Hunter Sheila - The Heather to the Hawkesbury

The Heather

to

The Hawkesbury

by

Sheila Hunter

Winner of 1999

NSW Premiers Senior Citizen of the Year Award

Dedication

To our family -

who come before and prepared the way for us today!

and to my children -

who have yet to travel the path that was made for them!

Let us learn from each other.

Sheila Hunter

1924-2002

That future generations might know and those yet unborn: that they in turn might teach it to their children; So that they might put their confidence in God: and not forget His works but keep His commandments.

Psalm 78 v 6 , 7 NRSV the Bible.

Printed by CreateSpace, An Amazon company

CreateSpace, Charleston SC.

Available from Amazon.com and other retail outlets

Available on Kindle.

1st Edition Printed 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1503251434

ISBN-10: 1503251438

BISAC: Fiction / Historical / General

Cover Painting is

Joseph Lycet t (engraver)

English c.17751828, worked in Australia 181422

View of Windsor, Upon the River Hawkesbury, New South Wale s 1824

plate no. 15 i n Views in Australi a published by J. Souter, Londo n .

Hand-coloured aquatint 23.5 x 33.0 c m . State Library of Victoria, Melbourne (30328102131561/16)

Cover Photo insert, (edited) is both Of and Owned by,

Deb Cox and family.

Taken at Old Sydney Town, Somersby, NSW in 1980s

Editors Note:

The background to this story is gleaned from the authors own family history. Her Ancestors came from the Isle of Skye during the Highland Clearances and Potato Famine and were themselves Macdonalds who arrived in Melbourne Victoria on one of the Highland and Island Emigrations Society Ships..

Sheilas Macdonalds did not come to NSW nor were they farmers, they went to the Victorian goldfields and became storekeepers and undertakers. Her husbands family were also Bounty Immigrants as they were called and came from various parts of Scotland and Ireland. The McLeans came from the Isle of Mull, the Gibsons from Northern Ireland, but there were other families and they had very similar backgrounds to the characters in the story except most of them were totally illiterate to written English at least! They spoke nothing but Gaelic and had little or no manners of any known sort, let alone personal hygiene! They would use the same containers for both cooking and for bodily functions during the nights! They never washed either themselves or their clothing. They must have been very unpleasant to be around and yet it was these same people who settled the Northern areas of New South Wales and felled the trees, started the dairies and farmed the fertile flood plains around all the northern rivers.

This story follows a different class, a middle class of immigrants, educated and clean, far different from the majority of Highland settlers, but all had the same Highland Tenacity!

Thanks to Joan Harvey and Suzi Powter for help with proofreading and to Ellie Rugg (ne Powter) who let me sit and transcribe the manuscript on the day of her wedding and last but certainly not least, to my wonderful husband Stephen who has supported me in this project.

Sara Powter

Names and Ages on Scottish Families

on Departure from Skye.

Murdoch (42) & Mary Macdonald (41)

5 children: Malcolm(14), Duncan (12), Catherine(10), Mary Ann(5) & John (4)

Alec(38) & Margaret (Meg)(38) Fraser

(Marys friend Meg was Murdochs cousin)

6 children: Ian(14), Jennet, (12), Elizabeth(Effie)(10), Jamie(8), Kate(6) & Eliza(4)

Caroline (Caro) (33) & Alistair MacLeod (42)

( Murdoch Macdonalds Sister)

3 children; Donald(16), Ann (10), Jane (8)

Elspeth (35) & Fergus (40) MacKenzie

( Mary Macdonalds brother)

4 children: Hamish (14), Sara (12), Alison(10), & Susanna (6)

(see end for further Family Trees)

Table of Contents

Sheila Hunter Bio.