On Anzac Day, Peter Coggan and his family dedicated a memorial headstone to his great-grandfather William Geilvoet in Cobargo Cemetery.

On the other side of William’s memorial headstone is a dedication to his wife Catherine, nee Benham, which was created two years ago.

After dying from cancer in 1905, Catherine was buried in an unmarked grave in Cobargo Cemetery.

William was buried in Rookwood, Sydney, in 1917, residing in a grave that has only recently been rediscovered by his descendants.

Mr Coggan’s wife Elizabeth had the idea of bringing William back in spirit to be with Catherine in Cobargo.

The ceremony took place due to a promise made to Mr Coggan’s mother, May.

“One of the promises to my mother for her 100th birthday was to find her family, the Geilvoet family,” Mr Coggan said.

“This is the culmination of a lot of research by me and my sister.

“We believe this event is significant as it is the final chapter in Catherine and William’s life story.” 

Scheduling the dedication ceremony for Anzac Day was important as the Geilvoet’s youngest son Cornelius, a member of the Light Horse, died in Malta due to head wounds sustained during the invasion of Gallipoli in World War 1.

William was a Dutchman, who came to Australia after leaving a broken romance and ended up in the Araluen goldfields.

It was there he met Catherine, and they married in 1868.

The Geilvoets had a farm comprising three 40-acre blocks, stretching from what is now Dignams Creek Bridge to the shores of Wallaga Lake.

They moved to the farm about 1870, where they raised 15 children.

At the farm, the Geilvoets had a cheese factory, fruit orchard and piggery, and their produce was shipped from Bermagui to the Sydney markets.

They created their own pear liquor on their property, also shipped to the markets.

In addition to farm work and raising all their children, Catherine was a local midwife and William worked closely with local Indigenous Australians.

“They did it very tough, they were pioneers,” Mr Coggan said.

The couple shared a great bond, evident through a letter Mr Coggan’s cousin has from William, written to one of his daughters after Catherine died.

In it, William describes the loneliness he felt without his wife – “This place feels lonely without your mother”.

There is a plethora of interesting stories about the lives of William and Catherine, such as how during the massive 1851 flood of Bega, the four-year-old Catherine survived for three days living on the roof of her house with her sister – but her mother sadly drowned.  

Local identity of the time “Big” Jack Hayden saved the girls from drowning and became Catherine’s foster father.