Stenhouse Bay: Arnold Frederick Paynter

Stenhouse Bay is about 156kms from Adelaide, on the Yorke Penninsula. It was named after Andrew Stenhouse, who operated Permasite Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd which held “leases for the harvesting of gypsum north of Cape Spencer.”¹ Permasite later became the Waratah Gypsum Company, and they quarried and exported rock gypsum, supplying most of Australia’s needs of the rock mineral which was used in the manufacturing of plaster of paris and cement, with a quality that was of an exceptionally high class.

Gypsum mining at Lake Inneston was established in 1913. “The gypsum was shipped through Stenhouse Bay, being transported there on a wooden rail tramway. The jetty at Stenhouse Bay was 164 metres long and the gypsum was stockpiled at the top of the cliff. Ore trucks on rails and cables transported the gypsum down the steep cliff. Later a cutting was made through the cliff which allowed the ore to be transported directly to the jetty. Subsequently the mining at Inneston was transferred to nearby Marion Lake and later again the mining operations were amalgamated at Stenhouse Bay. Many of the buildings from Inneston were transferred to Stenhouse Bay; there were 37 houses, a community hall, school, post office, a licensed general store, and administration buildings².“

Stenhouse Bay jetty around 1925, SLSA PRG 1373/39/66

A photo I took of the Stenhouse Bay jetty in 2011. The remains of the gypsum mine works can be seen on the right near the jetty and on top of the hill

Near the remains of the gypsum mine works at the start of the jetty. That is my mum on the left, 2011

My family story – my great grandfather, Arnold Frederick Paynter, was born 27 December, 1890 in Goodwood, South Australia to parents Charles Paynter, originally from Broomfield, Shropshire, England, and his wife Susanah Paynter (nee Thornton) originally from Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. They had five sons and four daughters. Arnold was their youngest child, and one of the only two born in Australia after they immigrated in 1883 on the Hesperus clipper ship. My great grandmother, Vera Gladys Olive Pearl Lawson, (known as Marna) was born on 14 April, 1892, the second of eight children born to Alfred James Lawson, of Stockport, South Australia, and Marie Franziska Wilhelmine Lawson (nee Rauth), of Adelaide, South Australia.

Arnold and Marna met in Broken Hill, when in 1913 at the age of 21 Marna had decided she’d like to try living in another town. She had obtained a position as a booking clerk and cashier at a hotel, and it was here that she first met Arnold, who was an engineer for BHP. They later married that same year, and their first daughter, my grandmother’s sister, Daphne Eugenie Paynter was born the following year.

Arnold, Wonnie, my uncle in her arms, and my mum in the car, Stenhouse Bay

A few years later, Arnold was transferred to Whyalla as Chief Engineer, near where BHP were producing ore at Iron Knob, which was used to make steel³. While living at Whyalla, my grandmother, Veronica Joyce Paynter (known as Wonnie) was born in 1921.

I am unsure of the year, but eventually Arnold became the Manager of Waratah Gypsum, at Stenhouse Bay. He and Marna lived in a house that was situated on top of the hill near the Stenhouse Bay jetty, close to where the car park is now. Today only the foundations of the house remain. From the mid 1940’s this was also my mum’s first childhood house.

Although quite successful, my great uncle Ted (Theodore Lawson, one of Marna’s brothers) described Arnold as a not very ambitious man, who was never intent on making a fortune, his every wish being met with the top job, a fishing rod and a gun, then he was happy.

I have been told that he was indeed a very smart man who invented a pulley system that they used at the mine to transport the gypsum. He also invented a process of cleaning clothes without using water, a type of dry cleaning that is still used today, which he never had patented.

On researching Arnold, I have found one mention of him in Trove in an article where he commented on the robbery of a mail bag from the post office containing wages of the Waratah Gypsum employees amounting to £2,000 (over $65,000 in today’s money) at Stenhouse Bay in 1954⁴. The article is included below:

Arnold worked at Waratah Gypsum until his retirement in the 1950s, at which time he and Marna moved to Balmoral Road, Dernancourt, where he remained until his death in 1970 at the age of 79.

The Waratah Gypsum Company continued operating until finally shutting down the works in 1972. The town was then sold to the South Australian Government who demolished the town, except for the few houses required for the rangers who look after the Innes National Park.⁵

Below I have included some photos of Stenhouse Bay Jetty operations in full swing from the private collection of W. J. Hunjus

In 2011 my mum and I spent some time exploring Yorke Peninsula. We went and had a look at what still remains of their house. I asked her to talk as I taped it. The video clip below was filmed in 2011, before my mobile phone had video capabilities, so I took it with an actual camera. Apologies the sound isn’t the greatest. As you can see the foundations of the house are still there.