Mabel Knoll - nee Briggs

Mabel Knoll, nee Briggs - probably around 1925.

born c.1904 in Wandin Yallock

youngest daughter of Christopher Thomas Briggs who was the first to grow the then new crop of passionfruit in the region.

1925 married Charles Arthur Knoll at Silvan

Mabel & Charles were close companions to her next sister Emily ADA Briggs who was married to Wandin Sebire.

Two of her brothers were also married to Sebire girls.

Mabel died at age 26 on the 16th Jan 1931 at their orchard off Wiseman Road, (Knolls Lane) in Burleigh

in a tragic accident in the farmyard after being knocked down by freak winds at a storm-blown shed door and thrown under a reversing A4 Ford truck loaded with fertiliser and driven by her husband while trying to get the precious load out of the approaching rainstorm. [ Inquest no. 27/1931. ]

These original photos Mabel are held by the Mont De Lancey museum, in Wandin. Also on display are photos of her parents C Thomas & Maria Briggs, of one of her brothers in 1919 on a motorbike with his wife in a sidecar with another two brothers on a second bike and sidecar. And also a photo of her sister E Ada Briggs wedding day with Wandin Sebire. The Briggs family all seem to have that characteristic oval face with those strong eyebrows.

Buried in the old Lillydale Cemetery where her grave is marked with a headstone as a memorial that reads: "KNOLL: In Loving Memory of Mabel, Beloved wife of Charles Knoll. Died 13th Jan 1931 aged 26 years." Her grave is back to back with that of her parents Christopher Thomas Briggs (1844-1916) and Maria Briggs (1956-1940)