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THE 'ULRICK' IMMIGRANTS
Johann "Adam" ULRICK (1813 to 1894)
Mary Elizabetha LEHR (1821 to 1890)
PART 1 : Hamburg to Sydney - A deadly journey aboard the Peter Godeffroy
When the 714 ton sailing ship the PETER GODEFFROY arrived in Sydney on 26th October 1852 she carried on board 20 crew, 40 passengers in Upper Class and 250 passengers in the lower deck ‘steerage class’.
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From the ship's records we see that the Ulrick's were all born in the old Duchy of Nassau. Johann "Adam" Ulrick was born in 1813 in the small village of Neuhof and"Mary" Elizabetha Lehr (married to Adam in 1847) was born in 1821, at Mittelfischbach. Accompanying them on their trip to Australia was their two year old daughter Phillipena, Mary's sister Phillipena and her husband George Ulrick, possibly Adam's cousin, (born in Wiesbaden ).
The young generation of Ulrick's, boarded the ship in Hamburg in July 1852 with many other German families. They were fed up with the incessant wars, religious conflicts, famines, denial of political and civil rights and lack of prospects in Germany in the mid 1800's. So many German citizens migrated abroad in the 1850's that Niederfischbach (near Mittelfischbach) disappeared in 1853 when all its residents emigrated to America.
The Ulricks chose to conserve their savings by travelling 'steerage' class to Australia. They most likely shared a single cabin holding 4-6 berths in incredibly cramped conditions. Passengers took aboard their bedding and supplementary food for the journey. Each cabin shared a crude toilet and a table with bench seat for taking meals. Most of the time was spent below deck, talking with other passengers, playing games, preparing meals and sleeping.
Sickness and infection spread quickly. The Peter Godefrroy was only twelve days into its journey when the first death occurred on board and the passenger's body was laid to rest at sea. A further seven passengers including children, would perish during the trip around the tip of South Africa and across the Indian Ocean: all from consumption or scurvy.
Two year old Phillipina Ulrick did not survive the journey. She died at sea. It must have been a relieved, but deeply pained family that set foot in the colony in 1852. There was no going back to Germany. Had they made the right choice? Only time would tell.
PART 2 : Overland to Greener Pastures
Upon arriving in Sydney, the Ulricks went looking for greener pastures. They caught the stage coach south to Kiama, and initially settled in the Kiama - Gerringong area. The birthplaces of Adam's eldest children - registered as Kiama, Jamberoo, Foxground and Gerringong - support the supposition that they remained in this area to 1862. It was not unusual for new arrivals to take employment until they had enough money for a deposit on land.. Kiama was growing quickly. There were plans afoot for Kiama’s first tramway system and for an Illawarra Railway line to Kiama. The photos below show the growth in Kiama at the time.
The Free Selection Act of 1861 made it possible for land seekers to secure their choice for a small deposit and the payment of small annual installments. Adam's oldest son Samuel, remembered being about 8 -10 years old (approx 1863-65) when his dad decided to move their growing family further south. Before the 1860's there were no roads into Kangaroo Valley and all European access was via established bridle trails which followed the routes used by the early squatters and their stockmen. A lot of these routes followed existing Aboriginal trails.
Together with his pregnant wife and three young children, Adam trekked over Jamberoo Tops and Budderoo and down the pass that still bears his family name - “Ulrich's Pass”. (it is generally accepted that Adam originally spelt his name with an "h' as per the German spelling).
Behind Brighton Head and the slopes of Woodhill, is the deeply incised valley of Broger's Creek (sometimes spelt Brogher's Creek). Adam felt this was the place to establish his dream dairy farm. He selected land just over Broger's Creek and set about making a permanent home for his young family at a place now described as "down Priddles Lane in Wattamolla".
PART 3 : Pioneer farm life at Wattamolla
Living off the land as a remote rural pioneer was a tough life. The first challenge was to clear the thickly wooded land and to build a fence around it. With wood from those trees Adam built a crude home known as slab hut.
The children remembered splitting pieces of timber from logs, using some to make posts and leaving others as rough slabs. They used the posts to build a frame and the slabs to make walls. The roof of their first home was made of shingles split from trees and sheets of bark.
Mary worked alongside Adam farming and doing hard labor, in addition to managing the household, which included raising and teaching seven children. The children worked equally hard. Typical chores included fetching water from the well or river, washing the dishes, helping with the laundry, gathering wood plus the farm duties, such as feeding the hens, gathering eggs and milking the cows. To feed themselves, Adam did his best to grow crops in the unfamiliar environment, learning from his successes and failures.
In 1876, Adam found a way to supplement his income from farming when he was successful in his Postal Service tender for the "conveyance of mails in Kangaroo Valley and Brogher's Creek, twice a week" — Adam Ulrich, 3 years, horseback, £25 per annum.
