Count Palter

Exile

Melior mors macula (Better death than blemish) Family motto

(From the book Poles in Australia and Oceania 1790-1940)

(by Lech Paszkowski, Australian National University Press - 1987)

About fourteen months after the arrival of Prince Lubecki in New South Wales two brothers bearing the ancient name of Plater, the Counts Lucien and Ferdinand, landed in Sydney.

They were of an illustrious family, well known in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the eighteenth century, the Platers were one of the twelve wealthiest and most influential families in Poland. ¹

The father of Lucien and Ferdinand, Count Thaddeus de Broel Plater, was a Marshal of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility in the district of Vilno. He was married to Rachel Kosciuszko, niece of Thaddeus Kosciuszko the famous Polish and American General, after whom Strzelecki named the highest peak in Australia.

The brothers were born at Pomusz near Vilno, Lucien in November 1808 and Ferdinand in January 1811.² Little is known of their early life but it is understood that they were educated by private tutors and fin the Military College at Dunaburg. They had three brothers and three sisters, and enjoyed the life of a wealthy home.

In 1830 they were both serving with the Russian Imperial Army as cadet officers in the fortress of Dunaburg. There they heard rumours about the unrest in Poland and conspired with fellow cadets of Polish origin to join their countrymen in the struggle against Russia.

In January 1831, Lucien and Ferdinand were invited to the palace of Liksna where their cousin, countess Emilia Plater lived. Lucien and Ferdinand admitted her to the conspiracy and offered her a small shotgun as a symbolic gift.³ Emilia soon became a heroine of the Polish nation as she raised a group of insurgents and received the commission of captain. She gave her life to the cause.

The conspiracy to capture the Dunaburg Fortress failed and the brothers deserted and joined a group of partisans under the command of Valentine Brochocki. But they were soon incorporated into the Polish Regular Army and both were promoted to sub-lieutenants on 15 June 1831. Lucien was sent to the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Line.⁴

After the failure of the uprising the two brothers emigrated to Western Europe. On 23rd November 1831 a Russian Court of Inquiry at Minsk, sentenced both of the Platers in absentia. They were reckoned by the Court to be among 'criminals of the second category' and to be punished by deportation to Siberia with heavy labour, or military service for life as privates.⁵  The estates of their father were confiscated by the Russian Government.

Lucien, with other fellow-officers, entered Germany, passing through Frankfurt and Speyer in Bavaria and reaching the French frontier at the city of Mulhouse on 14 February 1832. Later he was sent to the 'establishment' for Polish soldiers at Avignon.⁶

In the second quarter of 1832, Lucien and Ferdinand both planned to start academic study, and although they were assisted in their plans by Count Caesar Plater, the project not materialise.

It seems that Ferdinand lived in an 'establishment' at Besancon. He later spent some time in Switzerland but returned to France.⁷

Count Casimir Plater-Zyberk wrote to Lucien at Avignon on 17 September 1832 and forwarded him 250 francs to make the trip to Paris via Lyon and Chalons. By the end of December Lucien was in Paris. Lucien's finances were hardly sufficient to exist as the monthly subsidy from the French Government was a meager 45 francs. Help from relatives was very poor and spasmodic as they had their own difficulties.

In December 1832 Lucien was in partnership with Captain Joseph Tanski and Ignatius Domeyko, the editors of the Polish Pilgrim, published in Paris. The newspaper was forced to close down as the editors could no longer distribute it to Galicia, because of the intervention of the Austrian Government. ⁸

Lucien is reported to have joined the Polish Democratic society on 9 September 1833.⁹ This Society was in opposition to the official leadership of Prince Adam Czartoryski. The Prince was an ardent patriot but conservative. The Democratic Society was strongly patriotic, but progressive and republican and their programme included land reform and and the abolition of serfdom as a way to draw tile peasantry into the fight for Polish independence. Lucien's affiliation with this Society shows he possessed a strong individual character, especially as
it was more difficult to go against the interests of his own aristocratic class. It shows his desire for progress for the whole nation of Polish people and not thinking about regaining his own estates.

The Polish Democratic Society is believed to have sent Lucien Plater to Poland under the assumed name of Laurance as a secret agent about 1835.¹⁰ Unfortunately there is no documentary evidence concerning this, and the visit was probably very brief and planned to conceal all traces.

