History

Robert Vicars

As a young man, Grandfather Robert Vicars used to have holidays at a boarding house (which has since disappeared) in the Glen - the inlet covered by oyster leases to the east of Taracoonee. Then, in 1911, he bought the two titles of land (about 24 acres in total mostly up the hill) which constitute Taracoonee, from the Crumpton Family. They had bought the land from the first settler in the area, George Peat. Great Uncle James Vicars, an Engineer, designed Taracoonee. About the same time Grandfather Vicars bought Taracoonee, Fred Vicars, another brother, bought 'Tipperary', now 'Peats Bite Restaurant'. Tipperary was also designed by James, but it has been modified over the years, and unlike Taracoonee, has had many different owners.

According to local Aboriginal heritage – the word Taracoonee means ‘running water’.

At one stage, the proposed site for Taracoonee was further to the north west and slightly higher up the hill - facing directly north and more above the current location of the BBQ. You may see some large flame trees in flower and this is around the proposed site. However, the sheltered north easterly location was chosen.

'Hilltop' has always been the home of the Taracoonee caretakers. The first caretaker's cottage was built closer to the water, on the flat lawn directly beneath the existing caretaker's house. A fire burnt this house to the ground and Hilltop was rebuilt higher up the hill - where it currently stands today.

As Grandfather Vicars aged, Uncle Jack (John R Vicars father) took over management. This was in the late 1940’s. We think Gran & Grandfather Vicars viewed Taracoonee from the old 'Monarch' launch last, in the early 1950’s. Uncle Jack administered Taracoonee until he died, whilst Gran died in 1970 and in her will she expressed her wish to see Taracoonee remain a family holiday house.

At that time, John R Vicars and John Laurie negotiated with Uncle Jim Vicars (Ann Jerram's Father) who was Gran's executor. Uncle Jim agreed, provided Taracoonee was funded by successive generations of Family, primarily by those who used it, as well as those who wanted it to remain in the Family.

From 1970, John R Vicars and John Laurie managed the property on behalf of the Family. Taracoonee is a special place which has been enjoyed over the years by the descendants of Gran & Grandfather Vicars. It is our intention to ensure Gran’s wish is continued for many more generations to come.

In July 2010, after some 38 years at the helm, John R Vicars and John Laurie decided it time to “pass the baton” to representatives of the next generation to ensure Taracoonee’s ongoing maintenance and preservation. John Vicars, Georgina Laurie and Lucy Windeyer succeeded the two John's in this management role.

2015 saw the formation of a board of directors to manage Taracoonee. There are 2 representatives from each of the 5 families on the board. More information about the way in which Taracoonee is currently managed and maintained can be found by clicking here.

Since 1970, the managers have organised Family Working Bees to help maintain Taracoonee. These started off as a once-a-year affair to prepare firebreaks and burn breaks around both houses as a protection against bushfires on the surrounds of Taracoonee and Hilltop. The managers determine what needs to be done and members of the family - and their friends - young and old - are very much encouraged to participate. These are great Vicars Family days and much constructive activity is undertaken which significantly assists to maintain the house and property. The managers now try to arrange two Working Bees a year, usually on a Sunday, one in late March / early April and one in August. See the date of the next working bee by clicking here.

Taracoonee is a special place which has been enjoyed over the years by descendants of Gran and Grandfather Vicars and close friends of Family members. It is the manager's intention to ensure Gran's wish for it to remain a Family holiday destination is continued for many generations to come.

In May 2011, a very special event took place in the history of Taracoonee, the 100th anniversary of its foundation and continued ownership by the Vicars Family. Around 180 Vicars clan members and a few close Family friends and supporters attended this memorable occasion for a BBQ lunch and associated festivities. Long lasting fire retardant trees were planted on the north west section of the hill at the north end of the Taracoonee verandah. Representatives of all the Vicars Family owners of Taracoonee, other Family members and a friend planted these 20 commemorative and useful trees.

Violet Halliday Vicars

All four of Violet’s grandparents came to Sydney in the 1830s, a decade when the Australian colonies were being promoted as providing great opportunities for free settlers from England, Scotland and Ireland, with assisted passage schemes in place to encourage emigration. Convicts were still arriving as well; the last group of transportees to New South Wales set foot in Sydney in late 1840. The town’s European population was then about 35,000. It grew slowly in the 1840s – the early years of the decade saw a severe economic downturn – rising to an estimated 39,000 in 1851. Then gold was discovered, and the population of Sydney and suburbs rose to some 95,000 in 1861, 240,000 in 1881, 480,000 in 1901 (Federation year), and more than 5 million now.

