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Prosper is the great grandson of my 5th Great Grandmother, Mary Ann and her husband Joseph Fleming. The following has been reproduced from Chapter 7 of the Tuckermans of Sackville by Rodney TuckermanProsper Edward Sherman Tuckerman (1833 - 1908)
Cape Colony in South Africa was first colonised by the Dutch but the British, backed by their Government soon followed and took control. All the younger generation of Dutch migrated North to Transvaal and Orange Free State. To the old families who remained they were known as "Outlanders".
To the old families of the Tuckermans of the Hawkesbury Valley, I am an ''Outlander". Although I knew as a child that my father came from the Hawkesbury and I listened to his tales and to my mother, the Hawkesbury was more or less a geographical feature I learned at school. The only Hawkesbury person I ever saw till I grew up was my Uncle Adolphus, who paid us a visit. After World War I, Cousin Jack introduced us (the family at Campsie,) to some of Cyril’s family--Hilton, Lee and Lou--and later, through our Church, I met many others.
Now as a historian of the family, more or less, I am faced with writing and speaking about some of the real oldsters of the family. To do this I have had to turn to members of the family who still reside in the Hawkesbury Valley. I am very grateful to Alwyn and Valmai, to Hannah and Dulcie and to Maycel and Keith and others who have drawn on records and their childhood memories to help me. I am also indebted to Mrs Emmie Parkes, a descendant of the Flemings, For providing me with much information about that Family and about Maria who married Prosper in particular.
Now to Prosper Tuckerman.
For a start, I quote an extract from a letter to the Editor of the Windsor Gazette, written in 1972 by A. W. Prosper Turnbull, grandson of Prosper Tuckerman.
It reads as follows: -
"Now we come to the real pioneer of the Tuckerman family; a bearded giant of a man called
Prosper Tuckerman.He was as strong as a bull elephant, had a full flowing beard that reached to his waist, andhad a natural flair for exploration. He would have been the first white man to chart theHawkesbury River from North Richmond to Broken Bay (in a scale of 1 mile = l inch).He was a great athlete and scholar of the Peter Kemp era and took part in many regattas atSackville Reach.He feared no man and got on well with the natives, explored many miles of north and
north-western N.S.W. on his own, except for a native or two. One of his trips took him way up into Queensland and he explored large areas of that state, making his way to the coast at Ipswich and back to Sydney by boat
His journalistic ability was amazing and he always found time to write of his wanderings. He contributed largely to the Hawkesbury Newspaper, "The Australian".
"The most amazing thing about the man was that he had time to marry a wonderful lady. Maria Fleming, and raise a family of eleven children, 7 bays and 4 girls, many of whom senior residents of the Hawkesbury will remember. Mostly he fed those eleven children and his wife from the land and what he could grow between floods.
I have in my possession the Map he drew of Hawkesbury River and his small brass compass he used an his wanderings.”
“ A.W.P.Turnbull, Wilberforce. “From my own researched and family help, I will flow on from there.
Prosper Tuckerman as a young man, had a big black beard later to become snow white. He never shaved. He was the third son of our forebears, Stephen and Sarah, and was born in the old home on the river, just up the road to the left below us, and just before you each Addy's Creek.
Growing up, he became the biggest and strongest male of the family. Before he reached maturity, his two elder brothers, Stephen Edward and Charles Henry, had left home and he, with his younger brother, Adolphus, became Stephen's (his father) greatest help in farming.
Prosper had three great loves in life:
THE RIVER, A GIRL, HIS SPORT.
Firstly--the river. It was not the dirty drain it is to day. It was clear and blue and sparkling, with rushes and wild fowls a-plenty and heaps of fish-lovely to look at, to row on and to swim in. Notwithstanding its beauty it was a dangerous river and, time after time, its floods caused great havoc.
Sackville Reach was the scene last century of many sports days for the people of the River. There were races--athletics, sailing, swimming and rowing. Prosper Tuckerman took a leading part and was a renowned athlete.
When he was about 18, he decided to chart the River. He had been to Ebenezer School and his sister, Mary, had cared for all his primary education. He wrote a good hand and, for his day, was well educated. Apparently he had a natural flair for map-making. His wife, Maria, passed down to Prosper Turnbull his map of the river from North Richmond to Pittwater-87 miles. To map it by rowing boat was a task indeed. Prosper must have borrowed his father's boat and made notes as he went along, writing them up daily and drawing rough sketches each night by the camp fire. I expect it took him nearly a year to complete.
