Agnes Helen Darton called herself Helen but, to the Symington family, she was known as "Aggie." She is remembered mainly for receiving a massive inheritance from her uncle James Symington of Berringa Park and for her marriage to her very young farm hand. She was born in Yackandandah in 1867, the daughter of Agnes Symington 1825-1923 and James Darton, both of whom were teachers. In 1880 she was attending school at Yackandandah. [1] In the early 1900's she was living in Lisson Grove, Hawthorn, with her mother, her younger sister Constance, and elder brother James. Her mother died in 1923. Aggie was still living with her brother James at 63 Lisson Grove in 1924. [2]

In 1920, she and her brother Charlie Darton inherited the vast bulk of the landholdings of their bachelor cousin James Symington at Huon Lane. She attended Charlie's wedding to Edie Ward in Bendigo in 1920. Edie's niece, Mattie Hodgson, observed that she appeared "very prim and authorative." [3]

In 1923 she acquired a property in the Springvale Estate in the Kiewa Valley known as Heatherbrae. 

Agnes Darton spent five months in the United Kingdom in 1924. She stayed with her cousins in Kilmarnock.  Miss Agnes Darton sailed from Melbourne in the Ceramic and arrived at Southampton on 22 May 1924. [4] Her profession was recorded as “housewife” although she was then single. Her proposed address in the United Kingdom was “16 Mackinlay Terrace, Kilmarnock”, [5] the residence of her cousin Agnes Young who was the youngest daughter of her aunt, Catherine Symington (1826-1891). During her stay in Scotland,  she paid a visit with her cousins to Sanquhar, where her mother was born (see photograph below). 

Travelling alone, Miss Agnes Darton, aged 57 years, departed from London on 25 October 1924, sailing in the S.S. Mongolia as a second-class passenger. [6]

Her London address was the Excelsior Hotel at Notting Hill.

By 1926 Aggie Darton was living at Heatherbrae. She was much involved with the Presbyterian Church and presented an organ to the congregation of Red Bluff in 1926. [7] 

Approaching the age of 60 years, she married her English farm hand Doug. Austen, who was living on her property. He was only 21 years old. They married quietly under licence on 16 April 1927 in Aggie's home at Heatherbrae. With the aid of cosmetics, she perhaps looked a fraction younger in her wedding photograph. 

Heatherbrae was re-named "Helen Brae", allegedly at Doug's insistence; the 1931 Australian Electoral Roll lists Agnes as "grazier" of Helen Brae and Douglas Austen has been upgraded from dairy hand to "farmer."

In 1933 Aggie treated Doug to a voyage to his home country. He sailed alone. Shipping records for his return voyage on the S.S. Moldavia indicate that he sailed from London on 29 December 1933. Doug was then aged 27. He gave his occupation as "dairyman" and his address in the United Kingdom as Hamilton House, Stone Cross, Bilsington near Ashford.

By 1947, Doug Austen had had enough of dairy farming and a clearing sale was held on 3 November in which the whole of the dairy herd and plant was sold off. [8] 

Aggie Darton died in the Albury Hospital at the age of 85 years on 2 September 1952. She died from carcinoma of the cervix and cachexia. [9] Austen was the principal beneficiary of the estate of Agnes Darton which amounted to over £9600. [10] No real estate was listed in her will; the 165-acre property in the Springvale Estate, Tangambalanga parish, had already been registered under the name of D.W. Austen on July 4, 1933. [11] Austen sold the property in 1953.

Released from a life of servitude and drudge as a dairy farmer, Doug Austen wasted little time after Aggie died and he sold Helen Brae in March 1953. The 320-acre property realised £57/10/ an acre and was purchased by J.F. Ferrari of Deniliquin. [12] 

Exactly one year after Aggie's death in 1952, Douglas married Vivian Shipard who had been employed as Helen's maid or assistant. They married on 3rd September 1953.

In May 1960, Doug and his new wife set out on a world trip and saw much of America, Europe and Asia. [13] They returned from London on the Strathmore, arriving at Fremantle en route for Melbourne on 14 April 1961.Thereafter, they settled at Victor Harbour where they lived a quiet life, Doug spending his time playing bowls and bridge with other retirees in that sleepy haven.

Seeking old Symington portraits, I visited Austen in 1980 when he was at Victor Harbour. He had not retained anything to do with the Symington or Darton families but told me there had been Symington family portraits on the walls of Helen Brae which he had destroyed when the property was sold. When he held the clearing sale, the photographs were taken from their frames which were bundled up and sold! Thus he extinguished all tangible memories of the Darton and Symington families of Huon Lane and Kiewa.

