Rowney Family Tree

Rod was born at Dalkey (SA) in 1886. His family were farming in that area and remained there until around 1891, when they left South Australia and moved across to the north-west of Victoria, eventually settling around Hopetoun (Vic).

The 1912 electoral roll for Victoria indicates that Rod was farming at Cambacanya (Vic) at that time.

Rod was married to Ada Annie HATCHER in 1915. Rod and Ada were both 29 years old at that time. Ada was a divorcee and had a 9 year old daughter named Tress from her previous marriage to Robert HATCHER.

Sometime after their marriage, Rod and Ada moved their family onto a farm at Dattuck (Vic). Rod selected allotment #31, adjacent to the Dattuck reserve. The netting fence passed right through the block. In the early days their block was largely undeveloped and surrounded by mallee scrub and pine trees. Their daughter Jin was born at Warracknabeal (Vic) in 1916. In 1919 their first son, Jack, was born in Hopetoun. By 1920, with the arrival of another daughter, Tot, their family had outgrown their simple home, and a brand new, bigger, house was built. It had a kitchen, a lounge room, a dining room, and three bedrooms. The three youngest girls always had to share a double bed. Their next children, Tom, Annie, and Ben, were all born at Hopetoun, in 1924, 1925, and 1928, respectively.

The early years on the ROWNEY's farm were spent clearing the land; cutting down and burning the scrub, and collecting the mallee stumps, which were used as firewood for the stove and the big open fire. The land was ploughed by a team of eight horses, and crops of wheat, or oats, sown. The elements were a constant menace, with droughts, dust storms, and disease, always threatening their crops. Keeping the farm operating also required other work, such as grooming and feeding the horses twice a day, cutting chaff for them to eat, and transporting the wagon loads of grain to the railway station to be sold.

The passing years of back-breaking work caused Rod's health to suffer. Some evenings he would groan in pain. He was finally diagnosed with an ulcer, and medication was prescribed which improved his health considerably. He had a cousin who lived near Portland (Vic) who would send consignments of fruit and vegetables in exchange for a railway truck load of mallee stumps from Rod's farm. Later Rod worked on the State Rivers. He usually had some of his sons working with him, but they made little money out of it.

Rod was a kind and placid man, who rarely, if ever, swore. He found his inspiration from the Bible, and he also enjoyed reciting poetry with his family. Rod loved cricket and was an umpire for the Dattuck Cricket Club. His son Jack, and sons-in-law, Bill DUTTON and Fred STEINMEYER, all played cricket for Dattuck. When Australian cricket teams toured England, the ROWNEYs often had friends over for dinner. Afterwards they would sit around their crackling wireless set and listen to the radio broadcasts of the test matches. One of the family's few holidays was a trip to Melbourne (Vic) on the train to see Don BRADMAN play in a test match against England. BRADMAN scored over 200 runs, and Rod talked about that trip for years afterwards.

Rod and Ada retired to Warracknabeal where they lived in a house directly behind the High School.

Rod died in 1964 in Warracknabeal when he was 78 years of age.

Ada died a few years later, in 1970, at the age of 84. She died in the Warracknabeal hospital where she had been ailing for some time. She suffered memory loss in later years.

Rod and Ada were both buried in the same plot in the Hopetoun Cemetery.