Gardens in Melbourne - a Day Trip for the Convalescent

Lauren had surgery on her wrist a couple of weeks ago, and it happened at Castlemaine so we needed to rent a car. (I think it might almost be time to buy one.) Anyway, because we had the car and she had leave, and me - well you know "unemployed student" - we decided to go to see some gardens which have been on "the list" for a while.

It was a million miles away, but lovely, peaceful and serene with amazing reflections on the pond - once we got away from the selfie taking group. The sense of calm dissipated when we got back in the car and Flossie (my TomTom) took us on the most unbelievable route complete with gridlock and accidents. Much later home than planned, and a very worn out patient. Oh well - we ticked it off the list.

#52Ancestors, Week 37, Closest to Your Birthday

So, closest to my birthday ? Pretty good timing for this topic, since it IS Birthday week.

Aside from that who shares my birthday on my tree, or celebrated in the days either side ?

Sept 10: 2xGreat Grand Uncle Henry’s birthday

Sept 11: 2^nd cousin Vicky’s wedding anniversary; 1^st cousin twice removed Hilda born and died (88 years apart)

Sept 12: 3^rd cousin once removed Kerry’s wedding anniversary; Great Grandmother Emma’s birthday, 2xGreat Grand Uncle Watty (the goldminer)’s birthday

Then as far as history goes – it is a date which will not be forgotten. Etched into history for time ever more. Although when news broke of the events of September 11, 2001 it was actually already the day AFTER my birthday in my timezone. Now it is the first thing people say (out loud or just on their face) when I state my date of birth. Maybe in a few more decades it won’t be so.

There are quite a variety of historic events across September:

Sept 1, 1159		Death of the only English Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspeare).
Sept 1, 1715		Death of King Louis XIV of France ("The Sun King").
Sept 1, 1875		Birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), author of Tarzan of the Apes.
Sept 1, 1939		Hitler invaded Poland; thus began World War II in Europe.
Sept 2, 1666		Great Fire of London.
Sept 2, 1945		President Truman proclaims V-J Day upon the surrender of the Japanese.
Sept 3, 1783		Treaty of Paris signed that ended the American Revolutionary War.
Sept 4, 1781		City of Los Angeles founded by Spanish Governor Felipe de Neve.
Sept 4, 1962		The Beatles start their first recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, London.
Sept 5-6, 1972		Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team were killed during an attack on the Olympic Village in Munich by members of the Black September faction of the Palestinian Liberation Army.
Sept 5, 1800		The end of the Siege of Malta, as Napoleon’s forces surrender to the British following a two year long naval blockade.
Sept 5, 1997		Death of Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate for the poor, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Sept 6, 1620		The Mayflower ship departed from Plymouth, England, bound for America with 102 passengers and a small crew.
Sept 7, 1533		Birth of Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Sept 8, 1900		The worst weather disaster in U.S. history: a hurricane with winds of 120 mph struck Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 persons.
Sept 8, 1944		The first V2 flying bombs kill 3 people in London.
Sept 9, 1776		The U.S.A. came into existence as the Continental Congress changed the name of the new American nation from the United Colonies to the United States.
Sept 9, 1976		Leader of Communist China, Chairman Mao Zedong died.
Sept 11, 1863		Bushranger Captain Thunderbolt escapes from “escape-proof” Cockatoo Island gaol in Sydney Harbour by swimming to the mainland.
Sept 11, 1915		Britain’s first Womens Institute opens in Wales.
Sept 11, 1928		Charles Kingsford-Smith lands the first trans Tasman flight at Wigram, Christchurch.
Sept 11, 19xx		MY BIRTHDAY
Sept 11, 2001		The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Sept 12, 1908		Marriage of Winston Churchill to Clementine Hozier.
Sept 12, 1990		Treaty was signed to reunite East and West Germany.
Sept 13, 1902		Henry Jackson becomes the first person in Britain to be convicted on fingerprint evidence.
Sept 14, 1752		The first day of the Gregorian calendar in Britain.
Sept 14, 1982		Former actress, American born Princess Grace of Monaco died following a car accident.
Sept 15, 1830		MP William Huskisson becomes the first rail fatality at the opening of the Liverpool Manchester Railway.
Sept 15, 1890		Birth of prolific English mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976)
Sept 16, 1400		Owain Glyndwr proclaimed Prince of Wales.
Sept 16, 1810		Mexican Independence (from Spain) Day.
Sept 17, 1701		King James II of England dies whilst in exile in France.
Sept 18, 1709		Birth of Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary.
Sept 19, 1893		New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote.
Sept 20, 1258		Consecration of Salisbury Cathedral.
Sept 22, 1735		Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole moves in to 10 Downing Street.
Sept 23, 1848		Chewing gum is produced commercially for the first time.
Sept 24, 1776		The first St Leger horserace is run at Doncaster, Yorkshire.
Sept 25, 1513		Balboa first sighted the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
Sept 25, 1818		The first transfusion of human blood is performed at Guy’s Hospital, London.
Sept 26, 1580		The Golden Hind arrives in Plymouth harbour having sailed round the world under the captaincy of Sir Frances Drake.
Sept 27, 1888		First use of the name “Jack the Ripper” in an anonymous letter to the central news agency.
Sept 28, 1066		The Norman conquest of England began.
Sept 28, 1542		Spanish discovery of California by Cabrillo.
Sept 28, 1745		“God Save the King” is sung for the first time at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.
Sept 29, 1758		Birth of Horatio Nelson.
Sept 30, 1928		Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin while working at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.

