The FOSTER Family

http://www.strong-family.org/foster/chapter_4.html

• Home
• Sitemap
• STRONG Family
• LANE Family
• FOSTER Family
• WEDEMEYER Family
• Photo Galleries

FOSTER of Launceston, Australia, Chapter 4.

The "FOSTER Family" section of this site is divided into 6 chapters and 4 sets of appendices. Please read in sequence by following the links at the bottom of each page or use the "Quick Nav" at top right. If you wish to select individual chapters, please click on the top left link to the Sitemap page.

Do you have information, opinion or a question relating to this site? Please use the e-mail link available at the bottom of each page. I look forward to corresponding with you.

This page describes George FOSTER's life in retirement from 1879 and also looks at what remains of his home and family in present day Launceston.

Launceston Retirement: 1879 to 1899

When George retired in Jan 1879 he had an unparalleled length of service in the Colony with 1(?) year as second mate from 1834, 1 year as assistant harbourmaster, 1 year as leadsman, 22 years as pilot, and finally 19 years as senior pilot in charge of the Low Head station. A total of 44 years service with 41 as pilot! Wayne Shipp's information on the length of service of the pilots in J.G. Branagan "The Historic Tamar Valley" shows George with 42 years as pilot, then the next longest services in order as 32, then 28, 27, 25, 24, 24, 16 and so on. He left the service very highly regarded by the people of Low Head and George Town, receiving a glowing testimonial, which was also placed in the Launceston Examiner. The full text can be seen here.

George now lived in 41 William St, Launceston. The 1880 roll (see "Property") showed that George owned and occupied a house (£42) and owned a house and bakery (£45) occupied by M. Munro.

George made a succession of codicils to his will which throw light on changing family circumstances as well as on people in the Launceston community who were important to the FOSTERs. George's good friend (and father-in-law) John Hammond died in 1870 causing George to make a first codicil to his will dated 28 Jul 1880. In the codicil George called himself "formerly Pilot of Tamar Heads, now gentleman of Launceston". The codicil replaced J. Hammond as executor with George Babington (Town Surveyor). George Babington was Launceston's Town Surveyor from 1853- 1882 and from 1863- 1882 was also Superintendent of Waterworks and Surveyor under the Building Act. G. Babington died on 29 Dec 1888 and George's son Thomas continued residing out of Tasmania, so George made a second codicil on 16 Jan 1889, appointing new executors Peter McCracken (Ironmonger) and Thomas Gladman (Accountant). Peter McCracken ran his own ironmonger's business at that time (from 1883 to 1894 in Charles St.), was elected to the Municipal Council twice after 1894 and was mayor in 1896. He was then elected to the House of Assembly in March 1900 and thus obtained probate for George FOSTER's estate just before his election campaign. Thomas Gladman at that time of the second codicil was accountant to the firm of Douglas & Collins, Solicitors who later acted to obtain George's probate. Thomas Gladman was elected City Treasurer and Accountant in the following year (1890).

The value of George's estate increased. In 1892 the house where George lived was #41 (£40) and M. Munro's rented bakery was #43 (£45) (from 1892 at least, the modern-day street numbers applied). George died in 1899, and in 1900 #41 (£750) and #43 (£850) were still shown as owned by George. In 1910 these properties... #41 (£800) & #45 (£1,000) were no longer owned by the FOSTER family. It is probable that George's properties were sold just before his death at less than their total assessed value of the time of £1,600. The probate value of George's estate was given as £1,296 and no real estate was included in his estate inventory. At that time George would have been quite well off, since as well as his assets he received an annual government pension in 1899 of £186/13/4. To have an idea of the value of money in those days: From a book titled "Australia Through Time"...

"(in) 8 November 1907, ....For the first time a minimum wage for unskilled Australian workers was officially set in the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration ... workers would be paid no less than seven shillings a day - or two pounds two shillings a week from (then) on."

George's will left everything in trust to his wife Lucy and then, on her death, to his daughter Emily, should she be unmarried, the income from £500 plus the use of household furniture and effects in trust. The residue of the estate was to be divided equally amongst the children. The special provisions for Emily were introduced in a third codicil dated 3 Sep 1892, which suggested that she lived with George and Lucy and looked after them when they were old. This last codicil was witnessed by H.M. Latham (Civil Servant) and James Boag (Brewer). This Boag was J. Boag II who lived several door down from George in 1884. Henry Francis Maude Latham was in the Customs Department at Launceston at the time, and the following year (1893) he was appointed Warehouse Keeper and also Collector of Beer Duty for Northern Tasmania. The "Cyclopaedia of Tasmania", Vol II, says James Boag, born at Launceston in 1854, "...joined the staff of the brewery"... in 1870. A leaflet obtained from the brewery in 2000, says he "joined this brewery (...in 1879) to train under his father".

George and Lucy were remembered in an old lady's memoirs of her childhood in the 1890's. She recalled that: "Next to the Tamar Hotel lived the FOSTERs, a very superior English family".

 

Present Day: Launceston

The photo below shows significant recent change around George's home. In 2000 this area gave a derelict impression. The 2000 photo, on the left, shows the sheet metal gates and overgrown shrubs in George's drive, and the neighbouring Tamar Hotel in need of repair. The 2003 photo, on the right, shows the restoration in 2002 of the Tamar Hotel, the wrought iron style gates on George's drive and the tarred surface and parking area in George's back yard. The parking area now serves the Tamar Hotel … now the "Boag's Centre for Beer Lovers" which is used for a display centre, guided tours and administration.

I visited George's old house in November 2000. It was an impressive two-storey double brick building with a heritage listed facade. The only residential house in the immediate area, it was owned by Boag's Brewery who had rented it to their employees.

The inside smelled very musty, due perhaps to the absence of a damp course combined with the modern paints on the thick interior plaster, which did not allow the surface to "breathe".

Upstairs were two large rooms with a small nursery room. Downstairs another two large rooms and the front room had a marble fireplace and a huge plaster ceiling rose. The back of the house led to a large kitchen annexe. The block of land was quite large and the back yard could have been a good vegetable garden. The yard had a fair sized tree, was overgrown and had a tumbledown garage and shed, both built more recently. I wondered how George managed to heat the house and chop the wood for all his fireplaces. However in the probate documents there was a bill from the gas company amongst the liabilities.

In the 2002 renovations the garage and shed and old garden were removed to make way for the parking area, though the tree remained. George's house has not been changed, though Boags state: "In the future we may decide to renovate it and use it as part of the Boag's Centre for Beer Lovers complex. At this time we do not have any intention in the short term." In 2004 Boags painted George's house to match their Centre's colours.

I searched for George and Lucy's graves. Sally Vandenberg, State Library Tasmania, Launceston Local Studies kindly wrote saying:

"Some of the headstones in Cypress St Cemetery were moved to the Carr Villa Cemetery prior to the site being turned into a sports field. Those headstones not moved by relatives were removed by Council, a few headstones were placed around the perimeter but most were removed and /or destroyed at the time. The sports field belongs to the Launceston Church Grammar School and is known as Broadland Park."

Source: Vandenberg, S. Pers. comm. Jul 5, 1999.

(I have written to the Archives of the Launceston Church Grammar School and they gave me a list of the monuments or fragments of monuments which remained, and FOSTER was not among them.)

The Story Continues

• Chapter 5 This page discusses George FOSTER's children and his property.

Page Last Updated: Sept 2007.
Email to: Philip Strong