Australian History and Society

AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - BUILDING A NATION Episode 6 of A FATHER AND SON ROAD TRIP – SEEKING THE ANCESTORS is the final episode. Gerard and Roger visit Tallawang, ‘17 Miles from Gulgong’, where James Patrick and Mary Jane Wilson established their farm in 1878. Tallawang was a new settlement. Their story was like that of thousands of second-generation Australians who wanted to establish themselves in a nation just on one hundred years old. Like all ‘selectors,’ they committed themselves to long hours of backbreaking work, often just to stay alive. But their work and endurance were the backbone of the new nation called Australia. Without these ordinary, determined, self-sacrificing people, Australia would not have become the successful nation it is. James Patrick and Mary Jane were the son and daughter of convict fathers from London and Manchester and free-settler mothers from Wiltshire.

AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - BUILDING A NATION Episode 4 of Seeking the Ancestors followed Michael and Elizabeth Jones from Michael’s successful wool production business on their Combara property to Musswellbrook where their expectations of rising further were reasonable. But tragedy and poor judgement thwarted them. Episode 5 tracks James Joseph Wilson from his success on his Budgeon run to his end. There was no premature death for James Joseph. He lived to old age, but he had to suffer family loss and he made some fatal (in one case mad) decisions. We will see what those decisions were and how they affected his life.

AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - BUILDING A NATION In this episode, having arrived in the Coonamble district at the end of episode 3, Gerard and Roger go in search of the Combara and Budgeon properties where Michael Jones and James Joseph Wilson ran their sheep farms. They had no trouble finding the properties. But better still, they had the great fortune to meet by chance along the road, Wayne, the farm manager of the present Budgeon property. He invited them to view Budgeon’s present farming activity. The visit, which they videoed, gave them a good insight into the lives and experience of the Wilson and Jones farming families. They then followed Michael Jones and his family to Muswellbrook, 230 miles or 370 kms southeast towards the New South Wales coast. Michael had planned to settle in Muswellbrook and further his business interests, but tragedy awaited him and his wife Elizabeth. Episode 5 will be about how James Joseph Wilson fared after he left Budgeon in 1859.

AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - BUILDING A NATION This is the first episode of a series of videos (6) showing Gerard Charles Wilson and his son Roger on a trip in search of the places the Wilson and Jones ancestors lived and worked in. This first episode begins at Botany Bay where Captain Cook and the First Fleet landed, before going to Sydney Cove where convict James Joseph Wilson arrived in 1827 and Michael Henry Jones in 1829. We then follow James Joseph and Michael to their first assignments west of Sydney at Bringelly and Richmond. Episode 2 will follow them to the Rylstone area and the farms where they worked and found their wives.

Episode 3 Gerard and Roger find Dabee and Bogee Farms. Both are modern working farms, situated in the most beautiful natural surroundings. It takes their breath away when they reflect that James Joseph Wilson, Michael Henry Jones, and Elizabeth and Jane Harris (their great-grandparents x2, x3) came together on Dabee farm. Gerard presents the history of the Harris family before they set off for the Coonamble district where Michael and James Josephs ran their farms, Combara and Budgeon respectively. Episodes 4 will reveal the sad circumstances of Michael Jones’s tragic end. Episode 5 will follow James Joseph’s life after leaving Budgeon.

Gerard and Roger continue their road trip in search of their ancestors. Their first call is Hartley Village, near Lithgow, over the Blue Mountains. Hartley is an 1840s colonial village frozen in time. They film the 1830s courthouse, Farm Inn, Shamrock Inn, and St Bernard's Church before proceeding to Bathurst to learn more about James Joseph Wilson. From Bathurst they continue over the hills to Kandos in the Rylstone district. They overnight at the Railway Hotel. The Railway Hotel was comfortable but there was something unusual about it. Roger has a bit of fun with its unusualness. They go in search of Dabee Farm where James Joseph and Michael Jones worked. They film the farms and surrounds, and Gerard does his presentations. But Gerard is not sure they have the right place. They proceed to Rylstone where they visit Cottage Museum, the headquarters of Rylstone Historical Society. Shirley Tunnicliff, president of Rylstone Historical Society, welcomes them and confirms they had videoed the wrong farm. She explains where Dabee Farm is. Despite the mistake, Gerard and Roger filmed the lush farmland where their ancestors first settled after arriving in Australia. It was a thrill to be on the sacred land of their ancestors. Episode 3 will continue the story about Dabee and Bogee Farms before they drive to Coonamble where Michael Jones and James Joseph ran their own holdings. Combara and Budgeon, a little south of Coonamble, will be Episode 4.

The Red Hill Horticultural Society was formed in 1896 and it put on a show later the same year. Flowers, vegetables, fruit, farm produce, and art were among the displays. Exhibitors and spectators came not only to exhibit and stare but also to see who was producing what on the Mornington Peninsula. The Red Hill Show had its start on 29 March 1922. It was a huge success, people coming from as far away as Melbourne, 50 miles distant from Red Hill. The show is still a huge success but the original agricultural purpose has partly given way to activities for kids, a wonderful offering of national foods, and stalls for various social purposes. This video shows the excitement and pleasure enjoyed at the Red Hill Show 2023.