Cairn Commemoration 2005

Kenneth Peter Rumbelow (Peter) was born at Victor Harbor on 13th April 1937 and married Genevieve Wallace Hickling on 20th February 1960. They had two daughters. In January 2005, Peter was presented with the Australia Day City of Campbelltown Citizen of the Year Award.  Peter was Chairman of the Committees that organised the 150 Year Rumbelow Celebration and compiled this book from research carried out by a number of people, particularly Mary George and Lesley Avery.

Cairn Commemoration, 17th April 2005

Recording from 2005 Reunion. Converted from VHS. Camera operator(s) unknown.

Start Transcript.

Glen Rrosser (GR) "I hope everyone's well after last night's festivities. This is the second major function of the weekend reunion and it's terrific to see a fantastic crowd here this morning for the unveiling of the cairn.

Firstly a special welcome to the Mayor of the City of Victor Harbor Scott Schubert who was also at the dinner last night and his wife Monica. He will have an opportunity to speak a little later and we certainly value the assistance given by the Council and the City of Victor Harbor.

I welcome everyone here today as we are here as families and descendants of Malen and Alice Rumbelow who arrived here 150 years ago on the 5th of  January 1855 with their children Godfrey, Alice, Sophia, Mahalia, Carolyn, Malen 2nd, Emma and Sarah. 

They landed at Port Adelaide on the Pestonjee Bomanjee, having sailed from Southampton on the 17th of February 1854 and then travelled on foot, arriving in Encounter Bay some 14 later.

Their son Godfrey died later in 1855 and was buried in the Tabernacle graveyard.

A son David born on the 8th of March 1855 just 2 months after the family arrived at this spot (of the cairn). He was conceived either just before or just after they sailed from Southampton.

Another daughter Hannah was born 3rd of February 1858. Both children died as infants and are also buried at the Tabernacle Cemetery.

The surviving children all married.

• Alice married Cain Jelliff who was drowned in the Murray mouth in 1877 and then to Edward Robert Bolger (Mahalia’s Widow).

• Alice had no children of a her own but helped raise her sister's children.

• Sophia married William Robinson and they had eight children. William died in 1870.

• Sophia married Alexander Bacchus in 1874 and had another two children.

• Mahalia married Henry Waymouth in 186___ and had had two children. Henry died in 1863.

• Mahalia then married Edward Robert Bolger in 1866 they had a further four children.

• Caroline married John Rymil Cakebread in 1861 and they had 10 children.

• Malen married Mary Glassenbury in 1863 and they had nine children.

• Emma married Thomas George Watson in 1865 and they had nine chiildren. Thomas died in 1914.

• Emma married Robert Bolger (the third sister to do so).

• Sarah married William Jonas Watson in 1869 and they had five children.

These people are the foundation of this gathering this morning and we welcome you, the descendants of partners friends, to this special occasion.

Firstly I'd like to invite the mayor of the City of Victor Harbor Scott Schubert. We certainly appreciate the council's involvement as the cairn (structure) before us was from the original Rumbelow home Yeltana. After it was demolished the City stored the granite and have now used that to build this Memorial here so we certainly thank the council for their efforts."

Mayor Scott Schubert "Good morning everyone. I hope everyone's recovered after their very enjoyable evening last night. Thank you again for inviting me to be part of your very special reunion here at the beach and a very special part of South Australia and a very special part of your hearts. I'm pleased the council's been able to assist you again in these events with the cairn here. 

It would be hard to find really any aspect of the Victor Harbor area that hasn't been touched in some way and in most respects been heavily influenced by the Rumbelow family and again this is another permanent reminder of the impact that your family has had in the area.

It's great really to see the current members of the Rumbelow dynasty gathered here again and keeping the spirit alive of the family and I know there is such a strong bond that keeps you all together. 

I said last night also that when you think of the Rumbelow family you conjure up images of the fishing industry here and being here at this special location is going to be a permanent reminder when people and visitors come here to read that and also come to reflect on what your descendants have done in the area and what they they've done for the area.

