William Suthern

The following article has been provided by Syl Aldred.
It appeared in the Cooma Monaro Express on Tuesday 16th March 1971.

One of the oldest residents of the Monaro, Mrs. Mary Jane Suthern, died at Berridale last week, aged 103. Mrs. Suthern died at her daughter's home in Jindabyne Road, Berridale last Wednesday only 10 miles from where she had been born and spent most of her life.

To her friends in the district Mrs. Suthern was affectionately known as 'Aunt Jane'.

She was of pioneer stock - her parents were among the earliest settlers on the Monaro - and was born on their property, 'Spring Creek', in 1868. At 21 years of age she married a young selector, John Suthern, and for a while they lived at 'Mountain Brook'.

After 40 years of happy marriage Mr. John Suthern died but Mrs. Suthern remained at 'Fox Glen' for a further 25 years before taking up residence with her daughter at Berridale in 1956.

It was not until her birthdate was checked with the Register General prior to receiving a congratulatory message from the Queen for her centenary that the error came to light. After almost 10 (should read 100) years Mrs. Suthern learned that her birthday actually fell on December 26.

Farming was in Mrs. Suthern's blood and throughout her life it was her main interest. Friends describe her as having a remarkable sense of humour and throughout the district she received the respect of many people. The Rev. Tony Ireland said Mrs. Suthern was an extremely alert woman and even in recent years was able to recollect the days of 'Banjo Patterson' and speak of him as if it were yesterday.

Despite a fall and broken hip at 96 years of age Mrs. Suthern recovered and was able to walk about. Eighteen months ago she had another fall and her hip was boken again. Since that time Mrs. Suthern was confined to a wheel chair.

The funeral of Mrs. Suthern was held in the Berridale Church of England on Friday and she was buried in the Gegedzerick Cemetery.

Mrs. Suthern is survived by five children. Linda, ( Mrs. C. Roberson, Berridale, Amos, Melva ( Mrs. C. Wallace, Moruya ), Percival and Alma ( Mrs. F. Williams, "Manderlay"). Two children, Farquher and Donald ( & Violet ), predeceased her."

Descendants of John Suthern

Sylvia Aldred [Sylvisstuff-at-gmail.com]
Leony Power <powerl-at-acr.net.au>
Jenny Stevenson <redswan-at-bigpond.net.au> and various others 25.00.06
David Smith <dvsmith-at-yahoo.com.au> 13.03.07
Recompiled from the new Monaro Pioneers database by Ian Harvey: 25.10.07

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