In 1908, towards the end of the year, the Australian Town and Country Journal published a series of twelve articles under the banner ‘Eminent Women in Australia’. These vignettes were intended to recover the untold stories of notable women:
Side by side with the many notable men who have lived in and worked for this great Commonwealth there have also been eminent women, whose story in many cases has been untold, and though they may have been equally strong fine characters, with great influence for good, yet, in accordance with the spirit of the times, little or nothing has been publicly said about them or their work.[1]
Most were women whose histories and achievements are familiar to Australian historians and warrant their own entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (hereafter ADB) – Lady Windeyer, philanthropist, temperance advocate, promoter of women’s issues; Lady John Franklin, widow of Sir John Franklin, Lieutenant -Governor of Tasmania and later Arctic explorer; Miss Lucy Osburn, protégé of Florence Nightingale and pioneer of trained nurses in Australia; Mrs Caroline Chisholm, champion of female immigrants; and Catherine Helen Spence, journalist, reformer, and feminist. [2]
Others, who worked ‘quietly, so unostentatiously that if their names are mentioned people scarcely are aware that anything distinctive attaches to them by reason of what they have been spending years in accomplishing’ rate a brief, often very brief, mention in the ADB in relation to the work of their husband: – Lady Northcote, wife of the Governor General, philanthropist and supporter of women’s causes; Mrs James Jefferis, wife of a congregational minister, who campaigned for the cause of destitute, orphaned and neglected children; Mrs Robert Lowe, Lady Sherbrooke, who made herself ‘indispensable to a famous man’; Mrs Garran, widow of journalist and politician Dr. Andrew Garran, who served on the board of the State Children’s Relief and on the house committee of the Children’s Hospital; and Lady Terence Aubrey Murray who, on death of husband established Springfield College, a boarding school for girls in Darlinghurst. [3]
This list of women whose achievements were worth memorialising was completed with the inclusion of Miss Louise Taplin, who supervised the Infants’ Home, a refuge for unmarried mothers and their children in Ashfield, from 1886 until her death in 1901, and Mrs Sophie Corrie. [4] Sophie Corrie was exceptional not least because she was the only one of these twelve women who had been born in Australia (she was not just ‘in’ Australia, but ‘of’ Australia). She has also been included in the ADB in recognition of her individual achievements, which include winning over 700 prizes for her jams, pickles, jellies and preserves, being appointed to serve on the council of the New South Wales Chamber of Agriculture, and authoring The Art of Canning, Bottling and Preserving of Fruits which eventually ran to six editions.[5] The first edition of The Art of Canning was presumably self-published in 1892, making it one of the very earliest cookery books written by someone born in Australia.[6] But Sophie qualified as an ‘eminent’ woman because she was an example ‘of the many grand women who, giving up cheerfully the easier conditions of city life, have gone forth with their children, and settled on the land, labouring until they have made the desert into a garden, and from a gum tree forest has evolved a homestead, and an estate has been cultivated’.[7] The rise to eminence of a fruit preserving champion begs many questions. Just how remarkable was Sophie Corrie and how did she gain such notoriety?
The life of Sophie Corrie
Sophie’s grandfather, George Wheeler, arrived in Sydney as a convict, with a 14-year sentence, in 1817. Joined by his wife, Sophia, and children John, James and William in 1822, he was assigned to Sophia in 1823. George Wheeler established himself in Kent Street as a chandler/dealer. [8]
His eldest son, John, sometime dealer and grocer (presumably working with his father initially), quickly took advantage of the opportunities available to him in the colony. John, aged 24, married Elizabeth Brumby in 1830 and in the same year petitioned Governor Darling for, and was granted, land in the Illawarra.[9] In the event the family did not move to the Illawarra and John continued in business in Sydney.[10] The second of John’s five children, Sophia/ Sophie, was born in 1832.
