Grandma Shadbolt was born Jane Whitton. She was from Lichfield in Staffordshire. In 1848, when she was 19, she was transported to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) for seven years. In a first offence she had stolen the sum of three pounds. Unfortunately we don’t have a photo
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All dressed up for the Methodist Sunday School Anniversary in Ulverstone, circa 1959. From left; myself, my brother Laurie and my sister Robyn. Look at that shine on my brother’s shoes. My mother made the dresses on her treadle Singer sewing machine. This was such a credit
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Our first motor vehicle was almost a rather stylish De Soto utility, but as my father’s farm diaries record, it ended up being a blocky, dark green Dodge (I secretly yearned for a car, but never mind). The ute was second hand, and I don’t remember how
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William Singleton was my great-great grandfather. He was transported to Tasmania for life in 1828, aboard the convict ship Manilus. As with most convicts his crime was theft, in this case cheese, bread and bacon. Oh dear, a seventeen year old brickie’s lad gets very hungry. During
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A SMALL PIECE OF WOOD Apparently wooden ‘dolly pegs’ were originally hand made by Gypsies in the UK, who sold them door to door. Sometimes they were carved from hedgerow wood, sometimes they were just a couple of sticks bound together with strips of tin. In Tasmania
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METHOD IN A MOTHER’S MADNESS In December 1841 a shabby, careworn woman entered a London shoe shop, brazenly picked up several items and walked out. It was a theft that made no sense at all; she had taken a random couple of boots and a single clog!
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THE MATRIARCH My paternal grandmother was born Alice Maud Singleton, at rural Sassafras in northern Tasmania (June 20 1884). She was a Victorian through and through. Just add pride, vanity and her strict Methodist faith and there we have dear old Grandma. My other three grandparents had
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