By Irma Walter, 2023.
John Rowland Jones was born on 22 April, 1841, at Llanbeblig, Caernarfonshire in Wales. His parents were John R. Jones, mariner[1], and Margaret (née Hughes). John (jnr) was baptised on 25 April that year.[2] [Note: His father was later recorded as a physician (?), living at Carnarvon in North Wales.[3]]
The 1841 Census, held on 6 June, registered him as John R. Jones, aged 0 years, son of John Jones, aged 25, and Margaret Jones, aged 25, living along with William Hughes, 25, and Margaret Hughes, 20, at Market Street, Llanbeblig, Caernarfonshire, Wales.[4]
At the time of the 1851 Census, John Rowland Jones [jnr] was a visitor, aged 9, born at Carnarvon, staying at Towyn with John B Phillips, a druggist, aged 55, his wife Margaret, aged 29, and their two children, John (8) and daughter Dorothy (5). [Mrs Phillips was later listed as John’s next of kin or contact person when he was in Millbank Prison.[5]]
John (jnr) received a good education. His family would have been shocked when their son faced a preliminary hearing in the Wrexham Borough Magistrate’s Court in May, 1865. He was described as a respectably dressed young man, facing a charge of obtaining money under false pretences, having claimed to represent the firm of Bayley and Bradley, printers, and collecting monies on their behalf from customers, after he was no longer employed by them –
Chester Chronicle, 27 May 1865.
His contrition didn’t last long. A few months later, on 30 July 1865 at the Ruthin Assizes in the County of Denbighshire, Wales, John Rowland Jones was arrested for a second time, confessing to the more serious crime of forgery and embezzlement. With his previous conviction taken into account, he was sentenced to eight years’ transportation. He was described as a clerk, aged 25, able to read and write well –
Wrexhamite and Denbighshire Reporter, 8 July 1865.
John was held in solitary confinement at the Ruthin Gaol for 2.8 months before being transferred to Millbank, where his contact person was listed as Mrs Phillips, of College Green, Towyn, Merionethshire. From Millbank he went to Portland Prison on 19 July 1867.[6]
He was taken onboard the convict ship Hougoumont at Portland, and in the company of a group of Irish Fenian prisoners, set sail on 10 October, 1867, arriving at Fremantle on 9 January 1868.[7]
On arrival John Rowland Jones was described as a clerk, aged 27, 5’3”, with brown hair, grey eyes, a long face, fresh complexion, of middling stout build, with a scar from a burn on the right side of his neck.[8] He was specially recommended by the ship’s Surgeon Superintendent for his good conduct during the voyage.[9] His conduct was described as good-tempered, polite, civil but unprincipled. He was several times an invalid in hospital, suffering from gomeaelia (?) and rheumatism, but able to be employed at light work such as making mats and cleaning the prison hospital.[10]
During his time at Fremantle Prison he proved to be a co-operative inmate up until the time of his release on Ticket-of-Leave on 10 June 1860 –
Remarks
17/8/68 – He earned a Special Remission of seven days for assisting with a fire on the Warren Road. On 7/10/68 this was extended by an added three weeks for exertions shown while fighting the fire.
1/10/68 – Served as Constable.
Dec.1868 – Earned remissions for service as School Monitor until July 1869, then two days between September and November. A further 16 days from 2 December ‘69, two days in January & February 1870.
10/6/70 – Discharged to Ticket of Leave.
24/2/71 – Fremantle to Newcastle depot.
13/5/71 – Newcastle to Perth.
28/5/71 – Admitted into Hospital, Fremantle Prison.
31/5/71 – Ditto Hospital.
5/6/71 – Discharged from Hospital.
12/6/71 – Fremantle to Perth.
16/9/71 – Hospital Perth Prison ….
28/9/71 – 30/9/71 – Perth Prison.
31/12/71 – Ditto.
30/6/72 – Ditto.
5/12/72 – Ticket on own account applied for 3 months, Vide 12323/9.
7/12/73 – York to Perth.
29/7/74 – Certificate of Freedom to Self.
While on Ticket of Leave some minor offences were recorded against his name –
5/8/70 – By PM Perth – Out after hours, fine 6/- paid.
4/8/71 – Ditto – fined 10/-.
14/8/71 – Ditto – fined £1.
18/3/72 – Ditto – fined 10/-.