In 1830 George Wheeler held the license for the Bell, subsequently the Blue Bell Inn (corner of Phillip and Hunter Streets), which then passed to his son James Wheeler, the licensee from 1832 until 1837. James then moved on to take up farming. In 1837 both John and James took up land in the area of Manly Cove, James to the north of Dee Why Lagoon and John 100 acres in the vicinity of Balgowlah Village bounded by Manly Creek, the main road to Pittwater and Condamine Street.[11] According to the 1841 census John, Elizabeth and their four daughters, Mary, Sophia, Louisa and Emily were living in a stone house at Manly Farm. Similarly, John’s brother James was living with his wife and three daughters on his property at Dee Why Lagoon. James subsequently acquired considerable holdings, farming land at Narrabeen and Dee Why, and town lots at Balgowlah. This branch of the Wheeler family remained in the area for over 100 years.[12]
Meanwhile John, Sophie’s father, held the publican’s license for the Lord Nelson, on the corner of Philip and Hunter streets in 1836 and 1837, and then for the Blue Bell on the corner of Sussex and Erskine streets in 1842 and 1843, before he took over the Strawberry Hills Inn.[13] When John died in 1846 the license for the Strawberry Hills Inn (Surry Hills) passed to his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth, remarried in 1848, and the Strawberry Hills Inn remained in family hands until around 1856.[14] By the terms of John’s will his four daughters inherited all his real estate as tenants in common on their mother’s remarriage and were entitled to equal shares of all the rents and profits therefrom.[15] When George Wheeler, Sophie’s grandfather, died in 1852 he was able to bequeath his heirs considerable real estate. Sophie and her sisters inherited their father’s share consisting of lots in Elizabeth Street South and Wilton Street, part of the Strawberry Hills Estate, Surry Hills.[16]
Meanwhile the Wheeler family, through their membership of the Methodist Church and their business and land dealings put down firm foundations in the city and became established members of their community. Marriage further consolidated that position uniting the Wheelers with other families making a place for themselves in middle class society. Sophie’s aunt Louisa, George’s youngest child, married Thomas Fusedale, a successful businessman who served on the Waterloo Council as both alderman and Mayor.[17] Sophie’s sister Elizabeth married accountant and public servant, Charles Cornelius Nightingale, while her other sister Louisa married Lancelot Iredale Brennand. Lancelot’s grandfather, Lancelot Iredale, had founded a successful business as an ironmonger while his father, Thomas Brennand, had been an auctioneer and sometime bookseller. Lancelot Iredale Brennand’s own career saw him become superintendent of the Colonial Office Stores Department.[18]
Sophie Wheeler married young Irish doctor William Christian McDona in 1855 only to be widowed in 1857.[19] In 1863 she married Charles Pittman Corrie.[20] Charles Corrie was initially successful ‘in the commercial world’ and the family ‘lived in comfort’ at Concord until mining speculation eventually led to bankruptcy and Charles died insolvent, aged 45, in April 1875.[21] Sophie was left with four children and gave birth to another son in January 1876.[22] She first supported her family by running a boarding house. Now living at 80 William Street, Woolloomooloo, Sophie advertised apartments to let before selling her ‘superior household furniture and effects’ and moving to Mittagong late in 1877.[23]
This move was a very deliberate decision, since it meant leaving behind her extended family and friends. It might have been that she wished to distance herself from her family, but this seems unlikely. The marriage of her daughter Maud to James Wheeler junior confirms that these two families kept in contact.[24] It is also plausible that Sophie took advice on her land and business dealings from her Uncle James and from her Brennand and Fusedale connections. Louisa and Lancelot Brennand had already taken up land in the Blue Mountains, at Valley Heights, before Sophie relocated to Mittagong. In newspaper interviews Sophie claims she chose to leave the city for her children’s health and because she had always wanted to live in the country, but it is also likely that the move to Mittagong was strategic. A boarding house in the Southern Highlands was likely to attract a more genteel and monied clientele than one in Woolloomooloo, and the rent of the premises may have been cheaper, all contributing to stretching her finances further. Life in the country perhaps offered other savings such as growing her own vegetables to feed her family. There is also the possibility that she wished to escape any social stigma attached to her husband’s bankruptcy.
