Mary Ann Heneker nee SPENCER, had a number of brothers and sisters. One of her sisters was Sarah Spencer (1927-). Sarah married Henry Jordan. Of their children a daughter named Mary was married to Jeremiah Dowling, and they had a son called William Dowling. Like many South Australians, they moved to Western Australia to take advantage of the mining boom there, which to this day still has it’s boom and bust times. In fact my own brothers live in Western Australia and have been involved in the mining industry in one form or another, from gold prospecting to working for mining companies driving cranes and dump trucks. Many others in the past and to this day continue on that tradition. This story interestingly tells the story of William Dowling’s untimely death in a mining accident. Sadly this story was probably quite common in these times. The area of the mine was Leonora, not too far away from the mining town of Coolgardie where one of my brother’s lives. The story of William’s death appeared in newspapers of the day.
Mining Fatality.
AT THE SONS OF GWALIA.
LEONORA,. Nov. 24 1905
A fatal accident occurred at the Sons of Gwalia mine at 2 o’clock this morning.William Dowling and a mate were engaged at the No. 7 level in securing the ground, which appeared unsafe. The mate went away for a few minutes, and on returning found that about six tons of stuff had fallen from the hanging wall on top of, Dowling. The unfortunate man was quickly extricated, out when he was released was found to be dead. An inquiry was opened to-day, by Mr. Sturt and a jury, and after viewing the body and inspecting, the scene of the accident the coroner adjourned the inquest. The deceased, who resided with his parents at Leonora, was 25 years of age, and was well and favourably known in the locality
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Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885-1954) Saturday 2 Dec 1905, pg 20
I previously worked as a Library Technician at the State Library of South Australia and then Noarlunga Library Services. I was lucky enough to work at the State Library in the Archives department, which is now a separate entity and housed at a suburban site. I've always loved English and Australian history, and began my Heneker family history in about 1980, before the advent of the internet, and now o with so many digitised records online there is a treasure chest of information out there, and it just keeps growing. One of the most wonderful treasures we have here in Australia is the Trove website, the free digitised newspapers of nearly every place in Australia, provided for free by the National Library of Australia. This has opened up so much day to day information for people searching for further information about their ancestors. I chose to write a blog as a way for me to put down a lot of information I had that wasn't necessarily easy to slot into a "family tree" as such. And I wanted to record some of the stories of the Heneker clan, and especially James Heneker (1826-1917) who arrived in South Australia as a 12 year old boy with his family. Like most of us in the genealogy community I have become obsessed and this is a never ending story. The community of bloggers, and also Facebook specialist pages has allowed me and many of us to learn from each other, and to use some of the many amazing tools that are out there now for us to use and enhance our research. My one wish?? dad Neville Laurence Heneker 1929 - 1987, this is for you, for all the things you told me, and the stories you related, often when we were up north in the Flinders Ranges, at Beltana, Hawker, Blinman and many other amazing places. I wish you were here, so I could share all this new information that has come to light. And of course for you Pa (Laurence Douglas Heneker), your stories were incredible and watching you sleep out under the stars at Arkaroola with a rock for your pillow is an image I will never forget. Oh if only we had digital cameras back then...I think of you both every time I write my words and read my books. I love you both.
Heneker - a Pioneering family from Kent to South Australia 