Description
The Accidental Heiress: Journey of a Glencoe squatter’s daughter has just jointly won the Keain medal for the best History book about South Australia published in 2020. The Glencoe estate, near Mt Gambier, spilled over into Victoria and Portland in Victoria was the port for the estate.
The heiress at the heart of this is story is Letitia Sarah Leake, the daughter of squatter Edward Leake who, with his brother Robert, moved from Tasmania to the South East of South Australia in 1844 where they established a vast pastoral empire; Glencoe Station.
Edward had a reputation as a rake and at age 42 fell in love with migrant Irish girl Amanda, who was already pregnant and married to a bullocky who carted wool for Glencoe station. Edward married Amanda after the bullocky mysteriously disappeared. The couple’s first-born, Letitia, inherited the Glencoe estate at the age of seven after the death of Robert and then Edward. It was managed by trustees until she came of age at 21. The estate was then sold for the equivalent of $25 million in today’s money. Following a massive and unpleasant court case Letitia became the sole beneficiary of this estate and she and husband Charles Billyard, son of a Solicitor General of NSW, moved to England.
During World War I, the couple offered their home, Harefield Park outside of London, to the Australian Government as Hospital No 1 for wounded Australian soldiers. Letitia, with her family, helped in the convalescence of over 50,000 soldiers
The authors, John Berger, a heritage architect, and Carol Grbich, an Emeritus professor at Flinders University, live “just over the paddock” from the Glencoe woolshed and volunteer for the National Trust which now manages the woolshed.
ISBN 9780646819228
Published by National Trust South Australia.
239 A'Beckett Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 
03 9326 9288 
office@historyvictoria.org.au 
Office & Library: Weekdays 9am-5pm
Ann Verbeek –
Carol Grbich and John Berger have captured an important piece of Australian history – not least for capturing the life of Letitia Sarah Billyard-Leake (1860-1923) , but the lives of the Bungandidj people who lived and worked at Glencoe and South Australia’s south-eastern wool industry.
The significant role that Harefield Park played in the lives of 50,000 wounded Australians during the full episode of the Great War is worthy of additional research. As mentioned above, this piece of Australian history would do well to be included in the Australian curriculum – which devotes considerable time to the study of Australia’s role in both WWI and WWII and the social impact of people’s lived experience during war and after. It’s remarkable that the people of Harefield have continued to commemorate the 119 men buried in their village for over 100 years.
I have given copies of “The Accidental Heiress: Journey of a Glencoe squatter’s daughter” to several people and look forward to giving it to many more as soon as a reprint is available. Congratulations to Carol & John on being awarded the 2020 Keain medal for the best History book about South Australia.
Steve Larkins –
This is a great story about a very remarkable woman and her family, warts and all. It spans a very interesting period of history and half the globe. Impeccably researched, very well written in a flowing narrative style, it is an easy and enjoyable read. It has been well regarded by everyone I know including whoever I leant my copy to and not seen since! These are the stories of our early history that need to be given far more prominence as part of our education system.