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When Adam was in his seventies he advertised his property for sale by public auction in October 1889. The auctioneer stated. "This superb property is for sale as the owner, through ill health, retires from all business." It was described as follows: "A valuable farm at Broger's Creek. 244 Acres of bush land subdivided into eight paddocks. 200 Acres under grass. Best land in the locality. The farm, adjoining the properties of Messrs. Nixon, Beacombe, Cooper and Erwin is without exception one of the best dairying' farms in the locality. Thereon is erected a suitable dwelling house, dairy, stockyard, etc and permanent water is laid on to the house".
In his later years, Adam was nearly blind but he was still able to get around and do things. In particular he used to plait rawhide and make whips. He would find his own way down to the creek, where he would put the hide into the water to soften it before plaiting it.
PART 4 : A pioneer success story
When the young family arrived in the early 1860's, the nearby town of Berry (population 300) was known as Broughton’s Creek (or simply ‘The Crick’), As the hinterland grew - from free settlers' saw mills and dairy farms - the town of Berry emerged as a flourishing service centre. By 1884 its population had grown to 1300.
Adam (who spoke little English) and Mary Ulrick, togeather with their seven children, forged a life in the Colony from their own hard work and toil. Adam and Mary gave the colony 7 children and 48 grand children, to continue this work.
Is it any wonder that the EPITAPH ON ADAM"S HEADSTONE, in the historic Wattamolla cemetery, reads as follows:
Long day and night they bore their pain, To seek for rest but all in vain, Till God himself who thought it best, To end their suffering gave them rest
NOTE : Johann Adam Ulrick is the Great, Great, Grandfather of the Author's father - STEPHEN WILLIAM BOLAND
FIRST GENERATION ULRICKS
1
Samuel Wesley ULRICK (1852 -1929)
Hannah FRANCIS (1854-1938)
Like his father, the oldest son Samuel, was a dairy farmer who had a farm in the Woodhill / Brogher's Creek area. He was an active member of the growing Berry community but he did find himself in front of the Courts from time to time.
In August, 1892 Samuel was convicted and fined £100 and costs £1 16s. l0d for having in his possession an illegal still of large capacity, for the distillation of spirits.
Sergeant Sykes testified that that he found "Eighteen 18-gallon casks containing wash ready for the process of distillation, a 10-gallon keg containing whisky, a quantiyy of brown sugar, bran, and pollard, 6 dozen black bottles, two funnels, and a syphon." This was discovered by the local constable, in good working order, hidden in the scrub under a precipice above Brogher's Creek.
The case excited considerable interest with many local settlers being in the court on both days
It was commonly known that Samuel produced illicit whiskey, and the still had existed for years, but the police had previously been unable to locate it. The Still was ordered by the Bench to be confiscated and destroyed.
On another occasion Samuel was in court as a witness to a fight at the Kangaroo Hotel in Broughton Creek (21 Feb 1884). In December 1885, he pleaded not guilty to unlawfully hiring a neighbour's servant man but was found guilty and subsequently fined. (19 Dec 1875).
Life was not without its difficulties for Samuel.
He told the Land Court in December 1879 that a small "cabbage tree hut" he had built on 15 to 18 acres of land he had cleared, had been swept away by a land slip but thankfully "I did not reside in it at the time".
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13 July 1903, the Shoalhaven Telegraph; "A case of snakebite is reported from Brogher's Creek, the victim being Mr Samuel Ulrick, senior. It appears he was working in the scrub at the time, and never noticed the reptile until it coiled around his arm, biting him twice before he could shake it off. Having been bitten bv a snake on a previous occasion some years ago, he took no precautions to prevent the spread of the poison other than a glass of spirits, thinking he was snake-proof. But towards night alarming symptoms set in, necessitating the calling in of Dr. Lewers, who, I am pleased to state, pulled the patient through, as he is now out of danger."
Shoalhaven Advertiser 23 July 1904; "A house owned by Samuel Ulrick, at Woodhill, near Berry, was totally destroyed by fire on Saturday afternoon. Samuel Ulrick senior was working in a paddock at the time, and hurried to the house, when he saw the flames to save some of the contents. He received slight burns on his arms in the attempt, which proved unsuccessful.
A separator in a shed, a short distance away was saved. The origin of the fire is not known. The building and its contents were uninsured."
Samuel frequently tendered for government contracts. He was the lowest of four tenders (£500) to erect the new school buildings for the public school in Kyogle (28 Nov 1905) and he delivered the mail, twice a week on horseback, after winning the government tender for Kangaroo Valley and Wattamolla for £26 per annum.
