Christine Anderson

Past resident of Springbank. The Kaye family farmed on both Klensendorlffe and what is now Springbank Island
Born: 1945, Canberra Community Hospital (Acton Peninsula)
Maiden Name: Christine Kaye
Interview: December 2013

“My name is Christine Anderson. I was born Christine Kaye, and I'm a member of a pioneering family, the Kayes. I was born at the Canberra Hospital in 1945 (the imploded Canberra Hospital). My great-grandfather came to the Queanbeyan district in 1836, and he opened the first licensed inn in Queanbeyan in partnership with a man called Hunt in 1838. He was a merchant initially, and eventually moved into farming, leasing a property in Canberra called Springbank. After a number of years there he moved back to Queanbeyan for a number of years.

He then moved to a lease behind the Albert Hall where he had a dairy and mixed farm. The property was named Klensendorlffe after a man called William Klensendorlffe, who had the lease very early in the piece. My great-grandfather eventually moved back to Queanbeyan and he left his son Samuel Charles Kaye, to farm that area. Samuel Charles Kaye was my grandfather. He married an English lady, Letitia Mariah Rose Sanford, and they had ten children while living and farming at Klensendorlffe.

The land was resumed by the government in 1924 for the construction of the Royal Canberra Golf Course, and so they moved once again back to Springbank. After their mother died in 1948, my father, George Kaye and his brother Joseph and Gordon continued to farm there. My family were primarily dairy farmers, but we also grew crops - largely for feeding the cattle. In 1962 we had to finally leave Springbank for the construction of Lake Burley Griffin. We had our final clearing sale on the 4th April 1962. I was seventeen at the time. I am the only person still alive who lived there.”