John Ogle Moore and family in Western Australia

John Ogle Moore 1867 Albury NSW - 1951 Parramatta NSW.

John Ogle Moore ventured to Western Australia where he met Eena Lee Waldeck. They were married in Fremantle in 1897 and Eena gave birth to two daughters, Phyllis and Jean. Much of their time was spent in the Goldfields of Western Australia where John was a Mine Manager for Bewick Moreing. They were part of the "Smart Set"in the Goldfields. Families of the mining elite. The had servants, attended balls, played tennis and often the wives spent months away with their family. The Moores socialised with the likes of Herbert Hoover, the young American engineer, who later became Preseident of the United States of America. This lifestyle in the Goldfields tooks its toll on many marriages. Unfortunately the Moore's marriage was not to last and they divorced in 1911. Eena divorced her husband on the grounds of adultery. They children and their mother returned to Fremantle to live with their grandmama and never saw their father again. Some of their life together in the Goldfields of Western Australia is recorded in the book "Daughters of Midas" Norma King.
Highlights:

• The newly weds caught the train to Coolgardie where their first home consisted of four tents, one the maids room and one for the piano. Later they moved into a company home the same one the Hoover's lived in at one point. This house was known as the "Hoover House".
• Herbert Hoover was godfather to their first born, Phyllis. He bought her a silver napkin ring.
• When the second child (Jean) was born she received a gift of a silver locket from the same.
• Phyllis went to dance classes and when Anna Pavlova was in Western Australia Phyllis danced for her. Pavlova was impressed but Phylis's grandmama would not hear of her grandaughter being on stage.

From: King, N. (1988) Daughters of Midas, Hesperian Press.