Morning tea for the McWilliams family at The Gums circa 1914-15. IMAGE COURTESY: ‘Rusty – The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Australian’
Born on 11 May 1838 in the north of Ireland, John Richardson McWilliam’s path to Coonamble began in Victoria.
He arrived on the ‘Rip Van Winkle’ as the gold rush kicked off in Australia.
He was just 14 when he landed at Port PhillIp Bay in 1852.
A report produced in 2010 by Legacy shows he had likely made his way up to Queensland by 1861, although it isn’t clear what exactly he got up to over the next decade and a half.
In Rockhampton he married one Jessie Orr before moving to Mudgee, where he became “ a newspaper man through and through”.
Prior to coming to Coonamble he was part proprietor of ‘The Western Post’ and during his 13 years in Mudgee he took an active part in public life.
In 1885, he came to Coonamble and established the “Coonamble Times”, the first issue being printed on April 1st of that year, in an office in Namoi Street
‘So ably did he control the destinies of his journal that it soon began to grow and it was not long before the “Times” became to be recognized as one of the leading newspapers of the western district,’ proclaimed an obituary in the Coonamble Times at the time of his death.
‘For over thirty years he conducted the “Times”, and no one can say that he at any time abused the privileges he enjoyed … through the medium of journalist.
‘The Coonamble “Times” stands as a monument to his untiring energy.
‘For many years, the late Mr. McWilliam was closely associated with the local public bodies.
‘He was connected with the local Hospital committee, of which he was president for several years, and was made a life member of the institution on retiring from the committee. In connection with the Agricultural Society, it may be mentioned that when that body was in financial difficulties he carried out the duties of honorary secretaryship for some time, and he also took up the honorary secretaryship of the School of Arts.’
JR McWilliam wrote his weekly column as a main feature, signed ‘The Outsider,’ for over 30 years.
The family lived at The Gums, in Macquarie Street, Coonamble.
Their eldest daughter Jeanie, died of typhoid (or enteric) fever in 1888, aged 18 years.
JR McWilliam himself survived an episode of typhoid fever in 1903.
He stayed on as editor until he died at the age of 78 following three weeks of illness on 6 July 1916.
He is buried in the Anglican portion of the Coonamble cemetery.
McWilliam was survived by his widow Jessie, three sons and two daughters. At that time Thomas (Brisbane), William (Coonamble, but attached to the 7th Light Horse at Menangle Park), and Russell (in the infantry camp, Brisbane); daughters—Mrs E.P.R. Freestone,(Cumnock), and Miss Jessie McWillian (Coonamble).
Mrs McWilliam took over as proprietor of the Coonamble Times until 1923 when she transferred ownership to her son William Orr McWilliam.
In 1925, William O McWilliam, “due to ill health, the legacy of his war service in the Australian Light Horse in 1916-17, transferred his interest to Messrs Campbell and Nelson of Gilgandra.”
He remained on as Managing Editor of the Coonamble Times until 1932 when ill health confined him to his bed. He died in 1938.
Bill McWilliam was survived by his widow Millie Thom, their six sons and five daughters.
His youngest and last-surviving son, Russell (Rusty) was interviewed by current editor Lee O’Connor in April 2020.
He recalled in his memoir [‘Rusty – The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Australian] that in the 1920s the newspaper was printed three times a week and was ‘keenly sought after by locals eager to keep in touch with what was going on in town and around the neigbouring districts.’
Rusty told Mrs O’Connor that “The Coonamble Times was next to the Police Station which was next to the bridge that went over the river
“As a kid I used to get the damaged papers and sell them to the butcher.
“The Coonamble Times used to take bookings for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Truth newspapers and send them by telegram.
“People would come with notices and they paid by the line for whatever the newspaper printed.
“I’d take them down to the Post Office and send them by telegram in the afternoon.
“That was on top of my day job until the war.”
The death of Bill McWilliam marked the end of his family’s direct association with the Coonamble Times and the publication entered a new era as part of Harold Edward Oster Campbell’s conglomeration.