In childhood we are often more impressed by the legendary tales we hear, than by the true, but dreary exploits of Uncle Sam and Aunty Pam. As we grow we come to disparage these fables- "Who believes in Father Christmas?"; "Robin Hood is just a story"; "There was no real King Arthur". Yet all these stories had some causal beginning, albeit far from the modern telling. And there are the true stories we delighted in: William the Conqueror; Julius Caesar; Neil Armstrong. And it is perhaps a little sad that the sophistication of studied history has removed some of the fable building from these episodes in the passage of mankind through time. Unfortunately we cannot change that.

How often do we realise in our own families the makings of the stuff of legends? We all hear of Great Great Someone's eccentricities, or that he was singlehandedly responsible for some great victory now attributed to a more "respectable" commander; we know that "somewhere" "sometime" "someone" in our family was responsible for "something". But, regrettably, we soon lose even the basic fabric of these stories.

And then there are those whose stories are not remarkable or even noteworthy. But they have been our making and deserve commemoration. It is said that until even recent years, each Welsh child was expected to learn his/her genealogy for seven generations back. How many of us learn the full names of even all our grandparents?

NOTE: these links have not yet been established so it is at present necessary to scroll down to any story you wish to read

• A convict/constable, flogger and saviour of women, protector and almost incinerator of Irishmen; Ted Kimberley.
• "Oh God! Australian Nurses".
• A winner of unusual medals.
• From the hot dry lands of Australia to the hot dry lands of Africa.
• The hazards of horseback.
• The ordinary extraordinary men and women.
• An Old Man of the Sea; David Nelson Smith.
• The Bankrupt Judge of the Courts of Commerce; Alfred McFarland.

Edward Kimberley is a most important man in our family history. He was a First Fleet arrival to Australia and so the progenitor of one half of our Moore/Kimberley family line. He was given a "free passage" to Australia by dint of being caught in the extraction of materials from a shop without paying for said goods.

It was not long after his arrival at Botany Bay that he was selected for a further move to Norfolk Island to help establish there an outpost of empire and a farm community to service the needs of the Sydney population. He soon was appointed a constable and that included the gruesome task of flogging his fellow, but less fortunate convicts.

Edward never became important enough to merit a great work of history in his honour, but he is always there on the periphery of the growing new society, and episodes of his life are recounted in upwards of forty texts. Only the briefest outline of his notorious life can be recounted here. More detail of this man's life can be found in other parts of my Web pages. (links to be established)

One story of Edward tells of him wielding an axe and chasing a convict woman, another man's wife, sceaming as he ran "Be mine, or I will report you to the Commandant". Yet on another occasion we hear that Edward was the first flogger to defy orders and refuse to whip a woman prisoner. This was a brave, perhaps even foolhardy, action but it was a blessing, at least for the female prisoners, for none was flogged again in that regime on Norfolk Island.

On another occasion lookouts spied some ships on the horizon. It was feared that they might be French Men-o'-War and so defensive measures were put into train. It was thought that if French forces landed, then the Irish prisoners on the Island would rise up in support of the French (or at least in opposition to their English masters). Consequently they were herded into a small store which was then covered with brushwood and other combustible materials. Kimberley was left in charge with orders to set fire to them if the French should attack. There is no record that he refused this order so we cannot be sure what his decision would have been should the attack have come. But we know that over night, and early next morning, it was established that the ships were in fact English so the inflammatory action was never put to the test. This story is recounted in Robert Hughes' book The Fatal Shore

Edward accumulated a good amount of land, improvements, buildings and stock while on Norfolk, and with his wife Mary Cavenor (Cavanugh) established the Kimberley family in Australia. They were soon transferred to Van Diemen's Land where the Government made a gift to all ex-Norfolk Island people, of land and stock to the value of that which they had left on Norfolk. Edward prospered, was from time to time district constable but did not perform further such noteworthy deeds.

