180 years since the arrival of the “David Clark”

On 29 October 1839 my 3rd great grandfather Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819 – 1867) arrived in Melbourne on the David Clark from Greenock, Glasgow, Scotland. The voyage, via Rio de Janeiro, took five months.

Ship David Clark coming into the harbour of Malta, 1820 Watercolour and ink on paper Nicolas Cammillieri, 1762/73-1860, artist (attrib.) Private collection Lance Pymble

The David Clark had been chartered by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to bring Port Phillip’s first bounty immigrants from Scotland. There were 229 settlers, among them Samuel Hawkins, aged 20, described as a storekeeper from Edinburgh. Although he had brothers in New South Wales he made his own way in what later became the colony of Victoria.

Samuel Hawkins would have responded to an article similar to this one which appeared in the Inverness Courier of 6 March 1839 on page 1

On 29 October 1939, one hundred years after the arrival of the David Clark, an anniversary celebration was held by some descendants in Melbourne.

Centenary Of First Barque-Load Of Pioneers (1939, October 3). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243409125

PIONEERS’ CENTENARY (1939, October 10). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206330961

The organisers of the anniversary celebrations did not have access to the original passenger list and preparation for it seems to have been left very late. Two weeks before the anniversary only 16 of the 68 families who had arrived on the David Clark had been contacted.

The festivities included a dinner for 330 descendants at the Hotel Federal in Melbourne and a church service the following day at Scot’s Church, Collins Street, Melbourne. One speaker at the dinner described the David Clark as “Victoria’s Mayflower”. A set of bagpipes that came out on the ship was brought to the dinner. The entertainments included pipe music, Scottish dancing and songs.

Today’s Parties (1939, October 27). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243405090

GATHERING OF THE CLANS (1939, October 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 8. Retrieved September 2, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206335659

In the Churches REMEMBERING PIONEERS (1939, October 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11250259

NEWS OF THE DAY (1939, November 15). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205590886

The lament “Lochaber no more” was played when the David Clark left Greenock and also at the centenary reunion.

Piper Sheila Wagg played the bagpipes at the David Clark centenary dinner. This picture is of her playing at the Royal Show in 1939.LATROBE CENTENARY FOOTBALL GRAND FINAL GARDEN PARTY (1939, October 2). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206336187

A reunion is planned for the 180th anniversary. A picnic will be held at Gulf Station at Yarra Glen, a property once owned by William Bell and Thomas Armstrong, both passengers of the David Clark. The 150th anniversary celebration was also held there.

If you would like to attend, please book so the organisers know how many people will be coming. There is a small charge ($12 adults, $10 concessions, $5 children, $30 families). Bookings can made through this link https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=542336& .

I look forward to meeting my Hawkins cousins and other David Clark descendants.

Related posts

• Trove Tuesday: Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins
• 52 ancestors: 1839 arrival in Australia of Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867)

Further reading

• Janson, E. (2009). They came by the David Clark in 1839. Retrieved from http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html?20192
• Kearsey, I. (2018). La Trobe’s first Immigrants: passengers from the ‘David Clark’, 1839. La Trobeana: Journal of the C J La Trobe Society, 17(2), 16-21. Retrieved from https://www.latrobesociety.org.au/LaTrobeana/LaTrobeanaV17n2Kearsey.pdf
• Kearsey (transcriber), I. (1839). Journal of Surgeon, Dr Archibald Gilchrist, David Clark. Retrieved from https://www.shade.id.au/Grierson/Surgeon’s%20journal%201839%20voyage%20of%20barque%20David%20Clark.pdf

 

Three little maids from school

Three young women, dressed in school uniform. From left to right they are Marion Boyd Wanliss, Leslie Moira Henderson, and Joan a’Beckett Weigall. Marion, Leslie, and Joan attended the Clyde Girl’s Grammar School founded by Leslie’s aunt. Photograph taken in 1914 by Gainsborough Studio Photographers. The photograph belonged to Leslie Henderson and was donated to the State Library of Victoria: Accession no: H89.267.

Leslie Henderson (1896-1982), niece (and biographer) of the Australian feminist Vida Goldstein (1869-1949) , was my grandfather’s second cousin. Her paternal grandfather was the Presbytrian Reverend William Henderson (1826-1884) of Ballarat, and Leslie also  compiled and published biographical notes about her grandfather and his family.