In April 1835, Caesar Plater assisted Lucien with his plans to enter the Egyptian Army. A petition was written and sent to the French Minister of Internal Affairs and the French Consul at Alexandria together with a recom- mendation from Monsieur Jomard, the Deputy Ambassador of the Egyptian Government in Paris. The petition was also supported by a letter from the famous Polish General Dombinski. However, these plans did not materialize because Lucien changed his mind, perhaps persuaded by his uncle, Joseph Burniewicz. ¹¹

During this time, Ferdinand had lived since tile end off 1833 in Angouleme (about 100 km north-east of Bordeaux). He maintained a steady correspondence with his brother. Ferdinand was still there in February 1839 when he wrote to Senator Ludwik Plater: "My Dear Uncle, I am staying still at Angouleme. Since the beginning of September I have been working for Monsieur Boiteau, the confectioner. I have still not been paid but I am expecting that since the month of April I shall be paid at least 15 or 20 francs a month. It is not much but I shall be very contented because our pay (given to the Polish Officers by the French Government) was reduced
(from 40 francs). And it is impossible to live on just 33 francs. I have many needs but one has to wait for better times".¹²

On 21 November 1835 Lucien went to London where he received a Certificate of Arrival as a refuge. There he received substantial monetary help through Count Michael Plater, blotter of Senator Ludwik. Perhaps the money was forwarded by Lucien's mother. Little is known of Lucien's movements while he was in England but it seems that he lived mostly in London and there received assistance from the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland. ¹³

Lucien met Charlotte Price Duffus, a sister of Laura Lubecki nee Duffus. They were daughters of Thomas Duffus a West Indian planter and member of an old Scottish family. The Duffus family was closely related to the Hardy family and Thomas Hardy, the famous English novelist who was born in 1840, was a son of Charlotte's cousin.¹⁴

Lucien and Charlotte were married on 13 October 1836 at St James' Church, Clerkenwell by her brother the Reverend John Duffus. The witnesses who signed the marriage certificate were Alice Duffus and William and Peter Hardy.¹⁵ The young couple lived at Poplar, near London, where their first child Emily Laura was born on 19 May 1838.¹⁶

Charlotte married Lucien Plater for romantic love - he was a penniless refugee. Her marriage was one of distress and destitution, compounded by her heroic efforts to maintain a large family. This sacrifice was warmly appreciated a few later by Countess Alexandra Plater, who wrote from Riga, 5 January 1843: "Dear Charlotte, you are Angel consoling my brother, you who could enjoy a tranquil, pensive life, you are there sharing the life of an exile who has but tears, privation and suffering to offer you for the price of self-devotion and attachment so
pure, so deserving of admiration... '

In the middle of 1838, when John Duffus and his Polish brother-in-law, Alois Lubecki were preparing themselves for a voyage to Australia, Lucien must also have contemplated the possibility of emigrating from England as he wrote to Ferdinand in a letter of 30 June 1838: "What will happen to us, my dear brother? We could not have a hope of return and now I would not return except: with the weapon..."

It is of value here to quote in full a manuscript which appears to be a draft of a petition written by Lord Dudley C. Stuazt. The petition was to be addressed to the Right honourable Mr Spring Price, Downing Street, From Count Lucien Plater. It is dated April 1839.¹⁷

I am aware that by the Regulations of the Treasury, every Polish Refugee who wishes to go abroad is allowed to commute Ills claim to be on the list for the stun paid to him during the entire year and, if I was desirous of obtaining only this favour I should not trouble you with this letter as an application to the Paymaster would be all that was requisite. I trust however, that if you will kindly take the trouble of reading my case, you may not consider my request unreasonable, and may think it worthy of being attended to. I have understood that you have recommended that the Poles should proceed to South Australia or some of the Colonies in that part of the world, and that you have stated that individuals of any Nation, provided their character were such as to bear a strict investigation, would be forwarded to such countries and be allowed many advantages on their arrival. I belong to a family whose name is probably not unknowI1 to you, that of the Counts Plater. I am 28 years of age . I have since my arrival as a Political Refugee in this country, married a young lady, the sister of a Clergyman of the
Established Church, the Rev. Mr. Duffus, and I have by her one child. A friend and countryman of mine, Mr. Lubecki, married about the same time, a sister of my wife's and had one child in the course of last year. e, with his young family, accompanied Mr. Duffus to Sydney where they all intended settling and where Mr. Duffus has since been appointed Rector of a Parish. Altho' it will not be without poignant regret that I shall embark for a country separated by so many thousand miles of land and water from my native land, yet, the present state of the political world affording me no hopes of serving my beloved country for the present, I have made up my mind to follow my brother- in-law to Sydney and there to endeavour to earn a livelihood. As this intention appears to accord exactly with what I have been informed were your wishes and as, I trust, my character will, upon enquiry, be found without blemish, I am led to hope that you may take my case into favourable consideration. It is obvious that the 26 pounds which I can obtain in the usual routine by renouncing my claims for the future as a Refugee,
would be. quite insufficient to enable me to carry my project into execution, as that sum would not suffice to pay my own passage, much less that of myself and family. If however, I were enabled to proceed to Sydney and would obtain there a grant of land, or some of those advantages which I am informed are accorded to emigrants, I trust I should be found neither an idle or useless member of society in the Colony and I should ever retain a grateful sense of your kindness for enabling me to exchange a life of perpetual privation for one of comparative comfort.

