Kitty Francis

Catherine “Kitty” Francis (nee Huggard) was very likely the first female opal buyer at Lightning Ridge. Born on 9 March 1883 in County Kerry, Ireland, she was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Huggard. After her father’s death in 1897, Kitty emigrated to Australia, where she married opal buyer Albert Bruno John “Pappa” Francis in 1903 at the Catholic Presbytery in Brompton, South Australia.

The couple lived at White Cliffs, where they had two sons: Archibald “Jack” in 1904 and Carl “Bill” in 1906. Kitty’s siblings Hannah, Dick, and Jim Huggard were also based at White Cliffs during this period. From 1907 to 1909, the Francis family ran the Exchange Hotel.

Following a fire that destroyed the hotel, they moved to Lightning Ridge in December 1909. They lived for a while in the hotel before building a hut on what is now Rainbow Street. Kitty quickly became known on the field as an opal buyer in her own right, travelling regularly to Sydney to trade.

She was mentioned in The Walgett Spectator in September 1911, presenting prizes at the Lightning Ridge races. Later that year or in early 1912, she left Australia for the United States, never to return.

She later married Phillip Ottmann. Census records show Kitty living in Manhattan through the 1930s and 1940s. Despite never returning to Australia, she remained in regular correspondence with her granddaughter Jenny Colless of Walgett, though the two never met.

Kitty’s brothers Dick and Jim Huggard later joined her at Lightning Ridge, where they opened a billiard room on Morilla Street in the 1920s. It stood until 1948.

Catherine “Kitty” Francis died in June 1969 in Suffolk County, New York, and is buried at Coram.

• Kitty Francis @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Walgett Spectator, 20 November 1909, 10 December 1909, 24 June 1910, 11 September 1911.