"Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God" - A Methodist motto.
"They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away .... Isaiah 35:10"
"I am not a Christian: I only follow after, if haply I may attain it ..... doing good unto all men."
[ Rev. John Wesley, June 1739 ]
PREFACE (2009 update): This file/webpage contains a record of the burial "order of service" on the day of the internment of Mostyn Arthur Byrnes, most of which was as distributed to those who attended as a printed booklet (the orginal 2007 version is here). This update, made two years later by John Byrnes (son of Mostyn and Doreen), adds a little more. My parents some years prior to 2007 had been moved to the same nursing home (Strathdale) and gotten finally into the same room together (with some difficulty since the "assessment" processes in New South Wales have strong tendency to separate people in the last years they are no longer able to live in their homes). Mum's faculties were in strong decline, including hearing and even her 'short term' memory was failing. When Dad died it was told to her that he had died but perhaps did not fully 'sink in', as she continued for some time to call out to him as if expecting a reply from the next bed. Mum lived almost no time at all after Dad was gone. She soon passed away herself. She was quietly added to the same grave at Castlereagh with only a small service, conducted by the same Minister, Rev. Uddy. Considerable effort was gone to for Dad's funeral in order to find/notify Byrnes relatives. Perhaps still exhausted by that, when Mum died shortly thereafter no comparable effort was repeated. For Mum (nee Steiner) there were only very few relatives locally known. Mum had a very good lifetime best friend named Sadie, and strangely enough Sadie by this time was then resident at a nursing home quite close to Strathdale - but Sadie had grown too old to travel to Castlereagh for the funeral. Subsequently, however, more has been learned and uploaded about the Steiners or German side of things. The present writer has since 2007 done little more on researching any more of the earlier Byrnes'es, or Mostyn's direct line. However, for those who are more broadly interested in this family and/or the Upper Castlereagh river flats area (once a relatively fertile farmland area but later on quarried apart from the 'sacred acre' to supply Sydney with sand and gravel) there has become available a major compilation by Sharon Hindmarsh, which Sharon generously decided to make freely available to all (links are given below). Sharon has traced the ancestors or Alfred Byrnes and his wife (Elizabeth Rhoda Lovell) and the lives and families of Alfred and Constance's children. You might also find material of interest in Sharon's work if you belong to any of the family surnames she mentions in here work. These are:
Ahmelman, Allpass
Bailey, Baker, Baldock, Barnes, Beadman. Berthon, Bottle, Bowman, Brogan, Bunyan, Burton, Byrnes
Clifton, Cohen, Colletts, Conn, Cooper, Cruwys
Dargin, Davidson, Denison, Dowling, Downey
Fitzpatrick, Forrester, Fredericks
Gates, George, Glazier, Gorman, Green
Hadley, Hamilton, Harris, Hart, Hayes, Hindmarsh, Hines, Hughes
Jackson
Kingston
Lack, Leitch, Lenthall, Lewis, Lovell
Matthews, McQuade, Millen, Miller
Neeves, Nicholas, Nicholson
Owens
Parker, Parkes, Price, Purdie
Reffin, Riddle, Rostron
Sheens, Sibley, Sims, Skinner, Stole, Sullivan
Thomas, Turner
Vanderville
Wadell, Walker, West, Wilkins, Wilkinson, Williams, Witcom
The area of river flats known as Upper Castlereagh is one of the most historic localities in Australia's early European history. Altough no town ever took root here one was planned to, as one of the five early towns of Governor Lachlan Macquarie that were planned and commenced in 1810. Castlereagh did not develop as envisaged due to the discovery of a route over the Blue Mountains which opened up the vast western "interior" of the State. This prompted the construction of a direct western highway from Sydney to Emu plains where the route over the Blue Mountains commenced. At the Nepean River crossing the town, later city, of Penrith naturally took root and developed. Thereupon all thoughts of any nearby town at Castlereagh died. After more than two hundred years of farming the rich river flats, agriculture is all but extinct (albeit that enough produce is still grow to more-than-adequately decorate the church for traditional harvest festival, as is illustrated herein. Many of Penrith district's pioneering families originated from Castlereagh, and at least one mayor of Penrith. Little will remain of the place's historical importance as most of the original surface will vanish into quarries, which eventually fill with water as the "Penrith Lakes" scheme (already very advanced). The richer residences along the river will not be sacrificed and will survive as sites of major heritage importance. The places of the more common people will mainly all be lost - except for the place called "The Sacred Acre". That has great historic significance as being where Wesleyanism first took root in Australia.
