Cordial 4 – European history of the Richmond River

A History of Aerated Water & Cordial Manufacturers of the Richmond – Part 4

Charles Herbert COCKBAIN

Charles Herbert Cockbain was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester and Lancashire England in 1866. He was the son of Henry and Mary Elizabeth Cockbain (nee Moxon). He was married to Susannah Selina Ambler in September 1892 in Bradford, Yorkshire England. It is highly probable that both Charles and Selina arrived in Sydney as unassisted passengers on board the Parramatta in 1892 following their wedding.

On 13 April 1898 Susannah Selina Cockbain purchased the land on Shirley Street Byron Bay as the wife of Charles Herbert Cockbain, cordial maker of Byron Bay. Unfortunately Susannah died on 12 April 1901 and Charles sold his cordial manufacturing business on 25 June 1902 to John George Balzer who had been operating his cordial making enterprise at Broadwater. By 26 July 1902 the Queenslander reported Charles Herbert Cockbain was presented with an initialed travelling bag prior to his departure on a trip to Europe.

Charles then returned to Sydney where he is recorded as being one of five persons operating the Standard Bedstead Works on Shepherd Street Sydney in 1904. He is listed in the electoral roll of 1906 as an iron manufacturer residing in Erskinville an inner suburb of Sydney and as a mechanic in the 1913 rolls at the same address. On 2 December 1912 Charles married Annie Edith Smyth on the South Island of New Zealand. At the time Charles was residing at Lincoln in New Zealand as an iron gate manufacturer. Annie was born in Adelaide in South Australia in 1873, the daughter of a clergyman. The couple was married by Annie’s father. The newly married couple returned to Australia on board the Maunganui in that same year. Sands Suburban Directory lists Charles Herbert Cockbain residing at Lane Cove in 1914. He relocated to Waverly from 1915 until 1919 with his wife and the couple gave birth to a daughter in 1917, Margaret Elizabeth.

Electoral rolls show him residing at Waverly with his occupation shown as a traveller from 1915 until 1919. By 1920 Charles was living in a residence known as the Glen situated on Jersey Road in Paddington, an inner suburb of Sydney. He remained in Paddington until 1950 and according to electoral rolls was working as a garage attendant for the entire time.

Charles and his wife Annie Edith departed from Australia on the Mooltan and arrived in London in 1952 stating their intended address as Lake Road Ambleside, Westmoreland. Charles was 86 years old and the couple retired to Amersham, Buckinghamshire England. Charles Herbert Cockbain finally died aged 92 years in 1959 in Buckinghamshire England and predeceased his wife Annie Edith who died in the same location in 1961.

Charles CROCKETT

Charles Crockett was the son of Charles Crockett and Martha Murfin, who was born in the Bega Valley of New South Wales in 1879. Charles Jnr was married to Ellen Matilda Ross in the Methodist Church at Ballina in 1908, with his occupation shown as a carter.

In May 1924, Charles Crockett took over the lease on the aerated water and cordial manufactory from Arthur George Phipps located on River St Ballina. As well as operating the cordial works, he also ran a carrier service with his motor lorry. Charles then sold the cordial manufactory in 1926 to Charles Gordon and John Eric Johnson, who operated under the trade name of Johnson Brothers.

Charles Crockett remained in Ballina after the sale of the cordial factory, working as a labourer and motor lorry proprietor until about 1940 when he relocated to Queensland residing in the Mulgildie area near Eidvold. He found work as a labourer and carpenter in the district and remained in the area until his death which occurred on 8 February 1957.

James Jerome DEVNEY

James De Venney was born in Donegal, Ireland the son of James and Ann De Venney (nee Devitt) in 1867.

In 1894 James De Venney married Annie Wise Palmer at Ballina. Annie was a daughter of Mary Ann Lovett who had been married previously to John Palmer. But when John died in 1879 she was left as a widow with four young children. Mary Ann then married Charles James Lovett in 1880 and they had five children making the Palmer family and Lovett children, stepbrothers and stepsisters.

