rd February 1857. (Star Ballarat, 27th December 1856, p3) Clearly Tom and Tom were playing for time and, when their next appearance was due, the account books of their partnership had been left behind in Ballarat… The Commissioner involved had no choice but to once again adjourn the meeting. However, before that point was reached, Tom Adamson had outlined the situation as follows:

• On 13th August 1855 He and his partner (Tom Chambers) had leased a farm for ￡70 per annum.
• They laid out about ￡1,500 on developing that property.
• This was before they opened the store in Ballarat (which piece of information is how we know when they opened their store).
• They only received ￡50 from the produce of their farm.
• On 20th October 1856 they sold the lease of the farm, which lease at that time had 5 years to run.
• The lease was sold to Tom Adamson’s brother, John, for ￡300. Payment of this amount was in part by cash (￡25) with the balance being in the form of bills – one for ￡150; one for ￡50; and a third for ￡75. The bill for ￡150 was endorsed to Mr. Bauer ” in consideration of money due to him”.
• Thomas Adamson stated he had no earlier business dealings with his brother but said that at the time the farm lease was sold he owed his brother about ￡90.
• The bill for ￡150 was not honoured and Mr. Bauer took action to resolve the situation.

When all this was crystalised into proven debts, these were found to be only ￡871. 0s 8d (Star, Ballarat, 6th February 1857, p3) but in addition some other liabilities arose on account of Mr. Bauer’s action. Tom and Tom found a way out, even though it involved the sale of their store (see advertisement above) . Part of the solution appears to have been for Tom Chambers to chase those people who had owed the partnership money… Next in the story of Thomas Wakefield Chambers is when, on 21^st July 1860, he became a partner in the firm of Chalmers, Turner and Company, Ballarat.  They were general merchants, insurance and shipping agents, selling things as diverse as coal, fence palings, dried sultanas, ginger wine, soap and catsup (yes– catsup… not tomato sauce…) and insurance.  This partnership was dissolved on 5^th September 1861 during yet another significant downturn in business conditions and Thomas moved to Melbourne.

Melbourne & Bourke 1862-1872

Nine months after Chalmers, Turner and Company, Thomas Chambers was still in Melbourne where he was a surveyor for the Melbourne Insurance Company, (Herald, Melbourne 4^th June 1862 p5) and on 7^th October that year he married 17-year old Johanna Ryan in St Marks Anglican church in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. Johanna was of Australian birth – born in Sydney, New South Wales. The witnesses to his marriage were recorded as two of his brothers – William and Henry.

Where Tomas Wakefield Chambers was for the next five years is uncertain, but by 1867 he was living in the vicinity of Bourke, on the Darling River more than a thousand kilometers from Melbourne. There is a possibility that he was working on a pastoral property, but regardless, Bourke, which had only been laid out as a town five years before, was in drought. (R.L.Heathcote “Back of Bourke” pp103-106). In this frontier community Johanna bore two of their children – Ernest, born in 1867 and Arthur in 1869.  

It is possible that Tom Chambers had his first encounters with Afghans during the time at Bourke, but the period is a little too early for them to have been involved in working with camels. However, the use of camels for commercial carrying purposes out of Beltana in South Australia had been initiated in January 1866, so it is just possible that by the time Thomas Wakefield Chambers was associated with a pastoral property, things had started to change.  What he was doing there in the first place is yet to be determined, but clearly, he was in the vicinity of Bourke in 1867 and 1869, very early in the town’s history. The possibility exists that he was also involved in some way with the river trade that was in its infancy in the late 1860s. If nothing else, Bourke was a drought-stricken frontier town when he and Johanna started their family.

Echuca & Deniliquin 1872-1884

From Bourke, Tom Chambers scurried south to Echuca, one of the more important Murray River ports on the NSW border with Victoria. Here it seems he was purchasing land, and that the Riverine Meat Preserving Company (Limited) was somehow involved – or, as the Company was at pains to declare – not in any way involved…(Riverine Herald, Echuca, 31^st January 1874). However, he had certainly been around the place since 1872 because there is a notice in the Riverine Herald of 26^th June that year advising the premature birth of a stillborn son on the 24^th.  Tom Chambers was later employed as manager of the meat preserving company mentioned above and appears to have continued with them until becoming involved with the start-up and early operations of the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company around December 1876.