( Mos Byrnes who liked gardening and visiting the Blue Mountains was buried here, on
land donated by a forbear, John Lees. Mr Lees began at this spot in 1815 the oldest
Wesleyan place of continued prayer/repentence in the southern hemisphere. )
Mostyn
1920 - 2007
Mostyn with his mother Janet, at Mayfield - 1940s
The Funeral Service for
Mostyn Arthur Byrnes
*
2:15 PM
Friday 12 January 2007
held in
Castlereagh Chapel
1727 Castlereagh Rd, Castlereagh NSW 2749
Photo of some years ago
Photo
taken 12 January 2007 (the rear bell tower is a newer addition)(
The present Methodist Church - built 1847 - is the third to be built at this site.
Rum Corps soldier turned pastoralist, John Lees, donated the land on which the first
Wesleyan Church in Australia was built in 1817. He is buried in the Cemetery which dates
from 1836. The adjoining weatherboard Hall (1864) housed the Wesleyan school which was
established by 1840 and operated until the Upper Castlereagh school opened opposite in 1887. )
THOSE WHO TOOK PART IN SERVICE:
The Service was conducted by:
Reverend Richard Udy
Readings from Bible: Ann Lim
Eulogy: Ken Byrnes
Poems: Ann Byrnes
Organist: John Drummond
THE ORDER OF SERVICE
INTRODUCTION (Minister)
PRAYER (Minister)
HYMN (All)
The Lord’s my Shepherd
The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for His own names sake.
Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.
My table Thou has furnished
In presence of my foes;
My head Thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me,
And in God’s house for evermore
My dwelling-place shall be.
(By William Whittingham 1524-79;
Francis Rous, 1570-1659, with revisions)
(Hymn 50 in Methodist Hymn Book, 1954)
READINGS FROM BIBLE: (Ann Lim)
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
John 14:1-6, 27
Jesus comforts his Disciples
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
Jesus the Way to the Father
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me........Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
(Words from: New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
NIV at IBS International Bible Society NIV at Zondervan Zondervan )
EULOGY (Ken Byrnes)
POEMS (Ann Byrnes, on behalf of Doreen Byrnes & Juliet Byrnes)
Reading of extracts from 19th Century Australian poems:
"Fair Castlereagh" by Charles Tompson (1807-83).
"Bellbirds" by Henry Kendall (1839-82).
HYMN (All)
Amazing Grace
Amazing grace! (How sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
"T’was grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev"d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
(By John Newton 1725-1807)
(With other title & spellings appeared in
"Olney Hymns" 1779)
MEDITATION (Minister)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Minister)
COMMENDATION (Minister)
LORD’S PRAYER (All)
Our Father, which art in heaven: Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, In earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our Daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.
(Methodist Hymn Book, 1954, p91)
BENEDICTION (Minister)
Following the Service, we adjourned to the adjacent Cemetery for the Burial.
( Thereafter followed by refreshments in the recently opened Gloster Udy Memorial Hall, situated behind the Chapel)
*
.... whereupon the grave of Mostyn was backfilled ....
.... with a headstone to be added some time later ....
****
Should you have any memories/mementoes of Mostyn which you would like the family to try to preserve then please mail copy to:
P.O. Box 121,
BURWOOD, NSW 1805
OR email to john.mail@ozemail.com.au
AND/OR upload material yourself to:
http://notices.smh.com.au/death/25811/notice.aspx
NB: There is no hurry, SMH Tribute Websites allow friends and family to honour the life of a loved one by remaining online for 12 months.
**
(Also printed on separate loose A5 sheet was the following)
POEMS (extracts)
Fair Castlereagh
Fair Castlereagh, I trace thy landscape round,
Each well known spot to me is sacred ground;
In ev’ry mead – in every bow’r or tree,
Some dear companion – some old friend I see:
The myrtle grove that skirts thy sloping sides,
And the tall summit from the plain divides,
The rich acacias waving o’er the rill
That pours its scanty stream beneath the hill;
Thy spreading vale - ....................
By Charles Thomson (1807-1883).
