The first of my forebears to migrate to Australia was my fifth great grandfather George Taylor (1758 – 1828), who arrived in Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen’s Land, in 1823. With him was his wife Mary née Low (1765 -1850) and some of his family. My fourth great grandmother, his daughter, Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor (1794-1876), followed ten years later, arriving about 1833.
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| “Valleyfield” Epping Tas. The “Taylors” have lived here for over 100 years. , about 1914 – about 1941 Photograph in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Accession number H22546. A.C. Dreier postcard collection. Retrieved from https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab47005 |
The Taylor family’s arrival in Hobart on the Princess Charlotte on 10 January 1823 was reported in the Sydney Gazette. George Taylor’s son, Robert, wrote a diary about their four-month voyage, mostly concerned with the weather. (Helen Hudson, a Taylor family descendant, covers the Taylor’s voyage in her family history book Cherry Stones, basing her account on Robert’s diary.)
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| MAGISTRATE FOR THE WEEK—JOHN PIPER, Esq. (1823, February 13). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 – 1842), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2181641 |
George Taylor received a grant of land about 30 miles south of Launceston on the Macquarie River. He named his property ‘Valley-Field’. Three of his sons, George, David, and Robert, received grants of land nearby.
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| The land grant to George Taylor senior signed 30 June 1823 by Governor Brisbane. Image retrieved from ancestry.com (Copies of land grants issued 1804-1823. LSD354. Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Tasmania, Australia.) |
In January 1923 and January 1973 there were large family reunions to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of the Taylor family in Australia.
After 182 years in the Taylor family the Valleyfield property was sold in 2005.
Further reading
- TASMANIAN FAMILY’S CENTENARY. (1923, January 12). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23613784
- A more complete family history and full page spread on the reunion appeared on page 2 of the Launceston Examiner: (1923, January 11). Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 – 1954), p. 2 (DAILY). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page3215437
- FAMOUS PASTORAL PROPERTIES: Valleyfield (T) Has Been in the Possession of the Taylor Family Since 1823 (1941, September 13). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946), p. 28. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142144917
- Pioneer family remembers (1973, March 21). The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), p. 88. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51268754
- 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
- Valley field Epping Forest
- Companion to Tasmanian History: The Taylor family
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