In the healthy atmosphere of the southern highlands, she began by ‘receiving visitors’ at Eisenthal a ‘substantial stone-built residence of 14 rooms, kitchen and offices, servants’ rooms, stable and coach house’.[25] There is also evidence that she took in children under the State Children’s Relief Act and received money from the State for their upkeep, presumably while the family was at Eisenthal.[26] Providing accommodation was an on-going source of income. In 1881 Sophie advertised rooms available at Osbourne House in Bowral, and in 1887 she was offering ‘superior accommodation to visitors’ at Strathdon, Colo Vale. Sophie’s daughter Edith married John Dymock at Strathdon, described in the wedding announcement as ‘the home of the bride’s mother’, in 1889 and Sophie was still receiving summer visitors at Strathdon in November 1892.[27]
In the interim Sophie’s mother, Elizabeth, had died.[28] Under the provisions of her late husband’s will his brother James had become trustee and sole executor of his estate on Elizabeth’s marriage to Thomas Wheeler. Following Elizabeth’s death, the decision was taken to sell the land in Surry Hills which John had inherited from his father, and which was now the sole property of Sophie and her sister Louisa.[29] The Brumby House Estate was subdivided and auctioned on 5 March 1879.[30]
Subdivision plan, Brumby House Estate Strawberry Hills [area around Wilton Street and Wilton Place, Brumby Street] (05/03/1879), [A-00530222] City of Sydney Archives, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1069642.
It should be remembered too that Sophie and Louisa were also the owners of John Wheeler’s land near Manly, from which they received rent, giving Sophie some regular income. The sale of the land at Surry Hills must have given her funds to draw down on and perhaps financed her own land deals, beginning in 1881 with five small blocks just outside what was then the village of Fitzroy at a total outlay of a little over £100.[31] Sophie extended her land holdings with conditional purchases in 1882 and again in 1884 in the area now known as Yerrinbool and Alpine. In accordance with the land regulations regarding conditional purchase the selector paid a deposit of one quarter of the purchase price and was required to make improvements to the value of £1 per acre. The selector was also expected to reside on, and to occupy the land for three years. Payment for the land could be made from year to year and the balance, with interest could be paid over an extended period. Sophie set about clearing her land, advertising timber for sale in 1882 and in 1883, in partnership with someone by the name of Moore, she took over the Mittagong timber mill previously operated by Williamson and Co. [32]
Sophie was able to support herself and her brood, the eldest of whom were now well old enough to make a contribution, with the proceeds of her land clearing and farming, supplementing her income by letting rooms, but presumably also secure in the knowledge that there was money in the bank. She also soon began to boost her petty cash by winning prizes for her jams and pickles at local agricultural society shows from Berrima and Goulburn to Picton, Camden, Kiama, Wollongong and eventually the New South Wales Agricultural Society Show in Sydney.[33]
The Exhibition of Women’s Industries, staged in October 1888, was the initiative of the wife of the governor of New South Wales, Lady Carrington. Held in the old exhibition buildings in Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, the event was intended as both a vehicle to raise money for the Queen’s Jubilee Fund for Distressed Women and an opportunity to display the variety of work performed by women. The aim of the display was to demonstrate ‘the standard of excellence to which [women] have attained in the several useful and ornamental arts to which they have devoted their attention’ with the object of also illustrating the ‘various methods by which women can earn their livelihood’.[34] No doubt these noble aims appealed to Sophie, who was her own example of what one woman could achieve, and she enthusiastically supported an event which she believed ‘did much to break down many a barrier & opened avenues for women to follow occupations never thought of before’.[35] She contributed jams, pickles and dried fruits to the competitions, donated tea cakes and scones and spent time volunteering in the kitchen established to provide refreshments for the visitors to the exhibition. Needless to say, she also came away with prizes for her produce.[36] Her experiences working at Alfred Park ‘in the interest of the women of NSW’, and incidentally meeting with like-minded women such as Lady Mary Windeyer, the delegate in charge of the Education Department, may have provided her with the impetus to produce The Art of Canning, Bottling and Preserving of Fruit which she appears to have self-published in 1891/2.[37] This booklet brought her to the attention of a wider audience, particularly after William Brooks & Co took over the publication and advertised it regularly in the Sydney Stock and Station Journal.[38] The booklet also carried endorsements from Lady Carrington (wife of the Governor of New South Wales 1885–1890) to whom the book was dedicated, Lady Darley (wife of the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales 1891–1910), the Department of Agriculture, and laudatory press notices.[39]
In all Sophie claimed to have won 700 awards including the Royal Agricultural Society’s national prize for a method of using surplus fruits and vegetables.[40] Her success with her preserves and the fresh produce from her farm saw her eventually graduate from competitor to judge. Along with her interest in agriculture in general she was recognised as something of an expert on a range of topics - farming, fruit trees, vegetables, controlling pests and animal husbandry. She became known to, and well respected by other horticulturalists and authorities such as members of the Royal Agricultural Society, and the Department of Agriculture, culminating with her appointment as the first woman to serve on the council of the New South Wales Chamber of Agriculture.[41]
In 1905/6 she and her youngest child, Broughton, sold their land holdings at Cole Vale.[42] Sophie, at the age of 73, embarked on a world tour.