Popular in the local community, he was elected an alderman to the Broughton Vale Council in 1889 and the family was well known throughout the Shoalhaven district.
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In his later years, Samuel retired and moved to the North Coast. His son John had an established farm at McLean's Ridge, not far from Lismore.
Hannah Francis, who married Samuel as a 21 year old bride, in 1875 at the Church of Good Shepherd, Kangaroo Valley, delivered nine children - all born locally near Berry. Hannah passed away at her residence in Tower Street, East Hills in 1938.
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About 1923,
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2
George ULRICK (1855 -1929)
Helen CHISOLM (1857-1948)
Broger's Creek, near Berry
George was Adam's second eldest child. Born at Rose Valley, near Jamberoo in the Kiama district, he was about 6-8 years old when he made the trek with his family over the Jamberoo Tops and Budderoo, down the pass that still bears his family name - “Ulrich's Pass” - to the site of the future family farm at Wattamolla near Broger's Creek.
In 1868 at barely 13 years old, George's name appears on a petition allegedly as a "ratepayer and a person holding rateable property at Broughton's Vale and Broger's Creek, in the Gerringong Ward of the Borough of Kiama" AND "praying separation from that Borough and erection into a separate and distinct Municipality, under the name of the " Municipal District of Broughton's Vale." The petition must have been successful for he would serve as an elected Alderman on the Broughton Vale Council for many years.
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Following in the footsteps of his father and his older brother, George was awarded a two year contract in 1888 to deliver mail on horseback from Kangaroo Valley to Wattamolla - a distance of six miles, twice a week for £25 per annum. But unlike his brother Samuel, George tended to avoid trouble.
In Dec 1885, Samuel Ulrick, Robert Williams, and George Ulrick of Broughton Creek, were charged by Constable Morris with unlawfully playing at "Pitch and Toss" in the backyard of the Kangaroo Hotel, a public house at Broughton Creek. The evidence proved George had simply lent his brother Samuel the money to play, so the charges against George were dismissed. Samuel and Robert were ordered to be locked up to the rising of the Court.
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In 1894, when his father Adam Ulrich passed away, there were four sons to choose from. Adam named his son George as the Executor of his Estate.
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Although George was an industrious dairy farmer, he an an eye for additional prospects. In 1888, George was commended by the Council for his work as a contractor on works on a road "near Mr Morrows" in the Broughton Vale district and "payment is recommended." But he received higher praise in 1891 for succeeding in obtaining a claim. "At last the Shoalhaven district has been allowed a portion of the prospecting vote. Mr. George Ulrick (who, on behalf of himself and others, has been prospecting at the junction of the Kangaroo and Shoalhaven Rivers) has succeeded in obtaining about £150 for purpose of developing tho claim."
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On 19 August 1893, the headlines were GOLD DISCOVERED AT BUNDANOON.​ "Messrs. George Ulrick and party commenced mining operations last week on the Bundanoon Creek, about two miles from its confluence with the Kangaroo River. They intend, driving a tunnel into the wash, which varies from 5ft. to 6ft. in depth. From the prospects already made, very fair results have been obtained". There appears to be no further updates from the prospectors.
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George was an active participant in improving the South Coast dairy industry. He was a Director of the butter factory at Wattamolla and of the Woodhill facility for cooling milk for transport to Sydney.
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On 8 Feb 1898, George was elected an Alderman of the Municipal District of Broughton Vale. He retired from Council duties in 1905. In 1908 he was once again re-elected to the Council.
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In 1905, it was reported that "George Ulrick, farmer, of Broger's Creek, had a miraculous escape from death during the storm on Wednesday. He was driving home in a sulky, when a large tree fell, the trunk of which just missed the back of the sulky. One large branch struck the sulky diagonally between Ulrick and the back of the horse, breaking the back of the seat just beside him, and smashing the dashboard and shafts in front of him. The horse also escaped uninjured, but the branch of tho tree had to be severed before the horse and broken sulky could be freed".
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George died at home. "On Saturday morning 19th January, the, death took place at his residence in Berry, of Mr. George Ulrich at the age of 72 years. Born at Rose Valley, Gerringong, Mr. Ulrich had spent 64 years of his life in the Berry district. When eight years old he came with his people to a farm' at Wattamolla. At that time Berry was not thought of. The site of the town was timbered country. His father was one of the very early pioneers of the district, and there 'were no facilities locally for the handling of the produce of the farm. All the products were taken by pack horse to Kiama across the Saddle-back. The late Mr. Ulrich therefore experienced all the hard ships and difficulties attendant upon the life of the pioneer.