#52Ancestors, Week 35, Back to School

My Mum was a teacher – now retired.

When we were at primary school she used to help out in class with reading – what would eventually become reading recovery. Before she married she had trained as a nurse, but could not complete her training because nurses weren’t married women in the 1950s.

She decided to become a fully fledged teacher at some point in the late 1960s, but first needed to get some qualifications. This meant studying a couple of School Certificate subjects by correspondence and sitting the exam at the end of the year. It was probably good for our future years to see her commitment to study too. I have vague memories of Dad studying when I was much younger, but with Mum we would all be doing homework or study together.

Our move to Wellington most likely disrupted Mum’s plans, and for the first year there she worked at a clothing importer. In a dreary grey building which looked out onto the big deep hole in the ground which would become the BNZ Building at the Willis Street & Willeston Street corner.

She became a student teacher in 1974 and loved the experience – or most of it – graduating in 1977. I remember taking the day, or afternoon off work to go along to watch. Primary schools were where she worked. Khandallah, Newlands, Tairangi, Maraeroa…

Reading and literature were important, Math meh ! (until the 1,2 & 5 cent pieces were discontinued – then there were cages rattled). In the early 1980’s she was the teacher at Hutt Hospital’s children’s ward and in the later years of that decade began to specialise in working with children with special needs as they were integrated back into mainstream classes.

This role morphed to become Resource Teacher Learning and Behavioural and was itinerant; working with a group of schools in a geographical area. She became an advocate for children. Supporting their teachers; searching for solutions and opportunities to enable every child to be the best that they could be and often supporting their parents through the ups and downs that red tape creates.

Don’t tell her something can’t be done; there is bound to be a solution. This is a lady who is determined in everything she does. You need her on your side – you won’t get far trying to go against her, believe me.

Teaching lit her passion, and it is still burning even now.

#52Ancestors, Week 36, Work

I don’t think I have anyone in my tree with an occupation which would be considered out of the ordinary.

Farmers, ag labs, railway employees, tailors, builders, engineers, teachers, nurses, domestics, grooms, coachmen, taxi drivers, truck drivers, mechanics, publicans, gardeners, sailcloth weavers, glovers, fitters, bakers, millers, labourers, clerks, cordial manufacturers and nurserymen can all be found scattered through my tree.

When my Cooper ancestors came to New Zealand in 1841 Samuel the head of the family was a tailor. A trade he had worked at in Montacute, Somerset before emigration. I don’t know where he learnt this trade, perhaps from his father although he died when Samuel was quite young; so maybe not.

Samuel and Elizabeth bought with them seven children. John the eldest was my great great grandfather. He was about twenty when they left England and followed his father and became a tailor. Two other sons began ginger beer and cordial manufacture businesses. Thomas was reputed to be the first to do so in New Zealand. Frederick who was just fourteen months old when they emigrated went on to establish a firm which operated for over 100 years.

