Minnie Newton
First name | Minnie |
---|---|
Last name | Newton |
Country of Origin | England |
Date of Birth | 3/2/1888 |
Year of Arrival in Australia | 1912 |
Submitted by | Kathleen Oosterveen |
Story
Minnie Jane Newton was the youngest of a family of six born to William and Elizabeth Newton (nee Collinson) at Whitby in the County of York England on 3rd February 1888. Her siblings were Jack 1878, Georgina 1880, Hannah 1882, Anthony 1884 and Will 1886. Their mother died when Minnie was 5 and her father remarried. Minnie chose to live with her brothers and sisters and they fended for themselves through much hardship. She attended school in Robin Hood Bay and was employed as cook and housekeeper to a wealthy family and later took on nursing and homecare as a Land Army girl. At age 23 she decided to go to Canada out of a sense of adventure. (Sir John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace was her great-uncle and he certainly had a sense of adventure.) Minnie was also a devout Christian.
Minnie had saved up 40 pounds and went to book her passage to Canada. Here a friend told her, “Go to Australia and if you don’t like it I’ll pay your way to Canada. You’re a good cook and the wages and work are better.” She agreed and he booked her in on the S.S. Commonwealth under the care of the captain. The voyage to Australia began in December 1911; it lasted seven weeks and three days and cost here twenty pounds. She described the voyage in a poem as the time in her life with a fancy dressed ball at Christmas and traditional fareÉ roast goose, plum pudding, minced pies and cake. She made life long friends on the voyage.
The ship docked at Sydney on a Saturday in January 1912. As references had been sent ahead Minnie was to go to the Employment Office on the Monday to find out her posting. It was with the Hooke family of Dingadee at Dungog and she would work as a cook/laundress. The line between Maitland and Dungog had only been opened two weeks before. Bother over excess luggage caused her to miss the train and with her ticket and 3/6d she paid for a room at the Peoples Palace (3 shillings) and had a bread roll, a savloy and a glass of water. No moneyÉ that came later through the bank. She arrived at Dingadee at 10.00PM. She found the working conditions much harder and hotter but learned to love the change and the people. Soon she was driving a horse and sulky into Dungog. At Dingadee she met Thomas Hicks. They were married on the 23rd October 1912. They worked a dairy at Riverview and later bought a property, ‘Orange Grove’, to work orchards, market gardens, poultry and bees. They reared a family of seven; Ron, Olive, Jack, Tom, Minnie, Dot and Os.