Electoral rolls for 1895/1896 indicate James Devney was residing at Broadwater and working as a labourer. By 1898 James Jerome Devney had moved to Hillgrove, near Armidale in N.S.W. From here J. J. Devney relocated to Queensland, working as a storekeeper at Reedy Creek near Mudgeeraba at the turn of the century but by 1904 he had returned to Wardell and began operating as an aerated water and cordial manufacturer in the village of Wardell taking over the business previously run by John Maurice Brosnan. By 1908, however, the Wardell Cordial Manufactory was being operated by Devney’s brother-in-law Thomas George Lovett. James Devney remained in Wardell with his family working as a labourer.

James Jerome Devney then became the proprietor of the aerated water and cordial manufactory situated at Woodburn on Richmond Street. The title was transferred to Devney from Thomas George Lovett early in 1913 and he remained in Woodburn until 1921 when the cordial business was sold to another of his brothers-in-law, John Daniel Link. James Devney and Daniel Link were married to sisters. Following the sale of the Woodburn cordial factory, James Devney moved to Queensland and settled at Bundaberg, where electoral roles list him as a cordial maker from 1922 until 1932 residing in George Street. James Jerome Devney died in Queensland in October 1948 and was buried in the Toowong Cemetery.

Thomas EASTERBROOK

Thomas Easterbrook was born on 7 November 1841 in Carter’s Barrack, Sydney, the eldest of four children born to Isaac and Anne Mary Easterbrook (nee Malady). He was named after his grandfather, Thomas, a convict transported to Australia in 1820 aboard the Prince of Orange for a term of life after his conviction at Devon Assizes.

Ann Mary Malady arrived on board the Crusader in early 1840, as an unmarried dairy maid and after her marriage to Isaac Easterbrook remained in Sydney where Isaac was working as a miller. He maintained his occupation as a miller but moved to operate the water mill on the Williams River near Dungog around 1845. Isaac was deeply religious and became heavily involved with the Christian Israelite Church and by 1854 embarked on a travelling mission to various parts of the colony that included St Alban’s, Wilberforce and areas around Richmond. By 1859, Isaac was operating the Kurrajong Mill on the Bells Line of Road as a miller. The family then moved to Singleton, where Isaac worked as a baker.

Thomas spent his childhood around Richmond, Kurrajong and Singleton, where he met and married Louisa Jane Ballard in 1871. Thomas moved to Tamworth shortly after his marriage working as a miller but by 1874 had returned to the Hunter region to work in Scone as a miller. At this stage of his life, Thomas and his wife Louisa had three young sons to care for. The family then relocated to Tamworth by 1878 where Thomas started a cordial manufacturing business. He is shown on electoral rolls for 1881 as occupying freehold property in Tamworth. A son and a daughter were born in Tamworth and Thomas appeared in court after the two horses he used to transport his ginger beer cart were stolen in 1881. By 1882, Thomas applied for the transfer of the liquor license at the Australian Hotel in Inverell, but his application was rejected. By 1883, the Easterbrook family was in Casino running the Casino Hotel before relocating again to Lismore in 1884 where Thomas established an aerated water and cordial manufactory on Magellan Street in Lismore. By the end of 1884, advertisements appeared in the local paper for the sale of cows, horses, saddles, and bridles indicating a move for the Easterbrook family was imminent. The family moved back to Singleton where Thomas was granted a hawkers license in 1885. The Easterbrook family then resided in Newcastle where Thomas was again involved with the aerated water and cordial business around 1889 prior to moving back to Singleton again. Electoral rolls for 1894 reveal Thomas had returned to Tamworth where he was working as a labourer. Following the death of his wife Louisa in 1899, Thomas worked as a labourer.

James Eric FLEMING

James Eric Fleming and his son John Eric were responsible for the longest operational period of Byron Cordials in Byron Bay after the cessation of cordial manufacturing in the town following Frederick Leonard Playford’s decision to close his cordial manufactory in 1942. Earl Starr from Mullumbimby purchased all the plant and machinery and removed it to his manufactory in Mullumbimby. It was to be almost a decade before another cordial and aerated water manufactory became operational in Byron Bay.

