Mary Jane Raynor (nee Smyth)

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Where were family members during Cyclone Sigma 26-27 January 1896?

Cyclone Sigma was severe, with 18 people in Townsville losing their lives.  Most of these drowned when the Ross River broke its banks, with parts of Town having a flood depth of 2m.

George and Jane Coleman, and their children, including Emily Jane (then aged 14 years), were living in North Queensland at the time Cyclone Sigma struck Townsville.  The family were either still living at Wyandotte Station (near Cardwell), but more likely had already moved to their home in Fifth Ave, South Townsville.  (To confirm,  I probably need to check where their children were born – Emily was born at Wyandotte, but many of her younger siblings were born in Townsville, its simply a matter of finding out which sibling was first born in Townsville to best work out when the Colemans moved there).

Abraham Wilson was still living in Rockhampton so was unaffected by Cyclone Sigma.

Joseph Raynor, as yet unmarried, could have been in Townsville, but this seems unlikely.

Isabella Smyth (nee Shiels), and her daughters, including Mary Jane Smyth (then aged 11 years) were living in Townsville somewhere, possibly in the City area, or at Stewart’s Creek (something I’m currently researching).

I’ve come across an old article in a scanned Newspaper on National Library of Australia, which describes Cyclone Sigma in detail, which I’ll include in a post soon.

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March 1946 – Townsville Floods

At the time of the 1946 floods in Townsville, Mary Jane Raynor and some of her children, were living in McIlwraith St (which was flooded).  Abraham and Emily were living in their home on the corner of Ninth Ave and Doorey St, Railway Estate.  Their children were grown up and all had left home (except perhaps their daughter?), all children were living nearby in either Railway Estate or South Townsville.

Abraham and Emily’s home was flooded.  Lillian (daughter) described what happened:

“In 1946, flood waters flowed through the windows, over her mother’s sewing machine and the stove.  Cracks between the sheets of tin were filled with silt.  They had stretcher beds, mattresses, dining table, and chairs stacked high.  Her father had put his painter’s planks underneath the roof where there was no ceiling and piled things on top.

Lillian worked long hours removing crockery from the mud. “Lots of it was broken,” she remembered.”