Gertrude Annie (Smith) Jones (1893 - 1989)

Born 25 Nov 1893 in Uralla, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Henry Amore Jones — married 26 Aug 1920 in Scone, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 31 Jul 1989 at age 95 in Scone, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Peter Jones [send private message] and Jacinta Luck [send private message]

Biography

Gert was born in Uralla in 1893/^[1] The following was written by Gert herself in 1981 in regard to her childhood:

I came to Pages River School in 1902 when I was 8 years of age. My father John Francis Smith had bought a holding 9 miles from Scone on the Gundy side of Upper Brushy Hill. My parents built a house on it and called it “May Farm”. We moved to there on 17th March, 1902, from the Muswellbrook district.

“May Farm” was one mile from Pages River School, so my two sisters and I walked to school. At that time there were 27 pupils attending the school. Our teacher was Miss Henrietta McCully(), a very thin, very wiry lady; and a very strict teacher, too.Henrietta Charlotte J I McCully (1869-1951)

The school was only one room, but a very good solid building made of weatherboards with two large windows in the back wall and a nice fireplace in front. We also had a big press in the corner, full to capacity with very good library books.

Two rows of desks facing the front of the school with an aisle between, a square table with its chair for the teacher, plus a large blackboard on an easel, completed the furnishings.

I forgot to mention a long cane and Miss McCully was no novice with a cane.

The one door was in the eastern end of the school. On the outside, on the west wall, two walls were built. A wide board along one end had two round holes to hold two tin dishes, and there was a big roller towel on the wall. At the front was a galvanized tank of about 100 gallons, and two enamel mugs.

Miss McCully lived in Scone with her two sisters. Miss Eliza (Jane Rebecca Elizabeth McCully (1859-1909)) was also a teacher, and taught school out of town. I have an idea it was out Moobi way. The third sister was Miss Flo (Florence Margaret M McCully (1870-1951)), the housekeeper.

Miss Eliza came home each night, but our Miss McCully boarded with a Mr. and Mrs. Tim McNamara, whose property joined the school yard. She stayed with them from Monday to Friday then rode back to Scone on Friday afternoons to have the weekend with her sisters.

Every Monday morning, come rain, hail or sunshine, she was there to ring the bell for roll-call at 9.30 a.m.; also for shoe and finger-nail inspection.

Miss McCully rode a black mare named Cora. She rode on a side saddle and wore gloves with a little hat held on by two large hat pins. On arrival, she passed Cora over to two of the boys to unsaddle, rub her down and turn her loose in Mr McNamara’s large paddock.

After lunch on Friday, the two boys would be assigned to go out on the mountain for Cora and saddle her by 3.30, when the school would be closed for the weekend. The boys who usually attended to Miss McCully’s horse were John Moran and Colin Wharton.

In those days school was a serious undertaking. Miss McCully was a strict but competent teacher. Only the 3R’s were considered and believe me, anyone who studied under Miss McCully could spell correctly and knew all the answers in Arithmetic, as Maths was called in those days, both mental and written. There were six classes and then the Standard of the Schools. That was as high as anyone could go without attending College.

Every Friday afternoon we were taught sewing and while we were thus engaged Miss McCully would read a chapter of a library book to us. I’m afraid I never got very far with my sewing but some of the girls were really clever. Two I could name who had beautiful samplers were my sister Ethel and Nellie Davidson.

We played together in the playground, boys and girls. In the cold weather we played Sheep, Sheep Come Home, Rounders, and the most popular, Prisoners’ Base. In summer it was very hot so we sat in the shade and played Knifey or Jacks.

We each had our own set of jacks, getting our mothers to save knuckle bones for us, out of legs of mutton and lamb she cooked. We would then boil them white or dye them. If we didn’t have a knife we used a hat pin, for playing knifey.

Sometimes Miss McCully would give us a great treat - a lollie scramble. She would throw boiled sweets in handfuls out of the window and we would dive on them like chickens picking corn.

Looking back in horror, I would hate to see my great grandchildren getting their peck of dirt in that way. But we enjoyed the lollie scramble and evidently it didn’t do us any harm.

The boys would be sent to pick up wood just through the fence on the eastern end of Bob’s Reserve to make a fire, which kept the room lovely and warm. The big girls, whoever was senior had to whiten the fire place each Friday, and the boys kept the ashes cleaned out.

As the years went by the younger members of our families came to school, thus keeping up the number who would leave at the age of 14 or 15. I left at 15, after spending 2 years in 6th Standard. The last year I helped the teacher with the lower classes. I left school in 1909.

I had three younger sisters who came to the school when they were old enough. The same applied to the other families. Most of the people around owned their own farms, however, and as their children grew up there was no one to take their place at school. Thus it was that the attendance became smaller each year until eventually the school was closed in April, 1912.

