Chapter 11: The Miner's Wife
- Catherine Leung
- Jan 29, 2022
- 4 min read
The mining industry might make wealth and power for a few men and women, but the many would constantly be smashed and battered beneath its giant treads.
Katharine Susannah Prichard
S.T. Gill Australia 21 May 1818 – 27 October 1880
After the death of Joseph, Mary married John Neeves. Neeves has several spellings, Neve, Neaves, and Neeves. On the marriage certificate, he is Neeves. His age is 52 years miraculously, Rachel is 44 years old. When she married Joseph eleven years earlier, she was 41 years.
Who was John Neeves? Research has not uncovered absolute proof there is some evidence in his marriage to Rachel Hatfield. His father is James Neeves. He had no record of previous marriages. Not that all marriages were recorded. Early records of immigration to South Australia fails to uncover a John Neeve, Neaves, or Neve. However, a convict John Neave, born in 1814, is a strong possibility. His father, James Neve, lived in Norfolk (b. 1794 - d. 1844). It is possible to trace John Neeve from Tasmania to Melbourne. Perhaps he travelled overland to South Australia, lived in the Tiers and knew the Hatfields. I have chosen him by default.
John went to trial at the April Norfolk Quarter Sessions and was found guilty of stealing lead from a Mr Joseph Watts. He is sentenced to transportation for seven years. Neave (or Neeves) was nineteen years old when convicted. He stood barely five feet tall and was an average-looking lad with a fresh face, brown hair, and hazel eyes. He has several tattoos, two stars, a moon and a highlander on his right arm and a crucifix and anchor on his left arm.
Like Cowburn and Hatfield, he spent months on the Hulk Justitia. Despite a poor report on Justitia, he did not create any problems for himself while on the Moffatt.
Moffatt's second convict voyage left Woolwich in November 1837. There were 400 convicts plus a military escort and crew. The prison ship was not over packed. The ship's surgeon Gilbert King, Surgeon, mentions in his notes that the prison section was "commodious". Despite this, the prisoners arrived in poor health, many with scurvy and scabies. The ship diverted to Capetown, South Africa, at Dr King's request. Replenishing his stores, the surgeon treated the scurvy and continued to cleanse and treat scabies. An outbreak of diarrhoea and fevers kept the surgeon busy. His efforts were rewarded with only four deaths, one with fever, one from diarrhoea and two from T.B. John Neeves was not on the sick list.
All convicts washed in the morning, aired their bedding, and scrubbed their prison quarters and the deck. Every Sunday, they presented on deck in clean clothing. Once the church service was over, they could rest. The surgeon arranges a schedule of exercise and entertainment. There were singing and dancing, all designed to keep the men active.
John arrived in Hobart on 1 April 1838 during the Assignment Period. His trade was a labourer and wool comber. It can be assumed he was assigned to a farm. His assignment record shows the names Taylor and Duncan against his name. Only one further comment is logged on John's Convict Service Record, on 5 September 1842, when admonished for misconduct. He received a Conditional Pardon No. 401 on 23 May 1843. His Freedom Certificate was issued in 1844.
His life in Tasmania seems uneventful. He kept his head down and did not create any problems for himself. After gaining his freedom, he remains in Tasmania until February 1852. Then, he sets sail for Melbourne on the Tamar. Like many ex-convicts, he distances himself from his convict past and says he is Native Born. From Victoria, he makes his way to South Australia. There he proposes to the widow Hatfield.
Mary/Rachel's daughter Rachel married Henry Weston when she was 17 years old in 1862. Henry (James Henry) was 21 years of age. In 1866 the couple and their young son James moved to Kooringa to work in the Burra Copper mines. Rachel Weston gave birth to baby Joseph Weston, who died before his first birthday.
Burra mines attracted many miners from Cornwell. Rich copper mines saved the state from bankruptcy. However, the mines typified the "boom or bust" economy. As a result, the mines suffered greatly when many men left for the Victorian Goldfields. In addition, work in the mines was dangerous heavy work.
It's possible Rachel, and John Neeves moved to Kooringa, the township attached to the mines. It may have been that the younger Rachel needed help with children and raising the family. The Weston family remained in Burra until 1878, when Edward was born.
John Neeve died on 2 November 1890. The official cause of death is "Senile Decay". He was put to rest in the Burra Cemetry. He was 76 years old.
Mary is a widow again. Anecdotally Rachel Weston was known as a scold, and according to family stories, Henry would escape to the mines for some peace. The Weston family decide to move to Broken Hill in NSW. The Burra mine was uneconomical by the late 1870s. The photo of the Weston men above was taken in 1895 at Broken Hill.
The family seemed to have a solid bond. All lived in Burra and settled in the North of South Australia. John, an alcoholic, never married. Emma and Rachel raised their children in Burra. Jane, the one in the girls' middle, would marry a blacksmith from Hookina.
Now in her 80's Mary/Rachel is moving slowly. As the family begins to drift North she lives with her daughters.
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