Henry and Sophia Hickmott's Children

2. Eliza Osborne nee Hickmott (1848-1912)

(last updated 20 June 2025)

Life and times

Baptised at Hackney St John in London on 26 April 1848, Eliza (pictured on the right) was a mere infant when she and her parents and older sister, Emma, sailed from London to South Australia on the sailing ship EMILY in 1849. She lived initially at Mount Barker in South Australia before moving with her father and step-mother to Clunes in Victoria in around 1854. She was only fifteen years and five months old when she married Robert Osborne (1830-1918), a saw miller, at Coghill's Creek in Victoria in 1863.

Robert's death certificate shows that he was 30 years old at the time of his marriage to Eliza, and was born at Stow Bedon in Norfolk in England in 1830. The son of William Osborne and Rose Nuss, he was living at Stow Bedon at the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses; in 1841 with his widowed mother and siblings and in 1851 as a visitor at the home of William and Elizabeth Tilbrook. Although still to be confirmed, we think he sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne on the MORNING STAR which arrived at Port Philip on 20 September 1858.

Eliza and Robert had twelve children in the Clunes/Amherst/Eganstown area between 1865 and 1890: William Henry, James Robert, Louisa Sophia, Emily, Rebecca, Emma Jane, John, Edith Rose, Alice Mary, George Alfre, Olive Eva Violet and Charles Stanley Osborne (see below for more details). At the time of the 1903 and 1909 elections they were living at Telegraph Hill on Mount Franklin near Eganstown in Victoria. Robert was said to be working as a miner while Eliza was a nurse. As Rosemary Kennedy tells us, her nursing duties often went beyond the care of her patients. 'In 1904, one of my relatives, Mary Darcy from Borrisoleigh in Ireland, made out her Will. Eliza was a witness to the Will as was a local farmer Patrick Kelly (Borrisoleigh). Mary died in 1909 and is buried at the Roman Catholic Church in Eganstown. I am assuming that Eliza was a nurse to Mary as she was over 80 when she died. Mary was a farmer at Kangaroo Hills, a few kilometres from Blampied, near Eganstown'.

Eliza Osborne nee Hickmott died at the Telegraph Sawmill near Eganstown in 1912 from the effects of influenza and bronchitis. She was then 64 years old. Her death certificate, which was informed by her youngest son Charles Stanley Osborne, states that she was buried at the Burwood cemetery in Melbourne on 7 September 1912. She was said to have been born in London and had been 63 years in Australia, 56 of these in Victoria and seven in South Australia. Eliza's issue at the time of her death were: William (46), James Robert (44), Louisa Sophia (deceased), Emily (deceased), Rebecca (39), Emma Jane (36), John (34), Edith Rose (32), Alice Mary (29), George Alfred (27), Olive Eva Violet (24) and Charles Stanley (22). The following notice appeared in the 7 September 1912 edition of the Melbourne Argus: 'OSBORNE - On the 5th September, at her residence, Eganstown, Eliza, beloved wife of Robert Osborne, and loved mother of Will, James, Jack, George, Stan, Mrs Shiels, Mrs Babgary [sic], Mrs Kerr, Mrs Thomas, and Olive, aged 64 years'. On 4 September 1915 The West Australian carried the following Memorium notice: 'OSBORNE - In loving memory of our dear mother, who passed away at Eganstown, Daylesford Victoria on September 5, 1912. Inserted by her daughters, E. Shields Barrabupp, A. M. Thomas, Subiaco'. The executors of Eliza's will were George Alfred Osborne, who was working in Melbourne as a teacher, George's mother-in-law Louisa Wall of 12 Scott Street St Kilda and Jabez Ernest Lees, an auctioneer of 240 Clarke Street Northcote. Some time after his wife's death, Robert Osborne moved to the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris where he died from the effects of cancer on 10 January 1918. He was buried with Eliza in the Burwood Cemetery.

As mentioned above Eliza and Robert had twelve children. One of these, Emily Osborne (1871-74) died as a child. The remaining eleven all grew to adulthood and married. Four of their children went to live in Western Australia while the others stayed with their parents in Victoria. Four were either farmers or worked in the farming industry, three were teachers (one of whom became Chief Inspector of Victoria's primary schools) and one was a missionary. Between them they provided their parents with 33 grandchildren and some 40 great grandchildren we know of. Three of Eliza and Robert's grandchildren were killed in action in the First World War. Another died as a prisoner of war in World War 2. Among the others were seven farmers, three clerks, two teachers, two engineers, a registered nurse and a naval officer. They and their children and grandchildren were living in Victoria, Western Australia, the ACT, Queensland and the United Kingdom.

Family and descendants
Part 2

Click here to read about Robert and Eliza's first six children.

7. Edith Rose Osborne (1880-1969)

Born at Amherst, Edith married Mathew Alan Kerr (1869-1946) at her parents' residence at Glen Iris in Melbourne on 23 December 1903. The wedding was witnessed by John Osborne and Emma Balzary. At the time Mathew was working as a plumber and living with his parents and aunt Agnes Catherine Kerr on High Street in Glen Iris. According to one of his descendants, Marg Widdicombe, Mathew was born at Greymouth in New Zealand, the son of John Morrison Kerr, a miner, and Eliza Taylor. She adds that he had two siblings: Agnes Catherine Kerr (born around 1872) and John Samuel Kerr (1875) who later had a grocery shop in Glen Iris and married Ellen Louise 'Nellie' Pockett in Victoria in 1903.

The Australian electoral rolls show that Edith and Mathew, who was then working as an electrician, lived at Glen Iris at the time of the 1909 and 1914 elections. By the 1924 election they had moved to 128 Severn Street in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill and Mathew was described as a poultry breeder. The subsequent rolls show they continued to live at Box Hill where Mathew died in 1946. Edith (pictured below with some of her grandchildren) lived on until 1969. Like Mathew, she was cremated at the Springvale Crematorium.

Provided by Marg Widdicombe, the photo on the left shows Edith Rose Kerr nee Osborne with a number of her grandchildren.
Rear row (L/R): Les Kerr, June Worrall, Edith nursing Janece Falconer, Beverley Worrall and Rosalyn Coombes.
Front row: Marg Kerr, Anne Worrall and Heather Coombes.
The photo on the right is of Edith's son-in-law Stanley Seth Hazlewood Worrall (1905-67) who married
her daughter Olive Edith Kerr in 1929 (see below).

Marg Widdicombe and other sources inform us that Mathew and Edith had six children, all born in Melbourne. These included Mathew Alan Worrall (1913-51), who did not marry, John Robert Kerr (1909-72) who we belive married Ina Mary Rooks, and Dorothy Kerr who married Alan Falconer and is living in Queensland with their four children. We know a little more about the remaining three as follows:

7.1 Olive Edith Kerr (1904-99) who married Stanley Seth Hazelwood Worrall (1905-67) in 1929. According to the 'McGennan Family Tree' on Ancestry.com, Stanley's parents were Seth Hazlewood Worrall (1863-1941), a business man and grazier, and Hannah Jane Smith (1868-1912). He had eight siblings: Laura Maude Hazlewood Worrall (1887-1962), Elsie Elizabeth May Worrall (1889-1965), Ruby Brooker Worrall (1891-1981), John Hazlewood Worrall (1893-98), William James Worrall (1896-1966), Doris Hannah Warrall (1898-1980) and Amy Stella Worrall (1910-87). In 1910 Seth Worrall had purchased from Sir H. Allan Currie a 3,700-acre property, named 'Koonangurt', that was situated near Lismore in Victoria. The Australian Electoral Rolls show that immediately after his marriage Stan worked at 'Koonangurt' and he and Olive lived at Lismore. By the time of the 1949 election, they had moved to Geelong where Stan, who was then working as a contractor, died in 1967. Olive died in 1999. According to Marg Widdicombe, Olive and Stan had three girls: June Beverley and Ann Worrall (pictured in the photo above).

