Welcome!
Welcome to our July 2025 newsletter! Ian is away this month and has trusted me to publish this month’s newsletter…. wish me luck! This month, we continue working our way from youngest to oldest of Amandus and Mary’s family, this month we are remembering Edward, or Ted as he was known.
Our feature image this month has the caption “a load of hay” and what a huge load of hay is it, the poor horses! This is one of the recent photos we have scanned with thanks to Margaret Hoschke, if you recognise the image or the people in it, we would love to find out more!
Til next time,
Kyles
- Edward Thomas Hoschke
- Getting dinner on the table
- Coffs Collection
- Coming soon – Amandus and the sea of stars
- This month in history
- Photo of the month
Article of the Month
Edward Thomas Hoschke
Edward Thomas “Ted” Hoschke was born on September 13, 1881, in Bathurst, New South Wales, the seventh child of Amandus Augustus Ludwig Hoschke and Mary Ann Drew. Ted would have been five when his family made the move north to the Orara Valley.
As a young man, Ted took up land at Friday Creek and had a butcher business at Coramba. When he enlisted, in 1915, he sold the business. The farm was used by a Mr C Sly to run a dairy herd (implying a share farming arrangement) and Ted sold the farm in 1917.
Ted distinguished himself as the only member of his immediate family to serve in World War I.
While his brother Albert also enlisted, he was discharged during training due to injury.
Ted was 33 when he enlisted and was recorded as being 5’5 1/2″ tall, weighing 170 lbs with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.
When Ted enlisted in the summer of 1916, Margaret would have been pregnant with their only child a son Geoffrey Edward Hoschke born in the spring of 1916 at Kempsey, NSW. Whilst Margaret was giving birth to Geoffrey, Ted was hospitalised in Westerley Hospital at Cardiff, England, being treated for a heart condition, valvular disease of the heart, he had been hospitalised multiple times in 1916 and was discharged in January 1917 due to being medically unfit.
…Gunner “Ted” Hoschke returned to Australia from the front about a month ago, and is in hospital in Sydney. Heart trouble was the reason for his home-coming, but no one can say that his heart was not in the right place…
APA citation PERSONAL. (1916, December 6). Coffs Harbour Advocate (NSW : 1907 – 1942; 1946 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188565534
Upon returning from the war, he became an active figure in his community, known for his eloquence at gatherings, including speaking on behalf of the family at his sister Hulda Minnie’s wedding.
He held leadership roles such as president of the Parents and Citizens Association and the local cricket club, and he was instrumental in civic duties like managing polling booths during elections .
On March 18, 1920, Ted married Margaret Porter, who was born around 1893. Margaret has been a teacher at Dairyville and Dunvegan Schools.
Margaret was held in such high esteem that when she resigned some 11 years after her marriage, she was honoured at a celebration in recognition of her service to the children of the valley.
Next, he is mentioned working for a seed merchant in Coffs Harbour. Later he obtained some more land, at Orara, and used it to grow bananas. In 1940 Ted sold up and moved to Laurieton where he purchased a property and later Hoschke road would be named in his honour.
Ted Hoschke’s life reflects a commitment to service, both in the military and within his community. His contributions left a lasting impact on the Upper Orara region and the Hoschke family’s legacy in Australia. Ted went on to live until almost 90 and his son Geoffrey also served in World War II.
Information for this article contributed by Paul Hoschke, Ian Hoschke, Trove and AI.
Getting dinner on the table
Last month we heard about how isolated the Orara Valley was in the early days of white settlement. We are so used to being able to duck to the local store when we run out of milk or bread, but how did the original settlers get by with no shops or roads?
Indeed, the families of early settlers ‘made do’ with regard to a lot of things, and this would also have applied to the foods they ate. Staples such as flour and meat were originally backloads from cedar being taken to Grafton from Glenreagh, supplies were then transported back.
“Glenreagh being then a Cattle Station we had such from there. Flour & meat to Carrolls selection on the Showground (the plain was then called Baragregory Plain) Carroll took from there Cedar to Grafton and our supplies back and one of my boys used to go down for the Supplies our horses being on the Plain and pack them to where ever we camped.”
