CLIMBING YOUR FAMILY'S GUM TREE AGAIN

 Australia Day Blogging Challenge - Climbing Your Family's Gum Tree

Hugh and Sarah White at Seventeen Mile Rocks

In 2014, my genea-friend Pauleen Cass created a 26th of January, Australia Day blogging challenge entitled "Climbing Your Family's Gum Tree". Today, five years later, on the 26th of January. 2021, I am revisiting this challenge along with other blogger friends. Here are my 2021 responses to this blogging challenge. Although I have not answered all 26 of the questions, I hope you enjoy my responses. 

My first family member to arrive in Australia was my third great uncle, convict Laurence Frayne. (Among the many convict records I have found relating to him, his name is also spelled as Lawrence.) He was convicted in Dublin, Ireland, of the theft of a piece of rope on the 25th of October 1825 and sentenced to seven years transportation to NSW. He arrived in Sydney on the ship Regalia on the 5th of August, 1826. His brother Michael, my three times great grandfather, also convicted of theft arrived in Australia in 1837 on board the ship St Vincent.

Researching Laurence Frayne's story took me to Norfolk Island to appear on Series 2, Episode 6 of Coast Australia.

I have Australian Royalty. In addition to Michael Frayne (my three times great grandfather) and his brother Laurence Frayne their brother John arrived as a convict in 1835. My third great grandfather Michael Frayne married Mary Williams, daughter of Joseph Williams or Williamson and Mary Kelly from Limerick. Mary was convicted of stealing a cloak in Limerick City and arrived in Sydney on the Sir Charles Forbes in 1837. 

I have written about my Australian Royalty on my blog Family Convictions - A Convict Ancestor https://familyconvictions.blogspot.com/

My Ancestors came to Australia from:

Ireland 

Scotland

England

Switzerland

Germany

Did any of your ancestors arrive under their own steam? 

While obviously my convict ancestors arrived in Australia somewhat reluctantly, others came as assisted immigrants and some paid their own way to make a new life in Australia. 

My paternal grandmother arrived in Queensland in 1913 aged 11 years on board the ship Ayrshire with her parents and four siblings. The family were well to do flax farmers in Brookend, County Tyrone, but health problems dictated that my great grandfather Hugh Eston WHITE must to move away from his native country to a warmer climate. The family was  nominated by Sarah's brother Andrew Shaw THOMPSON who, via New Zealand, had also migrated and finally settled on the Darling Downs near Dalby. The family paid the full cost of the voyage for themselves and their loyal servant Lizzie who refused to be parted with them.

My paternal grandfather Colin Hamilton MCDADE arrived in Brisbane, Queensland in 1923 from Glasgow, Scotland, aged 19 years, along with his parents John McDade and Elizabeth GIBSON. All but one of his 9 siblings, a sister, Maggie, who had migrated to Illinois, USA were on the ship. According to passenger records the family paid for their voyage to Australia. 

My maternal great grandfather, Ian Cuthbert HOYES travelled by ship from Auckland, New Zealand in 1905. He changed his name and left behind a wife and child. On arrival after paying for his voyage, he became an opera singer claiming to be "the famous American tenor Leo REECE"

My maternal two times great grandfather John MORRISON was born in Aberdeen but married in Newcastle on Tyne, Northumberland and worked there as a carpenter and joiner. He and his wife Elizabeth MORLEY left England with their three eldest daughters. The family can be found on the Victorian Unassisted Passenger Lists arriving in Victoria in 1878. They lived for a year in Mortlake, adding a daughter to the family. In 1879 the family moved to Strathfield in Sydney, NSW, where they had a further seven children and John became a well known builder as well as a tram and rail carriage maker. His rail carriage workshop was located at Strathfield. 

One of John Morrison's C Class tram Carriages, 1890, Tram Museum, Loftus

The following of my ancestors arrived in Australia as assisted immigrants under immigration schemes.

Jacob and Anna HABERLING arrived Maryborough, Qld, 1871, on the ship Reichstag from Hamburg with five children. 

MY g g grandmother Barbara Lena NARGAR nee Haberling with her children. She arrived aged 4 years in 1871.

My three times maternal great grandfather, Gottlieb NERGER arrived on the ship Caesar Godeffroy December 1852. He became a shepherd on the Darling Downs and later purchased a farm.

My three times maternal great grandmother, Christiana SIEGLER 20, arrived in Queensland in August 1862, from Beutelsbach in the south of Germany with her brother Gotlob17, as an assisted passenger on board the ship La Rochelle.

Mary WESTON nee TURNER was my g g grandmother. She left Suffolk, England after being widowed, and travelled to Maryborough, Qld on the ship Flying Cloud August 30, 1870 with her son Edward Joseph, aged 16 years. They were assisted immigrants.

My g g grandfather Edward Joseph Weston, born Suffolk, England, in Qld, in later life.

How many came as couples?

Great Grandparents  

• Two couples  Hugh and Sarah (Thompson) White arrived in Queensland with five children from Northern Ireland in 1913  
• John and Elizabeth (Gibson) McDade arrived with eight of their nine children from Glasgow, Scotland in 1923.

Great great Grandparents

 John and Hannah (Gair) Morrison  arived in Victoria with three daughters from Newcastle on Tyne, Northumberland, England in 1878. 

