Members of the Treatt family from Sydney visited the Great Cobar Heritage Centre recently to make a special donation in honour of their ancestor, Frank Treatt, who lived and worked in Cobar in the early 1900s.
The family presented museum curator Kay Stingemore with a beautiful silver tray, engraved with a dedication to Mr FB Treatt.
The tray was part of a dinner service given to Frank Burford Treatt when he left Cobar in February 1908.
It is signed by John Leah, who was the Mayor of Cobar at the time.
Mrs Stingemore said Mr Treatt had been the Police Magistrate and Mining Warden, important positions he filled with distinction.
He was also a very popular man.
“As Police Magistrate and Coroner, Mr Treatt held court in Cobar, Nymagee, Illewong and Canbelego,” Mrs Stingemore said.
“He presided over cases of larceny, burglary, fraud, embezzlement, bad language – and murder.
“Among the more distressing of these were the shooting of James Donnelly by his son-in-law, Samuel Horne, and the brutal murder of a swaggie, Frank Rees, at Louth,” Mrs Stingemore recounted.
“Mr Treatt’s conduct of these cases and his careful gathering of testimony allowed them to be successfully concluded.
“He also sat as coroner on at least seven inquests into mining fatalities, including the terrible accident in 1904 when James Bates was killed and James Case badly injured.”
When he left Cobar, Mr Treatt took the silver service and the good wishes of his many friends with him and he also left behind a street in Wrightville that was named after him.
Sadly, Treatt Street, along with the rest of Wrightville, has now vanished.
The only tribute left to Mr Treatt in Cobar now is the silver tray.
“This will soon be on display at the museum, along with Treatt photographs and documents that tell more of his story,” Mrs Stingemore said.
“The Treatt family are very proud of their history.”
Frank’s great grandson Jim and his wife Sharon, their two sons, Scott and Chris, together with their wives and children, were all present to make the family donation to the museum.