In her last will and testament, Agnes Helen Austen directed her trustee (Doug Austen) that on any memorial stone erected over my grave the following inscription shall appear “The Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanses us from all sin (John, Chapter 1, Verse 7).”[14] She also directed Austen to erect a memorial slab over the grave of her late brother James Symington Darton in the Yackandandah Cemetery with the inscription “Asleep” but Doug  did not go to that trouble, for her brother’s grave remains unmarked.

 HEATHER BRAE

In 1923 Agnes Helen Darton acquired the grazing property Heather Brae, a freehold property of 320 acres, with 120 acres Kiewa River frontage, postal address RMB 1196 Gundowring Road via Wodonga 3690. Erected on the upper reaches of the property was a substantial four bedroom weatherboard construction which became termite-ridden. The property was renamed Helenbrae in her name. 

Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, Friday 16 October 1903, page 13

THE SPRINGVALE ESTATE, VICTORIA.

Without the artificial aid of legislation, closer settlement is being brought about in the North-Eastern district of Victoria. One estate, which will be sold on 12th November for subdivision, is that known as Springvale, fronting both sides of the Kiewa River, and consisting of 4000 acres of rich river flat lands. “Good wine,” it has been well said, “needs no bush,” and there is little need to say a word in praise of Springvale. The velvety paddocks, the incomparably clear, perennial Kiewa River, the lagoons and springs, the richness of the soil, all proclaim the adaptability of the estate for the man who desires to make a comfortable home on the land. In the favoured Kiewa valley droughts are practically unknown. While other less favoured districts are held for long periods in the grip of a merciless drought, often breaking the heart of the landholder and landing him in financial disaster, the man in the Kiewa valley is spared the slightest anxiety. All he knows is that bullocks from the Valley are bringing the highest prices in the markets, and that his financial condition is flourishing. Fortunately for the country in general, and for the district in particular, Mr. E. P. Connolly, the owner of Springvale, has determined to cut up his magnificent property into farms, varying from 90 to 322 acres, except in the case of the homestead block, which will include between 500 and 600 acres. The fertility of the soil, the immunity of the Kiewa Valley from droughts, the exceptional advantages for dairying in the way of a butter factory and a creamery in the immediate neighbourhood, the proximity to the Huon Lane Railway Station, the presence of the two State Schools within easy distance, all combine to render Springvale exceptionally adapted for closer settlement, and within a comparatively short time a prosperous yeomanry will no doubt be settled on the land that is now devoted to grazing. The Increase in the productivity of the land, and the settlement of a number of families thereon, will be an immense gain to the district; and everybody will hope that other large landholders will follow Mr Connolly’s example. The estate will be sold on Thursday, 12th November, on the ground, by Messrs Mate and Co. (Melbourne) and Shields and Smyth (Wodonga), and drags, leaving Wodonga at 10 a.m., will convey intending purchasers to the sale.

The terms are liberality itself— viz., one third cash, the balance to be paid in 10 equal instalments, extending over a period of 10 years, bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent. An unrivalled opportunity to secure a freehold is thus presented to buyers with a limited capital. — Sentinel.

Farmers’ Advocate (Melbourne), Thursday 8 February 1923, page 7

COUNTRY PROPERTY SALES REPORT.

BOLINDA ESTATE SOLD.

Mrs. M. E. Grant, Red Bluff, 263 acres at Huon to Miss A. H. Darton, Hawthorn 

1947 CLEARING SALE 

Wodonga and Towong Sentinel, Friday 31 October 1947, page 3

Clearing Sale Of Dairy Herd and Plant At GUNDOWRING ROAD Three Miles from Red Bluff Account Mr D. AUSTEN Monday, November 3, at 11 a.m. NEW ZEALAND LOAN & M.A. CO. LTD. (Inc. In England, Albury and Wodonga, have received instructions from Mr Doug. Austen to sell by Public Auction as above, the whole of his Dairy Herd and Plant, comprising-LIVESTOCK 50 Jersey Cows, in full milk, mostly on second calf 10 Dehorned Jersey Heifers, 15 months old, just served by Jersey Bull 12 Jersey Heifer Poddies 1 Jersey Bull, 5 years 1 Jersey Bull, 3 years 1 Bay Pony, 5 years 13 Well-Grown White Pigs PLANT New Bartram L.K.G. 3-unit Milking Plant, complete with Pump; Alfa-Laval Separator, Daisy 3; Lister Junior 3 1/2 h.p. Petrol Engine; 50 and 30-gallon Vats; Cream Cans and Buckets; Massey Harris 2-disc, Plough: Light Tip Dray; Bellows; Hand Seed-sewing Machine; Redwood Boat and Oars, semi-keel; 3 Iron Pig Troughs; Dehorners and Nose Grips; Rega Milk Fever Outfit; Buncle Cement Brick Mould; 70-egg Incubator; 40-egg Incubator; 70-chicken size Brooder; Room for removal, 9ft x 8ft, on wheels and wooden frame, with iron roof. SURPLUS FURNITURE Kitchen Dresser; Mangle; Preserving Pan; quantity Screw-top Mason Jars; Clothes Basket; Cherry Churn; Double Bedstead and Wire Mattress; odd Chairs; sundry Crockery; old Chiffonier; Cane Chairs and a host of Sundries.