Prosper Turnbulls widow preserved the map and the old compass her husband wrote about. We are fortunate in having before us to day a Photostat of the map, which Valmai made. You may look at it afterwards.
When Prosper was 19 or 20, he set out on the first of his exploratory trips. This is guesswork on my part. When Pros.Turnbull died, the family moved and left all his papers in a shed. They included Prosper Tuckerman's records, including copies of the articles he wrote to the Windsor "Australian".
Vandals broke in and stole and set fire to them all, so these priceless records were lost as the newspaper no longer exists and very few of its editions of the past can be found.
Pros. Turnbull in his letter to the "Gazette “ says that his grandfather was a great explorer and adventurer. I concur with that statement, but I have reservations. My own view is that Prosper Tuckerman did make at least two trips of exploration but certain factors rule out more and, in fact. I doubt whether exploration was the main driving force behind his wanderings. Firstly, his father needed him at home to help with farming and orchards. Secondly time did not permit of much more in the way of exploration.
If my assessment is correct, Prosper was about 18 when he mapped the river and 19 when he finished. A year at home would make him 20. If he spent a year away on exploration, he would be 21 or more on his return. Let's say he started on his second exploratory trip at 22. It would have taken him at least 12 months to reach Ipswich in Queensland and come home by boat to Sydney, and then by boat to Sackville, making him 23/24. He was married in Ipswich when he was, 25.
Another factor that rules against many trips of exploration was-the fact that, although Prosper covered a lot of ground and good land was available for selection, he did not apply for nor take up any such land. His prospects at home were not outstanding, as Stephen did not own much good land to give to his children. Hence the departure of Stephen and Charles for other fields.
My own opinion is that Prospers trips of exploration were prompted by "The Girl", Maria Fleming whom Prosper married. She was born in Wilberforce in 1836. Her family moved to McDonald River about 1843. I can't help but think that these two were childhood sweethearts and remained so all their lives. I do not know where they met, or how--this tiny little fair-haired girl (with lots of red in her hair) and the big, strong dark boy from Sackville met. I suggest that Prosper rowed over to see her at St Albans when she was 7 or 8. I also suggest that his first trip of exploration took in Maitland, to which town the Flemings had moved when Maria was 11 or 12, and that his second trip of exploration ended at Ipswich, to which town Maria and family had moved later. She would then be about 19-20. They were married when she was 22. This is supposition but has the ring of truth to me. It's hard to create a picture of history without facts, but logic can be a substitute.
Now let me tell you something about the Flemings. On the female side, they were descended from a Marine of the First Fleet. We find Joseph Fleming, Maria’s father, at Pitt Town and married to Phoebe McGuinnes at the Presbyterian Church at Ebenezer and building a home in Wilberforce next to one of the Browns. Joseph was a most colourful character. He was granted land at the McDonald River and became a farmer there. He later became Constable at Wollombi, then went an to Maitland where he set up a Boiling Down factory. He also bought and sold wheat, cattle and other produce. He took up land on the Namoi and the Barwon. He moved to Ipswich in Queensland and had another boiling down works, and owned or leased at one stage over 60,000 square miles of country. He made a lot of money. He was said to be worth at least £30,000 at one stage (probably worth to day about $750,000 to $1,000,000). He became a magistrate and a Member of Parliament in Queensland. He over stretched himself and went insolvent and had to resign his offices. He finished his life rather poorly.
Maria became the mother of the family at the age of 17 when, her own mother died
(4-4-1853). There were five younger daughters. Maria, although given help, ran her father's house and helped bring up her younger sisters. Prosper Tuckerman was her one and only love.
When Prosper arrived in Ipswich in 1857, I'm sure he proposed and was accepted. Maria’s father, Joseph, was opposed to the union. Maria came down to Sydney and returned to Ipswich to make arrangements for her marriage. Prosper and Maria were married at St John the Baptist's Church of England, Brisbane, on 25 February, 1858. Maria’s father, Joseph Fleming, and one of her sisters, were the witnesses.
After the marriage (and the death of his wife) Joseph Flaming and two of his daughters accompanied Prosper and Maria by ship to Sydney. The newlyweds went on to Sackville and lived there, at the old home, for a year or more, their eldest son, Cyril Joseph, being born there on 12 March, 1859. After Cyril’s birth, his parents went; back to Ipswich.