When the four arrived, the colony was still ruled by the Governor and his appointed advisors. First hints of democracy came with elections in late-1842 for a Sydney municipal council, then in mid-1843 for two-thirds of the membership of the colony’s Legislative Council. ‘Responsible government’ – by a ministry answerable to an elected Legislative Assembly – commenced in 1856.

Family tree

John Little – Margaret Alston Charles McLaughlin – Margaret Cargo

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James Little ― Mary Ann McLaughlin

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Violet Halliday Little

m 1900

Robert Vicars

Grandparents John and Margaret (née Alston) Little

John was born about 1806 in the Dumfries area, Scotland – parents George Little, a farmer, and Mary Little, née Halliday. Margaret was born in 1812, and the pair married in February 1831 at St Mungo’s Presbyterian church, Dumfries. With four young children – Mary about 6, John 4, Jessie 2 and a baby, George, they arrived in Sydney in late 1838 or early the following year. Their fifth child, Elizabeth, was born about a year later and died in infancy. James – Violet’s father – was born on 5 March 1842. Tragically, his mother, Margaret, died, aged 29, nine days later. The glimpses we have of John’s subsequent life in the colony throw little light on how he raised his young family.

Newspaper advertisements in April and May 1840 give his address as Kent Street, Sydney. One of these, offering employment to four farming men, a cook, a groom and a laundress, possibly relates to some 5 acres of farmland that he acquired – and offered for sale in 1861 – at Ashfield. The sale advertisement says ‘the whole of the land is cleared and fenced, and the greater portion has been trenched and formed into orchard, vineyard and garden’. In December 1844 he placed a wanted ad for a married couple – ‘the man as a Ploughman and general Farm Servant, the woman to wash and assist in general house work’. Perhaps this is where the family grew up.

Other advertisements reveal that by early 1842 he had acquired a grocery store at 139 George Street south. The first of these, in 1842 and 1843, are intriguing – offering a nearly new ‘coasting smack’ of ‘about twenty tons burthen’, and then an 18 tons ‘small cutter’, for sale or hire. The smack was said to be well adapted for ‘the coasting and coal trade’, the cutter for ‘the river trade’. Later advertisements list some of the stock available at his store. March 1844 offerings included ‘Bathurst Cheese’, ‘Best Colonial Salt Butter’ and ‘York Ham’, and the following September he advertised ‘yellow Canary birds, male and female’ for sale. Offerings in May 1845 included ‘one hundred and fifty Cheeses from the celebrated Dairy of Mr Carter’.

An advertisement in May 1850 announced that, ‘in consequence of ill-health’, John wished to dispose of his ‘old established grocery business’; the lack of subsequent ads suggests it was soon sold. Frequent notices in following years reveal his role as a landlord in Balmain, where he was now living ‘next to Mr Howard’s, Boat Builder’. In April 1854 he had a ‘well-finished cottage of five rooms, hall, and kitchen, the use of wharf, and bathing house’ to let. Two years later his offering was ‘a stone-built cottage of four rooms, hall and kitchen, well of water’, then in December 1857 a ‘newly-built house of six rooms, with use of wharf, bathing house and well of water’. In April 1858 two cottages, each with four rooms, two attics and kitchen, with gardens, ‘excellent wells of water’, and ‘a fine view of the harbour’ were ready to let.

John had remarried in April 1855, to Jane Watson Murray. The New South Wales BDM index records that a son was born to the couple in 1858 and a daughter in 1862, and that both died in infancy. Tragic as that is, one hopes this record is correct rather than the notation on John’s death certificate: ‘2 males, 2 females dead’. The notice in the Herald records that John, ‘late of Balmain’, died at their home in Burwood ‘after a long and painful illness’ on 19 November 1862. He was about 56 years old.

Grandparents Charles and Margaret (née Cargo) McLaughlin

Charles, aged 21, arrived in Sydney in July 1835 with his parents William and Mary McLaughlin. They were a Presbyterian family from Coleraine, County Londonderry, northern Ireland, where William had been a coach builder. Margaret, also from Co. Londonderry, was the daughter of a blacksmith, William Cargo, who had brought his family to Sydney in 1832. She was then 13. Charles and Margaret married in Sydney in March 1840. Their daughter Mary Ann – Violet’s mother, born in 1844 – was the third of the couple’s nine children.

