Hobbs, Robinson, Hickson, Cullen-Ward, Wilson, & M-P children

The trail gets murky for Meta Hobbs' (nee M-P) descendants - and for Eileen Hickson's as shown below - though we'd love to hear from them and know more! For others, the people are still living, so details are minimal.

Meta's son Barton (Barty) Hobbs may have married in the late 1920s, early 1930s - if this newspaper article referred to his wife and son: 'Mrs Barton Hobbs' and her young son 'Tony'.¹⁾ There is no information about any children arising from his marriage to Alice Michod in 1938. Meta Hobbs' daughter Alice married William Robinson. They had a daughter, Meta Jean Robinson, married surname Sinclair, 1925-82, and two sons, Arthur West (Polo) Robinson 1922-98, and William Barton Robinson, 1927-71.²⁾

Robert (Bob) Rowan Barton Hickson (Eileen Hickson nee M-P) and Edna Hickson had two sons. His brother John Hickson and Lillian Hickson had 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Phyllis (nee M-P) and Allan Cullen Ward had two sons and three daughters including Susan (1941-2004) who married (secondly) King Leka of the Albanians.

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) was [occupation?] and later in life struggled with deafness; she married — Black and lived in Tasmania. David and Hilary's other daughter became 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. Each of Brenda and Sterling's children had two children.

Their elder daughter was Helen Wiessner, 1946-1919. She was born severely 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. Helen survived to go home at around three months old and, until her final illness, was generally highly energetic and 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 closeby one-teacher primary school, then Bellingen High.

Helen with her brother and sister outside the family home at Hydes Creek.

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, she and Meg went 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. Helen was employed in the office of the Bank of NSW, work she found much more congenial than nursing. She married Don Smith 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.

At Helen’s funeral, the eulogies were by her husband, brother and two sons. They were remarkably consistent: she was mourned for her determined personality; her high level of fitness up until her final illness; her remarkable 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.