On Monday, 9 April 1906, HMS Ventura left Circular Quay bound for San Francisco via Auckland, Samoa and Honolulu. Among the passengers were Mrs S. Corrie and Miss S. Franklin. Sophie left the Ventura at Auckland on April 13th but not before she had struck up an acquaintance with Miles Franklin, to whom she presented a copy of The Art of Canning. What the two women thought of one another and what they talked about is not recorded, but they may have found much common ground. Both were travelling alone, leaving Australia for the first time, Sophie fulfilling a life-long ambition, Franklin seeking recognition.[43] Franklin understood the joys and vicissitudes of life on the land and the desire to be independent, Sophie was a model of the self-reliant woman, although hers was perhaps not the brilliant career that Franklin sought. It is not difficult to imagine that Sophie would have encouraged Franklin to follow her dreams. There is no evidence that Franklin ever prepared any of Sophie’s recipes, but the book remained in her possession and eventually found its way into the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.
Sophie first spent three months in New Zealand then ‘moved leisurely’ across the United States and Canada before spending time in Britain and Europe.[44] She did not return home until 1908. What evidence there is suggests that now, thanks to her new-found notoriety (see Part 2) and no longer tied to the farm and life in the country, she was able to indulge her interests, including advocating for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, supporting women’s suffrage and the cause of women as workers, acting as a judge at various agricultural shows, writing occasionally for newspapers, granting interviews to journalists, travelling and visiting her sons in Queensland. She also revised and updated The Art of Canning which was issued in a 6th edition in 1913, by which time there were 12,000 copies in circulation.[45] In September 1913 she was in Queensland, visiting Rockhampton and Bundaberg before returning to Brisbane with a severe cold. She developed bronchitis and died on 27 September aged 81.Her total estate was valued at £4940.
In her will Sophie made three bequests each of £100. The recipients were the Bowral Circuit of the Methodist Church of Australia, the Berrima District Cottage Hospital and Georgiana Barker, wife of Alfred John Barker of Teneriffe, Brisbane. Georgiana Louis Annie Barker, nee Smith, had been a witness at Sophie’s wedding to Charles Pittman Corrie. Georgiana’s husband had also been successful in business before losing everything, so the two women had much in common.[47] Interestingly while she paid her respects to the community where she had made her home, Sophie did not provide any funds to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union despite her support of their work.
The proceeds of her shares in the Equitable Permanent Building Land and Savings Institution, valued at £920, were to be used to pay these legacies, any debts, and her funeral expenses. The balance was to be held in trust for some of her grandchildren, to provide for their education and support until they reached 21, when each was entitled to an equal share.
Altogether Sophie had land holdings estimated to be worth £3600. All the remaining land at Colo Vale was to go to Broughton. The land she held in common with her sister Louisa was to be sold by her trustees and then divided equally between her surviving children, one fourth each to Arthur, Broughton and Edith, and the last to be held in trust to provide an income for Maud, and on her death for the children of Maud’s second marriage.[48] Her household and personal effects she left to Broughton. Arthur inherited the copyright of The Art of Canning. This appears to be a generous and fair distribution of her considerable wealth, given that Broughton had been the main supporter of her farming endeavours.
