The character of Auguste Naudin

I have written about Auguste Naudin (Augustus Theophile Naudin) before - he was the first husband of my 2x great grandmother Frances Turnbull. However I've been doing some more digging on him, and have uncovered a new source of information on him - the notes from a voyage of the Allier, a French steam ship taking troops from France to New Caledonia in 1878-9. After stopping in at Java along the way, people aboard the ship started coming down with some kind of illness (malaria/typhoid/smallpox) with 21 deaths occurring before they reached Cooktown, Queensland on 9 Feb 1879. The captain of the ship begged to be allowed to stop in at Cooktown, so they were allowed to stay on the north shore where there had previously been a quarantine station. The ship stayed there for several weeks until the quarantine was lifted and they were able to continue on to New Caledonia.

Notes on the voyage written by C. Milleret, entitled "Une Épidémie a Bord" were published in La Revue Hebdomadaire in June 1895.

"Vendredi 14 fevrier. En même temps que les provisions est arrivé à bord un particulier mal vêtu, autorisé, comme représentant de la municipalité cooktownaise, à s'installer chez nous en qualité de "surveillant". C'est un Français nommé Naudin. Ses fonctions sont d'une utilité contestable. Je ne nous vois pas essayant de forcer l'entrée de la rivière ou allant nous promener à terre incognito. Il y a un dessous, Naudin est un pauvre diable venu en Australie pour y chercher fortune. Après avoir tenté d'infructueuses expéditions en Nouvelle-Guinée, essayé plusieurs métiers confinant, je le crains, à la traite ou à la piraterie, il s'est échoué à Cooktown où il meurt de faim, peu s'en faut. Pour lui trouver une occupation, en même temps qu'un salaire lucratif et ne coûtant rien à la bourse des contribuables australiens, on n'a rien imaginé de mieux que cette place de surveillant dont les émoluments demeurent, comme de juste, à la charge des surveillés. Tout le temps de la quarantaine, Naudin sera nourri à la table du carré et recevra, au compte du gouvernement français, une demi-livre ou 12 fr. 50 par jour." pp.101-2.

Roughly translated (and no, I don't speak French, so its quite rough and possibly inaccurate - I welcome suggestions) this says that Naudin arrived, badly dressed, with provisions, as the authorised supervisor of the quarantine. They weren't at all sure that he'd be of much use to them - "of questionable usefulness". He was a Frenchman, who came to Australia to seek his fortune, and after trying some unsuccessful expeditions to New Guinea, where he tried several jobs, bordering - they feared - on trafficking and piracy, at which he failed, he returned to Cooktown, nearly dead from hunger. So that he wasn't employed at the expense of Australian taxpayers they gave him this job of supervisor of the quarantined, fed and paid for by the French government, at a half a pound or 12 francs 50 per day. Much of the narration doesn't mention Naudin, but the entry on Monday March 10th was a gem:

"Ce Naudin est un vrai type. Sur ses nouveaux appointements, il s'est fait envoyer toute une garde-robe. Ce n'est pas trop tôt. Il a usé toutes nos vieilles culottes. Si le quart de ce qu'il nous raconte est vrai, ses mémoires auraient du succès. Quelle mine pour Boussenard ou Jules Verne!" p.239.

The rough translation: "This Naudin's a real dude. On his new salary, he is getting an entire new wardrobe - not before time though - he's used all our old pants. If a quarter of what he says is true, his memoirs would be very successful. What a wealth of material for someone like Boussenard or Jules Verne!" And, at the end of the period of quarantine on March 18:

"La garde de police qui surveillait le camp est levée... Naudin aussi est licencié, "pour cause de suppression d'emploi". Sans rancune, nous lui offrons de conserver son couvert au carré jusqu'au départ définitif; avec empressement il accepte." p.240.

Translation: The police who guarded the camp have finished up. Naudin was also dismissed because of job cuts. There were no hard feelings, they offered to pay him until they departed, and he eagerly accepted.

