This is the story of Rhonda Moag’s Great Aunt Maree. She had often been told the story by her Aunt Sonia about Aunt Maree who was a brilliant equestrian who led a grand parade atop a big white horse and then was tragically killed when she was thrown. It was never clear if she was thrown from the creature while leading the parade or just while out for a leisurely ride one afternoon.
Regina Marie HANSEN as a young girl : Taken in Bendigo VIC
Maree was to turn out to be so much more than the family legend. When Rhonda was young they were forbidden to speak her name, so how must she have disgraced herself. From the indications of four different relationships with only one confirmed marriage and three children by three fathers and her habit of changing her name. It can only be imagined how scandalous it must have been for her family, especially as she was Catholic educated.
Rhonda’s Grandmother (Maree’s sister) was a very unforgiving woman – what an outcast she made of Maree. Of course this made her all the more fascinating and the family nicknamed her ‘The Girl of the Goldfields’.
Maree was born in 1895 in Dunolly, Victoria and was christened Regina Marie HANSEN, she was the first of three children born to Rachel MCEVOY and Hans HANSEN. The other two children were, Dorothy Paulina Hansen in 1898 and then Benjamin HANSEN in 1900. Rachel was a local girl whose father John McEVOY was a miner who came from Mauritius and her mother was Mary McDermott ROWE from South Africa. Hans came to Australia as a ship’s carpenter from Norway and then, like many, jumped ship to search for his fortune on the Goldfields of Victoria. However, after having little success the family made the long journey to the Western Australian Goldfields in 1904. It was told that Hans ruled his family as a tyrant and it was here that Regina started her life of deception, initially changing her name to Maree.
Maree was to have her first child, Harold Ernest, in Maylands WA in 1913. On his birth certificate she gave her name as Maise Regena ROE (maiden name), and that the father was George Harold PHILP, a store keeper from Victoria. It also said they were married in Leonora, WA in 1912, no record of George Harold PHILP, but no record of this has been found. Sadly Harold was to live his whole life with the surname of ROE without know that his birth name was PHILP. There is no record of a George Harold PHILP.
Maree HANSEN as a young woman
Next came Jack Lawrence, born at Kalgoorlie in 1915. On his birth certificate Maree gave her name as Maise Regina HANSEN and the father as Ernest George ROE, a 42yr old miner from England, Maree was 21 at the time. The certificate indicates that they were married in Perth in 1912 and again no marriage has been found.
Maree was then to marry an Italian hairdresser named Salvatore CANGEMI in Perth in 1920, (this is the only official marriage to be found for Maree). It seems however that the marriage was over as quickly as it began. In later years when Jack met Salvatore, it turns out he did not know she had any children, until she presented them to him after they had married. Things did not go much further with the marriage after that, but the two boys kept in touch with Salvatore throughout their lives.
Next came the birth of a daughter, Rachel, but when and where this took place is not known, and no record of her birth can be found. This would also be the case when trying to find a record of Maree’s death. After some considerable searching, her death was located in Victoria, under the surname of PATE. It was necessary for Rhonda to purchase a copy of the death certificate to confirm this find. It said that Rachel was born in 1922, and her mother had died in 1925, when she was three years old at the age of 30 from a fractured skull and compression to the brain from a fall from a horse. The certificate also gave yet another marriage for Maree, this time to Alfred W PATE, it also said that Rachel was his child. This could be true, but from Rachel’s dark complexion it is possible that Salvatore was her father. After yet another considerable search Maree’s burial-place was found at Ampitheatre, Victoria. She is buried there alone with only a number to mark her grave.
After her indiscretions in the west it seems that Maree’s mother, Rachel McEvoy HANSEN, was fed up with her wayward daughters antics and packed up her and the children to Albert Park, Victoria, where Rachel owned a boarding house. No further record of Hans Hansen (Maree’s father) have been found. Rachel then purchased an apple and pear orchard back in Ampitheatre, near to her own mother and siblings. She continued to care for Maree’s three children after her death until she decided to re-settle in Western Australia in the 1930’s. Young Rachel (known as Rae) remained behind in Ampitheatre and was raised by her McEvoy cousins.
Maree HANSEN with baby Rachel.
On their return to Western Australia, Harold and Jack were taken under the wing of their Uncle Ben who was a shearing contractor, so Jack also became a Shearer and Harold a boundary rider. Grandmother Rachel often went out with the shearing team as a camp cook.
The sad legacy left by this beautiful woman is that her children were never sure who their fathers were and never really knew where they belonged.
By Rhonda Moag
Ref:
Australian Family Tree Connections : 2007
Moya Sharp
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