1851-1927
Father
Amos Miller
Mother
Johanna Crummin
Siblings
Peter, Mary Ann, John, Clarinda, Charles, Margaret, Johanna, Jane, Amos, Annie Maria, Martha, Florence, Laura Ella
Married
Children
William Amos, Martha Anna, Ada May, Percy Charles, Ella Gertrude, Elsie Jane, Roy Edward Thomas, Howard James Miller
Rebecca’s Life
The daughter of Irish Immigrants Amos and Joanna Miller who arrived in Australia on the ‘Amelia Thompson’. They were of Palatine Irish descent. The Palatine Irish were from the Lower German Palatine who fled their country due to religious persecution in the 1700s and settled in Ireland.
The Millers settled in the Camden District and were engaged in agriculture.
Rebecca and William were married in Camden in 1877 and then moved to the Toogong area. A lovely story was published Western Daily Advertiser in 1927 on the occasion of their 50th Wedding anniversary –
‘After the honeymoon, which was spent in Sydney, Mr. Loomes travelled through Burrangarang Valley with his stock, via Triglow, Rockley, Mandurama, Cherry Tree Falls to Toogong, at which place he had taken land some six months previously. Here he built a home, where their present homestead stands. Mrs. Loomes followed afterwards with their household furniture. Catching the train at Penrith she went as far as Bathurst, which at that time was the extreme western station. Here she was met by her husband, and the two made the remaining journey by team which passed through several tollbars between Bathurst and Orange.’
Rebecca laid the foundation stone of the All Saints Church of England at Barragan, which was built in 1908 next door to the hall. The silver trowel used by Rebecca became a treasured possession of Harriet Doust Thornberry, her granddaughter. When the Bishop of Bathurst consecrated this church in 1910, Rebecca donated a new pulpit for the occasion.
Rebecca was a talented musician as were her eight children. Rebecca, a contralto and her sons, tenor and bass. She taught the congregation to chant and sing psalms. A recollection of a young parishioner of the time – ‘ there would be 25 to 30 saddle horses tied up in the Barragan Hall yard, the family buggies and sulkies were left on the three-chain road in the shade of bushes and trees’.
Authored by Leah Burnheim