Martha McBride
| First name | Martha |
|---|---|
| Last name | McBride |
| Country of Origin | Scotland |
| Date of Birth | 11th September 1902 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1924 |
| Submitted by | Shelagh Cashmere (nee Harvey) |
Story
The life of Martha McBride.
Martha McBride was born in Crosshill Village, Scotland, the fourth child of ten children born to Robert and Mary McBride. Her father was a boot maker. In 1924 Martha together with three of her sisters, Agnes, Annie, and Mary immigrated to Australia, arriving on 19th August 1924 aboard the ‘Largs Bay’. Their photo was published in the Telegraph under the heading “Four Sisters Frae Scotland”. Martha was employed in domestic work until her marriage to Frank Harvey in 1927.
In 1929 Frank and Martha travelled to Hillston in the far west of NSW where Frank was to install the first electricity, what a contrast it must have been with the heat and dust compared to the purple hills and misty days of her native Scotland. Although they were only to stay in Hillston for six months, Frank realised the town needed a business to use electricity thereby making the Electricity Company viable. He then established the Hillston Freezing Company to supply townspeople with ice and chilling rooms to chill rabbits for John McCraith in Melbourne. During the war Frank worked in Sydney at the De Havilland Aircraft factory while Martha kept the business going in Hillston as well as raising their four children, Keith, Margaret, Shelagh, and Kathleen. This would have been a hard life for a young woman. Over the years the business expanded to include a Garage Service Station. Frank and Martha continued to live in Hillston till Frank’s death in 1973 and Martha’s death on Mothers Day 1983.