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Station to get the Australian Inland Mission sister, but the baby arrived early. The family, suffering with fever,
had been taking quinine. Sarah had taken too much, so her milk was bitter, and she was unable to feed her new
baby. He was kept alive with sugar and water until Fogarty and the sister arrived.
In December 1924, the Fogarty family moved to Marrakai Station, southeast of Darwin, where Fogarty had
accepted the position of buffalo shooter. As her husband had gone ahead to commence the contract, Sarah was left
with the task of getting herself and the four children by train to Brock’s Creek and then by buggy across the plains
during the wet season, to Marrakai Station. There the family led a nomadic life; approximately every ten days they
had to move camp and Sarah was cooking for her family over an open fire.
Late in 1926, Sarah and her family proceeded by horse and buggy to Newry Station, west of Katherine,
where Fogarty was appointed manager. She had milking cows and a separator, so the family had fresh milk and
cream. There was also a large fruit and vegetable garden. Sarah considered the conditions at Newry to be excellent,
as all of these amenities were non-existent on Delamere Station. The station stores arrived by camel team, in bulk
order, to last at least six months. If there was no cook, Sarah fitted into the role easily. The children’s clothes were
made from unbleached calico, washed flour bags and rolls of ‘turkey red’, which was also used to make dresses
for the Aboriginal women on the station. A flour bag had many uses. Sarah would unpick them, bleach out the
printing and they could then be used as a tea towel; a washed bag would be used to carry bread and cakes out to
the stock camp.
An accident to the Fogartys’ eldest son as they were leaving Newry resulted in a prolonged trip south and
ultimately the family’s return to Sarah’s immediate family at Dobbyn, Queensland. In 1930, the Fogarty family
once again returned to Katherine. They lived in town for a short time and all four children attended school there.
They then acquired a share in a peanut farm and moved on to it (block 153 on the Katherine River).
Conditions on the farm were rough. The house was made of bush timber and had an ant bed floor—typical
bush housing of that era. Sarah cooked over an open fire and the family ate under a bough shed. On one occasion,
they were flooded out. In 1931, Fogarty went brumby running and left Sarah and the children to run the farm
alone, she had the experience to take control on any occasion when her husband had to go away. Sarah and the
children worked long and hard getting the peanut crop in. A large vegetable garden was established, water for it
being carted from the river.
During 1932, Sarah and her family moved to Hodgson Downs, which her husband was to manage. A southern
family owned Hodgson, an outstation of neighbouring Elsey Station. While they were there, they met George
Shaw, known to all as ‘Snowy’, who was employed as a dogger.
Sarah had different amenities on each station. If kitchen help was available, she utilised it. If not, then she easily
took on the role of station as well as family cook. At Hodgson Downs, she boiled down fat and had a plentiful supply
of dripping, which was stored in kerosene tins. She also made her own soap and grew pumpkins of an enormous
size. She rubbed her excess supply of eggs with fat to preserve them and then packed them in salt. She shared these
things with the nuns at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Convent in Darwin, where her daughter was attending school,
and with a family friend, who was watching over their interests on the peanut farm at Katherine.
On occasions when no male help was available, Sarah would butcher a beast, dress her own fowls and could
yoke up the horses into the buggy. The only thing she was not able to do was to shoot an animal or cut its throat—
she always asked one of the children to complete the task.
Sarah Fogarty had all the direct plain-spokenness of the bush. On one occasion when the owner was visiting
Elsey Station, the Fogarty family were invited to join him for dinner and he stated, ‘It’s the likes of us who keep
you people out here,’ to which Sarah replied, ‘It’s the likes of us who keep you in Melbourne.’ As was often the
case with absentee landlords, they did not pay Sarah for her cooking, nor her eldest son for the man’s work he
was doing. For these and other reasons, Ted Fogarty resigned and in May 1933, the family travelled by truck to
Mataranka and from there by train to Katherine. Late in 1934, they returned to Marrakai, where Ted Fogarty was
to be the caretaker/manager. The following year they moved to neighbouring Mount Litchfield where a bangtail
muster was to be held and then the station was to be abandoned. Once again, Sarah was cooking over an open fire,
they ate under a rough bough-shed and slept in tents. The job was completed and they returned to Katherine in
September 1935.
On 1 December 1935, while the family was picnicking at Springvale Station, Ted Fogarty drowned in the
Katherine River. Sarah was left a widow, with two children working and two still at school.
During 1937, Sarah Fogarty finally decided to put some roots down. When she received the money from
Ted Fogarty’s estate, she purchased a small cottage in First Street, Katherine. At one stage, many years earlier,
they had rented the house for a period when they were living in town.
In about 1938, Sarah went to cook at Daly Waters for W T Pearce. He and his daughter Rita had a store there
and, as well as selling general stores, Sarah cooked for the aircraft crews based there or passing through during the
Second World War. George Shaw was at that time running Montejinnie, an outstation of Victoria River Downs.
Sarah Fogarty and George Sloan Shaw were married in Darwin in 1941 and returned to Montejinnie, where they
remained for the duration of the war. In 1946, they returned to Katherine.
Sarah Shaw had rented her little house on occasions, but for most of the time, it had been locked up and left.
During the war, soldiers broke in, rifled it and destroyed many of her personal papers. This home had a concrete
floor, corrugated iron walls and roof and angle iron uprights. She planted several mango trees, had numerous other
fruit trees, chooks and once again established a large vegetable garden.
On their return ‘Snowy’ set up his saddlery business in a shed behind the house. His wife became actively
involved with the Country Women’s Association, though she had attended her first meeting as a visitor on