Joseph Fleming had met and married a Miss Mary Harriet at St Matthew’s, Windsor, four months- after Maria’s wedding. He was 26 years older than the lady was and she left him after a few months and did not return. I expect Joseph asked Maria to come home and run the establishment for him, finding a job for Prosper in one or more of his various ventures. Whilst in Ipswich, two more sons were born. Viz.—
In 1864, Prosper and Maria, with their three boys, returned to Sackville, to the ancestral home. Stephen then said to Prosper, "You may settle on the 232 acres beyond the main Sackville to Wilberforce Road. It is bounded, more or less, by the road, a drain on the right and, if you draw an arc from the top of the hill round to the drain, that is about it!"
This property had a fair bit of swamp, very little cultivatable land and a good deal of what I would call "goat and galah" country. Stephen promised that, if Prosper developed it, he would leave it to him in his will.
Prosper went to work. The property was, apart from swamp, heavily timbered. In those days, wild life was fairly abundant and a good few blacks roamed around. Prosper had to clear ground, which he did and, over the years, he built a slab house with four rooms and a front veranda. I think, at first it had a dirt floor and bark roof. In a year or two, an iron roof was put on and plank floors were added to the house and verandas. At that stages a large underground water tank was built and guttering and down pipes, to feed it from the roof, were installed. Two slab "lean-tos" were also built one as a kitchen and the other a wash house.
Prosper also built a large wooden two-storey barn, a privy, a hen house, a pigsty and a cattle yard. He planted an orchard with citrus and stone fruit. He cultivated as much land as possible and grew maize and oats and set up a vegetable garden where he grew potatoes, pumpkins, onions, rhubarb, cabbages, turnips and many others. In addition, he built a cricket pitch, laid down two tennis courts and a racetrack. I expect this took him a good many years. I do not know what help he had if any. It is probable that his father gave him some horses, cattle, a plough, pigs and chickens, or he acquired them otherwise.
Over the next 18 years, Maria presented him with another eight children, making a total of 11 (7 boys and 4 girls), viz.--
I maintain that Prospers days of exploring finished the day he was married. To develop the property at Sackville, fence it, and produce enough to feed and clothe his large and always growing family would take all his time and energy.
Maria was a good cook and could sew well. The initial stages of their life together were rough. Most of the furniture was made of rough local timber and packing cases or anything they could get hold of. The barn was used to store foodstuffs for themselves and their animals, else as a dormitory for the elder boys.
To add to the difficulties of the family during the years 1859-1904, there were 21 major floods. They probably lost stock, vegetables, fruit trees and even some of their domestic animals. With the swamp being replenished so often, the mosquitoes must have been a great trial. The tennis courts, cricket pitch and race course were probably washed out also by every flood.
Prosper enjoyed his cricket and tennis and the property was a "Mecca" for the sportsmen of the district. He also bred and raced racehorses. In later years, when too old for sport, Prosper and Maria loved to play cribbage on their front veranda. The main living room had a huge fireplace, which ran right across the room. They kept pets and had numerous dogs. Chief of the latter was a huge animal nicknamed “Bullwool “.He adored Maria and was nearly as big as she was.
Prosper died at his home from heart failure on 9 December 1908 and was buried in our old family tomb. He was a poor man, but much loved and respected by his family and all that knew him. On the day he died he drove into Windsor to buy supplies. He had dinner at Mary Bushell's Royal Hotel, came home late, went to bed and died. Maria lived on in the old home till 25-9-1914, when she died and was buried in our tomb, beside her beloved husband. She was a very kind and loving women.
Most of the Tuckermans married more then once. Not so Prosper. He had one love and one wife for life. When his father died on 1-2-1875, Prosper found that his property had been left to him and his brother, Stephen Edward, as tenants in common. I don't know where he got the money (probably Maria’s savings) but he bought Stephen Edward's share an 30-8-1875 for £600. I have a copy of the Indenture. After Prosper died several of the sons sold out and moved out.
In Prospers Will (a copy here if you would like to see it) he drew a map showing how the property was split up and to whom. He made no provision for Maria. Taking it for granted that the family would care for her. Norman, who was small like his mother, was the one who looked after the horses and, when his Dad died he retired to his house on the top of the hill.
If you are interested have a look at the map and go and look at the property. Put the timber on it and take out the buildings and you will have some idea of the colossal fight this family had, not to make money but to survive.
Five of the children built houses on their blocks--Norman, Cyril, Stephen Adolphus, James and William. Two houses survive to day. Stephen’s stone houses on your right as you drive to Wilberforce and Bill's home round near where the racecourse was.
Prospers house was demolished a few years ago. Only the old pepper tree marks the spot where it stood.
I'll talk next time on Prosper's children and his grandchildren.
Thank you all.
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