From the 'McGennan Family Tree' on Ancestry.com this photo is of members of the Worrall Family taken in around 1936
probably at 'Koonangurt' near Lismore. Olive Edith Worrall nee Osborne is said to be fourth from the right.
The person partly hidden on her right is, they think, Olive's husband, Stanley.

7.2 Seddon Morrison Kerr (1906-87) who was born at Camberwell and married Lilian Lawrence (1904-92), the daughter of Henry John Lawrence (1854-1936) and Annie Wilson (1862-1937), at Berribank in Victoria in 1931. The 'Merritt Family Tree' on Ancestry.com tells us that Lilian had four siblings all born at Ballarat: Harry Tulk Lawrence (1898-1977) who served (and was wounded) in WWI, John Hector Lawrence (born 1900) who married Leila Phyllis Robertson, Annie 'Ella' Lawrence (1902-84) who married Caleb Joseph Whitehead in 1925, and Lesley James Lawrence (1909-1994) who married Elsie May Moore in 1937. According to the Australian electoral rolls Lilian and Seddon, who was a teacher by profession, were living at 128 Severn Street Box Hill in 1931. They were living at Deans Marsh in 1937 and from 1943 to 1980 in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon.

7.3 Muriel Louise Kerr (1911-86) who was also born at Camberwell. She married Leslie Rupert Coombes who, according to the 'Parker Family Tree' on Ancestry.com, was born at Ararat in Victoria on 11 January 1908 and died at Canterbury in Melbourne on 24 February 1982. His parents were said to be William Coombes (1863-1943) and Anna Jane Size (1868-1951). Marg Widdicombe tells us that they had two daughters: Rosalyn and Heather.

8. Alice Mary Osborne (1883-1963)

Born at Talbot in Victoria Alice moved to Western Australia where she was married twice. Her first husband was another Victorian by birth, Kerang-born John Alexander Bruce (1865-1908), who was also known as John Alexander ('Alec') Barton. John Alexander was the only son of Scottish-born John Bruce (1830-66) and his English-born wife, Catherine Howard (1841-90) who were married in Victoria in 1859. John Bruce snr died at Cobden in central Victoria on 10 December 1866. He and Alice had two girls - both of whom died as infants - in addition to John Alexander. On 11 October 1869, the widowed Catherine married a Cobden bachelor and sawyer, John Thomas Barton (1838-1904) who hailed from Lancashire in England. Like his mother, the then four year-old John Alexander became a Barton. Catherine Barton formerly Bruce nee Howard died at Echuca in Victoria on 7 October 1890 and is buried in the local cemetery with her second husband who died there on 6 November 1904. Peter Spalding's 'Spalding and Jones' family tree on Ancestry tells us they had seven children the first six of whom lived out their lives in Victoria and the last, Edward Barton (1886-1949), died in Brisbane.

The 1906 electoral roll shows Alexander, a mill foreman, and Alice Mary Barton living at Wellington Mill in the Ferguson River valley in the Greater Bunbury subregion of the South West region of Western Australia. David Mizen's 'Mizen Sawmill Study' and other writings contained on the Pickering Brook History website, tells us they had earlier lived at Denmark on the southwest coast of Western Australia and where, in around 1905, John Alexander was appointed foreman of the Pickering Brook (formerly Canning) Sawmill. Located on the western outskirts of Perth the sawmill was part of Millar's Karri and Jarrah Company for which Barton was then working. The company had been formed a few years earlier and incorporated and was rationalising a number of existing saw-mills (including possibly Lightly's Mill owned by Alice Mary's brother-in-law . . . ). In his new appointment John was responsible for closing down and relocating the Canning Mill to its new location at Pickering Brook. Unfortunately he did not see the final result as he died unexpectedly at the Mill on 13 July 1908 (and, David Mizen tells us, is buried in Plot 10 on the eastern side of the 'Guildford Cemetery' on Kalamunda Road). David adds that the mill was later named, or became known as, 'Barton's Mill' thereby retaining John's legacy. He also says that 'the first manager of 'Barton's Mill' appears to have been John Osborne' another of Alice Mary's siblings. As detailed below, John Alexander and Alice Mary had three children we are aware of: Robert Kenneth Alexander, Jessica Elizabeth and Lois Jene or Jean Bruce.

In 1910 the widowed Alice Mary Barton married the then mill manager at Pickering Brook, William Thomas (1869-1927), at Claremont in Perth. The Australian Electoral Rolls show Alice and William living at Barton's Mill at Pickering Brook in 1912 and 1913. By the time of the 1916 election they had moved to Perth where William ran a news agency at Subiaco. The following notice in The West Australian (dated 17 November 1927) indicates that sometime after this they moved to Belka near Bruce Rock where Thomas died in 1927: 'DEATHS Thomas - On November 16 1927 at Weerelie, William, dearly beloved husband of Alice Mary Thomas of Belka and loved father of Gwen, Billie and Ron'. The same year Alice's eldest son, Robert Alexander Bruce, became engaged to Charlotte Campbell from Guildford in Perth. They were married there in 1928, the same year Alice's eldest daughter, Jessica Elizabeth Bruce, married Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey also in Perth.

The electoral rolls show that after William's death Alice continued to live at Belka until sometime after the Second World War when she moved to South Perth. A report in The West Australian on 27 November 1947 tells us that 'Mrs A. Thomas, of South Perth, left by the Stratheden this week for London to visit her daughter, Mrs Harry Massey at 36 Grove Way, Esher in Surrey' (Alice was then 64 years old, travelled First Class and described herself on the ship's manifest as a 'retired farmer'). The 1949 electoral roll has Alice at 29 Preston street in South Perth together with a Ronald Henry Thomas, engineer. She was still registered there in 1954 (Ronald Henry and Shirley Patricia Thomas were at 105 Forrest Street in South Perth). At the time of the 1958 and 1963 elections Alice was registered at 174 Coode Street in nearby Como. The WA metropolitan Cemeteries Board website shows Alice Mary Thomas, aged 80 years, died at Como on 16 March 1963. She was cremated at Karrakatta and is memorialised in the Crematorium Rose gardens (Garden 8A, position 0026). What of her six children?

