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Matilda and TLM-P's children
Matilda and TLM-P had 12 children. Four (William, Weeta, Lodge and Matilda) died when babies. Of the 6 sons who survived, only the eldest (Thomas) led a relatively untroubled life. Hervey and Hugh died in their 30s; Morres died lonely and depressed when he was 44. Redmond and Egerton also struggled. As suggested below, their schooling might provide an explanation, but so too was their aspiration to make a living from rural pursuits without the backing of substantial capital.1) Of the two surviving daughters, Rosa became a hugely successful novelist with female misery a major theme and she later found refuge in spiritualism; Lizzie married for love, but no-one could be too surprised when the property her husband bought with her father was a financial failure. It was a failure which adversely affected many in the family, especially her step-siblings.
The below photos, unless otherwise stated, are from Nora C. M-P's photo album. Other photos and some duplicates are, when stated, from TLM-P's album.2)
1. Thomas de Montmorenci (27 January 1848-11 December 1902).3) For more on this Thomas M-P, go to Thomas de Montmorenci, Florence and Mary M-P
2. William Augustus* (18 August 1849-17 January 1850)4) had the same name as his late uncle. Like his elder brother, he was born at Bromelton; he was also buried there.5) His birth and death both took place before compulsory registration, and neither event appears to have registered. However, Colin Roderick 6) describes how baby William had dysentery. Disastrously, the conventional medical routine at the time for someone with this form of diarrhoea including purging, that is, giving medicine designed to discharge whatever was causing the problem. That remedy increased any diarrhoea/vomiting and heightened dehydration. It is not surprising that so many babies with dysentery died, either from the original cause or because of the medical intervention by their desperate carers. In dying this way, 5-month-old William was one of many - but to his grieving family, it was a uniquely tragic event.
William's solitary grave in Bromelton's garden.7)
3. Rosa Caroline (27 March 18518)- 2 April 1935). She was born at Bromelton station and, like her elder brother, baptised by the Rev. Benjamin Glennie.9) Her family called her 'Rosie'. Like her sister Lizzie, she had a deeply loving relationship with her ailing mother.
Rosa made what seemed the ideal marriage for an Anglophile colonial writer when she married Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth Praed on 29 October 1872. As she latter wrote, her family and friends 'all wanted to be English', and Praed seemed a particularly dashing member of the English gentry, with a lifestyle bankrolled by his father's interests in a bank and brewery in London.
Campbell Praed c. 1867, photo at State Library of Queensland:
Perhaps the clinching detail to the aspiring writer was that his uncle was a well-known poet Winthrop_Mackworth_Praed. Other current and future members of the family were also artistic - for example, there is a well-executed portrait of Rosa in the SLNSW attributed to an Emily Praed.10) To the young Rosa, her suitor embodied cultured English gentry. Sadly, neither of the couple lived up to the other's ideal. Divorce then was very difficult, expensive, condemned by churches and entailed social disgrace, so the unhappy couple did not divorce. They separated in 1899. Today it is probable that Rosa would identify as a lesbian; as it was, she wrote to her friend and co-author Justin McCarthy that (by implication, heterosexual) sex was 'a side of life that has always repelled me.'11) It did not help that Campbell Praed had a reputation for unfaithfulness. The heroine who was reared in the Victorian ideal of female innocent/ignorance, and then married someone unsuitable, became a common theme in Rosa's books. That theme resonated with many women's experiences as well as Rosa's.
