William Broome and Anne Patterson

Bones in the Belfry home page
Parents  :   John Broome and Grace Paull     ,    William Patterson and Eliza Grace

William Paull Broome (b abt 1838 Calstock, CON, m Anne Maria Patterson 1877 Albury, d 1909 Talgarno)
    Maude Grace Broome (b 1878 Cumberoona, m Arthur Horace Smith 1910 Elsternwick, Vic, d 1958 West Wyalong)
    Albert Paul Claude Broome (b 1879 Talgarno Vic, d 1887 Albury)
    George Elsdon Broome (b 1880 Talgarno, m Ettie Stapelton)
                                                                      m Harriet Martha Hill 1911 Ettamogah NSW)
                                                                      m  Elizabeth Margaret (Lizzie) Gillanders)
    Alicia Annie Broome (b 1882 Talgarno, m Phil Maxwell 1910 Albury NSW, d 1938 Griffith)
    Eircell Paullina Broome (b 1884 Talgarno, m Joseph Smart Rowley 1909 Talgarno, d 1917 Bethanga)
    Melba Bernice (Melva) Broome (b 1886 Talgarno, m George Oswald Duigan, d Albury)
    William Paull (Jnr) Broome (b 1888 Talgarno, m Margaret Josephine (Jo) Rapsey 1916 Bullioh Vic, d 1968 Albury)
    Urban Patterson Broome (b 1890 Talgarno, m Margaret Silcock 1914 Carlton Vic)
                                                                        m Ivy May Neal 1922 Royal Park Vic)
William Paull Broome Senior
 Anne Maria Patterson

William Broome

William came from Calstock, England. Calstock is on the Tamar north of Plymouth.
There is an entry for William in "VICTORIA & ITS METROPOLIS" Vol, IIa . (Printed 1888)P.338.
BROOME William Paul - Talgarno, came from England to Melbourne in 1854, and was engaged in mining at Ballarat for seven months, and at Yackandandah for fifteen years. In 1870 he went to Talgarno, and there selected 305 acres of land also purchasing 460 acres. He was a member of the Towong shire council for seven years and was president for one term. Mr. Broome owns 120 head of cattle, 8 horses and 140 sheep. He was married at Albury, New South Wales and has a family of one son & four daughters.
There is a similar entry in the Talgarno School booklet:
“William Paul Broome, Snr (1838 - 1909) had been a miner in the Yackandandah area before coming to Talgarno with his sisters, Mary (1842-1928) and Elizabeth (d.1910). He selected and purchased land, calling his holding "Wellendben", after the area on the border of Cornwall and Devon where he was born. William Paul Broome married Annie Maria Patterson of Cumberoona, and they had eight children who were educated at Talgarno. William Paul Snr. was a public spirited man and had a finger in the advancement of Talgarno and his district, and was a member of Towong Shire Council for many years. His son, William Paul married Josephine Rapsey of Tallangatta. At the death of his father in 1909, he carried on in his fathers footsteps, both as a successful farmer and public life being a Shire Councillor for 19 years. There were three daughters. One daughter Wilma, with her husband Cliff Drummond lived on Wellendben until 1969. Joyce, Mrs W Hall now has returned and lives on part of the property, with two of her sons and husband, and maintains the standard of service to their district as did their forefathers.”  Joyce died recently.

Extracts from another book, "Doomed Talgarno" by W H Ferguson
He was a member of the Roads Board, and for many years a member of the Towong Shire Council, being the first representative from Talgarno. In 1887 he was President. Mr Broome was one of the Committee of the Cemetery, a trustee of the local Hall, and a member of the Board of Management of the Church. He helped to obtain the Talgarno bridge and was connected with every movement for the district.

Annie Broome

Anne Marie PATTERSON was red-headed. The three Drummond great grandchildren were red heads, but no others of her descendants.

For an excellent coverage of William and Anne, see Appendix B of Janet's book  Extracts follow in italics

Little is known of her early life but ‘Family Trad’ records that she had some formal education in Launceston and music lessons when the family lived in Melbourne.     The family lived on the property Wellendben on the Murray River in the Talgarno district of Victoria.  Today this property has a boundary with the Hume Weir. Ann Maria was a midwife for the district, a musician and organist at the Talgarno church and a keen gardener. Ann Maria died at the home of her daughter Maud Smith at West Wyalong, on 27th December 1938, at the age of 90 (the memorial says 92).  She was buried at the Talgarno Cemetery.

Her obituary in the Border Morning Mail in 1939 was titled as follows:
A PIONEER PASSES
Daughter of Patterson's of Cumberoona
STORY OF NOXIOUS WEED