Isabel Henderson (1862-1940), one of Leslie’s paternal aunts,  was the founder of the St Kilda  Clyde Girls’ Grammar School. The school later moved to Woodend, near Hanging Rock, Victoria.

The photograph above was captioned by Leslie as “Marion Wanliss, Leslie Henderson, Joan Weigall (Lady Lindsay)”.

Marion Boyd Wanliss (1896-1984) studied at the University of Melbourne (M.B., B.S., 1920; M.D., 1929) and conducted research into cancer as a postgraduate in Vienna. She practised as a physician at Camberwell, Melbourne, and later in Collins Street. She became an honorary physician at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital. A member (1928) of the Royal College of Physicians, London, and a fellow (1954) of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, she was also a prominent conservationist. She never married.

The 1913 dux of Clyde Girls’ Grammar School was Joan à Beckett Lindsay née Weigall (1896-1984) , who became a noted author and artist.  From 1916-1920 she studied art at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. In 1922 she married the artist Darryl Lindsay (1889-1976), who was later Director of the National Gallery of Victoria. Joan Lindsay’s most well-known book was a novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock,  published in 1967. The story concerns the disappearance of three girls and a teacher from a school near Hanging Rock. This was adapted as a film in 1975, and a television series is being released in 2018.

 

Seven young women at a waterfall near Lorne. Written on verso: Photo taken at Lorne, 1913. Standing :- Keila Dillon, (girl in white not known), Leslie Henderson. Seated :- [Mira?] Scott, Joan Weigall, Marion Wanliss, Doris Chambers. Photo from the Estate of Leslie Moira Henderson in the collection of the State Library of Victoria: Accession: H2013.229/14

Marion, Leslie, and Joan, with four other girls, pictured in 1913 near Lorne, a seaside town south-west of Melbourne.   Marion’s brother, Harold Boyd Wanliss (1891-1917), took up 295 acres (119 ha) near Lorne, Victoria, to plant an orchard. The Wanliss Falls, which he discovered close by on the Erskine River, were named in his honour.

Leslie Henderson at Mandeville Hall, Toorak in 1913. In 1913 the previously grand mansion was a boarding house. It 1924 the mansion became a school. Picture from the estate of Leslie Henderson and in the collection of the State Library of Victoria Accession no: H2013.229/9

When my great grandparents Beatrix Hughes and Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny married in 1906, Leslie Henderson was the youngest bridesmaid.

1906 wedding of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny to Beatrix Hughes at Beaufort, Victoria.

Family tree showing Leslie Henderson

Sources

• Henderson, Leslie M. (Leslie Moira) The Goldstein story. Stockland Press, Melbourne, 1973.
• Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Don Chambers, ‘Henderson, William (1826–1884)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/henderson-william-3752/text5911, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Marjorie R. Theobald, ‘Henderson, Isabella Thomson (Isabel) (1862–1940)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/henderson-isabella-thomson-isabel-6631/text11423, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Bill Gammage, ‘Wanliss, Marion Boyd (1896–1984)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wanliss-marion-boyd-9278/text15799, published first in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 3 May 2018.
• Terence O’Neill, ‘Lindsay, Joan à Beckett (1896–1984)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lindsay-joan-a-beckett-14176/text25188, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 3 May 2018.

52 ancestors: 1839 arrival in Australia of Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867)

This year I will be taking part in the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge initiated by Amy Johnson Crow. “The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.”

I have written before about Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867), who was my great great great grandfather. He arrived in Australia just over 175 years ago.

Cherry stones p. 44  “Probably an engagement photograph, but certainly of Jeanie and Samuel Hawkins taken about 1849.”

