Caroline Amelia Telfer

Lifespan: 10 June 1842 – 24 August 1929

Branch: Masters → Telfer (married into)

Role: School teacher at Tarlee; matriarch of Willow Plains

Headstone — Clare General Cemetery (photographed 5 October 2022)

Where to visit: approximately −33.842625, 138.6026778 (Find A Grave's recorded GPS for the plot), Clare General Cemetery, Clare, South Australia. Open in Google Maps →

The stone confirms both death dates — 23 August 1929 for John, 24 August 1929 for Caroline — and gives her age at death as 87, consistent with a birth on 10 June 1842. Her husband is recorded as aged 82. The epitaph could not be transcribed reliably from the photograph and is deliberately not reproduced; see the note on John Telfer (1847–1929), John Telfer (1847–1929).

Biography

Caroline Amelia Masters was born 10th June 1842 in Brownsover, Warwickshire, England — daughter of Charles Masters (1809–1866) and Martha Williams Masters (1814–1896). She emigrated to South Australia with her family on the Templar, arriving 24 November 1845.

The family farmed at Flaxman's Valley, Angaston. Her father Charles farmed there until about 1865, after which Martha (with the help of her children) carried on.

The School Teacher

Caroline and her sister Mary Ellen first tried opening a school at Gilberton, near the Forrester's Arms Hotel — a staging camp for bullockies. The railway bypassed the hotel and the town of Tarlee sprang up at the rail head instead, so the venture failed.

In 1870 she tried again, granted a licence by the Tarlee District Council. She taught in the original section of the Baptist Church with 41 pupils — 18 boys and 23 girls. The Tarlee school history records her "dedication and persistence that would do a present day teacher proud." She taught there until 17th August 1874.

Marriage and Family

She married John Telfer (1847–1929) on 22nd September 1874 in the Tarlee Baptist Church (her schoolroom for four years). She was 32, he was 27. John's brother George and Caroline's sister Mary Ellen were witnesses.

On the marriage certificate she signed as C.A. Masters. In later years she dropped the "Amelia" because she didn't want her initials to be C.A.T. Telfer. From then on she was C.M. Telfer.

The Move North

When the government opened the Northern Districts for farming, it was Caroline who urged John to apply. After his successful application they moved to Arkaba, where she gave birth to six sons in a one-roomed wood and iron hut with a hessian partition. The first of these, Ernest John, was the first white baby born at Willow Plains.

She and John died within hours of each other in August 1929 — she on the 24th, he on the 23rd — and are buried together at Clare Cemetery.

Family Stories

See John Telfer (1847–1929) for full stories, including the uncle's matchmaking, the pupil's poem for baby John Ernest, the adopted children, the C.A.T. initials, Caroline's brick oven, and Cocky the wonder bird.

(From the Borders to the Bush, pp.109-118)

Relationships