Almost as soon as he arrived in Echuca Tom Chambers got himself involved in a drama – what we might call the school fundraising event. The tale may or may not date from the period before he became directly linked to the Meat Preserving Company. However, it is worthy of note, suggesting as it does that Thomas Wakefield Chambers even then did not take kindly to people who failed to act in an honorable way…

When this episode took place, Tom Chambers was living with Johanna and the two boys, then aged three and five years, at Boileau, a village on the Victorian side of the river near Echuca. The name probably derives from the fact the village had grown around the meat preserving company’s works at the location – and boiling was quite likely the basic process used in those works. Anyway, it seems that the residents of Boileau were dissatisfied with the local school accommodation and decided to improve upon it …

Thomas Wakefield Chambers was appointed to correspond with the Board of Education in connection with the situation…(Riverine Herald, Echuca, 20^th March 1872, p2)

Three months later there was a realisation that additional funds were needed and it was decided an amateur concert would serve the fund-raising purpose. Again, Thomas Wakefield Chambers was deeply involved, chairing the meeting of residents where it was decided “to give an amateur concert…to augment the funds now being raised for the purpose of building a Common School at Boileau, and as several talented ladies and gentlemen of Echuca have kindly promised to assist the local talent, a very pleasant evening’s entertainment may be expected…” The meeting was held at Johnstone’s hotel at Boileau. (Riverine Herald, Echuca, 1^st June 1872,p3)

Then the trouble started – with TWC in the middle… The licensee of the Boileau hotel tried to piggy-back on the school event and neither Thomas Millar (Chairman of the Committee) nor Tom Chambers was impressed…

Mr. Millar wrote to the local newspaper …”Sir, I was very much surprised to see in your impression of Saturday, 15th inst., the programme of the concert to be held here on the 25th inst., inserted as an advertisement, and also immediately following an advertisement of “a ball” to take place in “connection” with the concert. I beg to inform the public that the committee did not authorise the insertion of either of the said advertisements, nor have they in any way a knowledge of or connection with “a ball” or any entertainment, excepting what is shown in the programme of concert. The committee’s advertisement will appear in your issues of the 19th and 22nd instanta.” (Riverine Herald, Echuca, 19^th June 1872, p2)

Thomas Chambers was more verbose…
“Sir, Feeling interest in the success of the amateur entertainment to be given on the 25^th inst. At the Boileau hotel, in aid of the funds for the Boileau Common School and having also accepted the office of chairman on the occasion I think it incumbent on me to remark upon the unwarrantable liberty taken by the landlord of the Boileau Hotel in inserting an advertisement in your issue of 13^th inst., without authority, announcing a Ball in connection with the above, and I trust that the narration which follows, together with the explanation offered by the committee, will completely neutralise the injurous effect such a damaging announcement must otherwise have. When it was first mooted by the Boileau inhabitants to try their prentice hands at a concert, I gave it every encouragement as the cause it was intended to further was a commendable one and the practice such an entertainment necessitated would furnish a source of amusement during the long winter evenings, which would divert the attention from a less worthy way of spending the time, and the whole affair would have a good moral tendency. I therefor cordially responded to the invitation to preside at the first meeting, and having seen the committee formed who were to get up the entertainment, felt satisfied that in their hands no pain would be spared to have it conducted respectably, and in such a manner that no inhabitant of Echuca need hesitate to patronise it. I left the rest to local enterprise, and up to Saturday everything promised well for its success, but the appearance of this objectionable advertisement  can have no other effect – unless an ample refutation is made, than   to destroy all respect for our little community, who could be so entirely wanting in good taste as to sanction a so-called ball, and thereby allow ourselves to be made a cats-paw of by the speculative publican, whose keen eye for business has evidently got the better of his judgement, and who under the garb of disinterestedness, has sought to profit from our supposed simplicity, and at the same time offered to the inhabitants of the district one of the greatest insults it is possible to conceive. But we are all liable to err, and I am sure our local Boniface regrets as much as anyone the disturbing influence he has given rise to, and the committee can only now hope by their explanation to avert the threatened mischief to the success of their undertaking by relying upon the known generosity and good sense of the Echuca public, and their appreciation of the cause at issue. Your obedient servant, T.W.Chambers” (Riverine Herald, 19^th June 1872, p2)

No further mention of the concert has been found in the Riverine Herald, suggesting that it was abandoned on account of the publican’s actions.  However, it would seem that six months later another entertainment was organised. As usual an account of the evening was carried in the Herald. This is reproduced below.