In addition, Sophie directed her sons to maintain the family vault at Rookwood, and their brother Stanley’s grave at Wanganui, in New Zealand. Her final instruction was that she was to be buried in the Corrie family vault and ‘that my funeral shall be conducted in as plain and unostentatious a manner as possible’.[49]
For all the information it is possible to glean from the archive, Sophie Corrie’s true character and the nature of her relationships with family and friends remain elusive. Moreover, in later life she develops a public persona which is somewhat at odds with the facts. See Part Two.
[1] Australian Town and Country Journal (hereafter ATCJ), 9 September 1908, p. 25.
[2]
[3] ATCJ, 2 September 1908, p. 27 Henry Stafford Northcote ADB, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/northcote-henry-stafford-7861; ATCJ, 23 September 1908, p. 39; James Jefferis, ADB, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jefferis-james-3853; ATCJ, 14 October 1908, p. 39; Robert Lowe, ADB, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lowe-robert-2376; ATCJ, 21 October 1908, p. 39; Andrew Garran, ADB,https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/garran-andrew-3594; ATCJ, 4 November 1908, p. 39; Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, ADB, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murray-sir-terence-aubrey-2498.
[4] ATCJ, 2 December 1908, p. 38; Obituary https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/taplin-louise-27555
[5] ADB, Sophie Corrie, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/corrie-sophia-12860
[6] No libraries appear to have a copy of the original version of this publication. The date of its first printing is assumed from a letter written by Sophie Corrie to Lady Windeyer dated 25 October 1892, to accompany a copy of the book. https://primo-slnsw.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB110350932&context=L&vid=SLNSW&lang=en_US&search_scope=E&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,sophie%20corrie&offset=0
[7] ACTJ, 28 October 1908, p. 39.
[8] Museums of History NSW-State Archives Collection (hereafter MHNSW-StAC), Index to Col. Sec. Papers 1788–1825, [4/4570D], p. 130; petition from Sophia to Governor Brisbane for mitigation of sentence, [4/1870], p. 95; Census of New South Wales, November 1828. George Wheeler, alias George Ayres. Arrival Sophia Wheeler, Sydney Gazette, 24 May 1822, p. 2.
[9] MHNSW-StAC: Col. Sec. Letters relating to Land 1826-56, item no. 2/8004, reel no. 1197. Elizabeth Brumby came to New South Wales as a nurse with the family of John Lamb, J.P, arrived on Resource, 6 May 1829, Sydney Gazette, 9 May 1829, p. 2.
[10] Sydney Gazette, 23 August 1836, p. 4. Francis Clarke, 50 acres, parish unnamed at Illawarra, near the Minnamurra rivulet. Promised by Ralph Darling on 14 January 1831 to John Wheeler and possession authorised on 31 March 1831, but now at his request advertised in favour of Mr Clarke.
[11] MHNSW-StAC: NRS 13836, Land grants and leases (Registers) 1792–1865, [7/450], register 5, page 15, 21, reel 2846 (12 April 1837); register 6, pp. 23, 25 and 25, reel 2846 (18 April 1842).
[12] The Wheeler house stood on the southern shore of Narrabeen Lagoon and was not demolished until the 1980s.
[13] John’s license was not renewed in 1838, Sydney Gazette, 21 July 1838, p. 2; Sydney Morning Herald (hereafter SMH), 8 August 1838, p. 2. Sale of the license, stock in trade, and household furniture of the well-known public house the Blue Bell in Erskine Street, SMH, 4 December 1843, p. 3.
[14] Death of John Wheeler, SMH, 23 May 1846, p. 3. Elizabeth Wheeler married Thomas Wheeler, of Bank Street, Chippendale, in 1848 and the license was then in Thomas’s name. Thomas died in 1866 (18 May 1866, at his residence Pitt Street, Waterloo, SMH, 26 May 1866, p. 1), and Elizabeth in 1874 (SMH, 18 November 1874, p. 1). Whether or not Thomas was related to the wider Wheeler clan is unclear but Thomas Fusedale, husband of Louisa Wheeler, Sophie’s aunt, was the executor of Thomas Wheeler’s will, MHNSW-StAC: NRS-13660-1-[14/3394],-Series 1_6829, date of death 18 May 1866, granted 6 July 1866. Thomas Wheeler of Pitt Street, Waterloo, formerly a baker.