Eventually making his home at Wattamolla, Mr. Ulrich married Miss Helen Chisliolm of Kiama. Not withstanding the arduous nature of the farm, he made time to take an interest in the general development of the district, and was in the forefront of the movement to start a butter factory at Wattamolla, and became one of its directors. When the city milk . trade sprang into being the factory at Wattamolla was closed, but a factory for cooling milk for despatch to Sydney
was established at Woodhill, with Mr. Ulrich as one of the directors.
Local government also claimed his attention and for many years he was an Alderman of the Broughton Vale Municipal Council. Failing health , compelled him eventually to withdraw from all his public activities.
Ten years ago, Mr. - Ulrich retired from farming, and with Mrs. Ulrich, made his home in Berry. Here he lived quietly until, the end came last week. Although in failing health he was only confined to his bed over the last month."
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Helen Chisholm, who married George as a 25 year old bride, in 1880 at the Church of Good Shepherd, Kangaroo Valley, delivered seven children - all born locally near Berry. Helen passed away at her residence in Berry in 1948.
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Elizabeth Ann ULRICK (1859 to 1893)
James SMITH (1853-1930)
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Elizabeth was just 33 years old when she died. Her tombstone at the old section of the Berry General Cemetery states "Not Lost But Gone Before".
The Conservation Management Plan for the old Berry Cemetery states, "The monuments in the Old Section of the Berry Cemetery are of historical, genealogical, archaeological and scientific significance. Many of the people buried in this cemetery are from Ireland, escaping the Great Irish Famine. They settled in the area and some became dairy industry pioneers. They forged homes and farms, contributed public life, buildings, churches, cemeteries, communities, roads, dairy co-operatives and schools. These are the Broughton Creek/Berry Pioneers."
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Elizabeth was the first born daughter of a true dairy industry pioneer - German not Irish. The marriage records dated 13th October 1881 from the Nowra Church of England state Elizabeth Ulrick (21 years) from Brogher's Creek, married James Smith (28 years) from Broughton Creek (later to be known as the town of Berry).
Berry Commercial Hotel built 1887
Berry Post Office built 1886
When James Smith took his new bride Elizabeth to live in Broughton's Creek, she would have witnessed many changes in the 1880's.
In 1883 a rectangular grid of streets was first proposed. Many of the town’s public areas were planned, including the show ground, the post office, the public school, the court house and 2 acres each for four churches located at the four corners of the town.
Broughton Creek was renamed "BERRY", by an Act of Parliament in 1890, in honour of the Berry family.
Alexander Berry had taken up a land grant at Coolangatta (in the Shoalhaven district) in 1822. Alexander Berry was introduced to this area by an indigenous person named Toodwick, also known as Broughton, who was born in this area. The creek and township in this new land grant were named Broughton Creek after him.
Elizabeth passed away at her residence in Berry in 1893 after delivering eight children. As her youngest child, Gertrude, was delivered in 1893 it is possible that she died during child birth.
Rebecca ULRICK (1861 to 1894)
Thomas BEACOM (1858-1933)
4
Just like Elizabeth, her older sister, Rebecca was just 33 years old when she died. Her tombstone is in the historic Brogher's Creek Cemetery, Wattamolla close to where she was raised on her family's dairy farm.
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In 1894 flooding was quite severe throughout the South East of NSW and on 27 February 1894 newspapers headlined "SIX SEPARATE ACCIDENTS - ELEVEN LIVES LOST".
One specific accident was reported as follows. "Yesterday afternoon the wife and an infant child of Thomas Beacom, a farmer, were drowned in Brogher's Creek, near Kangaroo Valley. They were crossing, on horseback, and it is surmised that the horse stumbled and fell. The creek was in flood at the time. Only the body of the infant has been recovered "
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Thomas Beacom was Rebecca's husband. The Beacoms were the Ulrick family's neighbours in Broger's Creek. Presumably Rebecca had known Thomas for most of her life. They were married in the Kangaroo Valley Church of England on 9th March, 1888. Rebecca was 26 years and Thomas was 30. Rebecca's first child, Thomas G was still born. Rebecca then gave birth to two sons (John in 1889; Adam in 1890) before she gave birth to infant Thomas in 1892 and baby Elizabeth in 1893.
Broger's (Brogher's) Creek
The child, whose body was found in the flooded creek, was baby Elizabeth. The family's troubles were not over. Just one week later their baby son, Thomas died at just two years of age. It is thought he was ill when his mother tried to cross the flooded creek. Later that year, in November, 1894 Thomas Beacom was declared bankrupt by the Supreme Court.
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On Tuesday, 13 March 1894 the Shoalhaven Advertiser empathised, "It was with much regret that the news of the death of one of Mr. Thomas Beacom's family, a child, two years of age, was received here on Thursday last, the little one having succumbed on the previous night at 8 o'clock. We sympathise with Mr. Beacom in his troubles, which are exceedingly heavy, he having during the previous week lost his wife and another child by drowning, while in the act of crossing a creek while in flood."
