4th generation descendants of Thomas and Nora M-P

The trail gets murky for Meta Hobbs' and for Eileen Hickson's descendents. We'd love to hear from them and know more!

1. Edwin Murray Barton (Barty) Hobbs' children: No evidence has been found of any children of the marriage of Meta's son Edwin Murray Barton (Barty) Hobbs to Alice Michod in 1938. His earlier marriage in New Zealand to Isabel Devereaux resulted in a son Anthony (Tony) Barton Prior Hobbs (1930-79).¹⁾ A newspaper article in 1932, referred to 'Mrs Barton Hobbs' and her young son 'Tony'.²⁾³⁾ Tony Hobbs married Phyllis Marion Watson (?-24 November 2013); after Tony died she remarried. Tony Hobbs was the manager of East Hills (migrant) Hostel, located near Liverpool, Sydney, NSW.⁴⁾ Tony and Phyllis had two sons.

2. Alice Hobbs' children: Alice married William Robinson. They had a daughter, Meta Jean Sinclair (nee Robinson), 1925-82, and two sons, Arthur West (Polo) Robinson 1922-98, and William Barton Robinson, 1927-71.⁵⁾ There is a family site on My Heritage, for the Robinson Hobbs Murray-Prior Barton Darvall Families, maintained by Kim Gardner.⁶⁾

1. Robert (Bob) Rowan Barton Hickson married Edna and they had two sons;
2. John Hickson married Lillian and they had 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Phyllis (Phyl, nee Murray-Prior) and Alan Cullen-Ward had five children:
1. a daughter b. 22 January 1936;
2. Malcolm David (27 October 1937-March 2020;he married Sandra (Sandy) and had two daughters;
3. Susan Barbara b. 28 January 1941;
4. a son b.30 December 1942; and
5. a daughter b.7 August 1944.
Susan Barbara (1941-2004) was the most prominent of this generation. She married (first) Richard Williams then(secondly)King Leka of the Albanians. She had one son Leka⁷⁾ who was 22 years old when she died. He married in 2016. Sue grew up on a property called Mani near Orange in the central west of New South Wales. She met the Leka Zog at a dinner party in Sydney and they married in 1975. She died of lung cancer, spending her two last years living in the Albanian capital Tirana. As Albania had abolished the monarchy, Leka and Susan were titled the King and Queen of the Albanians (cf Albania).

Sue at her first wedding, with her parents.
Her second wedding, with her husband Leka, parents and mother-in-law

Many images of her can be found by googling Susan Cullen-Ward or Queen Susan of Albania or similar. For a recent (January 2024) summary with photos see ABC news online

Molly (nee M-P) and John Wilson had one daughter and two sons.

David and Hilary M-P had two daughters. Beverley Joan (known as Joan, married name Black) was [occupation?] and later in life struggled with deafness; after her marriage she lived in Tasmania. David and Hilary's other daughter was a highly respected midwife at King George V Hospital and, in retirement, an Anglican chaplain at St George Hospital.

Sterling and Brenda M-P had one son and two daughters.

Their elder daughter and second child was Helen Ann, 15 June 1946 - 1 May 2019. She was born prematurely, reputedly weighing 3lbs at birth. At this time, neonatal intensive care was just beginning to be a specialist focus and had high rates of mortality and morbidity. Her mother recalled that Helen was not given oxygen or put in humidicrib as you would now expect. Helen survived to go home at around three months old and, until her final illness, was generally highly energetic and very healthy.

Photo of young Helen on beach with her parents, c.1948-49.
Helen moved with her parents and elder brother to the farm at Hydes Creek when she was almost three. She attended the nearby one-teacher primary school, then Bellingen High.

13-year-old Helen with her sister and the family cats on the Hydes Creek farm, Xmas 1959.
Helen (right) with her best friend Helen (Meg) Flanagan at their high school farewell, 25 October 1963.

After obtaining her leaving certificate, Helen and Meg began nursing at Prince Henry Hospital. It was 1964, a time of severe nursing shortage not helped by nursing management trying to maintain old-fashioned discipline. While Meg stayed, Helen left after her first year or less. She then moved in with her widowed grandmother Stella M-P and her uncle David M-P who lived at Hunters' Hill. The austere grandmother and the fun-loving young woman hit it off, and the arrangement lasted until her grandmother's death in September 1868. Helen was employed in the office of the Bank of NSW, work she found much more congenial than nursing. She married Don [surname withheld] and retired from employment when she became pregnant. She and Don moved to the Hills district of Sydney, an area she loved and stayed in for the rest of her life, and had two sons. After divorces, she returned to work in the bank and married Geoff Duffy then Steve Wiessner.
Helen (second from left) with parents and siblings, November 1988.

At Helen’s funeral, the eulogies were by her husband, brother and sons. They were remarkably consistent: she was mourned for her determined personality; her high level of fitness up until her final illness; her exceptional eye-hand coordination; her fiercely competitive nature whether it be playing the board games she loved or tennis and, in later life, lawn bowls; for considering people as either completely ‘in’ or ‘out’; her thrifty nature; her dislike of junk food/drinks; her love of animals particularly her cats; and joy in cooking and handicrafts.

For more photos of Helen, click on Helen