User:Maypm/Governesses in Colonial Australia

Miss Coleman who was the governess to the children of John Ryder in about 1890. The family lived on a property called Fernlees which was about 300 kilometers from Rockhampton in outback Queensland.

Governesses in Colonial Australia played an important part in the history and development of this country as they were often the only means of providing an adequate education to children in isolated areas. Little is known about their lives and ultimate destinies as they were in the background of society. However some insight into their circumstances can be gained from the papers of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society (FMCES) which contain letters from 112 women who were assisted by this Society to travel to Australia and find employment. The fates of Australian born governesses are also difficult to discover but some valuable clues can be obtained from the family history research of their present descendants.

The following are short biographies of some of the governesses that found employment in Australia. Several who came from England returned home soon after their arrival. Others remained here as spinsters until their death and some married men in the colony and established families.

The Governesses

Miss Elizabeth Gittins Elizabeth Gittins circa 1885. Elizabeth Gittins was born in Berwick Upon Tweed in England. Her parents were Thomas Lloyd Gittins and Priscilla Symonds. There were three girls and one boy in the family. . In 1852 the family decided to immigrate to Australia and they arrived in Sydney on the ship Caesar Godeffroy. They lived in Willoughby and Thomas eventually found work as a wood merchant. At one time he owned the Woolloomooloo Wood Depot. Both of Elizabeth’s sisters married into the middle class. Their husbands were brothers named Homfray who were sons of a clergyman in England. Elizabeth was at first the Governess for the children of the Darleys who were later to become Sir Frederick Darley and Lady Darley. At this time Frederick Darley was a barrister and lived in Sydney. In the early 1880s Elizabeth moved to Moss Vale and appears to have tried to open a small boarding school. She inserted an advertisement in the newspaper which stated: “A lady who has taken a comfortable cottage a mile and a half from Moss Vale wishes to hear of four young ladies as resident pupils. She will also take charge of children who require change of air; the highest references given. Address: Miss Gittins care of P. H. Throsby, The Briars, Moss Vale.” This venture does not appear to have been successful as there are no further advertisements for the proposed school. However shortly after this she finds employment as a governess with Patrick Hill Throsby (the above mentioned contact). Patrick Hill Throsby had ten children and at this time he was living at a large house called the Briars which is still standing today. In 1891 he inherited Throsby Park which was a very large flourishing property in Moss Vale. It appears that Elizabeth remained with the Throsbys for some time as in 1901 she was mentioned in the social pages of the Sydney Mail as helping Mrs Throsby and others to prepare stalls for a fete to raise funds for the Bong Bong Church. After she retired it seems that Elizabeth went to live with one of her widowed sisters at a house called Halloween in Lindfield. Her sister died in 1927 at the age of 85 and Elizabeth continued to live in the same house with her niece. At the age of 98 in 1932 she was interviewed by a newspaper reporter because of her longevity and a short article was written about her was in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Emilie Ann Carttar Advertisement for a position as Governess placed in the Brisbane Courier by Miss Carttar in 1875. Emilie Ann Carttar immigrated to Sydney in 1875 at the age of thirty nine. She was accompanied by her younger sister Jessie Charnock Carttar who was ten years her junior. Both of them were under the patronage of the FMCES and intended to become governesses. They came from a very respected family from Greenwich. Their grandfather Joseph Carttar was the Coroner of Kent and their father Charles Joseph Carttar had succeeded him. Their mother was Clara Waite whose father was a Medical Doctor. The family appears to have been prosperous until 1850 when Charles, their father, was declared bankrupt. He could not settle his debts and the family was left in very poor circumstances. Even part of their mother’s inheritance from her father was taken by the court to help pay the creditors. The problem was compounded by the size of the family – there were eleven children, two boys and nine girls. When Emilie and Jessie arrived in Sydney in 1875 they found lodgings in Jamieson St. Jessie placed an advertisement in the Brisbane Courier for employment as a Governess at a salary of 150 pounds per year. She obtained a situation in Queensland but unfortunately three years later she died. Emilie found work as a Governess with the Chisholm family at their home called Gledswood in Narellan near Camden. Several years later she returned to England to see her family as the 1881 Census shows that she was living in the family home in Greenwich with her brother and several sisters shortly after the death of her father. However in the following year in 1882 she returned to Australia on the Lusitania. In the same year she married John Dodds who was an Irish immigrant from Port Rush. The couple later bought a house in Linden Street Sutherland. John died in 1909 and Emilie died eleven years later in 1920 at the age of eighty-four. Both John and Emilie are buried in Woronora Cemetery.