New perspectives on the lost floating island of Mt Schank
Last month, we shared the largely forgotten story of the floating island of Mt Schank, and thanks to some feedback and fresh leads from our readers, we have some new perspectives to share this month!
It turns out that one of NGT’s very own ecologists based in Mt Gambier, Jess Bourchier, has a dual connection to the story through her father’s family that I certainly never anticipated! Her uncle, Rob Bourchier, very kindly helped to explain the connection.
In the 1942 article (shown below) that described the drying up of Hood’s Pond, where the floating island was once situated, it quoted a Mr. A. J. Ashby.
Well it turns out that this was Arthur James Ashby (shown), who just happens to be Jess’ great-great-grandfather!
A couple of years before Arthur James Ashby’s death at 83 years of age on the 26th November 1943, his son, Arthur William Ashby took on the property at Mt Schank. Rob stated that his mother’s “uncle Bill Ashby (Arthur William) lived in the adjacent cottage in my lifetime and he died in 1975. I have seen a copy of the title for the cottage property which shows Uncle Bill being granted the title on 7/4/1941 for 90 pounds.” Prior to that time, is appears that his father held the property under some form of Crown Lease.
Whether the article is referring to Bill or his father’s vegetable garden, we’ve certainly identified the correct family connection!
So, like me, do you wonder what insights have survived with the descendants of Arthur James Ashby about the floating island?
After 80 years, few stories have survived, but Rob does remember his mother telling him “she remembered cows going on to the island to graze and when the wind changed, the island moved to the middle of the lake, leaving the cows to swim or wait for another wind change! I don’t recall her saying how the cows got home, but I suppose they did.“
And that leads us to the family’s second connection to the story, because it also just so happens that Rob’s mother (Jess’s grandmother – Elsie Estelle Bourchier) was born with the surname Hood. Yes, this is the very same Hood family that it seems was also resident at Mt Schank, and explains the name of the pond in some of the early articles! Estelle was the grand-daughter of Arthur James Ashby, and grew up at the Mt Schank Post Office where her mother, Mary May Hood (nee. Ashby), was the Post and Telegraph Mistress.
We also know that both families were living locally during the period of peak interest in the floating island in the 1930s, because they are mentioned in the following, humorous story from 1931. This was the occasion when Bill Ashby’s four fishing companions were also marooned on the floating island, but were “saved” when one of the Hood boys came along and floated out a length of fencing wire so that the men could pull themselves ashore!
It also turns out that the J. Hood referred to above, is none other than Jim Hood, Rob’s grandfather and the husband of Mary Hood (nee. Ashby), the Post and Telegraph Mistress. This means it was one of Rob’s uncles (either Laurie or Eric, at the time 15 and 12 years old respectively) that came to the rescue of the stranded fishermen!
Of the future of the pond and floating island, after it was reported dry by Arthur James Ashby in 1942, Rob Bourchier goes on to say “I’m sure it’s always been dry in my lifetime (since 1954)“, but also that “I wish I had spoken about these types of things with the previous generation before they were all gone.“
A huge thanks to Rob and Jess for sharing their fascinating family connection to the story of the floating island of Mt Schank!
Finally, whether or not any more of their family photos turn up, we also have the benefit of a fantastic digitised collection of photos in the Mt Gambier library (the Les Hill Collection), which I neglected to check before writing the previous story.
So I now also have some fresh perspectives of the floating island to share, including its gradual disappearance!
(Note: I have included the estimated photograph date recorded in the Les Hill Collection, but also noted where I think these dates may be slightly inaccurate. Please click on the images to enlarge.)