On 3 July 1839, Lucien received a French passport issued at the French Embassy in London, entitling him to travel to Paris "because of a ministerial mission". ¹⁸ He arrived in Boulogne on 11 July, reaching Paris two days later. On the return journey to London he left Calais on 1 August and Boulogne on 5 August. Neither the issue nor the reasons for this visit to France are known. The passport contains a rather detailed personal description: height - 5 ft 11 ins.(180cm), age - 30 years, hair - blonde, forehead - high, eyebrows - blonde, eyes - blue,
nose - middle size, chin -round, face- oval, complexion- fair.

The petition to Mr. Spring Price must have been approved as we do know that Lucien, with his wife, daughter and brother Ferdinand, embarked on board the Alfred at Plymouth on 29 September 1839, as bounty or assisted emigrants.

The barque arrived in Sydney on 7 January 1840 after 101 days at sea, The next day the Sydney Morning Herald noted the arrival of "the barque Alfred, Captain Flint, 716 tons, with 260 emigrants, under the superintendence of W. Baylie, Esq.,Surgeon. Passengers...Mr. & Mrs Plater, Mr. F. Plater..."

At least eight children were born to Lucien, and lived in Australia. It is believed that another two children died in infancy. A family of this size demanded considerable and constant expenses. No wonder that in Australia, Lucien's life was a continual struggle against odds, difficulties and distress.

The letters still held by the family indicate that, in the main, he was associated with Ferdinand in the cordial and confectionery trade. The brothers were always short of funds and lived a hand-to-mouth existence.¹⁹

After their arrival, Lucien and his family lived at Liverpool in the neighbourhood of his three brother-in-law, Alois Lubecki, John Duffus and William Griffith, who married Charlotte's sister Susan Duffus in January 1840. Griffith was an artist and Lucien helped Griffith stage and present the artist's first exhibition of portraits at Pariamatta in 1843. Two years later he helped Howard Bower to arrange an art union presentation. Plater also helped the fledgling Mechanic's Library movement, by indexing books and encouraging learning.²⁰

Lucien, although poor, enjoyed the esteem of prominent colonists. From W.S. Macleay's letter to Captain P.P. King of 21 March 1842, we learn that "...Count Plater brought in the most particular letters of recommendation from the Hon. W.U.F. Strangways, then Under Sect. of State for Foreign Affairs..." Macleay described Lucien Plater in this letter as "the acknowledged Polish Nobleman at Liverpool...'²¹

Am interesting family tale has been handed down to the effect that Lucien was offered a grant of land at either Fairy Bower in the vicinity of Manly, or in the Camden district if he would become a naturalised British subject. These offers were refused.²²

In a letter written to Ferdinand, Lucien apologised for writing in French because he could no longer find words in his native language.²⁵ He knew French well and taught it in private homes. He could not speak English well, but could read and write it.²⁴

Lucien's life was filled with anxiety for his children and his only ambition, as he himself expressed it, was to give them an education. In a letter to his eldest daughter, Emily, he wrote: "it seems my unhappy lot will not shine for me, at least this side of the world. God knows how little will make me happy, how little ambitious I am, still with all my struggles and anxieties I cannot attain this little comfort'.²⁵

A few months later, in the aforementioned letter to Ferdinand, he states: 'My boys are growing up and it is necessary that they have some sort of education. I hope they will achieve this for themselves, when they realise it is my only ambition. If not, then they must become apprentices somewhere, it will give them security for the future in case something should happen to me,because in reality, I am no more what I was'.

