Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

 On ANZAC Day it is fitting to honour the fallen. Today's blog is about a young man who played an integral part in rallying the troops - he was a bugler. ROBERT FRANCIS CROTHER WILKINSON Robert was born in 1894 to James Simpson Wilkinson and his wife Helena of Auburn and was one of six children. Robert enlisted on 28 August 1914 under his first name only - just 18 days after Australia entered WW1. He was the first young man under 21 from the Auburn area to enlist. His enlistment papers show him to be a Tinsmith (a maker or repairer of sheet metal). He was 5'4" with light brown eyes and dark hair and he held the position of bugler in the 1st Battalion band. A bugler had a necessary role to play in the military. The bugle was used to indicate daily routines of camp. Historically the bugle was used in the cavalry to relay instructions from officers to soldiers during Battle. They were also used to assemble the leader and to give marching orders to the camps. WW1 recruitment p...

 On 15th April it was the 111th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic - a massive ship that its maker claimed was unsinkable. Today's blog is about a man who survived the sinking and made his home in Australia. WILLIAM JOHN MURDOCK(H)  William was born in Great Clifton, Cumberland, England in September 1874, the eldest of eight children to Nathaniel Murdoch, ironworker, and his wife, Annie who originated from Northern Ireland. By the time of his thirteenth birthday the family had returned to Belfast.  William became a fireman and went on to marry Catherine Robson, also from Belfast, in February 1901. They had four children but tragically the youngest born in 1907 only lived for a few short months.  At the 1911 census, the family were residing at the Belfast address of Catherine's widowed mother, Margaret, and he was described as a labourer. Murdock first signed on to the Titanic on 29th March 1912 for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. William obvious...

  It was the feature in last Sunday's Sydney Morning Herald about an upcoming talk by Elliot Lindsay at Woollahra Hotel about Murder and Mayhem in the eastern suburbs of Sydney in 19th Century that made me recall a man at the very centre of the end of these people’s lives. This talk is one of the first of a packed National Trust's Heritage Festival to be held over the next month and there are many walks, talks and exhibitions available; more on that later as I introduce you to a prominent but largely forgotten member of Sydney Society. HENRY SHIELL Henry was born on 10 August 1826 on the island of Montserrat, in the West Indies, the son of James Phipps Shiell and his wife Elizabeth. James Shiell was the Comptroller of Customs for Montserrat and died when Henry was seven years of age. The family had owned sugar plantations and slaves from the early 1700's and after the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act, Henry's grandfather, Queely Shiell, received a vast sum in co...

 As we enter into the Christian festival of Easter, I decided the subject of this week's blog should be exceptional men of the clergy.  I bring you two Catholic Priests who really made a difference. DEAN JAMES HANLY Hanly was born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1815, the eldest child of Michael and his wife Ellen (nee Heffernan). He was studying at St Johns College Waterford when Bishop John Bede Polding made a recruiting visit and encouraged Hanly to come to Sydney. He accepted and a party of nineteen including four priests of the Passionist Order and three Christian Brothers departed Liverpool England aboard the "Templar" on 1st November 1842. The vessel arrived in Sydney on 9th March 1843.  He entered St Mary's Seminary and in September of that year was ordained. Hanley first served in the Moreton Bay area in Queensland. At the time, nearby Brisbane was just a village with a population of less than 700, the whole population of Queensland numbering about 2000.  When Fath...