(known as Tod for toddler)

b. 1 April 1870 at “Oakbank” Gullengutta, Warialda district near Graman NSW

(Parents: Alexander Dill Gamble and Fanny O’Donnell)

d 20 May 1930 of Cancer

at his neice Mona Hokin’s home, Nirranda Street, Concord West NSW Aged 61 years

Interred Rookwood Cemetery: Section 9 Grave 3666 Church of England Section

Married: 27th December 1911 when he was 41 years of age to Ina Katherine MacKenzie 26 years at Bukkulla near Inverell NSW

(Parents: John Tolmie McKenzie and Katherine/Sandra Ross)

Third Son and fifth child also educated from daily readings of the family bible by his Father.

Rural life on the family property “Oakbank” (later “Girrawheen” now “Ottley”) would have consisted of long days of physical labour. Despite this, Cornelius was very artistic. In 1903 while still living on “Oakbank” he was listed as a photographer. Possibly influenced by his brother-in-law Julius Speers.

In 1911 Cornelius was working on nearby Nullamanna Station, where he met a young Ina Katherine MacKenzie from the next door Station, Bukkulla. They married in the Bukkulla Church in the same year. (Bukkulla Church is now located in the Inverell Pioneer Village). Ina had been born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1883 the child of one of the three MacKenzie Brothers from Fodderty near Inverness Scotland, who were stonemasons, contracted to the Purakanui Railway, buiding tunnels south to Dunedin and part of the Alpine railway. The family moved to Australia in 1884.

With a new bride, Cornelius became a railway worker, installing signalling equipment and living an itinerant lifestyle. This would have been a hard life for his family, living in a tent along railway lines and continually moving on through the areas of Texas, Inglewood, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba and Warwick. Despite their hardships they were a sentimental pair and Ina had written to her sisterin-law Clara in 1916 saying how good Cornelius was to her. Ina sewed beautiful clothes for her children which included a MacKenzie tartan skirt for young Ina Morna. Ina could make a wonderful Queen Pudding. Cornelius spent his leisure time drawing and sketching scenes of everyday life with pen and pencil, also carving emu eggs with a compass point.

Cornelius and Ina had three children

Ian Ross Gamble

b. Texas Queensland 17 Nov 1912

d. Inglewood Queensland 10 March 1914

Olga Rosamond Gamble

b. Goondiwindi Queensland 12 June 1915

d. Toowoomba Queensland 8 Dec 1917

Ina Morna Gamble

b. Warwick Queensland 8 Feb 1917

d. Sydney 14 September 1997 – Aged 80 years

m. Oswald Arthur Strickland Todd at Titirangi New Zealand on 31 Mar 1940

2 children - Beverley Margaret b 1942 Carolyn Rae b 4 June 1944

Cornelius with his daughter Ina Morna

Childhood illnesses such as gastro and convulsions stemming from poor water and supplies were common. Cornelius’s wife Ina Katherine was thought to have contracted the Bubonic Plague, which is believed to have been carried back by soldiers returning from WWI.

In 1921 Cornelius took a very ill and weakening Ina to Tamworth, where he thought his sister Clara was still living, only to find that Clara had left Tamworth in 1919.

Unfortunately, Ina died at Tamworth NSW on 4th October 1921 from Tuberculosis.

Clara, then in Cooranbong, on hearing the sad news came to Tamworth to be with Cornelius and his young daughter Ina Morna. Clara took young Ina Morna then 4 years of age back to Cooranbong where she became part of Clara’s family. Cornelius visited Clara’s home from time to time in Cooranbong and would take Ina Morna on walks in the Watagan Mountains near Martinsville to see the rock lilies (orchids) which continue to grow there today.

Cornelius continued working with the railway, still sketching images of tents, tunnels, bridges and buildings. Eventually finding his way to Sydney where he worked as a fettler.

The family have been very fortunate to have many original copies of his work to this day although none of his emu eggs survived moving to Adelaide when his sister Clara and her younger children relocated there for some years.

Cornelius eventually died at his niece Mona Hokin’s home in Nirrandra Street, Concord West, Sydney from cancer.