Matilda (Tilly) OTTO
married Albert Henry KRUGER
Tilly was born 8 November 1878.
​
Tilly & Albert were married 11 October 1899.
Children of Tilly & Albert
Ernest Lionel Albert b. 11 August 1900 d. 29 September 1989
​m. Jessie Edith Leah Small 14 January 1925
Lionel Montgomery Kruger b. 29 June 1925 d. 29 March 2007
Cyril Leslie Henry b. 30 September 1902 d. 6 August 1923
Russell Maxwell b. 3 April 1905 d. 12 February 2000
m. Lillian Agnes Bauer
Lillian Matilda b. 29 August 1907 d. 3 August 1996
m. Malcolm Brown Duncan 18 December 1929
​Dexter Ronald b. 13 January 1910 d. 20 July 2021
m. Gladys Doreen Beanland 26 September 1942
​
Oswald Edgar Frederick b. 5 February 1915 d. 11 August 1998
​m. Eileen Mabel Bliesner
(Note: Albert Kruger's brother, Frederick Christian William Kruger, married Alma Mabel Moss, Tilly's niece. Refer page of Ernestina Moss (nee Otto) for further information.)
The Story of the Courtship and Wedding
of my Father and Mother
Albert Henry Kruger and Matilda Otto
by Dexter Ronald Kruger
As a single man of about 27 years of age, my father lived mainly with his father (his mother having died seven years previously) on his property on Walkingborough Road, which was a branch of the Sheep Station Creek Road, about ten miles North West of Kilcoy.
He had a property of his own at Conondale on the Mary River, on which he had built a small slab hut, and where he spent a lot of his time. My father, at this time was a cattle dealer, and would buy cattle from farmers in the Kenilworth, Maleny, Witta and Peachester areas, drive them to his property at Conondale and when he had acquired a sufficient number he would drive them to Kilcoy and sell them in that area (at a profit, no doubt).
On one such trip to the Peachester area, he called on a farmer named Shuttlewood, bought some cattle from him, and was invited to have a meal while finalising the deal. In the course of conversation, Mr Shuttlewood mentioned that a family named Otto lived about a mile or so away, who had a very pretty young daughter, named Matilda, who was trying to ward off the attentions of a young man she did not like, and suggested that Albert should go there and do something about it. Albert took the suggestion and went there on some pretext and met the lovely Matilda.
The Otto family, at that time, consisted of Mr & Mrs Otto, daughter "Tilly" (as she was called), an older sister Flora, a brother Ernest, and a much older sister Eugene Smith, whose husband was not there, and who had a daughter Elsie who was only a few years younger than Tilly. Mr Otto was a carpenter and his son Ernest, worked with him. Mrs Otto had a General Store and the girls helped in the shop, and as they had 160 acres of land they had a small herd of dairy cows. There was milking and butter making to do, and as well Mrs Otto would provide a light meal to people passing by. The shop was adjacent to the road between Beerwah and Woodford and was just on top of a very steep hill (known as Otto's Pinch) and travellers would stop there to rest their horses or bullocks and enjoy a cup of tea etc.
So the girls were always doing something. They also raised some pigs and made bacon and ham which, with the butter, was sent to Brisbane and sold.
I don't know how the courtship was carried on at that distance, but carried on it was, for about a year. Tilly was now nearly twenty-one. Plans for the wedding were made for Tuesday October 10th 1899 at 3.00 pm and a Methodist minister was to come from Brisbane by train to Beerwah. Albert rode to Beerwah to meet him, and led a horse for him to ride. The train arrived - but no minister. What to do? The wedding breakfast was all prepared and the guests came, but no wedding. So they had the meal in the evening, and all went home.
As there was no means of communication, Albert met the train the next day, and, lo and behold, there was the minister! The wedding was held in the evening with only the family present. The minister had forgotten the day, and Wednesday was the usual day for weddings then, so he thought it would be Wednesday.
As the bridal couple were to proceed next day on horseback, Albert had brought a spare riding horse for Tilly and a pack horse to carry her "trousseau" and food for a few days. The next evening they arrived at the little slab hut at Conondale, and, after a short stay there they rode onto Sheep Station Creek, Kilcoy.
In the year between meeting his future wife and the wedding, my Dad bought his father's land and had built a house on it. So my mother went into a new house which was their home for the next nine years, when they moved to "Union Park".