30/9/72 – His Ticket of Leave revoked (…..?) Discharge 28 October.
Employment in WA
Note: By mid-1871 John Rowland Jones was employed at the Western Australian Times newspaper, under Stirling & Sons, as a reporter and compositor. In the early 80s he was sub-editor under Edward Stone.[11]
10/6/70 – Clerk, £6 per month, Jas. Pearce, Fremantle.
30/6/70 – Ditto.
31/12/70 – Ditto.
25/2/71 – General Servant, £2 per month, Toodyay, J. Flindell, Newcastle.
15/5/71 – Reporter, 20/- per month, Stirling & Son, Perth.
30/6/71 – Ditto, 21/- per week.
7/10/71 – Ditto.
9/11/72 – Clerk, £1 per week, R.W. Chipper, York.
31/12/72 – Compositor, not stated, own account, Perth.
30/6/73 – Ditto.
31/12/73 – Reporter, ditto.
30/6/74 – Ditto.
Family Life
In 1872 John Rowland Jones married Elizabeth Mary Connor, daughter of Michael. Their first child Humphrey Rowland Jones was born in 1873.
That same year, on 22 January 1873, the birth of a daughter Mary Ruth Elizabeth Dewis, to mother Naomi Dewis and father John Rowland Jones, was registered in Perth. Naomi was the daughter of Josiah and his wife Mary, who arrived on the Mary Harrison in 1862.[12] Her father was the manager of the Perth Invalid Depot for many years. Naomi, aged just 16, died at the time of the child’s birth, on 22 January 1873, of Puerperal Peritonitis. Her baby daughter died two months later. Both were buried in the East Perth Cemetery.[13]
John Rowland Jones and his wife Elizabeth had nine children, all baptised as Roman Catholics –
Humphrey Rowland Wriothesley (b.1873). Died 1901.
Arthur Augustine Llewellyn (b.1877). Died 1937.
Avonia Agnes (b.1878). Died 1954.
Ambrose Connor (b.1880). Died 1882.
Eva Amy Margaret (b.1883). Died 1959.
Bowen Bourke Matthew (b.1887). Died 1950.
John Ambrose (b.1889). Died 1970.
Frederick Aloysius (b.1891). Died 1975.
Francis Herbert (b.1893). Died 1971.[14]
In 1871 John Rowland Jones was employed as a reporter on the Herald newspaper at Fremantle, at that time under the leadership of expiree James Pearce. John and another ticket-of-leave man, Henry Wells Young, were called on as witnesses to an assault inflicted by Pearce on James T Foreman, who had come to the office to confront Pearce over resolutions which had been passed the previous night at a meeting of the Fremantle Literary Institute. Fordham came out of the altercation somewhat the worse for wear and reported the incident to the police. Later in Court, the two young men gave evidence in favour of Pearce, stating that a fair fight had erupted between the two, and that both were equally to blame. His Worship JG Slade convicted Pearce of a serious assault and fined him 40/-, while Jones and Young were found to be remiss in not attempting to bring the fight to an end. Young was to be reported to the Comptroller, while Jones was told that he would lose his position at the newspaper.[15] [There is no evidence of this happening.]
In 1880 Horace G Stirling, together with his brothers, took over the ownership of the Inquirer newspaper from their father Edmund Stirling. A few years later they began publishing Perth’s first daily newspaper, the Daily News.[16] The Inquirer amalgamated with the Herald in 1886.[17] In later years Horace G Stirling, under the pen name ‘Hugh Kalyptus’, recorded the history of newspapers in WA. He wrote the following in 1920 –
…During the late seventies, Sir Edward Stone, with the late Charles Crowther, of Geraldton, purchased a controlling interest in the “Perth Gazette and WA. Times,” which was the parent paper of the “West Australian and Western Mail,” and of which Sir Edward was the editor. He had as his sub the versatile John Rowland Jones, who, in order to fit his many accomplishments, was known to his familiars as “the only Jones.” John Rowland was the first builder of a house at Subiaco, in which his widow still resides, contiguous to the railway station; he was also, the first reporter of “Hansard,” a position he secured owing to the influence of his editor-in-chief. Sir Edward had a nice literary touch, and he magnified his office on the Fourth Estate just as he did those he filled at the Bar and on the Bench. He was, likewise, an interesting public speaker and reconteur [sic], with the happy gift of saying always the right thing in the right way, and at the right time.[18]
John Rowland Jones could have left WA and had a successful career elsewhere, but he envisaged a bright future ahead for the fledgling colony and chose to remain and involve himself in its affairs.
