104 reasons for celebration
Members of the Tierney clan are gearing up to celebrate the 104th birthday of matriarch Eileen Tayler (above left).
MEMBERS of the Tierney clan are gearing up celebrate the 104th birthday of matriarch Eileen Tayler and a century since it made the long and arduous trip from Georgetown to the Atherton Tableland.
Eileen was the first daughter born to Patrick and Melvina Tierney, and was only three when she travelled with her parents, three brothers and another man from Georgetown to Yungaburra.
“They travelled in horsedrawn wagons, similar to those used in the show Little House on the Prairie,” says daughter Kath McDonnell of Whitfield.
“Her parents had a new son who had been born in July of that year. Can you imagine the trip it must have been?”
Eileen, younger sister Edie Taylor and up to five genera- tions of the family will return to Yungaburra tomorrow to mark the migration of their family.
“The families made it to Yungaburra, where they lived for a time,” says Kath. “They then moved to Danbulla, now under water at Tinaroo Dam.”
Eileen’s father worked as a timber cutter, as part of a horse team and, finally, as a dairy farmer after previously working in a shop at Georgetown.
“Eileen can remember her mother helping her father with the yoke that was part of the horse team harness.
“She can also remember her family living in a tent at Danbulla until the house was built. They were in the tent when the 1922 cyclone hit the Tableland.
“Eileen can remember the house, it was only small, and the house-warming party to celebrate the completion of it.”
Later, her father bought a dairy farm and had a new home built on it.
“This house is still standing as it was moved into Kairi when the Tinaroo Dam was built in the 1950s,” Kath says.
“Four more siblings were born while they were in Danbulla – another brother and finally sisters. All told, there were four boys and four girls, not overly large for that time.”
Forty-five members of the family are travelling from Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns for the family gathering at the Yungaburra Hotel tomorrow.