Weston, NSW:  

Andrew Paterson Frame was the fifth child and second son of John Frame and Agnes Paterson. He was born 28 Feb 1860 at 39 Muir Street Hamilton, Lanarkshire.  Andrew immigrated to Australia in 1883 with his older brother John, arriving in Bundaberg, Queensland aboard the Nairnshire. They qualified for free passage. 

After a voyage to Australia lasting three and a half months and working for a year in Queensland to meet the conditions of their free passage to Australia, Andrew and John made their way south to New South Wales.  John Frame went to Sydney while Andrew came to the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and found work on the construction of the Walka Water Works in Scobie’s Lane, Oakhampton, Maitland.  This historic building still stands today. The pump house, chimney and boiler house are elegant brick structures in a traditional configuration. The complex, including reservoir and tanks, is an important cultural landmark and today is a very popular recreation area.  

The image above is the only one available of my great-grandfather Andrew as a young man. It probably dates to around the time he left Scotland in 1883. Andrew's employment as a labourer on the construction of Walka Water Works no doubt led to him meeting his future wife, Eliza Louisa Hannan. She was the third daughter and fourth child of Edward Hannan and Ann Hardy.  Eliza was born at ‘Primrose Hill’ in Hannan Street, Maitland, 10 Dec 1864. Edward’s father was John Hannan, an Irish veteran of the Battle of Waterloo and a soldier settler (Chelsea Pensioner). In 1830, John Hannan received a grant of 40-acres (I6ha) near the Long Bridge between West Maitland and Oakhampton.  Hannan Street is named for him. The block extended from the New England Highway to the Hunter River including part of Hospital Hill, Hannan Street and Semphill Street. Since Hannan Street joins Oakhampton Road, this young couple were destined to meet and ultimately spend the rest of their lives together.

Andrew Frame and Eliza Louisa Hannan married II Aug 1886 in the Presbyterian Manse at Maitland. The ceremony was conducted by James Lamont with Sutherland Bremner and Mary Ann Bruce Lamont as witnesses. Great-grandfather Andrew worked as a labourer from when he first arrived in the Maitland area until 1889 when second child Edward John (my grandfather) was born. Edward was still a baby and Eliza was pregnant again when the young family packed up their belongings to join the gold fossickers. Andrew had leases at Stewarts Brook and Moonan Brook near Gundy in the Scone area, as well as Nine Mile, Deepwater, between Glen Innes and Tenterfield.  The family did not stay long at Nine Mile but daughter Grace was born there in 1894. The family had returned to Stewart Brook by 1896 when Grace died.  An interesting anecdote passed down through the family is that Andrew actually did find gold, and for safe-keeping, kept it in the safe at the hotel at Stewart's Brook; however, there was said to have been a robbery and the gold was stolen. For the family to have lived in the northern gold-mining areas those several years, it stands to reason that Andrew had earned an income, either from gold mining or labouring, to have been able to support his young family at that time. Who were the culprits in said robbery?  We don't know. Certainly, apart from others who may have had access to the safe at the time, bushrangers were active at the time and a constant threat.   By 1897, Andrew and Eliza and their growing family were back in Maitland and by 1901 Andrew was working as a miner.  He had been working as a colliery fireman before he left Scotland in 1883 and his life in Weston was also going to mean going down a dark, damp coal pit.  