In 1878 Jones signed a petition put forward by the electors of Perth and addressed to Sir LS Leake –
To SIR L. S. LEAKE, KT., M. L. C, &c., &c., PERTH.
SIR.—We, the undersigned electors of the city and district of Perth, being desirous of learning your opinions on questions vitally affecting the welfare and future prospect of the colony prior to the meeting of the Legislative Council, would respectfully request you to name a day on which you would meet your constituents in the Town Hall, for the purpose to which we have referred.
At the present juncture in colonial affairs, the important questions of commencing the construction of railways— introducing into the colony a superior class of immigrants—the unfair treatment by the Home Government by suddenly and arbitrarily depriving the colony of a large amount of Imperial expenditure—and the momentous question of constitutional reform—call for the serious consideration of our representatives, and your views on these matters are therefore most desirable.
In 1879 a Conundrum Night was held, with J Rowland Jones winning a gold watch after being declared the winner, having submitted the cleverest conundrum on Ventriliquism to the judges. His winning entry read as follows –
Why is the art of ventriloquism like the Legislative Council, under our present form of Government? Because although it may pretend to represent the voice of people outside, it is in reality the voice of another.[19]
Looking to the Future
Always one with an eye for the future, in the late 1880s John shared his enthusiasm over the availability of the first commercially produced typewriter from America, and its potential to change the office landscape. He became an agent and promoter of Remington typewriters in WA.
[Note: The first recorded typing machine was way back in 1575, when an Italian named Rampasetto created a machine to impress letters onto paper. Various versions followed, but it wasn’t until 1868 that a major breakthrough in America produced the Scholes and Gliddon Typewriter, manufactured by E. Remington & Sons, using the QERTY keyboard, still in use today.[20]]
He bought his own machine and set about teaching himself the necessary skills –
1889 – Wants
REMINGTON TYPE-WRITER.
WANTED, on own machine (No. 3, with latest improvements); few lessons in adjusting machine, use of scales, manifolding, &c. Apply, by letter, stating where experience gained, to JNO. ROWLAND JONES, Subiaco, near Perth.[21]
1889 Public Notices
The REMINGTON TYPEWRITER
THE CHAMPION MACHINE OF THE WORLD.
Acknowledged by all business men to be the greatest labour-saving machine of the age.
The REMINGTON is unrivalled in all the essential qualities of a writing machine, speed, durabilty, and ease of manipulation. A speed of 162 (one hundred and sixty-two) words per minute was obtained on a Remington in a recent public contest in America, open to all classes of machines, thus breaking all previous records, and placing the Remington’s speed beyond the reach of competition. Over 80,000 in daily use. The Remington has recently been adopted as the standard machine to be employed in all branches of the public service in England, and is the machine now most used in all the Government departments in the other Australian colonies. May be learnt by any intelligent youth, and, when mastered, becomes a certain source of income, and a powerful lever to well-paid official and mercantile appointments. A machine, with ordinary care, will last a lifetime.
Price, from £18 to £28, delivered in Perth. Sole Agent for Western Australia, J. ROWLAND JONES (“Hansard” reporter). Office—Central Chambers, corner of Hay and William-streets, Perth, where the machine may, in a few days, be seen at work and all information obtained:
Perth, December 16, 1889.[22]
1889 –
METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE
OF
SHORTHAND and TYPEWRITING, CENTRAL CHAMBERS, PERTH.
Principal:
J.ROWLAND JONES
(“Hansard” Reporter and Government
Shorthand Writer),
Sole agent for Western Australia for the
Remington Standard Typewriter,
Assisted by an efficient staff.
Every description of copying work executed, as legibly as the printed page and as cheaply as ordinary handwriting. Legal documents (briefs, affidavits, &c), contractors’ specifications, companies’ reports, &c., &c, neatly and promptly transcribed.
At the request of several business men, heads of departments, and parents, Mr. Jones has decided to receive a select number of pupils for training in SHORTHAND and TYPEWRITING, combined or separately. Separate instruction for ladies. (The Remington is specially adapted for feminine fingers.)
Terms: Five guineas (payable in advance), for a complete course of lessons.
