Heneker – a Pioneering family from Kent to South Australia

The first born child of James and Mary Ann Heneker was James Heneker (Jnr). James was born on the 21 February 1850 at Mount Barker, South Australia. James and Mary Ann were living in the Mount Barker area at this time, well before they later moved to the far North of South Australia. James had arrived in South Australia in 1839 and had married Mary Ann Spencer in 1849.

James Heneker Jnr appears to have followed in his father’s footsteps, being a man who did many jobs in his lifetime, many similar to those of his father, and probably worked alongside his father.

James died on 18 June 1926 in Cumberland, South Australia. The Chronicle newspaper on Saturday 26 June 1926 gave the following Obituary:

“James Heneker, whose death was announced on Saturday, was the eldest son of Mr. James Heneker, of Beltana. He had been in the northern districts for over 60 years. He assisted in erecting he overland telegraph line, as was one of the scouts appointed to prevent the blacks stealing the materials during the building of the Oodnadatta railway. He was known by almost all people north of Hawker, and during his career had been drover, shearer, fencer, teamster, surveyor and miner, both in Queensland and the Territory. he leaves a widow, three children – Mr Robert James Heneker(Cumberland), who was a soldier in the late war, Mrs. Kendle (Kensington), and Mrs Morris (St Peters).

(Above photograph was included in the Obituary printed in the Chronicle)

Chronicle (Adelaide SA : 1895-1954) Saturday 26 June 1926 pg 59

Note: the article mentions that James was a scout appointed to prevent the blacks from stealing materials……..today this of course would be unheard of to be printed, or even mentioned. Having Aboriginal family also makes this quite an embarrassment, however that was the times. My understanding, from discussions with my father many years ago before he passed away, was that he had many Aboriginal friends, as I believe his distant relatives did as well. Many of the people they would be referring to, would have been Aboriginal people living in very remote area’s of South Australia, and may have had little contact with the white settlers. However I am sure they were interested in acquiring anything that may have made their lives easier, and in those early days of colonisation, it would have been seen to the Aboriginal people of the land, that if there was something interesting lying around, it was there to be used. One can’t blame them for that.!!!!

James had a very large family after marrying Christina Graham on 15 November 1888.

• 1890 – birth of son Robert James Heneker
• 1893 – birth of son William Heneker
• 1895 – birth of daughter Jane Heneker at Kensington, South Australia
• 1899 – birth of daughter Violet Heneker at Walkerville, South Australia
• 1902-1903 – birth of son Edward William Heneker at Kensington, who sadly died in 1903
• 1904 – birth of daughter Hilda Grace Heneker
• 1907 – birth of son Edward William Heneker
• 1913 – birth of son Harold Keith Heneker.

It appears that after spending much of his life of his life in the far north of South Australia, James moved to the city of Adelaide in about 1895 where his daughter Jane was born at Kensington, which is a suburb in the Eastern suburbs of Adelaide. Many of the homes in these area’s were and are large stately homes, however I have no knowledge of the type of home the Heneker family lived in and what James was doing once he moved to the city, especially after living such a country life.

James Heneker was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

**As James also led a very interesting and full life, I plan to do more research and try to create a timeline that will fill out the information that is available. I do wonder though how James would have felt being laid to rest at a city cemetery, where so many of his family rest in remote cemeteries in the land they obviously loved.