A Changing Land(149)
‘When Rose and Luke’s brothers passed on, Hamish thought it appropriate Elizabeth stay with her grandmother. I suppose there was little point moving the young girl north with Hamish a widower. Eventually she was given her grandmother’s surname. I don’t think she ever saw much of Hamish so it was only fitting she receive her grandmother’s estate.’ Frank took a bite of his sandwich, breadcrumbs falling down his pale green shirt.
‘What happened to her?’ Sarah could feel the whole saga creeping up on her again. Distant cousins, cock relations …
Frank waggled a finger at her. ‘I know what you’re thinking, my dear, however there’s nothing to worry about. Elizabeth married quite late and there were no children. Her husband died in the 1920s.’
A surge of relief flooded through her.
‘A small part of the estate,’ Frank continued, ‘was meant for Luke. My grandfather doctored the papers. If he hadn’t done so Luke would have queried who the beneficiary was.’
‘Why on earth would Hamish do his own son out of his inheritance and keep his sister a secret?’ Sarah asked, although she was equally intrigued with the level of complicity that bound the Michaels and the Gordons.
‘I doubt it was for Elizabeth’s benefit,’ Ronald turned to Frank. ‘Luke must have been furious’.
Frank selected another sandwich. ‘He never knew, which was why Angus was so determined to ensure Jim Macken was made aware of his birthright. Guilt, I guess. Angus wanted Jim to have what his older half-brother had been denied: his share of his inheritance and his family. Imagine thinking all your family were dead, which Luke did, except for a much younger half-brother and a steel-edged father who ruled with the proverbial iron fist. It was Claire who eventually discovered Elizabeth’s existence. She forwarded the majority of the illegal documents she’d found back to my father, including the family Bible, which mentioned Elizabeth. I guess they wanted the family history safeguarded by someone they could trust.’
‘So Claire agreed with Hamish.’ Sarah rubbed her tummy. The baby was practising his rugby kicks. ‘I don’t get it.’
Closing the bible, Ronald passed it to his daughter. ‘Sure you do, Sarah. As the years passed it was easier to leave Elizabeth in the care of her grandmother. Why? For succession purposes, of course. He didn’t need a married daughter arriving with a demanding husband and complicating his inheritance plans. And Hamish had a new wife and family. Elizabeth took her grand mother’s name and was raised as her ward.’ Ronald shrugged. ‘That’s what happened back then.’
‘But why not tell Luke?’ Sarah argued.
‘They wanted Luke to stay at Wangallon. Angus was still a boy at the time. They did it to safeguard Wangallon. If he’d learnt of a sister floating around in the ether do you think Luke would have been happy to stay? He would have been furious he’d never been told of her existence.’
‘To quote your grandfather, Sarah,’ Frank brushed crumbs from his lap, ‘the end justifies the means.’
Sarah took a sip of water. Today of all days she could have quite easily consumed a bottle of merlot. ‘And Boxer’s Plains?’
‘As you saw from the document I left in the bible, your family purchased it legally from the estate of Oscar Crawford following his death and that of his son in an Aboriginal uprising.’
Sarah lifted an eyebrow. ‘What Aboriginal uprising?’
Frank returned her suspicion with a smooth smile. ‘Anything else is innuendo,’ he instructed her. ‘Gossip’.
Sarah scrunched her lips together. ‘You won’t tell us?’ The rain was steadily increasing and for a moment Sarah thought Frank may not have heard her.
Frank looked out at the garden. ‘I could tell you there was a dispute over stock.’ He took a sip of his whisky, which was so filled with ice it was nearly clear. ‘And that Hamish was of an unforgiving nature. I can also tell you that as a Scot he loathed the English with a passion capable of retribution.’ He stared dispassionately through the rain-flecked gauze. ‘Lives were lost, Sarah. Including Boxer’s, the old Aborigine Hamish treated as a friend.’
‘So Hamish named the new block after him.’ Sarah thought it all sounded a little simplistic. ‘Truth is stranger than fiction.’ She looked at the deeds to Boxer’s Plains.
Frank drained his glass. ‘The truth, Sarah, is that the events of 1909 left such an impression on your grandfather’s mind, that Angus never purchased land again.’