William launched his business, ‘McLaughlin’s Coach Factory’, in George Street, and moved it to Pitt Street in 1837. An advertisement offering a ‘new cab Phaeton … built on the most improved principles, particularly adapted for comfort and convenience’ in November that year advised: ‘Coach work of all descriptions made and repaired with despatch.’ In May 1840 he offered for sale ‘a superior English Stanhope’ and a ‘double-seated Phaeton’.

In April 1842 son Charles placed an advertisement for a ‘Coach and Gig Manufactory’ in York Street, announcing he had ‘removed his establishment’ to premises there. Apparently he and his father had parted ways. Charles promised that ‘vehicles will be made and repaired in the best manner and newest style’ and ‘all orders will be punctually attended to’. In August 1842 he advertised for sale ‘a very handsome bread cart, painted yellow, with turned wheels and metal boxes, finished in first style’. The following November William McLaughlin was found guilty of operating an illicit whiskey still at his Pitt Street premises and fined £200. Whether there was a connection between the father’s whiskey-making and the son’s move to York Street can only be conjectured.

Both McLaughlins continued to build coaches. In June 1845 William placed an ad in which he claimed to be ‘the oldest standard in the colony in the coach making line’, and that ‘at his establishment every article in the coach making business – viz. patent axles, springs, chaise carts, baker’s carts, gigs, phaetons, &c, &c – are manufactured and only require genuine orders’. William advertised more frequently than Charles; the last of his ads found appeared in the Herald in October 1847. In May 1855 he was back in the news, as successful applicant for a liquor licence for Coach Builders’ Arms hotel, corner of Sussex and Goulburn Streets. Charles’s business was still going strong in February 1854 when he placed a wanted ad for a coach-body maker.

William McLaughlin died in February 1860, and his son Charles just three years later, on 9 June 1863, aged 48. Margaret lived another 25 years, dying at her home in Croydon on 2 October 1888. She was the only parent still living when her daughter Mary Ann married James Little, with Presbyterian rites, at the McLaughlin home in Palmer Street Woolloomooloo on 8 June 1864.

Parents James and Mary Ann (née McLaughlin) Little

The marriage certificate records that 22-year-old James was then a clerk residing in Little Street, Balmain (probably this short street was named after his father). Mary Ann gave birth to three children over the next five years – Charles (1866), John (1867) and Jessie (1869). In 1869 the family moved from Balmain to Scone, in the upper Hunter region, where four more children were born – James (1871), William (1874), Arthur (born and died 1876) and Violet (1877). The last child, Daisy, was born in 1881, after their return to Sydney.

An advertisement in the Maitland Mercury of 2 October 1869 heralded the move to Scone; it announced that James had bought W.C. Thompson’s general store there. As this was ‘on very reasonable terms’, he was pleased to be ‘in a position to OFFER THE PRESENT STOCK AT REDUCED PRICES’. Soon to arrive was ‘a FRESH SUPPLY of ASSORTED SUMMER AND FANCY GOODS’. He intended ‘to compete with Muswellbrook prices’ and hoped ‘to merit a fair share of the patronage and support of the district’.

In 1872 James expanded his business with the purchase of the town’s flour mill. The Scone Historical Society has a photo of the mill and the house next door where its owners lived; is the Little family among those who lined up to be photographed?

If James prospered initially in Scone, hard times followed and his business fell into insolvency in 1880. A letter by a Scone resident, Jack Straw, to the Maitland Mercury in June that year contended that he had been ‘too good, or not good enough; he gave people too much credit, and never would ask for his money. If he had pressed a little harder he would not now be in the position he is in; nor would he have dragged down with him so many poor people, who are struggling hard with the world to make both ends meet.’ The flour mill, store, house and outbuildings, plus ‘stock-in-trade and working plant’, were sold by auction the following month for £2500.

Back in Sydney, James set up an accountant’s business in Pitt Street, James Little and Co. He served as auditor of the Presbyterian Church of NSW and was an Elder of the Ashfield Presbyterian church. Sadly he did not live to see his daughter Violet marry Robert Vicars at the Ashfield church on 6 March 1900, dying at the family home in Croydon, aged 56, on 28 July 1898. A brief obituary in the Daily Telegraph observed: ‘Of a naturally retiring disposition, he took little part in public matters, his cares being all centred in his home, where he will be much missed.’

