Thomas/Catherine Paten/Pain

Story

In 1848 the Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) approached the British Home Office for expertise and resources to be sent to Australia to search and drill for water in coastal areas of the colony of New South Wales.

Thomas Paten was contracted to the company at 168 pounds per annum for a period of 16 months with a cabin and free return passage guaranteed. He sailed for Australia on September 5th 1849 on the AAC ship Artemisia and arrived at Port Stephens on 27th December 1849. Thomas commenced employment with the Australian Agricultural Company at Booral, 12 km south of Stroud in NSW.

Catherine Ann Pain sailed to Sydney on the Culloden arriving on 10th August 1850. Ten days later she and Thomas married. The Sydney Morning Herald of 21st August 1850 announced ‘Married by special licence on 20th instans at St. James Church by the Rev. Charles F.D. Priddle, Mr. Thomas Paton (sic) of Port Stephens to Catherine Ann Pain, the only daughter of the late John Pain Esq. Hatton Garden, London’.

In February 1851 gold was discovered near Bathurst and on the 12th November that year Thomas and Catherine\’s first child Francis Thomas was born at Booral. The lure of gold made it difficult for Thomas to retain work crews and despite significant effort over the following year, drilling results did not meet the expectations of the AAC. In February 1852, Thomas negotiated to end his contract with the AAC and buy out his return passage.

Thomas and Catherine moved to the Tambaroora goldfield where their second child Arthur Robert was born on 4th March 1853. On 26th August 1854 their first daughter Emily Ann was born but by October the family had moved to the Meroo goldfield near Mudgee as the lack of water due to drought had made the alluvial goldfield at Tambaroora mostly unworkable. When Emily was baptised at Meroo in October her father\’s occupation was given as goldminer. Tragedy struck in December when at the age of 1 year and 9 months, their second son Arthur Robert died. He was buried at Mudgee on 27th December 1854 and shortly after the family moved back to Tambaroora where Thomas opened one of the first general stores on the Tambaroora goldfield.

Thomas and Catherine\’s other children were all born at Tambaroora. Herbert James (1857); Harry Gustavus (1859); Clara Eliza Alberta (1863); Jessie Victoria (1865); Thomas Edwin (1866) and Edgar who died on 10th October 1869 aged 5 weeks.

Catherine died in June 1871 at the age of 41.

During the 40 years Thomas operated his store he saw Tambaroora evolve from a rough mining camp to a bustling township of 2,500 people and then decline to a sleepy hamlet clinging to the neighbouring town Hill End. From 1856 to 1870, Thomas was the Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages for the Hill End & Tambaroora area. He was also a member of the Hill End Hospital Board and the Hill End Borough Council. In addition to his duties as Registrar, Thomas read the burial service when no minister was available and on three known occasions he recorded the death, made the coffin, dug the grave and took the funeral service. It is also recorded that on one occasion Thomas performed a marriage service.

Whilst Thomas had his store continuously at Tambaroora for the duration of his time in the area, he also had for a time, a second store at Hill End. As well as the stores, Thomas also had a bakery at Tambaroora. By 1863 Thomas was selling up to 120 loaves of bread daily in Hill End.

As the gold rush declined, socio-economic hardships in the Hill End Ð Tambaroora area saw the younger generation move away. For the Paten children, Francis Thomas, Emily and Herbert moved to New Zealand before eventually returning to Australia to settle in Victoria. Clara and Thomas Edwin also moved to Victoria. Harry was a storekeeper at Pine Ridge near Mudgee at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Hines in 1883. Harry and Elizabeth had two children, Mabel Victoria and Percy Thomas before Harry was accidently killed on 5th February 1885. Only the youngest daughter Jessie stayed at Tambaroora till Thomas\’s death in 1894. Shortly after she moved to the Hunter Valley region with her husband Ernie Roberts.

While there is little left of the Tambaroora township now except some foundations and the odd chimney, the site of Thomas Paten’s store in Mudgee Rd is clearly identifiable. Local historian Brian Hodge has his home on the block where Jean Renetau\’s Hunter River Inn stood. Brian\’s yard includes the site of Paten\’s store (next to Renetau\’s block) and one of two pear trees planted by Thomas and Catherine is still growing on the site.

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