Unpublished Family History of The KUHN Family by Towers & Mirian Rooney
AMANDA HUGHES (KUHN)
My memories of Great Grandma Hughes as we all called her, are of a grand, lovely old lady who insisted on living in he style of her pioneer parents although her home was in Constance St., Mareeba was regarded as a "very flash" house when she bought it from the local doctor. Her miner 27husband David Hughes, had won a handsome collect on the Caulfield - Melbourne cups double with "Wotan" at 100/1 as one of the legs. Amanda took the opportunity to settle in Mareeba with the children. Amanda refused to have electricity or septic installed in the house, even in the sixty's but her son Sammy (David William Jnr) went ahead and installed a toilet on the end of the verandah after she had broken her arm and she agreed it might be better than an outhouse. I remember in 1970 Amanda still lit a wooden fire and chilled her butter in a dish sitting in a bowl of water, and used an old pot iron. (Mrs Potts) She owned a piano, so very out of tune, that none of us could play it, bur Amanda could, right up to the day she died. I believe she found the right pitch or near to it by searching along the keys, thus only she knew where the notes were. One day as she was nursing one of her great grand children, Peter James Hughes, she asked me if I gave him "Sugar Tit", when I asked what it was she told me that she used it as a pacifier for her babies. You get a little piece of clean rag, the size of the palm of your hand and you place sugar in it, then tie it up tight and the baby sucks on it. Typical of many old folks she kept everything:- papers, cans, tins, boxes etc., but kept her house well. She had a beautiful large front room with several round cedar tables, whatnots and cane lounge suites, and of course the piano. Hanging from the ceiling was a beautiful chandelier.
The room was full of pictures of the family along with the Royal family and pretty scenes from calenders.
James Edward Hughes
Grandson of Amanda Hughes |