It would seem, though, that Thomas Wakefield Chambers had not finished with the matter of the Boileau Hotel and jumped at the opportunity to even the score when William Johnstone was brought to account in a matter of “Sunday Trading” – selling alcoholic refreshments on a Sunday – strictly forbidden (unless you were a “bona fide traveller”) in most parts of Australia until the mid-1960s. But on this occasion Tom went overboard and had to apologise for daring to suggest (or seeming to suggest – which of course he clearly was) that one of the Bench of Magistrates who sat on the matter had a conflict of interest…

Thomas Wakefield Chambers had smelled a rat… or at least something that did not meet with his approval. It is probably best to let the whole of the story stand as it appeared in the press…

Clearly Tom Chambers had gone too far. Objecting to Sunday Trading was one thing, but to suggest that one of those fine upstanding gentlemen who are charged with upholding the law had acted corruptly, was going too far. He apologised… “I hereby make a public apology to Mr. Henry Luth for any portion of my letter …which may have any meaning detrimental to that gentleman’s character, that the paragraph referring to an interested and unscrupulous J.P. was intended in a general sense…and I regret having given Mr. Luth cause to suspect I had intended to defame him… (Riverine Herald, 9^th April 1873,p3)

Tom Chambers was more careful next time…

Later in 1873 Thomas Wakefield Chambers was reported to have convened a public meeting aimed at raising funds to support the widow of a man who had died in “the scrub” – that is – in the low-growing thick vegetation on the plains around Echuca, Moama and Deniliquin. No other details of this death are included in the newspaper report but, when asked to “state what he knew of the case”, Tom Chambers said “although strangers to him he was aware that the family were sadly destitute, and that the family was a most deserving one”. A formal appeal was set up, and Tom Chambers was asked to act as treasurer of the fund, donations being accepted against subscription lists at the local banks and the newspaper office. (Riverine Herald, 9^th November 1873, p3)

By late 1876 Thomas Chambers had become Secretary to the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company. During that time he was clearly a very prominent figure in the Deniliquin community, involved in Hospital Balls and other semi-official functions, and in welcoming the Governor of the Colony when that illustrious individual and his entourage came to inspect the Deniliquin and Moama Railway. 

By 25^th January 1877 he was making declarations as Company Secretary about the financial position of the railway company, that for its time had the enormous capital of £125,000 of which £100,000 was fully paid. They had raised additional funds by the issue of debentures totaling £35,000.

It is almost certain that during this part of his career Tom Chambers became familiar with the industry and perseverance of Chinese labour gangs, one of which was based at Deniliquin. These labour gangs were comprised of men who had come to Australia from China, lured by the gold fields. Like so many others, they failed to make their fortune and were recruited into other fields of work.  The hard yakka of clearing land, creating the formation and laying rails for a railway was typical of the work they did.

The gangs were strategically located at Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin, Narrandera and Wilcannia, with a total workforce in the vicinity of 600 men, at least some of whom relocated between these towns as required to meets the demand for their services.

As suggested above, at both Echuca and Deniliquin, Thomas Wakefield Chambers became quite involved in local affairs, including membership of the NSW Public Schools Board for Deniliquin, and membership of the Deniliquin hospital committee. The latter had forty members which might be thought unwieldy unless one regards membership a reward for services rendered or to be rendered to the institution involved… 

Then, on 8^th April, 1880,his wife, Johanna, aged just 34 years, died, leaving the two boys, then 11 and 13 years old, in the hands of their father. (Argus, Melbourne, 12^th April 1880, p1) 

Wilcannia 1881 – 1884

Eleven months after Johanna’s death the remnants of the Chambers family moved to yet another river port – Wilcannia, on the western bank of the Darling River. Thomas had been offered a position as “Manager of the extensive business of Cramsie Bowden and Woodfall” but the move has the ring of an escape to simpler times for Tom Chambers.

Only a little research has been done into the relationship between Thomas Wakefield Chambers and the Wilcannia firm, but it is likely that the key will be found in the time he was at Bourke with his young wife, thirteen years before.  Cramsie, Bowden and Woodfall, and their predecessor, Cramsie Bowden and Co., operated several paddle-steamers on the Darling River as an adjunct to their Wilcannia business. The timeframes have not been established, but the river-boat business of Cramsie Bowden and Woodfall, or one of their earlier incarnations, probably included Bourke by the late-1860s. Many of their paddle-steamers carried goods for direct sale as well as their commercial cargo. Some, for example – the “Enterprise”, pictured above, were more likely dedicated to direct sales.