Perhaps its a little harsh but Naudin comes across as a badly dressed fast-talker, full of stories, always out to make a buck. It's worth noting that he had previously been married, in NSW, to Charlotte McMunn, and left her with their three young children, to follow the gold rush to Queensland. He never returned, never divorced Charlotte, and then married his second wife Bridget Murry (also known as Frances) on 14 February 1877, with their first child born in December that year. Which means that it is quite likely Naudin was off galavanting around New Guinea looking to make his fortune while his poor wives were at home with their children, waiting for him. And again, while he was off supervising the quarantined Allier at the expense of the French government. Of course, it must be said that this was probably the norm for the time. I get the impression he was looking for adventure and didn't like being tied down to one place or family for too long. So that's a little bit more about Augustus Theophile Naudin and his character. 

The Turnbulls

A new Turnbull relative, Fay, contacted me recently. She's descended from William Turnbull's (father of George Valentine Turnbull) sister, Margaret.

I have researched William Turnbull, but there's not really a lot to find, it would seem.

William (1819-1896) and Elizabeth Turnbull née Martin (1822-1881) emigrated from England to Australia on the Persia in 1863. Both originally from Scotland, they married in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1839. Three children were born in Rutherglen (Robert, Agnes and Andrew Martin) before the family left Scotland and moved to Liverpool, Lancashire, England where six more children were born (William, Elizabeth, Orson, Janet Stevens, John and George Valentine). It is thought that children Robert and Andrew died in Scotland, and it is likely that Agnes died in Liverpool.

On the 9 February 1863 the family left Plymouth for Sydney, emigrating as assisted immigrants, arriving on May 10 1863. Youngest daughter Marian Persia was born on the voyage. The family settled in Balmain. William worked as a labourer, in Scotland, England and Australia. William and Elizabeth were both buried in Balmain Cemetery.

William was the son of Robert and Janet Turnbull née Stevens. They had at least four children: Robert (1824-1876), Margaret (1825-1898), William, and Agnes (1830-?). Robert, Margaret and William and their families all emigrated to Australia. Robert was the first to emigrate, and sponsored William and Margaret to come out.

Margaret was married to Hugh McFadyen and they had seven children. According to Fay, Hugh was a waterman, rowing people to and from boats in Sydney Harbour, and Margaret was a midwife. Fay related to me a family story: Margaret was called to deliver a baby on Fort Denison (a little island fort in the middle of Sydney Harbour, see picture below), so she rowed, with her youngest daughter Mary, all the way from where they lived in Pyrmont to Fort Denison. After the baby was safely delivered she rowed back, leaving 14 year old Mary to stay and help the mother and baby.

Fay and I did some digging and eventually came up with the following: Minnie Jane W Stobo was born on December 26, 1879, at Fort Denison, Port Jackson, to Thomas and Harriet Susan Stobo. Harriet was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Wren, Thomas Wren being the lightkeeper on Fort Denison. Who knows what time of day Minnie was born, but hopefully Margaret had eaten a good sized Christmas Day dinner in order to stock up on energy for the next day's events!

Nell Brell's cookies

According to my mother, my Great Nanna, Emily Turnbull nee Wickham (Mum's nanna) loved to cook. Great Nanna's cousin on her mother's side was Alice (Nellie) Stilling. Nellie married Joseph Brell in 1923, and shared one of her biscuit recipes with Great Nanna. Great Nanna passed the recipe on to my mother, and as little kids we often had Nell Brell's cookies.

Nell Brell's cookies

• 250g margarine/butter
• 1 cup caster sugar 2 eggs
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup fruit (sultanas etc)
• ½ cup dessicated coconut
• crushed cornflakes

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then fruit, coconut and lastly flour, stirring to combine.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and then roll them in crushed cornflakes. Place balls on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, leaving space between them for spreading.

Bake at 200°C for about 12 mins or until golden. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet.

Of cads and cannibals

One of the family mysteries was where my great great grandmother came from. Her name was Frances Merry Nandin before she married my great great grandfather. Searches turned up virtually nothing on the surname Nandin (apart from some in Dubbo, but no "Frances"). In the end I decided to get a copy of her death certificate, to see what it contained about her parents, birthplace etc. Happily, it revealed a great deal.

