[Index]
Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS (1886 - 1957)
bank manager
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
William Arthur Fane DE SALIS (1916 - 1999)
Eric James Fane DE SALIS (1918 - 2002)
Living
Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS (1886 - 1957)

+

Eileen Christian ELWORTHY (1892 - 1956)
George Arthur Charles Fane DE SALIS (1851 - 1931) Leopold Fabius Dietagarus Fane DE SALIS (1816 - 1898) Jerome Hieronimus Fane DE SALIS (1771 - 1836)
Henrietta FOSTER (1790 - 1856)
Charlotte F MACDONALD (1819 - 1878) George MACDONALD (1779 - 1853)
Sarah MITCHELL (1781 - )
Mary St Lawrence Irving SMITH (1857 - 1927) Pierce Galliard SMITH (1826 - 1908) Eglesfield SMITH
Judith E (SMITH)
Emily Phillippa DAVIES (1833 - 1917) William DAVIES
Cordelia (DAVIES)
Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Eileen Christian ELWORTHY

Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS
Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS
b. 08 Aug 1886 at Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
m. 03 Apr 1915 Eileen Christian ELWORTHY (1892 - 1956) at Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia
d. 21 Feb 1957 at Canberra, ACT, Australia aged 70
Parents:
George Arthur Charles Fane DE SALIS (1851 - 1931)
Mary St Lawrence Irving SMITH (1857 - 1927)
Siblings (7):
Arthur Rodolph Fane DE SALIS (1879 - 1879)
Charlotte Fane DE SALIS (1880 - 1965)
Mary (May) Fane DE SALIS (1881 - 1962)
Nina Emily Violet Fane DE SALIS (1883 - 1970)
Emily Henrietta Georgina DE SALIS (1885 - 1966)
George William Irving Fane DE SALIS (1889 - 1969)
Charles Eric Fabius DE SALIS (1891 - 1917)
Children (3):
William Arthur Fane DE SALIS (1916 - 1999)
Eric James Fane DE SALIS (1918 - 2002)
Grandchildren (9):
, David Anthony DE SALIS (1944 - 1963)
Events in Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS (1886 - 1957)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
08 Aug 1886 Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS was born Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia 32799/1886
03 Apr 1915 28 Married Eileen Christian ELWORTHY (aged 22) Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia 7050/1915
09 Jun 1916 29 Birth of son William Arthur Fane DE SALIS Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia
18 Mar 1918 31 Birth of son Eric James Fane DE SALIS Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia
18 Jul 1927 40 Death of mother Mary St Lawrence Irving SMITH (aged 70) Michelago, New South Wales, Australia 15662/1927
Dec 1931 45 Death of father George Arthur Charles Fane DE SALIS (aged 80) Michelago, New South Wales, Australia 1673/1932
10 Sep 1956 70 Death of wife Eileen Christian ELWORTHY (aged 63) Canberra, ACT, Australia
21 Feb 1957 70 Rodolph Leopold Pierce (Tony) Fane DE SALIS died Canberra, ACT, Australia
Personal Notes:
Grandson of the original owner of "Darbalara".