Weston derives its name and location from the immigrants James and Lucy Weston, natives of Sussex, England.  In 1856,  James Weston  purchased a block of about 259ha. around the area of Chinaman's Hollow. On this holding he established his homestead, complete with vineyard and orchard, near Swamp Creek. An early indication that coal existed in this area was in the 1880s when a coal outcrop was discovered on the banks of the creek.  In about 1900, the Australian Agricultural Company (A.A. Co.), began searching for coal leases in the newly developing areas of the Greta coal seams. They secured the 530ha Hebblewhite estate and also purchased adjacent coal bearing lands from the Aberdare Collieries of the NSW Company; the entire holding amounting to around I800ha. The proprietors named their new land the Hebburn Leases.  In about 1902, Mr Robert Scott was appointed manager to oversee the sinking of the main tunnel and other surface works. His residence and office at the colliery were built by Mr Con Shay. This residence was the first to be built at either the Hebburn or Weston Estates following construction of the original Weston family homestead. Oaks Creek flowed through the Hebburn property and a large dam was built across the creek to conserve the water for steam power. This resulted is a large ‘lake’ that later became a popular town recreation area. Some townsfolk lost their lives there.  Tent accommodation abounded on the Hebburn Estate where 250 men were employed to cart clay from the railway cutting to strengthen the dam wall.  When work began on the establishment of the Hebburn No. I Colliery, James Weston and Jane Swanson subdivided their lands, which bordered the colliery land, to commence the private township of Weston. Their plan was to provide building allotments for the influx of Geordie miners from the north of England, and also those from the exhausted mines of the Newcastle area, many of whom transported their homes from Minmi and Greta on timber jinkers hauled by bullock teams.  For more information and photographs on the history and development of the Weston township, please see  my website:  Weston (NSW) History and Heritage.

When Hebburn No. I Colliery commenced production in 1903, Andrew Frame built a makeshift shelter (a humpy) near the corner of Kline Street and Cessnock Road Weston and lived in that for some time as the new town developed around him.  When he was able to get time off work, he trudged the 16km back to Maitland to see Eliza and his family who were then, according to the 1903 Electoral Roll, living in Elgin Street Maitland.  The family appears to have been living in Weston from about 1904-5.  By 1905, an article appeared in a local newspaper mentioning a ‘Miss Frame’ who was collecting money for the development of the Weston School of Arts. The 'Miss Frame' had to be one of Andrew's daughters, either Agnes or Amilda (‘Millie’). The Police population returns for 1905 showed that the Weston Estate had grown to 750 residents, with another 460 living at Hebburn.

Andrew and Eliza had nine children:

1. AGNES ANN FRAME was b. 04 Mar 1887 in Oakhampton Road, Maitland and died 26 Jan 1949 in Weston, NSW.  She married ARTHUR WILLIAM GARRATT 1908 in Weston

2. EDWARD JOHN FRAME was b. 14 Jan 1889 in Hannan St., West Maitland, NSW, and died 2 Oct 1968 at Kurri Kurri, NSW. He married CATHERINE FALVEY 16 Jul 1910 in Branxton, NSW.   See Weston NSW: My Grandfather's Family

3. AMILDA LINA FRAME was b. 26 Apr 1890 at Stewart's Brook, NSW and died 26 Jan 1982 in Waratah, NSW. She married LESLIE WILLIAM HOLMES 30 Apr 1913 in Weston, NSW.

4. ANDREW PATERSON FRAME JR. was b.10 Jun 1892 in Stewart's Brook, NSW and died 7 Sep1964 in Weston.  On 9 Aug 1915, Andrew Paterson Frame Jr. joined the A.I.F. and served in Europe with the 17th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement during WWI. During his time overseas he suffered badly with 'trench foot' - a condition that troubled him for the rest of his life.  Andrew was hospitalised a number of times in England and France during his tour of duty. His Rank was Private and Regiment No.4112.  Andrew later worked in Insurance and had the first car in the Frame family.  Anyone old enough to remember 'young Andrew' (I am one of them!) will recall his dark green T-model Ford with the little 'dickie' seat at the back.  Great-uncle Andrew Paterson Frame Jr. did not marry. 

5. GRACE HANNAN FRAME was b. 23 Jul 1894 in Nine Mile near Tenterfield NSW  and died 8 Jan 1896 Stewart's Brook, Scone NSW.  Only eighteen months after baby Grace was born, she tragically lost her life at Stewarts Brook. Grace had been suffering with emphysema for three weeks when she died on 8 January 1896. It is said that she died whilst being taken to the doctor by horse and cart.  Dr Scott was the medical attendant and had already treated Grace the previous day.