Published in 1826 in his
"Wild Notes: From the Lyre of a Native Minstrel"
widely regarded a the ‘first substantial book of verse’ written
by a person born in Australia
For the COMPLETE TEXT of this book is obtainable by clicking on the following link to open it, or else right-mouse-click [ and then choose "Save Target As .. ] to download the file:
( © University of Sydney Library. The texts and images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission ... This text was sponsored by AustLit: the Resource for Australian Literature (www.austlit.edu.au) for the SETIS electronic texts collections - http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts )
Bell-birds
By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,
And down the dim gorges I hear the creek falling,
It lives in the mountain where moss and the sedges
Touch with their beauty the banks and the ledges.
Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers
Struggles the light that is love to the flowers;
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.
By Henry Kendall (1839-82)
THE 2009 UPDATE
These are photos taken on a return visit in early 2009. The area is very small and all these graves are close together.
A view looking north. To the left is the first Wesleyan schoolhouse (basically just one room, very well preserved) and behind it the church
building or chapel. To the right is a bell tower and another building with a less rusty roof. These are new additions but the new room/s
(modern meeting/conference facilities - the Gloster Udy Memorial Hall) are a perfect "neo-old" match for the original. The grave of
Mostyn and Doreen is the newer grave seen in front of the junction between the old and new buildings. To it's left the first tall head
stone with a coloured arched top is Jackons' grave (John Jackson, a grandson of Ann Reffin and David Byrnes, once had the land
on the opposite side of the road which was purchased for a small State school building (which is still standing) that superseded
the Wesleyan school. The next left tall headstone is the Lees headstone (John Lees donated this 'sacred acre' to the
Wesleyan Methodist church as an excision from his own early land grant here. [Some think he was very grateful for
being redeemed, and saved from demon drink, by arrival of a travelling Wesleyan preacher ].
( The original Methodist Church at this place is generally believed to be the first Methodist place of worship built in Australia, and perhaps also the first in the entire southern hemisphere(?). The precise location of the very first place of worship at the locality remains a little uncertain but is recorded to have been a slab outhouse that was added at the home of John Lees the early settler. Later on John built a weatherboard chapel, which was opened in October 1817. The present brick chapel is thought to have been later on constructed from local bricks that were made either 'on site' or somewhere very close-by [but the details have not yet been found]. This brick church building was opened in 1847, at a final cost of £450. The cost was met with money collected at various "tea parties", which a certain "Mrs Byrnes" helped to run. This was probably Harriet Byrnes. Harriet was a convict, possibly a pick-pocket street prostitute, who had been transported against her will to the penal colony - much like many of the other early residents of the area. She likely came from Methodist stock back in England and after leading the way in Revival at Castlereagh was very disappointed when her family 'back home' would not so much as even open her letters to them. The old weatherboard chapel building then became a schoolhouse - a Wesleyan Common School until the State Education System was instituted, after which time the State built a brick schoolhouse directly opposite on the western side of Castlereagh Road. It may have been Harriet who strongly lead the Byrnes family, not originally Methodist, into Methodism at Castlereagh. Byrnes'es became responsible wardens of the church there. On the writer's own line of these Byrnes'es, they also embraced the later arrival of the Salvation Army to the Penrith area - viz. the additional Worboys influence. )
The Mostyn and Dorren grave as it is now covered over.
Mostyn and Dorren's grave lies flush against the graves of Alfred and Constance Byrnes, at the right. The 'hill' in the background is the front of the Blue Mountains plateau. It is there that "Bellbirds" may often be heard, as in the poem above by Henry Kendall.
The lives and later family of Alfred and Constance Byrnes have now been documented extensively by Sharon Hindmarsh:
Sharon is the wife of Robert Hindmarsh, a great grandson of Alfred and Constance (Alfred Byrnes and Constance Rhoda Lovell). She started an interest in Family History in 2001 and shortly after that began research into the Byrnes family (.... more). At Sharon's
webstite Byrnes Book Files the whole book on Alfred and Constance Byrnes may be downloaded free. The
main book file, 9,304 Kb ( the_castlereagh_connection%20.pdf ) traces the ancestors or Alfred Byrnes
and Elizabeth Rhoda Lovell on their travels from England and their arrival in the colony.
It then follows the lives and families of Alfred and Constance's children.