I congratulate you all again and wish you all the best for the rest of your celebrations and once more congratulations and have a great time while you are here. Thank you

Glen Rrosser (GR) "The next segment is really to talk about the tragedy that's been involved in the Rumbelow family and certainly make mention of a number who have died at sea.  I'd like to welcome Malcolm Rumbelow to say a few words.

Malcolm is a descendant of Malin 2nd. Malcolm was born in The Encounter Bay area and all of his life here all but a few years I think.

He's followed in many of the same Traditions that seems to be common throughout the family, involved in sports and community activities in many facets.

He attended Victor Harbor High School and Primary School and on leaving school he followed in his father and brother footsteps and became a carpenter. When the family established a carpentry business he left his current employment to join them. Several years ago he changed to manage a deli and a chicken shop in the area.

He has a deep respect for the sea and also enjoys the leisure activities that it has to offer. He's been a successful sailor competing at State and National levels. He's an active member of the Victor Harbor and Goolwa Sea Rescue Squadron where he has held the positions of both Squadron leader and commodore giving up his time to assist  others that require assistance so please welcome Malcolm to tell us about the members of the family who have died at sea, thank you."

Malcolm Rumbelow (MR). "Thanks Glen and I would just like to say welcome everybody here today as well.

From the earliest days the Rumbelow family of the Rumbelow family being in South Australia an affiliation with the sea developed

The family became more and more involved with the sea as each of the generations worked and made fishing a career and way of life not just a job. So it's not surprising to realise that there were going to be tragedies just as there were so celebrations of success

There have been six Rumbelows who have lost their lives at sea. Seven if you actually include Malen 3rd who died (of a heart attack) while catching snapper on the outer grounds. 

Six drowning seems a high high number to any family, but when you consider the number of a that the family collectively would have spent on the water it's probably not a bad ratio.

Cain Jelliff, although strictly not a Rumbelow descendant, was the first to be lost in 1887.

He was returning to Goolwa from the Murray mouth with two other men when he slipped and fell overboard in a storm. He had been steering the boat with a makeshift rudder as the tiller had already been lost. As Cain couldn't swim it was two days before his body was recovered.

In 1920 the second tragedy occurred when Samuel Rumbelow drowned while trying to save a young girl who had been washed off rocks at Port Elliot. Samuel had tried to warn her of the dangers of being too close to the edge but his warnings were not heeded and yet he still had no hesitation in jumping in to try and rescue her. He managed to bring her back to the rocks where she was pulled out by other people there.

Unfortunately Samuel wasn't quite so lucky. He was washed out, taken under by the surge and undertow, and unfortunately he drowned as well. The large number of people who attended his funeral was indeed a testament to the popularity of the man 

About midnight on the 23rd of December in 1932 the double drowning of Walter and David (Rumbelow) took place.  Walter, David and Lionel were in backstairs passage when the Ferret founded in heavy seas off white off Waitpinga Beach on the way home. 

Walter had seen Lionel in Victor before leaving on that trip and asked if he would like to accompany him on the trip down to Kangaroo Island.

Lionel agreed and he went home and got ready. He went next door to his brother's David's house and asked David to look after his nets for a couple of days while he was going to be away and David said yeah that would be fine too.

David changed his mind and later on he thought he would also like to go down to Kangaroo Island. He got his daughter Florence (Fon) to take him to the Bluff to enable him to wave the others in as they went past.

Perhaps the last Fon saw of her father. When the Ferret went down Lionel and David  and they were able to cling to the dingy they had been towing and were washed towards Waitpinga Beach.

Walter was never sighted and it is believed he was trapped in the cabin. The brothers were washed in and out many times before a huge breaker picked up the dingy and flung it into the air. Lionel was pushed on to the shore at Waitpinga and he believed the dingy must have struck David on the head knocking him unconscious. Lionel searched for his brother to no avail before struggling up the beach and through the hills to The Honeyman home above Waitpinga to raise the alarm.

David's body was found the day after Christmas although Walter was never found. David's wife Mabel gave birth to a son, Young David, 3 months later.

On May 16th 1975 Geoffrey Rumbelow was drowned, just out here trying to retrieve his own boat that had broken its moorings in heavy seas. On the day Geoff drowned there was a very high tide and the large swells were coming right up onto the footpath where we are all standing now.

