[Index]
Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS (1876 - 1967)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Lachlan HAZLETT (1903 - 1912)
Mary McLean HAZLETT (1905 - 1967)
John Cameron HAZLETT (1907 - 1908)
Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS (1876 - 1967)

+

William John Cameron "Farvie" HAZLETT (1864 - 1937)





























b. 10 May 1876 at Delatite, Victoria, Australia
m. 24 Dec 1902 William John Cameron "Farvie" HAZLETT (1864 - 1937) at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
d. Sep 1967 at Gordon, New South Wales, Australia aged 91
Near Relatives of Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS (1876 - 1967)
Relationship Person Born Birth Place Died Death Place Age
Self Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS 10 May 1876 Delatite, Victoria, Australia Sep 1967 Gordon, New South Wales, Australia 91

Husband William John Cameron "Farvie" HAZLETT abt 1864 1937 73

Son Lachlan HAZLETT Dec 1903 1912 9
Daughter Mary McLean HAZLETT Aug 1905 Apr 1967 Gordon, New South Wales, Australia 61
Son John Cameron HAZLETT Jul 1907 1908 1

Son in Law Reginald Robert KNOX 1904 New South Wales, Australia 1977 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 73

Events in Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS (1876 - 1967)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
10 May 1876 Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS was born Delatite, Victoria, Australia 69
24 Dec 1902 26 Married William John Cameron "Farvie" HAZLETT (aged 38) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 69
Dec 1903 27 Birth of son Lachlan HAZLETT 69
Aug 1905 29 Birth of daughter Mary McLean HAZLETT 69
Jul 1907 31 Birth of son John Cameron HAZLETT 69
1908 32 Death of son John Cameron HAZLETT (aged 1) 69
1912 36 Death of son Lachlan HAZLETT (aged 9) 69
1937 61 Death of husband William John Cameron "Farvie" HAZLETT (aged 73) 69
Apr 1967 90 Death of daughter Mary McLean HAZLETT (aged 61) Gordon, New South Wales, Australia 69
Sep 1967 91 Ellen "Nellie" "Matie" THOMAS died Gordon, New South Wales, Australia 69
Burial Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia 69
Source References:
69. Type: Book, Abbr: Relict of, Title: Relict of … Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District, Auth: Tumut Family History Group, Publ: Tumut Family History Group, Date: 2001
- Reference = pages 110 - 111 (Marriage)
- Reference = pages 110 - 111 (Birth)
- Reference = pages 110 - 111 (Death)
- Reference = pages 110 - 111 (Name, Notes)
- Notes: ELLEN HAZLETT nee Thomas

By Jan Gammage and Helen Usher

Ellen, a teacher and community worker, was born on 10 May 1876 in the Victorian goldmining area of Oxleyshire, in the County of Delatite, District of Oxley, near Milawa. She was one of two children of John Thomas, formerly of Landrake in Cornwall, a blacksmith, and his wife Ellen (Helen) (nee Doig), formerly of Woolshed near Beechworth, in the District of Ovens. Before 1898, the family moved to Wagga Wagga, perhaps for Ellen's education and training as a teacher. ln 1902 John Thomas was described as "merchant, deceased". ln 1903 Helen Thomas was described as a "nurse" living in Wagga, but by 1917 she had returned to Woolshed.

On 8 November 1898 Ellen Thomas began as the first teacher appointed to Brungle Public School. ln December 1902, at the end of the school year, she left Brungle to marry William John Cameron Hazlett, 38, of Big Ben Creek, South Gundagai. They married at St Stephens, Macquarie St, Sydney, on 24 December 1902. A photo of the bride and groom shows them to be a handsome couple.

Ellen (Nellie to her family, and Mate or Matie to her husband and their children and friends) and W J C Hazlett (who became known as Farvie) lived at "Fern Glen", Big Ben Creek, and their first son, Lachlan, was born in December 1903. ln August 1905 Mary Mclean was born, and a second son, John Cameron, in July 1907. Matie and Farvie were typical of the times in that they lost two of their children, John dying in 1908 and Lachie in 1912. Nellie wrote to her mother some time after Lachie's death saying "we are feeling better but are very sad indeed. We have just sent out 200 return thanks notes so you will understand how well our lovely boy was known and loved."

Life at "Fern Glen" was very full. Mlatie's relatives came to stay, she ran turkeys and chickens, she gardened, cooked, knitted, crocheted and played cards. She drove to church and to South Gundagai in a sulky, and got her daughter Mary off to school on a pony to Edwardstown Public School. Both Matie and Farvie supported the school as is evidenced by photos of Farvie demonstrating how to transplant, prune and graft a tree to the students. Matie became an original member of the South Gundagai branch of the Red Cross Association in 1914, and as part of the war effort was in charge of a knitting circle of thirty seven women. lt seems "Fern Glen" was prospering. ln 1917 Farvie extended the woolshed so that it would hold over six hundred sheep and added a new shearer's hut to the back of the house. Mary finished primary school and qualified for a course in higher instruction.

The reason for a move from "Fern Glen" to Lindfield in Sydney is not recorded, but it probably had to do with Farvie's health. He certainly suffered some illness (possibty Parkinson's Disease) in the 1930s. lt is clear, though, that Matie and Farvie were living at "Milawa", as they named their Lindfield house, by 1920.

ln Sydney, Matie continued with her domestic interests and expanded her involvement in community activities. She became active in the movement to recognize and do something about the hardship of country women's lives. She helped organize the First Bushwomen's Conference in April 1922 and was made the first Honorary Treasurer of the new Country Women's Association which grew out of that conference. She was recognized in later years by both the Red Cross and the CWA for her seryice, and many of her friendships were with women from these organisations.

ln 1929, Matie's daughter Mary married Bob (Reginald Robert) Knox of Gundagai and she became a grandmother with the birth of John Arthur in 1931 and Helen Mary in 1934, Farvie died in 1937 in his 73rd year. Mate became a grandmother again in 1945 when Janet Elizabeth was born and a great grandmother in 1963 with the birth of Catherine Helen Usher (Helen Knox's first child) and of David Elliot Knox (John Knox's first child) in 1964. Other grandchildren and great grandchildren followed.

Matie lived in "Milawa" until 1965 when, too old to live by herself, she went to live with her daughter and son-in-law at "Yurunga", Tumut. She returned to Sydney in 1966 and lived in Gordon. Mary died in April 1967 and Matie in September 1967, in her 92nd year. The funeral was held at the Gundagai Presbyterian Church and she was buried with her two little boys and between her husband and her daughter in the South Gundagai cemetery.

Bibliography Family papers and photos A C Butcher A Track Winding Back: A History of Gundagai, forthcoming H Townsend Serving the Country: The history of the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, Doubleday, no date.
- Reference = pages 110 - 111 (Burial)

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