The Lees headstone. John Lees (1771-1835) was at first buried in the nearby Castlereagh general or Anglican cemetery
but later on his remains, and this headstone, were removed to this land which he had donated to the Methodists. The
Methodist church later built in nearby Penrith was also named for John ("John Lees Christian Centre", 15 Evan
Street. Penrith). For references to the life of John Lees see the following:
1) Microfiche "The John Lees memorial Methodist Church, 107th anniversary, Castlereagh, 23rd and 24th September 1922" by Castlereagh (N.S.W.) Methodist Church, 1922. [contact: Preservation Reformatting Unit, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT].
2) "John Lees : The chapel builder", 1987. This is written by one of his descendants, Merle Kavanagh.
[ Published by Mrs M. Kavanagh, 6 Sumner Street, Sutherland, N.S.W. 2232. Includes an index and further bibliography at pp.. 77-84]. ISBN 0 7316 0188 2
3) "The Story of a Remarkable Life. Pioneer, Soldier & Settler" by Rev S.C. Roberts, Penrith. Published by Nepean Times, Penrith.
4) "A Legion of Lees" by Merle Kavanagh. ISBN 0 7316 28217
The pump John Lees primed still pumps on at Penrith. Upper Castlereagh, especially because it has by
now been mostly quarried away, is now just a relatively minute parish or part-parish, but preaching
still happens there, from the John Lees Christian Centre at nearby Penrith.
Two siblings of my g-grandfather William Taylor Byrnes married children of the Hollier family, and "Hollier"s remain
readers at the JL Centre in Penrith (whereas (Byrnes'es have now faded away there). Another notable elder of
the Penrith parish is Freda Whitlam. One of the Whitlams (Gough, 1916-), who is a brother of Freda,
became a Labor Prime Minister of Australia in 1972.
After their "Uniting" in Australia, the parish now comprises both former Methodists and Presbyterians. The Castlereagh sacred acre, however, is on long term lease to a separate more continuing Wesleyan organisation which has also revived it as an active conference centre etc. Many think the Wesleyans have always had a strong social conscience or sense of justice. Freda Whitlam, who is interested in history (and has also taught advanced Latin) relates that the Nineteenth Century is one of her favourite subject: " .... the work of John Wesley led to the abolition of slavery, the industrial revolution was at its height, and yet there was the Irish famine. Darwin launched his Evolution of Species, the growth of the railways opened up opportunities for travel, and there was great missionary activity. (It was at that time that medical missionary, David Livingstone, took modern medicine to Africa". Freda is associated with the Chifley chapter of the University of the Third age. is not a university at all—at least, not in any conventional sense. It is comprised of groups of people pursuing shared interests under the guidance of a tutor. Freda Whitlam is known as an educationist, and an active proponent of the sharing of wisdom and other things. Here is some of Freda's published words on wisdom: "Despite unprecedented numbers of older people in our population this is the wisdom that we are rapidly losing now the economic rationalists are trying to turn us into customers rather than citizens. Our universities are emaciated. One thousand Australian people make unsuccessful suicide attempts each week. The numbers of homeless have doubled in the last ten years. Of our richest people, 40% claim no donations to charity. Last year 8.7 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were filled. Drug companies don't research devastating diseases of the poor like malaria and sleeping sickness, because they focus almost exclusively on the afflictions of the affluent. Where is the wisdom in all this? Subtle pressures gag dissenting voices: threats of job loss and cutbacks, decreasing availability of government subsidised legal representation, etc. .... True wisdom comes from each one of us living with and for others. The three things we crave most in life - happiness, freedom and peace of mind - come by giving them to someone else. ... There are no short cuts to wisdom - live long enough, think of others, listen, participate, love, dare - and you may be asked to speak up for wisdom" ( Snippets - the full original is in Elder Law Review, Volume 1, 2002).
The Whitlam Institute hosted the launch of the first biography of Ms Freda Whitlam AM at Parramatta on Monday 16 March 2009. This record of Freda’s life and achievements was written by Noelene Martin. Freda was formerly the Principal of the Presbyterian Ladies College, Croydon, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sydney University in 1999.
At the 2009 launch of the Freda book - Ms Freda Whitlam AM and Mrs Noelene Martin (Photo: The Whitlam Institute).
Also, Freda lecturing in or about 1986 (University of Newcastle).
