Category Archives: New South Wales

The postmaster, the bolter and the draper

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Cathie Sherwood Can a life be affected if begun in war? Perhaps for William Thomas Phillips, born in Portugal on 6 December 1813, during the Peninsular War, this isn’t a question which needs to be asked. He was only four years old when his parents, James and Lydia Phillips, and older siblings, Henry and Jane, finally returned to peacetime in England in 1817 following the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. Aged nine when the family arrived in New South … 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

Treasured Great Aunts.

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  When I was growing up, I had two great aunts who I dearly loved and who were a constant presence in my life.  They were always there, in the big stone house down by the river, one block away from the centre of town. My family and I visited them regularly and sometimes stayed with them. When my brothers and sisters and I were very young my mother would drop us off to their house while she did 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

Alexander Fairweather : Pioneer Builder.

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My great grandfather, Alexander Fairweather, was a well-regarded builder and contractor in the Grafton district of Northern New South Wales. Born at Kinnaird farm, Lintrathen, Forfarshire, Scotland on the 22nd August 1840 to Alexander Fairweather and his wife Jean Anderson, he was the youngest of six children. Kinnaird and the surrounding farms occupied land owned by the Earl of Airlie and by all accounts his father had worked there from prior to 1835.[i] Following the death of Alexander Snr in … Continue reading