My Brothers and Sisters
by Dexter Ronald Kruger
Ernest Lionel Albert
​
My eldest brother, Ernest, had got a position, at age 16, with a surveying team, led by Surveyor Drain, subdividing some of the large properties in the Roma, Charleville, Barcaldine, Ilfracombe and Isisford Districts. He stayed with that team for about three years until Mr Drain died of 'Barcoo Rot', which is somewhat similar to scurvy. After returning to Kilcoy he went to Gatton Agricultural College for a year. He then returned to the Kilcoy District and worked in the bush, ringbarking, fencing and timber getting until 1925. In that year he married Jessica Small and share dairy farmed with her Uncle Harry Hall, for three years, on a farm at Hazeldean. He then share farmed on his father's farm, "Royston", 236 acres on Mary Smokes Creek, until he purchased the property in 1932. From then on he bought and sold other properties, prospering greatly. In 1939 he bought a property at Stony Creek, Woodford, where he lived for many years before moving to Kilcoy shortly before he died at age 89. As a young man he had been a very good tennis player and for some years was the Number 1 player in the district. He also excelled at rifle shooting and golf. In later years he was a Director of the Kilcoy Pastoral Company and was a keen operator on the Share Market. His wife, Jessie, predeceased him by a few years.
Cyril Leslie Henry
​
My brother, Cyril, in 1919, after working at home since leaving school in 1916, went to work on "Surbiton Station" in the Alpha District. Over the next four years he moved to, and worked on, both sheep and cattle stations in the Longreach area. He was a good horse and cattle man and would have, I'm sure, done well in the West, had he lived. However, he contracted pneumonia while visiting the Brisbane Exhibition in 1923 and died in the Brisbane General Hospital on August 6th (age 21 yrs). he was buried in Toowong Cemetery.
Russell Maxwell
​
My next brother, Russell, left school at the end of 1918 and from then until 1933 lived and worked at "Union Park" in the dairying part of Dad's enterprise. In 1931 he married Lillian Bauer and in 1933 moved to "Coralla" in the Toogoolawah District to share farm with his father. He stayed in that situation, raising a family of two sons and four daughters, until in 1956 or 1957 he had a fall from his horse and was injured to such an extent that he could not carry on the dairy. They moved to Redcliffe where he partially recovered from the accident but he was never able to work again. After his wife died he moved back to Kilcoy to live.
Lillian Matilda
​
My sister, ​Lillian, is two and a half years my senior. Like most girls of that time she lived at home with the family and helped with the milking, housework, sewing etc. She was a very bright and capable girl who excelled at schoolwork and horse riding, winning many prizes for Girl and Lady Rider at Kilcoy and Woodford Shows. She married Malcolm Duncan, a member of an old Kilcoy family, in 1929. They had two daughters, Shirley and Nancy. Lillian lived in Kilcoy until she died at the age of 88 years 11 months. She is buried in Kilcoy Cemetery.
Oswald Edgar Frederick
​
My younger brother, Oswald, was five years my junior and much sturdier than me. He left school at age fourteen to work on the family farm until our father retired in 1933. He then share farmed "Union Park" where he stayed for some years during which time married Eileen Bliesner. He was in partnership with Alf Pointon in a piggery for a while. He left "Union Park" and moved to Kilcoy town where he built a house in Atthow Street. He purchased a tip truck and worked for the Main Roads and Kilcoy Shire Council. He also did general carrying of soil, and gravel and sand. He and his wife raised five sons and one daughter. Oswald died August, 1998.
Dexter Ronald Kruger
Supercentenarian
Died aged 111 years
Australia's Oldest Living Man 2021
​Dexter was born on 13 Jan 1910 in Nundah Brisbane Qld. He spent his life in the Nanango/Kilcoy area of Qld.
At the time of his death on 20 Jul 2021 he was the oldest living man ever in Australian history. He achieved this record on 17 May 2021 when he turned 111 years and 124 days, surpassing the milestone set by WWI veteran, Jack Locket of Victoria.
Dexter died at the Pinaroo Aged Care Home in Roma, Qld. He wrote 12 books as well as his autobiography. Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, purchased his collection of 12 books for placement in the State Library of Qld.
Dexter approx 2 - 3 yrs
