JOHN FREEBODY
Woolway 1847

JOHN FREEBODY was born at Windsor- in January, 1796, and died at Woolway, near Berridale, on I I th November, 1890, at the age of 94. He arrived on Manaro in 1847 and entered the service of Abraham Brierly, of Woolway, then under the management of Alexander Hamilton. There he stayed till the Bendigo rush in 1852, whither he went, and, after some success, returned to Manaro, and opened a store at Woolway. He took up land at Arable, on which he resided till his death. He left a considerable number of descendants, many of whom still live in the district.

"BACK TO COOMA" Felix Mitchell 1926 Page 77 - Transcribed by Pattrick Mould 2002

OBITUARIES

Miss Mary Ann Freebody
Cooma Express Sept 1944
Obituary 

As already briefly reported one of Monaro’s oldest residents, if not the oldest, Miss Mary Ann Freebody, has passed away at the advanced age of 101 years and 9 months, death having taken place in the Cooma District Hospital on Monday 25^th September 1944.

Born at Wilberforce, New South Wales, on 17^th December 1942 the deceased lady came to Monaro with her parents in 1847 being five years old. She was the youngest daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs. John Freebody, of Woolwye (now known as Woolway) and Arable. There were eight children, Simon, William, John, Peter and James (twins) Sarah Matilda and Mary, all born at Wilberforce. Her father was a native of Windsor, were he was born in 1796. He was married at Windsor to Miss Sarah Connelly. They made the journey to Monaro by a dray drawn by two horses over what was little more than a bush track. Mr. Freebody took service with Mr. Adam Brierly at Woolwye Station. Mr. Alexander Hamilton being Manager. They had to build their own habitation- a slab hut with a grass thatched roof. There was no fire place, and all cooking was done out in the open.

The family went in for sheep and cattle raising. There were no schools, the children receiving what education their parents could impart to them.

When gold was discovered at Bendigo, Mr. Freebody joined the rush to the field, where he did fairly well and returned to the Monaro with several bags of loose gold. He established a storekeeping business at Woolwye, later purchasing a property at Arable, where he resided until his death on 11^th November 1890, at the great age of nearly 95 years. His remains were laid to rest in the R.C. Section of Gegedzerick General Cemetery. When he first saw Cooma it had only four or five buildings which included a public house kept by Mr. James Kirwan, ans a store conducted by Mr. Alexander Montague.

Miss Freebody had been a resident at various places on the Monaro for almost 97 years; quite a long time indeed when it is realized that local settlement preceded her by only about 18 years.

Moving from the Snowy River district, the late Miss Freebody came to Cooma where she conducted a boarding house for a time. Later she went to the Numeralla district and during the gold seeking period at Fiery Creek once more engaged in the business of boarding house keeping, principally catering for gold seekers on that field of operations.

After the Fiery Creek area had failed to reach expectations as a mining field, Miss Freebody and her brother, the late Mr. James Freebody, came to reside in Numeralla, later disposing of their home to the late Mr. Tom Ross. Leaving Numeralla the brother and sister, now getting on in years, selected land on Tuross River, and carried out grazing in a small way for several years.

About 25 years ago Mr. James Freebody was accidentally killed at Numeralla, thus breaking a long association between brother and sister.

Miss Freebody, however "stuck to her guns" and remained at Tuross for some years after her brothers death, carrying on the property in conjunction with her brother-in-law Mr. Riley. Later owing to her advancing age and Mr. Riley’s death , she decided to return to Numeralla and had a cottage erected in order to spend her deciling years at the place she loved best Numeralla. During the past five or six years her health had not always been good and more recently the sturdy old lady was noticeably passing through critical periods, finally being admitted to the Cooma District Hospital where she passed away peacefully as stated earlier.

Miss Freebody was formerly a very competent horsewoman and has broken in many unpromising mounts, She was even game enough to ride the Famous "Aristocrat".

Her friends knew her best and affectionately as "Aunt Mary"|.

Though, not very robust in appearance the deceased lady possessed unusual energy and determination. Though she never acquired much of this world’s goods her failure to do so could be attributed to her wonderful charity amongst friends and even casual acquaintances. It can be truthfully said "Her kettle was boiled" more often than persons much wealthier.

Possessing a keen and retentive memory, Miss Freebody until about three years ago could relate many incidents that occurred during her early life on the Monaro. When the present war was going somewhat against our armies she never lost hope, quoting at times the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, the Afghanistan flare up the Boer war and the 1914-1918 trouble, and she declared "We will get through alright yet" the right view always.

A devoted adherent to the Roman Catholic Faith and tolerant towards other denominations, the deceased once again took the correct view on life.

Prior to the interment, which took place beside the graves of her late brothers, James and Peter, in the Numeralla General Cemetery, the funeral procession from Cooma halted at the Numeralla R.C. Church, and after a short service conducted by the Rev. Father Ashley Jones proceeded to the cemetery where father Jones conducted the last rites of the R.C. Church at the graveside. Mr. F.H. Allen had charge of the funeral arrangements