- Agnes McMillan (1865-1949) & John Veness (1847-1898)

Agnes McMillan was born in Patna, Ayrshire, Scotland, a coal mining town. With her parents, she moved to the New England area of New South Wales in the late 1870s.

In 1882 Agnes married John George Veness, described on their marriage certificate as a "carrier" and variously on their children's birth certificates, as a farmer or "Gentleman". In fact he was the son of the founder of the town Manilla. Wikipedia describes it thus:

The junction of the Manilla and Namoi Rivers was for generations, a camping ground for the local indigenous people, members of the large Kamilaroi (Gamilaraay) tribes of northwestern New South Wales. During the 1850s, teamsters with bullock waggons were regularly transporting goods from the Hunter District through the Manilla area to outlying cattle stations and the northern goldfield settlements of Bingara and Bundarra. Teams were often delayed at the junction of the Namoi and Manilla Rivers by high water. In 1853, enterprising Englishman George Veness arrived at ‘The Junction’ to setup a store and wine shop at the teamsters’ camping ground. In doing so, Veness led the way to town settlement and is acknowledged as the Founder of Manilla. The town's early prosperity was founded on the highly productive wheat and pastoral industries.

The marriage certificate states, "The consent of the father of the bride was given to her marriage, she being under 21 years of age." She was 17 and he was 35. The wedding was witnessed by his sister Ada and cousin Harriet.

They had two children: Ivy Velia born in 1883, and Victor George born in 1884.

In 1898 John died. There is some suggestion within the family that he took his own life. His occupation was "builder". Suicide was not uncommon in the economically depressed 1890s.

Ivy seems to have been born handicapped and died in 1901 of "Idiocy constipation and asthenia collapse, the idiocy having been life-long". No doubt, this was an additional burden on the family.

Victor George was actually named Garnet John; the story goes that his father registered him Victor George, and his mother had him baptised Garnet John (after an uncle, apparently). She was obviously an independant woman.

Manilla Express Saturday 11 November 1911, page 7

It is believed that Agnes worked for some time as the housekeeper for a Presbyterian minister in Glen Innes.

In 1913 she remarried - to Adam Pollock, a farmer at Guyra, south of Glenn Innes. Interestingly, he was on the same voyage out on the Rodell Bay as Agnes. A free settler, he was 25 and accompanied by his brother James (21) and she was 12. Perhaps they later knew each other through the Church. The electoral rolls show that they lived on a property called Logan Brae, near Glen Innes. In 1939 she attended a pioneer luncheon and her address was Logan Brae, Shannon Vale Road, Glen Innes (Glen Innes Examiner, 14 October, 1939, page 3).

Adam died in 1939, and Agnes died in Glen Innes in 1949.

Glen Innes Examiner, Thursday 29 June 1939, page 2

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Victor joined the AIF during World War 1, fighting at Gallipoli and on the Somme with 4th Machine Gun Company, 13 Battalion.

Manilla Express, Sat 5 Dec 1914

Studio portrait of the rugby league team known as the 'Mudlarks'. The Mudlarks was made up of members of the 4th Machine Gun Company. They are wearing blue cotton-knit long sleeved rugby jerseys. Below the opening is a black and white painted cotton cutout silhouette of a bird representing the Australian Mudlark or peewee. The surnames of the members are listed around the edge of the photograph. Note the Australian Flag in the background. Identified left to right: back row: 2132 Lance Corporal John Henderson Elder; 3233 Stanley Bathurst Tinning "Sam" Allan; 1853 Lance Sergeant Harold George Augustus Kershaw (later awarded a Military Medal); McDonald; Anderson. Middle row: 2799 Frederick James Creasy; Guildford; 2223 William Alfred Sellars; Chapman; 2695 Private Thorold Toll; 205 Lance Corporal Richard Alfred Overy; 1038 Lance Corporal William Harold Harford. Front row: 233 Private Ernest Roy Crane; Lieutenant Walter James Clasper; Lieutenant Victor George Veness (in uniform); 4245 Private Oscar Mullaly (captain); 3232 Herbert Washington Tinning "Slab" Allan (younger brother of Sam Allan).

Victor was wounded in the leg in August, 1916, and transferred to Lady Carnarvon's Hospital, Bryanston Square, London. This was a hospital for officers. He was certified fit by the end of September.

Guyra Argus, Thursday 24 August 1916, page 2

Lady Carnarvon's Hospital - a school today.

In April, 1917, Victor was captured during the Battle of Bullecourt and interred at Karlsruhe.

On 11 April 1917 the Australian 4th Division assaulted the Hindenburg Line in the First Battle of Bullecourt. The attack was hastily planned and mounted and resulted in disaster. Tanks which were supposed to support the attacking Australian infantry either broke down or were quickly destroyed. Nevertheless, the infantry managed to break into the German defences. Due to uncertainty as to how far they had advanced, supporting artillery fire was withheld, and eventually the Australians were hemmed in and forced to retreat. The two brigades of the 4th Division that carried out the attack, the 4th and 12th, suffered over 3,300 casualties; 1,170 Australians were taken prisoner - the largest number captured in a single engagement during the war.

Battlefield (place of capture) in the corn field (viewed from Australian position) and Reincourt in the background. Photo: David Veness, 2017, on the 100th anniversary of the battle.

MISSING.

LIEUT. G. SMITH.

Official advices state that Lieut. George Smith, of Bathurst, has been missing in France since April 11.

Lieut. Smith is 26 years of age, and enlisted in 1915. After seeing service In Egypt he was transferred to France, and had command of a party In the battle of Pozieres, which captured a gun and killed 13 Germans, the remainder being taken prisoners. For this service be was commended by Brigadier-General Cocks, and received hls commission

LIEUT. G. VENESS.

Lieut Garnoy Veness, of Manilla, is reported misslng

- The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 28 April 1917

Victor described his capture at Bullecourt as one of the "sorest and bitterest feelings of my life".

- Diary entry, 11 April 1917, PR01059, AWM. Cited in Pegram, A. (2020) Surviving the Great War. Australian Prisoners of War on the Western Front 1916-1918. Cambridge University Press.

After repatriation to England in December 1918, Victor married Mary Ann Turner (1882-1921) the following June and brought her back to Australia. He obtained a Soldiers Settlement Loan for a property at Yenda, near Griffith, NSW. The poor woman died of tuberculosis in the Public Hospital, Leeton, NSW, only a few years later (although her death certificate states that she died of nephritis - kidney failure. Tuberculosis of the kidney and urinary tract is, like other forms of the disease, caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis).

Mary and Victor in their house. (Griffith Genealogical and Historical Society).

Mary and Victor in their house. (Griffith Genealogical and Historical Society).

Leeton Cemetery, NSW. (Griffith Genealogical and Historical Society).

He then moved to and farmed in Herberton, Qld, and in 1930 married Elizabeth Robertson Alexander (1901-1983), a divorcee. Victor died in 1966, aged 81.

His diary, in which he describes a medic with a donkey at Gallipoli, is held by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.