6. ETHEL FRAME was  b. 3 Nov 1897 in Maitland, NSW and died 23 Jul 1994 in Sydney, NSW.   She married GEORGE E WILSON IN 1921 in Kurri Kurri, NSW.  Ethel worked for her parents at their shop, the Pagans Cafe, in Fourth Street Weston during her younger years.  Her claim to fame from that era is that she won a Queen for the Day contest.  Later in her life, Ethel became a tireless worker for her church, St. Mary's Anglican,  and her community. Ethel’s dedication was legendary and she did not retire from her volunteer work until she was 90-years of age. Ethel's husband George died on 20 September 1964, and Ethel lived on for another thirty years, most of those at their family home in Hall Street Weston. 

7. EDGIE ROY FRAME was  b. 19 Jun 1901 in Elgin St., West Maitland, NSW and 15 May 1981 in Newcastle, NSW. He married EMMA DOROTHY BELL  18 Dec 1926 in Lambton, NSW.   Edgie ‘Roy’ Frame worked as a Shotfirer at Hebburn No.2 Colliery and was elected President of the Hebburn No.2 Miners Lodge.  His nephews Mervyn (my father) and Edward (‘Coogan’) succeeded him in this position. It was said to be the first time that three members of the one family had been elected to the position consecutively.  

8. ALEXANDER THOMAS FRAME was  b. 18 Aug 1903 Oakhampton Rd., Maitland, NSW and died 23 Jan 1982 Kurri Kurri, NSW.   Like his brother Andrew,  Alexander Frame remained a bachelor. He followed in his father's footsteps and initially worked with horse and cart selling fruit and vegetables around Weston in his younger days. Later, he also followed family tradition and became a coal miner. The bachelor brothers, Andrew and Alex, lived out the rest of their lives in the old Frame family home at 65 Fourth Street Weston. 

9. LOUISA FRAME was b. 18 Jun 1907 in Maitland, NSW and died 16 Nov 1975 in Weston, NSW.  She married JOSEPH BARKER 14 Nov 1925 in Weston, NSW.  The Barker family were situated in Swanson Street Weston, just off Fourth Street and adjacent to the creek, which caused the family considerable despair when the creek flooded. Their location was very conveniently situated only a short walk to Andrew and Eliza's home.  

There were still many canvas and bag walled houses at the time Andrew and Eliza settled in Weston, but their first family home was constructed of tin. It stood on the corner of Fourth and Kline Streets, Weston.  At that stage, Andrew and Eliza would have used candles or kerosene lamps for lighting, and if they did not yet have a wood or coal-fired stove, a cooking pot suspended over a fire would have sufficed to prepare meals and to heat water. The bath, a tin tub, would have been placed in front of the fire in winter.  Andrew and Eliza probably used a ‘Coolgardie Safe’ for keeping butter and meat cool. These were wooden frames covered in bags which dangled into a tray of water. The bags soaked up the water and evaporation kept the food reasonably fresh. A similar idea with canvas water bags kept drinking water cool.  

Great-grandfather Andrew grew his own vegetables and built up quite a reputation for his version of potted meat (brawn). I recall my father Mervyn being fond of this dish! 

Later on, Andrew and Eliza moved to a dwelling on the corner diagonally opposite their original home and on 18 June 1907 their fifth daughter and ninth (and last) child, Louisa, was born. Louisa’s birth is registered in Maitland. In 1907, registrations of births, deaths and marriages for Kurri Kurri, Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main could be made at the Kurri Kurri Court House, however those for Weston and Abermain had to be lodged at West Maitland.  