1. Robert Kenneth Alexander Bruce (1901-56). Kenneth ('Ken') was born at Kirup southeast of Bunbury in Western Australia on 29 August 1921. In an internet article entitled 'Lest we Forget: Captain Robert Alexander Bruce', David Mizen tells us that after obtaining his leaving certificate at Perth Modern School in December 1919, Ken joined the West Australian Surveyor General's Department where he gained his unrestricted surveyors license five years later. On 4 April 1928, Ken married Charlotte Mary Campbell (1903-86) at St Andrew's Anglican Church in Perth. Born in the Perth suburb of Guildford, Charlotte's parents were Scottish-born William Home Campbell (1866-1946) and a native of Ballarat in Victoria, Marianne Williamson (1873-1949) who were married at Fremantle in Western Australia on 17 July 1894 (the 'WatsonCampbell' family tree on Ancestry tells us Charlotte had six siblings all of whom were also born at Guildford). David Mizen adds that around this time Ken took up a 'position as surveyor on agreement in Malaya' and was subsequently 'appointed to the Malaya Civil Service on 11 February 1929'. Thereafter, in addition to Ken 'progressing up the public service ladder, by 1931 Mrs Bruce was headmistress of the Banda Hilir English School . . . [both were also] active in the social scene, particularly tennis'. Early in 1941, following specialist training in India, Ken joined a British-based military Field Survey Company whose initial task was to survey and map uncharted territory in Malaya and Siam. Following the fall of Singapore in February 1942, he became a prisoner or war and would later be forced by the Japanese occupiers to work on the infamous Thai-Burma railway. At war's end Ken returned to his pre-war position in the civil service where in September 1945 he 'was seconded to what has now become known as the Graves Survey Party . . . [whose stated purpose was to] 'locate and record British and Australian graves of service men killed in action and POW graves [as well as] locate and recover film and other records and documents the Prisoners of War had created and buried at or near the POW Camps' (Mizen believes the British-controlled unit had a number of other tasks which continue to be secret). During this time Ken wrote about his experiences in letters to his wife who was then back in Western Australia. Extracts from one of his letters were included in an article entitled 'Digger Graves' published in Perth's Daily News on 12 October 1945. This read:

. . . An Australian soldier who was recently released from a Jap prison camp is now showing men of the Australian War Graves Commission where Australians who died on the infamous Burma railway are buried. He is Captain Kenneth Bruce, of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force. He tells his wife, who lives in Loch Street Claremont, of this in a letter written in Bangkok, Siam, on September 20. "I will be taking the Graves Commission people back over the line from Bangkok to Moulmein, pointing out the cemeteries so that they will be able to come along later and clean things up a bit . . . There are roughly 150 cemeteries with our 15,000 dead, and as most of them will be grown up in the jungle now, the job will be difficult and will take from four to six weeks. The delay hurts, but unless one of us who was actually through it all stays behind and shows these men around they would never find half of the graves . . . During my absence I will be completely cut off and it will be a melancholy, bitter and desolute duty. There should be great stories written about the building of the railway. I am sure no other in the world cost so much in human life, in sacrifice or utter degradation. Death was with us all the time from November, 1943, till October, 1944 - not a sudden release but a slow, lingering fade out - men just died because they could not fight on any longer after having kept death at bay for so long".

From the Australian War Memorial: 'Informal group portrait of War Graves Commission survey party members at Three Pagoda Pass
on the Burma Thailand border. Left to Right: Warrant Officer 2 Cody, Leading Aircraftman McGregor, Captain White, Lieutenant (Lt) Schroder,
Captain Bruce, Padre Babb, Lt Eldridge, Lt Leemon. The War Graves Commission survey party's task was to locate prisoner of war (POW) cemeteries
and grave sites along the Burma-Thailand railway. They also took the opportunity to recover equipment and documents
which had been secretly buried, under instructions from senior POW officers, in the graves of deceased POWs'.

Ken was released from the British Army early in 1946 and began service as Chief Surveyor Penang in July of that year. Later the same year he and Charlotte and their daughter Catharine travelled to Western Australia. Robert returned to Malaya and worked there until his retirement in July 1955 (at which time he was the Chief Surveyor of Jahore). During this time, their daughter Catharine attended the University of Western Australia and later undertook post-graduate study in London where she was married on 4 July 1952:

Of interest to Western Australian friends was the marriage at St. John's Wood, England, on July 4, of Miss Catharine Bruce, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Kenneth Bruce, of Jahore Bahru, Malaya, to Mr John Cole Cool. A graduate of the University of Western Australia, Mrs Cool was doing a post-graduate course in psychology at the London University. Her husband, who graduated from Yale University with an engineering degree, is now studying for a doctorate degree in social anthropology. After spending their honey moon in Cornwall and Ireland, Mr and Mrs Cool will fly from Scotland to New York, and in September they will leave San Francisco for Samoa, where Mr Cool will take up a position as American adviser on Samoan affairs (The West Australian, 10 July 1952).

The Perth Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website shows that Robert Kenneth Alexander Bruce, aged 54 years, died at Claremont in Perth on 26 August 1956. His ashes were dispersed at Karrakatta Cemetery. The Australian Electoral Rolls show Charlotte was working as a teacher and living at 45 Loch Street in Claremont until at least 1980. The Find a Grave website tells us Charlotte Mary Bruce nee Campbell died at Subiaco in Perth on 26 October 1986. She was cremated and her ashes placed into the Campbell family grave at Karrakatta Cemetery (Presbyterian-Ha-0419). As noted above, her and Ken's daughter, Catharine - pictured on the right - , married an American, John Cole Cool (1926-2017), at West Hampstead in London on 4 July 1952. Born in Ohio, John was the younger son of an engineer, William Leslie Irvin Cool (1890-1942), and school teacher, Mary Louise Cole (1891-1961), who were married there on 15 June 1916. As detailed on the USAid Alumni Association website, 'John Cool was an American diplomat, anthropologist, international development agent, philanthropist, and a naval officer, with a career spanning 55 years, 4 continents, 10 countries and had a meaningful positive impact on a great swath of the world's population. He served in the U.S. Navy at the end of WW II, the Department of the Interior in Samoa, the State Department (USAID) in Laos, Nepal, and India, the Ford Foundation in India, Pakistan and the Philippines, the Agricultural Development Council and Winrock International in Nepal and Thailand and the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan'. It adds that John died on 6 April 2017 and was survived by 'Catharine, his wife of 65 years and loving, devoted partner throughout all his overseas assignments and adventures, by his son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Erika, of Great Falls, VA, by his daughter, Jennifer, son, Christopher, daughter-in-law Marita, and grandchildren Kaitlyn and Cameron, of Los Angeles, CA'.

The 'Cool Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us John's wife, Catharine, died at Great Falls Virginia in the USA on 2 December 2021. Her obituary published in the Washington Post and contained on the Legacy website reads in part: 'Born in Malacca, Malaysia in 1929, Catharine was educated at Perth Modern School, the University of Western Australia, and at University College, London. Catharine created an extraordinary body of creative work from painting and collage to poetry, photography, and writing. She held 18 exhibits on three continents, published three memoirs, and two books of poetry. She was inspired by landscapes and cultures encountered while living in Samoa, Laos, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and the US. Compassionate and witty, she sought the rare and unusual, and avoided the commonplace. Her genuine, essential sweetness touched the hearts of all who knew her.'

