Among the many voices preserved in the children’s pages of the Weekly Times is that of Mary Alice Waring of Moonambel. Through her letters, stories, sewing competitions, and literary selections, we can glimpse the life of a thoughtful and talented rural schoolgirl in the Pyrenees district during the 1890s.
Mary Alice Waring was born at Moonambel in 1881, the daughter of John Robert Waring and Agnes Punton. She grew up at Middle Creek nearby, later described in local newspapers as Warrenmang, and attended the Kimberley State School. Although her life was brief, ending at the age of seventeen, her writings allow us to know far more about her than official records alone would ever reveal.
The scale in the bottom left shows 100 chains; there are 80 chains to the mile
Moonambel is shown in the top right with a blue arrow; Kimerley school is marked with a red arrow; J R Waring, Mary Alice’s father, owned 3 parcels of land indicated with green arrows.
At twelve years of age Mary was in the sixth class and walking two miles to school each day. Her first letter to Uncle Ben’s Our Letter-Box column described everyday life at Middle Creek:
“My mamma killed a snake inside the house this year. We got a terrible fright. Papa has killed at least half a dozen, one of which was near our home.”
The letter also mentioned large ripe peaches and a thunderstorm. Uncle Ben commended her neat handwriting, an accomplishment greatly valued in Victorian schools.
Mary soon became a regular contributor. In 1894 she wrote of a serious accident in which her father injured his eye while fencing and feared he had lost his sight. She also revealed that the Weekly Times was a shared family enterprise: her younger sister Lizzie eagerly followed the children’s page, while Janey hoped to become one of Uncle Ben’s many “nieces.”
One of Mary Alice’s letters described a pet squirrel—probably a native possum—discovered beneath the family sewing machine when her brother Fred was two years old. The creature became thoroughly domesticated, climbing over its master and roaming the kitchen at night, before disappearing forever after an uncle attempted to carry it home in his pocket. The story remained part of family folklore and was later retold by Mary’s sister Janey in another newspaper.
Mary also displayed a keen eye for the landscape around her. In 1894 she described Middle Creek as a place of steep fern-covered hills, flowering wattles, violets along the creek banks, slate quarries, gold workings, and small waterfalls. Her description reads almost like a school composition exercise, reflecting both close observation and considerable skill in expression:
“There are plenty of wattle trees growing all along the banks of the creek, and when they are all out in blossom they look charming.”
Her education extended well beyond the classroom. Mary collected money for Aunt Connie’s cot at the Melbourne Children’s Hospital, joined the League of Kindness, and participated enthusiastically in the Weekly Times sewing competitions. In March 1895 she submitted a bed-jacket for the Children’s Hospital, and Aunt Connie later singled out her work as being only a little behind the leading entries. The half-yearly competition judges also awarded her a formal commendation among girls under sixteen from across Victoria.
Like many Victorian schoolchildren, Mary delighted in literature and moral instruction. In 1895 the paper published her selection of favourite quotations from Burns, Shakespeare, Douglas Jerrold, and Philip Henry. The same year it printed Evil Begets Evil, a fable submitted by the thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. Whether an original composition or an adaptation of a familiar moral tale, the story demonstrated her mastery of dialogue, narrative structure, and the conventions of the fable. Its concluding lesson was characteristically Victorian:
“Sly persons are frequently caught in their own nets, just as the fox was.”
Mary’s letters also illuminate the life of Kimberley State School. An inspector’s visit in 1894 produced a commendable result of ninety-one per cent. The school building itself served many purposes: Sunday school met there every week, church services were held once a fortnight, and social evenings and prize distributions brought the community together.
Her farewell letter to Aunt Connie in 1897 provides one of the most detailed descriptions of school life. The school had been decorated with wattle blossom for a recent social evening, and prizes were distributed to the children. Mary received a copy of The Maid of the Storm, while her sister Janey won Little Eyebright. Janey and five classmates recited The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Fred performed Tom Long Smith, the Doctor. The school was crowded, and the event was pronounced a great success.
The Maid of the Storm by Nellie Corwall and frontispiece. GoogleBooks.
That same letter also reveals a tragedy. Early in 1897 Mary developed what she described as a cold that left her deaf. She spent nine weeks in hospital and was taken to Melbourne to consult specialists. She visited Cole’s Book Arcade, the Zoological Gardens, the Botanical Gardens, and the Public Library, but medical treatment brought no improvement. She even tried remedies prescribed by a Chinese doctor, though without success.
