The photographs in this story were kindly supplied by Catherine and George’s Granddaughter, Jan Hale.
This photo shows Kate Davis in a nurse uniform outside her private hospital in either 1898 or 1899. The occasion was Jan’s mother Dorothy’s, 4th or 5th birthday. She is the little dark-haired girl in the front row, 4th from the left. Her brother Bill is the boy in the back row, 2nd from the left, standing up and pouring himself a drink. It is thought that Kate ran this private hospital until about 1900. It was located at 301 Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie (Site of Salty’s Surf Shop)
Catherine May DAVIS
Catherine May Davis (nee STRONG) was born in Tasmania in 1868. Her father was Thomas STRONG, an Irish convict transported to Tasmania in 1850. The above photograph was taken either at Kalgoorlie or Kookynie, where she worked as a barmaid and then a midwife.
George Frederick DAVIS
George Davis was Catherine’s husband, he was a steward at the Hannans Club in Kalgoorlie in 1915 and then later employed at the Perseverance Gold Mine in Boulder. He was also a member of the Golden Square Lodge. George and Catherine were married in Kalgoorlie in 1898. In 1908 George was to petition the courts for a divorce from Catherine, naming Frank ROOTS as the correspondent. George and Catherine were to be divorced on 2/04/1909. As divorce was rare these days it became a big newspaper story as was reported both near and as far away as the Eastern States. The following article does indeed use a bit of poetic license. Although it is told in a lighthearted manner it hides a quite tragic family story.
Catherine DAVIS at home with her dog.
The above photograph taken in 1909, shows Catherine in the yard of her home at 162 MacDonald Street, Kalgoorlie with her faithful dog and (I hope that this was not the cage of the stolen canary).
Truth Perth 27 June 1908, page 5
THE DAVIS DIVORCE – A KALGOORLIE CASE. Hannans Club Steward and Wife.
When the Cat’s Away the Mice Play
Davis – who is by no means a bad sort—was formerly in the employ of that highly aristocratic body known as the Hannan’s Club in the capacity of steward, but owing to the fact of his wife visiting the establishment while in an intoxicated condition to see him, he was compelled to resign his position and look for work on the Great Boulder Perseverance mine. Why a man should lose his employment because his wife imbibes has yet to be demonstrated.
THE PETITIONER’S STORY- The story told by the petitioner was that he married the wayward Catherine in the month of January 1898, and they subsequently resided at Kalgoorlie and Kanowna. Everything apparently went
“merry as a marriage bell”
until the latter part of January 1907 when Davis, being kept late at the club— often it seems a number of married men are unavoidably detained at the club !!!—found on arriving at his home, that his wife had a lodger in the little back room. As a matter of fact, Catherine and Roots were in the land of dreams, it was but natural that there should be ructions. Davis strongly objecting to Roots taking up the position of bedroom steward. The wife then came to light with a very tall story, the effect of which was that Roots had entered her room while she was asleep. According to the petitioner the corespondent absolutely denied the story told by the fair Catherine, adding that intimacy had been taking place for some time, and that the lady had assured him SHE WAS NOT MARRIED, The lady subsequently afforded ample evidence of the fact that she can juggle with statements by admitting that Roots’ story was correct The petitioner then left the house, but on returning for his clothes the next morning was met by his wife, who, with tears in her eyes—two lovely blue eyes, by the way —implored him, ‘for the sake of the children’ (a good old gag) to forgive her and not break up the happy home. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, Davis again took his wife unto his bosom, and for a few days everything was peaceful and harmonious. Four days later, however, Roots was again planted at the house, and it subsequently transpired that there was a possibility of some branches. This was too much for Davis, who left the house and has not afterwards lived with his wife. From this out the lady appeared to have made
THE PACE A CRACKER.
At the outset she sold up the happy home and proceeded to work at Tattersall’s Hotel—a well-known Hannan street hostelry, Roots—the gay dog— visiting her there. Miss Storey then took a part in the tale and informed Davis that the correspondent had been in Mrs. Davis’ company late at night, and had been seen cutting the wood for her at 8 O’Clock in the morning. This, of course, though hard work, was merely a labor of love. Did anybody suggest it was anything else? Then it was that Mrs. Davis took to ‘looking on the wine while it was red’. with the usual result. Explanations further are unnecessary. Briefly, the following is the gist of the husband’s story.
A CONSTABLE APPEARS.
