Henry (Harry) Meurer was born in Grafton New South Wales in 1862. His father was Ernest Louis Meurer and his mother Augusta Heisser. The Meurer’s were a part of the large German immigrant community that arrived in and around the town of Grafton on the NSW north coast in the 1850-60s. Harry was the third child of seven born to Ernest and Augusta, he had four sisters and two brothers.
Burrowa / Boorowa
Around 1885, in his early 20’s, he moved to Boorowa NSW, (then spelled Burrowa) where he purchased the local newspaper the “Burrowa Times”.
Harry met his future wife in Burrowa, Annie Millicent Wilding and they married on 17th July 1886, when he was 24, in the Burrowa Church of England.
Annie Millicent Wilding (1863 to 1925) was born at Towrang, NSW on the 1st August 1863 to her parents Tom Wilding and Susanna Hitchen.
The family moved from Towrang to Burrowa in the late 1860s where her parents eventually established a sheep station at Gunnary Creek called Suffolk Vale.
Harry and Annie had seven children, six daughters, and one son. The first six children were born at Burrowa the last child born at Cobar.
Journalism
It is not known where Harry learned the journalism trade or the newspaper business however there are some clues as to how he came to purchase the Burrowa Times in 1885. The Burrowa Times newspaper was started by Isaac Stevenson in 1880. Isaac became a leading figure in the Burrowa district and became the mayor of the town for some time. Isaac Stevenson’s wife, Margaret (Maggie) Telford was the sister of Robert and William Telford. Robert, William, and Margaret were sponsored by Isaac to emigrate to NSW from Ireland in 1876. Brothers Robert and William married Henry’s two sisters, Ernestina and Frances. Confused? Sorry, but in essence Harry presumably was introduced to the prior owner of the paper, Isaac by Harrys sisters Ernestina and Frances, and was encouraged to purchase the paper from Isaac via them. After 13 years Henry sold the ‘Burrowa Times’ newspaper to his employee and onetime apprentice, Harry O’Hara about 1899.
Wrightville
The town of Cobar in northwest NSW was booming with mining activity. We know that Harry, Annie, and their family moved to the small town of Wrightville close to Cobar NSW arriving about 1899. The lure of a good wage in mining took him underground to work in the Occidental Copper Mine. This work was hard and bad for his health and that was to later cause him serious respiratory health issues. After a few years in the mine, he quit and took up a job with a trade he was familiar with. He joined the staff of the Cobar News newspaper.
Here he wrote a weekly column under the pen name of ‘The Stockwhip’. His politics were certainly left-leaning and of labour based social views.
Lithgow
In 1914 the decision seems to have been made to move on from Wrightville. The mining boom had subsided and there was growing unemployment in the area. The family packed up and moved to Lithgow. A new up-and-coming mining town, this time Iron Ore and Coal, but Harry wasn’t planning a return to mining he joined the staff of a new newspaper the Lithgow Democrat. In only a few more years his health took a turn for the worse and he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. A serious respiratory illness that is often fatal. Aunty Olive (Oye) used to recount the story of her grandfather, Harry, living in the backyard of their home at Lithgow in a white canvas tent. Presumably, this was to create a micro-climate to help his breathing. In November 1916 he admitted himself to the Waterfall Hospital which was a specialist Hospital to care for TB sufferers. The location as a warm coastal climate was to help treat his ailment. Sadly after 16 months of receiving treatment at the hospital he returned to the family home at Lithgow and six months later he passed away on 30th August 1918 at the age of 56 years.
This guy Harry seems to have been pretty good on the pen. He was the owner and editor of the ‘Burrowa News’, also the ‘The Leader’, ‘Cobar Herald’, ‘The Age’ (the last three at Cobar), and then worked for a newspaper in Lithgow called ‘The Democrat’ until his death in 1918.
What is interesting is that he is quoted as writing under the nom de plume in the ‘The [Cobar] Leader’ as The Agitator, in ‘The [Cobar] Age’ as Stockwhip and The Barber Talks.
The papers may be kept in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, so one day it would be good to read a few of his articles if they can be found.
His legacy
On Harry’s obituary notice, published in ‘The Age’ at Cobar he is given quite a rap by the writer and he seems to have been a popular person in his community.
Annie lived on for another seven years before succumbing to cancer of the throat. On 7th April 1925 Annie died at Bathurst Hospital whilst undergoing an operation, she was 61 years of age.