De Salises were a powerful and aristocratic Swiss family whose history dates back to 900 AD. One member of this old and noble family was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Francis of Austria on 12 Mar 1748. Jerome, his only son settled in England in 1730 and in 1735 wed the Hon. Mary FANE, eldest daughter of the first Viscount Fane. By Royal Licence in 1835, the surname became
Fane De Salis.
The Peace of Luneville in 1801 marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire (although it was not really official until 1806). The De Salis line was licensed on 04 April 1809 by George III to bear the title of Count or Countess in England, whilst in the British Empire they were entitled to use all the honours and dignities conferred upon them before they became British subjects. This licence was rescinded on 27
April 1932 and those rights can no longer be claimed by any family member born after that date.
Tony was a great-grandson of Jerome fourth Count de Salis and grandson of Leopold Fabius Dietegan Fane De Salis born 26 ApI 1816 in Florence, Italy. Educated at Eton, he studied sheep farming near Jedburgh, Scotland and came to Australia on the Royal George on 18 Nov 1840. Shortly afterwards he acquired a property at the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Tumut Rivers at Gundagai on the opposite bank to present-day Burrenderry and variously shown as Darbalara, Darbylara, Darbulara.
Leopold De Salis had strong connections with the Gundagai district. In 1844 he married Charlotte, daughter of George Macdonald, the owner of Bongongo. The following year Leopold procured Junee, managed for him by his brother-in-law Colin Macdonald and by 1854 had obtained two more runs.
Whilst at Darbalara, three sons and a daughter were born to Leopold and Charlotte - Leopold, Rodolph, George (Tony's father) and Nina. Leopold decided to sell his properties and return to England - but whilst awaiting transfers he purchased Cuppacumbalong near Tharwa. There Henry was born and Leopold
abandoned his plan to take the family back to England.
In 1864 Leopold decided to enter politics and was elected Member for Queanbeyan to the fifth parliament. He lost his seat in 1869; was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1874 and remained a member until shortly before his death in 1898.
During the '60s and '70s, apart from the local stations, Leopold and his sons built up large Queensland runs covering many hundreds of thousands of acres which carried 80,000 head of cattle and 20,000 sheep. Some were Strathmore, Strathallan and Strathbogie, west of Bowen, managed by Mr Garland - whose daughter Ruby, wed Canon Henry Barton Madden, a nephew of Henry St John Madden and his
wife Isabella Elworthy, a great-aunt of Eileen! William and Henry ran operations in Queensland whilst Tony's father George concentrated on Cuppacumbalong.
For many years Rev Pierce Galliard Smith (Rector of St John the Baptist Church from 1855 to 1906) conducted monthly service at the De Salis home, often accompanied by his wife and young daughters. Eventually George noticed that Mary, the younger girl had grown into a very attractive young woman.
In a service conducted by the Bishop of Goulbum on 28 Feb 1878, George and Mary were married in her father's church.
These were the golden years when banks did not hesitate to lend money on thriving properties and future wool clips. It was a major boom period of great expansion, mineral discoveries and railroad building.
Then it all began to change ...
Ravaged by a ten year drought, the wool market collapsed, the sheep population was halved - and the banks began calling in their money. Many once prosperous holdings were brought to ruin. Leopold lost almost all his properties - including the well loved Cuppacumbalong, which had been used as collateral to finance the Queensland properties.
After the sale of Cuppacumbalong, George, Mary and their family lived with his sister Nina Farrer and her husband at Lambrigg. In 1900 George bought a property at Michelago named Soglio after the De Salis ancestral home in Switzerland. Mary and George lived at Soglio until their deaths in 1927 and 1931 respectively. They had four girls Charlotte, Mary, Nina, Emily and three sons Rodolph 1886, George 1889 and Eric 1891.
Tony's aunt, Nina De Salis married famous wheat pioneer William Farrer who came to Australia in 1870. Each year he cross-bred about 200 strains of wheat trying to develop one which would resist rust, suit the Australian conditions and yet give good baking qualities. He introduced many types both for stock feed and commercial use but the best known is Federation, a strain which Farrer produced in 1901. Chambers Biographical Dictionary claims Farrer's work was almost solely responsible for the growth and success of the Australian wheat industry.
Educated at the King's School, Parramatta, Tony joined the Commercial Bank of Sydney and served in Gundagai, Wagga, Humula, Tarcutta before becoming manager at Copmanhurst near Grafton. Whilst accountant at Gundagai branch, he met Eileen Elworthy, daughter of the local newspaper proprietor. At St John's Gundagai, Tony and Eileen were married on 03 ApI 1915 with sisters Doris Elworthy and Emily De Salis as bridesmaids.
In March 1916 Tony was transferred to Wagga Wagga and mentioned by the Times as still being there when his brother Eric went off to war with G Squadron of the 2nd Light Horse. Sadly Eric was killed in action on 05 Nov 1917. In January 1919 the Governor-General presented a posthumous Military Medal to Eric's father.
Eileen and Tony's sons William 1916, Eric 1918 and John 1923 were all born in Gundagai. Leaving the bank in 1926, Tony and Eileen bought Bondo (named after Bondo Castle in Switzerland, still owned by a De Salis) about nine miles from Cooma. This was sold in 1928 when they bought Yarrawa near Adaminaby.
Some of the Gundagai Elworthys enjoyed visiting the De Salises. Frank recalls fishing in the Murrumbidgee with Eric; after he left Burrenderry, Fred stayed for some time at the property and in the last year of his life Arthur was a frequent guest. It was there he died of a heart attack on 29 May 1935.
By 1937 the family were in Canberra and bought Weston, a handsome property on the Cotter Road. Tony and Eileen remained there for the rest of their days. The Federal Government took over the land for housing development in 1968.
For a long time Eileen had suffered from hypertension and on 10 Sep 1956 died from a coronary occlusion. She was buried two days later at Canberra Cemetery. For years Tony had battled bravely with cancer of the colon and finally died of carcinomatosis on 21 Feb 1957 at Canberra Community Hospital. Canberra Cemetery was Tony's last resting place too.
Source References:
2. Type: Book, Abbr: Devon to Downunder, Title: Devon to Downunder, Auth: Bettie Elworthy, Publ: Bookbound, Date: 1997
- Reference = 238ff (Name, Notes)
63. Type: Web Page, Abbr: Trove, Title: Trove National Library of Australia, Locn: http://trove.nla.gov.au/
- Reference = Queanbeyan Age 16 Apr 1915 (Name, Notes)
- Notes: Weddinrgs. DE SALIS-ELWORTHY. A QUIET wedding (chiefly on account of Mr. and Mrs. Elworthy's son being at the war) was celebrated at St. John's Church of England on Saturday last, by the Rev. A. Champion, when Rodolph, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Fane De Salis, of " Soglio," Michelago, and Eileen, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Elworthy, of Gundagai, were joined in the holy bonds of matrimony. The bride was given away by her father, and wore a becoming dress of ivory draped crepe-de.chine with long pointed train, bodice veiled with lace and ninon and touches of blue, and finished with deep swathed belt. She also wore a. veil, cap fashion, with narrow wreath of orange blossoms, and carried a bouquet of white roses, lillies of the valley and ferns, with long streamers of tulle. This with a diamond cluster ring, were the gifts of the bridegroom. The bridesmaids were Miss Doris Elworthy and Miss Emily De Salis, both being dressed alike in white crepe de-chine, with long tunics, deep swathed belts of pale pink, with hats to match. Each carried bouquets of pink roses and ferns tied with pink tulle, which together with bracelets and rings were gifts of the bridegroom. Mr. R. Layloek acted as best man, and Mr. J. B. Elworthy as groomsman. On leaving the church (which was crowded with friends of the popular young couple) the " Wedding March " was played by Miss Hansen. On re— turning to the home of the bride's par— ents refreshments were partaken of and the Rev. A. H. Champion proposed the health of the bride and bridegroom, and the parents of both, also the health of Corporal F. Elworthy (now serving his King and country). Mr. Laylook in a humerous speech, gave the toast of the bridesmaids, after which the newly wedded couple left for Sydney, being seen off at the railway station by a large number of friends and well wish— ers. The bride's travelling dress was a grey tailor-made coat and skirt, with bluie bat and high mount. The presents were numerous, useful and costly, amongst them being many cheques.