In 1839, when he was only twenty, Samuel Hawkins, ‘occupation storekeeper’, sailed from Greenock near Glasgow to Port Phillip (Melbourne), in the colony of New South Wales on the David Clark, the first ship to sail there directly with migrants from the United Kingdom. Hawkins travelled by himself. His eldest brother, Robert, and cousin, Thomas, had previously settled in New South Wales.¹

The David Clark in 1820 coming into the harbour of Malta – image from http://members.iinet.net.au/~pymble/David%20Clark/DavidClark.html

In 1839 the David Clark was chartered to bring the first bounty immigrants from Scotland to Melbourne. She left Greenock on 15 June 1839 with a piper, John Arthur, who was later first curator of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, playing Lochaber No More.²

The voyage was via Rio de Janeiro and the David Clark arrived at Port Phillip, Melbourne on 27 October, 1839.³

from the Caledonian Mercury 15 June 1839 page 3 retrieved through findmypast.com.au

As the Yarra at that time was unnavigable for a ship the size of the David Clark, the passengers were landed in boats at Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), the women being carried ashore by the sailors and men. Then came a long walk across the ti-tree flats and sandhills over what is now known as Fishermans Bend, Emerald Hill, (now South Melbourne) to the Queens Falls where they crossed the Yarra. Their chattels were brought on by dray and bullock wagon.⁴

 

Adamson, John (1841). MELBOURNE (Port Phillip). Lithograph similar to an engraving “Melbourne from the South Side of the Yarra Yarra 1839” Retrieved from the  State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/87604

Landing at Melbourne 1840, watercolour by W. F. E. Liardet. Original held by the State Library of Victoria. Image retreived from Wikimedia Commons.

In 1839 Port Phillip had a population of about 4,000 European settlers. The settlement on the banks of the Yarra River had commenced in 1835. It was named Melbourne in 1837.⁵

The Launceston Advertiser gave an account of the first experiences of the new immigrants to Port Phillip. After the five month voyage, the 229 immigrants were accommodated in tents, a temporary refuge set up by Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe. Most of the men and all of the women found employment immediately. On the evening of their arrival they danced in the open under the moonlight to the sound of bagpipes. Later that night they went to see a corroboree being held about a mile away.

PORT PHILLIP PAPERS—To Nov. 9th. (1839, November 21). Launceston Advertiser (Tas. : 1829 – 1846), p. 1 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT.. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84756256

In October 1839 Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins was employed by the surveyor Robert Russell.

State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip (Agent’s Immigrant Lists); Series: 5318; Reel: 2143A; Item: [4/4813]. Retrieved through ancestry.com.au. Samuel Hawkins is passenger 13 in the list of single men.
……….

Notes
<sup>1. Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985. p. 38
Janson, Elizabeth. “They Came by the David Clark in 1839.” In Victoria before 1848. OoCities.org, 1999. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html>. ↩
2. PIONEER VOYAGE MEMORIES. (1939, October 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 6. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11231997 ↩
3. THE LABOUR SHORTAGE WAS DESPERATE —IN 1839. (1950, June 17). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 26 Supplement: Weekend Magazine. Retrieved January 5, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22836148
Pymble, Lance. “David Clark.” 1 Oct. 2009. Web. 4 Jan. 2015. <http://members.iinet.net.au/~pymble/David Clark/DavidClark.html>. ↩
4 Ward, Andrew. Port Phillip Heritage Review Version 15. Vol. 1., 2011. p. 16. Issuu. City of Port Phillip, 2011. Web. 05 Jan. 2015. <http://issuu.com/copponline/docs/120815015045-783dc9e9e1e044da8708329c8365cf4d/16>. ↩
5. “1830s Melbourne Named and Settled.” Immigration to Victoria – a Timeline. Museum Victoria, 15 Feb. 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/websites-mini/immigration-timeline/1830s/>. ↩</sup>

Trove Tuesday: Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins

TABLE TALK. (1867, April 29). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637763 TABLE TALK. (1867, May 6). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved October 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637812

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819–1867), born on 30 April 1819 at Dumfries, Scotland to Robert Hawkins (1770–1841) and Penelope Hawkins née Carruthers (1765–1845), was my great great great grandfather.

In 1839, when he was only twenty, Samuel Hawkins, ‘occupation storekeeper’, sailed from Edinburgh to Port Phillip on the David Clark, the first ship to sail there directly with immigrants from the United Kingdom.   He travelled without any immediate relatives. His eldest brother, Robert, and cousin, Thomas, had previously settled in New South Wales. (Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985. p. 38) (Janson, Elizabeth. “They Came by the David Clark in 1839.” In Victoria before 1848. OoCities.org, 1999. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html>.)

