Ann Hamilton (Burns) Laurie (1888 - 1970)

Born 7 Nov 1888 in Manly, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Alexander Robert Laurie — married 30 Dec 1908 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died 29 Jan 1970 at age 81 in Gloucester, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Ann was born in 1888. She is the daughter of Charles Burns and Beatrice Moore. She was 20 at the time of her marriage and her mother was deceased. Although she and her siblings were estranged from her father, he gave his written consent for her to marry.

After marriage she lived at 'Bonnie Doon', Rawdon Vale, NSW. Cobden Parkes (youngest son of Sir Henry Parkes) wrote in an unpublished manuscript:

"..Nancy, a lovely girl – and third of the (Burns) sisters married Alex Laurie about 1909. He was the owner of a beautiful grazing property at Rawdon Vale some 26 miles west of Gloucester toward the Barrington Tops. Later Gloucester was my “holiday” home for Austral (Burns) joined the property as a “jackeroo” and one of the family. Rawdon Vale was a lovely area and consisted of 3 homesteads each about half a mile distant from one another. Alex Laurie’s home was the original 2 storey brick house of about 12 rooms on the high ground about 200 yards from the Kiriput (Keepit?) River which lower down discharged into the Barrington River. Although small in volume the river was never dry and had several waterholes which provided our swimming spots. In 1910 I spent my first holiday at “Bonnie Doon” the Laurie homestead and continued to visit Nancy & Alex & Austral for the next 4 years before joining the A.I.F. ... Alex property was stocked with Hereford cattle. ... Nancy Laurie was a very wonderful person, capable, dignified & charming. Alex too was a kind hearted & generous man but very reserved, and gave the impression of being a lazy man inclined to put “jobs” off until the morrow. Gradually the lovely property began to deteriorate. ... When I first visited “Bonnie Doon: during an early summer the rose garden in front of the house was a mass of colour. The vegetable garden on the river flat was a picture. The property baked its own bread, made its own butter and had a flock of about 100 sheep for killing for food. Gradually this began to ease and more reliance was gradually being placed on the mailman to bring bread, butter 7 meat from the town of Gloucester. This was understandable because of a city housewife and the difficulty of obtaining domestic help. I noticed the splendid hot midday meals prepared by Nancy were often spoilt by our late return from attention about the property, and in different ways you had the feeling that living conditions were beginning to become suburban rather than the country life during my earlier visits. This of course echoed the general trend as the years went by. Nancy had 3 young children and needed most of her time to augment the help which was almost available. On my last visit the fence around the rose garden was broken & the fowls made it their home, flying foxes became more prevalent & damaged the fruit trees and generally maintenance fell into disrepair. I had a deal of horse riding and shooting rabbits & foxes and some fishing. My Rawdon Vale holidays were amongst the happiest times of my life."

She passed away in 1970. ^[1]

No more info is currently available for Ann Burns. Can you add to her biography?

Sources

• Birth - NSW BDM Birth index - BURNS ANN H; 10456/1889; CHARLES J; BEATRICE A; MANLY

• Marriage - NSW BDM Marriage index - 79/1909; LAURIE ALEXANDER R; BURNS ANN H; SYDNEY

• Death - NSW BDM Death index - LAURIE ANN HAMILTON; 35965/1970; CHARLES JAMES; BEATRICE; GLOUCESTER

• Burial/Memorial - austcemindex.com - Laurie (Burns) Ann Hamilton; 1889?; 29 Jun 1970; 81; dau/Charles James & Beatrice A; w/Alexander Robert; Gloucester NSW; Pbn ... and ... https://austcemindex.com/inscription?id=8389992#images

1. ↑ Entered by Mark Rogers, Jun 16, 2012