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150 Years in Australia
Malen Rumbelow (Malen 1st) and his family finally went ashore in Port Adelaide on the 9th October, 1854 after a 112 day voyage by sea from Southampton.
The family stayed at Port Adelaide for a short period before they set out in a bullock dray for the whaling settlement of Encounter Bay.
They arrived on 5th January 1855, and the trip took a fortnight in the heat of summer and was not without danger and hardship from the local aborigines and the rough bush track.
The whaling industry was nearing an end when they arrived at Encounter Bay and Port Elliot, the outlet for the wool and goods shipped down the Murray River by paddle steamer and barge, was the major centre for the district until Port Victor came to the fore later.
Upon reaching their destination, the family settled in Maud Street, near the school and post office.
Caroline, Malen’s fourth daughter, noted that where the township of Victor Harbor now stands was a sandy waste when her family arrived from Port Adelaide in 1855, with only one house which was occupied by the Trooper. This house was on the point where the present causeway commences and was known as Policeman’s Point.
Malen Snr was employed for a time in the store shed of the whaling company and, in fact, helped cut up the last whale harpooned by this company at Encounter Bay. Interestingly, when whaling was abandoned at Encounter Bay, a harpoon gun came into the hands of the family and was later presented to the SA Museum. At the time of writing there is also a large cast iron vessel used for processing the blubber in the Whale Centre at Victor Harbor, along with a number of paintings of Rumbelow fishermen created by the local artist, Peter Matthews.
Soon after arriving, the oldest daughter, Alice Rumbelow (who was born in Mildenhall, Suffolk, England on 25th May 1833) married Cain Jelliff on 24th January 1855. While excited to reach their new home and start their new life with a married daughter, there was tragedy just around the corner. Soon after arriving at Encounter Bay, Godfrey Rumbelow, the eldest son, who was born in Mildenhall England died aged 23. No detail of his illness exists.
On March 8th 1855, another son was born named David Godfrey Rumbelow. This made the journey from Adelaide over the Christmas period even more arduous for Alice, who was six months pregnant.
Another daughter, Hannah Pitches Rumbelow, was born on 3rd February 1858.
Both David and Hannah, also known as Ann, died before they were five years old and were buried with Godfrey in the old church-yard cemetery beside Rev. Ridgeway Newland’s Tabernacle. This left Malen 2nd as the only son.
There were many aborigines living in the area and it is reported that the family witnessed many of their corroborees. Indeed, Malen’s daughter Caroline grew up among the aborigines and knew several of them well, especially ‘King Pole’, who was to help end local tribal warfare.
Eight years after arriving, young Malen (Malen 2nd), at the age of 16, joined his father and Cain Jelliff, his brother-in-law, in a fishing partnership at Encounter Bay. He was a natural boatman and fish and crays were plentiful.
Alice (Mrs Cain Jelliff) helped by carting the catches to Adelaide and hawking the fish.
Malen Rumbelow
Malen Rumbelow
sp: Alice Pitches
Godfrey Rumbelow
sp: Cain Jelliff
sp: Edward Robert Bolger
Samuel Rumbelow
Sophia Rumbelow
sp: William Robinson
sp: Alexander Bacchus
Mahalia Rumbelow
sp: Henry Matthias Weymouth
sp: Edward Robert Bolger
Caroline Rumbelow
sp: John Rymill Cakebread
sp: Mary Glassenbury
Emma Rumbelow
sp: Thomas George Watson
sp: Edward Robert Bolger
Sarah Rumbelow
sp: William Jonas Watson
David Godfrey Rumbelow
Hannah Pitches Rumbelow
There are some newspaper articles that have been discovered. It would be very interesting to learn the real stories behind the incidents.
In the Observer on 22nd December 1855, the Port Elliot correspondent reported that;
“On the afternoon of Saturday last a man named Rumblow (note the spelling), residing at Encounter Bay, discovered a beautiful gold specimen in quartz on Section No 1, Rosetta Head, the property of Sir John Hindmarsh. The specimen is now in the possession of Mr Robinson, Fountain Inn, and will, I understand be forwarded during the next week to Adelaide. In several portions of the soil which have been subsequently washed, the presence of gold in a lesser or greater proportion has been detected and at an early hour yesterday morning several workmen were engaged in the search.
Subsequent information is to the effect that the reported discovery is a vile hoax. It is said that the pretended discoverer’s wife has admitted the fact of the imposition and unmasked the whole design”
In the Southern Argus of June 29th 1876 the following notices were posted under the heading of Magistrates Court, Port Elliot.
Oliver v Rumbelow, Jeliff and Mrs Jeliff – informations for assault at Port Victor. Case Dismissed
Bolger v Oliver – using language calculated to provoke a breach of the peace. Case dismissed.
Police v Oliver and Bolger – For fighting at Port Victor.Fined 10/- and costs.
Police v Kain Jeliff, Malen Rumbelow and Mrs Jeliff – Informations for unlawfully aiding and abetting an offence against the Police Act. Rumbelow and Jeliff were fined 10/- each and costs. The case against Mrs Jeliff was dismissed.
It is recorded that Malen 1st owned several acres of land in different sections of Encounter Bay and when his children married he gave them an acre of land as a wedding present. Malen apparently had a number of jobs.
We have mentioned the whaling station but he was also employed as a farmer, contractor, working on the Port Elliot breakwater and the stone wall on Cut Hill, as well as fishing and encouraging tourism.
The six daughters all married, several twice, and interestingly, three married the same man. These stories and that of Malen 2nd will unfold in subsequent chapters. Malen 1st died at 77 years of age on 17th October 1889, and his wife, Alice, on 8th December 1890.
Alice, the eldest daughter, was married to Cain Jelliff for 23 years. At 42 years of age, Cain lost his footing in a storm at sea near the Murray mouth, was plunged overboard and drowned. The Southern Argus described him as quiet and inoffensive and, “in the domestic relations of husband and wife perhaps there was no happier pair amongst us, therefore the grief of the bereaved wife is very great”
Alice then married Edward Robert Bolger on 4th October 1879 after his wife (Alice’s sister Mahalia) died, and cared for her six children. She also cared for the orphaned child of her cousin, Benjamin Last.
She had no children of her own. Alice sounds like a strong, capable person because she was also responsible for selling the fish in the Adelaide market.
Alice died at the age of 86 on 17th April 1920 and her obituary indicates that she was well liked and respected in the district.
OBITUARY: - “Mrs E.R. Bolger - The death occurred at Victor Harbour last Saturday of Mrs E.R. Bolger, sen., one of the oldest inhabitants of the historic Encounter Bay district.
She belonged to the Rumbelow family, well known in the early whaling and recent fishing annals of the locality, and was a native of Sussex (sic) England, where she was born in 1834. She made the voyage to Australia in the ship Pestonjee Bomanzee (704 tons, Capt. Montgomery) and landed at Port Adelaide on October 8, 1854, after a voyage of 112 days.
An interesting diary of the voyage is in the possession of the family. In 1855 she was married to the late Mr. Cain Jelliff, who was drowned in the River Murray while engaged in a fishing expedition. In 1880 she married Mr E.R. Bolger who survives.
For some years past the aged couple have been a mine of interesting information and anecdotes concerning the pioneer days and early Encounter Bay experiences. The deceased lady was of a happy and engaging disposition, and was held in the highest respect throughout the district.” - Observer Newspaper 24th April 1920
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