Lucien Plater did not fulfill his dreams "to exchange a life of perpetual privation for one of comparative comfort". He died on 12 July 1857 at the age of forty-nine, after being in the Parramatta District Hospital for two months.²⁶

At the time of Lucien's death, his eldest: daughter, Emily Laura, was nineteen, Ferdinand John, seventeen, Lucien Stanislas, fifteen, Rachel Kosciuszko, thirteen, Josephine Hedwig, ten, Louis Felician Peter, eight,

Emilian Paul Casimir, six and Michael Augustus Ladislas, seven months. His brother Ferdinand then assumed responsibility for the family. He received some help from Alois Lubecki ²⁷ in Victoria and from the MacArthur family.²⁸

James MacArthur met Count Cezary and Wladyslaw Plater in Europe. It is believed that these two brothers arranged for the transfer of 600 pounds to Australia through James MacArthur to provide passage money home to Poland for Lucien's family and Ferdinand. ²⁹ This move was apparently influenced by an official document written in German and dated in Mitau, 25 January 1858. This paper, still preserved, referred to permission given by the Tsar of Russia to Ferdinand and Lucien's family to return to Lithuania.³⁰ However, the conditions of the return are not clear and perhaps both Ferdinand and Charlotte refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Tsar and thus the whole project was abandoned.

With the Polish insurrection against Russia in January 1863, Ferdinand expressed his willingness to go to Poland with his nephews, but he did not have money for the passage. At the end of 1863 he wrote to Alois Lubecki:

A few days ago I had a letter containing very sad news from my brother Fabian. Oh my God, when will it finish. I have lost two nephews and one niece. Poor Leon Plater was shot by a firing squad at Dunaburg and his sister and Wladyslaw Miziewicz, my nephew oil my Mother's side, met the same death at Vilno. From the letter of my brother, I see that as in Poland, so in Lithuania and Livonia, there is the greatest tyranny and cruelty committed by the Moscovites, but our dear old valiant Country-men do not allow themselves to be crushed by it. Also, my brother tells me, that they have greater hope. Now than they ever had before, that our Country will be freed from the Moscovites. Most of our family are persecuted, not only those who have the same name, but all who have any kinship. More than 50 persons, who are Platers or close relatives have been sent to different gaols at Dunaburg, Bobruisk, Mohilev, Vilno, etc. Oh my God, (if I had the money) I would like to go to Poland with my nephews (so that they would not be strangers) just to convince my family at Home, that, although not born in Poland, they are not estranged from their family and that they have true Polish hearts. From the time I received this letter I have not had a moment's rest; during the day when I am digging and even at night, I have all these cruelties
before my eyes.³¹

It is evident from this letter that after twenty-three years in Australia, and thirty-two after leaving Poland, his patriotism was as ardent as before and the family ties were still strong.

The years of hard work were passing, but the material situation failed to improve. This is best illustrated in a letter to Ferdinand of 11 May 1868, addressed to his brother, Fabian, in Poland:

It is already five years, my dear Fabian, since I had any news form you...I have nothing new to communicate to you. The children of dear Lucien are dispersed, that is the five elder. Ferdinand (jnr) has lived at Queenbeyan these last three years and I have not had any letters from him. Emily, the eldest, has lived with her Aunt at Parramatta for the last four years, where they are keeping a school; Lucien and Ludwik (Louis) live at Sydney, where they have positions which are not very profitable; Rachel is in New England, 700 miles from here...The life is 6 extraordinarily expensive, according to our money, bread costs 12 groshen a pound and meat 16. Regarding myself I can assure you that I must be so economical, that often I will not buy flour, and as regards meat, at
the time of writing this letter, I have not bought it even once during the past nine months. To tell the truth I must live on vegetables. The cottage where I am living is not my own and I pay 15 pounds a year, that is, 30 ducats, which I collect with great difficulty, likewise for the farmland of Mr. Loftus (sic!) to whom it belongs. He wants to sell it for cash, only 60 pounds, that is 120 ducats. I have already paid him this sum in those 4 years. The local proverb "money makes money" is good, because if I could buy this farm it would triple my present income and having this property I could make improvements, to plant a vineyard and orange trees...'

