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Between 1890 and 1895 Wentworth enjoyed its busiest period. While Mildura was little more than a sheep run, each day one or two paddle steamers arrived at Wentworth's wharves. Bullock, camel and donkey trains came in from the outback stations. Wentworth could boast that only Sydney and Newcastle had busier ports in New South Wales.
In 1891, Edwin Joseph (E.J.)
Sykes (31/8/1874 - 14/6/1953), just 17 years old, was posted
to teach at two small schools 12 miles apart on the Darling river.
His parents, Stephen Sykes and Charlotte Barden, lived in and
around Goulburn, where Stephen's grandparents, convicts from England,
had settled in the 1820s: William Sykes, an inn-keeper, was convicted
of receiving stolen beer, and Sarah Byrne convicted of stealing
a quilt.
E.J.s ancestry is not set out here - this history is covered in great detail by Geoff Sykes, in 'The History of the Sykes Family in Australia' (1970).
E.J. took the train to Hay, then rode his bike to Moorara station on the Darling river, where he stayed with the Wreford family. His was one of the first pneumatic tyred bikes in the area, and he competed in bike races in Wentworth; in one event, he won a sewing machine; this was used by Joan Green until the 1970s. E.J. was probably still at Moorara in 1894 when striking shearers at that station set fire to the paddle steamer Rodney , which had been carrying non-union labour to break their strike. Around 1985 he was posted to Euston (across the river from what is now Robinvale); he stayed at Bumbang station with the Carrington family, and purchased a horse and sulky to visit Wentworth. It was on one of those visits that he met Selina Wilkes. Tom Cullinan, from Wentworth, wrote to tell me that his mother Susanna Barraclough was first taught by E.J. at "Duffies Bend school near Lelma station (Lamberts) about the turn of the century... she was born in 1893". Duffies Bend (Lelma station, Lamberts) is 80 km north of Wentworth on the Darling River, off the main road to Pooncarie, on the east side of the river.
Selina and E.J. married in Wentworth in 1901, and Selina joined E.J. at Euston. She taught the piano to the children at the school. The earliest photo in this family history shows Selina and E.J. in the garden at Tara, around the time of their marriage. In 1903, Selina gave birth to William Desmond Sykes (4/3/19903 - 16/9/92), at the Wentworth hospital. Des's godfather was Charles McMahon, who took over the Cobb and Co coachline in Wentworth; McMahon had 200 horses and ran two of Wentworth's hotels.
Des recalls how, at the age of five or six, he would travel on the mail coach from Euston to his Uncle William's Hotel at Gol Gol; the 60 mile trip took 14 hours, stopping at all the stations;
The coach driver was Angus McCormack, well known in the back country, with three in hand. We left Euston at night and a bed was made for me among the mail bags in the back. I slept there most of the time. We had two mail changes and I remember still the beautiful fruitcake and tea that was served at those mail changes, and the smell of leather and horses.
In 1905, Maureen Doris Sykes (11/4/1905 - 20/9/1964) was born in Euston. At the age of two, Maureen caught pneumonia and became dangerously ill. The doctor was called from Swan Hill, but took two days to arrive. Maureen recovered, thanks largely to the assistance of Mrs. Carrington.
In one of E.J.'s and Selina's
trips to Wentworth, John Leary, who was the owner of the Commercial
Hotel since it was built, and at that time Mayor of Wentworth,
offered them a chance to buy the Hotel for £1500. John,
according to Des, was a 'firm Irish Caholic bush philosoper'.
In 1910 they bought the Commercial (now called the Sturt hotel
motel) and moved from Euston to Wentworth, living at Tara with
Selina's parents.
Des, in a letter, spoke of E.J.s "robustness and enthusiasm for whatever he took on", and Selina's "charm and dignity". In the Commercial, she was known as 'Mrs. Sykes', or 'The lady', to the clientele. When she was about, "even the roughest behaved himself like the proverbial gentleman... they were both respected (and) regarded as models for the conduct of decent people'.