Daughter of Frederick Christian and Rosina
Stella was born at “Campo Santo” on 21 March 1900 and at 20 years of age married James Matthews at “Campo Santo”. James Matthews was the third child of Reuben and Sarah Matthews.
Vida Peters (nee Matthews, daughter) recently recalled being told –
‘To my knowledge, Stella and Beatrix both married from the family home. I remember being told that Mum and Dad’s wedding had to be put off a day or so because of heavy rains. The river was in flood and the minister could not get across – when the water went down he was brought across on horseback.’
James Matthews (k/a Jim, or Bud) worked on “Campo Santo” at the time of his marriage, and worked there for a total of 42 years. Jim and Stella lived in the “Tareela” House. Jim was employed by George Capel as the teamster, originally to care for the horses and to perform duties carried out by them. The horses were mainly Clydesdales and were used for pulling the ploughs and headers for farming. The horses were also used to pull the carts, drays and wagons on “Campo Santo”, and for carrying wool, sheep, cattle and wheat to and from the railway at Barraba.
Nita (third daughter of Stella and Jim Matthews) remembers.
‘Dad did seem to be the one to take charge of the team of horses. One thing he always did and that was each year he would take the wool clip to the Barraba rail with the wagon and a team of horses.’
Later Jim became studmaster at “Campo Santo” and one of his duties was to prepare stud stock for the Royal Easter Show.
A special hobby for Jim and his family was his bees. He would extract the honey into 60 lb tins and send the honey, as well as the wax, off to Sydney where he had a market for it.
Maurice Simshauser recalls that “When I was about nine years old, I used to help Bud extract the honey. I would be paid 5/- per day.’ Maurice adds, ‘Another thing that he was good at was leather work – specialising in stock whips. He was very clever with his hands.’
Stella worked hard on “Campo Santo” as well. When she was young, and during her early married life, Stella assisted her mother Rosina with the cooking for the shearers. Shearing at “Campo Santo” took several months and employed many men.
Growing and preserving fruits and vegetables provided a round-the-year task, and school teachers frequently boarded with the Matthews family. There was no electricity, telephone, laid-on water nor simple conveniences at the “Tarcela” house.
About 1940 Stella and Jim moved to Tamworth. They purchased a house at 21 Dowell Avenue, where Stella, after adding suitable accommodation (for about 10), set up a boarding house – she only boarded bank employees. Jim, not so keen on the town life, returned to “Campo Santo” as overseer. However Stella continued with her boarding house for many years.
Stella and Jim had a family of four daughters – Vida (b. 1921). Gwendoline (b. 1923). Nita (b. 1925) and Peggy (b. 1927). Gwendoline now lives in Ipswich, QLD; Vida, Nita and Peggy all live in the Tamworth area.