A homage to Carrawobitty

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As many of you know, I have an odd habit of visiting graveyards of the towns I visit, in the hope of finding some long lost relative's grave. Armed with a digital camera, my trusty laptop, a good hat and some sunscreen, I can spend hours traipsing about a cemetery in the middle of nowhere.

Of course my wife and children can only take so much of this, so a few times through the year I plan a two or three day trip away by myself, staying in low-budget pubs and motels, and soon staying in the rather large tent bought for Christmas 2005. I spend the day driving and photographing graves, and the night sorting out the hundreds of photographs taken on that day. It is nothing for me to arrive at a cemetery with a list containing just a handful of names buried there, and walk away with fifty photographs of those, and others possibly related to various branches of the family. I have found many deaths I was unaware of using this simple method: If it sounds familiar, photograph it, move on & sort it out later...

In late 2003, while travelling back from Condobolin to Forbes, I detoured through a small town named Bedgerebong to visit their graveyard. Bedgerebong cemetery is the location where I was "Almost Shot" - an interesting tale printed to the right. Rather than travelling back to the main road, I decided to follow the Forbes signs just outside the town. My time was my own, and a slightly longer trip back to town was no problems.

Not far out of town I spied an odd looking mailbox with a very familiar name - "Carrawobitty" Dorset Stud. Carrawobitty station was a large station on the western side of Forbes where many of my ancestors had been born, married and died. My great-grandfather was born there, and many of the generations before him have close ties to the land in that area. After taking photographs of the mailbox, I happily started back towards Forbes. A few minutes later I saw an unusual sight off to my right - an Australian flag flying above the distant palm trees. As I drove closer I saw an impressive 2 story concrete house, but it was not the house that caught my attention - it was the name clearly stencilled across the top.

The words that came to mind can not be printed in this newsletter, but needless to say my car came to a screeching halt on the side of the road. I exited the vehicle in the hope of making contact with the owners, but alas there was nobody about. I did one lap around the house, taking photographs of the homestead from all angles, before leaving a note to the house's owners for them to contact me on their return.

A few months went by, and I had forgotten about the note, and I received a phone call from the owners, a Sydney couple, inviting me up there when they were next in the area. Months passed, and I had done quite a bit of research into the history of the homestead in the meanwhile. The concrete structure had been built in the 1880's on the same spot as the original Rawsthorne homestead, which had been severely damaged by fire. The fire occurred about the same time that my family had sold the homestead, which they had owned since 1842. It was not the true family home I had wanted to find, but many of the barns and outlying areas had been partly built of material from the homestead that pre-dated the fire.

Early in 2004 my father and I drove up to the homestead and were invited into the front section of the house. The son of the owners is currently working on restoring the majestic house so that it can be used as a bed and breakfast in the future. The photographs I took do not do the house justice, but the work done so far has made a vast improvement to the house. Hopefully the next trip will show the house closer to completion.

I have been told that the homestead was sold in 2005, but I am yet to make contact with the new owners.