A memorial to Gertrude McKnight of Maimuru

This table in the Young Historical Museum has a plaque that reads ‘A Memorial to the Devoted Life & Work of Gertrude McKnight'. Her daughter Alice and son-in-law Keith Crisp are also mentioned. Johanna Gertrude McKnight (known as Gertrude) was the daughter of David Louis Normoyle and his wife Alice. She was born in Rower More, Limerick, Ireland on 29 April 1872 and arrived at Sydney in March 1883 with her step-mother and seven siblings. They travelled by the Roslin Castle and were sponsored by their father who had started working in the Railway Department, Sydney in 1882. Her brother was the blacksmith and wheelwright, David Joseph Normoyle who came to Young in about 1890/91. Gertrude married John Edwin (Ted) McKnight at Young in 1895. Their farm at Spring Creek was called 'Weelara'. Gertrude was known to be ‘an enthusiastic supporter of and worker for the Country Party and ‘was highly esteemed by all.’ She was one of the founding members of the Young Church Aid Society and was a staunch Methodist. Their children were: Alice Irene (1897), James Taylor (1898), David Desmond (1901) and Kathleen Elizabeth (also known as Joy) (1903). James enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 24 May 1916 and was unfortunately killed in action in France on 9 April 1918. Desmond worked as a labourer in the Young district. Alice married returned soldier Harold Keith Crisp at Young in 1921 and Kathleen married returned soldier Stewart Alexander Blair in 1925. After World War I, about 200 returned soldiers were settled around Young, including at the Clifton Soldiers’ Settlement. It was called Clifton because it had originally been a part of Clifton Station. Later it was called Mirrabooka and then Maimuru which is a Maori word meaning ‘camp of warriors’. Both Keith Crisp and Stewart Blair moved to Maimuru, the Blairs becoming orchardists. In about 1930, Gertrude and Ted also moved to Maimuru. The Methodists held services at the home of at the home of Penruddock Wyndham, a keen ex-serviceman from 1920 and began to raise funds to build a church. Gertrude was "very busy collecting towards the building of the Wyndham Memorial Church" when she "collapsed while on her way to catch the service car from Maimuru to Young with the intention of continuing her good work." "So pleased was she with the success of her personal appears that she had set off from home singing happily." Unfortunately, Gertrude could not be revived and died on Saturday 21 November 1936. We think the table may have been used at this church after it opened in 1938 and then it came to the Museum after the church sold in the late 1970s. If you have any further information about the table or the church, please let us know.