Sometime between 1910 and 1913, an accident brought great-grandfather Andrew Paterson Frame’s coal-mining career to an end, but it did not occur down the mine. Both Andrew Jr. and Andrew Sr. worked afternoon shift at Hebburn No. I and legend has it that as they were returning home from work one evening, they called by the hotel to pick up some rum to make a ‘hot toddy’ for young Andrew who was suffering with influenza.  Inside the hotel, Andrew Sr. noticed that one of his neighbours was intoxicated and decided to help him home. During the unsteady journey, both men fell, with the neighbour landing heavily across Andrew’s leg. This resulted in a complicated fracture which effectively finished off Andrew’s days as a coal miner. His workmates took up a collection at the pit to help the family, and those funds allowed Andrew and Eliza to establish a small business.

The first phase of business life saw Andrew purchase a horse which he named Bonnie (see below right), and a cart, and he then began to deliver fruit and vegetables around the town.  He officially became a ‘green grocer’, or, as otherwise popularly termed, ‘the Fruito’.  Most of his supplies would have been purchased at auction from Leggett’s Markets in Cessnock or at Swan Murray and Hain near Maitland Railway Station. These were probably supplemented with surplus fruit and vegetables from Andrew’s own garden. Apart from fruit and vegetables, the townsfolk of Weston had many everyday commodities delivered right to their door by horse and cart including ice, milk, freshly baked bread and meat. The clip-clopping sounds of the horse’s hooves on the gravel roads — accompanied by the shouts of ‘Milko!’, ‘Fruito!’ ‘Butcher!’or ‘Baker!’— were welcomed by many a housewife with hungry mouths to feed.

The second phase of business life for my great-grandparents was when they built a store on the front of their home in Fourth Street that they named The Pagans Cafe. Eliza and her daughters all worked in the shop. The unusual name evolved from the popular field at the end of Fourth Street established by local youths for their football team. Those who worked in the mines ‘borrowed’ gelignite from the pit to blow out tree stumps and clear the field for football matches. Legend has it that the local Catholic priest Father Cullen, an Irishman, used to drive by that way when visiting his parishioners. The young lads ran alongside Father Cullens horse and buggy, sometimes swinging off the back just to tease him. It is said that the very irate Father Cullen would wave his fist at the boys, shouting, ‘you’re a lot o’ pagans.. .you’re just a lot o’ pagans!'  Thus the name for the Pagan’s Football Team was born. My father Mervyn played in the Pagan's team as a winger.

In about 1915, a young Scottish coal miner named Walter Scott Frame (son of Robert Frame and Agnes Scott) arrived in Australia and eventually made his way to the Kurri Kurri/Weston area.  Walter married Annie Robinson at Kurri Kurri in 1933, and later married Ethel Wallace in 1941. We knew this other local Frame family but never thought we were related.  However, research has proven that Walter Scott Frame was my great-grandfather Andrew’s first cousin once removed. Walter was 30 years younger than Andrew and born in Larkhall, Lanarkshire 11 years after Andrew had immigrated to Australia, so they never knew one another back in the old country.  Fate dictated that Andrew and Walter would both cross the world and live in the same small Coalfields village in the Hunter Valley, but as far as family members of my father's generation could recall, they never knew they were cousins.  In his melancholy moments, I feel sure it would have given Andrew some comfort to know that he had one of his ain folk nearby! 

The photograph above was taken at the rear of the Frame family home at 65 Fourth Street Weston. While I don't remember Great-grandfather, as I was only three years old when he died, I do remember the delicious grapes from that grape vine!  My mother used to take me to visit Granny when I was a young child. 

When Andrew and Eliza retired from their business at the Pagans Cafe, they moved across the street to No. 65 Fourth Street, a house previously owned by the Tweddle family. The Tweddles exchanged places and took over the Pagans Cafe. I remember the ‘new’ Frame family home at No.65 from visiting as a child with my mother: not only the grape vine at the back but also the barley sugar jar on a shelf behind the kitchen door - I must have had a food fixation!  I also recall Granny dressed in dark clothes and the gloominess of the interior. Another reason I remembered this house and the Pagan's Cafe so well is that in 1962 my husband and I had moved into No. 53 Fourth Street after we married, which was only ten years after Granny died. We later moved to the Maitland area. The old Frame cottage and the Pagans Cafe are still standing in Fourth Street Weston; however both have undergone renovations. Whilst I have included the photograph of the Pagans Cafe taken in the 1950s, the old family home at No. 65 was too extensively altered to include here.

