Samuel Carr Sarah Jane Hilliard

Sarah-Jane Hilliard
The Perry, Carr & Hilliard Families

Sarah Jane Hilliard
Born County Wicklow, Ireland C.1836
Parents: James and Sarah Hilliard of County Carnew
Arrived in Australia 24th August 1859 aboard “The Commodore Perry”
Died Geelong, Victoria 14th October 1878. Found dead in the Street (Inquest 1878/351)
Buried Geelong Cemetery 17th October 1878 Episcopalian Section

Spouse 1:
Henry Owen
Occupation: Butcher
Born London c.1807
Born: C. 1808
Parents:
Death: 26th August 1879, Melbourne
Spouse (1) Ann Morby, New Norfolk, Tasmania 19th February 1844
Spouse (2) Mary Kelly, Tasmania 1852
Spouse (3) Sarah Jane Hilliard
Convict Indenture: Con 31 Image 86 + Con 18 Image 138
Death: Melbourne 26th August 1879
Arrival Australia: Convict Ship “Sir Charles Forbes’. Departed London 5th March 1830, arrived Hobart Australia 27th July 1830
Crime: Housebreaking
Sentence: 22nd August 1829, Life, Somerset, England

1832: Tasmania, in the service of Peter Rush, Hobart. 29th February, Disobedience of order

1836: Applied for “Permission to Marry” Mary Marshall (Lady of the Lake), 8th January 1836.

1837: Tasmania, August 22nd, Pilfering one Goose, 3 years hard labour, 2 of which in Chains

1841: Tasmania 20th July, Ticket of Leave Granted
Applied for “Permission to Marry” Ann Morby (Arab) December 1841

1844: Tasmania, Loss of Ticket of Leave for misconduct
Applied for “Permission to Marry” Ann Morby (Arab), February 1844.
Henry Owen married Ann Corby, 19th February at New Norfolk, Tasmania

1852: Received Conditional Pardon

1853: Sailed on the Steamer “Yarra Yarra” from Launceston to Melbourne on the 10th of April.

1861: Melbourne, Saturday, 26th October, Henry Owens and wife Jane Owens are sentenced to 3 months imprisonment for operating a Brothel in Latrobe Street.

1867: 25th November, Sarah Jane Hilliard gives birth to Edmund Henry Owens at their residence in Warburton Lane Melbourne. Henry is 61 years of age and Sarah is 27 years.

1869: Melbourne, Tuesday July 20th, City Court, before Mr Panton; Discharges- Henry Owens, a blind old man, and Sarah Hilliard, charged with insulting behaivour, were cautioned and discharged.

POLICE
CITY COURT
Saturday October 26th, 1861
Before Mr. Sturt, M.P
His worship took the Bench at 10 o’clock

Henry Owens and Jane Owens were charged with being tho keepers of a common brothel, and Anne Connelly and Mary Anne Brooks, two quite young girls, were charged with vagrancy. _ Constable Summerhayes arrested the prisoners in a house situated in Little la Trobe street, near Elizabeth-street. The place bore an infamous character. The constable stated that Brooks, the youngest girl, had not been in the house above two days, having been abducted from her home by a man named Nelson. The girl's mother said her daughter bad borne an excellent character at several situations, until Nelson obtained possession of her. The old woman Owens, Summerhayes stated, would have turned the girl naked into the street unless she had been prevented, because she would not pay her 6s. for a bed. The girl Connelly then paid her for the bed. Constable Eager deposed that he accompanied Summerhayes to the house, and heard the female prisoner make the demand for money for an immoral purpose. It was tendered, but not given. On their way to the watch house, the woman Owens wanted witness to compromise the matter. The male prisoner, who was blind, endeavoured to make his escape, but was prevented. It appeared that the girl Brooks had been recently brought under the notice of the police magistrate, who then advised her to go home to her mother. Her demeanour in court was characterised by great levity, and Mr. Sturt said he was much inclined to send her to prison. She stated that the women had sent a man named Washington to tell her she had a room to let to herself and Connelly. Mr. Sturt administered a severe rebuke to the prisoner Owens and her husband, and sentenced them to three months imprisonment each. Connelly, who, it was stated, led the other girl into crime, was discharged with a caution. The girl Brooks was sent home with her mother