Intending participants please apply early, by letter, as only a limited number of probationers can be accommodated.
Address, pro. tem.
J.R. JONES,
Subiaco. December 16, 1889.[23]
1890 THE REMINGTON TYPEWRITER.
We have received from the Western Australian agent of the Remington machine, Mr. J. Rowland Jones, a pamphlet giving a short history of that remarkable time-saving device. Like the sewing machine and the locomotive, this perfected writing (or rather printing) machine is the result of years of labour upon the part of more than one man, and has been brought to its present state of perfection, by dint of sheer hard work. It seems to be to the pen, what the sewing machine is to the needle. It has created a revolution in business circles, and although its career as a practical labour-saving device does not date back more than about ten years, the Remington machine, we believe, is now found in nearly every prosperous business and professional office in most parts of the world. We are told that, with the aid of this little machine, a skilful operator can accomplish more correspondence or copying work in a day, than half a dozen clerks can do with a pen, and do better work. At a recent typewriting tournament in America — the out growth of the conflicting claims of rival makers of typewriters — the Remington operators defeated all competitors, winning the gold and silver medals for the championship of the world. The former was awarded to Miss Orr, a young lady who is the head of a large copying office in New York, and who is said to make the handsome income of £600 a year through the means of the typewriter. Thousands of young women in America, and an increasing number in England now, as well as in the other Australian colonies, are able to earn a comfortable living as typewriters. Since the contest above referred to, a stenographer named McGurrin, at an open trial of speed among various makes of machines, broke all previous records, writing on a Remington machine, selected editorial matter, at the rate of 110 words a minute, and legal testimony from dictation at the rate of 124 words per minute, while in a memorised sentence, he attained the marvellous speed of 162 words a minute. On no other make of typewriting machine, we are informed, can such results, or anything approaching such results, be obtained. Of course, such rates cannot be taken as indicating the average or continuous speed of an operator, even on the Remington; they are rates maintained for a short time only. But even with this limitation, they afford striking proofs of the capacity of this machine in the hands of a skilful operator.
According to innumerable tests, and to the experience of nine out of ten of those who have adopted the Remington machine for business and other purposes, we are told it saves, as compared with the pen, about forty minutes an hour; or, to carry out the calculation, over five hours in a business day. According to this, it is easy to estimate, how many times such a labour-saving device as the Remington must pay for itself every year in a busy office. We understand that the Remington machine was adopted last year by the English Government, as the standard type writing machine for use in all branches of the public service; also, that the machine received the gold medal at the Paris Exhibition recently closed. Mr. Jones, who has been appointed sole agent for the Remington machine in this colony, informs us that he has used one of these machines for more than a year, in transcribing all his voluminous shorthand notes of “Hansard,” &c., and that he finds it a great saving of time and labour — so much so, that he would not do without the machine at any price. He also states that he will be happy to furnish intending purchasers with all information as to prices and terms, on application at his office, Central Chambers.[24]
1890 – At an examination of Mr. J. R. Jones’s private pupils in shorthand and typewriting, held on Friday last; at Central Chambers, the following awards were made:—
Commercial typewriting, including letterpress copying: Mr. Hubert Hooley (office of Mssrs. Dalgety & Co.); shorthand, legal reporting style: Mr. I. D. Pusey (Messrs. Stone & Burt’s office); for neatness of work on the typewriter: Miss Grave; for speed in typewriting: Miss Avonia Jones[25]. The latter, a girl eleven years old, wrote a memorised sentence on a Remington typewriter, at the rate of 74 words a minute. Transcribing own shorthand notes by typewriter, for speed and general accuracy; Miss Agnes Jones; for neatness of work done: Miss Annie Grave.
