Emily Laurence
Born in Kiama in NSW on 30 January 1888.
Parents: William Joseph Laurence and Mary Jane Kersley.
Married Edward A. William Clarke in Albury on 19 February 1920. Children:
- Kathleen Mary (1921-68)
- William
Died
Emily Laurence was the third child of William Joseph and Mary Jane Laurence (nee Kersley). She was born at Kiama in New South Wales on 31 January 1888 and was baptised, together with her sister Alice Maud, at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Kiama on 1 September 1890. Her sponsor was Annie Burns (presumably Mary Jane's sister, Lucy). Emily lived in Kiama until around 1894 when she moved with her family to their newly acquired bush block at South Yalgolgrin on the old Barallen run. In 1910 she worked for a time at the homestead on the Binya station near Barellan. Emily loved her time there and later wrote a poem about it in which she said:
Well I remember those days,
Fond memories linger still,
Of the picnics, parties, tennis & dancing,
And climbing the old Bynya hill....
Bynya will live on forever
They cannot take the old name away
Those old walls may crumble & fall
But the name on the hilltop will stay.
Bynya my Bynya forever.
Emily married Edward Clarke at the St Patrick's Catholic Church in Albury on 19 February 1920. According to her granddaughter, Sandra Denham (nee Thorton), Edward had grown up on his grandparents' property at Adaminaby and worked as a drover and blacksmith. He met Emily - 'the most beautiful girl he had ever seen' - at a dance at Albury 'that all the lads had decided to attend' and to which he had travelled on horseback for two days.
After their marriage they went to live at Henty where Edward carted wood and helped his brother Bill construct farm sheds. Their life there was very hard and took its toll on Emily in particular. In a letter written in 1940, she informed her sister Kit that times were difficult and they had to supplement their income from the farm by chopping and carting wood - 'a lot of hard work for a few shillings'. She added she wished that they could 'sell out here and try elsewhere', and expressed concern that her son, Bill, who had just turned 17 was keen to enlist in the RAAF. On a happier note, she reported that she had now written nine poems, the latest one about 'our gallant air men'.