A Link to a Socialite

Welcome to my first post in several months! A lot has gone on in this time: made redundant after nearly 25 years at Lonely Planet, I've been concentrating on taking the opportunity of this time off to get a lot of 'digital admin' done. I've also been lucky enough to score some casual genealogical work with Jan Worthington, who was my supervisor when I did my Diploma in Family Historical Studies in 2017-18. That work has made me less motivated to spend hours on my own research, but I'm starting to get back into it. And so here we are with some new material for your reading pleasure!

As you might remember I had been working on my Cowan ancestors, and had posted about my great-grandfather Joseph Cowan who was an architect and Mayor of Essendon. I am now delving into his children and their families. His eldest child was Magdalene Elizabeth Cowan (Dad's Aunty Madge). She married Herbert Rossiter, and it is through this family that we have a link to a woman who was well known in Melbourne social circles back in the day: Lady Susan Renouf, who had been Susan Sangster before that, and Susan Peacock, wife of one-time Liberal Party leader Andrew Peacock, before that. I can't recall if this was known by members of my family, I have a feeling it might have been; anyway, have a look at the chart below to see the link.

Note that Susan Rossiter's father Sir John Frederick Rossiter was famous in his own right, also as a politican in the Liberal Party. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1955 as the member for Brighton. He served as a minister in the Bolte and Hamer governments from 1965 to 1973, and was Chief Secretary from 1973 until his retirement in 1976. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rossiter).

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General Hewitt and the Man from Elba

I have always enjoyed saying I'm 1/16th Italian. I've often been asked if I have a European background, so it's fun to be able to provide that answer. Though so far, my DNA test is showing no evidence of this background! Nevertheless, it is true, my family does have one Italian ancestor. He was my 2x great-grandfather and his name was Antony Gasperino. His arrival in this country dates back to the 1850s, in quite unusual circumstances, on a ship named the General Hewitt . But before we even make our way on board that ship, what little we know of Antony's early life deserves a mention. Antony (presumably Antonio in his native land) Gasperino was born on the island of Elba in 1836. From his marriage certificate we know that his father was Lawrence (Lorenzo) Gasperino but his mother's name is not recorded. On his death certificate her name is listed as 'not known'. It's strange that even the informant at the time of his death (his son Joseph) would not kno...

How Austin Phelan Met his Wife

Dad's father Phillip Stanley Phelan was one of twelve children (eight boys and four girls) born to Joseph Phelan and Mary Gasperino. By the time Dad was eight years old, he had five uncles and three aunts surviving. As I have mentioned previously, I don't recall hearing much about them from him when I was growing up, and certainly not Austin George Phelan, who was the youngest of the boys in the family. Austin was born in Benalla in 1904, lived in the Essendon area all his life, like many of the Phelan clan, and worked as a brewery employee. But it is how he came to meet his wife Sara that proved to be of most interest once I started digging. As you can see above, Austin was listed as the 'co-respondent' in the 1931 divorce case between John Carnegie Lovick and his wife Sara Annie Lovick. In other words, he was the 'other man' who had become involved with a married woman (who would later ultimately become his wife). Officially John Lovick was petitioning...

Three Phelan Brothers in the Great War

As a youngster I was told that my grandfather, Phillip Stanley Phelan, had been a Prisoner of War in the First World War but that was about the extent of the story. I never knew my grandfather, and chances are that even if I had, I might not have got many details from him, as plenty of men who lived through that horrific experience didn't like to talk about it. Even when my interest in genealogy began I didn't have a huge interest in the war. However once I got looking at the records, I wanted to make sense of them and began to delve deeper into the stories. While Stan is my only direct ancestor to have served in the conflict, he was one of three sons of Joseph Phelan who enlisted, one of whom would pay the ultimate price. I also discovered many more relatives on Dad's side of the family who took part. One day I may write something more comprehensive about the experiences of all my relatives who served - there were many on Mum's side as well - but for now my post will ...

Phelan and Atkin Family History

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