Needless to say, life in the small coal-mining village of Weston was not without its share of strife over the years. Apart from the smallpox epidemic that saw both my father and grandfather quarantined at Stockton in 1915, and other diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria and polio, which threatened the lives of the townsfolk, there was the constant fear of potential mining accidents. Conditions were inherently unsafe, with the first death at Hebburn No.I recorded in 1905.

Andrew and Eliza Frame led simple lives and had no grand material possessions. They always worked hard, side by side, to provide for their family. Their children continued that work ethic; they had to, to survive. Nothing came easily to any of them, but influenced by the early lessons from Andrew and Eliza, the Hunter Valley Frame family have an unshakable love and loyalty for one another and those same values radiate outwards to encompass their whole community.

On II August 1936, my great-grandparents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary at a surprise tea party organised by their family. The following article appeared in a local newspaper at the time:

GOLDEN WEDDING TEA

MR AND MRS ANDREW FRAME

 Mr and Mrs Andrew Frame, both well-respected residents of Weston, were paid a surprise visit on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary when their children and grandchildren celebrated the

occasion at their residence in Fourth Street.  Gold was the colour scheme most suitably chosen for decorating the diningroom. The tables looked most attractive and held a beautiful cake made by their daughter,

Mrs Les Holmes of Waratah. Mr A W Garratt (son-in-law) was chairman. He appreciated the opportunity of paying tribute to the guests of the evening, whom he knew to be among nature’s gentle-folk.

They were dearly loved by their family, who hoped they would be spared to them for many years to come. Mrs Horrie Parkinson endorsed the speaker’s remarks. As friends and neighbours, they were all that could

be wished for, and it was a great satisfaction to have such worthy citizens in the neighbourhood. A beautiful carpet, which was golden in hue, and a gold satin eiderdown, were among the gifts presented to them from the family. 

Members of the family included Mr and Mrs Arthur Garratt, Mr and Mrs Roy Frame and family, Mr and Mrs Ned [Edward] Frame and family, Mrs L. Holmes and family, Mrs [G] Wilson and family, Mr and Mrs J Barker and family, Mr Andrew Frame Jnr. and Mr A Frame.A musical programme was enjoyed after tea, arranged by the grandchildren. The family were assisted by Mrs T. Elliott and Mrs Bailey in arranging the tea. 

Mr and Mrs Frame moved from Maitland to Weston thirty years ago. Mr Frame was employed in Hebburn Colliery until forced to leave the mine owing to the results of an accident.

He then carried on as a dealer until he retired owing to ill health.

Ten years later, in August 1946, Andrew and Eliza were blessed to be able to celebrate another tremendous milestone with their large family — their Diamond Wedding Anniversary.  For them to be able to realise sixty years of marriage was a rare and wonderful achievement.  

Andrew Paterson Frame, our Scottish immigrant settler and the chief of our Australian clan, passed away in his home at 65 Fourth Street Weston on 7th June 1947. The cause of his death was myocardial degeneration and chronic bronchitis. He was 87-years-old.

Eliza Louisa Hannan Frame died on 15 February 1952 aged 88 years.  Andrew was cremated in accordance with his wishes and his ashes interred at D66, Garden Wall, Beresfield Crematorium. Eliza was buried in the Roman Catholic section of Kurri Kurri Cemetery (No. 27, Row 24). 

In 2008, to commemorate the 125th Anniversary of Andrew’s arrival in Australia and as a tribute to their family - descendants of Andrew and Eliza placed a special memorial plaque for him on Eliza’s grave at Kurri Kurri Cemetery:

______________________

Other Sources:

Dawn Frame O'Connor:  genealogy of the Frames of Weston

Brian J. Andrews, The Pioneering Days of the Coalfields series, Coalfields Heritage Group

NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

See   Weston: My Grandfather's Family