Mr. Jones informs me that he has been authorised by a member of a leading firm of solicitors, in Perth, to state that permanent employment, in their office, will be given to any girl or young lady who, within the next few months, qualifies herself for the position by acquiring a practical knowledge of shorthand and typewriting.[26]
In December 1890, Jones wrote a letter recommending that typing lessons for schoolboys should be introduced into schools.[27]
[Note: This was despite the fact that his own daughters were being taught office skills at home. Not everybody was in favour of women being employed in offices. As late as 1923, at the opening of the Bunbury High School, Premier Sir James Mitchell shared his disapproval, declaring that too many typists and clerks were being produced –
“… It was a scandal to see so many girls going into offices day by day. Girls, of course, liked it because they had more money to buy pretty hats and frocks. But when they were young they did not need that. They were beautiful without a pretty dress (Laughter.) It was a reflection on the manhood of Australia that so many girls went to work but he thought there would be very many disappointed young ladies if they could all get into offices – or into Parliament (Laughter). Girls must be taught the things that were useful. A good cook was a most useful lady.”[28]]
In 1892 John was advocating for typewriters to be used in Government Departments, and by March 1895 he was advertising the sale of Edison Mimeograph machines, and Edison and Hammond and Yost typewriters.[29] Later that year larger advertisements were appearing –
TYPEWRITERS. TYPEWRITER SUPPLIES. EDISON MIMEOGRAPHS.
OFFICE TICKLERS.[30]
J. ROWLAND JONES,
SUBIACO, PERTH,
Sole Agent in Western Australia for the REMINGTON (Improved) STANDARD
TYPEWRITER, which remains beyond question the leading writing machine of the age.
Agent also for the HAMMOND Typewriter. TYPEWRITER SUPPLIES for all Machines.
Edison’s MIMEOGRAPHS, which will reproduce hundreds of facsimile copies of original
Documents, handwritten or typewritten; also
Drawings, sketches, music, etc.
The OFFICE TICKLER: There isn’t a banker, or a merchant, or a lawyer, or a stockbroker, or any business man for whom the “Tickler” wouldn’t save its price ten times over.[31]
Failing Health
In 1895, health problems again laid him low –
Mr. J Rowland Jones has edited the West Australian Hansard for, we believe, nearly a quarter of a century, and has until this session produced a Hansard more than creditable to him as a journalist. A severe illness prostrated Mr. Jones for some weeks, but there was general satisfaction expressed to find the veteran reporter in his old place in the Assembly on Tuesday evening.[32]
Active till the end, the sudden death of John Rowland Jones from a heart attack shocked and saddened his family and his wide circle of friends –
SUDDEN DEATH AT SUBIACO
DEATH OF MR. J. R JONES.
We regret having to announce the death of Mr. John Rowland Jones, of Subiaco, which occurred suddenly at his residence in that suburb about 11 o’clock this morning. From the particulars of the fatality at present to hand it appears Mr. Jones was in his usual good state of health last night and this morning, but as the day advanced he developed what is believed to have been heart troubles, from the effects of which he, without any additional warning, quietly passed away. The deceased gentleman was an old journalist, and was for many years editor of the W.A. Times, a journal which was ultimately merged into the present West Australian. Of late years Mr. Jones occupied the position of head of the Hansard staff, in the Legislative Assembly, and was undoubtedly one of the most finished shorthand-writers this side of the line. He leaves a widow and several children, for whom widespread sympathy is evinced.[33]
JONES.—At Subiaco, near Perth, on 24th December, of heart disease, JOHN ROWLAND JONES, aged 57. Deeply regretted by his sorrowing wife and children.
FUNERAL NOTICE.
The remains of the late Mr. JOHN ROWLAND JONES (late chief, Hansard staff) will leave his late residence, Subiaco, at 9.15 o’clock THIS (Wednesday) MORNING for interment in the Church of England Cemetery. Friends unable to attend at deceased’s residence are kindly requested to meet Funeral at the corner of Hay and William streets (near Wesley Church) at 10.15 o’clock.[34]
……………………………………………………………………………..
John’s wife Elizabeth out-lived her husband by forty years, remaining in her Subiaco home and leading an active and contented life –
West Australian, 24 September 1932
An interview with Elizabeth, the elderly widow of John Rowland Jones, gives an interesting insight into life in Subiaco in the early days –
PIONEER OF SUBIACO.
MRS. JONES’S MEMORIES. First House in the Suburb.
On April 28, 1853, the barque Palestine dropped anchor in Gage Roads, Fremantle. The vessel had taken six months to make the voyage from England to Fremantle. Among the passengers who went ashore was Elizabeth Mary Connor, then barely three years of age, a native of Cornwall, who had made the trip with her parents. The child grew up in the colony and later married Mr. J. Rowland Jones, short-hand reporter and journalist, and went to live in the first house built in Subiaco, now 365 Roberts-road, Subiaco, about 20 chains east of the railway station. She lives there still. In the sitting-room of this house yesterday, Mrs. Jones recalled her long life in Western Australia. Often the corners of her mouth would wrinkle in a smile, and her keen eyes would twinkle, as she wove a humorous thread into the fabric of her story.