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Brogher's Creek Cemetery, Wattamolla (near Berry)
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The historic Brogher's Creek cemetery at Watamolla has four Beacom graves side by side.
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Thomas G (1890-1890).
Elizabeth Pearl (1893-1894),
Thomas James (1892-1894) and their mother
Rebecca Ulrick (1861-1894)
Louisa ULRICK (1863 to 1940)
Thomas HARRIS (1862-1930)
5
When Louisa (24 years) married Thomas Harris (26 years) he was listed as a farmer from Wattamolla - the same area as her father's farm. Thomas was born in Australia, but his father Ponsonby, was an English immigrant who appears on the 1871 Broughton Creek (Berry Estate) Census as a Quaker.
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Ponsonby Harris arrived in Sydney on the vessel Castilian in 1858 aged 37. Leaving behind a former wife and a family in England, he arrived in Australia and one year later married an Irish girl called Ellen Darby and started a new family. Ellen gave birth to Thomas in 1862 on the Berry Estate. Thomas had five sisters and two brothers.
Unlike her older Ulrick siblings, Louisa would not stay in the Berry region. After giving birth to five children in the Berry district, Louisa and Thomas moved to North-Eastern NSW, to the Richmond River district. Around 1905 to 1910 they took up residence in Burringbar before moving to Mullumbimby. In 1917 they made their final move to Ewingsdale.
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The European history of settlement in the region began in 1842 when cedar getters moving northwards and penetrated the rivers and forests of the Richmond. After the big scrub was cleared, pioneering dairy farmers came from southern NSW - including Louisa Ulrick, her husband Thomas Harris and his brother Joseph.
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Dairy farmers move to the Northern Rivers
There was an influx of experienced dairy farmers from the south, after the late 1870s. The dairying industry had been established on the South Coast of New South Wales for some time but farmers were dissatisfied, partly because many did not own their properties and land was expensive. Landowners were asking higher rents or sometimes a share of the farmer’s income. Many of these farms had been set up originally on the English model of paternalism, with tenant farmers. Southern farmers saw the opening up of productive land on the North Coast as independence as well as profit.
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The third factor which changed the North Coast Dairying Industry in the 1880s began in 1884 when the Pioneer Butter Factory opened at Kiama, on the South Coast of New South Wales. This Factory was owned by the local dairy farmers on a cooperative basis. By 1900, several cooperatives, similar to the ones on the South Coast, had opened in the Northern Rivers district of NSW. In addition, the much awaited railway between Lismore and Murwillumbah, via Byron Bay, was completed in December 1894. This would do away with the major transport problems and allow easy access to Byron Bay. As the River was the lifeline to the first settlers so the railway was seen as the lifeline to the inland dairy farmers.
Burringbar
The 1861 Robertson Land Act opened up large areas of the State for sale to small farmers. The Act enabled the purchase of up to 640 acres at a cost of one pound ($2) per acre and stipulated that farmers had to clear, fence and build on the land within two years. Government inspectors ensured compliance. Burringbar was one of the last early settlements established, due to the greater distance from suitable watercourse transport. Land records show Reserve 1198 of 5000ac, was proclaimed on 19 July 1894 and straddled the Parish of Byron and Parish of Brunswick. By 1900 it had been whittled away to about 500 acres.
Over the next few years more bits were hived off creating Portion 310 - 17 acres taken up by Thomas Harris; Portion 311 - 16 acres taken up by Joseph William Harris (Thomas's brother); Portion 313 - 21 acres taken up by Harry Gill (son-in-law married to daughter Mabel)
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Around this time Harry Gill's father, James Gill, opened the Hotel Burringbar in 1906. (The hotel burned down in 1932 and was eventually replaced by Victory Hotel in Mooball). In 1909, Harry took over the Burringbar Hotel from his father James.
When Louisa and Thomas lived in Burringbar, the ‘village’ contained two general stores, two butcher’s shops, one fruiterer, two blacksmiths, a hairdresser, a baker, a tinsmith, Snow’s Sawmill and the Burringbar Hotel. As well as the Public School and several churches, staffing for the railway included an upgrade appointment for a Station Master.
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Life in Ewingsdale
When Louisa and Harry moved to Ewingsdale (located in the south of Tyagarah near Brunswick Heads) in 1917, life centred around the School, the Community Hall, the Church and of course socialising with the other Dairy Farmers. Making the move with them was their son Eric Harris and their daughter Mabel and son-in-law Harry Gill.
