Edward Charles Lousada 1854-1932 and Beatrice 1861-1917 whom he married in Prahran on 15 Dec 1884. Isabella Beatrice Haliburton Hall brought her own interesting family history - she was aunt of John Tiarks, former Bishop of Chelmsford, and a sister of Jemima Affleck of Warragul.   Edward Charles Lousada with wife Beatrice and 9 children, taken at Toora possibly around Christmas 1908, the year we base the childrens' age estimates (below) upon. He share-farmed successfully here, no doubt greatly helped by his good brood of able-bodied offspring. The daughters from the right are Tryphena b1886 (22), Ruth b1898 (10) and Catherine b1889 (19). Putting a name to Ben, Aubrey and Barrow has proved contentious! But in the knowledge that Barrow was short and studying the facial features, we identify (see note 18 below) the boys from the left as Barrow b1890 (18), Aubrey b1893 (15), Ted b1892 (16), unknown, Ben b1887 (21), and Cecil b1897 (11). Horace Frank b1900 (8) is at the front. Barry Smith, cousin of Julian Land, provided this photograph and remarked ironically that Beatrice's finishing school in Switzerland perhaps over-equipped her for farming in West Gippsland! She did however perform in a piano duo at St Johns Toora on 10 Apr 1910. A 1900 Xmas photograph of the family in Warragul is an interesting comparison.   This image is from a collection of early settler portraits in the foyer of the Old Shire Hall in Warragul. A presentation on him made at that venue to the West Gippsland Genealogical Society on 27 Oct 2016 can be found here. Some outcomes of the meeting can be found here.    

 

Edward Charles Lousada #20 (1854-1932) born in Winchester in the year that his father inherited Peak House (near Sidmouth in Devon) from Emanuel Baruh Lousada #142. He knew no home other than Peak House (see note 7 below) except for his school terms at Haileybury College (ref 85 p26). He came to Australia in late 1871 as a 17 year-old (see note 7 below), and a rationale for this youthful adventure may be found here. He and his wife Beatrice made their only return visit to England in 1887 (see note 9 below), the year that their 1st son Benjamin Barrow Lousada was born in Fulham, and the year that his mother's cousin Sir Barrow Helbert Ellis died. He remained in contact with his cousin Herbert George Lousada until the latter's death in 1918 (see note 1 and 2 below) but in subsequent generations such intra-family contact became spasmodic (see notes 3, 6, and 14 below).

On arriving in Australia Edward Charles Lousada joined his 2 brothers Howel Arthur (see note 4 below) and Harry Burningham (see note 5 below) who were saltmaking at Hastings on Western Port Bay to the east of Port Phillip Bay on which Melbourne is located (see note 11 below). This venture was unsuccessful but at the time he arrived in Australia, nearby blocks were available for selection under Government policy intended to ensure closer settlement. In 1874 he selected land a little northwest of Warragul across the Tarago River. The land he chose was hilly and needed to be cleared but was being released under favourable terms. He is considered a pioneer (hence the small photograph above) of the Warragul district. Though he was fortunate to have family bequests (see note 1 below), he struggled financially. His youngest son's recollections show that pioneer farming was difficult. Thus he entered the stock and station business, becoming the manager of William Hamilton & Co's new Warragul branch in mid-1883 (perhaps after a short period in Traralgon - see note 19 below). This was probably a success initially for he married Beatrice in late 1884 and after their return to Australia he was appointed to start a branch of the firm in Lilydale. He returned to Warragul in 1889 and became a leading representative of the firm in 1994. He took an interest in better organizing local butter manufacture to get a more uniform flavour and he managed to build 2 houses in Warragul. There was a property crash in the mid 1890s and the business failed, but his Warragul stock and station experiences gave him the material to write 'Old Brandy Creek: Memories and other Reminiscences'  which provides a valuable record of early settler life in the Warragul district (see note 12). He had many relatives in the Warragul district (see note 10 below) and a son, Harry Bernard 1895-8, is buried at Warragul cemetery.