When I joined the school in 1902 there were 27 pupils, including two families of McNamara. Tim McNamara‘s children were Nellie, Annette, Lily, Claud and Dick, and Stephen McNamara’s were Essie, Ethel and Stephen. There were Ethel, Colin and John Wharton; Hilda and Nellie Davidson; Ethel, Milda and Gertie Smith; Blanche and Roy DeAlvion; George, Kate and Aubrey Riley; Johanna, John, Sarah and Matilda Moran; Clarice and Alice Gore.

When the half-time school closed in April, 1912 the following pupils were left without any means of education and had to make their own arrangements: Gladys, Elma, Jack and Tim Riley; Tom, Mick and Pearl Moran; Nellie McNamara; Edgar Davidson; Les, Hunter and Bob McInnes; Emily and Ida Smith and Queenie Partridge.

The Pages River School was situated at the eastern end of Bob’s Reserve. After leaving the road through Bob’s Reserve between the two river crossings, the road to the school went east through a cutting and over a flat. The school ground was fenced off on the opposite side of the road from theriver. I think the old gum tree that we used to use for ‘Home’ still stands in what was once the playground.

My sister Sarah (Sarah Jane (Smith) Iliffe (1895-1994)) was also educated at Pages River School. She came to school in 1903 and left in 1911. There were a few other families who came to the locality during that period, among them the family of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Singleton (Walter Singleton (1868-1949) and Catherine (Moran) Singleton (1870-1952)), who later moved to Bunnan. For a few years Maud (Maud Mary (Singleton) Elsley (1893-1979)), Walter (Walter Ernest Singleton (1895-)), Tom (Thomas James Singleton (1897-1970)) and Kate Singleton (Catherine (Singleton) Barker (1899-1983)) attended Pages River School.

In 1920 she married Henry Amore (Harry) Jones (1886-1963).^[2] In the following years they were blessed with five sons:

1. Wilf Jones
2. Harold Jones
3. Kevin Jones
4. Max Jones
5. John Jones

Sadly, their last child died at just four days old.

The family lived down at 16 Parker Street, Scone. (Their house was still standing that the time this is written - May 2023.)

The family was not a wealthy one but they were actively engaged with the local community and Scone Catholic Church. In 1932 we find a report of a couple of the children (and their cousins) being present at a fancy dress party (apparently scheduled to follow-on from the NSW State Elections) but sadly none of the Jones boys appear to have won prizes:^[3]

Kevin Jones. Clown

Wilfred Jones and Bruce Tuckey. Jack and Mary—Black and Gin

Harold Jones. Chinaman

...

Audrey Noonan. Fairy

Kathleen Noonan. Yellow Chicken

In 1938 her father passed away.

During WWII her two eldest sons enlisted to serve and both were saw service in the Royal Australian Airforce. Wilf served as ground crew while Harold saw service in a Catalina Flying Boat. It would have been a worrying time for the family in early 1944 when Harold was reported as missing.^[4] It later transpired that after a fire aboard the aircraft it was forced to ditch into Jacquinot Bay in current Papua New Guinea. Of the crew of ten only Harold and four others managed to escape; the other five aboard were captured and either died as a prisoner of war or executed.^[5]

In October 1963 Gert was widowed when Harry passed away.

Sources

1. ↑ NSW BDM birth of SMITH, GERTRUDE A, reg. no. 33961/1894, to parents JOHN and MARY, registered at URALLA
2. ↑ NSW BDM marriage reg. no. 11154/1920, of JONES, HENRY A, and SMITH, GERTRUDE A, registered at SCONE
3. ↑ JUVENILE OUTING (1932, June 14). The Scone Advocate (NSW : 1887 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved May 11, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158021031
4. ↑ PERSONAL (1944, February 11). The Scone Advocate (NSW : 1887 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved May 11, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161119374
5. ↑ Pacific Wrecks, PBY Catalina Serial Number A24-34 Tail FJ-A, retreived from http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/pby/A24-34.html, 11 May 2023

• NSW BDM death registration of JONES, GERTRUDE ANNIE, Reg. No. 107010/1989, showing parents JOHN FRANCIS and MARY
• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 March 2019), memorial page for Gertrude Annie “Gert” Smith Jones (25 Nov 1893–31 Jul 1989), Find A Grave Memorial no. 197744951, citing Scone Catholic Cemetery, Scone, Upper Hunter Shire, New South Wales, Australia ; Maintained by Peter Jones (contributor 49245532). Find A Grave: Memorial #197744951

Acknowledgements

WikiTree profile Smith-18169 created through the import of Jones Family - 1 Aug 2011.ged on Jul 31, 2011 by Peter Jones. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Peter and others.