The marriage did not start well. Their first home was the romantically named 'Monte Christo', a 500 square mile property on Port Curtis Island near Gladstone. The property was a joint venture by Campbell Praed and a former veterinary surgeon, Dr Samuel Joseph Wills.12) Four years later, they left the island with Praed's hopes of making a colonial fortune ended.13)
The Praeds left Australia in 1876 to live in England, but again - at least initially - reality was no match for Rosa's colonial fantasies. Praed's family circle tended to more insular gentry/business people rather than cultured sophisticates. Despite personal tragedy, Rosa forged her own way in England, becoming a prolific novelist and moving in literary circles. She wrote over 50 novels, many of them with controversial social themes. The height of her fame was the 1880s and 1890s. Almost half her novels had Australian settings or characters, though she returned to Australia only a few more times.14) For her 1894 trip, she took her daughter Maud with her not just to Australia, but also visiting on the way Singapore, Hong King, Japan and Canada.15) Rosa relied not just on her memory but her family, initially mostly her step-mother and father, to refresh her mind regarding Australian details. After her father's death and her step-mother's move to England, Rosa gained much of her Australian details from her sister Lizzie Jardine and other siblings.16) In particular, she directly incorporated the experiences of her brothers Morres and Hugh into her stories.17)
In keeping with her father's ideals, Rosa supported Irish home rule, largely through collaboration with fellow writer and Irish nationalist Justin McCarthy.18)
For an overview of Rosa's life see her entry in either The Australian Dictionary of Biography or Wikipedia Rosa Praed or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. For a definitive biography, see Patricia Clarke, Rosa! Rosa! A Life of Rosa Praed, novelist and spiritualist, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999. There are many articles about Rosa Praed and her writing: a search in the database AustLit yields 393 hits.19) Most anthologies of 19th and early 20th century Australian writers include her, especially those on female authors. She was extensively reported in the newspapers of her day; when she died leading Australian newspapers acknowledged her as, for example, 'The first Australian-born novelist of any importance.'20) and 'the first Australian-born novelist worthy of consideration in Australian literature'.21) More recently her writings have been explored for the impact of indigenous dispossession. 22)
For more on Rosa and Campbell Praed and their children, click on Rosa Praed.
4. Morres(1523) May 1853 - 18 October 1897)24) Morres was born and baptised at Bromelton Station;25) he never married and had no known children. In April 1880, TLM-P registered a mortgage on Morres' property at Cleveland, Brisbane. 26) In the late 1880s/early 1890s, like his brother Hugh, Morres was living on Aberfoyle Station, jointly owned by his father and his brother-in-law, John Jardine.27) His step-mother considered that one 'cannot help loving him - his heart & impulses are so good', but that 'Morres, poor handsome, weak fellow, is a constantly recurring disappointment & heartbreak…. [he causes his father] bitter trouble'.28) Nora's letters to Rosa make numerous references to Morres' debts incurred through gambling: in 1880, he was contacted to do fencing for two years to help pay off a £957 debt (around $154,098 in 2019 values).29)
Morres died, lonely and depressed, when he was 45 years old. As historian Janet McCalman outlines, it was not an unusual fate for people in an emigrant society.30) When he died, Morres had been living for at least two years at Bulliwallah Station in the Clermont District, some 920 km northwest of Brisbane. He wrote a sadly revealing letter to his step-sister Dorothy a month before he died. For more click on Letter.
His death certificate states that Morres died after suffering for 9 days from 'inflammation of the kidneys'.31) This is not incompatible with Isobel Hannah's claim that he died 'from the scourge of the “Out-back,” berri berri'.32) Beriberi is a severe and chronic form of thiamine (B1) deficiency caused by, among other things, dehydration. One of the problems of all migrants was adjusting to new conditions. An entry in TLM-P's diary when Morres was 10 years old gives an indication how difficult it was to adjust to a semi-tropical climate: 'Morres had a sort of sun stroke and was very bad at first but recovering … poor little fellow'.33) If Morres had a weakness in his kidney function, then the heat and lack of water in summer in outback Queensland was a lethal combination.
There are numerous photos of Morres in Nora and TLM-P's albums: the one below is from TLM-P's. It bears out Nora's description of him as handsome. See entry on Thomas de M M-P for a photo of him with his eldest brother.