Great great great Grandparents 

Jacob and Anna (Ryser) Haberling from Zurich and Bern, Switzerland, arrived together with their five daughters in 1870 to Maryborough, Qld. 

How many came as family groups?  Answered above.

Did anyone make a two-step emigration via another place?

I have ancestors who first migrated to New Zealand from Lincolnshire with the Albertlanders. The head of this family was a miller whose son, my great grandfather, later migrated to Queensland. Other family from Northern Ireland migrated to to the Dunedin area where they became sheep farmers and breeders. One branch of this family later moved to the Darling Downs in Queensland. 

Which state(s)/colony did your ancestors arrive?

Most of my ancestors arrived in Queensland and settled in Brisbane or Maryborough. Some settled on the Darling Downs. One family arrived in Victoria and moved first to Sydney and then to Queensland where the family lived in Ipswich and later Cooroy. One German three times great grandfather arrived in Sydney, but he was on route to the Darling Downs to work as a shepherd. 

What occupations or industries did your earliest ancestors work in?

• My earliest English ancestors whose occupations I have researched, can be traced back as Land owners in Bix, Oxfordshire (1600's) 
• Millers in Marston Lincolnshire (1600's) 
• Bailiffs in Morpeth, Northumberland (1500's) 
• Weavers in Nottinghamshire (1600's)
• Farmers in Polstead, Suffolk and Dedham, Essex (1500's) 
• Most of my other English ancestors from Berkshire, Leicestershire, Hampshire and other counties were farmers or Ag Labs.

My German ancestors were employed in the wine industry in the south of Germany as far back as the 1400's. A few were musicians.

My Swiss ancestors were shoemakers going back to the 1700's. Going further back I have traced the tree, but not discovered occupations as yet.

My earliest Scottish ancestors were Campbells who were land owners. My McDade ancestors were Irish Immigrants escaping the potato famine and when they arrived in Scotland circa 1840, the men worked as coal miners and the women in the cotton industry. 

I have discovered that my Northern Irish ancestors were gentlemen flax farmers back to the 1700's. 

Does anyone in the family still follow that occupation?

No one in my family has continued working in the occupation they had generations ago. 

Did any of your ancestors leave Australia and go “home”?

I suspect that a convict who disappeared may have managed to make his way back to Ireland but I am still working on this theory.

NOW IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU

What’s your State of Origin?

I was born in and grew up in Brisbane, Queensland.

Do you still live there?

I was married in Queensland but a year later we moved to Sydney, NSW for my husband's work as an architect. I still think of Queensland as home and spend as much time as possible there.

Where was your favourite Aussie holiday place as a child?

My maternal grandmother lived at Maroochydore, very close to the beach so most of my childhood holidays were spent there. I had other holidays with my paternal grandparents at Caloundra and Southport. The Sunshine Coast was definitely my favourite place to holiday as it was like a second home to me.

Any special place you like to holiday now?

The Sunshine Coast has remained a special place for me - a place filled with wonderful memories. I have taken my own family on an annual holiday to Mooloolaba each year although this year we decided not to travel due to Covid. 

My other favourite place to holiday is Norfolk Island. 

Share your favourite spot in Oz:

Norfolk Island is probably my favourite place in Australia with its breathtaking scenery, crystal clear water, convict and other history, friendly people, wonderful food and chckens and cows roaming freely!

Any great Aussie adventure you’ve had?

My father was part owner of a resort on Fraser Island and my parents went to live there when I was a teenager. They lived at Orchid beach while my sister and I boarded, so every school holiday and on some weekends, a small  four seater plane collected us and our pilot (nicknamed Fearless Fred ( I never did find out why)  flew us from Brisbane to orchid Beach. We explored every inch of the island and swam in most of the lakes. My youngest sister was schooled on the island by a governess. For a young teenager this was quite an adventure  I was lucky enough to travel the island for a week with scientists who were examining the flora and fauna of the island. Flying back and forth to Fraser Island where the brumbies had to be shoed off the grass air strip so planes could land, definitely motivated me to learn to fly aged twenty and also to accept a two year teaching post on another island following my teacher training. 

What’s on your Australian holiday bucket list?

I would love to drive the Great Ocean Road. It is something I have had on my bucket list for some time.

How do you celebrate Australia Day?

When my children were young each Australia Day we went boating on Sydney Harbour. We decorated the boat and participated in the Australia day parade of boats after anchoring in a cove somewhere for lunch and a swim (and braving the sharks). 

One year we decorated the boat as The Barbie Boat, with Barbie dolls and pink balloons all over the boat. We played Aqua's then popular song, I'm a Barbie Girl, very loudly as the children (and adults) danced a well choreographed but possibly not as well performed dance on the boat to the music. That night, when anchored alongside other boats in Darling Harbour, although we didn't win best dressed boat with our American themed decorations we did get a very special mention and the entire harbour erupted in a cheer and we were requested to perform it again! 

The very pink Barbie Boat on a past Australia Day

Today, I regard Australia Day very differently to the way I once viewed it. I am pleased that there is a much needed conversation beginning to take place which addresses the suitability of celebrating what was really a takeover of an already occupied nation. Whilst as an historian, I appreciate this country's history and the roll that my ancestors played in it, I do believe a day of celebration for Australia as a nation today, needs to be more inclusive of indigenous history. If we are to celebrate Australia, we should perhaps celebrate the day that we became a nation, which was January 1, 1901, when the federation of Australia came into being.