29th October 1861
At the City Court yesterday Harriott Connolly and Maryanne Brooks, two young girls, who had been discharged on Saturday last on a charge of vagrancy, were again brought up, and sentenced to fourteen and Seven days' imprisonment respectively. The prisoners were found in the house of a man named Owens and his wife, a brothel of the worst description, and had abused the leniency of the Bench in the first instance extended to them.

POLICE
CITY COURT
Tuesday July 20th 1869
(Before Mr Panton, M.P)
Henry Owens, a blind old man, and Sarah Hilliard, charged with insulting behaviour, were cautioned and discharged.

POLICE
CITY COURT
Tuesday July 20 1869
(Before Mr Panton, M.P)
Henry Owens, a blind old man, and Sarah Hilliard, charged with insulting behaviour, were cautioned and discharged.

Argus
Wednesday 27th August 1879
Dr. Youl held an inquest upon the body of Henry Owens, aged 70 years, a blind beggar, who lived in a house of Little Bourke Street. Yesterday morning he was found dead in his bed. Dr Neild made a post mortem examination of the body, and desposed that death had resulted from acute peritonitis. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony.

Children of Henry Owens and Sarah Hilliard

Edmund Henry Owens

Spouse 2:
Samuel Carr
Born Birkenhead C. 1830
Occupation: Textile Piecer, Labourer, Thief
Married Villa Manta Street, Geelong 1873
Parents: John Carr or Carrol, Silk weaver
Died Geelong Hospital November 1878, Buried Geelong Cemetery 1878

Sarah Jane Hilliard was born in County Wicklow, Ireland. The daughter of James and Sarah Hillard of County Carnew.
Sarah’s life before she came to Australia is a bit of a mystery. She came to Australia aboard “The Commodore Perry” 24th August 1859, after 120 days at sea finally arriving at Warrnambool on Victoria’s Coast.
For young Sarah, life must have been difficult alone in a new colony.
In the 1860’s Sarah claimed that was married to Henry Owen. At the time of their Son Edmund’s birth, Henry Owen was sixty years old and the couple were residing in Warburton Lane, off Little Bourke Street West, in Melbourne.
Sarah and Henry went their separate ways. The Owen name was changed to Perry, maybe it was because the family were in trouble with the law. It is interesting to note that the name may have come from the Ship that Sarah arrived on.
Sarah meets up with a man named Samuel Carr, a Parkhurst Prison Exile who arrived in Hobart in 1852, to whom she became pregnant. Sarah gave birth to the couples first child Sarah Jane Carr at Geelong in 1872, the following year Samuel Carr marries Sarah Jane Villa Manta Street, Geelong on the 8th November 1873. This marriage took place at the home of the Minister. Their second daughter Elizabeth Kate Carr was in Geelong on the 26th January 1875, followed by their last daughter Mary-Ann Carr in 1877.
Sarah Jane was described as being rather short and of a disopated appearance and dresses in an old winsey brown dress and a light striped sheperds blaid shawl, and an old white straw hat bound with black velvet and trimmed with a old brown ribbon. She wore old white stockings and low shoes.
A sad event occur in 1877 which would end with the family being torn apart. Baby Mary-Ann was found dead in bed next to her Mother, aged 8 months. Sarah Jane Carr made the following statement at the inquest of Mary Ann Carr. “Deceased was my child, eight months old. She seemed always in good health and was so last night. I went to bed about dark having taken some fish. I had no drink in the afternoon, there was a woman, Mrs Grant, in the house in the afternoon, I had been with her in the morning, and she came home with me. I asked her to hold the deceased whilst I went into the yard, while there I heard the child cry. I came in and my little boy, 10 years old, told me that Mrs Grant let the baby fall on the ground. I left Mrs Grant sitting in the chair when I went into the yard. I asked who let the child fall, the boy said Mrs Grant. There was a woman Mrs Rice in the room when I left, she had the child when I returned. She said Mrs Grant let the child fall, the child did not cry much but right enough.
I had a glass of ale with Mrs Grant at her place. I cannot say if she was sober or not. Mrs Rice had been drinking with me but she was sober then. I cannot say how much ale I had been drinking through the day with Mrs Grant and Mrs Rice. I generally go to bed early, I was sober enough when I went to bed. I put my children to bed before I went in myself. My Husband is at Murgheboluc at work. I am not in the habit of drinking every day. My eldest child is 10 years old. I thought Mrs Grant was sober enough to take care of the child. She is an old woman. When I went to bed I laid the deceased child on my left arm near the wall. I gave her the breast. She took it well and fell asleep. Both she and the children, there were three in bed with me and the baby. I saw the child immediately after she fell. She did not appear muched hurt. I did not notice any marks or injury, on the childs head. I gave it the breast and the child fell asleep and took the breast again before going to sleep after I went to bed. The deceased never had a fit at anytime. She was eight months old and a healthy child. I was nor perfectly sober when I went to bed but I knew what I was doing. Mrs Grant and Mrs Rice went away before I went to bed. I fell asleep after giving the child the breast. I woke in the morning just at daylight and told my little boy to get up and light the candle as I thought something was the matter with the baby, when he lighted the candle I found the baby was dead. She lay on my left arm with her faced turned towards the breast. The child was a little warm. I got up and came here to the sergeant of the Police and then told constable Lee. I had the child with me at the time. The child had not been vomiting. She had two teeth nearly through, her bowels were open. I fed her only once a day as she drank freely. I cannot say if the lump on the child’s head proceeded from the fall or not, as my children have a great many lumps around about the head. I cannot swear if I had a dozen drinks during the day with Mrs Rice and Mrs Grant. I pawned some things to get the money for drink. Mrs Rice had the child when I came back. We all came in the house together. We had beer. I don’t know how many shillings I spent in drink.”