F. Cooper Ltd.

It was recognized as a world leader in the production of seed peas for freezing and canning as well as a well established reputation as a producer of other quality seeds.

Fred married Ellen Carpenter in 1863. She was born in Wellington in 1842 shortly after her parents had arrived. Together they set up shop in Manners Street, near Herbert Street. Herbert Street no longer exists, but their shop was on the site, or very close to, where McDonalds now operate on the corner of Manners and Victoria Streets. They sold groceries, fruit and other needs of early settlers as well as seeds and plants from a nursery which Fred had already established between Taranaki and Hooper Streets. In 1866 they placed a half page advertisement in the Wellington Almanac. Their business prospered and four years later in the same publication they advertised that they had been able to erect a large building adjoining the shop where they intended to conduct all of their business.

By 1880, they had outgrown the space between Taranaki and Hopper Streets and extended their interests to Alicetown, south of the present Ewen bridge on the western side of the Hutt Valley. Here they established the Bijou Nurseries. In spite of economic fluctuations they were able to build on their early steady solid growth and in 1890 were obliged to find a larger building. This time on the east of Manners Street near the junction of St Hill St (today this is the laneway running between ASB Bank and Subway on Manners Street through to Bond Street).

Ellen and Fred had a family of eight children. Their two sons and three of their daughters joined the family business. In 1899 their son George aged twenty was sent to England to investigate prospects and returned with a contract to export seeds to the United Kingdom.

Fred died in 1908 but the business continued to grow in the hands of the two sons. In 1909 they erected a five storey building on the corner of Mercer and Willis Street; in 1913 they needed another building, this time in Dixon Street, near Willis Street. They operated from this site until at least the 1960s. The business passed to another Fred Cooper, grandson of the founder in the 1950s.

Coopers were at one time the largest seed house in New Zealand. In 1974 F Cooper Ltd was sold to Arthur Yates & Co Ltd. Yates had begun a similar business in Auckland in 1883, expanding to Australia in 1887. The Yates Seed Division was sold to South Pacific Seeds in 2003. The brand name  for commercial growers was changed to Terranova Seeds. Today Terranova Seeds are still the largest vegetable seed supplier in New Zealand.

References:

https://newspaperarchives.uhcc.govt.nz/?a=d&d=UpperHuttLeader19600317.2.3&

https://www.grassland.org.nz/publications/nzgrassland_publication_2494.pdf

#52Ancestors, Week 33, Family Legend

There are no All Blacks amongst my family – that I know of. No mountain climbers or explorers…or are there ?

Rumour has it that Davis Strait to the north of Canada maybe misspelt and should be Davys Strait. It is named for Captain John Davis (also spelt Davys).

He was born about 1550 near Dartmouth in Devon and died off Bintan Island near Singapore in 1605. He attempted to find the Northwest passage through the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific. It is in this area where you can find Davis Strait – near Baffin Bay.

He made three attempts in 1585, 1586 and 1587 after first proposing the idea to Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I in 1583. He was unsuccessful in this exploration but imagine the sights which he and his crew will have seen. Narwhal, walrus, seals, icebergs, indigenous peoples.

He is reputed to have commanded the Black Dog against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and sailed with Thomas Cavendish (leader of the third circumnavigation of the Earth) on his last voyage in 1591. He discovered the Falkland Islands on 9 August 1592 while seeking a passage through the Magellan Strait and sailed with Sir Walter Raleigh to Cadiz and to the Azores in 1596-97. He later accompanied expeditions to the East Indies in 1598 and 1601. On the third of these voyages on 1605 he was killed by Japanese pirates.

Davis (Davys) also invented a device call the backstaff or Davis quadrant which was used up until the 18^th century to determine latitude by reading the elevation of the sun. In 1594 he wrote a treatise  on navigation “The Seaman’s Secret” and his 1595 work “The World’s Hydrographical Description” dealt with the Northwest Passage.

So Captain John – I wonder if you DO fit in my tree somewhere ? If not, it is still a pretty good legend to hold on to.

Reference: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Davis