WILLIAM HERRING
1880-1963
Gundagai and Sydney NSW

My grandfather, William Herring, Jnr., was born at “Mt. Pleasant” Bongongolong, Gundagai, on 20th May, 1880.

“Mt. Pleasant” was the name of the property at Bongongolong (now known as Burra Road) owned by William Herring, Snr. and his wife Jane Isabella/Sybilla Jenkins after they moved to the Gundagai district around 1876 following their marriage at St. Matthew’s Church of England, The Oaks (Picton, NSW district).

William was the third child and eldest son of 11 children, born at Bongongolong, Gundagai.

William worked on the farm at Gundagai, with his father. He also pursued a career in boxing under the name of “Billy Herring” and he worked for the NSW Government Railways.

I have tried unsuccessfully during the last 30+ years, to obtain newspaper cuttings regarding his boxing career. His boxing achievements were mentioned in his obituary in the Gundagai Independent Newspaper in November, 1963.

William commenced work with the Government Railways, as a Tram Conductor in March, 1913. He retired in August, 1940, after 27 years of service. He received an annual pension of three pounds, eighteen shillings and five pence.

On the personal side –

William Herring married Ethel Daisy Carr in April, 1913 at St. Stephen’s Church, Newtown.

Ethel Daisy Carr was born on 2nd April, 1886 Marlborough Road, Willoughby, NSW – the second eldest daughter of Robert William Carr and Mary Ellen French. Like William, she was one of 11 children.

William and Ethel became parents, when Sidney Geoffrey Herring was born in May, 1913. Sadly, Sidney died in October of that year, aged 5 months from gastro enteritis.

Almost a year after Sidney’s death, another son Reginald Montague Herring was born in October, 1914.

Unbelievable sadness came to William with the sudden death of his beloved wife, Ethel Daisy in January, 1916 aged 29 years from a chronic intestinal obstruction. Little Reginald was only 15 months old so it was of great comfort to William when Ethel’s mother, Mary Ellen Carr, took over the care of Reginald. Mary’s age at this time was 61 years.

After a few years, William found happiness again and married Rachel Elvina Dunn nee Wegener in February 1921 at the Holy Trinity Church at Dulwich Hill. Rachel had a son Albert (Bertie) Dunn from her first marriage.

In April 1931, William and Elvina were living at Petersham Road, Marrickville. William was injured in a sensational smash at Dulwich Hill, whilst working as a tram conductor. Four other men were also injured, two critically. A lorry owned by the Camden Vale Milk Company struck the tram. The driver was thrown to the road and run over by a car.

William sustained a broken left arm and two fractures to his jaw. He was admitted to Marrickville Hospital.

The force of the impact carried the lorry ten yards down the road. Milk poured down the gutters from containers which had been smashed, while fragments of shattered milk bottles covered a 40 yard area of the street. The wrecked tram and lorry took an hour to be removed from the scene.

William’s father, William Herring, Snr. passed away at his home, “Mt. Pleasant” Gundagai, in December, 1936. Jane, his wife continued to live at “Mt. Pleasant” until her death in August, 1939.

William Herring, Jnr. retired from the Government Tramways in August, 1940 and moved back to the family property at “Mt. Pleasant” with his second wife Rachael Elvina.

Throughout his retirement, William continued to run sheep at Mt. Pleasant. He also had a few cows and horses.

I corresponded with my grandfather during the 1950’s and I always took an interest in the happenings on the farm. Rainfall was always important to my grandfather and without exception his letters always mentioned how much rain they had had. I still have those letters in my possession.

In November, 1959, William Herring’s life was turned upside down again when the historic homestead “Mt. Pleasant” at Bongongolong, Gundagai was burnt to the ground.

The older part of the homestead was made of thatched branches and a mud floor, and it didn’t take long for the home to become a pile of ashes.

William and Elvina escaped from the building unhurt and were taken into town by family members. They returned to Sydney to live in Elvina’s house at 74 Wardell Road, Lewisham.