Several years later, by dint of hard labour, Ferdinand achieved his dream of a vineyard, a home and garden in upper Picton of west Bargo, NSW.

Not far from this locality was a huge English oak tree, which inspired the trade slogan "While I Live I'll Grow" adopted by the old Sydney departmental store, Anthony Hordern & Sons Ltd. The tree was a landmark on the Hume Highway known as 'Plater's Oak" and this was said to have been  planted by the Polish explorer Strzelecki. There is some doubt about this however, since a tree will not normally grow from the planting of an acorn. Ferdinand could have planted the tree as it was located on his property and was undoubtedly identified with him.³⁷ (Note: This tree died and in 1967 Mervyn de Plater was invited by the Wollondilly Historical Society to plant another English Oak, (from the Bzadman Oval at Bowral), to replace it, which he did in October of that year in the presence of members of the local community and a number of members of the family who were on their way to attend memorial celebrations at the peak of Mt Kosciuszko relating to the 150th anniversary of the death of the famous General. Mervyn de Plater was one of four speakers and gave a message on behalf of the
descendants of the Kosciuszko family. A plaque was placed beside the tree at Bargo which read - "The Second Plater's Oak - This English Oak was planted by Mervyn B. de Plater on the 14th October 1967 in the presence of local residents and replaces the former 100 years old tree on the same property which was known as 'Plater's Oak'. The original tree was a Bargo landmark and had an historical connection with the family of Counts Lucien and Ferdinand de Broel Plater, early settlers in New South Wales." The plaque was still beside the tree, which was some 15 or 20 metres tall, in 1995. MBdeP 1999).

It is interesting to note that the Australian-born sons of Lucien, even when men in their thirties who did not know the Polish language, still regarded Poland as their 'home' This is illustrated by a letter of 17 August 1873, written by Lucien jnr., to Ferdinand jnr.: "Uncle was down the day you left I told him that you thought about going home but he said that you and he ought to go home together as you could not speak the language". Evidently Ferdinand's patriotism had a considerable influence on his nephews.

Ferdinand spent his last years at Parramatta where he owned a cottage in Marsden Street and helped his nephew, Emilian, in a small confectionery business.³³

Charlotte died on 8 January 1885 at the age of seventy-two.³⁴ She left two diaries from the years 1863-67, which reveal the material distress of the family during this period. In them, a Max Zybinski (actually Max Zglinicki, a Polish-born sergeant of the NSW Police) is mentioned. He wanted Rachel to be 'a companion to his wife'.³⁵

Ferdinand reached the hoary age of eighty-one. He died on 14 December 1891 and was buried at the Parramatta Baptist Cemetery.³⁶

By a strange coincidence, three of Lucien's children died within a week of each other in June 1926,37 Emily, eighty-eight, Rachel, eighty-three and Emilian, seventy-five. Louis died in March of the following year.³⁸ Emily and Rachel were well known teachers in Parramatta and the surrounding district. Their sister Josephine Hedwig married Andrew Jones whose lather was related to the famous painter Burne-Jones and edited the novels of Emily Bronte.³⁹

Lucien Plater's descendants in Australia are estimated to number between 100 and 150,⁴⁰ including those born to Plater women. A great-grandson of Lucien, Mervyn Benjamin de Plater of Brisbane has preserved an important collection of family documents.

After so many years, Mervyn de Plater reestablished a very warm correspondence, and personal contacts, with several branches of the Plater family living in Poland, Western Europe and America. He studied Polish at the University of Queensland.

In 1959 the State Lands Department informed the Parramatta City Council that St John's Church of England cemetery would be converted into a public park but asked that the headstones of prominent colonists and historical figures be preserved as historical monuments. The name of "the Count Lucien de Broel Plater, the famous Polish underground fighter of the 1830 anti-Russian revolution" was also mentioned.^4l As Joseph Potocki was buried in Tasmania and Prince Constantine Drucki-Lubecki (Alois Lubecki) in New Zealand, Lucien's grave remains as the first of a known Polish settler on tile Australian mainland.

References -

(All documents and letters, unless otherwise described, in the possession of M.B. de Plater of Brisbane)

1. S. Konarski, Armorial de la Noblesse Polonaise Titree (Armorial of the Polish Titled Nobility (Paris: 1958), p.279.

2. S. Konarski, 'Platerowie" (The Platers), Materialy do Biografii Heraldyki i Genealogii Polskiej (Sources of Polish Biography, Genealogy and Heraldry), Vol 4 (Buenos Aires & Paris 1967), p.140-42.