Frances was born in Limerick, Ireland. Unfortunately the names of her parents were listed as unknown. The big surprise was that Frances had been previously married, at the age of 17, in Cooktown, Queensland. And her previous married name had actually been "Naudin" rather than "Nandin" - clearly a transcription error. The death certificate listed her first husband as Augustus Naudin, and showed she had two children by Augustus, Louis and Charles. Then, when she was 23 years old, Frances married George Valentine Turnbull in Brisbane, and had six more children with him.

So what happened to the first husband? There was no record of his death in the Queensland Births Deaths and Marriages. Hoping there might be something in the historical newspapers, I searched Trove, and also trawled the internet for anything on Augustus Naudin. I came across a relative of his, living in France, and together we, along with another relative here in Australia, put together some semblance of a story about what happened to Frances' first husband.

Frances' husband usually used Theophile or Augustus as his first name, but also used various permutations of them both - I'll use Augustus to save confusion. He was apparently born in Paris, France, in about 1845. Somehow, at some stage, he made it to Australia. Family legend has it that he left France after fighting a duel (which was illegal). Another story is that he was studying to be a priest but published a pamplet containing some "advanced" ideas so he had to give up taking orders. Who knows if any of that is true - he certainly seems to have had a very tenuous relationship with the truth...

Augustus Naudin first turned up in Dubbo, NSW, in 1868, marrying Charlotte MacMun (sic - it's actually McMunn) and then fathering a child with her, plus three more children in later years. Then apparently, he left, while Charlotte was still pregnant with her fourth child and headed north, supposedly going on an exploration trip to New Guinea, but leaving instructions that the baby should be called Charlotte if it was a girl (it was and she was dutifully called Charlotte).

The next we hear of Augustus was in 1877 where he was in Cooktown, Qld, marrying Bridget Murry/Murray on Valentines Day. Bridget Murry is Frances Naudin - for reasons unknown she changed her name to Frances. On the marriage certificate Augustus is listed as a storekeeper (and also a "Bachelor" - though as far as can be ascertained he was still married to Charlotte), Bridget as a servant. Bridget gave birth to their first child, Louis Alexander on 9 Dec that same year. The Cooktown Courier then has a record in April 1878 of Augustus (noted as an employee of Messrs. Walsh & Co's Gympie Stores, Charlotte St, Cooktown) being on the crew of the boat "Swan" which apparently mutinied and instead of sailing to Somerset, headed for New Guinea to explore for gold. In a letter he wrote back to Australia he said he intended to stay for six months. He obviously returned at some stage for he fathered another son with Bridget, Charles Augustus Naudin, born 22 Oct 1879.

The next we hear of Augustus, he was, according to the Cooktown Herald of 16 April 1880, about to leave the next day for New Guinea on the Annie Brooks, to "procure specimens of natural history" and also to test for evidence of gold. This is the last we hear of Augustus alive.

On or about October 12, 1880, the party of naturalists from the Annie Brooks was murdered by New Guinea natives, and eaten. I hate to think how poor Frances heard the news. So there she was, widowed, with two small sons to look after. Sometime in 1881 she arrived in Sydney with her boys and there met George Turnbull, my great great grandfather. You'd count your lucky stars if you met a man who was willing to take you plus your two young sons on, and it seems that George was willing. Soon Frances was pregnant with their first child, Herbert Louis Turnbull, who was born in Sydney on 19 June 1882. Most likely George's parents were not at all happy at the birth of this illegitimate grandson (George was not actually named as the father when the birth was registered - the father was named as Guss, but Augustus had been dead for too long for it to be him), so George, Frances and the three boys left for Queensland. George and Frances were married in Brisbane on November 1, 1882. They then had five more children in Brisbane: George Valentine, Ethel Mabel, Gertrude Adeline, Frances and Norman Percy. The family came back to Sydney, in 1900 after the deaths of George's parents, and George and Frances lived in Balmain until their deaths.