In 1841, within three years of Samuel’s arrival, an S.P. Hawkins is listed as a land surveyor, with offices in Lonsdale Street, in Kerr’s Melbourne Almanac and Port Phillip Directory. (http://members.optushome.com.au/lenorefrost/kerr.html )  He appears to have begun his land surveying career working for Robert Russell, the first surveyor of Melbourne.

From Melbourne Samuel moved to the Western District, first to Portland and then to Melville Forest, near Coleraine. (pdf of Victorian Heritage database listing for Melville Forest homestead complex  vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/23456 )
In 1849, at the age of thirty, Samuel married Jeanie Hutcheson (1824 – 1864).  Jeanie’s three brothers had also settled in the Portland district.

Cherry stones p. 44  “Probably an engagement photograph, but certainly of Jeanie and Samuel Hawkins taken about 1849.”

 Samuel wrote to his brother James in 1849

I know not whether in my last letter I acquainted you with my changed condition of life from the single to the married. To describe who and what She is is impossible to be intelligibble. Her name is Jeanie Hutcheson, the sister of 3 respectable settlers on the Glenelg River and with this introduction, seasoned by my love and esteem, I beg to introduce her to your notice and remembrance (Cherry Stones p. 43.)

They had eight children.  In 1864, after an illness of seventeen days, Jeanie died “disease of stomach and liver” and the complications of a miscarriage.  She was 40 years old. Their children were aged from two to fifteen years.

• Isabella Hawkins (1849 – 1916)
• Penelope Bell Hawkins (1851 – 1898)
• Robert James Hawkins (1853 – 1854) 
• Robert James Hawkins (1854 – 1893) 
• Georgina Hawkins (1856 – 1944) 
• David Hawkins (1858 – 1922) 
• Janet “Jessie” Hawkins (1860 – 1944)
• Jeanie Hawkins (1862 – 1941) (my great great grandmother)

Cherry Stones p. 46.

In 1865 Samuel married Mary Adamson (1843 – 1908), governess of his children. They had two children. The first died in infancy and the second was born on 23 July 1867, just over three months after Samuel’s death on 22 April 1867.

• Mary Hawkins (1866 – 1866) 
• Samuel Melville Hawkins (1867 – 1947)

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins’s death certificate states he died of delerium tremens and exhaustion after an illness of one week. He was 47 years old. (Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages; death certificate 5050/1867)

Delirium tremens can occur when you stop drinking alcohol after a period of heavy drinking, especially if you do not eat enough food. Delirium tremens may also be caused by head injury, infection, or illness in people with a history of heavy alcohol use. It is most common in people who have a history of alcohol withdrawal. It is especially common in those who drink 4 – 5 pints of wine or 7 – 8 pints of beer (or 1 pint of “hard” alcohol) every day for several months. Delirium tremens also commonly affects people who have had an alcohol habit or alcoholism for more than 10 years. (Dugdale, David C., III MD. “Delirium Tremens.” MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 20 Mar. 2011. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000766.htm>.)

Today delirium tremens, which is sometimes fatal, is usually treated in hospital. Symptoms include body tremors, changes in mental function such as hallucinations, confusion and restlessness, and seizures. (MedlinePlus)

Samuel’s grave is in Portland North Cemetery, where he is buried with his first wife and their infant son  Robert James Hawkins (1853-1854).  His second wife died at Kyneton in 1908.

Probate was granted on the estate of Samuel Hawkins, Esquire of Melville Forest Station on 4 July 1867.  His estate was estimated to be valued at £14,000.  (Probate files held by Public Record Office of Victoria reference 6/328)  Today the value of his estate is in the order of $2 million up to nearly $13 million; the lower value is based on the changes in the retail price index and the higher value on the changes in average earnings. (Using the conversion calculator at http://www.measuringworth.com which is based on shifts in purchasing power of British pounds).

