—Crystal Brook—

"Crystal Brook was purchased for Messrs. Younghusband and Co. It comprised 560 square miles of country, and was stocked with 25,000 sheep, 3,400 head of cattle, and about 20 head of horses.

My brothers, John Bowman, William C. Bowman, and I spent about 20 years of our lives on the Crystal Brook Run.

 

For many years the work was hard, as up to that time very little had been done in the way of improvements.

• Wells had to be sank, and several dams put in the Broughton to spread the water over the Lower Broughton Plains.

• These dams proved a great success, as the Lower Broughton land (to Port Broughton), before the dams were put in, was fearfully rotten and treacherous ground, and many were the good busters we and our men got riding after the cattle, some of which were wild, and took to the scrub kindly."

 

—Time of Drought —

"The years 1859, 1866-1869, and 1874 were terrible years. Fifteen thousand sheep died one year and 10,0000 another. Those that survived were kept alive by the porcupine grass (spinifex).

• In the hills the kangaroos died in great numbers; a few were kept alive by eating the bush known as the Sturt thorn (possibly Sturt's Desert Pea?).

• Dingoes were very numerous. We caught a great many by setting two steel traps down together and hanging an enticing bait overhead. When a dog got a foot in each trap he was tolerably safe.

• We also had some fine dogs— I think the breed was first got by us from the late James Brown, of the south-east.

• These dogs directly they heard the howl of the dingo in the trap, would start off, even in the middle of the night, and kill it, and if put on the scent of a dingo trail would follow it up and kill the dingo.

• We lost this breed when the distemper (canine distemper) first came among the dogs."

 

"With respect to the horses, some were trained for racing, but most of the stock were sent to India.

• The horse South Australian was bought with the run, and few horses did more to improve the breed of South Australian horses than the old horse South Australian - He put his brand on all the foals, however coarse the mother might be.

• A great many of the cattle were sent to Wallaroo in the early days of the Wallaroo Mines."

 

"My late brother William Bowman and Mr. P. McAnaney, now of Strathalbyn, cut the first road through the scrub from Mundoora Bay (Fishermans Bay) to Wallaroo (now the Spencer Highway Route B89), and over this back track all our cattle travelled to Wallaroo.

• Much more could be said of the incidents of the early days.

 

My brothers, after carting bullock-dray loads of goods to our station at the head of the Wakefield, used to load up with copper ore at the Burra and deliver it at Port Adelaide.

• Once my brother had to walk from the Gilbert River to Werockty (Werocata) to find his bullocks, a distance of over 30 miles each way, the bullocks having gone straight off to their old haunts when let loose at night to feed.

• I have often been obliged to chain the team up to a tree at night to keep them.

 

These lines are only written to show how much old colonists have to thank their parents for, who suffered the discomforts of the early days and ran the risks of the long voyages in small crafts to the far-distant land of Australia, then so little known.'

​

—Later Days—

Mr. T. R. Bowman did not inherit a ready-made fortune, but carved his way for himself, and he will always be remembered as a high-minded, kind-hearted, and enterprising man, whose work was of public benefit.

His father and his brothers are all dead, but there is a younger generation remaining to  maintain the best traditions of the Bowman family.

 

"Looking back on this time, F.W. Holder wrote in 1892:

 

'In the old time when all of the country north of the Light (River) was held under pastoral lease... squatters made fortunes.' 

'The valleys of the Wakefield, Gilbert and Broughton (rivers) were almost mints with which money might be coined by the aid of sheep.' (ibid p.27)

"Each one of the Bowman brothers died rich, even very rich, as did the luckier and more determined of their neighbours." (ibid p.27)

 

Mr Bowman amassed great wealth from his pastoral properties, but he worked hard for everything he had, and he richly deserved all the success attained.

 

During the last few years Mr. Bowman had spent most of his time in Adelaide.

He was married twice, and has left a widow and two children—

• (Mrs. H. C. Cave, of Second Valley,

• and Mrs. Cecil Bray, of Adelaide),

• and two grandchildren.

​

—Death—

The death of Mr. T. R. Bowman, which occurred at his residence, 'Waverley,' South Terrace, on Friday 24 February 1911, removes one of the most successful as well as one of the most highly respected of the citizens of South Australia.

Mr. Bowman who died at the age of 75 years, while descending the stairs of his house, fell and expired about about 10 minutes afterwards. Dr. Lynch was called in, and declared life to be extinct.

The cause of death was thought to be the bursting of a blood vessel on the brain. Immediately before his sudden collapse he was apparently in good health; he was better, in fact, than he had seemed for some time.

The deceased gentleman was a pioneer squatter, and was known far and wide for his kindness of heart and his philanthropy.

​

—Philanthropy.—

• He made a magnificent gift to charitable institutions in January of last year.

• Few better plans for the assistance of the fortunate charities could have been conceived than that which he adopted.

• Mr. Bowman executed a trust deed, whereby he transferred to Messrs. W. Herbert Phillipps, L. W. Bakewell, and E. J. Green, as trustees, debentures issued by the council of the Municipality of Brisbane of the face value of £36,100.

  • Under the terms of the trust the income was to be divisible equally among 22 charitable institutions.

  • The principal money, when received, was to be divisible in a similar manner.

  • Debentures of the value of £14,800 will mature on January 1, 1919, and the remainder on January 1,1922.

  • The income to which each charitable institution is entitled under the trust is about £45 per annum.

  • The annual income to each institution from January 1, 1919 to January 1, 1922, will be £19 14/6, less exchange, and will be payable half-yearly in January and July, the first payment to be in July, 1919.

  • The approximate amount of the capital payable to each or-ganization ia January, 1919, will be £836 7/3, and in January 1922 £563 12/8.

 

• Next Page: Edmund Bowman (senior).​