More on Hiding in Tasmania

[sparrett]

Oh those are interesting, well found!

It's late here now but I'll go through Then Awake Sea Lake tomorrow and try to follow the trail of who owned what.  The person who wrote the book belongs to the family who owned the business right alongside the Coffee Palace, he pointed out that Mrs Maydwell place had entrances on two streets and wrapped around the back of the corner shop, his family's business. 

I speak to another very helpful person who lives in Sea Lake now too and she's been out taking photos so I can see what the area looks like now, but I think the author is the one who will have all this old information if I need any gaps filling.  I know he's travelling at the moment but once I have as much as I can find in the book I can always ask him...

The photograph circa 1910's makes the Coffee Palace seem to be a section of a large corner building and shared with other businesses.
It will be interesting to have the historic information of the place from the book.

Sue

[sparrett]

Also...
Perhaps you already have family photos, but this Qld State Library file purports to hold letters and photos of Ian Christian Maydwell. During WW1.

Have you seen them?
It is possible Ian Christian Maydwell, as he was known on enlistment, could have mentioned his mother’s doings in the letters? She was his NOK on enlistment, so one assumes there was contact

Letters from Ian Christian Maydwell to Harriet Amy Purvis during his service ww1.

Summary of contents
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/255330831?keyword=%22maydwell%22

https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/guide/32751/details#SR32751-5

You could try this service to access the content in more detail.
https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/services/ask-librarian

Harriet married in 1921 to James Augustus Sexton
Harriet A Purvis
James A Sexton
1921/4964

Sue

[Ranolki]

Sorry, I’m away for the weekend and just looking in. 

I haven’t actually seen those papers but I know they are mainly a couple of postcards and a pile of empty envelopes addressed by Ian to Harriet.  I think Ian met Harriet just before he enlisted in the AIF when he was working at a hospital in Sydney.  They carried on their correspondence throughout the war but it obviously didn’t work out (if in fact there was some sort of romantic intent there) and each of them married other people.  It would have been great to see the original letters! 

Harriet’s mother was great friends with a man who was a reasonably famous illustrator and cartoonist and I think the papers were preserved in connection with him somehow.  I’ve seen the photo, it’s a portrait of Ian in his army uniform.