Trove Tuesday: Vida Mary Jane Goldstein (1869 – 1949)

Vida Goldstein (1869 – 1949) was my first cousin three times removed and stood for the Senate in 1903, 110 years ago. Although she was not elected, she was the first woman in Australia to stand for election to the Federal parliament and one of four women who were the first in the British Empire to be nominated and to stand for election to a national parliament. She was also a key campaigner for the vote for women in Victoria.  She has an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and also on Trove. (Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.  Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975) (Goldstein, Vida (1869-1949). (2008). In Trove. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-599050)

Vida was a relative from my Hughes branch and I first learned of the family connection through Helen Hudson née Hughes (1915 – 2005) who enjoyed researching the family history and wrote a book, Cherry Stones, which I have found tremendously useful in following up on her research. ( Hudson, Helen Lesley (1985). Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic )

 

Vida was the daughter of Isabella née Hawkins (1849 – 1916) and Jacob Goldstein (1839 – 1910). Isabella was the sister of my great great grandmother Jeanie (1862 – 1941) who married Edward Walter Hughes.

 

Last weekend’s election prompted me to search for mentions of Vida’s political career.  She has been the subject of several books and I have come across a memorial mentioning her name at Parliament House in Canberra.  When researching Avoca at the time of World War 1, I noted that as a candidate at that time only four people voted for her from Avoca; but then again she had not visited the town to campaign.

In 1903 her campaign for the senate received wide coverage.  Trove newspaper search has 353 items in its newspaper database for 1903.  The coverage is across Australia, not only in Victoria; newspapers as far afield as Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Broken Hill, New South Wales, and Brisbane, Queensland reporting on her campaign.

Meetings were well attended and usually reported on at length with details of the speeches and questions to the candidate.  Here is a short report of a meeting at Echuca in northern Victoria.  It is a small town but she had an audience estimated at 600 to 700.

THE SENATE. (1903, December 11). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89494011

Vida gained more than 50,000 votes and ranked 15th out of 18 candidates for the four senate seats.

THE SENATE. (1903, December 22). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10589115

Vida spoke about the aftermath of the election:
 

A LADY CANDIDATE’S OPINION. (1903, December 24). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), p. 5. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5025504

 

My search on Trove found a picture of her I had not seen before.

 

The image is from the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Their catalogue entry: 

• Title: Miles Franklin [and] Vida Goldstein [picture]
• Publisher: ca. 1900-ca. 1920 
• Date(s): 1900 
• Description: photograph : gelatin silver ; oval image 6 x 4 cm., on double mount 18 x 14 cm. 
• Copyright status: This work is out of copyright 
• Terms of use: No copyright restrictions apply. 
• Identifier(s): Accession no(s) H42756; H42756a 
• Subjects: Goldstein, Vida, 1869-1949 ; Franklin, Stella Maria Sarah Miles, 1879-1954 ; Feminists — Australia ; Gelatin silver prints ; Group portraits
• Index terms: Australia; women’s movement; suffragettes; feminists; authors; Miles Franklin; Viva Goldstein [sic]
• Notes: Title inscribed on mount l.l. and l.r. 
  Detailed view digitised. 
  Miles Franklin was born in Tumut, N.S.W.; published My Brilliant Career 1901; involved with feminist movement; left for the U.S.A. 1906; returned to Australia 1927; died 1954. 
  Vida Goldstein was born in Portland, Victoria 1869; became involved with suffragette movement; ran for the Australian Senate 1903; addressed the United States Congress in 1902; died 1949. 
• Contents/Summary: Miles Franklin is half-length, to right, Vida Goldstein standing behind her. 
• Source/Donor: Donated by Miss Jean Robinson, 1980. 
• Link to digitised item: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/136880 
• Link to this record: http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1787491 

I did not previously know of any connection with Miles Franklin, an author whose works I enjoy very much and who came from areas around Canberra which I used to visit often (Brindabella, Tumut, Goulburn, Talbingo). I also wonder of the connection with Jean Robinson, I am not sure who she is, a puzzle for another day.

 

Exploring further in the State Library’s collection I found more items which I must research further to explore this branch of my family. Included were these photos:

Group of people at river, including Vida Goldstein 1885 – 1892. Vida Goldstein – left foreground, holding stick. Col. Goldstein [Vida’s father] – seated in centre with a little girl on his knee. I [presumably Leslie Henderson, donor of the photograph] do not know who she is. George Reid – extreme right, standing. From the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/242093

Vida Goldstein at a picnic, probably at Lorne. Vida is second from right in front row holding a paper & with a billy in front of her. The donor of the photograph, Vida’s niece, Leslie Henderson (1896 – 1982) did not know any of the other people in the photograph. From the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/242166

There are many more items for me to follow up in the State Library’s collections when I get a chance.