3. D. Ciepienko-Zielinska, Emilya Plater (Warsaw, 1966) pp 64, 146-47.

4. Rev. Dr Leon Plater of Wellington, N.Z. to the author 16 July 1958.

5. S. Dangel, Rok 1831 w Minszczyznie (The Year ]831 in the Minsk District), Vol 2 (Warsaw, 1925), p.145.

6. Notes and documents from journey and letter of Casimir Plater-Zyberk to Lucien Plater, Paris, 17 September 1832 (all documents and letters, unless otherwise described, in possession of M.B. de Plater of Brisbane).

7. Lucien to Ferdinand Plater, 30 January 1834.

8. Ibid, 20 January 1834.

9. Materialy do Biografli..., vol. I (Buenos Aires, 1963), p. 46, M.57rowicz, Towarzystw Demokratyczne Polskie 1832-1863 (Polish Democratic Society), (Warsaw, 1964), p.529, Henryk (Klott?) to Lueien Plater, 29 November 1834.

10. Tyrowicz op. cit. p.529.

11. Caesar Plater to Lucien Plater, 23 March, 25 April and 26 May 1835. Rachel Plater nee Kosciuszko to Joseph Burniewicz, 27 July 1835; a draft petition to the French Minister of Internal Affairs written by Caesar Plater.

12. D. Roderowa, Polski Emigracyjny osrodek naukowy we Francji w latach 1831-1872 (Polish Emigrations's Centre of Studies in France in the years 1831-1872 (Wroclaw, 1972), p.53

14. M.B. de Plater, "The Family of Broel Plater", Descent Vol 2 part I (1965), p.136.

15. Marriage Registration, Mitchell Library, Frae,ne Collection, vol. 6, p.46.

16. Leon Plater to author; C. Rivett the autho~ 1 November ]958.

17. In possession of M.B. de Plater of Brisbane.

18. Ibid.

19. M.B. de Plater, "Lucien and Ferdinand" typescript, p. 5.

20. M.B. de Plater, "The Farai]y of Broel Plater' op.cit, p.139 & C. Rivett to the author.

21. W.S. Macleay to Capt. P.P. King, Mitchell I.ibrary, Ms. A3599.

22. M.B de Piater, to the author, 10 August 1959 and "The Family of Broel Plater, op. cit. p. 139.

23. Lucien Plater to Ferdinand Plater, 5 October 1855.

24. Rivett to author.

25. Lucien Plater to F~r.i]y Plater, 12 December 1854.

26. N.S.W. Death Registration No. 3933/]857/149.

27. Laura Lubecki to Lucien Lucien Plater, Jnr., 2 September 1857.

28. James Macarthur to Ferdinand Plater, 8 June i859.

29. Diary of Charlotte Price de Plater, in possession of M.B. de Plater, Brisbane.

30. Copy in possession of M.B. de Plater.

31. Ferdinand Plater to Constantine A. Drucki-Lubecki, 22 September 1863.

32. Scrapbook "Poland and Plater Family", cutting cn p. 94 and M.B. de Plater, "The Family of Broel Plater", op.
cit., p.141.

33. Rivett to the author 1 November 1958; C. Rivett, Artist's Guide to Old Parramatta (Parramatta, 1961), drawing
57.

34. N.S.W. Dear Registration No.8552/1885.

35. Diary of Charlotte Price de Plater, 7 March 1866.

36. N.S.W. Death Registration No. 12385/1891/483.

37."Polish patriots - Family's Romantic History", Sydney Morning Hezald. 8 June 1926, "Polish Count's Daughter", Evening
News, 29 May 1926; Died of Grief - Brother and Sister - Titled Fami]y’s End", Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1926; "Tragedy of
Pole's Family; Sisters and Brothers Die within Week" Daily Guardian, 26 June 1926; Cumberland Argus, ll June 1926.

38. Sydney Morning Hreald, "Count Louis de Plater" 22 March 1927; W. Fraeme, "Count Louis de Plater," Cumberland Times, 24 March 1927.

39. Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 1926.

40. M. B. de Plater to the author, 26 May 1959.

41. Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 1959.