2. Jessica Elizabeth ('Jessie Eliza') Bruce (1903-84). Jessie trained as a school teacher and in this capacity met, at an Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Congress held at Perth in 1926, a bright young Melbourne University physics student, Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey (1908-83). According to his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Harrie

was born on 16 May 1908 at Invermay, Victoria, only child of Tasmanian-born Harrie Stewart Massey, miner, and his Victorian-born wife Eleanor Elizabeth, nee Wilson. Harrie spent his early years at Hoddles Creek, Victoria, where his father owned a sawmill, and obtained his merit certificate at the local state school in four years instead of the usual eight. He moved to Melbourne with his mother to take up a scholarship at University High School, where he was senior prefect in his final year. Supported by a government scholarship, in 1925 Massey enrolled at the University of Melbourne [where he obtained a B.Sc in 1928 and a BA Hons and M.Sc in 1929], winning a succession of prizes and exhibitions and completing full honours courses in physics, chemistry and mathematics. No drudge, he found plenty of time for sport and relaxation, especially billiards, tennis, baseball - at which he represented the university - and his great love, cricket, at which he excelled.

Harrie's biography, published after his death on 27 November 1983 by the Royal Society - to which he had been elected a Fellow in 1940 - tells us a little more about his first meeting Jessie and their subsequent lives together:

Massey attended the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held in Perth in August 1925. He told me how he was attracted by the exquisite beauty of a girl seated alone in the hotel where he stayed and how he shyly introduced himself. The girl was Jessica Elizabeth[sic] Bruce, who had just moved into teaching. Harrie described the courtship that followed as idyllic, the happiest period in his life. They were married while Harrie was still an undergraduate, and had one daughter, Pamela Lois. It was obvious to all who knew them that they remained an utterly devoted couple. Harrie told me that Jessica encouraged him in making the change from chemistry to physics and always participated in major decisions. He acknowledged that without her much of the drive in his work would have been lacking. She shared his love of travel. Domestically she helped passively by accepting with patience the heavy demands his work often made on his time and actively by her companionship and by being a good manager and natural cook. Jessica it was who planned their beautiful final home and garden in Esher near London. It is called Kalamunda, the aboriginal name of an area in Western Australia in which she once lived. There are several tall eucalyptus trees in that Surrey garden.

Jessie and Harrie were married at the district registrar's office in Perth on 11 January 1928 and, a year later, travelled to Cambridge where Harrie had a travelling scholarship to work at the prestigious Cavendish Laboratories for two years. While there he was awarded a further bursary which enabled him to complete his PhD at Cambridge and publish, with his colleague and mentor C. B. O. Mohr, the classic text The Theory of Atomic Collisions (1933). In August of that year they and their daughter Pamela Lois Massey returned to Australia to visit friends and family. While there Jessie was interviewed by the Australian Womens' Weekly where her remarks were both interesting and revealing. They spent, she told her interviewer:

the three months long vacation of each year travelling on the Continent avoiding the hotels catering for English people and selecting places typical of the country. In France she found children were not very welcome adjuncts to travellers, but in the other Latin countries and in Germany, excellent provision was made for tiny travellers'. Pamela Massey has been travelling since she was two, and has picked up ordinary, everyday words in seven languages. The family also had the opportunity of comparing foods and modes of life more so than the usual tourist. They did not care much for German food. There was too much meat and pork. And the French cooking did not appeal. Dutch food had the nearest resemblance to the English, of all the Continental countries, and they found Spanish and Portuguese fare, with an abundance of fruit, nuts and fish, delicious. Living in Cambridge. Mrs. Massey found food expensive. but domestic help good and cheap. 'It is very easy to get capable domcstic help in England. You can get an excellent maid for ten shillings a week, and one never dreams of being without one as you have to in Australia, she laughed. They are returning to England in September. 'My husband will be going to Russia,' Mrs. Massey said. She is a staunch supporter of that country. 'There is a very wrong impression circulated about it,' she said, 'tourists especially have a great time there. Everything is made very easy for them' (2 August 1933).

A subsequent visit made in 1937 was reported in equally gushing terms in The West Australian on the 23rd of July of that year:

Back in Perth after an absence of 10 years is Mrs. H. S. W. Massey, formerly Miss Jessie Bruce, who is spending this week-end with her mother, Mrs. A. Thomas, of Bruce Rock. With her husband, Dr. Massey (a physicist who is on a broadcasting tour of Australian national stations) and her eight-year-old daughter, Pamela, Mrs. Massey arrived from London by the Orford on Tuesday and will continue the journey to the Eastern States by the Narkunda next week. Chatting with friends at a reception to the Comedian Harmonists on Wednesday evening, Mrs. Massey outlined her life in Belfast, where she and her husband spend the nine months of the university year, and where Pamela attends a school run on the Dalton scheme, for which Mrs. Massey is full of praise. There was no formality at the school, she said, the teachers rarely being addressed by their surnames. The French mistress, for instance, was generally known as "Maddie," "Missie" was the mistress of Form I, while another mistress answered to the name of "Grubbie." The only member of the staff who was given her proper title was the principal. "Nevertheless," Mrs. Massey remarked. "the children are well disciplined and courteous and seem to develop in originality and self-reliance." Dr. and Mrs. Massey live in an old coaching house which has been modernised, but which retains a strong link with the past in the oldest grape vine in Northern Ireland. This is in a glass house, but bears excellent fruit without the aid of artificial heating. Apples, pears, cherries, red and black currants and gooseberries also grow prolifically and will be in full fruit at the present time. Mrs. Massey was educated in Melbourne, where her marriage took place. She has been in Belfast for three years and before that was four years at Cambridge, where her husband was doing research.

In the ensuing years, Harrie's academic star continued to rise. In 1938 he was appointed Goldsmid Proessor of Mathematics at University College London (UCL). After working for the Admiralty during the Second World War where he collaborated for a time on the Manhatten Project, he returned to UCL where he galvanised the Department's atomic and nuclear physics programs. As a Fellow of the Royal Society he was also heavily involved in the development of Britain's aerospace industry and activities including its involvement in the creation and use of the Woomera rocket range in Australia. Jessie meanwhile was putting her energies into her daughter and their newly acquired house in the fashionable town of Esher in Surrey which she no doubt introduced to Alice during her visit to England in 1947. Although they continued to make England their home Harrie and Jessie visited Australia on many occasions and by all accounts retained a strong affection for their native land. After a long illness Harrie died at Esher in 1983, Jessie died at Claygate in Surrey a year later. The Catherine House records show that a Pamela L. Massey married Leonard A. Duncanson in the Surrey Northern RD of England in 1952 although we have yet to confirm this is Harrie and Jessie's only daughter.

The photo on the left is from Lisa Wahlsten's Osborne/Wahsten Family Tree on Ancestry. It was taken in around 1953 and shows (L/R):
Ailsa Joyce Stammer (nee osborne), her younger brother Raymond Osborne and their two cousins Gwenda Iris ('Gwen') Thomas and Bill Thomas.
The one on the right is of Professor Sir Harrie Stewart Wilson Massie (1908-83) who married Gwen Thomas' half sister,
Jessie Eliza Bruce (1903-84), at Perth in 1928.

3. Lois Jene (or Jean) Bruce (1907-50). Like her mother, Lois was twice married. Her first husband was a Korbel-based farmer, John Charles Forster (1901-79). who she married at St George's Cathedral in Perth in 1929. According to the 'Nicholas Farley Family Tree' on Ancestry, John was born at Brainshaugh in Northumberlend in England on 11 January 1901 and emigrated with his parents - John Jaap Forster (1866-1949) and Mary Ann Stobbs (1864-1954) - to Australia in 1910. John Snr's obituary in the 30 June 1949 edition of the Bruce Rock Corrigan Post tells us he 'took up farming operations in Korbel 38 years ago. In his younger days Mr Forster was a very keen bowls enthusiast, but during his latter years be led a very retired life. During the last two or three years he has been residing at Cottesloe'. He fell ill during a visit back to Korbel and was transferred to a hospital in Perth where he died on 15 June 1949. John Jaap Forster was cremated and is memorialised in the Karrakatta Cemetery along with his wife Mary who died at Cottesloe on 1 July 1954 (Crematorium Rose Gardens Garden 48 Position 0014). Their respective death notices in The West Australian tell us they were the parents of Charles and grandparents of Rosemary and Dorothy.