    Mrs Annie Broome, widow of the late William P Broome, of Talgarno who passed away at the residence of her daughter Mrs A Smith of West Wyalong on 28 December 1938 at the age of 93 years, was identified with the early history of Australia. She was born in Launceston Tasmania, being the eldest daughter of the late Mr and Mrs William Patterson, after whom Pattterson St in Launceston is named. When a girl, the family moved to Melbourne, their home in Chapel St, Prahan, being on the site whiich is now occupied  by the Rosella Jam Factory. When in her teens, the Pattersons came to Cumberoona and selected the property known as "Elphin", which became part of "Mugwee" which has been submerged in the Hume Reservoir.
    On the journey from Melbourne, Mrs Patterson, who was a keen gardener, is credited with having admired a purple flower and, having brought a root of this plant to Cumberoona, grew it in her garden. Later this spread and became known as Patterson's Curse. Mrs Broome, herself a keen gardener, disputes this theory, saying that she had never seen this flower in her mother's garden.
    The Patterson's being  a musical family, were often called upon as organists  at the surrounding country churches. After her marriage to Mr W P Broome, she resided at "Wellendben" , Talgarno, until some years after her husbands death, since  making her home with her sons, Messers Geo Broome (Freeman's Reach, William (Talgarno), Urban (Tocumwal) and her daughters, Mrs Smith (West Wyalong, the clate Mrs Phil Maxwell (Griffith), the late Mrs J Rowley (Bethanga), Mrs G Duigan (Freeman's Reach, and her neices, the Misses Wallace, now of Wyse St, Albury.
    Of Mrs Broome's brothers and sister, Mr Edwin Patterson of Tewantiss, Queensland, is the only survivor. Brothers and sisters deceased were Messrs. Richard Patterson (Longreach Queensland), George (Winton), Henry (Forbes), Elizabeth (Mrs Robert Wallace, Rotherfield, Bowna), and Alberta (Mrs S Emmett, Picton). Mrs Broome leaves 16 grandchildren. Until a few weeks before her death, she was in excellent health.. 
  
Pretty tough bringing up your mother's alleged transgressions in your obituary. For a picture of rampant Paterson's Curse see
 http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~jenny/photos/outbackn/slides/Patterson's%20Curse%20outside%20Gundagai.html.  
For some lots more images and info, Google Paterson's Curse

 In the comments on her family, we can already see members of the family have moved up to Queensland. Janet Patterson produced the book mentioned below for a Patterson Reunion in Queensland in 2000.The children other than Anne Patterson are not covered on this webpage. The nieces, Misses Wallace mentioned above left some notes on the family, which are worth a read. Link to Wallace Notes

Comments From Janet Patterson's Book On Patterson's Curse

A different origin of the name was suggested in Border City by William A Bayley,  ...Pattersons Curse first appeared in South Australia in 1875 and was first called Salvation Jane taking the new name when taken to Victoria by Patterson.  It appeared at Cumberoona in 1888 and spread rapidly in the early years of the new century.
A report quoting Alice Wallace in the Border Morning Mail in 1958 put the ‘Family Trad’ in print.  ...It is said that when the Patterson family came from Melbourne in wagon and buggy and pair, Mrs. Patterson being a keen gardener, obtained some plants from a garden en route.  These plants are said to have grown and spread their seed over the country side…
‘Family Trad’ was also supported by an extract from Parsons Noxious Weeds (1973).  ...The origin of the name Paterson’s Curse can be traced back to a Victorian stock inspector who in 1888 asked the name of a purple plant he could see on the other side of the Murray River, growing on a stock reserve near Albury.  He was told it was "Patterson's Curse” as the Patterson family owned the property adjoining the reserve.  The name has stuck, but the spelling has been modified over the years .... a Mrs. Patterson, in traveling to Albury in the early 1860's, brought with her a garden plant which eventually became established on her property and on the adjoining reserve…
The same story of the origin of the name Paterson’s Curse was given in An Australian Dictionary of Eponyms, (Oxford University Press) by Richard Trahair, except that the Patterson associated with it was named as Richard Eyre Patterson (1844-1919) who was a grazier near Albury from about 1874.  This clearly places the ‘curse’ with our Patterson family.
The Cumberoona District origin of Paterson’s Curse was supported by a letter from Fred Griffith of Rosebud West, Victoria, to the Secretary of the Albury and District Historical Society in which he stated,  ...In reply to the query in this months Bulletin, "Where Did Patterson’s Curse Originate In This District?”  I am in a position to supply most of the facts.  It started as a garden plant at the Patterson Homestead which was situated about a mile south west of the Cumberoona Stock Reserve on the Jingellic Road.  This must have been about the end of the last century as I remember as a boy about 1920 driving out with my father to see acres of purple flowers as we drove past the Bowna township towards Pat Hore's Cumberoona property - coming over a hill the whole country was a solid mass of purple…
Paterson's Curse, a native of the Mediterranean region, has become naturalized in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.  It can be poisonous to sheep.  It is a declared noxious weed in Victoria and parts of New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.

Acknowlegements:

Thanks to Wilma Drummond who supplied photographs and lots of good information, and to Janet Patterson for her authoritative account of the early Pattersons, and of the family later in Queensland. Janet had many helpers, acknowledged in the book

References

Janet Patterson, "The Pattersons of 'Rangelands' Winton".  To see contents. Janet still has copies for sale for $30-40, posted in Australia. If you contact this website, we will relay requests to Janet. The book is 400+ A4 pages, beautifully produced. All bar 60 pages are about the Pattersons after they moved to Queensland. On the other hand, the 60 pages on England, Tasmania and Victoria/NSW reflect accumulated research by many people over a period of years. Janet is unhappy about the quality of the bookbinding, and you have to take the book as it is. Pages may come loose after heavy use.
Extracts are included on these pages, but these will always be selective, and you will miss out on most if not all of the illustrations.In general, highly recommended, and excellent value. (This website receives nothing from sales)

Research Notes

William and Anne checked on Genes Reunited
Comment: If William came to Victoria in 1854 he would have been 16 and Mary 12. So they would have come with parents? We should be able to find the family on a ship?

If you have additions or corrections to this page, please contact us      Bones in the Belfry home page      Page last updated - 3 Jun 2006