My family visited William and Elvina quite often, but it was not easy by public transport. We had to walk to the bus stop, catch a bus from the North Shore suburb of Willoughby to North Sydney Railway Station, then a train from North Sydney over the harbour bridge to Central Railway Station. There we changed lines and continued our journey to Lewisham railway station. We then had another long walk from the station to Wardell Road.

With only one grandson and four grand daughters, my brother Gary, about 8 years of age at the time, was often given instructions on boxing punches from my grandfather when we visited. At this time my grandfather was 80 years of age. Even then as a slight build he was very light and agile on his feet. Just remarkable!

Although a lively conversation was always on the agenda catching up with family news, William always talked of his days on the farm, how much he loved his mother Jane, and how much he loved his life on the land with his horses. He never really got over the loss of his homestead “Mt. Pleasant” burning down.

In July, 1961, Elvina passed away at hospital. I don’t know the cause of her death. I was in High School at the time, and was not allowed to attend the funeral. She was buried with her parents, Gustav Alexander Wegener and Rachel Jane Hall, a brother and sister at Waverley Cemetery in a large family grave, in the suburb of Bronte. Twenty years later (when I started researching the family history), I organised a small bronze plaque to be placed on the grave with her name, Rachel Elvina Herring.

William continued to live at Lewisham on his own, but was very lonely. He did go into a nursing home for a short time (and I visited him there) but sadly he passed away on 20th November, aged 82 ½ years old, from bronchopneumonia and a cerebral haemorrhage at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown.

It was William’s wishes that his ashes be scattered at “Mt. Pleasant”. This wish was carried out in the 1970’s.

My father inherited the property “Mt. Pleasant” after my grandfather’s death. Sometime later it was sold to a neighbour in Gundagai who grazed sheep and cattle on it. Some time after that my brother purchased the property and had a brand new brick home built in the same spot as the historic home that was constructed in the 1870’s.

In February, 1997 whilst visiting Gundagai to attend the Gundagai Show, I organised a memorial plaque for William Herring, Jnr., to be placed on his parent’s grave in North Gundagai Cemetery. The plaque also states that William’s ashes were scattered at “Mt. Pleasant”.

Sadly a few years later the property was sold by my brother.

In December 2018, I received an email from my cousin Marcia (Wagga Wagga, NSW) telling me of an article she found on Google about a boxing match at Yerranderie, NSW in 1908.

I checked out the article on Trove (digitalised newspapers). The story was from the Picton Post, Wednesday 20th May, 1908, page 4.

To my delight, the article written by a correspondent from the Picton Post gave an account of a boxing match at Mr. Harvey’s boxing saloon on Saturday 15th May, 1908.

The fight was between Mick Regan and W. Herring. It was won by W. Herring. W. Herring being my grandfather, William Herring. “The Referee Mr. G. Preston awarded the fight to Herring amidst deafening applause from the onlookers in appreciation of the pluck and determination shown by the winner in again defeating his much larger and experienced opponent”.

How absolutely amazing to get this information after 30+ years of researching without any luck!

I checked Google again myself and I found two more references to W. Herring. One article was from The Referee Wednesday 29.4.1908 and the other from The Referee Wednesday 20.5.1908.

The headlines from the second reference stated “THE GAME AT YERRANDERIE. HERRING DEFEATS REGAN. A return fight took place here on Saturday night, the 9th instant, in Mr. Harvey’s marquee between Billy Herring and Mick Regan……. Mr. Preston again acted as referee. Fred Knight held the watch. It was a ding-dong go from start to finish. Herring cleanly knocked Regan out in the sixth round.

NOTE:
Yerranderie, NSW was a silver mining town in the Wollondilly Shire of NSW prior to WWI. Wollondilly Shire at Picton is located 90 minutes south of Sydney, and 40 minutes west of Wollongong. The town was originally known as “Stonequarry” but was re-named after the British General Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815) in 1845. Today the town of Yerranderie is a treat for nature lovers and bushwalkers.

My grandfather William Herring holds a very special place in my heart. He was a lovely old grandfather who dearly loved his family. As I grow older I reflect on the many hardships he had to endure during his life. Despite all of that he had a good life and it was one of the saddest days of my life when he passed away on 20th November, 1963.

Catherine (Herring) Williams
21.11.2020 Cairns, Qld.