This public tree has about 60,100 people. Every person in the tree is related by birth or marriage to at least one other person in the tree - no strays. The people in the tree come mainly from four projects.
  1. My family tree. The original project begun about 1998. ID numbers less than about 6,000
  2. Canberra and Queanbeyan Pioneers. The next 30,000 begun about 2004. Sourced almost entirely from HAGSOC's excellent 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan'. The project began when I decided to add siblings, spouses and parents for a relation with an entry in the Register. 12 years work.
  3. Wagga Pioneers. I moved to Wagga and thought I would extend the Queanbeyan project by adding people from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society's 'Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District'. About 10,300 people added over about a year.
  4. Tumut Valley Pioneers. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I decided to extend the above projects by adding pioneers of the Tumut Valley. Initial sources were Snowden's 'Pioneers of the Tumut Valley' and 'Relict of ... Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District'. Excellent references published by Tumut Family History Group. I've also added material from newspapers of the time - especially, death records, obituaries and weddings from 'Tumut and Adelong Times'. This project is in its early stage and might take a few years. I plan to extend to the upper Monaro (Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cooma, Jindabyne).
I upload new information to this website about every 3 months. My motivation for these projects is to provide public information for people seeking to trace ancestors and what became of them. Much of the information I provide can be difficult to find.
If you find errors - anything incorrect (dates, places, wrong parents, wrong children), and you have evidence, I would love to fix them. Or, if you have information that would extend my projects, do not hestiate to contact me on the email link below. I do not publish information on living people - which means I'm not much interested in people born after about 1920, and I usually distrust material from before about 1770 without extremely good sources.
g.bell@bigpond.net.au
When you click the mail address abouve, if it does not open your email app, copy the address on the screen.
Geoff Bell, September 2020