Rowney Family Tree

Agnes was born in 1853 in Paradise (SA), in the hills east of Adelaide (SA). She was the second daughter of Thomas ROWNEY and Susan McMULLEN. Her family appears to have moved back down into the southern suburbs of Adelaide around Unley (SA), sometime in the late 1860s, when Agnes would have been around 15 years old.

In 1874, when she was 20 years old, Agnes was married to Charles POULTON in the Adelaide Registry Office. Charles was 22 years old. The POULTON family from Bowden (SA), near North Adelaide (SA), seem to have been well known to the ROWNEYs, and the two families shared many experiences together over the following years. The marriage of Charles POULTON and Agnes ROWNEY seems to have been the first formal connection developed between the two families. The POULTON family is believed to have had significant land holdings in the area around Unley, so the two families may have become acquainted when the ROWNEYs moved into this area. Agnes was residing in Adelaide when they married, and Charles gave his place of residence as Bowden.

Agnes and Charles are understood to have raised her young brother, Paddy, from an early age. Paddy would have been around 4 years old when Agnes married in 1874, and their mother died in 1876. It is thought that he was only 18 months old when he came to stay, but this would appear to be unlikely.

Charles was recorded in the first assessment book for the District of Dalkey (SA), near Owen (SA), in 1875/76, as the owner of section 292 (89 acres). His brothers James and William also held larger nearby properties at that time. Two other POULTON brothers, John and Ted, had also taken up land in the district by the following year. It does not appear that they all lived permanently in this area at that time, as they retained other interests in other areas, but they each probably spent time there when required.

Charles and Agnes are also believed to have had land around Gulnare (SA), between Burra (SA) and Port Pirie (SA), however they seem to have spent much of their time during this period living on a property at Mallala (SA), just a few miles north of Gawler (SA).

Their first child, Ada, was born at Mallala in 1877. Their next child, Lily, was born in 1879. Her place of birth is not known, but it seems that her family was still living around Mallala, so she was probably born there. Melinda, who was born in 1881, was also born at Mallala. Edith was born at Brompton (SA), near North Adelaide, in 1884. It is not known whether the family moved back to live in Adelaide around that time, or whether Agnes may have simply been there for the birth. Their next child, and first son, who was named Thomas, was born at Dalkey in 1887. They seem to have remained in the Dalkey area until at least 1890, when Agnes gave birth to their second son, Ernest. It is also understood that Charles retained his land in the area until at least 1891, when he sold his section 292 to John VERCO.

They must have departed Dalkey shortly after Ernest was born however. It is understood that some of the the POULTON and ROWNEY farms had been destroyed by severe flooding in the years before their departure, and the families were attracted by the newspaper stories of great success being had by South Australian farmers in the new selections opening up in north-west Victoria around Galaquil (Vic). It appears that a number of the ROWNEY and POULTON siblings departed South Australia in 1892 and trekked overland in waggons, arriving in the Galaquil district about a month later, where they obtained selections and set about the arduous process of clearing and sowing. The wives and younger children followed later by train. They worked hard over the following years, carting water and labouring on neighboring farms, to pay their way while they established themselves on their own properties. Agnes gave birth to another son, William, at nearby Brim (Vic), in 1892. It was also in 1892 that disaster struck the POULTONs and ROWNEYs again. A massive fire, started by a spark from a passing train, is believed to have burned out several miles of farmland along the netting fence, including some of the properties of the POULTONs. They must have decided that it was not worth starting over in the Galaquil area, and they again moved on together, heading further north around 1893, taking up new selections around Cambacanya (Vic) and Hopetoun (Vic). Unfortunately for Agnes and Charles, their baby son William also died in 1893, in Warracknabeal (Vic), when he was just a year old. The year of 1893 was a scorching hot year, a drought, and a very hard year indeed for the people of north-west Victoria.

After moving to the Hopetoun region, the POULTONs and ROWNEYs reportedly made the acquaintance of the well known, and very successful, local identity, E.H. LASCELLES, who helped them obtain work while they cleared their new blocks for sowing. Their farms in this area prospered, and they were able to expand their holdings over the years. A good number of their descendants are still farming in the area today. The last two children of Charles and Agnes, Gladys and Robert, were born at Hopetoun in 1894 and 1897 respectively.

The electoral roll for Victoria in 1899 records Charles POULTON as a farmer at Hopetoun.

When Agnes' father died in 1902 in Hopetoun, Agnes was the informant on his death registration. We can perhaps guess that he may have been living with her and Charles at that time. He came across from South Australia around the same time as the rest of the family in 1890, and probably lived with either Agnes or her brother Dolph in the intervening period before his death.

The electoral roll of 1903 records Charles as a farmer at Cambacanya, while Agnes was attending to domestic duties. The 1912 electoral roll indicates that Charles and Agnes were at that time farming at Goyura West (Vic), near Hopetoun, where their son Ernest was also farming. It is not clear to what extent the different place names on the electoral rolls represent actual changes in circumstance for Charles and Agnes, or whether they may, at times, simply represent administrative variations.

Agnes died at Hopetoun in 1927 at the age of 74.

Charles died there about a decade later, in 1936, when he was 84 years old. They are both buried together in the Hopetoun Cemetery