A Golden Wedding – pioneer profile

Golden Wedding Group
MR. AND MRS. UREN, of Kelmscott, and their  Decendants.
 
Western Mail – Perth – 1 October 1915, page 7
 
On Saturday, September 18, Mr. and Mrs Uren of Kelmscott, celebrated their golden wedding (50yrs) in the presence of all their, children and grand children, numbering 25. Mr. and Mrs. Uren arrived in South Australia from Cornwall in December, 1865, and went to Kapunda, a copper mining centre, where they resided for a number of years,
Mr. Uren finding employment in the mines. 
From here they went to the farming district of Port Gawler, but upon the discovery of gold in Teetulpa in 1887 Mr. Uren went to the rush. Not meeting with any success in alluvial mining, he went to Waukaringa and being a carpenter, was eager to erect an extensive concentrating plant on the Alma and Victoria gold mine. He went to Broken Hill in 1888, but spent only a short time there. He then proceeded to the Euriowie tin fields which were just opening up. There he worked at his trade on several mines.
In October 1889, in company with the late Capt. William Oats, M.L.C, Mr. Uren left South Australia for the Yilgarn goldfields of this State, arriving at Southern Cross a month later under an engagement by the Fraser’s South Gold Mining Co as foreman carpenter to erect the mining plant. He is, therefor, one of the pioneers of the Eastern goldfields. Shortly after their arrival in Southern Cross they were faced with the water difficulty, and they set to work and made the first condenser on the goldfields, using a 200 gallon tank for a boiler and making the piping out of a sheet of corrugated iron, no other material being available.

 Mr. Uren returned to Adelaide a year later for the purpose of bringing to this State the family of the late Capt Oats and his own family, and when he again arrived in Southern Cross the number of women on the goldfields was under 20. Five years later Mr. Uren went to Kalgoorlie as foreman carpenter under Capt. Oats. He erected several treatment plants in connection with the concentrating plant on the Brookman’s Boulder gold mine and he made the first ore classifiers used on the fields. From this idea was evolved the present spitzkasten and spitziuten now in common use on the mines.
Nicholas Uren was born on 13th June 1843 in Cornwall England. On 18th Sep 1865 in Cornwall he married Grace Warren who was his first cousin, she was born on the 18 May 1839. The couple arrived in SA in March of 1866 and all of the couples children were born in this state:
Edith Maud Mary b 1867
Alfred Nicholas b 1867
Francis Frederick William b 1872
Albert Charles b 1875
Edgar Augustus b 1877
Dorcas Amelia b 1879
Grace die on 8th Oct 1925, 4 days after the photo below and Nicholas died two years later on 25th Jun 1927. They are buried together in the Congregational Section of the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth Western Australia.
A Diamond Jubilee - Sunday Times - Perth - 4 Oct 1925

A Diamond Jubilee                                          Sunday Times – Perth – 4 Oct 1925

Mr and Mrs Nicholas Uren completed 60 years of married life on Fri 18th Sept 1925 and the following day were entertained by a number of friends and family, this picture was taken during the function. Mr Uren is 82yrs and Mrs Uren is 86. They were married in Penwith Church, St Just Cornwall, England in 1865.

Ref: Dictionary of Western Australians 1829 -1914 by Rica Erickson
SA BDM's
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My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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