by Paula Wilson
Emily Caroline Barnett was born travelling and did a fair bit of it during her lifetime. She entered this world on a ship and left after hurrying for a ferry. These events occurred in different parts of the world and bookend much adventure in between.
Emily was born off the east coast of India in the Bay of Bengal on 1 November 1860. Her father, George Robinson, was an officer in the British Royal Artillery stationed in India. Six years later Mary and John took their family back to England to live in Somerset.
In 1876 they migrated to Australia and settled at Lavender Bay on the north coast of Sydney Harbour.
While visiting her married sister at Goodna, 20 kilometres south west of Brisbane, Emily met Irish born Harry Creaghe. He had arrived in Australia a number of years earlier and was a cattle station manager. They married in nearby Ipswich on 7 December 1881.
Just over a year later Caroline and Harry were named members of an expedition that would explore across the top of Australia. It would start at Normanton and finish in Darwin, the purpose was to establish the possibility for a rail line, and search out new pastoral lands. The expedition was led by explorer Ernest Favenc and included his wife Bessie in the party.
They made their way from Sydney by paddle steamer up around tip of Queensland to remote Normanton. Unfortunately Bessie became ill and Favenc had to take her back to Sydney. This not only held up the expedition but also left Emily the only woman in the group.
Minus Favenc they made a 322 kilometre trip on horseback to Carl Creek in the south west. Emily was impatient to begin however had to wait nearly three months before backtracking part of the way to again meet up with Favenc.
Eventually on 14 April 1883 the expedition began. It was not an easy time as they rode on horseback through inhospitable terrain. It was hot, there were flies, and a lack of water and food. Horses and men died, and there was the ever-present threat of confrontation with Aborigines. Emily mentioned all of these in her diaries*. And to complicate matters Emily fell pregnant. This was her second pregnancy, her first child died some time before the expedition.
It took a month to reach Powells Creek telegraph station where the group split up. Favenc and Lindsay Crawford headed back towards the east to explore the Macarthur River region. Emily and Harry took some of the horses north to Springvale station then continued on to Darwin. They boarded a vessel to Sydney on 17 August. They had been away nine months and covered approximately 2000 kilometres with Emily becoming Australia’s first female explorer.
Emily would have more adventures later in her life, meanwhile there were periods of happiness and grieve. Her son, Gerald, was born. Then tragedy struck with Harry being killed while riding his horse in 1886.
Three years later she married Joseph Barnett at Rockhampton on 10 December 1889. Like Harry he was a station manager, of properties at Marlborough and Apsis Creek. They had six children.
Once again, in 1899, Emily took off to visit her sister. This time it was to New Zealand. She travelled with five of her children and a nurse on the Perthshire.
Two days into the voyage the Perthshire encountered bad weather and broke its propeller shaft. The ship floated in the Tasman Sea for ten days while the crew attempted to fix it. Finally managing to get the Perthshire going again it limped towards Sydney at a much-reduced speed. Eventually found by a vessel searching for them the Perthshire was towed to Sydney.
Emily, her family and the nurse, the only passengers on the Perthshire, spent seven weeks floating around at sea. On their return Emily was interviewed by the press and had much to tell them.
A number of years later Emily and Joseph moved from their home of twenty years in Marlborough to Rockhampton. Ever on the go Emily opened a guesthouse and they remained there until 1920. During this time one of her sons died of wounds gained on the battlefields of France during World War 1.
Joseph died in 1922 and Emily continued to live in Sydney until her own death. She died in the Royal North Shore Hospital after falling while rushing to catch the Mosman ferry. It was 11 November 1944 ten days after her 84th birthday.
*The Diary of Emily Creaghe, Explorer edited by Peter Monteath
© Paula Wilson 2009
This entry was posted by pwilson on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Yesterday's Women.
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