Question of the Week: Do you have Australian family?

Question

Do you have Australians in your family? I wish I did!  

We have some awesome Australian projects going. Check them out and join if you are interested!

• Anzacs led by Terry Wright and Irene Dillon
• Australian Convicts and First Settlers 1788 to 1868 led by Paul Bech
• British Home Children, led by Mags Gaulden
• Bushrangers led by Terry Wright
• Cemeteries of Australia led by Paul Bech
• Earl_Grey’s_Famine_Orphan_Scheme_1848-1850 led by Veronica Williams
• Eureka Stockade led by Paul Bech
• Explorers of Australia led by Paul Bech and Terry Wright
• Indigenous Australians led by Irene Dillon

Comments

My Great great grandmother, Edith Croxall, from Cincinatti, married John Laby from Barking UK (1.4.1852) and they moved from USA to Bendigo, Australia between 1856 (with 2 children) & 1859, where they had a further 8 children. That was the time of the Gold rush in Aust. My Great grandfather Ralph Laby was their 6th child. I have no information on the Croxall family (for lack of time :/ )

Shirley (Adelaide, Australia)

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Australian born and long line of Aussie ancestry (by our Australian standards) - going back to England mainly with a little Irish, Scottish & Swedish thrown in on my Husbands side of the family.

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My father was born in Australia and immigrated to New Zealand. He came from a circus family back ground that still operates through-out Australia today. My ancestors are from convict stock and indirectly related to the bush ranger Ned Kelly.

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I fondly believed my mother, father and I were the first of our line to migrate (from Wales) to Australia. We arrived on the ship 'Chitral' in 1952. However, that notion was debunked once I began researching my family tree. The brother of my gggrandfather (Gabriel Wilson) arrived in the 1850s to settle in Victoria and there were many more, even a convict (Glover) or two. So yes, I had Australian relatives but sadly (even though they left descendants) the pioneers were long gone by 1952.

Cheers from NSW

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To Jennifer Youngberry:  My grandmother Eleanor Spetts was born in 1885 in Walhalla, Victoria, a gold mining town in the Gippsland area.  Her father was Swedish;  Charles Wilhelm Spetts and her mother, English, Eleanor Clack from Swindon, Wiltshire.  I have often wondered why on earth someone from Sweden would go to Australia.

After my grandmother married my grandfather, Robert James Allingham, they went to live in New Zealand, where I was born.

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Yes...found out a few years ago that my mother's ancestors were sent from Ireland  to the penal colony in 1836 having been falsely accused of manslaughter. The family followed and petitioned to have them released. They stayed and prospered, with a member of the family eventually going  to Northern California which eventually led to me....

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One reason folk from all countries came at that time was the gold discoveries.  The ancestor I seek jumped ship in Sydney, after leaving Denmark as a ship's carpenter.

Answer 1

I do have one second cousin who was born in New Zealand and who has lived in Australia since she was married. All of her children were born in Australia and they all have dual Aussie & Kiwi citizenship.

Oh and I do know another cousin of my dads who used to live in NZ but after her divorce, and after her daughter was killed (in the Aramoana Massacre - every Kiwi knows about that) , she moved to Australia and has lived there ever since.

Answer 2

Yes. Im Australian born so i have plenty of Aussie family members :)

Answer 3

Also Australian born and I think I'm a member of the Anzacs project, but unfortunately with everything else happening on WikiTree I don't get much time to get as involved as I should.

Comments

I had to check your Wikitree profile, John, when I saw the name Atkinson - interesting to see your Atkinson's originate in Northumberland as mine do :) A common name there but who knows they may be related somewhere back in time.

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I've traced them back to the parish of Stampfordham in Northumberland, but not much beyond that. I'm not sure if there aren't very good records for that parish or they are just not available online?

The Atkinsons in my line moved to County Durham and emigrated to Victoria in the mid-1850s.

Answer 4

Some people from Zion, Illinois will have Australian ancestors because just before the end of the 19th century a contingent of Australians left for America to help found Zion as a kind of Christian Utopia. Their leader, Alexander Dowie was a former Congregational minister from South Australia. The Hosken family from Kangaroo Island was among those who settled in Zion and their descendants are still living there.

Answer 5

There is one line of my family that we have lost touch with. My mother's aunt left for Sydney in 1926 and had a family out there. I found photos years ago, but have no way of contacting them. So sad.

Comments

If you do a couple of profiles on WikiTree, with the photos, they may contact you!.

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Ihave a profile for the daughter who went to Australia, I cannot add family though as I only know first names and only like to build facts on here. I can only hope for some contact through time. I have been searching the Archives and Trove for any hints.

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The National Library of Australia has a free online digital search of old newspapers called TROVE. It is a good starting point as there are lots of family notices. https://trove.nla.gov.au/

All the best with your search. Sue

Answer 6

Oh well... all my family are Australian for several generations back. The question for me would be do I have any relatives from anywhere else?? I do, but mostly they would be in the UK, but I haven't had contact with many  of them (well hardly any). I think I have a few relatives in the US too, but again minimal contact with any of them. I think I might have a few relatives in New Zealand too. I love the Australian projects and am so glad that WikiTree is well represented in Australia!

Answer 7

I have no ancestors from Australia, but through WikiTree I have loads of distant cousins! 