There was enough and to spare of work, sorrow and fun in the life of the early settlers. Elizabeth Mary Connor first lived with her parents in a little cottage in front of the Perth railway station. The Globe Hotel now probably stands on the site of the old cottage. From that house they shifted to a cottage at the bottom of Mill-street, near Lefroy’s garden, on which Winterbottom’s Garage now stands. Later the Connor family went to live in Mount’s Bay-road. Mrs. Jones’s father went to Victoria in a gold rush. He sent her mother sums of money, and expressed his intention of making a home for his family, but he was never heard of again. Mrs. Jones’s mother married a second time. Elizabeth Mary’s stepfather was in charge of one of the “Puffing Billies” on the river.
“Puffing Billy.”
This “Puffing Billy” was used to take stores up and down the river. When the Fremantle bridge was being built, timber was taken from the upper reaches of the Swan River at Guildford to the port. Comparatively small lengths of timber were stacked on the deck of the small craft and one or two piles, according to size, were chained on each side of the vessel. The old bridge, later superseded by the present Causeway, was frequently under water in the winter months. Mrs. Jones and her sisters often went down to see the new Causeway being built. A barge was provided for taking horses and carts across the river during the winter.
After being educated at the Convent of Mercy, in what is now Victoria-square, Mrs. Jones undertook dressmaking. She made dresses for the ladies of many of the old families. The Misses Leake were among her clients. When the third daughter of the Leake’s became Lady Parker, the wedding dress was the work of Miss Elizabeth Mary Connor. The wife of Bishop Parry, who before her marriage was a Miss Leake, was another of Miss Connor’s clients, among whom were the Burts and the Roes, and many other families.
When she was 23 years of age Miss Connor was married in St. Mary’s Cathedral to Mr. J. Rowland Jones. Father O’Reilly, who later became Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, celebrated the marriage, and Mr. John Whitely, who was subsequently Commissioner of Taxation in Western Australia, was the best man. In the early days of the colony, Mr. Jones was employed as a shorthand writer to the Legislative Council. With the establishment of Responsible Government he became shorthand writer to the Legislative Assembly. For a time Mr. Jones was editor of the “Western Australian Times,” which was later merged with the “Perth Gazette” and became ‘”The West Australian.”
There was little money in the colony in the early days and the workmen had to take orders upon storekeepers as wages. The storekeeper supplied the man’s needs and gave him cash to pay his butcher and other tradesmen. About 1886 Mr. and Mrs. Jones decided to build a residence about three miles west of Perth at a spot on the opposite side of the railway line to the Benedictine monastery. Before the house could be constructed, water was essential. Steps were taken to sink a well. The “experts” said water would be found at 18 feet. Bricks were scarce and orders had to be placed with the brickmakers at Guildford a long time ahead. Bricks sufficient to line a well to a depth of 24 feet were obtained. At 24 feet there was no sign of water. Another order for bricks was given, again on the advice of the “experts.” But again water was not located. It was only when the well had been sunk to a depth of about 60 feet that water was obtained, and the construction of the house could be begun. The well took nine months to sink.
Camel Teams from Fremantle.
A railway platform had been constructed almost immediately in front of the house, which now stands in Roberts-road, Subiaco. The platform was about 20 chains east of the present railway station. There were three or four trains a day between Perth and Fremantle when Mr. and Mrs. Jones went to Subiaco to live. After leaving Perth, the only other buildings near the railway line were a few houses in Colin street, and a house and woodyard near the Leederville station.
Camel teams journeying from Fremantle to the goldfields frequently passed the lone house at Subiaco. Before Broom-road (Hay-street) was extended to Subiaco it was not unusual for Mr. and Mrs. Jones in their cart to take the wrong track and become temporarily lost in the bush. When Mr. Jones was working on the “Western Australian Times” and on Hansard, a light was left burning behind a window of the Jones’s homestead to guide him home. At night the train stopped at the little platform when a match was struck or a lighted lamp was held aloft. Mr. Jones died in 1895.