After their marriage in 1929, John Charles and Lois Forster lived at Korbel where they had two children before John divorced Lois in Perth in 1942. As reported in Perth's Daily News on 8 April that year, Lois had become involved with another Korbel farmer, Horace Joseph Stone (1914-62), who she married in 1942 and with whom she had a further child (Judy). Lois continued to live at Korbel until her death there on 14 July 1950. The following notices were published in The West Australian on 15 July 1950: 'DEATHS STONE: On July 14. 1950. at Royal Perth Hospital. Lois Jean the beloved wife of Horace Joseph Stone, devoted mother of Rosemary. Dorothy and Judy: aged 43 years. STONE: On July 14, at Perth loved mother of Rosemary. My own darling mummy. STONE: On July 14. 1950. loved and devoted mummy of Dorothy Anne. Goodbye. Mummy darling. STONE (nee Lols Barton Bruce): On July 14. 1950. Lois Jene greatly loved daughter of Mrs. A. M. Thomas, 29 Preston-street Como, loved sister of Ken, Jessie (England), Gwennie, Billie (Melbourne) and Ron. STONE: On July 14, Lois. loved sister of Ron and sister-in-law of Shirley. Sadly missed. STONE: On July 14, Lois. loved sister and sister-in-law of Billie and Helen Thomas, Melbourne. STONE: On July 14, 1950. Lois beloved sister of Jessle (Mrs. H. Massey. England), sister-in-law of Harrle. Loved aunty of Pamela Lois. STONE: On July 14, 1950, Lols much loved sister of Gwennie sister-in-law of Vern Dewar. Sweet rest Janle. STONE (L): At Perth, on July 14, Lois, loved wife of Horace, of Korbel, esteemed sister-in-law of Cecll and Enid Lamb. I34 Killarney- street. Mt. Hawthorn. STONE: A loving tribute to Lois Jene, from Charles, Rosemary and Dorothy Forster. Sweet memories. The Perth Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website shows that Lois was cremated at the Karrakatta Crematorium and is memorialised in the Crematorium Rose Gardens (Garden 8A, position 26). Her second spouse, Horace Joseph Stone (1904-62) who was born at Bunbury in Western Australia, died at Korbel on 31 June 1962 and is also memorialised in the Crematorium Rose Gardens at Karrakatta (Garden 4D, Position 0013).

As noted, Lois had three daughters: Rosemary and Dorothy with John Charles Forster and Judy with Horace Joseph Stone. The Victorian index of BDMs tells us Lois' eldest daughter, Rosemary Forster (1931-2017), married Michael George Gilbert Farley in 1955 (a brief report of the wedding in the 13 June 1955 edition of the Melbourne Argus - which included the photo shown on the right - indicates it took place at South Yarra in Melbourne). According to the 'Nicholas Farley Family Tree' on Ancestry, Michael was the son of Cyril Farley (1895-1971) and Winifred Alice Philp (1902-66) who were married at Plymouth in Devon in 1929. It adds that Rosemary and Michael had three children - two boys and a girl - all of whom are married (one of the boys has two girls) - and that Rosemary died in Canberra on 28 July 2017. Her death notice, published in the Melbourne Age on 3 August 2017, reads: 'FARLEY Rosemary 07.01.1931 - 28.07.2017. Passed away peacefully after a long illness, aged 86 years. Loving mother of Amanda, Nick and Tim and proud grandmother of Zoe and Charlotte'.

4. William (Bill) Roy Thomas married Helen Dorothy Riches at Darlington in Perth in 1948. The wedding was reported in The West Australian on 5 July 1948) as follows: Thomas-Riches Wedding The wedding of Miss Helen Riches, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Riches, of Darlington, and Mr. William Thomas, son of Mrs. A. Thomas and the late Mr. W. Thomas, of Korbel, took place in St. Cuthbert's Church, Darlington, on Saturday evening. The bride's gown of silver embroidered tulle over white satin, fashioned with a pointed bodice and full crinoline skirt, was worn with a raw-cut tulle veil of finger-tip length, and white daisies were used for her small bouquet. The matron of honour, Mrs. G. Munyard, carried a bouquet of violets and ageratum against her smart draped frock of pearly-grey crepe. Miss Joan Freeman, the bridesmaid, wore a picture frock of pale aqua-blue. Cecile Brunner roses and pale-blue daisies were used for the light coronet on her hair and for her bouquet. The groom was attended by Messrs. R. Thomas and K. Law. Before leaving the reception at the bride's mother's home in Lionel-road, the bride changed to a smart grey tailored suit and a little matching felt hat. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas plan to tour in the South-West before leaving for Melbourne, where they will make their home'.

Her file in the National Archives shows that W96845 (later WX34698) Helen Dorothy Riches, born at Albany on 4 September 1920, enlisted in the Australian Army at Claremont in Western Australia on 15 October 1942 (she had been serving in the CMF from 30 September the same year). Helen was working as a hairdresser and living at 27 Mountjoy Road Nedlands and gave as her NOKs her father Lieutenant Les Riches, 4th Motor Transport Coy Singapore (POW) and her mother Mary Smith Riches of 27 Mountjoy Road Nedlands. Helen's service record showed she served both in Australia and PNG (in the 2/9th Australian General Hospital from 12 September 1943 until 27 June 1944). She was discharged in Western Australia on 30 May 1945 at which time she was a private soldier at 1 Australian General Hospital. As noted, Helen's parents were Leslie (Les) Gordon Riches (1892-1954) and Mary Smith (Mollie) Berliner (1896-1979) who were married at Plantaganet in Western Australia on 10 December 1919 (their wedding photo is shown on the right). The 'Riches Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us Les was born at Broken Hill in NSW, one of eight children of a native of Spitalfields in East London, Henry James Riches (1861-1918), and Caroline Hart (1867-1942) who was said to have been born in the West Indies. Married at Broken Hill in 1888, they later moved to South Australia and then, in around 1897, to Boulder in Western Australia where Henry worked as a fitter. On 12 April 1916, Henry enlisted in the First AIF at Perth. Allocated to the 5th reinforcements for the 5th Pioneer Battalion, he sailed from Fremantle on the ARGYLLSHIRE on 9 November the same year. After arriving at Devonport on 10 January 1917, he underwent training at Lark Hill before being attached to UK Engineer training units atBrightlingsea, Weymouth and Bulford in England. In June 1918 he was admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia and carcinoma of the liver. He was subsequently repatriated back to Australia where he died at 8 Australian General Hospital in Fremantle on 3 October 1918. The Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website shows Henry is buried in the Fremantle Cemetery (Anglican Section MON AA Site 1659). The same source tells us Caroline died at Mount Barker on 14 March 1943 and is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery (General Section BA Gravesite 0158). Her obituary published in the The West Australian on 16 March 1943 stated she was the 'widow of the late Henry J. Riches, loved mother of Henry, Leslie, Clifford, Claude, Peb and Robbin; aged 73 years'. Like his father, Les Riches served in the First AIF. As detailed in the following article published in Mount Barker's Southern Sentinel on 25 February 1954, he also served in the Second AIF in Malaya where he became a prisoner of war:

VALE LESLIE GORDON RICHES News of the sudden death of one of Mount Barker's late residents will come as a shock to his many friends. Leslie Gordon Riches passed away at his late residence at Bright, Victoria, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 1954. Late Mr. Riches came to Mt. Barker from Kalgoorlie with his parents prior to the 1st World War, and was engaged in farming activities here. At the outbreak of World War 1, he was the first civilian to answer the call from Mt. Barker, and was attached to the original 11th Batt., and served in Galipolli, Egypt and France. His outstanding leadership of men soon won his promotion to commissioned rank serving as Lieut, in the field. During his services in France he was awarded the MC, and twice mentioned in dispatches for conspicuous gallantry and leadership. After being discharged from the AIF he spent some time farming in this district and while living here he took a very active part in sport, being captain of the North Football Club . . . On leaving the district and going to Perth, he was invited to play league football with the Subiaco team, and proved a top favorite with his club mates. On the outbreak of World War II, late Les Riches rejoined the Army with his former rank, and was not satisfied until he was sent on Active Service. He served in Malaya until the fall of Singapore and was POW until hostilities ceased. He returned to Australia very broken in health and had to practically retire from civil life. After living at Darlington for some time, he and his wife moved to Bright, Victoria, where he lived until his death. Deceased was a man of great physical strength and a keen-sense of humor. Many are the tales told by old Anzacs of his daring and enterprise in Galipolli; fie never knew fear and possessed a charmed life in the field—serving through two wars without being wounded. While POW in Malaya—in Changi and the terrible Burma Railway —by his courage and tenacity he won the admiration of all his men who will ever remember his loyalty to them. So many friends and old diggers will grieve to hear of his passing, and will remember with pride his wonderful war service. He leaves a widow, a daughter and grand-daughter to mourn his loss.

The Find a Grave website shows Leslie Gordon (Les) Riches died at Bright in Victoria on 14 February 1954 and is buried in the local cemetery there (CoE Sect 2 Block F Lot 65.5). His headstone reads: 'WX11045 Lieutenant L. G. Riches MC Army Service Corps 14 February 1954 Age 57. Also served 1914-18 War. Beloved 'Fardie' of Mollie, Helen, Bill & Susan'. Mary Smith (Mollie) Riches nee Berliner died at Richmond in Melbourne on 29 August 1979 and is buried with Les in the Bright Cemetery, Her gravestone reads: 'In Loving Memory of Mollie Riches 29 August 1979. 85 years. Helen and Bill. Susan, Liane, Jillian, Scott'.

The Australian Electoral rolls show a William Roy, engineer, and Helen Dorothy Thomas, assistant, living at 7 Craigrossie Street in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg in 1949 and on Ballarat Road Deer Park in 1954 and 1963. The Ryerson Index and Find a Grave websites show they both died in South Australia, Helen on 24 April 1996 and Bill on 16 May 2005, and are both memorialised in the Centennial Park Cemetery at Pasadena in the City of Mitcham in Adelaide (Charles Newman, Rose 008, Position 1). Helen's memorial plaque reads: 'Beloved and loving wife of Bill. Loving mother of Susan, Liane & Jill. Loving Nana of Scott, Eliza, Thomas and Samuel'. Bills: 'Remembered always by his loved ones: Helen Dorothy Thomas (dec), Susan, Liane, Jill, Scott, Eliza, Tom, Sam, Jaqui, Liam, Nicola, Rachel, Jon and Andrew'.

5. Gwenda Iris ('Gwen') Thomas (1911-91) was also married twice. Her first husband was Peto Munyard (1919-43), son of William George Munyard (1891-1929) and Minnie Amelia Jorgenson (1895-1963). Born at Magill in South Australia, Peto enlisted in the RAAF at Perth on 7 October 1940. His NOK was Gwenda Munyard who he had married in Perth in 1941. Peto died on 20 March 1942 while serving in the Middle East as a Sergeant in 14 Squadron. According to the Australian War Memorial he was killed in a 'flying battle' and is buried at the El Alamein War Cemetery at Marsa Matruh in Egypt. The Munyard Family Tree on Ancestry tells us Peto and Gwen had no children. On 22 December 1948, The West Australian reported the following engagement: 'Gwenda Iris Munyard. youngest daughter of the late Mr. W. Thomas and Mrs. A. M. Thomas (Korbel) and 29 Preston-street. Como, to Frederick Vernon, only son of the late Mr. H. F. Dewar and Mrs. F. M. Dewar. 90 Anzac road. Mt. Hawthorn'. They were married the following year and lived in South Perth/Como where Frederick worked as a grocer and business manager and Gwen as a teacher. We think they may have had at least one son, Robert Vernon Dewar who was living with his parents in 1980 and working as a gardener, although this has not been confirmed. The Perth Metropolitan Cemeteries Board shows that Gwenda Iris Dewar, aged 80 years, died at South Perth on 23 September 1991, was cremated at the Karrakatta Cemetery and is memorialised in the Garden of Remembrance there along with her husband Frederick Vernan Dewar, aged 74, who died at South Perth on 6 December the same year (RC Section, garden 12, position 248).

6. Ronald Henry ('Ron') Thomas (1924-87). The Australian Electoral Rolls show Ron living with his mother Alice Mary Thomas at South Perth at the time of the 1949 election and working as an engineer. The 'Reverse' WA Marriages database shows a Ronald H. Thomas and Shirley P. Lee were married at Perth the same year (reg no 847). Their engagement notice, published in the West Australian newspaper on 29 November 1948, tells us Shirley Patricia Lee was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Frank Lee of 140 Wittenoom Street East Perth. According to the 'Thomas Family Tree' on Ancestry, Frank was from Durham in England and had married a NSW woman, Margaret (Peggy) McPherson (1893-1983), at Perth in 1922. The electoral rolls and other newspaper reports indicate Frank worked as a butcher and had at least two brothers, Herbert and George Lee. The Perth Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website shows that a Frank Lee aged 64 died at Floreat Park in Perth on 31 May 1961 and was buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Karrakatta Cemetery (Lawn 3, Grave 82). The grantee for the gravesite was Margaret Lee. The 'Thomas family Tree' tells us Frank's parents were William Lee (1866-1931) and Helen Parker (1859-1920) who were married at Chester in the county of Cheshire in England in 1887 and, together with their seven children, emigrated to Western Australia in 1910.

The Australian electoral rolls show Ron and Shirley Patricia Thomas living at 105 Forrest Street in South Perth in 1954 and 1958. It seems they then moved to Canberra although we are still to corroborate that the Perth and Canberra Ronald Henrys are the same person. The 1963 and 1968 election rolls have Ronald Henry, engineer, and Shirley Patricia Thomas living at 48 Hicks Street in the inner suburb of Red Hill. The 1972 roll has them both at 6 Lisbon Street in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley. In 1977 they were both registered at 16 Sheringham Drive in Glen Waverley (along with a Paul Francis Thomas, student). At the time of the 1980 election, Ron and Shirley were back in Canberra and living at 80 Brereton Street Garran. The following death notice was published in the Canberra Times on 9 January 1987: 'THOMAS, Ronald Henry. Passed away peacefully on 8th January at Peter McCallum Hospital, Melbourne. Beloved husband of Shirley, much loved father of Ann, Paul and Helen, Father-in-law of Peter and Sally, loving grandpa of Blake, Travis, Simon and Fiona. Will always live in our hearts'. A subsequent report in the same newspaper noted that probate from Ronald's will was to be granted to his widow, Shirley Patricia Thomas. The 'Thomas Family Tree' tells us Shirley died in the Melbourne suburb of Canterbury in 2020 although we have not as yet confirmed this.