William Hilliard is born in Melbourne in 1863, Illigitiment child of Sarah Hilliard. Fate of Child is unknown

Sarah Jane Hilliard claims to marry Henry Owen in 1863. There is no record of this marriage and it seems unlikely to have happened.
Children:
Edmund Henry Owen is born Melbourne 25th November 1867 (reg. 4180)

Sarah Jane Hilliard marries Samuel Carr in Geelong on the 8th November 1873 (reg. 4718)

Samuel Carr
Samuel Carr was born in Birkenhead, England around 1832, the son of Silk Weaver John Carr. His mothers name did not appear on his marriage certificate, she may have died when Samuel was young and he could not remember her name. He also had a brother named William according to his convict record. Samuel worked a piecer in a clothing factory as a young child in England. Times must have been hard, as Samuel began getting in trouble with the law at an early age, going before the courts for petty crimes under the Juvenile Act charged with Larceny, vagrancy and other minor crimes.
Samuel’s brushes with the law did not deter his light fingers and soon was arrested for Larceny. This would change his life forever. At aged 17 years he went before the Manchester Quarter Sessions on the 23rd November 1849. This was not his first time in Prison. He had been jailed for vagrancy and theft of potatoes. Samuel was sentenced to seven years, and was incarcerated in Salford and Millbank Prison’s. On the 26th March 1850 Samuel Carr was transferred from Millbank to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. Samuel spent the next two years at Parkhurst with other juvenile offenders, who were educated and taught trades in the hope of rehabilitation. Many of these children would be transferred to the Colonies of Australia and New Zealand. By 1852, Australian Colonies were refusing to take any more Convict Transportee’s from England. With labour short in the new Colonies, it was decided to send the offenders who showed signs of rehabilitation to the Colonies as “Exiles”. This meant that the offenders were sent to Australia for the term of their sentence, but were basically free people assigned to various employers. Samuel Carr was one of these Exiles.