Harry Gill purchased his farm, "Strathblane", at Quarry Siding in 1918 for a "good cash price" from John Welch, a resident of Tyagarah for over 20 years. The farm, in the Barnes Estate, "is known to be a good one". It was "at one time used for cane growing by Mr. Welch who afterwards converted it into a dairy farm". Harry, a Justice of the Peace, was also active on the Byron Shire Council as the secretary of the Ewingsdale - Tyagarah P.P.U.
Thomas Harris died in Ewingsdale in 1930 and Louisa lived in Ewingsdale for another 10 years before passing away in 1940. The newspapers reported "Mrs. Harris had resided at Ewingsdale for the past 23 years. She was born at Kangaroo Valley on the South Coast and she and her husband came to the Richmond River district about 30 year ago". Louisa was buried beside the remains of her husband, at Bangalow Cemetery
Adam ULRICK (1866 to 1938)
Margaret INGRAM (1864-1959)
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Adam was born on the family farm. Unlike his two older brothers, he did not have to trek over Jamberoo Tops and Budderoo and down the pass that still bears his family name - “Ulrich's Pass”. - to reach the valley of Broger's Creek. But life was still very tough growing up and it would get even tougher before it got better.
Wollongong Gaol
In 1895, Adam Ulrick was 29 years old. He had a farm in Berry, a pregnant wife and three young sons. Having married at the young age of 21 he had a lot of financial responsibilities and now he was facing criminal charges in the Berry Court, accused of stealing there kegs, containing 200lbs of butter, from the Railway Department. His co-accused was Samuel Ingram, his wife's brother.
Although he pleaded not guilty, he faced damning evidence in the court room from James and William Ingram (also his wife's brothers). The jury returned a guilty verdict and Adam and Samuel were both convicted. Adam to two years in gaol and Samuel to one year and nine months. Adam served his time in the Wollongong Gaol and was placed on a three year good behaviour bond at the expiration of his sentence.
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It was only a matter of time before Adam was thinking of new horizons and a fresh start - far away from Berry.
Farewell Berry
On 29 April 1907, when Adam was 40 years old, he listed everything he owned in Berry for "ABSOLUTE SALE" advertising that "the owner is leaving for Queensland at once, having taken a farm there".
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The auctioneers drew special attention to this sale, "as the cows are all principally young and in good condition. As far as we are aware, Mr Ulrick has bought no cows that were not of the best, and we can personally recommend this sale to those requiring well-bred and profitable cattle".
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The auction at his residence FAR MEADOW in Berry listed all his Dairy Herd, Horses, Farming Implements, Household
Furniture, and Sundries, including:
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LIVESTOCK
87 Cows, milking and springing; 11 x 18 month-old Heifers; 12 x 10-month old Heifers; 2 x Shorthorn Bulls; 15 x Heifer Calves; 1 x 3 yr old Draught Colt, harness, any trial; 2 x 2 yrold Draught Fillies, by Nelson - a perfect pair; 1 x 2 yr-old Draught Filly, by Braw Laddie, 1x Mare, in foal to Braw Laddie, and foal at foot by Huntsman; 1 x Aged Draught Mare; 1 x Black Harness Horse; I x Mail Sulky and Harness; 1 x Chestnut Pony, stinted to Mr M'Gill's horse; 13 x Store Pigs; 2 x Sows; 1 x Pure-bred Poland China Hog.
Short Horn
OTHER
100-gal. Separator, with 70-gal, Tank; 2 Tanks, 400 and 600 gals; Double Buggy, with pole and shafts,:
sulky and harness, chaff outter; two harrows, plough, factory cans, buckets, mowing machine, and
sundries.
ALL HOUSEHOLD,, FURNITURE,
Including Dining' Room Table, Chairs, Sideboard, all Bedroom Furniture, and Kitchen Utensils.
Adam Ulrick
The Clarence River
The Commercial Hotel
A new life in Ulmarra
Adam ​chose to move north, to Ulmarra on the banks of the Clarence River, 17km from Grafton. It is generally accepted that 'Ulmarra' is a local Aboriginal word meaning "bend in the river".
When Adam arrived in 1909, the river was the vital transport route in the district and Ulmarra was a thriving trading village - home to some of the first commercial operations of the region. The historic buildings in River Street and Coldstream Street served the busy wharf and even busier production line of fresh produce and cattle trading. By 1900, Ulmarra had four blacksmiths, a bacon works, an abattoir, a hospital, two schools and three policemen. The Atwill General Store in Coldstream street was known for its seductive sales pitch "All goods sold at Sydney prices".
Adam quickly settled into the community, joining the monthly meetings in the Ulmarra Temperance Hall. Adam chose to concentrate on dairy farming and breeding show cattle and he was very successful, taking as many as 13 prizes and several championships at one show. His Durhams and Illawarra Short
horns were often seen at agricultural shows and sale yards in Grafton, Ulmarra and Maclean and he was considered an excellent judge of cattle.
