Stephen Lean

SIXTY - FIVE YEAR OF MARRIED LIFE .
STALWART LABORHITE AND STERLING CITIZENS .
MRS . LEAN - DIES AT 87 AND STEPHEN AT 90 .

Monday morning . April 7 , there pased away at Albert - street , Goodwood, a veteran who , with his wife , had been many years been an ardent Laborhite and great supporters of the Labepress Stal
" No other . paper comes into this house , " said dear old Mrs. Lean not long before she died ( about two year
ago ) at the age of 87. She referred to the workers ' paper .
Her husband was equally emphatic and on this as on most other matter they were in absolute agreement
Their wonderful record of sixty - five years of married life was more wonderful because the couple had described
it as an unbroken record of happiness , in spite of the ups and downs inseparable from life in Australia during those years .
Stephen Lean survived his wife by a couple of years , and retained mental faculties until he closed his eyes with the fervent hope of opening them again where there would be another reunion of Eliza and Stephen .
He was a fine character , a model husband and father , a worthy citizen . Unassuming , and refraining from
publicity of any kind , he lived a.good life , served his adopted country well , and has left behind a substantial
family to maintain his good name . Stephen was known as Captain Lean on account of his mining activities
in earlier life . His experiences .would make an interesting book , for into his ninety years he crowded a
great amount of work . He was a typical Cornishman , born in Lostwithiel in 1834 , one of a family of ten
( eight brothers and two sisters ) . The family came to Australia in the Brightman in 1840 , and settled in the Mount Barker district . The call of gold from Ballarat in 1852 attracted Stephen Lean , and he went overland to the diggings , where He returned to this State . but later on again visited the Victorian goldfields .he was successful .
Nafrne was next made the home of the Lean family . It was here that he and Eliza came together .
Stephen and they rode on horseback to Trinity Church , Adelaide , to have knot tied which lasted for sixty - five
years , and was only broken by the death of Mrs. Lean two years ago .
Captain Lean was manager of the Mid - Moonta copper mine in its early days , and later was in charge of the
Crystal and Queen gold mines at Echunga , with other properties nearby.
The lure of mining was always strong with him , and at the time of walked the Tarcoola discovery he thither from Hergott Springs . In 1895 he went to Western Australia ,
and was there when Boulder City was laid out . Three years later he went north - west to Derby to inspect a copper mine for an Adelaide syndicate . Altogether he spent nearly ten years in the western State , and
furnishd many reports on the mining industry . He withstood the loss of his lifelong mate with great fortitude , and
was active until quite recently , when his ninety years began to press heavily upon him . He was surrounded by the families of his children's children , leaving six daughters ( Mesdames W. C. Rowe , Boulder City : W. J. Goldsworthy , Dulwich ; A. Sandercock , Goodwood ; A. Schmidt , Mitcham : J. D. Bright , Perth , and A. E. Hill ,
Goodwood ) , and ( Mess ) Joseph Lean , North Adelaide ; Stephen Lean , Lidcombe , New South Wales , and Richard Lean , Goodwood ) . There are eighteen grandchildren ,and also twenty great - grandchildren .
The life record of Stephen and Eliza Lean is a worthy one .