For more photos of Morres and his grave, click on Morres
5. Elisabeth (Lizzie) Catharine (29 October 185434) - 10 December 1940). She was baptised in Brisbane on Ash Wednesday 1855.35)
This photo is of Lizzie in fancy dress.36)
From c. February 1879 to early 1881, Lizzie was away visiting her sister Rosa in England. TLM-P arranged the trip to discourage her relationship with John (Jack) Robert Jardine.37) His misgivings about the character and lack of financial acumen of Lizzie's chosen mate was shared by her step-mother Nora. Lizzie's frail health added to their misgivings.38) Nora wrote to Rosa that “Jack has had full warning that he is marrying an invalid to be nursed, & not a general servant to look after his comfort, & says that he quite understands.”39)
Lizzie married Jack Jardine at Maroon Station on 14 June 1883.40) Nora had been close to Lizzie, seeing her as 'very necessary for my full happiness, the one I have most rapport with' in the family. Nora also wrote warmly of Jack being dependable though she worried that his mind was very different from Lizzie's. 41) But the marriage caused a permanent rift; words that could be accepted in a father, was not forgiven in a step-mother. Three years into her marriage, Lizzie wrote to Rosa: 'When I married Jack I knew that for years to come I should have plenty to contend against. But there is much to sweeten toil. Someday I look forward to a more civilised home. Meantime we are content and live for each other … [I think Nora] only pretends to like Jack for my sake and [I] cannot forget the hard things she said about him … He is only an Australian bushman, but he is true, loyal and the tenderest of husbands and we love each other. When I say that I say everything.'42)
Jack Jardine was part of a North Queensland family whose English gentry antecedents impressed TLM-P.43) Jack's father (His first name was also John) was famed for pioneering feats and for founding the settlement of Somerset at Cape York44) The name Jardine was also well-known due to the transgressive marriage in 1873 of Jack Jardine's eldest brother Frank to Sana Solia nee De Boos, a niece of the king of Samoa.45)
Jack Jardine had taken charge of Vallack Point Station, near Somerset (Cape York), in 1868 when he was only 21 years old. At some time he appears to have been in the Barcoo area in Central West Queensland, as Nora wrote to Rosa reassuring her that, if Lizzie did live there, it was no longer 'the unattainable uninhabitable 'terra incognita' … You can't stretch a line 80 miles in a given direction there now without touching a piano or a sewing machine - Ladies and babies are as thick as bandicoots … and the former are very angry if you hint there may possibly be a more desirable place of residence.'46) Despite this reassuring description of the Barcoo, after their marriage, Lizzie stayed with the Jardines in Rockhampton while her husband set up a home for her at Aberfoyle Station in western Queensland (just over 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane), breeding sheep and cattle.47) TLM-P became a partner with Jack Jardine of Aberfoyle in 1885 to try to secure Lizzie's future.48) Lizzie's brothers Morres, Hugh and Egerton subsequently worked at the property at various times.49) Nora had hoped that Jack and Lizzie would settle at Rathdowny, both for her own pleasure in Lizzie's company and because of Lizzie's ill-health, but it was not to be.50)
For photos of Aberfoyle, click on Aberfoyle.
As with so many of TLM-P's ventures - not to mention Jack Jardine's - the property was not profitable, with the 1890s drought the last straw.51) A key reason was its unreliable water supply.52) TLM-P's 1892 will states that the property cost him £10,070 and that, by then, the partnership had a £8,000 mortgage.53) Aberfoyle was sold after TLM-P's death and, in 1905, the Queensland Supreme Court was told that the loss that entailed was the chief reason the estate could not afford to pay the bequests.54) When Jack Jardine died from pneumonia55) at Southport in 1911, he worked for Messrs Aplin, Brown and Co., a major mercantile company operating in north Queensland.56)
Perhaps due to Lizzie's poverty as a widow, in 1924 her sister-in-law Mary M-P left her an annuity of £50 (i.e. paying her £50 a year for the rest of her life).57)
Lizzie Jardine, like her brother, died from stomach cancer - in addition she had bronchopneumonia. She had been ill for two years before she died at her daughter Rose Molle's home at Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise. She was cremated at Brisbane Crematorium.58)
For more, click on the Jardines.
6. Hervey Morres (9 September 185659)-1 January 1887.60) His godmother was his English step-aunt Jemima Prior.61) Photo: Hervey as young man, full of promise.62)
Hervey was born at Hawkwood Station, baptised by the Rev. Mr Dodd, and was buried in South Brisbane (later called Toowong) Cemetery.63) After school in Tasmania, Hervey gained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, where he lived at St Paul's College.64) Despite his alcoholism, he became a barrister and Master of Titles for Queensland. He was also a member of the 'Colony of Queensland Society'.65) From the early 1880s until 1885, Hervey leased one of Brisbane's historic houses, Middenbury which now has the address of 600 Coronation Drive, Toowong.66)