Mary Ann lived another fifteen years (she died in November 1913 aged 69), and so saw all but one of her Vicars grandchildren – Robert James (Jim) born 1901, Violet Mollie (Mollie) born 1903, John Maxwel (Jack) born 1905, Jessie born 1907, Kathleen born 1909, and Margaret (Tim) born 1912. The last child, Janet, was born in 1917.

From left: Jim Vicars, Violet, Violet’s sisters Jessie and Daisy, and Mary Ann Little

Violet

Violet and Robert Vicars spent their early married years at the ‘Mill House’, a good-sized 1860s house beside the John Vicars and Co. woollen mill at Marrickville. John Vicars, who emigrated with his family from Scotland in 1863, had died in 1894, and Robert was now running the company with his older brother William. During World War I, the family moved to a large rented house, ‘Sheen’, in Beecroft while their new home, ‘Yallambee’, in nearby Cheltenham, was under construction to the design of Robert’s engineer/architect brother James. They moved there on its completion in 1917.

On a very large block between Beecroft Rd and the Northern railway line, ‘Yallambee’ contained grand living and entertaining spaces downstairs, and upstairs plenty of accommodation for the family and for household staff. There were deep verandahs running the length of the front on both levels; grandchildren have fond memories of riding the trikes kept at one end of the lower verandah while Gran and Grandfather watched benignly as they took tea with the parents. Inside gatherings were usually in the L-shaped billiard room, where youngsters could play the big wind-up gramophone (now at ‘Taracoonee’) as well as have a shot at billiards. Memories of the grounds include extensive chook runs where they could search for eggs, winding paths through the bush, mandarin trees that could be climbed and the fruit picked, and the tennis court where cricket was played with a tennis ball after the annual Christmas family feast. The garden, a joy to Violet, included a splendid rockery and special orchid section.

‘Yallambee’, and Robert and Violet Vicars in the garden, early 1950s.

By 1935 all the offspring except the youngest, Janet, had married and left home; Janet married in 1950. Violet had been an early pupil at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Croydon, founded in 1888, and her daughters attended PLC Pymble, which took its first students in 1916. Her sons went to Sydney Grammar School, as their father had done. Violet was an active supporter of PLC; for example, the Pymble school’s 1928 magazine reports that she presented the prizes at that year’s school sports carnival. She was also active in community organizations.

Red Cross

The Beecroft-Cheltenham branch of the Australian Red Cross was one of many such branches formed at the outset of World War I in 1914, and Violet was a foundation member, becoming Vice-President in 1916. As well as conducting fund-raising activities, members made and collected goods to be sent to soldiers at the front. The 1918 Annual Report mentioned busy weekly sewing meetings, and thanked, among others, Robert Vicars for donations of flannels, blankets and knitting wool and Violet for ‘continuous use of motor car’. She was elected President in 1925, and continued in that role until 1950 having led the branch through the World War II years. Then aged 73, she maintained an active interest in the branch, and remained its Patron up to her death.

Old newspapers provide some interesting glimpses of Violet’s contributions to Red Cross. In 1926, £163 was raised by the Beecroft-Cheltenham branch through house-to-house collections, the sale of buttons, and a golf club ball. A 1929 report records that, in addition to her branch role, she was then Vice-President of the NSW Division; Lady de Chair, wife of the Governor of NSW, was President.

A focus of her branch in the 1940s was providing parcels for prisoners of war. In November 1941 she headed the organizing committee for a ‘Caledonian Market’ at the Beecroft School of Arts to raise funds for the cause. A June 1942 item reported that Cheltenham was ‘leading in the Red Cross Prisoners of War street adoption scheme with promises from residents of 30 streets to organize for the collection of the required £1 a week for prisoners’ parcels’. Mrs Robert Vicars (as the papers always referred to her) ‘informed headquarters…that meetings were being held daily by representatives of this suburb’s various streets to organize collection groups’.

Another of her interests was the Beecroft-Cheltenham Auxiliary of the Hornsby and District Hospital. In May 1935 she headed the organizing committee for its annual fund-raising ball; the School of Arts Hall was being transformed into ‘an old world garden’ for the event.

In 1936 a Who’s Who in the World of Women was published in Sydney, acknowledging ‘many of the women who have rendered very considerable public service to New South Wales’. Violet’s entry, as well as noting her prominent role in the Red Cross, records that her charitable interests included Burnside Homes (a Presbyterian orphanage at Parramatta) – she was then Vice-President – and the Home for Incurables, Ryde. Also Twilight Homes, of which, again, she was Vice-President.