Also from Lisa Wahlsten's Osborne/Wahlsten Family Tree on Ancestry, the photo on the left was taken in 1953 and is of Gwen Thomas and Joyce Osborne.
In the centre is Gwen's first husband, Sgt Peto Munyard 14 Squadron RAAF, who was killed in action in North Africa in 1942.
Pictured on the right are Gwen Thomas, Joyce Osborne and Ron Thomas in 1953.

9. George Alfred Osborne (1885-1959)

George was born at Eganstown in Victoria. He undertook his schooling in the old Telegraph School at Eganstown until 1901 when he began work as a junior teacher at the nearby Musk Vale State School. After gaining first place in the entrance examination he attended Melbourne University Teachers' College where he won the 1905 Gladman teaching prize. The following year he won the Dwight prize for the theory and practice of education, and completed a Master of Arts degree. In 1909 George married Emmeline Jane 'Lena' Wall (1884-1981). Born at Panmure in Victoria in 1884, Lena was the daughter of Thomas Wall and Louisa Rawlings (1850-1929). Louisa's death notice published in the Melbourne Argus on 26 October 1929 indicates she and Thomas had five children in addition to Lena: Maud Jessie, who worked as a governess, Albert, Maime, Ethel Eleanor, and Lila Thomesina Wall.

George taught at Warrnambool, North Fitzroy and Melbourne High School before serving as head master at Mildura High School towards the end of the First World war. In 1919 George and Lena moved to Lucknow near Bairnsdale in Gippsland where George worked as an inspector of schools. After being promoted to senior inspector in 1929, they returned to Melbourne where they lived at 419 Barker's Road in Kew (also registered there in 1937 was a Joyce Roberta Osborne a receptionist). In 1932 George was a member of a committee appointed by the Victorian Government to consider changes to the State schools curriculum. In an interview published in the Adelaide News in April of that year, George provided his readers with an overview of the direction these changes may take: 'In the revision of subject matter we must face the fact that our system is too academic and formal and too little concerned with life and the development of power in the individual. We tend to think more of the amount of knowledge we can instil into the minds of the pupils, and too little of the development of thought, reasoning power, initiative, resourcefulness, ability to attack new problems, and of adjustment to life as a whole in the pupils'. Probably at a result of his work with the committee, George was subsequently made an assistant chief inspector and, in 1938, was awarded a Carnegie travelling scholarship by the Australian Council for Educational Research to investigate the educational problems and practices in the United States and Canada. George later became Victoria's chief inspector of primary schools, an appointment he held until 1950. His retirement in that year sparked the following article in the Melbourne Argus:

The man who never left school. Sixty-five year old George Alfred Osborne - the man who never left school - is all for the modern child. And there is probably no one in Australia more competent to judge. Mr Osborne, who retired yesterday as Victoria's chief inspector of primary schools, has had 50 years in the education service. It began back in 1901, when, at the age of 15, he was a pupil at the old Telegraph school in the Daylesford district on Friday, and a 12/6 a-week junior teacher at Musk Vale school, a couple of miles away, on the following Monday. That is how it came about that he never left school. Yesterday, as he tidied up his office desk, assisted by his secretary, Miss Nancy Lee, he had a few things to say. 'Don't fall for grandmother's line that little children should be seen and not heard', said Mr. Osborne. 'The chief reason why modern education is so successful is because children are no longer punished into silence. Today they are not afraid to express an opinion, and as a result are more alert and responsive to teaching, and go out into the world much better citizens. I am violently opposed to rigid discipline and corporal punishment in schools. Both are repressive, and prevent a child from developing his own personality and initiative'. Mr. Osborne disagrees with grandmother on another score. 'Children of today are not undisciplined they are just brighter and more alert than the children of the early century', he said. Mr. Osborne thinks that the standard of education and teaching has advanced 'tremendously' in the last 50 years. Today teachers thought less of teaching the 'Three R's' than of developing the child's mind. And what will Mr. Osborne do with himself now? 'I'll just potter around the various organisations on which I serve, and see if I can do a little good here and there', h« said (24 May 1950).

George was able to potter around in retirement for a further nine years. He died at Kew in 1959 and, we think, was cremated at the Springvale Crematorium on 31 March of that year. Lena lived on for another 22 years, dying at Bright in Victoria in 1981. She and George had at least three children we are aware of, an eldest daughter and two others as follows:

1) Joyce Roberta Osborne who married David Renshaw Nicholls (1900-46) in Melbourne in 1938 (see her photo below). As reported in the Melbourne Argus, Joyce and David spent their honeymoon on an eight-month world tour that involved sailing to Naples and then travelling some '2000 miles overland visiting the Italian lakes, Venice and Monte Carlo then through the south of France to Paris and then England. Later they will return to Europe to visit Germany and return to Australla via the United States of America' (19 October 1937). The same article informed its readers that Joyce was a 'member of the Gold Diggers, a band of enthusiastic young workers for charity'.

2) Ralph Douglas Osborne (1917-73) who was born at Mildura and enlisted in the Australian Army at Royal Park on 31 July 1941. He was discharged on 26 February 1946 at which time he was a WO1 serving in the HQ First Australian Army. The Australian electoral rolls show that Ralph and Margaret Sandford Osborne lived all their married lives in Sandringham (later Beaumaris) in Melbourne where Ralph worked as a clerk. He died there in 1973, she in 2014. Both were cremated at the Springvale Botanical cemetery. They had at least one son we are aware of: Christopher George Osborne who served as a national serviceman during the period of the Vietnam war.

The photo on the left is from the Melbourne Age dated 15 January 1938 and shows Joyce Roberta Osborne on her wedding day at
Melbourne's Wesley Church where she married David Renshaw Nicholls. The other two photos come from the Wade Family Tree on Ancestry
and are of Gweneth Olive Clark and Raymond Abel Wade on their wedding day in May 1957 (see below).

10. Olive Eva Violet Osborne (1888-1978)

Like her brother George, Olive trained and worked as a teacher. At the time of the 1914 election she and her younger brother, Charles Stanley Osborne, were both teaching at Dean in the Grampions. The following year she married a local farmer William Harold Clark (1892-1969). The Clark family tree on Ancestry tells us that William and both his parents, William Clark (1864-1957) and Mary Jane Vanstone (c1869-1939), were born at Dean. It adds that William had eight siblings: Ethel Mae, Edwin Thomas, Herbert, Margaret, Marion, Allan, Dorothy Irene and Walter Clark. After their marriage William and Olive lived first at Dean and then, from around 1931 to sometime after 1954, at Berrybank near Camperdown in central Victoria. The 1960s saw then retire to Ballarat where William died in 1969 and Olive in 1978. They were both cremated at the Ballarat New Cemetery. Olive and William had two daughters as follows:

1. Floris Irene Clark (1917-84). Born at Creswick in Victoria Floris married Foxhow-born Victor Clive Dunn (1915-2000) probably at Skipton in around 1940 although that has still to be confirmed. Clive served in the RAAF between 1942 and 1946 when he was a Leading Aircraftman with 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot. The Australian Electoral Rolls show them living at Linton in 1943, Berrybank in 1949 and, from 1954, at Woodoo near Mortlake where Clive farmed land. They both died and are buried at Woondoo, Floris in 1984 and Clive in 2000. Their shared headstone tells us they had two children: Shirley and Philip William Dunn.