Hervey married Margaret (Maggie) McDonald in 1881. While the extended clan of the McDonalds lived on the neighbouring Dugandan Station, TLM-P indicated that her father lived in Brisbane.67) It was a short-lived and troubled marriage, with Hervey dying aged 30 when his son, Hervey McDonald M-P, was four. Even before Hervey's death, TLM-P and Nora assumed responsibility for Maggie and her son. In August 1882, when TLM-P was away, they came to stay at Maroon.68) Maggie and her son also accompanied TLM-P, Nora and other family members on their visit to England in 1885.69)
The following report of Hervey's death highlighted his potential: that 'at Sydney University … he … graduated B.A. with great credit, being nearly at the head of the list in his year. Shortly afterwards he was called to the Queensland Bar, and in March, 1883, was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the Southern district. In July, 1884, he was appointed Master of Titles, which office he held up to his death. He bore a good reputation as a barrister, and his knowledge and grasp of the laws relating to real property are said to have been very considerable.'70)
For more on Hervey and Margaret M-P and their son, click on Hervey
7. Redmond (26 October 185871) - 21 January 191172) 'Reddie' or 'Red', as his family called him, was born at Eskgrove house, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane and baptised there by the Rev. B.E. Shaw. THM-P gave his occupation at the time of Redmond's birth as 'gentleman'.73) Redmond was a family name; TLM-P visited the house at Brighton where an earlier Redmond M-P had lived.74) In 1882, the 24 year old Redman was being 'obstinate', causing problems for his step-mother while his father was away.75). The following year she wrote that 'Red has real force of character & will do well I think, I wish that his body were as strong as his mind, but I believe that he has been stronger lately.'76)
He died aged 52 on Proserpine railway station, reportedly boarding a train so that he could see a doctor at Bowen. His death certificate indicates that he had seen a doctor the day he died, and that his cause of death was pneumonia. His sister Lizzie was the informant and described him as a 'farmer'.77) Redmond had lived in Proserpine, north Queensland for over 20 years. He had pursued mining interests (the area is known for its gold) in the district and had, shortly before his death, acquired an interest in a farm at nearby Kelsey Creek.78) To date we have no more information about the adult Reddie, other than a comment by his step-mother in 1880 that Alice Bundock was attached to him (Alice's sister Mary became the second wife of Redmond's eldest brother Thomas de M. M-P).79) The attachment did not come to anything and they both died unmarried. Red had no known partner nor children.
The photo, from TLM-P's album, is of Reddie (right) and his brother Hugh. For more photos, click on Reddie.
8. Weeta Sophia* 12 June 186080)- 8 July 1860.81) She was born at Cleveland, dying there from influenza 26 days later, before she was baptised.82) Her name is engraved on the marble at the front of the family grave at Toowong cemetery.
9. Hugh (26 July 186183) - 28 December 1896).84) If later belief is correct, Hugh's half-sister was born less than a fortnight after Hugh, to TLM-P and Annie Smith.
The photo is of Hugh (right) with his older brother Redmond.85) Hugh was born at Cleveland and baptised at Brisbane by the Rev. John Bliss.86) In 1882, his step-mother wrote to TLM-P that 21-year Hugh was 'breaking out again', probably referring to his drinking. TLM-P immediately wrote to him, hoping 'it will have some effect upon him.'87) After TLM-P returned, Hugh ran away - initially, it was thought he had joined a travelling theatre group. His venture into independence was not a success and finally Hugh, via his brother Hervey, obtained money from his father to return home.88) Nora considered he had returned 'so manly & self reliant & so much improved in every way'. His brother Tom wanted Hugh to be a bushman, but Nora did not think his talents lay that way.89) She was probably correct.
By the late 1880s or early 1890s Hugh, like his brother Morres, was living on Aberfoyle Station, jointly owned by his father and his brother-in-law, John Jardine.90) Isobel Hannah wrote that he died 'from sunstroke on a lonely track between Annie Vale and Doongmabulla', in central Queensland.91) He never married but possibly had two children.
For more information and photos, click on Hugh.
10. Lodge (29 March 186392) - 19 April 1863).93) He was born and baptised at Brisbane, dying when 21 days old. He was buried in the family plot at Toowong (then known as the South Brisbane) Cemetery.94) His cause of death was given as 'atrophy' - a vague diagnosis that went out of fashion in the next century, which could mean anything from prematurity to feeding problems leading to general decline.
Not surprisingly, after baby Lodge died Matilda wanted a holiday. A month later TLM-P decided to vacate their Brisbane house so it could be let out while Matilda and the children went to Tasmania for six months. Matilda, he wrote, wanted a change. According to Darbyshire, TLM-P allocated £600 for the trip, his entire year's salary as Postmaster-General.95) Matilda, two daughters and three sons left on 14 November 1863 and returned on 24 April 1864 - at least on the the forward trip, a servant went with them.96). The break may have helped Matilda recover but appears to have proved too much for TLM-P's fidelity: Clara van Zuethem gave birth to a son on 25 January 1864 whose father was believed to be TLM-P. As well, Matilda was pregnant again almost immediately she arrived back.