[15] MHNSW-StAC: NRS-13660-1-[14/3226]-Series 1_1727, John Wheeler, date of death 22 May 1846. Probate granted 3 August 1846.
[16] MHNSW-StAC: NRS-13660-1-[14/3253]-Series 1_2574, George Wheeler, date of death 2 November 1852, probate granted 19 March 1853.
[17] Alderman 1874-79, Mayor 1876.
[18] Marriage Nightingale/Wheeler SMH 23 June 1851, p. 3, took place at the residence of Thomas Wheeler, and the witnesses were Thomas Wheeler and Charles Nightingale. Marriage Louisa and Launcelot Iredale Brennand, SMH, 7 May 1856, p. 1, married with the consent of James Wheeler, Louisa’s guardian, in the presence of W. ? Brennand and Charles Cornelius Nightingale.
[19] .William Christian McDonna MD married Sophia Wheeler 20 October 1855, in the presence of Lancelot I. Brennand and Charles Nightingale. See SMH, 30 September 1855, p. 8, and death SMH 25 June 1857, p. 8. Sophie wasted no time, the whole of McDona’s household furniture and effects were advertised for sale in the Empire, 27 June 1857, p. 7. While McDona’s death certificate notes that he was married, it also states that the name of his spouse is ‘unknown’. The death was reported by the Weslyan minister, so it is possible that he and Sophie were estranged.
[20] SMH, 5 February 1862, p. 1.
[21] Evening News, 15 April 1875, p. 2; NSW Government Gazette, 19 March 1875, p. 845; Singleton Argus, 18 November 1874, p. 2, Corrie had debts of £1000. At the time of Corrie’s death, the family is living in Stewart Street, Paddington. SMH, 26 December 1868, p. 8 To let, Clermont, Concord, 10 minutes from Homebush station, 10 rooms, large hall, pantries, bath, servant’s rooms, kitchen, laundry, cellar, coach house, stables. 20 or 40 acres land, 5 in orchard.
[22] Birth of Broughton Corrie, SMH, 7 January 1876, p. 1, at 86 William Street, Woolloomooloo. Her other children were Emily, born at Palmer Street SMH, 31 January 1863, p. 1; Arthur Pitman born 18 April 1865, SMH, 20 May 1865, p. 9; Edith, born 25 November, Darlinghurst, SMH, 1 December 1866, p. 1; Walter, born 1869, died 1870; Maud, born 1870, at Clermont, Concord, Sydney Mail, 22 October, p. 14; Charles Stanley, born 1873 at Clermont, Concord, Empire, 15 January 1873.
[23] Vacant apartments, SMH, 8 February 1877, p. 12; sale of household goods SMH, 18 April 1877, p. 6. Interview in The Sun, 11 May 1913, p. 20, she says she started a boarding house in William Street and after 5 years went to Mittagong.
[24] Maud married James Wheeler in 1887.
[25] Advertising the guest house, SMH, 27 October 1877, p. 16, 13 November 1878, p. 12. Description of house SMH, 9 January 1873, p. 8.
[26] This is a case which involves Sophie’s eldest son, Arthur, facing court over having beaten a boy in their care. Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 15 May 1884, p. 4; SMH, 20 May 1884, p. 4; Bowral Free Press, 31 May 1884, p. 2.
[27] Advertising a vacancy at Osbourne House, SMH, 19 January 1881, p. 12; a cottage to let in Bowral, SMH, 26 November 1881; Sydney Punch, 26 February 1881, p. 2 ‘Mrs Corrie had a charming cottage at Bowral … good and attentive hostess … makes visitors thoroughly happy and comfortable.’ Advertising a 6 roomed, furnished house with every convenience, at Colo Vale, SMH, 8 January 1887, p. 20 (in name of A. P. Corrie); superior accommodation to visitors at Strathdon, Colo Vale, SMH, 16 February 1887, p. 3. Marriage of Edith and John Dymock at Strathdon, AJCJ, 30 November 1889, p. 35 and Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1892, p. 8. A letter from Sophie to Lady Windeyer, dated October 1892, is sent from Ti-Tree. This is just another discrepancy in the story. According to an interview Sophie gave to an Adelaide reporter in 1911 she disposed of her original homestead on the death of her daughter (Emily died in 1894, at the home of her sister Edith, in Jamberoo, SMH, 1 August 1894, p, 1) and established another on the same selection (Observer (Adelaide), 2 December 1911, p. 42). It remains unclear whether Strathdon was this original homestead.