He was forced to return to farming. To this end he moved to Calignee near Traralgon in 1901 (see note 16 below). He arranged to build an Anglican church there and was still farming at Calignee at least until late 1905 (see note 15 below). However by 1908 (see note 20 below) he had commenced farming in Toora, which was successful (see note 13) and the family was prominent in church life in Toora for over 5 years. But by 18 Aug 1914 Edward Charles was at Hillside near Korumburra and was still there on 12 Jul 1915 (see note 17 below), before moving on to Clanville later in 1915 (see note 21 below). Beatrice died in 1917, whereupon Tryphena (now Mrs Parker) moved to Clanville. According to family legend, to re-establish himself in Korumburra he depended on the Army back-pay of his 3 sons as Aubrey on return home from France in 1919 discovered, though this was perhaps the least of the trials Aubrey had had to face, for while fighting in France he lost his brother Barrow in 1916 at Mouquet Farm, then his mother died at Clanville in 1917, and then Cecil died in 1918 at Querrieu. Aubrey made his own way by obtaining a soldier-settler farming block up the hill from Clanville. Edward Charles Lousada was still at Clanville in 1924, but retired to live with his daughter Ruth (now Mrs White) at The Vicarage in Lilydale. He died there in 1932, but not before completing his reminiscences (see above) and attending the Silver Jubilee of St Marks Anglican Church at Warragul in 1930. He was described in an obituary as being highly educated, slow-spoken, mighty alert mentally, and endowed with a dry sense of humour. He was transparently honest and strictly honourable. His grave is in Korumburra Cemetery.

 

Notes:

1. A theme in the Edward Charles Lousada/Herbert George Lousada correspondence was the status of current bequests; Herbert George was a lawyer who looked after the affairs of many of the family. Among the amounts that Edward Charles received we know about the following:

These amounts amount to around £6000 which was a sizable sum, perhaps worth £1,000,000 in today's money. It is difficult to measure changing value of money over long periods, because the different measures vary so much. A generation earlier Samuel Barrow had, so Tony Harding informs us, £7000 with him when he came to Tasmania in 1842, and this amount may have been worth more as it was a single lump sum (eh.net is a useful reference on measures of inflation). 

2. In his 22 Oct 1914 letter, Herbert George Lousada offered to help with prospective English visits of children of Edward Charles Lousada, namely the eldest daughter Tryphena and a son presumably Cecil to whom another letter refers. He refers to a son of their cousin Arthur, son of Isaac Baruh Lousada (a brother of John, Mary, Simeon Charles and George). He speaks of the Empire's support of Britain in WW1, naturally without any inkling of the number of Barrows and Lousadas who would die in it (including the above-mentioned Barrow and Cecil), for Gallipoli and the Western Front action were yet to occur. He also refers to his cousins but Edward Charles' brothers St Leger (see note 6 below) and Reginald Robert in less-than-flattering terms, but he had an optimistic view of the latter's children (see note 3 below).

3. Rochfort Osman Lousada went to South Africa, Katie went to Kenya (as a nurse) and Norah Agnes to Australia (also as a nurse). Audrey Dowel nee Lousada remembered Norah Agnes who visited the Lousadas of Korumburra from time to time. These Lousadas were double cousins of the children of Howel Arthur Lousada (see note 4 below). Norah Agnes placed a death notice for her siblings in an Australian newspaper - they both died in Africa around the same time.

4. Howel Arthur Lousada tried his hand as a publican near Roma Qld before his salt-making experience, and after this he tried farming but became an industrious magistrate. Newspaper records of a large number of his hearings can be readily found on Trove - Australia's integrated online library resource. Audrey Dowel remembers Arthur Francis Lousada the second son of Howel Arthur Lousada whose second wife (they weren't married according to Winton) was a live-in nurse to Blanche Skipper. Howel Arthur Lousada and Reginald Robert Lousada married Rochfort sisters, so their children were cousins on both the Rochfort and Lousada sides. There is a Rochfort Family Tree on ancestry.com. Arthur Francis Lousada's 2nd son Winton Harman Lousada met Marion Irene Keyser, a grand-daughter of Herbert George Lousada, on a trip to England when he visited the Keyser home in Eaton Square and received some Lousada stationery as a memento (now in the possession of Julian Land). He was invited to a Lousada reunion in Portugal, which he could not attend - sadly. However we think that Winton had met a Mrs Louzada on a KLM flight in 1957 from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney - and we solved the puzzle as to who she was when we located and made contact with the family of her son Emile Louzada. Perhaps the Portuguese re-union was at the initiative of her husband Hans Louzada a KLM executive who died in Spain in 1998 and who visited the Lousada villages of the Duoro Valley!

