Rowney Family Tree

Ted was born in 1857 at Darley (SA) in the hills to the east of Adelaide (SA). He would have been around 11 years old when the family moved from the Adelaide Hills back into the suburbs just to the south of the Adelaide city centre.

Ted appears to have had a relationship with a girl named Zelpha BUTLER sometime in the late 1870's or early 1880's, although no record of a marriage has been found. They had a son, William, who was born in Adelaide in 1880. William died just 13 weeks after birth. William's parents were named as Edward ROWNEY and Zelpha ROWNEY on the death registration. It seems likely that they were not in fact married, however, and their relationship was shortlived, since Zelpha was married to a another man, George RIPLEY, in 1881. It is not certain that these events related to Edward ROWNEY, the son of Thomas, but it seems likely, since William ROWNEY's son Edward had been married for a few years to Ann CASSON by that time.

In the early 1880's, the ROWNEY family seems to have left Adelaide behind them and headed further afield into the frontier regions of the colony. Ted's father and brothers seem to have taken up farming around Dalkey (SA), near Balaklava (SA), while Ted himself appears to have continued farther out into the distant Eyre Peninsula.

In early 1883, he married Liz TREVORAH, at her mother's Franklin Harbour residence, on the east coast of the Eyre peninsula. Ted was 25 years old at that time and Liz was about 17 years of age. It is not known whether Ted was living on the Eyre Peninsula at the time of their marriage, or whether he may have made the journey to Liz's mother's home especially for the wedding. In any case the newly wed couple seem to have returned to Adelaide fairly soon after their marriage. Their first child, Mabel, was born in Adelaide at the end of 1883. Their next child, Henry, was born in the Adelaide Hills at Payneham (SA), near Campbelltown (SA), in 1887.

Sometime around 1888, Ted and Liz made the move from South Australia across to the colony of Victoria. The intercolonial railway opened in 1888 between Adelaide and Melbourne (Vic), so perhaps they made the journey on the train. They appear to have settled around Caulfield (Vic), a suburb in the south-east of Melbourne.

Liz gave birth to another son, Edward (jr), in 1889 at Caulfield, and all their following children were also born there. Their third son, Leslie, was born in 1892. In 1893, they unfortunately lost Edward (jr), when he died at around 4 years of age. Lillian was born the following year, in 1894.

The electoral roll for Victoria in 1899 records Edward ROWNEY as a driver living at Murray Street, in Elsternwick (Vic), near Caulfield. It is understood that he drove trams for a living.

In 1906, Ted and Liz's last child, Jack, was born. Their children all appear to have settled around Melbourne.

Ted and Liz were living in Haste Street, Caulfield, in 1917, when they received news of their son Harry being wounded in action in France during the Great War.

Ted died in Caulfield in 1929 at the age of 72.

Liz died some years later, in 1943, at the age of 77. She also died in Caulfield.

Edward ROWNEY was a well known horseman and had worked as a drover, a jockey and as a horse breaker. He was brought to Caulfield (Vic) to look after the horses and to drive the trams for the Caulfield Tramway Company. The following is an extract from "From Sand Swamp & Heath" A History of Caulfield, 1980, which mistakenly calls Edward 'Dick'. He was known as Ted. Leslie Trevorah ROWNEY, his son, was known as Dick.

"One source mentions 1884 as the year of the first horse-tram service in Caulfield but the weight of evidence suggests that the Caulfield Tramway Company, formed in April 1888, was the first horse-tram operator in the area. In its agreement with the Council, sealed in July 1888, the Company was committed to building a line along Glen Huntly Road from Elstemwick (Vic) to the Glenhuntly station and another line north from Glen Huntly Road along Kooyong Road and then east along Glen Eira Road to the Caulfield railway station by way of Kambrook Road and Station Street. These lines were to be built within 12 months, and within a further 18 months another line was to be laid from the comer of Kooyong and Glen Eira Roads to Hotham Street. There was also to be a short service line up Foster Street to the tram depot in Murray Road. The horse and tram shed opened on to Foster Street, and the office faced Murray Road. There still are people in Caulfield who remember Edward 'Dick' ROWNEY, driver and possibly one-time manager of what became the Caulfield, Elstemwick and Malvem 'Tramway Company. Many of the local children tried at times to steal rides on the back of the trams, but Dick could Hick his whip right over the back of the tram - without even turning around. This was guaranteed to bring the free-riders unstuck very quickly! Caulfield could not provide the relatively heavy passenger volumes needed to make the service economic. The Caulfield Tramway Company was in financial trouble almost from the start. In May 1889 the Company asked the Council for permission to cancel their agreement and cease operations but this permission was denied. The Company struggled along until October 1897. It appears that the Company was re-formed about 1890 and the new directors obtained the Council's permission to remove the tracks on the Kooyong Road - Station Street route. In April 1893, the assets of the Company were assigned to the mortgagor, the Royal Bank, and under the terms of the original agreement the Bank was required to continue the existing services. The Bank, the Company and the Council then entered into a long and fruitless series of legal actions. In 1897 the trams stopped running, but in November 1901 the new Caulfield, Elstemwick and Malvem Tramway Company re-opened the remaining routes. The passenger volumes were still too small. All the services stopped again in October 1902."

Edward & Elizabeth originally lived in Murray Street either near or at the Horse Tram Stables, but later moved to 27 Masters St.

Jack ROWNEY, the youngest child, remembers his father entertaining well known owners, jockeys and trainers in the backyard of 27 Masters Street, with freshly cooked mussels, no doubt washed down with copious amounts of beer.

(-- Fred ROWNEY 2005 --)