Ethel Edith Telfer

Born: 8 March 1894 — Moorak, South Australia (SA BDM Birth Reg 540/133; confirmed 2026-09-06)
Died: 18 January 1937 — buried 19 January 1937, Lake Terrace Cemetery, Mount Gambier SA (official cemetery burial register, grave 139127 — see Notes for year reconciliation)
Husband: James Gordon Steele (1892–1951) (m. at Mount Gambier)

Life Summary

Ethel Edith Telfer was the daughter of James Robert Telfer (station hand at Moorak Station) and Hannah Peacock. She married James Gordon Steele, and the family's 1989 history records that the couple had two sons and two daughters.

Her birth year (1894) is confirmed by the South Australian birth registration; the "1884" date printed in the Supplement 2008 is a transcription slip (1894 → 1884). Her death is now confirmed at 18 January 1937 (buried 19 January 1937, Lake Terrace Cemetery, Mount Gambier) from the official cemetery burial register — see Note 40 below for the full reconciliation.

Sources

• SA BDM Birth Registration 540/133 — Ethel Edith Telfer, 8 Mar 1894, Moorak, father James Robert Telfer, mother Hannah Peacock. Accessed via Genealogy SA 6 Sep 2026.
• SA BDM Death Registration 771/4098 — husband James Gordon Steele, 3 Aug 1951, age 59, Grey district. Accessed via Genealogy SA 7 Sep 2026.
• City of Mount Gambier Cemetery Register (Lake Terrace Cemetery) — grave id 139127: STEELE ETHEL EDITH, buried 19/01/1937 aged 42, Section M Plot 315 [verified live 8 Sep 2026 via lgasa-web.squiz.cloud cemetery-search]; husband grave id 139132, buried 5/08/1951. Interment photo on file (headstone).
• Trove / Border Watch (Mount Gambier), "OBITUARY. Mr. James Gordon Steele," 4 Oct 1951, p.5 (article 78660605) — confirms Ethel married James Gordon Steele at Mount Gambier; she is absent from his list of survivors (indicating she predeceased him).
• Trove / Border Watch Family Notices, 5 Aug 1952, p.6 (article 80766637) — In Memoriam to James Gordon Steele placed by children.
• From the Borders to the Bush (1989 family history) — life/family narrative.
• A Telfer Family Tree — Supplement 2008 — for the "1884" date shown to be a slip.