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In 1906 fire destroyed the Exchange Hotel and work immediately commenced on the construction of a new hotel for Ulmarra. The Commercial Hotel, characterised by its fine ironwork and large veranda, is still located in Coldstream Street which runs parallel to River Street.
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In 1915, Adam took over the freehold and the license of the Commercial Hotel, Ulmarra, where he remained until he
retired from active life in 1923.
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The Daily Examiner in Grafton penned a fine Obituary for Adam who passed away at his son William's home in Ulmarra in 1938 remembering that "in his young days Mr. Ulrick excelled as a horse breaker" and one of his chief attributes was his prowess at "scratch-pulling with the stick". The butter stealing incident had been long since forgotten.​
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Buried in the Ulmarra Cemetery, Adam was survived by his wife Margaret (nee Ingram) - who he married when he was just 21 years - and his three sons, James (Bowraville), William (Ulmarra) and John (Grafton). He was predeceased by one son, Samuel, and one daughter, Maggie.
James ULRICK (1868 to 1947)
Jemima INGRAM (1872-1938)
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James who was the baby of the Ulrich family, ironically, would later in life be called "Pop" by everyone who knew and loved him. James was happy with his life in the Berry community. It would never occur to him to follow his sister or brother "up north". The Ulricks were a true pioneering family of the Shoalhaven district and he fell in love with another Shoalhaven pioneer, Jemima Ingram, who migrated to Australia from Ireland when she was 11 with her parents to settle on a farm in Kangaroo Valley.
Jemima's sister Margaret, married Adam Ulrick, and her brothers grew up playing with the "wild and wooly" Ulrick boys, but this did not endear Jemima's family, who were strict Wesleyan's, to the idea of 21 year old James Ulrick (Church of England) courting their daughter who was just 16 years old. It didn't help that Jemima's mum couldn't stand a bar of her son-in-law, Adam Ulrick who drank and would not defer to her. Even so, the young couple, had other plans - they planned to elope on James' horses.
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Jemima, so the story was told, was sound asleep and in order to proceed as planned James had to awaken her by throwing stones on her window. Eventually they rode away to be married by the Methodist minister, Reverend James at Woodhill. It seems the parents were prevailed upon to consent by Jemima's older sister Elizabeth. It is not known how the couple made all their arrangements as they supposedly only saw each other from different sides of the road while walking to church. Their marriage was the first ceremony to take place in the old Methodist Church in Berry.
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James was a farmer and around 1900, James moved to a dairy farm at the foot of Moeyan Hill, about 6 kilometres east of Berry, rented from the Berry Estate. His brother Adam and Jemima's sister Margaret, were neighbours.. Around this time, James kept pigs which he fattened to sell. There was a story that Adam switched some of James fat pigs for his own lean pigs, then sold the pigs and kept the proceeds. No one can know if the story is true but James' children knew there was ill feeling between Dad and Uncle Adam. After Adam moved to the north coast, James had little to do with his brother over the years, but is said to have visited him once briefly with Jemima and the old enmities were forgotten. Jack Ulrick, Adam's grandson, remembers the scene when they finally parted, realising it was perhaps the last time they would see each other and they embraced in "a most emotional manner".
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James home at Moeyan Hill was near the right angle bend in Agar's lane in the small gully close to a dam. It was rather primitive, consisting of three buildings, an eat-in kitchen with the fireplace at one end, completely separate sleeping quarters and alongside the dam, a roofless wash house with rough benches for ablutions and washing of clothes. Tubs were hung on a willow tree nearby.
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Around 1907, James moved across the road and took up their holding on Harley Hill - the ridge of a spur of Moeyan Hill. This property was known as "Ocean View" because of the outstanding view to the sea - looking across the Coomonderry Swamp and Sandy Flat bush (now known as Seven Mile Bach State Park). The Crown Lands description is portion 18, 19 and 20 of the parish of Coolangatta, (part of the original Berry Estate). About 6 kilometres from Berry, it is now shown on the Berry map as "Yarranga".
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In general, James Ulrick was a pleasant, sober, hardworking man that was liked and respected by all his family. Even so, he was far from inhospitable whenever his oldest brother, Samuel, turned up at Ocean View with "whiskey" he had distilled himself in the mountains above Kangaroo Valley. James loved to attend the Wednesday afternoon cattle sales and after the sale, he would adjourn to one of two local hotels, with other farmers to "discuss market trends." His daughter Rebecca remembers he had a trustworthy mare that was always able to find the way home - with or without the sulky reins.
