The dire economic situation and lack of marital prospects in Yugoslavia prompted many young women to embrace the uncertainty of an ‘Australian’ husband. Women were usually without means and thus restricted with their choices. Yet even when they had been educated, their families influenced their choice of husband and condemned them to a bush life in the outback of Western Australia. Male family members made decisions for their mothers, sisters and daughters with little reference to their desires.
Annie Civran was fortunate but fated. Confronted by three men at Fremantle port Annie chose her husband for herself when she married Anton Garbin in Fremantle in 1909. He had loaned a mate the fare for her, and with the prospective groom and another friend he travelled to Fremantle port to meet the boat. Looking at the three men, Annie pointed to Anton and said, “I’ll have that one”. She must have been a most adventurous young woman. Im not sure what happened the the ‘rejected one”!! Anton was thought to be very handsome.
Annie Civran aged 22yrs – Photograph courtesy of Jennifer Reid
As soon as Annie and Anton were married they moved near to Kellerberrin where Anton was working. Annie would have no idea of the dangers of the bush which sadly would decided her fate.
Eastern Districts Chronicle – York -26 February 1910, page 4
A Tragedy in the Bush – A Young Woman Lost
Found Dead by Police
Just as we were going to press last week, news came into Kellerberrin that a young married woman, of Austrian nationality had been lost in the bush. The place where the woman and her husband resided was some 30 miles out of Kellerberrin, and it was consequently difficult to get any reliable information. The name of the unfortunate woman was first given as Mrs Zis, but it now seems that her name was Mrs Annie Garbin, aged 22yrs who had only been married for two months, and that Mrs Zis was a friend and fellow country woman of hers.
From particulars since to hand, it would seem that Mrs Garbin left her home on the evening of Friday 11th to visit Mrs Zis. The distance between the two homesteads is only a little over a mile. At eleven o’clock on this day Mrs Garbin started back for her home, and Mrs Zis accompanied her half way. The track is a fairly well defined one, but for some unaccountable reason, Mrs Garbin left the beaten track, and struck off into the thick bush.
Her husband was not home at the time, but some other Austrians, getting alarmed at her absence, decided that one of their number should go out to look for her. He went straight to the bouse of Mrs Zis, who was of course surprised to learn that he had not met Mrs Garbin on the road. Then the latter communicated with Mr H T Dixon, a settler in the East Kwollynu area, and he lost no time in organising a search party accompanied by one of his native trackers. Mr Dixon scoured the country thoroughly without success. On Sunday news reached Constable Cahill, of Kellerberrin about the lost woman, and he promptly started out for East Kwollynu with another native tracker. He joined Mr Dixon’s party who had tracked the wanderer up to a certain point, and here, owing to heavy rains, it was difficult for the trackers to again pick up the trail. However, they eventually came upon them, and ultimately the poor, woman’s remains were found on Wednesday, 16th. inst. Constable Cahill, who is an experienced trooper declares that it was the finest bit of tracking he has ever seen!
The victim of the latest tragedy of the bush
must have covered over 50 miles in her wanderings, and on three occasions was on a confined road but seems by some peculiar instinct to have left them for the bush. All she had to sustain her from the time she left the household of Mrs Zis, to when she succumbed, was a bottle of olive oil. It is surmised that Mrs Garbin died on Monday 14th inst, and Dr. Webster, who made a postmortem examination on Thursday coincides with this opinion, and gave a certificate that death was due to heart failure, caused by starvation. The spot where the body was found was 25 miles in a straight line from Mrs Garbin’s house. In going over her tracks Constable Cahill discovered that she had wandered to within two miles of Kerkennin Well, and that she had been within the same distance of Woolyaling Spring. She had also passed, within 100yds, the Government dam at Yardyarding.
Mick Garbin was then to marry Annie sister Marica in Boulder WA in 1912. She had originally travelled to Western Australia to marry another man. The couple went on to have the following five children:
Annie Garbin born Boulder 1913
Mat Garbin born Northam 1914
Antonia Garbin born Northam 1916
Mary Elizabeth Garbin born Midland 1918
Ramy Garbin born Northam 1921
Marriage of Anton Garbin to Marica Civran on 22 April 1912 – Photograph courtesy of Jennifer Reid
However, Anton ‘Toni’ was not popular with all of his wife’s family as the following article shows. Annie and Marica’s brother, Remiglio ‘George’ Civran (21), shot Anton in the arm after an argument when Anton was taking his wife and her younger sister Rapina aged 14yrs, to the cinema. Remiglio was boarding with the Garbin family until recently when he argued on several occasions with Anton. He was not happy with the relationship between Anton and his sisters. He was eventually acquitted of the charge of grievous bodily harm.
West Australian 29 May 1912, page 7
The above story is a small extract from the book ‘For A Better Life’ Yugoslavs on the Goldfields 1890-1970 by Dr Criena Fitzgerald. Books can be purchased in Kalgoorlie and Perth. All enquiries please email crienafz@iinet.net.au or phone – 0417 980 553 – Books can be collected either in Perth of Kalgoorlie to save on piostage. This would make a wonderful Christmas gift for anyone interested in Goldfields History. You can read more about Dr Fitzgeralds book on her web site at – https://www.historywest.com.au/
Moya Sharp
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