5. Harry Burningham Lousada was somewhat accident-prone as shown by Trove (see our comments on Horace Frank's recollections for more details), but was part-owner of a horse The Levite which won the Hotham Handicap in 1887. He was in Australia before Edward Charles, but travelled to Fremantle by 1884 via Echuca and Maitland SA, returned to marry in Melbourne in 1887, and spent the rest of his life in Western Australia; he died in Fremantle WA, leaving only a troubled widow (what we know of him can be found here and in the relevant genealogy).

6. Peter Desmond Lousada, grandson of St Leger Lousada, was living in Western Australia aged 87 in 2011. Julian Land spoke to him and learnt that he used the Lousada surname in military service though his mother Paddy Bullock never married the father - who was the 17-year old son of the impecunious St Leger Lousada. Peter Desmond Lousada was the result of a seaside holiday romance! Peter Allen Lousada has met Hugo Lousada, who however may not have realized that he was Peter Desmond Lousada's father! One of the many puzzles we have solved is who the Lousada was who 3 decades ago visited the TV repair shop of Allan Lousada in Dandenong - it was Clive Lousada son of Peter Desmond Lousada!

7. He appears at Peak House in 1861 as shown by the census of that year but not of 1871. Ref 85 p26 shows him leaving for Australia in 1871, presumably after the school year ended in June. Ref 187 shows him arriving 20 Sep 1871 on the Yorkshire from Gravesend.

8. Horace Frank Lousada met Sir Anthony Baruh Lousada in London in 1978 - and the latter's handwriting can be found on copies of the old Lousada family tree. Lily Lousada, Sir Anthony's granddaughter from his second marriage told us that her father Sebastian recognised the handwriting. Diana Mayne pointed out that Horace Frank Lousada visited England in late 1978 and tried unsuccessfully to see her Hall Tiarks relatives. Sir Anthony was knighted in 1978 (his notes include this detail) and the visit must have been after the date of investiture.

9. They departed on 26 Jul on the Carthage 1 with no record of Tryphena being with them.

10. His brother Howell Arthur Lousada was in the Warragul district (see note 4 above). Also in the Warragul area was Beatrice's sister Jemima Affleck nee Hall #665 who married Charles Affleck who became in late 1884 the first president of the Warragul agricultural society, with Howel Arthur Lousada being a vice-president (ref 124 page 367). Jemima Affleck - then 28 with a young family - probably minded Tryphena who seems not to have been taken on the 1887 trip to England. He had a nephew in Australia as well - John Graham Tyssen #493 1871-1951 who died in Warragul - son of his sister Mary Jane Tyssen nee Lousada #115 1835-1921 (the second child of John Baruh Lousada of Peak House). He also had cousins in the district - the Skipper siblings with whom he worked closely in the early period as shown by his daily diary for 1876; and it seems his Warragul farm was left in the hands of Blanche Skipper. All the sons of the John Baruh Lousada marriage with Tryphena Barrow, except Mortimer, were in Australia or had descendants in Australia.

11. We obtained recollections by Horace Frank Lousada of his father's Australian life from the Warragul & District Historical Society; these have been uploaded and together with some of our comments can be found by clicking on the link. This is the only evidence we have of the saltmaking venture, but as can be seen if the link is followed we found quite a deal of complementary evidence.

12. It may be found in Box 126/3 at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and a transcript is available in the library of the West Gippsland Genealogical Society. In one passage he describes a conversation about the 1854 drowning of his uncle Samuel Barrow. His account of the early days of coaching in Gippsland appeared in the press in 1929 - see note 15 below - presumably at the time he was writing his reminiscences.

13. A newspaper report indicated here shows that he was sharefarming successfully, for he separated cream from whey which he fed to brood sows and the pigs were also fed on pumpkins he grew. He was active in trying to establish a more local cooperative butter factory in competition with the local proprietary butter factory.

