August Menneke
Menneke's Wagga Pot.
Parrots drink from the river at Wagga.
Mark Mongan, Grandson of Anthony Mongan.
Mongan's Kentucky shape bell
A Mongan Pot bell.
William Pickering's pot shape bell.
A Denis Hughes bell |
Bell Makers
from the Southern States
One
of Australia’s most famous bell makers, and the maker of the
renowned ‘Wagga Pot’, was a blacksmith named
August Menneke.
As a young man i n
Germany, he learned the trade of
blacksmithing and after settling in Australia he
married an Irish woman, Maria Mary Fisher at Reid Creek in
Victoria in April, 1867. Together, they made their way to
the township of Wagga Wagga in the Riverina district of New
South Wales, where August set up his blacksmith shop that
same year.
It is reported that his
early bells were made from cross-cut saws with the joints
being fortified with a brass alloy but later he imported all
of his metal from Germany. He was so particular about his
trade that he refused to make the bells out of inferior
materials and would rather wait for metal to be shipped to
Sydney and on to Wagga Wagga, than use local supplies.
Legend has it that if Menneke was dissatisfied with a bell,
he threw it into the Murrumbidgee River that flowed on the
other side of the road in front of h is
shop.
The Murrumbidgee River at Wagga
Wagga, NSW.
Another
renowned bell maker in New South Wales was
Anthony Mongan,
who was born in 1831. His father, John was a timber cutter
from Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland, and his mother’s name
was Ellen. John and Ellen Mongan embarked on the Barque ‘Hindoo’
at Liverpool, England, in July 1837.
The year 1861 saw the
family in Yackandandah, Victoria, where Anthony worked as a
blacksmith. Six children were born in this town. Then in
1872 Anthony, Elizabeth and children finally settled in
Albury, New South Wales, where he continued in his trade,
setting up a business on Kiewa Street. He was reputed to
have made bells of very high quality from the steel of pit
saw blades.
A rural scene near Yakandandah,
Victoria.
William Pickering was a
local blacksmith from the 1890s who had a business in Wanaaring NSW. He was known for the sturdy farm tools he
made, with some surviving to this day. He also produced pot
shaped bells of differing sizes.
In the 1880s,
Denis Hughes started a
workshop
in Oberon NSW and began making
wagons and animal bells. His workmanship was well respected
and it is said that he made all the components of a wagon,
apart from the axles and wheels. He
also had his own team of bullocks
and was doing contract haulage to nearby and the
distant location of Mudgee.
Denis soon
became well known as a bell maker and gained the friendly
nickname ‘Dinny’. He is accredited with making many
different sizes, but since he didn’t use a stamp it is
difficult to identify his products.
We do know of a few bells that can be authenticated as well
as some brass 'Success bells' that Denis marked with his
initials. (see the News page)
Sheds owned by the O'Connell family of
Oberon. This enterprise had horse teams and were in
competition to Denis Hughes' bullock teams. Both buildings
are very old and the 'slab' shed at right dates back
to the Hughes era.
Much more information about these bell
makers is detailed in the book 'Bells of the
Australian Bush'.
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