HISTORY of WESTERN COVE

Page 2 —  LATE 19TH CENTURY

Contents Page


WILLSON and BATES

Western Cove used to have sheep stations (or sheep farms).

The Kingscote Museum has on display maps dated 1876 and 1882 of "Kangaroo Island Land Holdings" showing boundaries and the names of the owners.

Land owned by E.S. Bates is shown on both maps and seems to correspond to the eastern half of today's Western Cove township and extending about 1 kilometre inland.

The land east of the Bates area was owned by T. Willson and to the north by M.A. Thompson.

Land holdings around Western Cove in 1882



T. Willson (1821-1901) previously lived at Yankalilla on the mainland where he was a farmer, and chairman of the District Council. Here is an incident from his life in 1865:

South Australian Register 26 December, 1865, p. 3

"Yankalilla

Mr. T. Willson, of this township, met with a loss last Friday, 15th. whilst shipping some horses for his run on Kangaroo Island. A valuable mare was killed by the knot of the towline slipping from its place and causing her to knock her head with great violence against the bottom of the boat during her struggles."

In 1866 Willson moved to KI, settling at Hog Bay (Penneshaw) and was the Island's magistrate and Chairman of the Dudley District Council for about 28 years:

Chronicle (Adelaide) 25 May, 1901, p.16

"THE LATE MR. THOMAS WILLSON.
Hog Bay. May 20.

The death occurred on Saturday last of Mr. Thomas Willson, sen. He had not been feeling well when he paid his weekly visit to Hog Bay last Monday, but went into the fields grubbing arid burning weeds as usual during the week, hoping to work off the feeling of illness. On Friday, however, he felt worse, and at night his condition so alarmed his wife and granddaughter that his family, all residing some miles' distant, were sent for. Mr. C. Willson, from American Beach, who lived nearest, was the only one of the three sons who arrived in time to see Mr. Willson before his death, Messrs. T. and M. Willson reaching the house within half an hour of the end. Failure of the heart was the cause of death.

Mr. Willson had always been an active man, and he took great interest in all matters concerning the public welfare. He had for many years been chairman of the Dudley District Council, and was also receiver of wrecks.

The gathering at the graveside yesterday represented every house for miles around. People came from Ante-Chamber Bay, Cuttlefish, Hog Bay River, South Coast, Salt Lagoon, American River, Point Morrison, Rocky Point, and American Beach. The deceased leaves a widow, 88 years of age, 1 daughter (Mrs. Hibbert, of Victoria), and 3, sons (Mr. T. Willson, jun., of Hog Bay River, Mr. C. Willson, of American Beach, and Mr. M. Willson, of Hog Bay River), 30 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

Mr. Willson was born at Tattershall, Bradford, on October 25, 1821, and came to South Australia in 1850 in the ship Francis Ridley, and settled at Yankalilla, where he lived 16 years. He then came to Kangaroo Island in 1866, and had been chairman of the district council since its inception, and a justice of the peace for about 28 years."

M.A. Thompson, the owner of the land on the northern part of Western Cove, may be the same M.A. Thompson whose death notice was published in the Adelaide Register in 1883. This is a hypothesis and requires confirmation. The notice reads:

"THOMPSON.— On the 12th April, at Westbrooke, Yorke's Peninsula, M.A. Thompson, the beloved mother of Charles Calman, of Kingscote, Kangaroo Island; of Michael Calman, Yorke's Peninsula; and of M.A. Calman, Tasmania, aged 84 years. A colonist of 47 years."
 (5 May, 1883)


I found out about E.S. Bates (i.e. Ephraim Steen Bates), the owner of the land that now corresponds to the Western Cove township, from Bruce Bates (1918-2014) of Penneshaw.

                Bruce Bates in 2011


Bruce Bates said that his great grandfather, Ephraim Steen Bates (1824-1915), arrived from England in 1858 with wife and two children. Apparently another five were born in  Australia — The Kangaroo Island Pioneers Association website shows the Bates' genealogy and names seven children.

Ephraim settled at Penneshaw in 1860 but later also owned a sheep farm and homestead at Western Cove.

The 1884 travellers to Western Cove make no mention of any homestead which therefore, presumably, was built after 1884.

In 1871 Ephraim's daughter Emma (1850-1901) (i.e. Bruce's great aunt) married Henry Chenoweth (1847-1927) who came from Cornwall. They lived in the Western Cove homestead until Emma died in 1901.


THE REMAINS OF THE BATES HOMESTEAD

The cement floor of a former house still exists on the coastal reserve just above the beach, near the Esplanade-Cadet Street intersection, and may be the remains of  the homestead Bruce Bates referred to. The walls are gone but the floor (26 x 30 feet) overgrown with trees and bushes remains. There is a concrete rainwater tank at the east end of the floor, and a rectangular outdoor structure (1 x 1.5 metres) with remnants of thick concrete walls on the south side of the floor.

Left: Concrete rainwater tank.    Right: Rectangular structure (with the floor of the back of  the house commencing to the right)



Another, smaller, cement floor is situated 29 feet (9 metres) east of the homestead floor. The side facing the beach is 11 feet (3.5 metres) in length and indicated in the photo below by the spade and the shoe. The length leftwards was not determined due to the overgrowth of vegetation.




A further 50 metres eastwards is what appears to be buried remains of old building materials with some indication of fire.



I remember also the remains of a small stone house somewhere near here in the 1970s, no floor, no roof, walls partly demolished but still about 2 metres high — eventually completely removed.

Where humans lived there would have been holes or ditches where they deposited and buried garbage. Perhaps a future archaeologist will conduct a "dig" and write a report about human habitation around 1900 CE at Western Cove.


SHEEP DIP and PONDS

The remains of a sheep-dip and piles of concrete slabs and rusty iron were located at the Western Cove Road/Esplanade intersection until about 2000 when cleared away. Sheep used to be taken to Kingscote and then transported on the Karatta (and later the Troubridge) to Adelaide for slaughtering at the abattoirs. 

At least eight man-made freshwater ponds (either dug out or bulldozed) still exist at Western Cove, close to the beach and east of the township (on land listed in 1882 under the name Willson). The water was fresh enough for animals to drink because Western Cove has a high water table which in wet years is within 60 centimetres of the ground surface.

One of the freshwater ponds



Today the ponds probably contribute to the Western Cove mosquito population. The mosquitoes can become bothersome in Spring and Autumn whenever there is little air movement and temperatures exceed 14oC.

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