When unexpected visitors began arriving on a Tuesday in early 1911, it must have been quite a surprise for the Toms family. The visitors were all there for a surprise party to thank the family who were leaving Euroka Station, my 2x great-grandparents Frank and Catherine Toms, and their six children.

Euroka was located a few miles from the tiny town of Bimbi, west of Grenfell and the Weddin Mountains. Owned at that time by Robert Glasson, it was a large property – more than 8,000 acres – with a sixteen-room homestead, staff quarters, and a tennis court.

Frank Toms had been Euroka’s manager for five years, and the family had become a respected part of a close-knit community. My great-grandmother remembered Euroka fondly, especially for the kind of experiences that seemed to abound for a young child.

There [were] quite a lot of cattle and horses at the station, also pigs and fowls, we all had our own meat, eggs, poultry etc….Some of the hens even [laid] their eggs up in the big old pepper trees, in a discarded sparrow’s nest. I loved roaming around in the paddocks with my sisters and Rita Glasson, gathering mushrooms. We used to sit them on top of the fuel stove and put butter on them, they tasted lovely.

With Euroka changing ownership, Frank and his family were moving to a property called Woodbine, near the closest small town of Bimbi. Before then they all had a celebration to enjoy. And what a celebration it was.

The entertainment included dancing and musical performances, and supper was served – likely a vast spread of dishes brought by the many guests. Several speeches were delivered, and Frank and Catherine were presented with a substantial gift, a “marble eight-day clock, silver tea-pot, copper hot water kettle and a set of silver tea and dessert spoons in [a] case”.

Such generosity shows how well-respected the Toms family was, and Frank and Catherine must have been incredibly grateful for the community’s kind words and generosity.

A rendition of Auld Lang Syne rounded out the celebration, and so the Toms family were farewelled.

Selected references

Photograph of Euroka Station with some of the Toms family in the foreground, c1911, original held in private collection.

‘A Testimonial to Mr. and Mrs. Toms at Euroka’, The Grenfell Record, 1 March 1911, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112195611, accessed 14 April 2024.

‘Bimbi’, The Grenfell Record, 11 January 1911, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112195893, accessed 14 April 2024.