Here's a photo my relatives took of the foundation stone for the Uralla Shire Council chambers, laid by my great great great uncle John Valentine Beringer. They've taken such good care of it - painted over, with two different colours of paint, hidden behind some rosemary bushes, and there's a downpipe right at the edge of it. Not to mention the chisel marks from the local anti-German activist.
Hello Prue, I am not a relative but am interested in the Beringers: my great uncle was a carpenter in Uralla and then went off to World War 1 where he was killed. He was a Roman Catholic, his maternal grandmother had come to Australia from Germany in the 1850s.I am trying to find out a bit about my g-uncle and of course all roads lead to Arnold Goode. I was in Uralla and spent some time with him last week and he also showed me the foundation stone behind the bushes and told me the story of the chisel marks. I have no evidence yet, but it's possible that my great uncle was working for JV Beringer when he signed up for the 33rd Battalion as J.V. was the only builder in town and he was also German and a Roman Catholic like my g-uncle, Harold McNamara. I have contacted UNE for information and they sent me details of your blog. Very interesting. I did visit the cemetery, by the way, and put flowers on the graves of my own people but not on the grave of J.V. Regards
ReplyDeleteMary Kershaw
Lovely to hear from you Mary. I've not come across the name of your great uncle but then I don't know much of the day-to-day life of John Valentine. I hope you can track down some information on him.
ReplyDeleteAnd so the mystery of the flowers on the graves lives on!