Twilight

Now Twilight Aged Care, with premises in four Sydney suburbs, this charity was established in 1915 with a home at Mosman to care for elderly women. In 1922, with Vicars family help, ‘Sheen’, their temporary home in Beecroft during the war, was acquired, and in April 1925 Violet hosted a fete at ‘Yallambee’ that raised nearly £100 – a lot of money in those days – for this ‘Twilight House’. It had been officially opened the previous year by Lady Forster, wife of the Governor-General. ‘Competitions in the form of bridge, croquet and putting were the principal forms of amusement provided,’ the Evening News reported. ‘On the spacious verandahs afternoon tea was provided, and a fortune teller was kept very busy the whole afternoon. The whole function, favored by beautiful weather, was most enjoyable…’ Violet hosted another enjoyable afternoon in aid of the Beecroft home in 1927. This time entertainments for the hundred or so guests were bridge and mahjongg. In the evening ‘a similar entertainment was organized for the younger set’.

Violet joined Twilight’s managing Committee in 1924 – Lady Sophia Vicars, wife of Robert’s brother Sir John, was then its President – and was elected President in 1952 after serving for more than two decades as Vice-President. Twilight, like the Red Cross, was a cause close to her heart, and she encouraged other family members to become involved. Her daughter Kath was a stalwart. She joined the Committee in 1959, was elected President in 1979, and in later years was a frequent beloved visitor to the homes. Kath’s son John joined the Twilight board in 2002 and chaired it for ten years from 2005. Another son, Richard, did important work for the homes as an architect. Noreen Vicars, wife of Violet’s son Jack, and her daughter Sue White were other valued contributors.

Both Violet and Robert were actively involved in local sporting clubs – their establishment and on-going activities. Soon after settling in the district they helped start the Beecroft Cheltenham Croquet Club, and Violet was elected President in 1920. The Vicars Room at the Pennant Hills District Golf Club recognizes their contribution to the establishment of this course in 1923. Both enjoyed lawn bowls, and actively supported the Beecroft Bowling Club. At a gala day in 1928 after the greens had been top-dressed and improvements made to the clubhouse, Violet bowled the first bowl. To the delight of all it was a "toucher" (i.e. touched the jack).

Cheltenham Girls’ High

In 1952, six acres of the ‘Yallambee’ grounds – a largely uncleared portion through which the driveway from Beecroft Road ran – were resumed as the site for Cheltenham Girls’ High School. Classes began in the first buildings on the site in 1958, and Violet and Robert took a keen and friendly interest in the school, its teachers and pupils. Both are remembered in significant achievement awards presented at each year’s speech day.

After years of incapacity, during which she was cared for at ‘Yallambee’, Violet died in 1970; Robert had died eight years earlier. The old house was demolished, and the school’s sports ground, the Vicars Oval, now covers the ground where it stood. Two lovely leadlight windows from ‘Yallambee’, one featuring an immigrant ship and the other bearing the legend ‘East West Hame’s Best’ – a saying from lowland Scotland, home of ancestors of both Robert and Violet – have been re-installed at the school. The school’s new assembly hall, opened in 2022, is ‘Yallambee Hall’.

In another connection with the Vicars family, an annual retreat of the school’s students’ leadership group and senior teachers is held at ‘Taracoonee’. In her will, Violet expressed the wish that this Hawkesbury River property, enjoyed by generations of Vicars descendants since Robert had it built in the 1910s, remain a family holiday house. Frank Little, accountant son of her brother William Little, played a key role in putting together the management and funding arrangements that made this possible. Half a century on, Violet’s great-great-grandchildren enjoy adventurous school holidays at this special place, just as their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did in years past.

Sources

NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Chris Little, Scottish genealogist, via WikiTree

Scone & Upper Hunter Historical Society

Old newspapers searchable through Trove, NLA

‘Vicars: The First 100 Years in Australia 1873-1973’, 1974

Ringer, Ron. ‘An Australian Story: Twilight House 1915-2015’, 2017

Langtry, Lyn. ‘In the Pink: A 60 Year History of Cheltenham Girls’ High School, 2019

‘Who’s Who in the World of Women, New South Wales, Australia’, Reference Press, Sydney 1936

Diana Fatkin, ‘The Vicars of Yallambee’, Local Colour, Hornsby Shire Historical Society, June 1983

‘The Vicars Family’, The Historian, Ku-ring-rai Historical Society, 2005

Photos

Scone & Upper Hunter Historical Society

Jane Bailey

F.J. Lehane collection