Run to Earth at Barambie: The Arrest of Florence Menon, 1906
Among the many stories that emerged from the remote settlements of the Western Australian Goldfields, few capture the character of the era quite like that of Florence Menon. In the days when sly grog shanties dotted the bush and the police waged a constant war against unlicensed sellers, Florence’s name appeared often enough in the court lists to mark her as a determined participant in the trade. Her tale — from the Sandstone Leases to Barambie, and finally to Boulder — reflects both the rough independence of early Goldfields women and the precarious lives led on the frontier of law and livelihood.
Sly Grog Shanties, which were unlicensed hotels, often selling poor quality and often dangerous alcohol, sprang up wherever people settled, and the police were hard pressed to keep a check on the offenders. The record from the Mt Morgans Courier details just such a case that would have troubled the local constabulary. I wondered if this term of incarceration for Florence Menon would have made her tread the straight and narrow, or did she continue with her ‘life of crime’?
From the ‘Morgans Courier 20th Oct 1906
As a result of a raid made by the police at the Sandstone Leases last month, amongst the shanty keepers was a woman named Florence Menon, who was one of the offenders. She was requested to answer the charges of sly grog selling at the Black Range police court on the 29th ult 1906. When the case was called in court, the defendant failed to materialise. Menon having
‘skipped by the light of the Moon’
to avoid complications. The bench sentenced the defendant, in absentia, to a month’s imprisonment with the addition of a £30 fine, or as an alternative, another three-month imprisonment instead of the fine. The defendant, however, did not evade capture for a lengthy period, as last week she was run to earth at Barambie, about 75 miles northwest of Black Range, where she had yet another ‘sly grog ranch’ running and in full swing when she was arrested by the police. She was brought into Black Range, from which place she will be forwarded on to Lawler’s jail to begin her sentence.
A few years later saw Florence was yet again mentioned in the press:
Evening Star – 2 September 1913, page 1
QUICK AND LIVELY -A HUSTLING HOUSEMAID.
Florence Menon made a claim at the Boulder court today for 50 shillings for wages against Winifred McIvor, a boarding-house keeper. The defendant complained that the complainant did not do her work properly. The boarders had complained of their beds not being made properly and the complainant replied, “If they are not satisfied let them ‘#@%*’ well make them themselves.” The complainant gave a week’s notice. During the week, the complainant refused to obey orders properly and asked for her week’s wages so that she might get out of the house. Witness told her to leave the room and not worry her. The complainant then went down to her room and afterwards asked her to pay up “quick and lively.”‘ She refused to take the settlement offered to her. A verdict was given for the amount claimed, with 2shillings, the cost of the summons, and expenses for the attendance of the complainant in court.
There are no further mentions of Florence in the newspapers, except for a notice of Florence’s death in the “Riverina Recorder”, NSW, 7 August 1937. A quick search of the newspapers of Riverina shows a prominent pastoralist by the name of James Menon, who was Florence’s brother. I can only speculate that it was his family who inserted the notice for his sister, who died so far away in Boulder.
Western Australia. Florence was born about 1869 at Balranald, NSW. She was the daughter of John Grant Menon and Margaret Teresa Vaughn. She seems to be the only member of her family to come to Western Australia, and she doesn’t appear to have married. She did, however, have a child – MENON Florence – died 8 Oct 1907, age 12 hours, at the Nunngarra Hospital, Sandstone, Cause: Premature birth (7 months), Illegitimate, Mother: Florence MENON – she is buried in the Black Range cemetery.
I wonder if the family back in NSW knew of her former misdeeds and of the birth of her daughter. 😊
Goldfields Observer – 25 July 1937, page 1
Death Notice of Florence Manon – Florence left Annie Thornton 34 pounds in her will.
Florence is buried in the Boulder Cemetery with the following memorial. Erected by Betty, Jack and Bill Thornton. The grave has been rtestopred in the last few years.
Memorial of Florence Menon, Boulder Cemetery – Image Find a Grave
Though the sly grog shanties have long since vanished, the story of Florence Menon endures as a small but vivid footnote in the chronicles of the Goldfields. Born in Balranald, New South Wales, around 1869, Florence’s restless spirit carried her far from home to the boom towns of Western Australia, where opportunity and risk walked hand in hand. Her later years found her in King Street, Boulder, a quieter existence far removed from the raids and courtrooms of her youth. When she passed away in 1937, the notice of her death appeared in a distant Riverina newspaper — a final link to the family she had left behind. Today, her memorial in the Boulder Cemetery stands as a modest reminder of a woman who lived, struggled, and survived alone on the fringes of the law in a time and place where such lives were all too common.
Moya Sharp
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What a beautiful story depicting a woman who obviously valued her independence and was willing to take risks to maintain it, albeit less than legal. Such were the struggles go many in this era.