A Noble Calling - Nursing

Another volunteer from our family was Kate Octavia White, also from Hobart Town, and born on 12 October 1867. She too proved her worth despite the initial reluctance of the British Command, and was decorated for her services - it is told that she was one of those specially rewarded by the receipt of a tin of chocolates from Queen Victoria, in recognition of their services. On her return to Australia she moved to Woy Woy in New South Wales where she died in 1925.

To the best of my knowledge, neither of these women is recorded in any public memorial to Australians who served in South Africa. At the last time of checking (Feb 1999), and despite my writing to the convenor of that site some time ago, they were not even acknowledged in the on-line web page of Tasmanians who went to the Boer War.

Kate's sisters, Ella Gertrude White, born 28 October 1865, and Alicia White/Dobbs born 2 March 1860 were also nurses. Kate nursed during the typhoid epidemic in Hobart and was posthumously awarded a medal for service in nursing after her own death in Hobart General Hospital on 25 October 1887. Alicia also received a medal of commendation for services during the same epidemic but lived through it.

It is probably appropriate to add here that another sister, Rosina White, born 27 July 1856, became a missionary and went to Bangalore in India. There she played a significant part the establishment of the Christian College and Home for destitute female infants and girls. She gave the profits from the sale of her book, "Children From Afar" to help these causes. Rosina died in 1944.

Douglas Oakley White, brother of the above girls, was Doctor of Medicine and practised in Melbourne. There had been sixteen children in the White family - their father a successful draper.

Many young Australians set off to South Africa at the end of the Nineteenth Century. This is often spoken of as a great patriotic response of the young nation to the needs of the Motherland and her Empire. But perhaps the reasons for many men for going were less noble at least on the part of some. Australia was in a time of economic stress. Work was not so readily available for young men and land was not so easily available for the many sons of large families. The gold rushes of 40/50 years before had lessened in their attractiveness. Quite a few young men had sailed to New Zealand to help Mother England in the Maori Wars and also to join the gold seekers there, but many returned.

The call to arms to fight the Boer in South Africa attracted many, possibly just to find employement and excitement whch was not available at home, but in many cases it probably held the opportunity to join the expansion of that land and its mining ventures. The quite large numbers of men who were found as stowaways on boats to South Africa, suggests that their main intention was not always to fight the Boer.

In our Jeffreys family, three of the young men went to fight, as did various individuals from other families, close relatives and some more distant cousins.

The horse being a somewhat more necessary animal in the 19th century than it is today, means that horse stories are more abundant for our 1900's ancestors.

An Old Man of the Sea

Title

Alfred McFarland was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in a well-to-do family and obviously expected to "succeed". He studied Law and was admitted to the Bar. He married Jeanette Jeffreys, the daughter of the commandant of Portobello Barracks. He achieved some success as a "legal mind" and some of his works were published.

As happens to some men of society, he was "noticed" and nominated to an appointment as the first head of the new judicial sysem to be established in West Australia. he accepted and with his young family, set sail, arrriving at the Swan River settlement in 185?.

He established a home at .. and his family grew. But, for whatever reason, he decided to leave this raw and somewhat barren place in the west of the remotest continent, and move to New South Wales where he again established a legal practice. Noticed once more for his legal acumen his works were published and his lectures well-attended. His interests went beyond the law and encompassed a broader view of history. He wrote a much repsected book on the Bligh Mutiny and other themes. He also published a journal of his experiences as a circuit judge in the Monaro District of New South Wales.

He was appointed to courts of financial concerns and fulfilled this role with continuing evidence of Legal expertise in therory and in practise. However, in the management of personal finances he was obviously less able. He was to be challenged for outstanding debts and his goods seized- eventually to be declared a bankrupt.

His daughters married well nevertheless, to three men who were of senior rank in the Australian Military forces, Bruche, Jobson and Ryrie. The last of these was to become a notable Australian, commander of the forces, a respected commander in South Africa and during, World War 1, an adept politician and member of the Australian Parliament and one of the first Australian high Commissioners to Great Britain. -But that's another man's story.