As well as plying the Darling River, Cramsie Bowden and Woodfall’s paddle steamers operated on the Murray and the Murrumbidgee. This presents an alternate source for the link between the firm and Tom Chambers, Echuca being on the Murray River, with Deniliquin not so far away. (https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/John_Cramsie_(1832-1910))

On the Tuesday before his departure from Deniliquin Tom Chambers was presented with “a very handsome gold chain and locket, suitably inscribed, and a set of gold sleeve links” by Mr. Lilley, on behalf of the whole staff of the railway company. Mr. Lilley was Traffic Manager for the Company, appointed in 1878. The Riverine Herald ( 4^th March 1881, p3) recorded that “a large number of the railway officials assembled and one and all assured Mr. Chambers of the esteem in which he had been held by them and of the sorrow they all experienced at his leaving the position he has so honorably and ably filled for a long time past… The meeting was one that did credit to both the donor and the recipient alike, and the latter, in thanking his friends for the handsome present and of the kind feeling expressed towards himself, bade them “Good Bye” with an assurance that he would never forget their kindness and the testimonial would daily remind him of the good fellowship existing between the whole staff of the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company and himself…”.  He left Deniliquin for Wilcannia on Friday, 4^th March 1881.

At Wilcannia, Thomas Chambers almost immediately became involved in town business, and an ally of Walterus Brown, editor of the local newspaper- the Wilcannia Times. A year later there was a movement to have Wilcannia “erected into a Municipality”.   T.W.Chambers was a signatory to the petition presented to the Governor of New South Wales.  He was also one of the persons certifying the status of those who had signed the petition. (NSW Government Gazette, 11^th April 1882)

Shortly after the Municipality petition was presented, the partnership between John Cramsie, John Bowden and Arthur Woodfall was dissolved. This took place on 31^st May, 1882 at which time it was reconstituted as Woodfall, Swanson and Chambers, with stores at Wilcannia, Milparinka, Warri Warri and Tibooburra. (NSW Government Gazette, 9th January 1883) This event suggests that John Cramsie and John Bowden had decided to move on – Cramsie later became involved in the country around Balranald and subsequently as a member of the NSW Legislature.  

Three years after the formation of Woodfall, Swanson and Chambers, Peter Swanson died, and the surviving partners, together with three others who appear to have been directly involved with the firm, combined to ensure the smooth dissolution of the arrangement. By this time Tom Chambers was in Milparinka, as manager of the local branch of the firm.  Although Wooodfall Swanson and Chambers was in the process of dissolution he continued to operate under that name for a short while, with another branch store at Mount Browne being managed by his son,  Arthur.

It is reasonably clear that Tom Chambers gained the trust of many in the towns where he lived. That he certified official documents, represented the people of those towns in various capacities, and was executor of several deceased estates tends to suggest this was the case. One of the deceased estates was that of William Alderson, a carrier, who died on 21 December 1884, at Wilcannia. Another was the estate of Charles George Morrell, publican of Milparinka, upon his death, intestate, on 1^st March 1883. When appointed executor to Morrell’s estate in July 1884, Tom Chambers was stated to be resident at Wilcannia. Interestingly this is the only mention of Morrell in connection with Milparinka. He may, perhaps, have been licensee of the corrugated iron hotel said to have existed there in the very early years.

Thomas Wakefield Chambers and Milparinka – 1884 to August 1918

Thomas Wakefield Chambers moved to Milparinka from Wilcannia around the middle of 1884. As far as can be ascertained there was no fanfare – he just arrived. Once again, he promptly became involved in town matters.