The courier Hobart 14th January 1853
EMIGRANT CONVICTS
Some sixty or seventy " good conduct" convicts were sent from the New Convict Prison, Portsea, to Spithead, for the purpose of joining the Equestrian, hired convict ship, for conveyance to Australia. They are young men, and as soon as they arrive in Australia they will receive, it is reported, tickets of-leave, and proceed into the interior as agricultural laborers and servants. The Equestrian embarks other convicts from Parkhurst, Portland, and Plymouth, on the same footing. The policy of sending convicts to Australia. in the presence of the circumstances in which that colony is now placed, and the strong desire and anxiety that prevails among the working and other classes to get out there, may well he doubted. If not holding out a direct inducement to crime, it yet, most undoubtedly, mitigates the severity of the punishment, and
robs transportation of its chief sting. Transportation
we have been accustomed to regard as a penalty for the worst crimes short of capital crimes, and the fate to which the most inveterate criminals are consigned ; but the burglar or forger who is sentenced to be expelled his native country, and who by the observance of " good conduct" during a twelvemonth's " reformatory" detention at Portsmouth, is sent out to Australia, and receives a ticket-of-leave, may well look down with pity upon, and be regarded with envy by, the miserable being who loiters about our streets appealing, at one time, with abject supplication, and at another with the threatening air of a foot- pad, to the charity or-fears of the passer-by. As one instance of the working of the plan, we may mention the case of a man named Bufton, who was sentenced to transportation last year, for having, in conjunction with others, carried on an extensive system of plunder upon his employers, Tilly and Sons, soup makers, in Prospect-row, Portsmouth. In consequence of his expatriation from this country, his wife and family full upon the union, and he; having obtained a ticket-of leave, has been most advantageously employed. He has just written home lo his friends, expressing a hope that his family may be enabled to join
him, as they could be most comfortable in Australia,He himself was very comfortable, and was just entering upon an engagement of 7s. per day.-Hampshire Telegraph

On the 19th August 1852, Samuel boarded the ship “Equestrian” for Van Diemens land Australia. The Ship arrived in Hobart, Australia on the 16th December 1852. On the 22nd December Samuel was taken to the Police Barracks in Hobart where he was housed until employment was found on the property of Mr J Clarke of Macquarie Plains on the 6th February 1853. Samuel was employed as a farm labourer and also resided on the Clarke property.
Samuel Carr’s Convict indent states on arriving in Hobart, that he was transported for Larceny, he was actually arrested for house-robbery of clothing. His religion was Church of England and was now 21 years of age and his trade was a labourer. He was described as being 5 foot 2 & ¾ inches tall, sallow complexion, small head and black hair, no whiskers, low forehead, a large nose and a scar on his right elbow joint. It stated that he was a native of Macclesfield, England. He could read and write.
Samuel was given his Ticket-of-Leave on the 18th October 1853 and a Conditional Pardon on the 5th June 1855, remaining in the area working labouring jobs around Hobart. He seems to have appeared in court in Hobart on 24th November 1856. He married a lady by the name of Eliza Donavan, but she dies within a few months of their marriage. In Hobart, the 8th September 1863, Samuel is charged with Feloniously stealing a paling (piece of timber) and is sentenced to three months with hard labour.
It was time for Samuel to leave Hobart, boarding a Ship and making the sea passage across Bass Strait to the Colony on Victoria. Samuel worked as a labourer in the surrounding regions of Geelong, where he met an Irish lass by the name of Sarah Jane Hilliard with her son Edmund Henry Perry.
At Colac on the 24th January 1872, Sarah gave birth to Samuels daughter, whom the couple named Sarah Jane Carr after her mother. With their young daughter, the couple moved to Geelong, marrying at the home of the Minister in Villa Manta Street Geelong. The family was residing in Wellington Street Geelong. The couples second daughter Elizabeth Kate was born on the 26th January 1875 in Geelong. Their third daughter , Mary-Ann Carr was born at Geelong in 1877. Samuel was away working and living in Murgheboluc when he would have got word that his youngest daughter Mary-Ann had died in her sleep.
Samuel returned to the Family home in Geelong. One night his wife Sarah Jane did not return home, Samuel expecting that she had been locked up for drunkeness, made her a coffee and made his way to the local Police Station to pick her up. Instead the local Policeman informed him that his wife had been found dead this morning of the 15th October 1878 near Geelong Grammar School.
An Inquest was held into Sarah’s death. The Court heard the following evidence; “Samuel Carr, labourer residing at Chilwell deposed that his wife went away from the home at six o’clock on Monday evening. She had been suffering from palpitation of the heart for a month. At the time she left home she showed no signs of being intoxicated. She asked witness to lend her sixpence, and on his refusing to give the money she took her Son’s trousers and waistcoat to pawn. The clothes were new, and belonged to a boy eleven years of age. Deceased was in the habit of doing that when drunk. Deceased did not say anything when leaving home; she was never quarrelsome when intoxicated. Deceased was of intemperate habits, and sometimes stopped out at night, but not to a very late hour. Witness (Samuel) was quite sober on Monday night. When his wife did not come home he did not think it very strange conduct. He thought his wife had been locked up on a charge of drunkeness.”
Samuel was now left to raise his own two daughter, aswell as Sarah’s son Edmund.
Not long after the death of Sarah Jane Carr, Samuel was admitted to Geelong Hospital complaining of Chest pain. A short time later he died from heart disease and was buried in Geelong Cemetery.