William Alexander Richardson arrived in Byron Bay in the very early 1950’s and set about establishing Byron cordials. He had previously worked in the Newcastle area employed as a labourer, drainer and hoist driver at differing times and was married in that town to Nellie Talbot Willows in 1938. The venture did not last as he returned to Newcastle leaving the cordial manufacturing business to Roy Earle Austen who acquired it probably around 1952 and remained in charge of Byron Cordials until ill health forced him to sell the business in February 1957 to James Eric Fleming.

James Eric Fleming was born in Western Australia in 1900 and initially worked in the flour mills around Perth but after approaches with a union delegate to improve working conditions found employment hard to secure so he crossed the Nullarbor Plain on a bike with a friend and settled into life as a carpenter in Melbourne. With the advent of the depression James left Melbourne and headed into the farming country around Nevertire, Trangie and Warren where he worked on farming stations for his keep attending to fences and applying his carpentry knowledge to the building of tank stands, sheds and the like.

Following his sojourn in western New South Wales James moved to Allambie Heights on the northern side of Sydney where he ran a poultry farm producing eggs. The farm was sold at the end of the war and James returned to work as a carpenter in Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches before relocating again to Corindi Beach north of Coffs Harbour where he continued his carpentry work and operated a general store.

He then headed for Queensland’s Gold Coast to start work as a speculative builder but whilst holidaying enroute to Byron Bay saw an opportunity to purchase Byron Cordials from Roy Austen and in February 1957 acquired the business and together with his son John Eric Fleming operated the aerated water and cordial factory on Fletcher Street until he retired in 1965. John then became the sole owner. The Flemings had the Jusfrute franchise, but the multinational soft drink manufactures were beginning to dominate the industry making family operated cordial factories unviable. Most operators were lucky to make wages out of their soft drink factories. John sold the business to Irvine Edmund Heeson, a retired naval engineer, in 1971 but continued to work one or two days a week in the cordial factory until he was employed by the Byron Shire as a grader driver on the roads.

Irvine maintained the business as Sunrise Cordials on Fletcher Street until 1978 but apart from introducing post mix machines into hotels the influence of multinational soft drink companies and the rise of dominant supermarkets heralded an end to local aerated water and cordial manufactories which were destined to become little more than distribution centres.

John FLYNN

John Flynn was born at Redfern an inner suburb of Sydney on 12 May 1855 a son of John and Anne Flynn (nee Connaty). His father was a private in the 11^th regiment and his mother Anne emigrated from Ireland on board the Ellenborough in 1853. They married in Sydney in 1854. After spending some time in Sydney, the family had arrived in the Richmond River district by 1867.

John Flynn sought employment as a carpenter and in 1872 is recorded in William Yabsley’s reminiscences as working with him in sawing ironbark timber, making cleats and repairing boats at Coraki. By 1879 John obtained the deeds to 2 blocks of land in section 70 in the Coraki township bordered by Martin, Minto and Bridge Streets. In 1881 John had formed a partnership with Robert Thomson to purchase the Richmond River Aerated Waters and Cordial Manufactory which had obtained sole rights to use Messrs. Barrett and Co’s patent stopper in the Richmond River district. The business was established in September 1880 by Edwin Wren who was a Lismore storekeeper. Edwin was also involved with sawmills, was a master mariner and lived on seventy-acre farm five miles from Lismore.

John and Robert would have met and worked together in the shipyards at Coraki as both were shipwrights. On 26 December 1882, John married Jessie Thomson at Wyrallah near Lismore with his occupation listed as shipwright. Jessie was Robert’s sister and in 1883 Robert married John’s sister Mary Jane Flynn at Coraki. It is possible that Robert and Jessie’s father William could have provided financial support for the cordial manufactory, but it remains just that, a possibility.

By 1883 John Flynn is listed in advertising in the Northern Star newspaper as the sole proprietor of the business and later that year a partnership with Thomas Tickle dissolved and the Richmond River Aerated Waters and Cordial Manufactory was taken over by Martin Nolan in 1884. John’s life from here saw him moving across New South Wales to a great variety of locations. In 1886 electoral rolls show John at Grafton while in 1888 Jessie gave birth to a daughter at Moruya on the south coast of NSW and two more children were born in the Sydney area of Newtown in 1891 and 1894. By 1898 John was employed as a brewer at Hillston in western NSW where John remained until at least 1903 as a brewer.

