|
  Some possible ideas from our brief "digging" here at Simply Australia... It has us very curious and we have done a little digging on the Net. By the looks of it it may be a gavel and on seeing that Justice Dowling did indeed service the Mudgee area in at least the 1860s, it may well have some connection. What do you think? Just guessing at this stage, but could this be the Chief Justice Dowling that presided at the Myall Creek murder trials in 1839... or possibly a father and son? In the Archives Office of New South Wales, there are about 250 handwritten volumes of Justice Dowling's notebooks often in poor handwriting and sometimes in shorthand. When trying to connect the "V. Dowling" to the judge we came across the following article, The Viscount and the convict: the scandal that engrossed colonial Sydney (1834) [University of Sydney website, 04 March 2004] It is interesting in itself but particularly in the following paragraphs: "In 1833 Lascelles found himself embroiled in a sexual scandal when he eloped with Lilius Dickson, the daughter of a Sydney miller. Lilius and Lascelles spent several days together at an inn near Parramatta before she was recovered by her father. Undeterred, Lascelles made an application to the Supreme Court for her to be returned, an application that was rejected by Justice James Dowling, when Lascelles could produce no evidence of a marriage ceremony. In a strange twist, two months later Lilius married Willoughby Dowling, the judge's nephew. Justice Dowling was less than thrilled by the match, describing Lilius in his case notes as a woman of light reputation, 'in consequence of too much familiarity with one or two other persons of the opposite sex' and resolving never to regard her as a member of the Dowling family." From the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, it shows that Willoughby and Lilias had the following children: John F. 1836 Susan E. 1828 VINCENT J. b. 1834 Vincent J. Dowling married Frances Breilloct in 1866 From records we can place VINCENT J. DOWLING and his wife Frances (Mrs V. Dowling?) in the Rylestone district in 1878. Their son John G. Dowling died in the RYLESTONE district in 1878-1880. Their other children were: LILIAS M b.1867 ETHEL M b.1869 WILLOUGHBY V b.1871 VINCENT ROBERT b.1876 (Concord district) ELSIE SUE b.1880 (RYLESTONE district) RUTH B b.1878 (RYLESTONE district) AND..... how did Lue railway station get its name? "Lue (Wallerawang-Gwabegar line) Koori name of district. Station was so called after Mr. Vincent Dowling's pastoral station." So... at least we have Dowlings in the right area at the right time and ones with a connection to gavels. Was pastoralist Vincent J a judge too, we wonder? Perhaps one of our readers will be able to taker up the challenge and solve the mystery for Simon. This webpage © 2005 Simply Australia
|