The most recent drowning was that of Kevin Rumbelow, or Jack or Jackson as we knew him. That happened on November the 22nd in 1981. Kevin was returning from Kangaroo Island in bad weather in the boat he had called the Gallini when she went down. 

He had not had the Gallini long and bought her to be able to day fish from Victor Harbor so he could spend more time with his family. It was on his first extended trip to the island that his tragic death occurred.

A large air and sea search was organised when Jack was overdue and it was 6 days before his body was recovered on the beach in Shannon's Galley just to the west of Parsons Beach.

History repeated itself when Kevin's wife Maxine found she was also pregnant and eventually Young Kevin was born. The sad part was that Kevin never knew that he was to be a father again.

Although there have been tragedies the Rumbelow family have always been ready to help those in peril. Three have been recipients of Royal Humane Society bronze  Medallions. 

Lionel, my grandfather received one for saving the life of Abraham Solomon just out here in Shark Alley in 1925.

In 1934 Cyril Rumbelow or Mick as he saved the life of a Mr H Dent, a farmer at Port Elliot who was being gored by a bull. Mick was armed only with a tomahawk and being 19 at the time was full of bravado, managed the chase off the bull and saved the farmer from a  terrible fate.

The third recipient was my father Graham when he was involved in the attempted rescue of Geoffrey Rumbelow just out here.

Chris Tapscott, son-in-law of Lin Shannon and Keith Proctor also received medals from that attempt at rescue

In huge seas Dad and Chris tried to bring Geoff back to shore but they were unable to get him into the dinghy that Dad was rowing. Chris managed to hold Geoff and was giving him mouth to mouth in the water but it was too late.

So you can see that the family have always been prepared to jump in and give a hand when it's been required.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for coming down today to Encounter Bay and  Yilki for the weekend to make it such and also congratulate all the organisers for the efforts that they have put into making this a bloody good weekend. Thank you.

(GR). Thank you very much Malcolm and beautifully delivered. This weekend's been very special for me as well one that I remember for a long time. My grandfather (was) David that drowned at Waitpinga when my mum Florence was only a teenager and (as we heard) David was born after the incident.

For the final segment for today, I'd like to welcome Peter Rumbelow. Peter should be known to all of you he's been the main organiser as I said last last night the lifeblood of the organising this reunion. He's been fantastically assisted by some hard working committee people for the book and the function but it's really been Peter that's been the driving force throughout the whole last four or five years to make this function happen. 

I thank you for allowing me to be part of it and  I hope you enjoy the rest of the rest of the weekends even though there's not much to go and you travel home safely. Thank you very much and welcome Peter Rumbelow."

Peter Rumbelow (PR) "Thank you very much Glenn. I'd just like to pause for a while now with you while we remember those that have gone before us. For some of you this will be a prayer and others will just be a statement of appreciation and love to those who have gone before. Let us bow our heads.

We are going to unveil this cairn that has been built from (granite) rock that was cut from the islands and the trimmings from the granite blocks that built into the facing of (South Australian) Parliament House.

We don't know whether scavenged or whether it was legitimately gained but the house on the corner that's now gone had that was the facing of the house and it was saved by the council and we're really appreciative the fact that the council have been able to create this cairn and we as a family are going to unveil a plaque on that cairn that just has the words will you'll see soon that just indicate our love and respect for those that went before us.

I've asked a number of people to assist with the unveiling,I thought each family should be represented.

When I call your name if you could come out and stand by the cairn I would appreciate it.

• Robinson is here representing Sophia's family

• Bob Spencer is Mahalia’s representative.

• Matt Boyce is the representative of Carolyn's family.

• Florence Rosser is the representative of Malens family.

• Merl Berdette who is 90 years old today is the representative of Emma's family. 

• Is there a representative for Sarah's family to come forward and join us?

Thank you very much because of your generosity in buying the books and because the painting (auction) we have made a profit on the weekend we but you're not getting refunds

It's my hope that we'll be able to establish a small fund that can do something about the maintenance of the graves of the original family and the six children that can last some time into the future so thank you."

End Transcript