Electoral rolls for 1906 list John as a cordial manufacturer living at Opossum Creek Bangalow. This coincides with the establishment of Robert Thomson’s aerated water and cordial manufactory in Bangalow, so it is not unreasonable to suggest the brother in laws, cordial manufacturers from Coraki and former shipwrights, worked together in the cordial factory. John’s brother William was also found at Bangalow in 1908/1909 electoral rolls as a cordial maker. By 1908 John’s wife Jessie had commenced divorce proceedings and John returned to Sydney. John married again in 1910 to Bertha Carter in Sydney. John remained in Sydney until his death in 1926.

It is rather ironic that given the meaningful, interesting life that John led he was ultimately remembered as being the grandfather of one of Australia’s greatest larrikins, Errol Flynn and possibly our first truly international film star. John and Jessie’s eldest son, Theodore Thomson Flynn was in fact Errol Flynn’s father.

William Martin GLYNN

William Martin Glynn was born in Lismore in 1890 a son of Edward Michael and Marcia Glynn (nee Holmes). He came from a large family with nine siblings and spent his childhood on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales in the Lismore, Ballina and Byron Bay districts. As a teenage boy William worked in Blazer’s cordial factory at Byron Bay driving a horse in order to turn machinery in the factory. It was then that young William made a decision to either own his own cordial factory or become a bacon curer at Norco. In 1913 he married Mable Beatrice May Taylor in Lismore before moving to Coffs Harbour.

With his younger brother John Michael refreshment rooms were established in the Coffs Harbour Jetty area and both William and John commenced manufacturing aerated water and cordials for the local community under the Glynn Brothers trade name. Not only were aerated waters served in the refreshment rooms but the brothers also operated a talking picture show in conjunction with their cordials. William moved to Maclean on the Clarence River in 1920 where he set himself up as a cordial manufacturer in the town. John remained in Coffs Harbor and continued to manufacture aerated water and cordials. In 1924 William relocated again leaving Maclean and returning to Lismore and taking over the aerated water and cordial manufactory previously operated by Bernaud Bushby on Dawson Street.

William remained in charge of his own cordial manufactory producing cordials, aerated waters and ginger beer but in 1929 he, along with other manufacturers in Lismore, subscribed to the formation of Lismore Cordials. When the managing director William Edward Bryant left to enter the hotel trade in Murwillumbah, William became the manager of the newly formed Lismore Cordials Limited in 1933. He operated the business for many years and never ever fully retired as he constantly helped in the factory until his death in July 1974. His son Hilton Edward Glynn was to become assistant manager of the new company in years to come.

He was a foundation member of both the South Lismore Bowling Club and the Lismore Workers Club. He was also renowned for his philanthropic nature and after his death many a gold watch or IOU was found in his safe as a testament to his benevolent nature.

Francis Ramsay GRAY

Francis was the son of Francis Ramsay and Jane Gray (nee Irvine) who was born at Hermitage, Kiama in 1854. He was one of fifteen children and lived for a short period of time at ‘Fermanagh’ which was named after a county in Ireland where his father was born. Electoral rolls from 1876 to1890 show Francis Ramsay Gray as a leaseholder at Jamberoo but this could possibly have been his father. Francis moved to Hillgrove where Moore’s Australian Almanac lists him as operating a cordial factory in the township from 1893 until 1897. By 1903 he was found farming at Dorrigo before establishing the initial cordial manufactory at Mullumbimby in 1905 on the corner of Brunswick Terrace and Gordon Street. Prior to the arrival of F.R. Gray the township of Mullumbimby was supplied with cordials by the Byron Bay manufactory of H.G. Balzer and son.

In 1905 Francis married Elizabeth Ida Gray who had been born in England. He placed advertisements in The Mullumbimby Star and Brunswick Banner offering monthly accounts to his clientele before selling the business on 23 May 1906, to William Edward Balzer who was operating the cordial factory in Byron Bay at that time. Gray sold the property that the factory was located on in 1907 to Frank Aldrich Row who was a storekeeper in the town. Francis and his wife moved to Murwillumbah by 1908 and remained there until 1917 where he once again farmed land on the North Arm and South Arm of the Tweed River.

