by Narissa Phelps for the Lennox Wave

Irishwoman Anne McKenzie arrived in the colony as a 20-year-old free-woman in 1840. She married Joseph Eyles in 1841 before moving to the Clarence and soon after to the Richmond River. The couple were amongst the first European settlers in the district. Anne would have initially lived in a rough humpie or hut in the North Creek and Prospect area, for it was here that the first cedar was cut and rafted down-river to the sawpits where East Ballina is today.

Anne’s life would have been characterised by a degree of simplicity, mobility and flexibility during the 40s but, by 1850, her life changed significantly. When settlement at Ballina began, Joseph and Anne opened a store and, soon afterwards, built Ballina’s first hotel, an impressive two-storey building facing the river-front called the Sawyers’ Arms. It was here that the couple lived and worked. It was noted that rum was the number one, and probably only drink served! In the same year Anne gave birth to their daughter who they called Josephine. In tribute to her, the couple’s cedar-vessel was named the Josephine. This schooner quickly gained the reputation as being the fastest boat on the Ballina to Melbourne run, with a six-week round-trip run-time.

Throughout the 1850s, Anne would have been kept busy with the running of her small family as well as the hotel. It is believed that, in 1859 Anne fell pregnant again, a happy event that turned to tragedy. In December 1859, aged just 40, Anne died, possibly in child-birth. The child, named in family records as Ann, died soon after. 

Ann’s life typified the hardship and challenges women faced as pioneers in the fledgling Richmond region.

East Ballina 1860, showing an early house on the Richmond River. Photo: SLNSW (Mitchell)