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December 1974. Her home was demolished, she was evacuated and she did not return until 1977. In the meantime,
the land on which the house stood had been transferred to the Northern Territory Pensioners’ Association at the
minimum price the government would allow it to pay. The Apex Club built four units on the property; to be
available for pensioners, one of which was Molly’s for life.
She was a devout Roman Catholic and worked tirelessly for the Saint Vincent De Paul Society, on whose
committee she served. For many years she was Treasurer of the Pensioners’ Association and this coincided with
the building of Tracy Lodge.
In her youth she played hockey and was a very good tennis player. Bridge was a lifelong hobby. The Darwin
Bridge Club was formed in the early 1970s but prior to that she and her husband had regularly played with a group
that at times met in the newly erected Spillett House. Until she was into her late 80s she was a highly respected
member of the Darwin Bridge Club. Molly was a true Christian, a frequent communicant at the Roman Catholic
Cathedral and loved by all who knew her.
Newsletter, no 48, Director General, Commonwealth Department of Works, July 1971; Northern Territory Archives Service, TS 609; personal
communication.
HELEN J WILSON, Vol 2.FEENEY, SARAH (SALLY) nee FRITH also JONES (1897–1987), domestic worker, mother and pioneer,
was born in Camooweal, Queensland on 28 January 1897. The daughter of Frank and Harriet Frith, Sally was the
fourth of six children; Frank, Florrie, Annie, Fred and Forrest. Her mother was a Queenslander, born in Gympie,
while her father had been born in Somerset, England.
Frank Frith senior worked as a teamster, but was finding it difficult to make a living carting wool in Queensland.
After hearing that work was available in Western Australia he decided to travel west, aiming for Wyndham or
Hall’s Creek.
In late March 1904, when Sally was seven years old, the family packed up their belongings and left Queensland.
They travelled in a big ‘table top’ wagon and a smaller covered wagon they called the caravan, which was driven
by Sally’s mother. They travelled with a team of 35 draught and saddle horses, chickens and goats, setting up camp
along the way. The family would leave a site very early in the morning and travel anything from half a day to when
darkness fell. When they found a good water supply they would camp for two or three days, giving themselves a
spell and resting the horses. Sally’s mother would bake bread, cakes and pies ready for the days ahead while her
father cared for the horses.
The family spent 16 weeks on the road, crossing Alexandria and Brunette Downs stations and onto Stirling
Creek. At this point in the journey, Sally’s 10-year-old sister Annie became ill with a swollen ankle and fever,
so the family decided to travel to Newcastle Waters to find medical help rather than continuing on to the Murranji,
and thence to Western Australia. At this stage in the journey they had a travelling companion, a man called
Robertson whom they’d met up with along the route. He continued on towards Western Australia and they later
heard he had been murdered, his nine horses killed and his dray burnt, apparently by local Aborigines.
The family reached Pine Creek in early July and while Annie and her mother travelled up to the nearest doctor
at Port Darwin, the rest of the family began establishing themselves. Frank Frith senior, managed to find work as a
teamster, carting wolfram from the mine outside Pine Creek to the railway line. He also began to establish claims
for himself, mining wolfram and copper in the area. Sally’s father was also to make money from bird catching,
trapping finches and parrots from the bush, then taking them by ship from Darwin to the southern markets.
Sally and the older children enrolled in the Pine Creek School, but had to leave when Frank Frith decided it
would be more lucrative to move out to the wolfram mine. The family again moved lock stock and barrel, this
time even taking the house with them. Their father employed a teacher, an older man, to teach the children but
Sally remembered him having problems disciplining the lively group of children, happier in the bush than sitting
inside doing lessons. Once the wolfram petered out the family moved back into Pine Creek and Sally returned to
school until her 15th birthday, when her rather patchy education ended.
By this time the family had established a boarding house in Pine Creek and Sally went to work there. The Friths
were making an important contribution to the life of Pine Creek, with Sally’s mother acting as the unofficial
midwife, locally known as ‘the rabbit catcher’ and the children taking part in local events, tennis parties and race
meetings. Tragically, Sally’s brother Frank was to die in a freak accident at the Pine Creek races in 1918.
On 1 February 1916 Sally married a local miner, William Matthew Jones, a Welshman about 15 years her
senior. He had been living in Pine Creek when the family arrived and worked as the manager of the Cosmopolitan
Battery, just outside the town. Sally moved out to the Battery with him, and then on to the Mt Diamond copper
mine, which was also owned by Cosmopolitan. William Jones was responsible for the operation of the water pump
at the mine and supervising the Chinese labourers. Sally kept house and was soon caring for their children; Nancy
who was born in May 1916 and William (Bill) born in April 1919.
When the copper mine closed down the family returned to Pine Creek where William heard that there was
work available at Victoria River Downs Station (VRD). He successfully applied for a position as mechanic, and in
December 1920 the family again packed up and travelled out to VRD. However, Sally fell pregnant on the journey
out and was soon to return to Pine Creek, as no medical help was then available at the station. In September 1921
Sarah Grace was born, and four weeks later Sally travelled back to VRD in the heat of the build-up.
The family had a cottage at VRD and access to fresh food, with plenty of meat and vegetables from the Chinese
gardener but there was a continuing problem with malaria, and the property was very isolated from the rest of the
Territory. Not long after Sally returned to VRD with her new baby, the Australian Inland Mission began building
a hospital on the property. It was called the Wimmera Home and when Sally’s fourth child, Gwyneth (Gwennie)