Pictured above. William and Sarah Young came out from England in 1889 and settled in Tiaro.

I am a fourth generation of the Sorrensen’s to have lived in the Tiaro Shire and the third generation of my mothers side (Young).

Sorrensons. My great Grandfather Hans Neil Sorrensen and his wife Aserenia Ann Christina lived on the old Bauple road about a mile north of where the Iron Bark Ridge School was.

They came from Denmark in November 1872 in the ship Alardus and landed in Marybourgh in June 1873. A story about this trip was written by Malda Bertram called “The way we were”. They had 8 children. The eldest son, Neils, came out with them, the rest were born in Australia. Neils Sorrensen was my grandfather. He married Mary Anna Jensen. They had 13 children, the second eldest boy was Arthur Sorrensen, my father.

Arthur Sorrensen married Sarah Maud Young from Blackmount via Tiaro.
Youngs. Sarah Maud’s parents William Young and his wife Sarah Young came out from England on the Dorunda in 1889 with 3 children and another 5 were born in Australia. My mother was the second youngest of the family of eight. The Youngs first job was farming as William was a farmer in England. They worked for a Mr. Thomas Cornwill near Netherby, they then rented a farm near Netherby, and they were flooded out in 1893 and lost everything and were rescued by William’s brother.

Cheesemaking. William and Sarah then moved to Tiaro and started making cheese. William had a small factory on the eastern side of the highway opposite where the Motel is. William was the cheese maker and manager. He was also awarded first prize for his champion cheese, and presented with a Gold Medal which had his name and 3 cheese stamped on it, the gold medal is still held by the family. He used to travel the district teaching cheese making. He traveled as far as Goomborium on horse back teaching the trade.

Good Hope at Blackmount. William was given a cow in place of money for a teaching job so he came to own his first cow and subsequently bought his first farm at Blackmount and named it ‘Good Hope’. Later he bought the farm next door. William and Sarah retired to Hervey Bay in 1927 and his 2 younger sons continued to farm the properties until about 1945.

Growing up in Tiaro. Arthur Sorrensen and Sarah Maud Young married in 1925 and had 5 children and lived in Tiaro on Inman Street most of their life. All the 5 children went to Tiaro school and I am the fourth child. I left school and started work at Cunningham’s store owned by Bert & Beulah Barker until I left to get married to John Pryor who came from Brisbane to work for the forestry. The Forestry was a large employer in those days, we lived at the forestry accommodation which is now the Sandy Creek Outdoor Learning Centre. There were about 30 people employed in 1950 both single and married. The overseer was Harold Thompson.

My husband was retrenched in 1956 and we moved to Tiaro to live. He worked various jobs including 35 years with Tiaro Council. We moved to Maryborough in 1976 as our children were involved in a lot of sport and after school activities.

Thank you Elva! For further details or stories of our past contact Trevor Keightley 41292504.