Barraclough Biographies
Luke Barraclough (1835-1866)
Susannah Barraclough nee Hignett (1834-1901)
Luke Barraclough was born on 11 August 1835 at Wibsey, near Bradford, in Yorkshire. His
father James was a weaver, and his mother, the former Hannah Carter, was the daughter of
another weaver. He arrived as a single young man in Melbourne aboard the Prince Arthur
on 24 January 1853, having spent his Christmas aboard ship.
Luke appears to have met Susannah Hignett in Melbourne, and by 1854 they were living in
Richmond, where Luke was a brickmaker. Susannah, from Liverpool, who arrived in Melbourne
in November 1851 aboard the Northumberland, was the daughter of a substantial
hotelier and merchant, and the reason for her being alone in Australia is unknown. Their
first child, Luke, was born there. By 1855 they were in Ballarat, still in the aftermath
of the Eureka Stockade of 1854. Following Susannah's 21st birthday, they were married
there in the Wesleyan Mission House.
For the next seventeen years they remained in Ballarat, living at one time at Madmans Flat
on the Canadian Lead. Frank, Charles, Henrietta and Fanny were born there. In November
1866 Rose was born there and lived for only a short time. In 1869 Frederick Arthur was
born there, only to drown in a nearby waterhole in January 1872. The family moved to the
Bendigo area, living at Kangaroo Flat, where Major was born in 1873.
The family did not stay there long, and for an unknown reason, chose to move to the
Darling River area above Wentworth. They made the trip by wagon, with all their
possessions, with Major, the baby, almost dying in the heat around Ouyen. Once on the
Darling, Luke and the older boys worked as tank sinkers, using the horse and dray as
plant. Their last child, Edith, was born while they were working at Tapio in 1875.
On 27 March 1879 Luke made application to purchase Lot 8, Parish of Darling, and this
became Kapana, which the family operated as a horse change for the coach run for Wentworth
to Broken Hill. A simple home of Murray pine logs was built, with others being added later
as older family members married, with some operating a wood pile there for the steamers.
It included an Accommodation House, where coach passengers and others took meals.
Luke Barraclough died of dysentery at Kapana on 27 April 1886, and was buried at
Pooncarie. Susannah lived on there with other family members, until the flood of 1890,
which saw the family camped in temporary accommodation higher on a sandhill for well over
six months. When the waters went down, a raft was madeof Murray Pine logs, Susannah's
house was transferred to it, and Major and his future brother-in-law, Willy Walker, poled
it downriver to Wentworth, about 190 miles by river. There they took it ashore, and
Susannah lived for some years until her ill-health meant that she had to take up residence
with her daughter, Hettie Baker, near Menindee. She died there on 13 June 1901 and was
taken to Pooncarie for burial. She is remembered in her family as a staunch, sometimes
severe Methodist, but a lively piano player - except on Sundays. Her children went on to
operate many hotels and properties on the Darling from Wentworth to Wilcannia.
[Linda] kapana@netspace.net.au
Last updated on 01 January 2001