A concerted effort by the Numurkah community and a determined Shepparton historical researcher has found a home for the silver trophy, presented to a farmer in 1909.
It was presented to Jack Darbyshire after he exhibited his Ayrshire cow at the Numurkah Agricultural Show.
The trophy turned up in a pile of household goods left behind by former tenants on Brett Rose's farm, about two hours’ drive north of Perth.
Mr Rose contacted Country News in the hope of finding out who it belonged to.
Retired Shepparton businessman John Truman has been researching genealogies for about 20 years, and when he read about the mystery of the silver trophy he couldn't help but launch his own investigation.
Using the Trove newspaper archive, electoral roll records and family trees published on the Ancestry website, Mr Truman worked out Mr Darbyshire had a living descendant.
Mr Truman told Country News he had traced the descendants to a woman called Fiona Rafferty.
He knew a little about Ms Rafferty's history from his online research and thought she was living in Queensland.
When an excited Ms Rafferty responded to an email message sent by Country News on Wednesday, July 28, it turned out she lives in Western Australia.
“It was so exciting, because I am interested in family history,” Ms Rafferty said.
“And I knew my mother would want to know, too. She is 91.”
Ms Rafferty, herself a grandmother, is an artist in Mandurah and is also undertaking academic study.
Last week she was making arrangements to contact the farmer who has the trophy.
Meanwhile, volunteers associated with the Numurkah Agricultural Society, including Jeff Stanyer and Mark McNamara, have turned up a range of references to a farmer, ‘J. Darbyshire’ from Numurkah in 1909, in the Numurkah Leader.
John Darbyshire was an experienced railway engineer who worked on the transcontinental line connecting Western Australia with the eastern states.
He had a farm at Mundoona and a son, also called John, who served in World War I and died in France.
Records in the Numurkah Leader indicate there was a controversy over the awarding of the trophy following the show in 1909, which Country News will explore next week.