[28] Elizabeth Wheeler nee Brumby, died 16 November 1872 at her residence Derwent Street, Glebe, SMH 18 November 1872, p. 1.
[29] Sister Emily died in 1854 having never married (SMH, 3 July 1854, p. 8). Elizabeth Nightingale, wife of Charles Cornelius, died 17 May 1863.
[30] See advertising SMH 11 January 1897, p. 13 and results of sale SMH 8 March 1879, p. 6.
[31] NSW Government Gazette 29 August 1882, p. 4468. For land transfers see https://hlrv.nswlrs.com.au. Vol. 50 folios 153, 154, 155, 156 and 157. Sophie gives her occupation as lodging house keeper. The Fitzroy village area is now a part of Mittagong.
[32] Timber for sale, SMH, 19 September 1882, p. 9; Mrs Corrie’s timber mill, Bowral Free Press, 18 August 1883, p. 3. See also Bowral Free Press 22 September 1883, p. 2.’
[33] She was exhibiting at least as early as 1885, Bowral Free Press, 25 March 1885, p. 3 at the Berrima District Agricultural Society Show.
[34] SMH, 1 October 1888, p. 8. ‘Exhibition of Women’s Industries’.
[35] Letter to Lady Windeyer, 25 October 1892. State Library of NSW, https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YK5QQQjn.
[36] See catalogue https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-486158185/view?partId=nla.obj-486252763 for her contributions. For prizes see SMH, 12 October 1888, p. 8; 27 October, p. 10 and 29 October, p. 3. In The Art of Canning, she claims to have been awarded 2 silver medals for her candied and dried fruits, and 2 bronze medals for pickles and condiments.
[37] This date is assumed from the letter to Mary Windeyer.
[38] Sydney Stock and Station Journal was published by Brooks.
[39] State Library of NSW, https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VvWRDz7l0y/84bwG75AjvlXv.
[40] Sophie claimed that this was a first prize but in fact the RAS did not award a first prize in this contest. The Australian Star, 26 April 1893, p. 2.
[41] The Chamber aimed to foster co-operation between primary producers and so protect their shared interests. Corrie was a member until her death. Sydney Stock and Station Journal, 27 October 1908, p. 4.
[42] LAND SALES SMH, 1 December 1905, p. 4; Sale of Mrs Corrie’s effects as she is leaving the area, The Wollondilly Press, 7 April 1906, p. 2. B. Corrie sells Alpine Estate, 1 ½ miles from station, poultry and dairy farm blocks, Evening News, 28 March 1906, p. 8.
[43] Sophie’s ambition Sun, 11 May 1913, p. 20.
[44] Sun, 11 May 1913, p. 20; ‘moved leisurely’, Farmer and Settler, 29 January 1907, p. 7; Daily Telegraph, 24 February 1909, p. 12 ‘A woman traveller returned’.
[45] Farmer and Settler, 8 April 1913, p. 8.
[46] Telegraph (Brisbane), 27 September 1913, p. 2.
[47] Telegraph (Bris) 24 April 1891, p. 3 and Brisbane Courier, 17 July 1902, p. 4.
[48] Sophie and Louisa held 94 acres in total. SMH, 25 September 1915, p. 4 Advertising auction by orders of the executors of the will of Mrs Sophie Corrie, well-known market garden in north manly, 24 acres, frontages to main Pittwater Road, Condamine Street and old Pittwater Road. An old established garden, consisting of deep rich alluvial soil with a long frontage to the permanent Curl Curl Creek, from which the land is irrigated. Convenient to Manly and fronting Brookvale tramway. Rent 125 pounds yearly.
[49] The Corrie plot is at Rookwood Cemetery, Methodist Old 1A OC_Zone A/#/69. Buried there are Sophie, Arthur Pittman Corrie, Walter Corrie, Alfred Nightingale, Charles P. Corrie and Emily L. Corrie. Alfred Nightingale was the son of Charles Cornelius and his second wife, Sarah Jones.
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