HERBEN Carol
CAROL HERBEN (1947-2020)
PRESIDENT: 2004-2007; 2009-2012
MUSEUM MANAGER: 2009-2012
Carol Herben died on 11 January 2020 after more than twenty years writing about and advocating local history and heritage. Carol joined the Illawarra Historical Society in 1997 and was president from 2004 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2012. When no one stepped forward to become manager of the museum, Carol took on the task from 2009 to 2012.
Carol was an active and enthusiastic member of the Wollongong City Council Heritage Advisory Committee for many years. Her contribution to the community was recognised in 2014 with the award of an Order of Australia Medal.
Carol was a consummate and entertaining teller of local history stories. Her husky voice, enthusiasm and voracious appetite for knowledge made her a large-than-life character. Carol’s own history explains her approach to life. She was born in October 1946 the daughter of Sidney (Mick) Oxenbridge and Doris (Dot) Bennett of Balgownie. Her birth was difficult, and Carol suffered a range of illnesses including epilepsy throughout her childhood. Although the ailments changed, Carol suffered ill health throughout her life.
At Balgownie and Fairy Meadow primary schools, Carol was often tormented by other children. The bullying became worse when she went to high school. Carol’s parents took her out of school at the end of her first year. She for a time, she remained at home looking after ill relatives and reading voraciously.
In the 1960s, Carol worked for the Wheelchair and Disabled Association which later became the House with No Steps. Her scoliosis restricted her activities but she was active raising funds, bookkeeping and taking children and carers on excursions.
The family lived at 6 Camden St, Balgownie and the household included Carol’s maternal grandparents. For thirty years, Carol helped care for her grandparents and parents as they aged. Her father was the last of her invalids and after his death in 1989, Carol married John Herben. Together, Carol and John became a dynamic research duo undertaking a range of investigations that have enriched our knowledge of local history and assisted many people to understand their own heritage.
Carol’s interest in history was ignited by her grandfather, Lindsay Bennett, who told her stories of coalmining and life in Balgownie. Carol traced her family history with a thoroughness and enthusiasm that came to characterize her future research.
Her Oxenbridge heritage particularly attracted Carol. Her grandfather, George, had been a blacksmith at the Mt Pleasant colliery and the family home was in Dymock St, Balgownie. The Oxenbridges came to the Wollongong area about 1890 and Carol was the last of her branch of the family.
When she had completed her own family story, Carol undertook research on the notorious baby farmers – Sarah and John Makin. The Makins were famous in the 1890s for the death of at least 12 infants entrusted to their care. John and Sarah were sentenced to death although Sarah was reprieved after spending 19 years in prison. Carol and John published From Burren Street to the Gallows: The John and Sarah Makin Story in 1997.
Research for the book brought together Carol’s interest in local history - John Makin was born at Dapto and members of his parents’ large family made significant contributions to the development of Illawarra. It also heightened her concern for people, particularly children, whose lives are inadequately recognised in death.
Research for the book involved the use of cemetery records and highlighted the many inaccuracies in the official records. Carol and John joined with others to document cemeteries in the Wollongong area. Their work included significant research into the location of graves in the Wollongong General Cemetery. They cross checked burial registers with gravestones, trawled through newspapers and other sources to improve the official record.
Carol was greatly perturbed to discover that still born and babies who died soon after birth were generally confined to unmarked graves. She and John undertook research on behalf of families to identify burial sites so that suitable memorials could be provided. They also undertook research into adoptions and their work aided many people to identify their family heritage.
When development of the Wollongong showground site threatened the integrity of the old Roman Catholic cemetery. Carol was among those who advocated for the protection of remaining graves and for a fitting recognition of the heritage of the area. She and John researched burials and compiled a list that included names absent from official records. Andrew Lysaght Park is an enduring testimony of the passion that Carol and others brought to bear.
When it became known in the late 1990s that Wollongong City Council had responsibility for the Waterfall General Cemetery, Carol and John began lobbying for Council to take action to preserve the headstones and make the cemetery accessible.
They submitted a report that lay dormant for a decade. Carol and John never gave up their concern for those that Carol called the forgotten souls. There were not many head stones in the cemetery as most graves had been marked by wooden crosses. Over time, markers had rotted or been destroyed by bushfires. Carol and John knew that ex-patients of the nearby Garrawarra Tuberculosis Hospital were interred there and were determined to ensure that they were remembered.
Carol had found a new passion. She embarked on a mission to track and document each person buried in the cemetery. She and John spent eight years researching the lives of over 2,000 people. They uncovered a myriad of stories many of which involved individuals spurned by their families due to their illness, immigrants and crew members taken from ships to Garrawarra where they died, and children separated from their families.
Carol had hoped to publish her research before she died but that wasn’t to be. When it is published, it will be a lasting testimony to her skill as a researcher, her unwillingness to be deterred by officialdom and her ability to write in a way that is entertaining as well as informative.
So too will be the stories that she wrote for the Advertiser from 2012 to 2017. Each short article involved considerable research and Carol wrote at least twice as much as was published. The articles gave a lot of people an insight into a range of local history topics and made local history interesting and enjoyable. Carol particularly liked to find quirky or sensational facts that brought her stories to life.
As well as the Advertiser articles, Carol contributed dozens of articles to the Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin. She gave numerous talks at Society meetings and elsewhere. Carol’s research often led to enquiries from people seeking assistance with family history. Despite her other commitments and her ill health, Carol always helped as much as possible even if it meant her own work was delayed for a time.
Carol made a lasting contribution to the promotion and preservation of Illawarra history. She wasn’t always the easiest person to deal with particularly when she was on a crusade. Carol could be dogmatic and unrelenting when she believed she was in the right. However, she will be remembered for her enormous output of publications, her prodigious knowledge, her willingness to help others and her passion for issues. It was a privilege to know her.
John Shipp
13 January 2020