PLC Croydon former School Captain, Angela Webber (who died rather young and is now outlived by Freda) once wrote about how her schoolgirl encounter with the 1972 federal election was when the girls spotted a reporter on the school grounds. They assumed this man must have been there to seek an interview with Gough's sister, and so they "dived to the window" for a closer look --- " 'Keep back from the windows, girls!' shouted my teacher whom until that moment I had considered broad-minded. 'That man is from the ABC and it's an organisation that's riddled with communists! ' " (Just as any of today's far right-wingers like Brian Wilshire, David Oldfield, Piers Ackerman or Andrew Bolt might declare the ABC a veritable nest of communists or socialists or worse still 'do-gooders' or 'greens'; little changes?).
The Whitlam family had not always been well-off and the grandfather of Freda and Gough served time in prison, for forgery, back in more impecunious times. That was Harry Whitlam, but his son Frederick (Gough's father) went on to be a top student and a scholarship boy at Wesley. The Whitlam family fortunes really did change and this may be a good example of what the valuing of education can do. According to the biographers, books were "the world" for both Gough and Freda, and all frivolous distractions including even the radio were eschewed. In Noelene Martin's biography, Freda tells about the time the family's copy of the 1924 edition of Webster's International Dictionary arrived at their home - Freda, then aged four, strutted around the room with it. When Gough was nine he taught Freda, then five, the Greek alphabet. Freda, the teacher of advanced Latin, at age 80 also began learning Arabic.
The Jacksons headstone.
Grave of Gloucester Udy, brother of Rev. Udy who conducted the service for Mostyn and Doreen.
And the life, it goes on, as it always has ... oobledah:
A rich harvest of marriages. As members of another wedding party leave the church at Castlereagh one Saturday, parishoner
ladies awaited to decorate the interior for the Harvest Festival that would occur the following day.
The bell tower and the wedding party.
A harvest, and night falls - but the darkness shall ne'er prevail.
The items of produce for the harvest festival arriving at the church, from just a short distance away up Castlereagh Road at the Dixon farm.
It is not known to this writer when Harvest Festival practice reached the Methodist churches in
Australia but there are many old photos showing that it did so. This on is from
Eldorado, Victoria. (Repository: Museum of Victoria)
Harvest festival is the annual celebration that may occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Harvests festivals typically feature feasting, both family and public, with foods that are drawn from crops that come to maturity around the time of the festival. In Britain, thanks have been given for successful harvests since pagan times. The celebrations on this day usually include singing hymns, praying, and decorating churches with natural food products. It may be known as Harvest Festival, Harvest Home or Harvest Thanksgiving. In the USA it transformed into Thanksgiving Day and a national holiday, but in Britain it remains a solely Church festival giving thanks to God for the harvest.
The modern British tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Reverend Robert Hawker (1803-1875), invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall.
Parson Hawker was a noted eccentric. He loved bright colours and the only black things he wore were his socks. He liked nature and wild places and built a tiny shelter hut on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. There he spent many hours writing his poems and smoking opium. Other mild eccentricities included dressing up as a mermaid and excommunicating his cat for mousing on Sundays. He dressed in claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a poncho made from a yellow horse blanket, all of which he claimed properly constituted the ancient habit of St Padarn. He was an aspiring antiquarian. He talked to birds, frequently invited his nine cats into church and kept a huge pig as a pet. The chimneys of the vicarage he built were modelled on the towers of the churches in his life. He was popular regardless of his eccentricity, or maybe in part because of it. His funeral was noteworthy because the mourners wore purple in his honour instead of the traditional black.
The small hut of parson Hawker, originator of the modern British (and Australian) form o Harvest Festival is
partially excavated into the steep cliffs and is today maintained by the National Trust.
The End is Nigh?
Life goes on but the end of the road may be nigh.
The end of an old historic road is in sight.
Progress changed the main produce of Upper Castlereagh from peaches, pumkins, corn and cauliflowers etc. to sand and gravel.
The road has now been barricaded at the Church and it is soon to be quarried or dug away for good. This route in its heyday was a major Colonial througouhfare for the Nepean River valley (also called the district of Evan). There was for many years no direct road west ( the later Great Western Highway ). Instead, roads went from Parramatta to the Hawkebury River at Windsor and Richmond, and from there the southwards route was Castlereagh Road, running along the eastern side of the Nepean River. This situation changed, and a direct western highway was completed from Sydney, after the discovery of a viable vehicular route across the Blue Mountains was discovered.
* The End *
( ~ till next updated ~ )