• Trustee, with four others (King, Thomas, Sherard and Aldworth),  for the Church of England burial ground (part of Milparinka Cemetery) 1886;
• Postmaster 1890; (and perhaps earlier) At this time he continued as a storekeeper, as suggested by his grant of a license for the ‘keeping and sale of explosives’ for the years 1888, 1889, and 1890;
• Assistant registrar for births, deaths and marriages (for the District of Sturt at Milparinka) replacing Charles De  Boos 1890;
• Trustee for “The portion of the General Cemetery at Milparinka, dedicated 15^th January 1886, set apart for Unsectarian Burial Ground” together with Thomas Baker, Jeremiah Baker and William Jordan 1906. [This part of the cemetery is in the south-western corner and is discussed elsewhere in connection with the Chinese at Milparinka.]
• Trustee for the Milparinka town common (with four others – Heuzenroeder, Barr, Blore & Given) 1889 and with Penrose, Maxwell, Mary Ann Bonnett and Ellen Baker 1916;

He is also recorded as being a Justice of the Peace and, after the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, returning officer for the period 10^th November 1917 to 9^th February 1918. Research into this appointment suggests it covered the period of a second national plebiscite on the subject of compulsory military service. Compulsory service had originally been promoted by a group of Australian Labor Party politicians led by William Morris (Billy) Hughes. (The plebiscite was defeated.)

When Tom Chambers moved from Wilcannia to Milparinka he was accompanied by his two sons, by then aged 15 and 17 years. However, in late 1890 he visited Melbourne and Sydney in connection with some money that was owing to Beath, Schliess & Co for goods purchased for the Milparinka store.

However, without trying to unravel what seems to have been a quite messy situation, the problem of monies owed to Beath Schliess & Co did not go away. It would seem that underlying these was a combination of the fortunes of the Mount Browne Prospecting Company , a second gold prospect linked to the quartz reefs at Warratta, and a web of bills owing between various parties linked to the sale of his store at Milparinka . TWS ended up in the middle of the drama and declared himself insolvent.

Shortly after this event he returned to Milparinka, – accompanied by a new wife – Kate. Their marriage had been registered in Sydney, being number 349/1891, and as had been the case in 1861, his action in regards to his financial situation seems to have brought things to a head, because less than a year later the muddle had been sorted and Thomas Wakefield Chambers was seeking a certificate of discharge from his bankruptcy.

To return to 1884, his sons had soon become part of the Milparinka and Mount Browne communities. Ernest, the younger of the two, married Rosie (or Rose V) Baker at Milparinka in 1893 and had two children – Lillian, born 1894 and Eileen, born 1896. For a while Ernest was a general storekeeper, located in Loftus Street, Milparinka. This was the store previous run by his father and one of the factors that led to the bankruptcy mentioned above. In fact, sale of the store to Ernest was one of the devices Tom Chambers adopted to shelter assets from his creditors. However, in 1897 Ernest, Rosie and the children, travelled to Kalgoolie, in Western Australia.  There he worked as a miner and died at Comet Vale (a town of about 500 people that attached to the Sand Queen Gold Mine) on 10^th September 1915, of heart failure, pneumonia and pleurisy.  (Source: www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com/ ) Arthur managed a branch of the family business at Mount Browne and was also directly involved with the “Mount Browne Company” the story of which forms a separate page to this chronicle. He died of a heart attack at Milparinka in 1897, the same year his brother travelled to Western Australia. Arthur was but twenty-eight years old and the possibility exists that the saga of the Mount Browne Company and his father’s insolvency had some influence upon his fate.  There is no record of his being father of any children.

There is also the story of Mildred Annette Chambers whose headstone in Milparinka Cemetery advises she was “daughter of Henry and Anne Chambers of Narracoorte, South Australia”. That headstone bears silent witness to yet another tragedy.

Mildred had been born at Belfast (now Port Fairy), Victoria in 1867, and was Tom Chamber’s niece – so cousin to Ernest and Arthur Chambers. She had a twin brother ² Thank You, Geraldine Chambers, personal communication 25 February 2023 – Herbert.

Her father, Henry, was one of Tom Chamber’s brothers, both of whom had witnessed his marriage to Johanna in 1862. Her parents were English-born and had been married at South Yarra, Victoria on 1st December 1859, but at the time of her death Henry and Annie Chambers were in Narracorte, South Australia where her father was manager of the Commercial Bank of Australia. She died at Milparinka five days after being severely burned when her clothing caught fire…  

Mildred Annette Chambers was twenty-two years old when she died. She had recently become engaged to be married to Fred Cornthwaite, a storekeeper in Tibooburra and the tragedy of her death appears to have had a life-long impact upon him. ³ Thank You, Wes Chambers, for the source of this information. One can only imagine the effect her death had upon her twin brother, Herbert’s, life.