2. Gweneth Olive ('Gwen') Clark (1920-2013). Also born at Creswick, Gwen trained as a nurse at the Womens' Hospital in Melbourne and was working as a nurse at Berrybank in 1954. According to the Wade Family Tree on Ancestry, she married Raymond Abel Wade in 1957 (photos of them at their wedding are shown above). It adds that Raymond had been previously married - to Alice Mary Cairns (1916-55) who he married at Skipton in 1938 - and had two sons with her: Robert Leslie Wade (1948-2011) and John Raymond Wade (1938-85). The Australian Electoral rolls show that Gwen and Raymond farmed land at Woondoo. Raymond died at Warrnambool in 1983 and was cremated at the Ballarat Crematorium. His memorial plaque tells us he and Gwen had three children: David, Andrew and Elizabeth Wade. Gwen died at Woondoo in 2013.

11. Charles Stanley Osborne (1890-1941)

Born at Eganstown on 20 August 1890, at the time of the 1912 election, Charles was living at Melbourne's Teacher Training Collage on Gratton Street in Carlton. The 1914 electoral roll has he and his older sister, Olive Eva Violet Osborne, who was also working as a teacher, living at Dean, located between Creswick and Daylesford in central Victoria. His file in the National Archives shows Charles, who was then living and teaching at Colbinabbin west of Bendigo, sought to enlist in the First AIF at Melbourne on 20 October 1917. He was rejected as unfit for military service on account of an existing heart condition. By the time of the 1924 election, Charles was living and teaching at Merbein in Mildura. On 16 December 1926, he married Lilias May Arnold (1901-94) at Merbein's St John's Anglican Church. A repot of the wedding in the Sunraysia Daily tells us Charrles was then the headmaster of Merbein West State School. It added that Lilias, the youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs William Arnold of 'Coolangatta' at Merbein,

. . . looked charming in a handsome frock of ivory crepe-de-chine with train, wreath and veil of Limerick lace . . . Miss Dorothy Stevens, as bridesmaid, wore a charming gown of blue georgetta . . . Mrs Balzary, of Malvern [and] sister of the bridegroom, wore an effective frock of navy blue with putty trimmngs and hat to match. The wedding breakfast was served in a largo marquee at the residence of the bride's parents . . . About ninety guests sat down to the breakfast, Rev K. P. Goodison presiding. The toast of the bride was submitted by Mr J. C. Thompson in his usual happy manner. The toast of the bridegroom was submitted by Mr C. S. Osborne, suitable responses being made by Mr W. R. Aruold, who was best man at the wedding. Mr E. J. Casey proposed the toast of the parents of the bride and bridegroom, responses being made by Mr W. Annold and Mr G. A. Osborne MA of Kew, brother of the bridegroom . . . The happy couple left for Melbourne later in the afternoon, travelling by car. It is expected that Mr and Mrs Osborne will make their future home in Merbein (22 December 1926).

According to the 'Vercoe & Freestone connections' family tree on Ancestry, Lilias May Arnold was born at Stawell in central Victoria on 25 December 1900. Her parents were William Arnold (1865-1943) and Emma Galloway (1869-1963) who were married in the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown on 10 December 1890. Lilias' father was born at Ballarat, the son of two natives of Staffordshire in England, William Arnold snr and Eliza Braddock, who were married at Wolverhanpton in 1861 and emigrated to Australia not long after. William Arnold jnr's obituary, published in the Sunraysia Daily on 21 July 1943, tells us he 'came to Merbein in October, 1913, and took up a horticultural block in Yelta Road, Merbein West, where he has resided for almost 30 years. Prior to coming to Merbein the late Mr Arnold was the proprietor of timber yards and was a building contractor at Nhill, in the Wimmera. In the early days of the Merbein settlement, Mr Arnold took a keen interest in every movement made to assist the settlers and for a considerable time was a trustee of the Merbein Common . . . A wide circle of friends throughout Sunraysia will feel the passing of William Arnold as the loss of a valued friend'. William Arnold's death notice, published in the Melbourne Argus on 23 July 1943, indicates that Lilias had three siblings: William Robert, Florls Isabel (Mrs W. A. Thompson) and Alfred John Arnold (who served in the RAAF during the Second World War). Lilias' mother, Emma Galloway, was born at Rocky Lead west of Dean in Victoria, on 5 June 1869, one of eleven children of Orkney-born Robert Henry Monteith Galloway (1831-1920) and a native of Richmond in Tasmania, Susan Russell (1825-1919) who were marrried at Warrnambool in Victoria's Gippsland Region on 26 November 1855. Emma also died at Merbein, on 26 February 1963.

Charles Stanley Osborne continued to teach at Merbein West State School until 1935 when has was transferred to Castlemaine where he and Lilias lived at 99 Hargraves Street. While at the Castlemaine South State School, Charles was chief advocate for the planning and construction of a school pavilion which was opened by the local MLA, a Mr Shields, in February 1937. Charles, who by then was teaching at Ararat, was invited back for the opening ceremony where he 'was presented with an electric kettle, a clock and a book' in recognition of his part in getting the pavilion (Melbourne Argus, 13 February 1937). The 1939 electoral roll shows Charles and Lilias still at Ararat (at 32 Queen Street). The following death notice appeared in the Melbourne Argus on 8 April 1941: 'OSBORNE - On April 7, at Forster Street Heidelberg, Charles Stanley, the dearly beloved husband of Lilias Osborne and loved father of John and Norma'. The Find a Grave website shows he was buried in the Burwood Cemetery in Melbourne - where both his parents are buried - in the Church of England area, Section 5, Grave 228. After Charles' death Lilias went back to Merbein where she lived initially at her parents' property on Yelta Road and then at 225 Commercial Street until at least 1977. She died at Merbein on 3 January 1994. Lilias and Charles had two children: John Stanley (1928-42) and Norma Osborne (born in 1930). John, who died at Merbein in 1942, and his mother Lilias are buried together in the local cemetery. We think Norma attended Merbein Central State School and later worked as a nurse at Melbourne's Children Hospital although this has still to be confirrmed.

Image sources:
Eliza Osborne and family, Museum Victoria Image MM 7865 (copied from Heather Walsh, 1990).
Eliza Osborne nee Hickmott, Osborne brothers and Alice Aldrich, courtesy of Lisa Wahlsten.
Honorah Balzary (nee Bentley) and Albert Vincent Balzary, courtesy of Beth Chamberlain.
'Leonard Albert Balzary' and 'Robert Raymond Balzary' from the 'Balzary Family Tree' on Ancestry.
WO1 Peter John Balzary and colleagues, courtesy of the Australian War Memorial, AMW COL/67/0315/VN.