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Southwell [Hazell], Mrs Ada E.

Ada Hazell was born at Chain of Ponds near Gunning in 1867, the daughter of James and Maria Hazell. Her early years were spent as a school teacher, and in 1888 she was appointed the Bedellick school, which which on Samuel Southwell's property 'Fairview' on Spring range Road. She taught there until 1890 when at the age of twenty three she married John Southwell (second son of Samson Southwell and his first wife Elizabeth), They made their home at 'Carrington' some distance further up the Spring Range Road.

Ada was a loyal and devoted member of the Wattle Park (methodist) Church, and after retiring to Ainslie, the Reid Methodist Church. At Wattle Park she worked with the Ladies Church Aid , was a Sunday School teacher and conducted the Junior Christian Endeavour Society for a long time.

Ada died in 1947 aged eighty. 'She was a great reader of books and literature, in that way she elevated her mind and enriched her life......Her outstanding quality was her unselfish giving of her best, in the interest of others and any deserving cause' [unknown newspaper].

In 2004 a new building at the Burgmann Anglican School in Gungahlin was named in Ada Hazell's honour, as a pioneering teacher at Bedellick. The building was officially opened by the Governor-General Michael Jeffery on 5 April 2004.

The NSW Education Department deprived itself of very large numbers of good teachers with the rule that married women were not (normally) eligible for employment as teachers. It seems that Ada Hazell may have been a good example.

OBITUARY. Mrs. Ada Elizabeth Southwell.

The death occurred recently of Mrs. Ada Elizabeth Southwell at the Canberra Community Hospital following a sudden illness.

Mrs. Southwell, daughter of Mr. Charles Hazell, of Gunning, was born in 1867 and came to the Hall district as school teacher in 1889. Two years later she married Mr. John Southwell, grandson of Thomas Southwell, pioneer Canberra settler, and took up residence at 'Carrington', Hall, until 1941, when the couple moved to Ainslie.

In her younger days Mrs. Southwell was a well-known equestrienne in the Hall district, and was an active worker for the Methodist Church at Wattle Park. She is survived by her nine children.

[The Canberra Times, Monday 8 December 1947 page 2]

Her husband John Southwell, a well known figure in the Hall district, predeceased her by five years:

OBITUARY: Mr J. Southwell

The funeral of the late Mr. John Southwell, of Ainslie, was held on Wednesday at Hall general cemetery, following a service at the Wattle Park Methodist Church, at which Rev. D. A. Trahan officiated, assisted by the Rev. A. J. Arthur of Queanbeyan.

The pall-bearers were four sons of the deceased, Messrs. Ira, Jock, Hazell and Tamerlane. The chief mourners were Mrs. Ada Southwell (widow), daughters Amy (Mrs. A. Gregory), Vida, Nora (Mrs. L. R. Smith), Iia (Mrs. W. Walmsley), Edna (Mrs. J. Shepherd), brothers of the deceased, William, Sam and Edward Southwell, and a sister, Lucy (Mrs. W. Munday). One son, Neal, was unable to return from Tamworth to the funeral.

[Canberra Times, Friday 30 January 1942 page 4]

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