The Cobar region has a long and proud history and this year marks the 150th anniversary of when the Weltie family moved to Cobar and settled on Glenhope station, east of Cobar.
Glenhope’s current owners, the Johnson family, are planning to celebrate the 150 year milestone with a big shindig in August.
Many descendants from the Weltie family (who first established Glenhope in 1874) are planning to travel from all parts of Australia to join in the 2024 Glenhope Shindig celebrations.
The property Glenhope was established by Peter and Anne Weltie who were the first Catholic family to arrive in Cobar.
Peter, a watchmaker by trade, was born in Germany in 1825 and came to Australia as an immigrant aboard the ship ‘Southern Star’ when it docked in Melbourne in 1852.
Lured to Australia during the 1850s gold discovery era, Peter first headed to Bendigo but had no success in finding his fortune in gold.
He later went back to his trade and became the first watchmaker on the Darling River at Wentworth NSW.
On January 7, 1858 at age 33, Peter married 22 year old Anne Kelly from Scotland.
Anne’s wedding dress was gifted to her by humanitarian aid worker Carolyn Chisholm.
In 1861 Peter moved to Wentworth to set up his business of repairing clocks and watches.
With his business established, he sent for his wife and their daughter Anna Marea, to join him 18 months later.
Then along came another daughter Sophia, as well as sons John George, Peter (Jnr) and Bernard.
Peter became a well-known pillar of the Wentworth community, raising money to lay the foundation stone of the Roman Catholic Church and was an active member of the school board.
He also officiated at Catholic burial services as there was no Roman Catholic Priest stationed at Wentworth.
In 1870, Peter travelled to Bourke looking for new opportunities.
His family followed two years later where they settled and welcomed two more children, Jane Elizabeth and Malcolm.
Peter’s eyesight began to fail after he’d contracted Sandy Blight from polishing and cleaning the watch cases of men that had handled scabby mouth sheep.
With the prospect of a dismal future in Bourke, the family packed up and travelled to Cobar via horse and carriage to start Glenhope.
The couple raised their children on Glenhope, which was initially a dairy farm.
They also grew a variety of fruit and vegetables which supplied the Cobar District Hospital throughout the years.
Glenhope originally covered an area of over 7,000 acres and was also a wood depot for the Great Cobar Mine, with old railway tracks still evident in a back paddock on the property.
Peter passed away at Glenhope at age 63 on December 7, 1888.
Anne also died at Glenhope on October 5, 1903, at age 67.
In the early-mid 1900s, the ownership of Glenhope passed from Welties to the Johnson family.
Today the property is only 1,200 acres and is run by Mark and Marie Johnson.
The couple have lots of plans to celebrate the farm’s 150 years of history at this year’s Glenhope Shindig.
Descendants of the Weltie family will be joined by locals, return Shindig revelers from last year, along with other tourists on their way to the 2024 Mundi Mundi Bash near Broken Hill.