Children of Samuel & Sarah Jane Carr

Sarah Jane Carr born 24th January, 1872 (reg.1492) married Ernest George Hall in Geelong 1898 (reg.7494R)
Children
Alice Carr born Carlton 1897. Married Harold Tucker 1923 (reg.11958) Died Alice Tucker, Mitcham 1949, aged 52 years

John Hall born Clifton Hill 1899 (reg.17404) Died Clifton Hill 1899 (reg.1899)

Elsie Hall born Clifton Hill 1900 (reg17842) Died Fitzroy 1902 (reg.9509)

Elizabeth Kate Carr born 26th January 1875 Geelong (source: orphanage admission) married Charles Ernest Taylor at Geelong 1897 (reg.1679)

Mary-Ann Carr born Geelong 1877 (reg. 9103) died Geelong 1877 (reg.11107)
Mary-Ann had a short and sad life. The autopsy showed her last meal as being boiled cabbage. Some bleeding was found in the brain. Her brother Edmund stated that that she was accidentally dropped by another lady. Sarah her mother claimed she fell asleep breastfeeding Mary-Ann and found her dead next to her in the early hours of the morning. The Coroner’s finding was that she died from Accidental Suffocation. Many townsfolk protested that Sarah Jane should be charged for her death.

The Death of Sarah Jane Carr
“An Awful Death in the Street”
“Shortly after five o’clock yesterday morning the dead body of a woman named Sarah Jane Carr, the wife of a labourer residing in Chilwell, was found by Constable McCracken lying close to a tree guard at the intersection of Maude street with Yarra Street. The Constable, thinking that the woman was drunk, endeavoured to lift her up, but finding that the body was cold and stiff he run down to South Geelong, a quarter of a mile away, and got Constable Casey to visit the spot. McCracken afterwards returned to the body, and then went for a doctor. Casey acting with promptitude, carried the woman on his back to The Rosemary Branch Hotel, and there tried to restore animation by using brandy and rubbing the body, but without avail. The Doctor arrived about 6 o’clock and found that life was extinct. It appears that the woman had been drinking on Monday night, and had evidently fallen at the spot where she was found, and there died from exposure to the intense coldness of the weather. At 8 o’clock last evening, an inquest was held by Mr Peron, Mp, when the following evidence was adduced:-
Samuel Carr, labourer, residing in Chilwell, deposed that his wife went away at six o’clock on Monday evening. She had been suffering from palpitation of the heart for a month.. At the time she left home she showed signs of being intoxicated. She asked witness to lend her six pence, and on his refusing to give the money she took her sons trousers and waistcoat away to pawn. The clothes were new and belonged to a boy eleven years of age. Deceased was in the habit of doing that when drunk. Deceased did not say anything when leaving home; she was never quarrelsome when intoxicated. Deceased was of intemperate habits, and sometimes stopped out at night, but not to a very late hour. Witness was quite sober on Monday night. When his wife did not come home he did not think it very strange conduct. He thought his wife had been locked up on a charge of drunkenness, and he went to the watch house on Tuesday morning with coffee for her. He the ascertained that his wife was dead. He did not know of his wife being intimate with a man named Plunkett. Catherine Gittings, wife of Thomas Gittings, landlord of the Criterion Hotel, Ryrie Street, deposed that the deceased called at the hotel at 9 o’clock on Monday night. The deceased was drunk, and asked for a drink. Witness refused to serve her, and ordered her to leave the bar. Two men, named John Burns and Plunkett were present. Witness and her husband asked Plunkett to take the deceased out of the hotel, and Plunkett went outside with the woman, who walked away quietly. Witness did not know which way Plunkett and the deceased went.