NOTE- Mr Austen has decided to relinquish dairying and everything will be for genuine sale. The cows and Heifers have been inspected by the Agents, and are well recommended as a first class herd. Light Refreshments will be Available NEW ZEALAND LOAN & MERCANTILE AGENCY CO. LTD

SALE OF HELEN BRAE 1953

The Argus Wednesday 11 March 1953 page 4

WODONGA A property owned by Mr. D. W. Austen, of Kiewa Valley, was sold for £57/10/ an acre yesterday. The 320 acres freehold property, which includes 120 acres of river frontage, was bought by Mr. J. F. Ferrari, of Deniliquin.

In 1960, Helen Brae was sold to the Butler brothers who paid £80 per acre for the three-hundred-acre property which included Kiewa river flats. Electricity was not connected until 1964. [15]

[1] Yackandandah School Register 1864-1890. Registration number 887; Date of admission August 1880 aged 12 years

[2] AER. 1903, 1909 45 Lisson Grove Hawthorn (with her mother, brother James and sister Constance); 1919 63 Lisson  Grove with mother and brother; 1924 63 Lisson Grove with James

[3] Letter from Mattie Hodgson to Frances McCabe dated 19 October 1996

[4] National Archives U.K. Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960

[5] Address given in will of her uncle James Symington 1828-1908 PROV VPRS 7591/2/423

[6] National Archives U.K. Outward Passenger Lists 1878-1960

[7] The Argus 16 November 1926 page 7

[8] Wodonga and Towong Sentinel Friday 31 October 1947 page 2

[9] Reg. No. 19555/1952

[10] PROV Probate Administration VPRS 28/4/ 455/435 (Note, incorrectly indexed under "Austin")

[11] Austen is first recorded in the Huon district in the 1930 Sands and McDougall Victoria Directory

[12] The Argus Wednesday 11 March 1953 page 4

[13] Reported in the Kentish Express 3 February 1961 page 10

[14] PROV VPRS 7591/2 455/435 (Note, incorrectly indexed under "Austin")

[15] Personal communication with Mrs. Butler

DOUG AUSTEN

Douglas William Austen was born on 16 April 1906 and baptised in the parish of Ashford, Kent on 10 June.  His parents were Thomas William (born in 1877) and Fanny Elizabeth Austen. From the baptismal records of his children, Thomas Austen was employed as a hammer man, and then as an insurance agent. The 1911 Census has him working as a dairyman.

Doug was one of a family of ten children. He emigrated to Australia at the age of eighteen years. Shipping records show that he sailed from London on 6 November 1924 on the S.S. Baradine. His occupation is listed as labourer. 

Douglas Austen's elder brother Albert Edward Austen also emigrated. In 1930 Albert married Irvine Sheffield May Minto (1902-1994). He died in East Melbourne in 1971.

Doug gained employment as a dairy hand at Heather Brae, the property in the Kiewa Valley owned by James Symington Darton and his sister Agnes Helen Darton. James Darton died in 1926, leaving his property to his sister.

VIVIAN SHIPARD 1908-1969

Doug Austen's second wife, she was born in Wahgunyah on 9 August 1908.  There is little recorded of the life of Vivian Shipard, but she was surprisingly well connected and had an impressive family background of pastoral pioneers. Her Shipard ancestors were very early settlers of West Australia who later moved to South Australia and then to outback New South Wales.

Her parents were Ralph Percy Shipard 1878-1930 [1] and Sarah Jane Mahy who were married at Corowa in 1904.

Ralph Shipard was the son of John Blackstone Shipard 1847-1896 and grandson of William Shipard 1821-1902.