Mrs. Jones has many treasures. They include old documents, a copy of the jubilee issue of the “Western Australian Times,” edited by her husband, and other papers, an old prayer book which belonged to her father, and which is over 200 years old. She sets great store by two needlework pictures which were brought to the colony by her mother. The pictures, exquisitely worked, are claimed to be over 300 years old. On the voyage to Australia the captain of the barque offered Mrs. Connor £5 each for the pictures. “If they are worth £5 to you,” she replied, “they are worth £5 to me.”
On Wednesday Mrs. Jones journeyed to Fremantle to welcome a son home from Singapore. She has nine children, 19 grand-children and one great-grandchild. On May 31 last she celebrated her 83rd birthday. Time does not hang heavily on her hands. “A little sewing and reading,” was how the “mother” of Subiaco described her interests.[35]
Death of Elizabeth Jones
On October 6, 1935, Elizabeth Mary, widow of the late John Rowland Jones, and loved mother of Arthur, Nonie, Eva, Bowen, Jack, Fred and Frank; aged 86 years. Requiescat in Pace.
The Jones’s home, built in 1886 and once a landmark in Subiaco, was demolished in 1959. It is recorded in the State Heritage Register as follows –
John Rowland Jones, Hansard reporter, built the first house in the Subiaco municipality (after Shenton House) in 1886. It was dubbed ‘Jones’ Folly’ because of its isolation and the difficulties he had in building it. A nine room house of brick and iron, it was the only house in the area for eight years. (Ref: Spillman, Ken, Identity Prized: A History of Subiaco, City of Subiaco, UWA Press, 1985, pp. 66-68.)[36]
John Rowland Jones was one of our most successful and respected former convicts. In 1948, he was remembered as the first Hansard reporter in Western Australia, setting a high standard for those who followed –
…The Government Printing office under control of Richard Pether was well up-to-date and besides all Government stationery it printed the Hansard reports of debates in the Legislative Council and all necessary Government documents. There was only one qualified reporter, J. Rowland-Jones, who was in the employ of “The West Australian,” but drew a salary of £100 per annum to report council proceedings.[37]
…………………………………………………………………………………
[1] Marriage Certificate of John Jones and Margaret Hughes, Carnarvon, 1838.
[2] “Wales, Caernarvonshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912”,
database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark: /61903/1:1:KC2K-2LM
[3] Convict Department Registers, General Register (R16)
[4] 1841 Census England & Wales, https:// www.familysearch.org
[5] Millbank Prison, Register of Prisoners, PCOM2, Piece No. 51.
[6] Millbank Prison, Register of Prisoners, PCOM2, Piece No. 51.
[7] Note: A family story claims that he became sympathetic to their cause, and later used his writing skills to help with letter writing to Ireland and America.
[8] Convict Department, Estimates and Convict Lists (128/1-32)
[9] Convict Department Registers, General Register (R16)
[10] Convict Department Registers, General Register (R16)
[11]Daily News, 3 June 1896.
[12] Australian Birth Index, https:/www.ancestry.com.au, Reg. No. 14518.
[13]East Perth Cemeteries, https:/www.findagrave.com/memorial/190446422/naomi-dewis
[14] www.wa.gov.au/departmentofjustice/online-index-search-tool
[15] Inquirer, 1 March 1871.
[16] York Chronicle, 1 July, 1927.
[17] Herald (Fremantle), 3 July 1886.
[18] Western Mail, 8 April 1920.
[19] W.A. Times, 13 May 1879.
[20] History of Typewriters, https://typewriters.com
[21] West Australian, 10 April, 1889.
[22] West Australian, 20 December 1889.
[23] West Australian, 19 December 1889.
[24] W.A. Record (Perth, WA), 23 January 1890.
[25] Daughter of John and Elizabeth, born 1878. (Reg. No. 19551)
[26] West Australian, 29 July 1890.
[27] Inquirer, 10 December 1890.
[28] West Australian, 10 February 1923.
[29] West Australian, 20 March 1895.
[30] Note: A tickler file serves as a reminder and is arranged to bring matters to timely attention. (Merriam- Webster Dictionary).
[31] West Australian, 21 August 1895.
[32] Messenger, Fremantle, 30 August 1895.
[33] Inquirer and Commercial News, 27 December 1895.
[34] West Australian, 25 December 1895.
[35] West Australian, 24 September 1932.
[36] inHerit, State Heritage Office, http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/
[37] Beverley Times, W.A., 3 September 1948.