James Plunkett, a Carrier, residing in Chilwell, deposed that he was at the Criterion Hotel from 7pm to 9pm on Monday. He saw the deceased in the hotel at nine o’clock, she was drunk at the time. The deceased was creating a disturbance because she did not get any drink. Mrs Gittings asked witness to take the deceased out of the bar, and he did so. He left the deceased just outside the front door of the hotel, not more than twenty yards from the public house. It was drizzling rain at the time. There was no one else with witness when he took deceased away from the hotel. The deceased stopped alongside the fence on the opposite side of Ryrie Street, when witness walked of towards his home. He did not see the deceased again alive. He had often seen the deceased drunk. To a juryman- He did not that the deceased, in her intoxicated state, was capable of walking far. Earlier in the evening he saw the deceased in Market Square, near the Prince of Wales Hotel. The woman had one of her feet fixed in the grating on the footpath, and he disengaged the foot, when the deceased complained of having sprained her ankle.
Constable McCracken deposed that at 5.6am on Tuesday morning he was returning home from performing night duty. He saw the deceased lying on her back with her feet towards Yarra Street. He noticed the woman lying close to a tree guard at the intersection of Maude Street with Yarra Street. He tried to remove the deceased, but could not lift her. She appeared to be dead. He run to South Geelong lockup, 300 yards away, to get assistance. He told Constable Casey, and returned to the woman. He placed the woman in a sitting position, and rubbed her hands. Constable Casey then came up, and witness run for Dr Day. The Doctor came up soon afterwards, and pronounced the woman to be dead. Both Casey and himself did all they could to restore animation. From position deceased was in he assumed the woman must have fallen forward onto her face and rolled over, and remained lying on her back. During the night it rained heavily and the cold was intense.
Constable Casey deposed that when he arrived on the scene he found the deceased quite cold, the body rigid, and her clothes saturated with water. After Constable McCracken went for the Doctor, witness took deceased on his back and carried her to The Rosemary Branch Hotel, 100 yards away. He found an empty purse and 3 ½d concealed in the breast portion of the woman’s dress.
Dr. Day deposed that on Tuesday morning at about 6 o’clock, he arrived at the hotel and found the deceased dead. There were no marks of violence about the body. He believed the death arose from natural causes. From the evidence he had heard, he believed that drunkenness and exposure to the inclement weather had been the inevitable causes of death. The Jury returned a verdict, to the effect that the deceased had been found dead, and that death arose from natural causes.”