11. Matilda (2697) January 1865 - 11 May 1865.98) She was christened in Brisbane but died when three and a half months old. She joined her brother Lodge in the family plot at Toowong (then known as the South Brisbane) Cemetery.99) No cause of death was given on her death certificate; the section specifying the duration of the illness and when last seen by a doctor, is also blank. One possibility is that her's was a SIDS death so had no known illness and had not been recently seen by a doctor.
12. Egerton (5 October 1866100)- 1 September 1936). Egerton was born at Maroon101) and was only 2 years-old when his mother died. 'Egerton' appears to be a family name through TLM-P's mother. Significantly for TLM-P, it had aristocratic connections as the family name of the Dukes of Bridgewater and Sutherland, as well as of various earls. In 1882, TLM-P stayed with John Skynner Egerton Bishop who lived at Brighton.102) For more, click on Bishop.
Egerton inherited his grandfather's (and mother's?) love of poetry, publishing his Poems (Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co. Printers) in 1893.103) Poetry was a skill likely to have been nurtured by his step-mother. Egerton was 6 years old when Nora married his father, and she agreed to help educate him home at Maroon until he was nearly 14, when he was sent to school.104)He went to school in Brisbane, boarding nearby. When he was older, with his brother Hugh, he lived with his brother Hervey105). In 1883, his step-mother described Egerton as 'growing very handsome, is steady & affectionate, & tho he has not set the Brisbane river on fire, has made himself a great favourite with his masters. He was 17 last Oct. & I do not think when he comes home this time, that he will go back to school again.'106)
Cover of Egerton's poems, ML A821/P658.2/1A1. For more, click on Egerton's poetry.
Egerton and Sara Arbuthnot Crawford (b. St James' Park, London) married on 30 April 1894 at St Andrew's Church of England, Lutwyche in Brisbane.107) They appeared to lead a somewhat nomadic rural life in south-west Queensland. In 1895, they lived on a station called Killarney at Augathella.108) When TLM-P filled in family details for Burke's Colonial Gentry, they lived at Moorlands, Malvern Hills, Blackall.109) By 1900, their address was Hoganthulla Downs in the Darling Downs; Sara's sisters lived at Eton, the Church of England school at Nundah.110)
Sara died, aged 38, in a Toowoomba private hospital in 1903.111) He became a diary farmer at Nambour in Queensland, but went bankrupt.112) In a codicil to his will just before he died in December 1892, TLM-P provided for Egerton's £3,000 legacy being paid to him before his father's death; presumably to protect the money from creditors, he also stipulated that no income be paid to Egerton (or his younger brothers) while bankrupt, although it could be paid to any wife or children.113) Sara and Egerton had one son. For more information click on Rosa Praed's, Lizzie Jardine's, Hervey & Egerton M-P's children without known direct descendants
In 1905, Egerton married again, to Annie Grace (known as Grace) Crawford, his late wife's sister.114) Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was common but still fiercely opposed by sections of the church.115) In 1908, Egerton and Grace reportedly still lived at Nambour.116) In August 1911, Ruth M-P wrote to Rosa Praed that she had seen Egerton and Grace - he was looking prosperous and had just bought his neighbour's farm but, she added, Egerton's 'swans are often geese'.117) In 1912, still at Nambour, he was one of a large group of people fined 5 shillings for 'Omission to furnish sugar cane producer's return; Omission to cut beer duty stamp' thereby contravening the Excise Act.118)
Some time after Egerton retired from farming, he and Grace left Nambour. By 1924, they were reported as living in Melbourne.119) He was living at 'Moorlands', Palm Avenue, Harbord, Sydney when he died on 1 September 1936.120) He and his son are buried in the family plot at Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane. Grace M-P lived until November 1950, dying at her home in another Sydney beach suburb, Bondi.121)
Photos of Egerton:
122).
This next photo, in a beautiful tooled leather case, was donated by Colin Roderick to the ML123). He identified one of the boys as possibly Egerton.
Later generations believed that, around five months after Egerton's birth, another child was born to TLM-P, this time with Mary Ingoldsby.
Boys' education
In 1862, Thomas de M. M-P and Morres went to 'Mr. Shaw's school, Brisbane': this was the Collegiate School - a Church of England school whose headmaster was the Rev. Bowyer E. Shaw. It was designed for 'sons of the gentry' and charged accordingly: £80 per year for boarders. Perhaps for that reason, it did not last long.124) In 1862 Tom won the prize for English and Morres the Fourth class prize for Latin.125)
Patricia Clarke asserts that Matilda and her children avoided the worst of Brisbane's summer heat by spending some summers in Hobart. Matilda's sons Morres, Hervey, Redmond, Hugh and Egerton (and the eldest, Tom too), 'became boarders at the private, highly regarded, non-sectarian High School in Hobart'.126).