Where Mildred otherwise fits into the story of Milparinka and Tibooburra is slowly becoming more clear. We know she was madly in love, and that she was an accomplished pianist. There is what appears to be a brief mention of her in a newspaper from Mount Gambier, South Australia dated 12^th September 1885, reporting from Robe on a visit to that town by The Kingston Amateur Dramatic Society… “We thought the intervals were a little long, and of the piano performances of Mrs. Dodge and Miss Mildred Chambers we can only complain that they gave us too little.”  The report does not state the role played by Miss Chambers in this evening’s gathering but the tone suggests she was providing an entertainment during intervals in the dramatic society’s presentations. The evening was in aid of the St.Peter’s Church organ fund… (Border Watch, Mount Gambier, 12^th September 1885, p3)  Mildred Chambers would have been aged eighteen when the fund-raiser took place.

There is bound to be more to Mildred Annette’s story, but for the present let’s wait to include her in a page about Tibooburra, where she would have had her home with Fred Cornthwaite.

So… now to return to Milparinka and Thomas Wakefield Chambers…

The printing press used to publish Tom Chambers’ Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser appears to have been quite well-travelled. It’s earliest known history is that it worked in Wilcannia where was used by Walterus Brown to publish the Wilcannia Times (1874-1888). It was also the press used for publication of the Milparinka Advertiser and Tibooburra Telegraph in 1888 and 1889, after which it turned up in Tibooburra where it was printed the Tibooburra Telegraph for a few years. It’s last known home was at Milparinka with Tom Chambers.

The personal reminiscences of Nel (Helen F) Baker (24^th May 1988) were that in her childhood Tom Chamber’s office was adjacent to the southern end of the Albert Hotel, that he had a counter at which you waited for him, and his printing press was in the background. By then it would have been idle for many years. That he clung to that well-travelled press despite all his trials is perhaps a sign of his emotional state during the last years of his life… Nel Baker also remembered that he had a glass eye that he would remove and place on the counter of his office. The proposition is supported by a newspaper report dating from 1909 which stated “Mr. Thomas Wakefield Chambers…has just returned from Adelaide, where he had to undergo a painful operation to one of his eyes. “ (Barrier Miner, Broken Hill, 2nd November 1909, p2)

Tom Chambers, as he was referred to by Nel Baker, died of pneumonia in hospital at Broken Hill on 7^th August 1918. He was eighty-six years old. None of the family that had been with him in Bourke, Echuca, Deniliquin or Wilcannia survived him. He had been with Kate for at least twenty-seven years and had three grandchildren…including one in Western Australia. Did he know that?

I have been fortunate enough to have spent a lot of time in the Public Library of Victoria and the State Library of New South Wales with his newspaper and its predecessors. For me he is a somehow familiar figure and a person who I would have liked to know.

Epilogue

There is much more to Thomas Wakefield Chambers and, especially, his involvement in the Milparinka community. He had always become deeply involved with, and passionate about, the community in which he lived, and that is the Tom Chambers who comes leaping out of the pages of the Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser. He had firmly held convictions, one of which, it seems, was a duty to use his influence wherever possible to promote the good of humanity in general. In that, he was a very Victorian gentleman, who grew up when Queen Victoria was on the throne of England and Prince Albert was her consort. Tom Chambers was kindhearted and perhaps too trusting of people until they proved themselves to be otherwise in a world that was changing around him. It is easy to see him becoming increasingly disenchanted with the way things were, but he was, and still is, someone to be admired… even if he did stir things up and emblazon that issue (…well, print on page three of the issue… ) of the Sturt Recorder with the line …“The truth must be told even should the heavens fall..⁴Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser, April 3, 1896 p3c1 .

Pig! – Pig! – Pig! Pig! – Pig! – Pig! –   Pigtown !

As was often the case, Tom Chambers was unimpressed…

Almost everything that brings to life the Milparinka/Warratta/Tibooburra pages of this site comes from the record created by Thomas Wakefield Chambers.

The only image we have of him is in the words he wrote…

RETURN to CONTENTS – What was at Milparinka

• 1
  It was common to include the surnames of both mother and father in a child’s name – so Tom Chamber’s mother was from the family Wakefield
• 2
  Thank You, Geraldine Chambers, personal communication 25 February 2023
• 3
  Thank You, Wes Chambers, for the source of this information.
• 4
  Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser, April 3, 1896 p3c1