14. A granddaughter of Herbert George Lousada met a grandson of Edward Charles' brother Howel Arthur Lousada (see note 4) and a son of Edward Charles Lousada met a grandson of Herbert George Lousada (see note 8). In recent times, Julian Land has been in contact with many Lousada and Barrow descendants - see photos of some such occasions.

15. On ancestry.com the Victoria Police Gazettes 23 Sep 1905 show that he, as a farmer at Calignee, reported that on the night of 13 Sep 1905 his bay medium draught mare was stolen. Though we do not know if the horse was recovered we can from this information be sure that he was not farming in Toora until late 1905 or early 1906 at the earliest. During 1905, it seems he was intending to leave Callignee, for the Traralgon Record of 17 Mar 1905 p3 reported that Mr Lousada had an accident when about to drive a horse and cart to Warragul where he intended to live in the future; this must have been Edward Charles rather than his 17-year old son Benjamin Barrow (who probably would have been referred to as a son of Edward Charles and who in any case was still with the family in Toora 8 years later). There must have been a change of mind for before long he and his family was in Toora. The Traralgon Record of 11 Aug 1905 p2 reported that Shire approval to opening the Church of England at Callignee had been forwarded to Mr C Lousada, and he had earlier called for tenders for the construction of a wooden church at Callignee. The Gippsland Times of 27 May 1929 p4 described him as an old Gippslander, who formerly resided at Callignee; in this article his account of the identities of Gippsland's coaching days is given. This account appears to have been an adjunct to the reminiscences cited in note 12 above.

16. His youngest son Horace Frank was born in Warragul on 2 Oct 1900. Horace Frank's recollections do not make it clear when the family move to Traralgon occurred. The earliest certain date we have for them in Traralgon is that Catherine, Ruth and Cecil appeared in the annual school show at the Traralgon Mechanics Institute on 19 Dec 1902. In Warragul on 25 Dec 1900 Barrow, Edward (twice) and Aubrey won Prep. School prizes. Thus it would seem the family was in Warragul for the full 1900 school-year and in Traralgon for much of the 1902 school-year. Accordingly the move to Traralgon was probably in 1901.. The Traralgon Record of 8 Oct 1901 shows that a parcel for Lousada was awaiting collection at the Traralgon Railway Station.

17. The date 12 Jul 1915 is shown in Barrow's military enrolment papers, while note 2 above gives the 1 Aug 1914 date.

18. A separate image of Ben shows he had large ears and a long nose. A separate image of Barrow shows he also had a long nose and we know he was short - his military service record at Australian National Archives shows he was 5ft3in and enlisted 12 Jul 15 aged 25. A separate image of Aubrey shows his nose and ears were of average size - his military service record at Australian National Archives shows he was 5ft7in and enlisted 18 Aug 14 aged 21. On this date his father was in Korumburra. Therefore we place the smaller but older Barrow to the left of the taller but younger Aubrey, and place the somewhat more mature-looking Ben to the left of Cecil.

19. His youngest son's recollections suggest that he first entered the business with Alan McLean & Co. in Traralgon after 1876, but we have found no newspaper records for Traralgon during this period to confirm the recollection. Indeed we have found newspaper reports suggesting he remained in the Warragul district in the period 1878-81 eg in Oct 1881 he brought a flock of 700 sheep and 400 lambs originating in Strathbogie through Warragul and destined for Mr T B Guest's farm. As the flock was selected by a Mr Scott, it would seem that Edward Charles Lousada was not yet fully fledged in the business. If he joined Alan McLean and Co in Traralgon it was for only a short period 1882-3 as Messrs William Hamilton & Co announced on 2 Jul 1883 the formation of a Warragul branch at Scott's Royal Hotel Warragul with Mr C Lousada in charge (Warragul Guardian and Buln Buln and Narracan Shire Advocate 5 Jul 1883 page 2). 

20. The first newspaper record of the family in Toora dates from 1908.

21. On 14 Jul 1915 it was reported in Stock and Land (Melbourne) page 4 that he bought 123 acres from J Wynne at Kardella through Arthur H S Schier, auctioneer and estate agent of Fink's Buildings, cnr Flinders and Elizabeth Streets Melbourne. Note 2 above gives the date of 27 Apr 1917 of a letter to Beatrice at Clanville (though she died there on 10 Mar).