Thanks to Marion Ward for researching this amazing woman. She’s a real heroine of the bush.
This history was researched to hopefully provide the provenance of a collection of jewelry, which was donated to a suburban historical society. I was Keeper of Records at the society and decided to undertake the task of research as the inscriptions on the jewelry were interesting.
Mount Morgans Government Hospital
A silver trinket box was inscribed “presented to Matron Hart by G Alford”, And a gold brooch was presented to “Nurse Hart from Dr and Mrs. Hart for her kindness”. A gold watch had been presented to “Matron Hart from the people of Morgans in 1916” or 1914. There was other jewelry, some of considerable value and certainly a ring with one large diamond. All this raised many questions. I searched for 18 months and this is what I discovered after working backwards from early information given by two responses from a “Can You help?” insert in the Western Australian newspaper.
Matron Emily Hart in Mt Lawley WA with her pet kangaroo.
Emily Murphy was one of eleven children and schooled at her hometown of Landsborough in Victoria. The next available record shows Emily undertaking nurse training at Warracknabeal, Victoria. This is a large town north west of Landsborough.
Emily had a married sister in Port Lincoln, South Australia and she spent 4-5 years nursing there until she married Henry Ramsay Hart in 1905. He was the son of a Doctor of Theology and his wife and they would have given the gold brooch to Emily.
This marriage only lasted for a very short time because Emily was in Morgans WA in1906. I was not able to find any records of her husband other than he was a hairdresser. Emily was listed as a widow but death records do not show anything for Henry. Considering the time she spent in the eastern goldfields and my having communicated with her family in Landsborough it is reasonable to suggest that she hid herself in Western Australia. There was virtually no contact with her siblings for many years and my research gave them the missing link to where she had been.
Emily was Matron of Morgans Hospital in 1906, and thought to be a single woman. It is recorded that she loved all animals and at Morgans Hospital her pets were a Bungara lizard and a large brindle dog. The medical journals of the day list the Morgans Hospital as one of approximately 14 in the state to receive a two hundred pound subsidy for the care of aboriginal people. Emily still remains on the electoral roll for Mt Margaret in 1928.
G Alford proved to be George Alford and he was secretary of the Morgans Hospital during this time and I have included his available information, as he is a significant person. George attended the committee meetings of the Laverton Roads Board as Morgans is in the district of Laverton.
This information was found in the WA State Records Library 1907 – 1913 Laverton Roads Board Health Committee Minutes original book (back cover damaged by termites).
In 1911 George made application to become a Roads Board Member and that was successful. In 1911 George was Union Secretary of the WGFM at the Mt Morgans Gold Mine. He gave evidence at the hearings for the development of the Statute book for Silicosis.
George was born in Ballaratt, Victoria 1870 and he and his wife Sarah lived with their 4 children at Lot 333 Kings St, Morgans. George died in 1918 of tuberculosis at the Coolgardie Sanitarium. One of George’s sons, born 1904, recorded his father history and tells of being in hospital in Morgans as a 2-3 year old and Emily was there then. I doubt the memory of a child of that age and it is not possible as we have the marriage date in Adelaide.
We know that Matron was in charge of the Laverton District Hospital by 1933 and she is remembered by a man who was a 5-year old boy at the time.”I recall her as an imposing lady all dressed in white. To a five year old she was pretty old but on reflection she was probably 10 years older than my mother who was 30 at the time. (records showing she was about 56 years). She was crippled and moved around on crutches.
Mt Morgans Hospital 1905
She took our mother and three children into the Doctors Quarters where my mother did the job of running the house for her. This lady was a much loved character of Laverton. Matron enjoyed a game of cards, was a smoker and enjoyed a drink of alcohol. She was very understanding of the aboriginal people, who came to the hospital seeking help.
We left Laverton in 1933 and returned in 1936 and Matron came to live with us at Cox’s Find after which she went to live in Mt Lawley WA. The last time I saw her was around 1950 at her house in Mt Lawley.”
Others who knew Matron at Laverton told how she would pull teeth and attended injured animals. Emily broke her leg and had the task of attending to it herself and so leaving her with the legacy of being “crippled”.
I have not been able to get access to the minutes of the Laverton Hospital Board meetings although I have been assured that they do exist.
Mount Lawley rate books, ward one, records Mrs. Emily Hart of 396 Beauford St. Mt Lawley paying the rates for Lot 6 Park Street Mt Lawley in 1941. 1949 Emily was listed as Home duties at 7 Park Street Mt Lawley, and she died there in 1952, she had suffered a Coronary Thrombosis. She had been dead 13 hours before Dr Blofeld-Moody attended.
The property was transferred to Edith Mary Meakin, 232 Bulwer St, Perth WA after the sale made by the recipients of her estate. Emily’s relatives in South Australia inherited and subsequently sold her property. The jewelry spoken of earlier was hidden inside a piece of furniture, which was sold at a second hand sale. It remained hidden for nearly 30 years. The jewelry has since been transferred from the original historical society to the Landsborough Historical Society, which has many of the Murphy family as members.
Emily is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in an unmarked grave K/PR/KA0544 K0048771 Researched by Marion Ward
Matron Hart (nee Emily Murphy) Born 16 August 1874 Landsborough Victoria, Australia Died 23 March 1952 Mt Lawley Western Australia. Father: Benjamin Murphy (gardener), Mother: Annie Mc Donald.
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