William Newton Small, Memories of the Early Day of Upper Orara (draft). Coffs Collections, accessed 01/07/2025, https://coffs.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/78980
We also know that as time went by, when the seas were too rough for boats to land at Coffs Harbour, Amandus and Mary’s eldest sons would travel overland to Nambucca to get supplies such as flour and sugar.
For many long years, the principal industry was maize growing, but as time rolled on a number of South Coast dairymen settled here, after which the Coramba Butter Factory was established and the district has forged ahead ever since. The names, of Mr. Eugene T. Rudder, Mr. Jas. Marles and the late Mr. Jas. Buchanan, of Karangi, deserve special mention for their consistent agitation for everything for the advancement of the district.
THE UPPER ORARA (1928, June 23). Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 – 1954), p. 8. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195230416
With dairy cows, maize and supplies from Grafton and the Bellinger Valley, we can imagine that treats such as custard were a special treat and filled the tummies of large families like the Hoschke’s.
Flying foxes at Hoschkes
“Birds were very plentiful in the Scrub as follows. Pheasant (or Lyre Bird) Wild Turkey Wonga Wonga Pigeon. Flock Pigeon, Bublomary [Wompoo pigeon also known as Bubbly Mary], Butawa Pigeon, Satin Birds, Regent Bird, Rifleman and many other, and as they were not disturbed were very quiet, and could be shot with ease at any time.”
“In the early days the Settlers grew a bit of maize, fattened pigs and worked along as best they could. Since the introduction of Paspalum grass the Orara has gone along in leaps and bounds, the climate suited it, the rich land & heavy rainfall, and heat – it grew wonderfully well, and smothered the weeds and undergrowth, so that with abundant grass, the dairy’s started, and never looked back & now the settlers are all practically well to do, several daily trains, daily mail, good roads, telephones, butcher, bakers, dealers, churches & by no means [last] good school buildings and good teachers.”
William Newton Small, Memories of the Early Day of Upper Orara (draft). Coffs Collections, accessed 01/07/2025, https://coffs.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/78980
As we can see, although the original settlers of the Orara Valley ‘made do’ they definitely didn’t go hungry! Many hands make light work as they say and there were strapping young men as the children grew up to help with the physical labour of farming and also travelling to secure supplies for their families. Do you think you could have survived moving to such an area and making do?
Coffs Collection
This month in Coffs Collection, we’d like to share a handmade grater, made of pierced metal attached by nails to a wooden back. Made by Finn Kerr and used by the Hoschke family in Upper Orara to grate corn and arrowroot to make porridge or gruel. This grater forms part of the permanent display at the Yarrila Arts & Museum (YAM), well worth a look when you next visit Coffs Harbour.
Amandus and the sea of stars
In coming months we hope to finalise a children’s story about Amandus’ journey to Australia. It will be available for download and we hope will be a way of engaging our younger Hoschke’s with their family stories.
This Month in History
During July, we remember these family members with love:
2 July – William David Tait born in 1887
2 July – Una Harriet Tait nee Tupper passed away in 2000
5 July – Ellen Maude Susannah Brooks passed away in 1999
8 July – Albert George Raward born in 1914
8 July – Edward Norman Davis passed away in 2006
10 July – Ruthetta Hoschke nee Maston passed away in 1905
10 July – Norman Hoschke & Ilena Laing married in 1943
12 July – Edward Norman Davis & Joyce Thomson married in 1947
22 July – Leslie Harold Hoschke passed away in 1975
25 July – (Herbert) Bruce Ide passed away in 2000
25 July – Arnold Arthur Charles Hoschke passed away in 1987
25 July – Una Harriet Tupper born in 1906
25 July – Walter Frank Hoschke born in 1904
27 July – Albert John Hoschke born in 1879
31 July – Edith May Smith nee Hoschke passed away in 1981
Photo of the Month
This month’s photo comes from our recent scans, the inscription on the back simply reads “a load of hay” and what a load of hay it is! If you have seen this photo before or can offer more information about it, we would love to hear from you.
Til next month! I hope you have enjoyed my efforts and I assure you Ian will be back next month when we will look at mysterious Albert Hoschke.
