By Bev Murray. I remember when I was a young child, my grandmother, told me a fascinating but tragic story about a lady who lived a long time ago. “One day long ago,” she said, “one of your ancestors went outside her home to get some wood and she never returned. She disappeared and was never seen again.” “What happened to her?” I asked and my grandmother explained, “It was thought that she had been taken by the blacks”. This … Continue reading
Richard Fage gripped his bayonet-tipped, flintlock musket. He crouched bravely within his battalion’s defensive square, deafened by the artillery and cannon fire of Napoleon’s troops. For hours they’d been on the edge of the battle, but the order to advance had finally arrived. Now on open flat ground, the men of the 3rd battalion of the 14th Regiment were sitting ducks. Their bright red coats and distinctive white cross straps were still unblemished by mud and blood. Richard, like nearly … Continue reading
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
The chance discovery of a small book ‘The Settlers of West Pennant Hills Valley 1799 Onwards’ in a second-hand store at Leura New South Wales a couple of years ago was timely, as I’d just begun to research my husband’s Bellamy ancestors. It mentioned the family and it prompted me to find out more about them. William Bellamy, found guilty at the Old Bailey of stealing shoes, received a sentence of 7 years. He was transported on board Active, … Continue reading
I wonder if you read the heading above and thought as I did many years ago; “what is a convict love token?” It was just over 5 years ago when I received a phone call from Paul and although I cannot recall our exact conversation, the reason he was phoning me was to ask if I might be able to find out the original owner, or rather inscriber, of a convict love token he had purchased at an auction. At … Continue reading
