- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
that Ted decided in 1909 to settle there. The family of his fiancée, Jane Doolan, intended at that time to move
to Western Australia. The young couple hoped to marry there and go on to Argentina; but in the end none of the
family moved and the wedding took place in Alice Springs in 1910. Ted decided to stay and manage Mount Burrell
for the family.
In 1914 their young son William met with an accident. His parents hurried him to Oodnadatta by buggy and
then on to Adelaide by train but he died shortly after arriving there.
Soon after, the Hayes family shifted to Maryvale as Jane Hayes was unable to bear the sorrow and loneliness
on her own, her husband being often away mustering for weeks at a time. There were usually only Aborigines for
company. Several years later Ted’s parents and sisters retired to live in Mount Barker, South Australia.
In 1907 W Hayes and Sons purchased Undoolya and Owen Springs from Norman Richardson. John Hayes
managed it up until 1919 when he became ill and went south, only to die soon after. Only Ted and Bill were left of
the original family in Central Australia. For years Bill did most of the droving from both Maryvale and Undoolya,
taking both horses and cattle to Oodnadatta, to be trucked to the southern markets.
In 1922 Ted Hayes became general manager of the Hayes’ properties and shifted with his family from Maryvale
to Undoolya with two wagons and a buggy. He had a Dodge car at this time, purchased in 1920 and the first station
motorcar in the district. Unfortunately when only a few hundred metres from the Maryvale homestead it broke an
axle. The family all had to transfer to the buggy—mother, father and five children plus a governess.
They arrived at Undoolya on 12 March 1922 and settled in to a new life close to Alice Springs, which at the
time had about twenty-five white people, excluding the telegraph station staff. Hayes and his wife became involved
in most town activities, including the race meetings and other sporting events; picnics were very popular also.
Good seasons lasted until about 1924; then conditions began to deteriorate, leading to the disastrous drought of
the late 1920s. Cattle losses were heavy. There were also severe losses of horses that were bred on most properties
at that time to supply the Indian army and the southern market. This drought broke in 1929, the year the railway
from the south reached Alice Springs. A few months later, pastoralists were able to rail their cattle south and have
them arrive at the market in top condition.
During this drought, toward the end of 1927, Ted Hayes was surprised to see some very fat cattle on one of
the waterholes of the Finke. He tracked them east towards the Simpson Desert and discovered there had been a
storm earlier that year, Parakelia was growing well and there were hundreds of cattle living out there in prime
condition.
After getting the horse plant organised Hayes and his men mustered under very hot conditions. The cattle were
scattered over a large area of country. Often the stockmen would be away from their camp mustering from early
morning until late at night, without water the whole day, and when they did arrive back they had to take their turns
on the night watch to hold the cattle; there being no yard available. Sometimes Gus Eliott’s camels, bringing water,
would be late and both horses and men would have a very thirsty time while they waited. However the cattle, about
800 head, were eventually mustered and taken to Horseshoe Bend, thence Oodnadatta, to be railed to the Adelaide
market. Hayes decided to drove them himself with the men who had mustered them. This was probably the last big
mob of cattle taken from that area to Oodnadatta to be railed south, as the drought continued and no more cattle
were able to use the stock route.
Hayes’s son, Edward, joined his father at Horseshoe Bend and went with him on this drive to Oodnadatta.
Young Edward had left school at 13 years of age. His mother and the rest of the family after dropping him with his
father, drove on down to Adelaide by car and waited there for father’s and son’s arrival. They all stayed down until
after Christmas and then drove home in two motorcars, Hayes having purchased another Dodge car.
In 1930 the original Hayes family decided to sell their station properties. Mrs Stott, widow of Bob Stott,
bought Maryvale for her son Cameron, Owen Springs was purchased by Hurtle and Tom Kidman, nephews of
Sir Sidney Kidman, and Edward and Jane Hayes purchased Undoolya, which at that time had only one permanent
water source, the Emily Gap. Not until 1937 did Hayes discover that bore water was available in the Todd Valley.
He and his wife re-purchased Owen Springs in 1937 from the Kidmans and ran it separately from Undoolya.
Edward junior and his wife Jean went out to Owen Springs and managed it until 1939.
Ted and Jane Hayes had purchased a house in Alice Springs in 1940 with the intention of retiring, but as the
war interfered with their plans, they did not retire until after the Second World War.
Hayes never really retired. He still led an active life on the stations until the year before he died in 1960.
Although he had for many years raced horses locally, not until the latter years of his life did he race several horses
in Adelaide, winning the Adelaide Cup with Star Aim in 1958 and a handicap at Flemington in 1956.
He was a life member of the Alice Springs Rifle Club having, in July 1936, given the land for the rifle range in
what is now the Mount John Valley. Undoolya’s boundaries at that time surrounded the town area.
Ted Hayes was one of the best cattlemen in Central Australia, and valued every individual beast. In the early
1940s he hired J Parkinson to come from South Australia with his dam-sinking plant and construct dams on both
Undoolya and Owen Springs. This was the beginning of a vast improvement program on his properties for both
more watering points and fencing. In 1950 he went to New South Wales and purchased from L Leake the first Poll
Hereford cattle introduced to the Northern Territory. He was accustomed to long hours in the saddle in all kinds of
weather and he could work all day without a drink of water. Although Hayes was very much at home out on the run,
he did enjoy home life. Besides having the first station cars, he also was the first pastoralist in Central Australia to
introduce kerosene refrigeration, electric lights and wireless to station homesteads.
Ted Hayes died on 28 March 1960 and is buried with his wife in the Alice Springs cemetery.
Family information.
E HAYES, Vol 1.