Yet her response to this profound loss was marked by remarkable maturity:
“I used to imagine it would be worse to be deaf than what it really is.”
Weekly Times (Melbourne), 25 September 1897, p. 8
Our Letter Box
Deafness from Cold--Middle Park [Middle Creek], via Moonambel, Aug. 13, 1897.—Dear Aunt Connie,—It is such a long time since I wrote to you that I suppose you have almost forgotten me. I usually spend the evening in reading, but to-night I thought I would occupy the time in writing a farewell letter to you, and take the opportunity to wish all my cousins good-bye. After the 26th of next month I shall not be able to write to you any more. I shall then be sixteen years old.
I still take a great interest in the "Young Folks'" page and enjoy reading the numerous interesting letters, especially Louie Russell's. I would like to see her; I think she is a very amusing little girl.
Since I last wrote to you I have had the misfortune to become deaf. About the beginning of this year I got a cold, which ended in deafness. I was in an hospital up here for nine weeks, and then my father, seeing that I did not improve, took me to Melbourne to see another doctor. We went to one of the best doctors in Melbourne, but he said that he could not do me any good, so we did not stay many days. I went to Cole's Book Arcade, Zoological Gardens, Botanical Gardens, Library, and other places.
After we came back from Melbourne I went to a Chinese doctor, and got some pills from him to put in my ears. They made my ears very sore. I would not have any more pills like those put in my ears for anything, especially as they did not make me much better. The Chinese said, when I went to him, "No more harm; all right in a week"; but he was mistaken, for a good many weeks have passed, and I am still unable to hear. I used to imagine it would be worse to be deaf than what it really is.
A lot of my cousins have been writing about the Jubilee celebrations. We only had a picnic up here to celebrate the Jubilee, and the school children did not get any medals.
I do not think I told you we have Sunday school every Sunday now in the Kimberley State School. Church is also held once a fortnight in the same school. A social in aid of the Sunday school was held last Friday evening, and the prizes were given out. The Kimberley State School, in which the social was held, was decorated with wattle blossom. I got a nice prize called The Maid of the Storm, and my sister Janie got one called Little Eyebright. My brother Fred and sister Lizzie also got prizes.
My sister Janie and five of her school mates recited The Charge of the Light Brigade, and my brother Fred recited a poem called Tom Long Smith, the Doctor. The school was crowded, and everyone pronounced the social to be a success.
The bush is lovely now that the wattle trees are in bloom. I have got Uncle Ben's and Cousin Connie's photos framed. Please put Cousin Florrie's in, so that I can get it framed also.
Once more wishing you, Uncle Ben, Cousins Connie and Florrie, and all my other numerous cousins, good-bye, I will conclude with love to all.—I remain, ever your loving niece,W. Alice Waring.
(I am sorry to hear of your loss of hearing, Alice. We all hope your hearing will be restored.—Aunt Connie.)
In August 1898 the Kyneton District Hospital acknowledged receipt of the balance owing for the treatment of John Robert Waring’s daughter, indicating that her medical care continued long after her return home from Melbourne. Her death certificate records that she was attended during her final illness by Dr John Tremearne of Creswick, who last saw her on 20 October 1898.
Mary Alice Waring died at Middle Creek, Warrenmang, on 20 February 1899, aged seventeen years and five months. Her death certificate records the cause as tubercular disease of the brain, of two years’ duration, together with general debility lasting five months. The chronology strongly suggests that this prolonged illness was connected with the deafness she described in 1897, although contemporary newspapers made no explicit link.
Her funeral notice in the Avoca Mail occupied only a few lines:
The Friends of Mr J. Waring, of Warrenmang, are invited to follow the remains of his beloved daughter, Mary Alice Waring, to their last resting place, Moonambel cemetery.
Without her letters, Mary Alice Waring might today be remembered by little more than a birth and a death registration. Instead, the pages of the Weekly Times preserve the voice of a bright and thoughtful girl who loved books, flowers, pets, family, and school life. Through them, her brief life is remembered more than one hundred and twenty five years later.
Wikitree: Mary Alice Waring (1881-1899)
Related Post: History of Moonambel and Kimberley Schools