Children go before Court
Police Court Monday 11th November 1878
Orphans:- Edmund Henry Perry, Sarah Jane Carr and Elizabeth Kate Carr, aged 11, 6 and 3 years respectively, were charged with being neglected children. From the evidence of Mrs. Annie Barnach, wife of Wm Barnach, an employee of the Albion Factory, it appeared that the mother of these children was found dead in Yarra Street some time ago. Their Father, who was a labourer, was admitted to the hospital on Friday last, suffering from heart disease, and he died the same day. Neither parents had any relatives in the Colony at the time of their deaths, and they were in very poor circumstances whilst alive. Witness took them into her house after the father died.
Constable Rice stated that he visited their house after the death of the father, and found it in an unfurnished and miserable condition. The boy Perry was the son of Mrs Carr, by a former marriage. Perry was sent to the Industrial School, at Sunbury, for three years; while the girls were sent to Royal Park Industrial Schools, until each shall attain the age of 15 years. The Police magistrate referred in terms of approval to the conduct of Mrs Barnach, in acting the part of the good Samaritan towards the unfortunate children.
“The Geelong Advertiser”: 12th November 1878

The Industrial Schools
“A very sad case came before the Police Court yesterday. It will be remembered that a few weeks ago a woman named Carr was found dead in Yarra Street. She had been drinking previously, and at the inquest it transpired that she had perished from exposure to the inclement weather. The husband of this unfortunate died on Friday last- the day of his admittance to the Geelong Hospital- from heart disease. The Children of the ill-fated pair were bought up yesterday at the Police Court on a charge of being neglected children, with a view of having them sent to the industrial schools, which was done, as will be seen by our police report.”
“The Geelong Advertiser” 12th November 1878

On the 11th November 1878, Edmund Henry Perry was sent to the Industrial School at Sunbury. Sarah Jane and Elizabeth Kate Carr were sent to Royal Park Industrial Schools. Edmund would never see his sisters again. He was all alone.

Edmund Henry Perry 1867-1949

Born Melbourne 25th November 1867 (reg. 4180 Owen)
Married Ellen Mahoney 12th March 1903
Died 19th December Cheltenham 1949
Buried Frankston Cemetery 20th December 1949
Spouse death: Boolarra April 1909

Born Edmund Henry Owen in Melbourne on the 25th November 1867, his birth was not registered until 1868
Edmund was only 10 years old when his youngest sister Mary-Ann Carr died, whilst in the same bed as himself, Mother and two other sisters. At the inquest young Edmund told his version of his sisters death on the 13th November 1877.
“About half past three yesterday I was at home nursing baby. Mother was out in the back yard. Mrs Rice was inside in the house. I had baby in my arms and was sitting on one of the little chairs. Mother asked Mrs Erskine to hold the baby and she went into the yard. Mrs Rice and Mrs Erskine were in the house at the time. Mrs Erskine took the baby and pushed it into the ground and said “gone at Last”. Mrs Rice took the baby up and rubbed her head. Mrs rice called Mother. I had baby when she came in. I did not say anything to Mrs Grant or Mrs Erskine. I was at home all day yesterday. I went for 5/ worth of beer and 1/ worth of rum. Mother gave me the money. The child was on Mrs Erskine’s knee and she sat on the chair when she pushed it on the ground. Mother was drunk. Mrs Grant was drunk. Mrs Rice was not. The baby cried when she fell, not much. Mother gave her the breast when she came in. The child was not sick but suckled the breast. I fried a few fish for mother before she went to sleep. The baby was a sleep at that time and so was mother. Baby lay asleep on mothers arm near the wall. I saw her sucking the breast before falling asleep. I went to sleep late and mother was sound asleep and baby was cuddling into mother. About 4.00 this morning mother called me to light the candle. I looked at baby. She said baby was dead, I went back to bed and mother too. I fell asleep. After that mother told me to go for the constable. I went but could not see one. Mother went after that and took the baby with her. There was nothing else after that.”
Edmund arrived at the Sunbury Industrial School on the 11th November 1878 and would remain there until he was moved to Sandhurst (Bendigo) Industrial School on the 4th February 1879. While at the Industrial School Edmund went into the care of Mr Loius Burns at Maryborough. Here he attended State School and was in the 4th Grade.