Susannah Hester and Roger Taylor Burton Gaden.
Susannah was born in Richmond on the 14th June 1841; she married Roger in 1863.
Roger was born in Newfoundland, Canada on the 4th September 1836 he was one of ten children born to William Hart Gaden and Eliza Burton both of Lancaster, UK.
Roger died age 76 at Wellington NSW on the 3rd January 1912.
Susannah also died at Wellington, she died 25th July 1920, both are buried at the Wellington General Cemetery.
The year she married, Susannah sold her, quote: - " Undivided quarter share in Osterley" to her brother John Henry for the sum of £1050.
The children: -Charles Barker 1864, --Dau 1866, --Eliza M 1868, --Eveline 1871, --Rosalind 1873, --Blanche A R 1876, --Elsie Isabelle 1878.
Charles and Dau were born at Raymond Terrace the others at Wellington NSW. Charles Barker attended "The Kings School" 1879-1880.
Edward Ainsworth Gaden a nephew of Roger was a Solicitor for the Law firm Norton Smith and Co. This company had been the Lawyers for Susannah's family for at least three generations.
The boxes of material containing Wills and Probate, family personal letters, receipt and cheque books, family personal diaries were lodged at the Mitchell Library by this firm of Lawyers.
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Roger Burton Taylor's brother:- William Henry Gaden.
The following story is a very brief extract from the "The Morning Bulletin" Rockhamton, Qld.
Mr.W H Gaden was leader of two exploring expeditions through a portion of Queensland, at that period all the land to the north of Cape Howe was called New South Wales.
Mr. Gaden was the Manager of a Station named Widgee Widgee about fifteen miles to the west of Gympie. In 1856, he started on an exploring trip to the unknown lands in the northern portion of the colony. He was accompanied by Dr. James Wilkin, Mr. Joseph Walker and two black boys, rather a small party for such a dangerous and difficult undertaking. Mr. Gaden does not give the date of the departure from Widgee Widgee but it was probably about the beginning of December, 1856.
The party arrived at Gracemere on the 24th December of that year.
Mr. Gaden and his followers spent three days at Canoona making a start on the 4th January, 1857 and from that date their explorations really commenced. Mr. Gaden and his followers journeyed in the direction of the head waters of the Issacs River. The direction Mr. Gaden took was- apparently via what is now Marlborough on towards what is now St. Lawrence. All went well until the party wished to cross the range to get on the Issacs or western watershed for some time the range presented an insurrmountable barrier. At length, after searching for a fortnight, Mr. Gaden dropped on a spur which carried the party to the top of the mountains. This spur has been used ever since as the crossing of the Colloroy Range from Broadsound towards Lotus Creek and the Peak Downs.
Once over the Range the party proceeded north-westerly towards Fort Cooper.
Two days later Mr. Gaden arrived at what is now Lake Elphinstone, a shallow lake with an area of about fifteen or twenty square miles. Mr. Gaden named this sheet of water Lake Burton. The party camped there two days examining the country and looking for the Issacs River.
This portion of the country was named Burton Downs - a name still retained.
The party then returned to Lake Elphinstone. It was raining very hard at this period and all the gullies and creeks were flooded. They still struggled on till, to their great surprise, they cam to a large river running to the north-west. The travellers were quite puzzled and thought they had gone too far west. It was eventually decided to cross the river and follow it down on the northern bank - the country being so rugged on the southern bank The river could be crossed only by swimming and just after they entered the water the explorers were astonished but by no means pleased at the appearance of two alligators. Nothing daunted them they headed for the north bank making as much noise as possible in order to frighten the alligators away. They got over the river safely and packs were re-arranged. They named the river Bona after Mr. J.B.P.A. Ramsay - it is now known as the Bowen River following the stream in its downward course the explorers came to a big creek which was named the Nova. It drained into what is now known as the Sanoma The creek was in high flood and there were several alligators about. The country being flat in this neighbourhood they went back about a mile and made a camp. It was decided to divide the party in two. Messrs. Gaden and Walker continued down the river to endeavour to ascertain something about it and Dr. Wilkin and two black boys explored the country around the camp. Messrs. Walker and Gaden took rations to last for ten days leaving instructions with Dr. Wilkin that if they did not return in twelve days he was to consider them lost, and to make his way back to civilization.
Gaden and Walker followed the Bona River to the north till it joined an enormous river in high flood and over half a mile wide with a more easterly tendency. This big river Mr. Gaden correctly assumed was the Burdekin.>br>
By this time the rations were getting short and Messrs. Gaden and Walker decided to return to the camp where the others were. This was accordingly done but they were two days late and Dr. Wilkin was getting very anxious and had made up his mind to start back with the two black boys on the following day. After spelling a couple of days the party started back following the Bona River up on their old tracks. The rain continued to fall in torrents. They crossed the Bona a little higher up than on their outward journey - it was still flooded and alligators were numerous. The river had to be crossed however, and this was done in sections one party keeping watch with presented rifles whilst the, others swam over. Fortunately the alligators were very timid and retired on the travellers making the slightest noise. Unluckily they lost one of the pack horses and a valuable load, consisting of ammunition, hobbles and shoeing tools. Something frightened the horse in crossing and it turned down stream. The horse was near the middle and the full force of the current carried it away at great speed and they never saw it again though they went down eight to ten miles on both sides of the river looking for it.
Next day they continued their journey and found another river joining the Bona in very broken country. This he named the Broken River as they were practically on their outwards tracks and homeward bound. Moreover the supplies were getting short. They had taken only eight weeks supplies with them and they had already been out thirteen weeks. They had had to eat flying foxes and crows, but the look of such additions to their rations was the reverse of tempting except to the black boys who feasted on the flying foxes. Kangaroo, possums and iguanas were welcomed by all when they could be obtained there was too much water for either ducks or fish to be easily obtained.
Strange to say the explorers saw no blacks after leaving Broadsound until they got back to what is now Collaroy where there was a big encampment. The travellers by this tine were so short of provisions that they were suffering from hunger and they went to the blackfellows. camp to see if anything eatable was to be had. One of the party spied what looked like a damper and by signs asked the blacks for it. They willingly gave it to the white men but on tasting it, it was found to be abominable.
Mr. Gaden and his followers made their way over the Colleroy Range but crossed it a good distance to the south of their outward track. The crossing was much rougher than the one followed previously. Eventually the whole party arrived safely at Canoona Station. The date of their return is not given but must have been about May 1857. Later they all reached Ideraway on the Burnett, the point from the original start had been made. Here they unsaddled with great satisfaction ending Mr. Gaden's first exploring trip. The party, however, decided they would go out again the following summer.
The second successful exploration commenced 7th September 1857.