Bertha Cowan's accident

Dad's mother, Bertha Victoria Cowan, was just 18 when she suffered an accident while on a visit to her uncle and aunt, as reported in the Mornington & Dromana Standard on 14 November 1908:

George and Caroline Stone (nee Davenport) were prominent early residents of the town of Mornington. They had a large family, including sons Clive and Roy who were both killed in the Great War.

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A Sacrifice, By Any Name

Prologue Before launching into today's story, I thought I might give an update on how my research is going. I started this blog back in 2019 as a way of communicating some of the more interesting stories about past family members, as I embarked on a 'redo' of all my original research. Having completed my Family History Diploma the year before, I'd learnt the importance of verifying information, and my family tree had plenty of information with no proven sources. Across the last four years I have completed the 'redo' of seven lines of the family: Phelan, Gasperino, Cowan and Davenport on Dad's side, and Atkin, Collins and Kenny on Mum's. I have also done a lot of work on the remaining maternal line, Lawless. But this line's Australian history goes back an extra generation, and has not just one but five brothers who emigrated here, so it represents by far the largest chunk of work to get through. As of now, I estimate that I've completed about 85%...

The Record-Breaking Adventure of the Utiekah III

Today's post is about one of my distant relatives on Mum's (Atkin) side of the family. My 2x great-grandfather Samuel Atkin came to Australia from Lincolnshire in 1853, and three years later was followed by his older brother Henry with his family. Henry settled near Newstead (not far from Castlemaine), and his daughter Elizabeth married Charles Slee, the Slees being another prominent early Newstead family. Elizabeth and Charles had 14 children (!) and this story is about their grandson Mark Mackie - my third cousin once removed - and what would have been, for the time, a pretty incredible adventure. Mark Mackie was born in Camberwell in 1899, and was educated at Scotch College. He worked as a photo-engraver and had a keen interest in yachting. In 1927 he was one of several ex-public school boys to undertake an 8 month trip in the South Pacific, aboard a yacht named Utiekah III, a 37-ton, 56 ft, auxiliary ketch built in Tasmania two years previously. The Utiekah...

My Great Uncle, the President of Fitzroy

Growing up, we didn't hear a lot of stories about Dad's side of the family. One I would have thought I would have heard more about was that of Leslie Joseph Phelan, my grandfather's older brother. Les was born in Benalla in 1891 and in 1910 went into the employ of the railways like his father Joseph (as would his brother, my grandfather Stan). That employment would see him posted to Seymour and Maryborough, where he spent the best part of his 20s and 30s. While in Maryborough Les was actively involved in the cricket and football clubs, serving as Secretary in both. He was heavily involved in getting a new Maryborough club up and running and entered into the Ballarat Football League, whose premiership it won in its first year! Leslie Phelan, from his Maryborough days Returning to Melbourne around 1927, Les continued to work in the railways and in 1931 became the president of the Victorian branch of the Railways Union, and served as the Union rep on the Railways ...

Phelan and Atkin Family History

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