Plain-clothes Constable Purdue — a stalwart member of the force, well known to Perth people—then took a part in the Davis domestic drama, not, of course, as a chopper of wood or drawer of water. He proceeded to relate that he discovered Mrs. Davis in a two-roomed camp—what a tale the walls of some of these Kalgoorlie camps could tell if they could talk—in the company of a woman named Croker, a man rejoicing in the cognomen of Faulkner and the inimitable Roots. The party was having a high old time, and so that cake-walk, etc, could be properly performed, the men and women were “if not in the altogether” were only partially attired. According to Purdue, Roots did not deny the soft impeachment that his christian name was Frank and that he was a miner residing at the Inland City Hotel —another place with memories to old goldfielders. On another occasion, Purdue said he had occasion to visit a house in Macdonald street in order to execute a search warrant when May Davis had been accused of stealing a canary in a cage and found Mrs. Davis and Roots keeping up a birthday. The woman was arrested on a charge of ‘evil fame’, and. when released on sureties referred to the ex-steward of Hannan’s Club as her husband. His Honor, Mr. Justice Burnside, after hearing the evidence, had little hesitation in granting a decree, returnable in six months.
In 1912 Catherine was still in Kalgoorlie as she was arrested for being a ‘person of evil fame and character”. When the matter was brought to court it was said that she had left the town. It seems that she then went to live on the Woodline with a man called Betti but was often found wandering from camp to camp looking for a drink and living on the proceeds of prostitution. She was again arrested and charged with stealing which seems to have happened several times.
The children:
The marriage seems to not have started out well when the couple’s first child, George Frederick DAVIS, was to die on Christmas day in 1899. he was 7 months old and is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery.
Dolly DAVIS – Playing ‘The Minstrel Boy”
Dorothy Davis
Dorothy was to win the first violin solo under 11yrs on 16/5/1906 and also the under 13yrs violin solo on 30/4/1907. She also won the Cambrian Soc gold medal.
Catherine also seems to have had a son from the following postcard:-
Postcard from Catherine to her son
It reads:- To my dear son, I hope you are well, come and see me, Mum, 162 MacDonald Street, It is addressed to Mast W H Thornhill (sic) C/- Mr. Cade, Plumber, Brookman Street, Kalgoorlie. I can’t make out the date. It may seem odd today to send a postcard to someone who lives only a short distance away but it was a common way for people to get in touch. The post would have been delivered at least twice a day.
In 1897, in Fremantle WA, Catherine gave birth to a boy called Walter THORNHILL and his father was registered as Willie THORNHILL. This child died aged two weeks. I cannot find a birth of a child with the initials W H born to Catherine but this does appear to be the case from the above postcard. There doesn’t seem to be a marriage for Catherine to Walter’s father and when she married George she used her maiden name of STRONG.
Jane Hale says:- My grandmother earlier took the name of Kate Strong, and Cath or Catherine Thornhill. When she married George Davis in 1898 she was Catherine May Strong. He liked to call her May and that is what she became thereafter. He never married again and kept two photos of her in the case under his bed. He never talked about her but if pressed, he would simply say – ‘ she was a fine figure of a woman.’
The name he gave on their marriage certificate was George Davies, maybe because as George Davis he had jumped ship, possibly The Ophir off Fremantle. He told my mother that he had a very hard time on that voyage. He swam ashore and woke up on the sand the next day near some of his shipmates. At some stage, he ended up in Kalgoorlie or Kanowna and became part of my family’s history.
While on the hunt for Catherine Jan used TROVE which gave her 2 useful leads which then led to an application to the WA BDM Registry. Last week she received the following information.
“My grandmother died on August 20, 1932. She was now known as Catherine May Matthews. Her birthplace was Tasmania and her age at death was 63 which tallies with her birth in December 1868. Her parents were listed as Thomas Strong and Bridget Maloney and her children were listed as William, Dolly ( who was my mother), and 1 male (deceased). All this information fits with what I know about her. She had been married again in 1916 to Alfred Matthews. She died in the Kalgoorlie Government Hospital and was buried on August 22 in the Roman Catholic section of the Kalgoorlie cemetery. The officiating priest was Fr E Kennedy. I’m relieved to find an ending to her story and that she did not die a lonely old woman. I think her husband Alfred Matthews was a miner and they lived together at the same Piesse St address in Boulder, according to a Census which lists her occupation as ‘home duties’. A quiet life at last? ”
A quiet life at last!
After searching the Kalgoorlie Cemetery records I found her with the following entry:-
Kalgoorlie Cemetery – May MATHEWS aged 63yrs Roman Catholic Section. Grave 7464.
Sadly there is no memorial other than this marker on her grave and she is buried alone. It’s wonderful though that Jan has finally found the resting place of her Grandmother, due to her diligent research.
Catherine May Matthews – photo Danelle Warnock
Catherine’s name has been corrected on the Kalgoorlie Cemetery Page.
Moya Sharp
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What a complicated life Catherine led..albeit a sad one in many ways…
I have included your blog in INTERESTING BLOGS in FRIDAY FOSSICKING at
https://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com/2017/11/friday-fossicking-3rd-november-2017.html
Thank you, Chris
What a frank and colourful story- tells us so much about life in those times and woman’s survival