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change of government in South Australia, necessary legislation was not passed and the proposal was abandoned
by default.
A great setback for Palmerston and also the church was the loss of the SS Gothenburg on 24 February 1875.
Among the 37 crew and 88 passengers who drowned were several key church people. Alexander McKay, the
junior circuit steward, and Dr Millner, who had been a great help as a local preacher, were among the victims.
Others included Mr Justice Wearing and the Honourable Thomas Reynolds. The Northern Territory Times
reported that ‘quite a seventh of our population were passengers on the ship’. A Gothenburg relief fund was set
up in Palmerston and Bogle was one of the four committee members. They collected 329 Pounds six Shillings,
which was sent to Adelaide where a committee was established to provide assistance, and a total of approximately
7 000 Pounds was raised.
Because of the illness of his wife and the medical advice that she must leave the tropics, Bogle asked for a
transfer south. The Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal wrote: ‘On the eve of his return in January 1877
he was the recipient of an address and a purse of sovereigns presented on behalf of the people by the Government
Resident, at public meeting in the courthouse as a token of their respect and esteem.’ The Northern Territory Times
wrote: ‘It is to be hoped that some Minister possessing the necessary qualifications for so difficult a post will be
ready to follow the noble example set by Mr Bogle.’
In December 1876 he reported church property as, ‘The Palmerston Church and mission house with all the
furniture thereof, the church of Southport, two horses and a fixed deposit of 30 Pounds for the purchase of a church
site.’ The total money raised in the Territory was 1548 Pounds 13 Shillings 7 Pence and Bogle commented, ‘It is a
statement very easily made on paper but which represents a great deal of hard and very disagreeable work, which
I am thankful to think will not be required to be done again.’
Bogle had set a pattern of work in Palmerston and patrols to the mining areas that would be a model for many
years. He was a pioneer of ecumenical relations, which was to become a feature of the church in future years.
His influence and interest in the Territory did not end with his move south. He corresponded regularly with friends
in Palmerston, especially Paul Foelsche and J G Kelsey who had been major supporters in Palmerston. He wrote
several letters to the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal affirming his faith in the future of the Territory and
in support of ministers who following him in the mission. In 1885 it was necessary to replace the residence in
Palmerston and he campaigned in Adelaide for the funds for this project, with notable success.
He served at Port Wakefield, Glenelg, Kent Town and Mt Gambier circuits and, while he was at the latter
place, gold was discovered at Teetulpa, accompanied by a rush of population. Bogle was requested to initiate
the Methodist cause in what was expected to prove a permanent goldfield. Bogle received this request on Friday
22 October 1886 and on the same day set out to this new challenge 400 kilometres distant. On Sunday 25 October
he preached to a congregation of 200 men in the open air at Teetulpa. His last circuit was Clarendon, to which he
was called in 1887, and it was here that he died on Tuesday 17 July 1889, at Kadina where he had preached the
previous evening. He died in his sleep but the cause of death was given as ‘the effects of a fall from a trap’. He was
buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.
Bogle had no children but at the time of his death he and his wife were foster parents to two children aged eight
and ten years whose parents had died leaving them destitute. Mrs Bogle died on 12 June 1907.
Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 1873–1880, 26 July 1889; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 1873–1877; information from Rev
D A Hunt, Rev M O’Connor.
A W GRANT, Vol 1.
BOHNING, ESTHER (c1879–1952), pastoralist and pioneer, was born, probably at Gingy Station, New South
Wales, in 1879, the daughter of Thomas Henry Jenkins, a carrier, and his wife. She was married apparently in her
late teens to Harry Bennett, by whom she had three sons, two of whom were James (Bull) and Patrick. In 1902,
at Rocklands Station near Camooweal in Queensland, she married again to John Bohning, a native of Fraucop,
Alterland, Germany, the son of Andreus Bohning, a carpenter, and Eliza Sharp.
John, who engaged in general station contracting, decided to start out on his own. So, loading Esther and her
sons and their meagre belongings on to a dray, they set out on a nomadic existence, which took them to the Gulf
country, Top End of the Territory, down the Centre to Renner Springs, where they hoped to settle.
Esther thus began a life that was to establish her as a pioneer. Although small in build, she was physically strong,
having been a keen athlete in her youth, and later a magnificent horsewoman, the basic qualities to withstand the
physical tests in her life ahead.
Esther and John had six children—Jack, Alexander, Florence, Edith, Elsie and William, all born on the track,
Edith born in a tent at Anthony’s Lagoon, 1908, Elsie at Borroloola, 1912, Bill there also in 1915.
Unable to get a grazing lease at Renner Springs, they turned their eyes to Helen Springs as Esther had decided
the children must have a home. Whilst in the Gulf country, John Bohning held a lease in 1910–11, but to augment
the family income took a teamster’s contract delivering stores on the Barkly. It was here that Esther first learned to
take all the responsibility of running a cattle property, whilst rearing a family.
This task assumed proportions on the Helen Springs property. Mr Bohning and the boys were mostly away with
cattle work. Esther, living with the children in a shack and lean-to and cooking in the open, started to establish the
garden and goatherd.
A two-room house was built and Esther’s housekeeping qualities were turned to good use. Both her daughters
and the native girls were taught to cook, sew, tend their flourishing vegetable and fruit garden, herd and tend goats,