In what could be the best ever example of paying it forward, a man whose great grandmother was helped by the Carcoar, Blayney, Mandurama and Lyndhurst communities in 1895 has donated $100,000 to the Save St Paul's fund, effectively securing the church in the hands of the Carcoar community.
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Just before Christmas John Woodward's niece Katie Vandine forwarded her uncle an article published on the Blayney Chronicle , detailing that the community had gained permission to purchase the church.
His response was immediate.
"For years I've wondered if we could repay the people of Carcoar for the kindness they showed our ancestors, such as raising funds to help the recently widowed Emma Simons who was left with a young family of 12 children." he wrote in a response to Mrs Vandine, who then helped put the wheels in motion.
"He's such a beautiful man who helps out at his local church in Ashfield and teaches English to non-English speaking students," she said.
"For him it wasn't about helping the church, it was all about thanking and helping the Carcoar community.
"He has always looked after his nieces and nephews and he really wanted to find some way, many generations on, to repay the town."
Mrs Vandine has given permission to reprint the story of Emma Simons and her great grandson John Woodward. It appears below.
In December 1895, Emma Simons, the mother of ten children, the eldest being only 16 years found herself a widow following the death of her husband James ("Jim Brickie").
Emma and her husband James had both been born in the district. James was born in Carcoar in 1850 and Emma was born in 1857 near Bathurst to English immigrants, her father setting up a business transporting goods over the Blue Mountains with his bullock team.
James' father, also named James Simons, was a bricklayer who helped build the Convent of Mercy in Carcoar.
Sadly Emma's mother died on Christmas day when she was only five years old.
Emma Stock married James Simons in 1879 in the Carcoar district.
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James was a local labourer, he ran a changing station for Cobb and Co horses from their house at Limestone Creek and he also took out a gold lease in the late 1880s but in 1892 declared bankruptcy.
Three years later, at the age of 45, he succumbed to typhoid pneumonia and died in the local hospital at Carcoar leaving Emma and her ten children, as described by the Bathurst National Advocate newspaper "in absolutely destitute circumstances".
It was during this terribly hard period for Emma, that in early 1896 the people of Carcoar, Lyndhurst, Blayney, and Mandurama demonstrated their generosity and compassion by raising over 80 pounds to provide support for her and her ten infant children.
The money was a result of Rev. Father Doran, Mr A B Whitney and Mr E Pritchard Bassett initiating the collection of subscriptions from over two hundred local residents in addition to the proceeds of a concert held in Mandurama.
An article in the National Advocate lists each person and their individual amount giving anything from 1s to 2 pounds.
Emma's great grandchildren, now in their 70s, fondly remember stories related to them by their own mother, Edna Woodward (nee Simons), who grew up with her brother George in Lyndhurst and attended the convent school in Carcoar, about Emma's life.
Emma Simons stayed in her home at Limestone Creek after the death of her husband. Her home was part of the Sunny Ridge pastoral property owned by John Fagan, the stage coach driver during the Eugowra 1862 bail up.
One story demonstrating the generosity of the locals is that while Emma would be paying her rent at the Sunny Ridge estate office, the station staff directed by John Fagan would load her sulky with gifts of tea, sugar, flour and other essential food items.
Emma Simons died in 1941 at the age of 83 years.
In recognition of the wonderful generosity of the people of Carcoar, Lyndhurst, Blayney and Mandurama to Emma Simons in her time of need and the connection of many generations of the Simons family to the local area, that the descendants of Emma Simons have provided their donation towards the purchase by the town of St Paul's Anglican Church for their local community.
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Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
