Author Archives: Janice Cooper

Working for the CWA.

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Grandmother Bessie Cooper was an advocate for country women and children through her involvement in her local Branch of the Country Woman’s Association (CWA) in Jericho. Bessie Cooper’s strongest advocacy was for the improvement of the health and welfare of children who live in the country through the provision of comfortable homes. Her recommendation was that the Government be urged to provide building material, to be paid off in small yearly instalments, so that comfortable homes could be built by … Continue reading

A lonely burial.

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A tiny group gathered at the burial ground in Sydney on 14 November 1792. Jane Izzy/Ezzy, and her two-year old son James were there on that summer day to bury ten-month old Louisa, Jane’s daughter. Perhaps Louisa’s father William could join them as some convicts off the Royal Admiral disembarked in Sydney before the remainder were sent to Parramatta. Newly married fellow convict and Londoner Benjamin Carver may have been able to join them as William Izzy/Ezzy had witnessed his … Continue reading

At School in Newcastle in 1816.

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Four-year old Catherine Irwin sat in a school room in a slab hut in Newcastle in May 1816. Nearby sat her seven-year-old brother, William and 15 other girls and boys aged from 3 to 13 years. The Irwin children were in Newcastle with their father Ormsby Irwin, a life-term Irish convict, who had been convicted in Sydney for the manslaughter of Sergeant Robert Morrow of the 73rd Regiment. Catherine and William’s mother, Eleanor Irwin who had been convicted of the … Continue reading

Adding to my family stories: Jane Ezzy

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  Jane Ezzy On 10 September 1813, my 4th great grandmother, Jane Ezzy registered her purchase of John Boulton’s share of a house and premises at 49 George Street Sydney for £10 sterling.[1] She had become a registered property holder in the centre of busy colonial Sydney town. This entry adds more to my understanding of my first female ancestor to arrive in New South Wales. It reinforces my opinion that she was a strong and entrepreneurial woman, prepared, at … Continue reading

More leaves to add to your tree.

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Using Colonial Correspondence files at Queensland State Archives This correspondence was the key to finding the Certificate of Exhumation for William Yung/Young Sing’s body.[1]  Detail about the return of his remains to his homeland added significant detail to his life story. William had died and been buried in the Jericho Cemetery within a year of moving to the railway terminus to establish a hotel there. The letter was located at Queensland State Archives by using the Registers of letters received … Continue reading