Answer 8

Yes, I was born there, though I presently live in UK. My ancestors are mostly British and Irish, and include convicts, Bounty immigrants and gold-diggers. Interestingly, I have managed to meet up with English relations.

Answer 9

Born and bred Aussie, but we trace mainly back to UK and Germany.

We also believe we have an Indigenous link somewhere, possibly in our Constable line, on my mothers side, but we have no idea who it was.

Answer 10

I may have but nothing is certain. My Fathers' first wife gave birth to a son who was given his surname. However this was war time and soon after my dad came home they divorced. She remarried and moved to Australia, where she had more children with her new husband.

Unfortunately, my possible half brother is no longer living, so I may never know.

Answer 11

Yep. I thought I was a Kiwi but it seems almost every line stopped for a while in Australia. I even have a convict! Maybe it's just as well I am now legally a Kiwaussie since I moved to New Zealand's "Western Island"

Answer 12

4th generation Australian born. Lots (and lots) of Australian family! One of my great grandfather's (d. 1960) has over 700 descendants - just an example of my big Australian family.

Answer 13

G'day, I am a Heinz 57. Dads family were Irish and German, whilst mums side has Bristol Tom, a convict.  Many were pioneers and actually explored the country, coming into contact with bushrangers, and settling the land to build new towns and cities. Many fought in all the significant battles, and others produced wine and beer. My nana always talked of her Uncle Paddy  Hannan who found gold at Coolgardie. This was a firthy he was not her uncle but her grandfather who left the family  to go on his merry way.

Answer 14

I was born (and still live!) in Canberra, Australia, and have lots of Australian family. My mum was born in NZ, came to Australia in the 1980s and there are no other Aussies on her side. On my father's side, he has Australian roots dating back to the mid 1800s in Victoria.

I love the Australian presence on Wikitree, and have really enjoyed reading about members' Australian families on this post.

Answer 15

I have plenty of Aussie family, now mainly in New South Wales and Victoria. My closest immigrant ancestors are 2x g.grandparents and my furthest immigrant ancestor is a 6x g.grandmother. My ancestors were British: Wales (Swansea), England (Cornwall, Devon, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Somerset, Suffolk), Ireland (Kerry, Laos, Limerick, Tipperary, Wexford) and Scotland (Aberdeen, Argyle, Edinburgh, Glasgow). They include convicts, soldiers, free settlers, an irish famine orphan, and a gold-seeker. Some served in WW1 or WW2.

Answer 16

 - The short answer is no !  = because the 'colonies' have the right to control BMD's registrations ! ! (six different systems) - - - - my Cornish family settled in VDL, and worked in the timber milling industry, south of Hobart town - so check this one =

My direct beginning: Lawrence Rondall. is the 11th great grandfather of John. ^[4]   Special: Andrewartha-50  -  However, having said that, we have family throughout Aust. Many Cornish went to SthAust for copper mining, and then on to WAust, Kalgoorlie for the gold industry -  -Therefore, I am a cosmopolitan Aussie, and my wife is a west Aussie -  - - cheers.

Comments

Andrewartha's also migrated to Broken Hill when mining began. I have a feeling that they were in business here rather than mining itself but I cannot recall what business they were in though a variety of different stores come to mind. Some that they may have had is Bootmaker and Funeral Directors. Might be worth searching  Trove for more information if you are interested.

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The Historical Society in Broken Hill has vast records of people involved in the city and mining since the beginning and are extremely helpful in researching the people involved.

Contact details 165 Wolfram St, Broken Hill NSW 2880

Phone: (08) 8088 7448

Answer 17

The Port Phillip District (Melbourne, Australia) was not settled by Europeans until 1835. My g-g-grandfather visited here as a missionary in 1836, and led the settlers in worship. Several years later he moved from Hobart to Melbourne, where his youngest son Jabez was born in 1841. Jabez in turn had a son born in Melbourne in 1873 (my grandfather). My father was born in Footscray (a Melbourne suburb) in 1906, and I was first of the next generation born in suburb called Springvale in 1936. I was baptised on the centenary of the missionary's first service in Melbourne. With the exception of Jabez, all of the above have served as ministers in the Wesleyan or Methodist Church in both Victoria and Tasmania.

Comments

May I ask the surname of your family? I have a book about the early Methodist church in Victoria and  would look for that name.

Answer 18

My first cousin three times removed, Mary Brisley (Dray) Barling (1810 - 1878) (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dray-76 ) went to Australia with her husband, Richard Barling, and three children in 1838.   They were assisted immigrants, on the ship Westminster, and a 4th (un-named) child was born on the voyage.

She had 11 children and 61 grandchildren, and I am still working on documenting her descendants.

Answer 19

My male ancestor line comes from Scotland, but in my mother's father's line there is an incorrigible convict [Samuel Adams [Adams-35517.]]  He was sent to the Hulks, then transported to VDL.  While he was there, he was whipped several times.  When his term expired, he married and moved to Victoria.  He shares somebody else's grave.  My wife is from Sydney, descended from a Stinson family brought out by John Harris, through a son who married a daughter of Ferdinand Meurant.

Answer 20

The NZ in ANZAC stands for New Zealand. It was the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

I have a New Zealand Relative  Victor Reginald Couchman born 1887 who died on the beach at Galipoli on August 8th 1915. He is buried in the Embarkation Pier cemetery.