Timeline

• 1818 (21 June)  Phoebe  born in England, 5th child of Jeremiah and Mary Jane Cook
• 1831 (4 February)  Arrives in WA with her family where her father has work as a shepherd
• 1831 (12 April) Father tragically dies of influenza and mother works as a cook
• 1832  Mother convicted of  larceny and sentenced to 6 months with hard labour
• 1833 Phoebe is a servant to Henry Sutherland, the Assistant Surveyor General
• 1837  (24 July ) Marries Thomas Wallace, a blacksmith from the Canning district 
• 1855 Thomas & Phoebe with 8 children move to SA and settle at Mount Pleasant
• 1866 Wallaces move their blacksmith shop from Mount Pleasant to Springton
• 1887 Thomas dies and Phoebe moves to Millicent to live with her daughter Sarah
• 1891 Phoebe returns to South Rhine District to live with her son Francis
• 1896  Phoebe dies aged 77 years and is buried in the South Rhine Cemetery

Phoebe Wallace (nee Cook) was born on 21 of June 1818, the 5th child of Jeremiah and Mary Jane Cook of Wiltshire England.

Early records state that Jeremiah arrived on the Drummore as an indentured shepherd to William Tanner who had been granted a total of 35,000 acres in the new colony of Western Australia. William Tanner who was 30 years of age had chartered the vessel Margaret in England to take he, his wife and servants, including Jeremiah and his family, totaling 41 persons, to the new colony. He also loaded property to the value of ₤8,800. On arrival at Cape Town, William met former settlers from Swan River Western Australia, who gave him bad reports of the country and conditions. Upon hearing this he decided to proceed to New South Wales instead.

He sold most of his property at Cape Town, left the Margaret and with his family and servants boarded the Drummore which was sailing to New South Wales via Fremantle in Western Australia. However, on arriving at Swan River settlement in WA they found the country and conditions were ideal and not what they had been led to believe so they decided to disembark at Fremantle Port, setting foot on Australian soil on 4th February 1831. William Tanner’s party now consisted of himself, wife Hannah and son William Afric (who was born at sea) 30 servants, this included Jeremiah Cook, his wife and their ten children and property to the value of ₤2,250.

Tragedy struck the Cook family when Jeremiah contracted influenza and died 12th April 1831. Mary Jane would have experienced great difficulty in caring for the large young family. She was employed as a cook at the homestead where Jeremiah had been employed.

In 1832 Mary Jane was found guilty of Larceny and was imprisoned for 6 months with hard labour. During this traumatic time Phoebe was employed as a servant girl. In 1833 Phoebe was employed by Henry Sutherland, the Assistant Surveyor to the Surveyor General, J S Roe.

Thomas Wallace at the age of 22 took up an indentured apprenticeship to a tradesman in Australia. He came out on the Protector  from Hampshire, England, arriving in WA on 20 February 1830.  In the 1832 census Thomas Wallace was listed as single and a labourer and blacksmith.

Thomas Wallace married Phoebe Cook on 24 July 1837 at Guilford WA.

In the 1837 Census Thomas is mentioned as a blacksmith, living in the Canning District and York. Thomas went on to own his own forge in York, opened on 28 August 1841. He also kept an Inn allowing him to keep in touch with the farmers and their needs for a blacksmith.

Thomas and Phoebe had 7 boys and 4 girls, one of the boys was stillborn and a boy and a girl died in infancy. On  21 March 1855 the Wallace family left WA on the Fergus  having decided to move to the Victorian goldfields, but on arriving in Port Adelaide they decided to disembark and settle in South Australia.

The Wallace family walked from Adelaide to Mt Pleasant with their belongings. Thomas purchased Lots 17 and 18 in the Hundred of Talunga for ₤10 each and he and his sons established the first Blacksmith shop. They sold this blacksmith shop in 1866 and moved to Springton where he purchased allotments 50 to 53 inclusive on 27 March 1866. He was the first blacksmith at Taunton, Springton and Hendryton.

Thomas Wallace was a remarkably clever mechanic and with his sons Thomas William and Francis Edward they turned old saws into bullock bells and half sovereigns into wedding rings plus doing the heavy blacksmith work for the farmers in the district.

Thomas Wallace was appointed a Special Constable by the South Rhine District Council in 1866.  Thomas subsequently left the blacksmithing to his son Thomas William and became a farmer and vigneron at South Rhine.  Thomas died 3 January 1887 aged 79 years of Senile Dementia and is buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

Phoebe moved to Millicent in SA to care for her daughter Sarah, who had 7 children and whose husband had died suddenly. She returned to live with her son, Francis Edward after Sarah was admitted to the Adelaide Asylum on 15 July 1891 as a Pauper Lunatic.

Phoebe died 24 March 1896 aged 77 years of Malignant Jaundice and was buried at South Rhine Cemetery.

Condensed from information received from a descendent of the Wallace family.