Hervey M-P was reported as 'a distinguished pupil at the Ipswich Grammar School, and subsequently at the High School, Tasmania, where he gained one or two important scholarships'.127) In 1872, Hervey was awarded The Tiffin Scholarship worth £20, while his brother Hugh won the Thorn Scholarship worth £12.128) Table Talk 129) reports that Thomas de M. M-P attended the High School in Hobart in the early 1860s, when it was run by the Rev. R. D. Poulett Harris and was a 'notable' private school attracting boys from various regions of Australia. The school's eminence lasted until 1878; it closed in 1885.130) It is not to be confused with the later state-run Hobart High School which operated 1913-66, nor with its prestigious rival, the Hutchins School.
Even given the school's reputation, it was a long way to go for a cool summer retreat and difficult to understand sending young boys from Queensland to school there. One consideration was the strong belief at the time that Queensland's tropical climate sapped the vitality of young Britons, resulting in a degenerate 'race'.131) Certainly when the school advertised in Queensland, it emphasised its healthy location.132) Yet there were limits to the fear of degeneration: only the boys were sent to school while all the girls were taught at home by governesses, Matilda and older siblings.
When we consider the early death and alcoholism of some of Matilda's sons, to the modern mind a question that can't be avoided is: what kind of experience did the boys have at school in Tasmania? Was it simply because, as their eldest brother thought when he wrote to his step-mother deploring the character of his brothers Hugh and Morres, that they had been too young to be sent so far from home?133) If TLM-p's plans for Egerton are any guide, the boys were sent away to school when they were around 10 years old. This is confirmed by Hugh, then 11 years old, being at school in Hobart when his father and Nora married.134) Matilda's illness and death, however, may have meant that the boys were sent there at a younger age.135)
This was the age of 'spare the rod and spoil the child', when severe physical punishment was routine in schools. Yet the High School's Headmaster, the Rev. Harris, 'was charged with assaulting boys with a cane in March 1860 and June 1868, the first case being dismissed and the second settled out of court'. In the first case, the boy apparently was returned to school by his father; in the second the issue appeared to be that the boy was no longer a pupil there, and had grabbed the cane from Harris when the later tried to cane him. Were these incidents a reflection of a too-ready recourse to the cane, even for this time? Is it relevant that Harris was 'prone to depression', with a daughter who was committed to a mental hospital?136) Whatever was the case, TLM-P was satisfied, as he allowed himself to be named as a referee when the School advertised for Queensland pupils.137)
Yet again, heavy drinking by all classes was a feature of Queensland life at the time, so perhaps no other explanation is needed than the boys reflecting the social conditions around them.138) Yet doubt remains: why did the younger boys have such difficult lives? Why did their loving step-mother later find them difficult, and their father write about their behaviour, that it was 'all very hard, and cut me up.'139)
The M-P family papers includes this photo, identified on the back as Lyndhurst, New Town Road, Hobart Town, Tasmania.140) Lyndhurst was a popular name and nothing has yet been found about the homes in this photo, but does it hold a clue to why the children were sent to Hobart? Or was it where Matilda and her children stayed when they went to Tasmania in November 1863- April 1864?141) or where Matilda stayed when she returned to Hobart in February 1868, accompanying by a daughter and two sons as well as Maroon employee Mr Pearse and his wife.142)
Evidence
One source of information are the family bibles with names and dates of family members written it them, as shown by the next 3 photos of one family bible.
143)
The next pages are from the Family Bible, as shown in the first photo, given to TLM-P by his half-sister Jemima144):
Key Genealogical Sources: Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, Melbourne: E.A. Petherick, 1891-95, pp.49-50; TLM-P, ‘Questions to be answered by T.L.M-P’, 6pp Memoranda by the Herald Office, Somerset House, London re Burke’s Colonial Gentry; [Thomas M-P], [Thomas A. M-P], Murray-Prior Family, booklet, October 2014; Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d, pp.7-14, NLA; TLM-P, genealogical notes in John & John B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z, London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1846; Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984.
N.B. The above references give contradictory information regarding names and key dates, hence the references to births, deaths and marriage registrations. See BROKEN-LINK:https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/querySubmit.m?ReportName=BirthSearch,notingLINK-BROKEN__ that certificates need to be bought to find out more than year and parents' names.