Francis and his wife Ida then moved to the Sydney suburb of Parramatta where they remained until his death on 23 October 1927. His body was interred in the Kiama General Cemetery two days later.

Although Francis Gray is credited with the establishment of the first aerated water and cordial manufactory in Mullumbimby, other entrepreneurs had been providing aerated water as early as 1894. Edward Bourke is listed in Electoral rolls of 1894 as a cordial manufacturer at The Pocket, Brunswick along with Danial Breslin.

The business enterprise was undoubtedly spurred on by the coming of rail to the area and the subsequent infrastructure works taking place in laying the rails from Lismore to Murwillumbah. Danial Breslin is shown in electoral rolls up until 1900 as a cordial manufacturer at The Pocket, Brunswick and in all probability their cordial works would have been associated with the hotels in the area.

Francis Leonard HACKING

Frances Leonard Hacking and Co. became a registered cordial business on 5 April 1904, with the proprietors listed as Francis Leonard Hacking and John McQueen at Alstonville. John McQueen was a farmer in the area and it is highly probable that he was the financial backer in the cordial factory. Electoral rolls for 1906 also revealed Leslie McRoberts as a cordial maker at Alstonville.

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire England in 1860, a son of William and Jane Hacking (nee Gardner) Frank immigrated to Australia on board the Clyde that arrived in Sydney in May 1880. The English census of 1871 reveals Francis as an eleven year old living in a residence with seven other siblings and his father and mother.

He was married at Kiama on 8 November 1881 to Mary Agnes Farraher. From 1881 until 1886, he maintained a residence at Kiama, where his occupation was listed as a land agent before moving to Sydney around 1888. Between 1888 and 1901 he lived in various locations around Camperdown, Newtown and Erskineville in the inner West of Sydney, where electoral rolls list his occupation as a storeman and an engine driver.

He arrived at Alstonville around 1902 and established an aerated water and cordial manufacturing in the town under the name of Hacking and Company. A newspaper report from the Richmond River Times on August 28, 1905 indicates that Hacking’s cordial factory included a small steam engine, aerating machine and other necessary attachments to operate the cordial factory. It also lists the fact that Mr Hacking was evidently an expert in cordial and aerated water production, having been in the business for 20 years. He won numerous prizes for his cordial and aerated waters at local agricultural shows and attributed his success to the pure spring water he obtained from Alstonville.

This period of his life saw many changes in which his first wife Mary died in 1904 and he married again to Sarah McLaughlin in 1906. Sarah was a woman of independent means and shortly after her marriage purchased the cordial factory for £100. It would seem that the purchase of the cordial manufacturing was from one Leslie McRoberts, whose goods and chattels that consisted of the plant of a cordial factory, bottles, a spring cart and harness were auctioned at the factory on 30 July 1906. After a after a while she sold this business for hundred and fifty pounds prior to running a skating business in Lismore in the winter of 1908.

Frank possibly left the cordial manufacturing business in 1907 and became the hotel keeper of the Ocean View Hotel at Alstonville. His association with Herbert Hauville is unclear, as both seemed to be connected by way of the cordial manufacturing and the Ocean View Hotel. Hauville is listed in the Sand Sydney Suburban and Country Commercial directory as a cordial manufacturer in 1907 and hotel keeper at the Ocean View Hotel in 1908. Hacking is listed as the publican of the same hotel in 1910 and 1911 and appears on the electoral rolls for 1908 as a hotelkeeper.

Frances Hacking was, however, declared bankrupt as a publican on 8 May 1911, and his association with Alstonville came to a close. As John McQueen was the petitioning creditor in the bankruptcy of Francis Leonard Hacking, it was more than likely he was financially involved with Frank for the time he spent at Alstonville. The reduction of liquor licenses carried by referendum in 1908 only added to his impending demise.

He relocated to Lismore working as a salesman and a produce merchant for many years before retiring to Wingham. He died in the Sydney suburb of Petersham in 1933.