He was a farmer in the Walla Walla district for 20 years but retired to live in Albury in 1913 because of ill health.

In 1935 Vivian Shipard was still living with her mother Sarah in the family home in David Street, Albury. [2]

Thereafter she gained employment as a live-in maid or personal assistant to Aggie Darton. [3] She died in Adelaide on 28 April 1969.

[1] Obituaries Albury Banner 25 July 1930 page 46, Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga) 30 July 1930 page 5

[2] AER 1935 598 David Street Albury with Sarah Jane Shipard

[3]1946 SER VICTORIA Helen Brae, home duties

Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW), Friday 10 January 1902, page 22

A PIONEER FARMER. — The death of Mr. William Shipard last week at Bungowannah severs a link connecting the establishment of agriculture in this district with the first attempts at settlement in West Australia in the early part of the last century. Born at Roberts's Bridge. Sussex, England, in 1821, he was the son of the late William Shipard, sen., who in the reign of George IV. served on H.M.S. Bellerophon when Napoleon was removed to St. Helena. After getting his discharge from the navy he sailed for Western Australia in one of a squadron of sailing vessels which included the James, Emily Taylor, Rockingham, Thames, and Belvoir. These had been chartered by Dr. Peel and Sir James Stirling, and after a six months' voyage were caught in a gale off Fremantle and driven ashore, being embedded so fast in the sand that they were never again floated. The hulks of some were afterwards utilised as Government storehouses and prisons. On leaving the wreck the men had to carry ashore the women and children, among the latter being the subject of this notice, then a boy of three years. Six months later the store of provisions gave out, and the immigrants suffered great privations, living on yams and such game as they could kill, not tasting bread for six months. Then a passing vessel, bound for Sydney, sighted the wrecks, and left some provisions, which served to lighten the lot of the castaways until further supplies were sent from England. The late William Shipard when eleven years old struck out for himself, and was hired by a Mr. Steward to tail cattle. The blacks at that time were very troublesome and he had many narrow escapes, being saved from the savages more than once by a cow of his herd which had a dislike to the blacks, and had a knack of chasing them until they took to the trees, and keeping them there until at their entreaties young Shipard drove her off. After six years of this life he started timber-getting, and helped to cut poles for the first bridge over the Swan River at Perth. A piece of one of these, after 30 years in the water, was sent, half rough, half polished, to the Melbourne museum, to show the durability of jarrah. In 1840 he married, and renting land, started farming with implements of his own make. He put in three acres the first year, buying the seed at 9s., and harvested the crop with a sickle. The thrashing was done with a flail, and cleaning with the help of the wind. In 1852 he sailed for South Australia in the Gil Blas with his wife and five children. After landing he did a little blacksmithing and wheel wrighting, put in a year at a Nairn flourmill, and then bought 80 acres of land and stone at Mount Pleasant, where he remained till 1867. Then hearing of the Robertson Land Act he decided to come to New South Wales, and travelled here overland in company with the late Mr. Joseph Cary and family, finally sealing down at Bungowannah. He was so delighted with the fertility of the soil that he was often beard to express a desire to end his days there, a wish fulfilled on 1st January, when he passed away at the good old age of 80 years and two months. He was the father of eight sons and four daughters, nine of whom are still living. He had 49 grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. The sons living are Messrs. Thomas William, Samuel Ralph, Henry Charles, Joseph, Ephraim, Mark, and George Shipard. The daughters surviving are Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. McDonald. The funeral took place on Friday last, and evidence of the general respect in which the deceased was held was afforded by the long cavalcade of mourners, over 60 buggies, besides a large number of horsemen, including friends from all parts of the district. The remains were borne to the grave by sons of the deceased. The funeral service of the Baptist Church was read by the Rev. Thomas Witts, of Melbourne, an old friend, who, in compliance with one of the last wishes of Mr. Shipard, came up from town for the purpose. A short but impressive address was also delivered at the grave by the Rev. Mr. Clifton, of Albury. 

This undated picture is inscribed “Crawick Water Euchan Glen Sanquhar.” The photograph appears to have been taken from the south bank of the river Nith at a popular salmon pool known as “John Kerr” which lies between the entries of Crawick Water and Euchan Water into the Nith. This spot can be reached by a rough cobbled path which runs beside the Nith, from the rear of the Blackaddie hotel. The pool is within half a mile of the entry to Blackaddie. The identities of the women pictured are not recorded. The older woman is probably Agnes Young, who died three years later and was then aged 66; the younger woman was most likely one of her daughters, Catherine, Jessie or Annie.