Cleghorn's store Rocky River c1860

[PrueM]

Hi Mem B 

I asked my friend about his old g-g-granny who had the gin shack up at Rocky River diggings: her namewas Mary Ann Shaw/Faulkner/Grant/McGregor/Austin (she had several husbands!).

My own relatives were the Haynes brothers, a couple of them went out to the diggings from Uralla.  NOt sure if they made a fortune or not - it certainly hasn't come anywhere near me if they did!

Your photo is lovely, a real treasure 

Prue

[gazania]

Thank you for posting the photo and to the restorers.  My family were in Rocky River by 1857.  My gg grandmother, Mary Ann Wareham (nee Line) died there in 1857 and was buried in Uralla. She died from dysentery. Her son-in-law, John Noble, was listed as a storekeeper of Rocky River on her death certificate.  He was the informant.  

The family had migrated in 1856 on the "Bangalore" under Caroline Chisholm's Family Migration Scheme.  Mary Ann and husband , George Wareham, had 11 children. After George's death in 1851, Mary Ann migrated with some of her adult children.

Our families must have known one another.  Regards, Gazania

[mudge]

Hi all
Not that it needs it by the look of the results, but here is a larger, higher resolution version posted for Mem @ 600dpi.  (The original was scanned at 1600dpi)
mudge

[mudge]

and a quick straighten and restoration
mudge

[chinakay]

That's very clever, Mudge, how you turned some messy discolouration into clouds.

What a great pic.

Cheers,
China

[mudge]

Thanks china

And here's a sepia version
mudge

[mgelli08]

Hey Prue,

Would love to get in touch with your friend - my ggg grandmother was also Mary Ann Shaw/Faulkner/Grant/McGregor/Austin.  (I'm related from her first marriage to Isaac Faulkner.)  It would be great if that was a photo of her shanty!! 

According to "They Came From Thunderbolt Country" here's some info on Mary Ann Shaw:

Granny Austin's life on the goldfield was long and colourful.  It was said that Thunderbolt often stopped at her wine shanty for a drink, hitching his horse to the post in front of her establishment.  She made lots of money, but never used a till.  All the notes were placed immediately into her bodice and shaken out of her dress at night.  She was a very tough lady, and once beat a recalcitrant youth all the way up the main street of Uralla.  Her way of life had no doubt made her tough.  Presumed to have Gypsy blood, she arrived in Australia hardly more than a bride.  Carrying her first babe in her arms she walked behind, and rode on, bullock wagons from Sydney to Muswellbrook, a journey of more than two hundred miles on today's surface, and it must have been really rugged in 1849.

Look forward to hearing from you.  Great work with the photograph everyone!!

Michelle

PS  Here's a photo of her in her later years ....

[PrueM]

Hi Michelle,

Fantastic!  I'll send you a PM with my email address, and details of my friend.  How fabulous!  I'm sure he'll be chuffed to hear from you - I'll pass the info and photo on to him now.

Cheers! 

Prue

[Mem B]

I am so glad this photo elicited so many responses from people with connections to Rocky River. With regards to Mary Ann Shaw of the many husbands, I have found that her Faulkner descendants are connected, through marriage, with the Young family who owned "Iona" which is the subject of another of my requests. They are not in my direct line but quite close. Isn't the world a small place!
             
                    Mem B