James Ulrick was a keen fisherman with a preference for beach fishing. He built a shack in the Sandy Flat Bush, at about the centre of Seven Mile Beach, as a fishing base in the early 20's. It was complete with brush poles, pollard sacks white-washed for walls, a sand floor and old corrugated iron on the roof,
He also had two shacks at Shoalhaven Heads which were later upgraded with flooring and weatherboard on the walls. The first of these was called "Pioneer" and the second, a smaller place, "Multo in Parvo", the name copied, no doubt, from Mr Andy Waddell's comprehensively stacked news agency in Berry.
Gordon, Harvey, Jemima & James at Shoalhaven Heads
James and Jemima raised all their children (six sons and two daughters) on their dairy farm, "Ocean View." In their declining years, Jemima's parents, who had so disapproved of the marriage, lived there too. Her father would die at "Ocean View" aged 99 years.
Jemima died in 1938 at the home of her daughter, Vera Robertson, in Victoria Street, Berry after a long illness from cancer. James passed away in hospital in 1947 following a heart attack - he had spent his last years living in one of his beloved beach shacks at Jerry Bailey (now known as Shoalhaven Heads). They are buried in a double grave at Berry. Cemetery
BACK ROW Left to Right : Cecil; Rebecca; Jim; Vera; Leamington
FRONT ROW Left to Right : Gordon; "Pop" James; Jemima; Harvey
NOTE : Harvey Crawford Ulrick is the Author's Grandfather
ULRICK VIGNETTES
Harvey Crawford ULRICK (1908-1980)
NOTE : HARVEY ULRICK is the author's Grand Father.
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Harvey Ulrick became a father before his 21st birthday, which was celebrated at a large party hosted by his sister Vera Robinson, at her home in Beach Road, Berry in September 1929.
In fact, on New Years Day 1929, Mary Maud Boland secretly gave birth to a son in Sydney, who would be named Stephen William Boland. Steve would not be told of his father's identity until late in his life and he was sworn to secrecy by his mother Mary who was ashamed of her son's illegitimate origins. Steve's children Christine, Stephen and Peter would never be told that "Uncle" Harvey, who they met occasionally on rare visits to Nowra, was their biological grand father. Nor would they ever discover how Mary (who lived in Sydney) met Harvey who lived on the South Coast of NSW.
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In fact, the grandchildren would not learn of their biological link to the entire Ulrick family on the South Coast, until long after Harvey Ulrick died in 1980. By then, their grandmother Mary Boland had also passed away and Steve Boland finally felt free to unburden himself of his mother's secret.
Harvey grew up at the Ocean View farm and remained on the South Coast, living in Berry and Nowra. Harvey was a contented trucking contractor for Department of Main Roads. Like his father James, he was a keen beach fisherman and preferred the outdoor life and he took every opportunity for frequent camping holidays.
He married Eveline (Evie) Snell in 1932 and they raised two girls and two boys, who would grow up knowing of their half-brother Steve even though they were bound to abide by "Mary's secret" and could never disclose their true identities to Steve's children - their nieces and nephews.
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Harvey lobbied the Council of the Shire of Shoalhaven, to recognise the contribution of his pioneering family. He died happy knowing a local street was named Ulrick.
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NOTE : When I learnt that Harvey Ulrick was my grandfather long after his death, I felt a mix of disbelief and sadness. My brothers and I had been "robbed" of an irreplaceable relationship - a relationship with our paternal grandfather. I met him a few times as a child and I was struck by his kindness, but I never suspected we were related. The most satisfying aspect of this journey, to discover my ancestors, has been filling in all the missing blanks of my Ulrick heritage.
Cecil Rupert ULRICK (1892-1957)
Cecil remembers going to school at Far Meadow. Cecil said he had to leave early in the afternoon in order to get home in time to help with the milking. After leaving school Cecicl came to Sydney and was apprenticed to a builder, Mr Moller, as a carpenter. Out of his small weekly wages he sent money home to the family. Later when he married Emma Taylor of Ryde, he had his own far, on the Beach Road out from Berry. Later he went to the building trade in about 1926 and was a master builder when a broken thigh (from being run over by a car) and the depression of the 1930's necessitated his return to dairy farming.
Leamington ULRICK (1894-1937)
Lemington ("Lem") joined the police force serving mostly in remote country areas where he met and married Vera McKeon. One of the highlights was when he was stationed at Ulmarra and he was given a warm send off by the community in September 1934 "as the most popular man in town". He had been promoted to Sergeant and was being sent to Coff's Harbour where he was made the officer in charge of police until his death in 1937 (aged 44 years) as the result of an attack of pneumonia. The "Coffs Harbour Advocate" reported a "gloom spread like a pall everywhere" at the popular Sergeant's funeral.