"UTOPIA" Revisited

Well, lovely readers, I have given you a short break after the wonderful Centenary Celebrations of my family, from my dabblings in history.
I love history, though I admit it is a love I have developed as I've become older and in the broader sense have enjoyed learning along with own children.

But Family History has become something of a passion for me:-)

• 
  

Therefore, in this 100th year of my father's parents settling at Jooro, I am excited to also be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the landing of the migrant ship "Utopia" in Keppel Bay.  The passengers of which then came up the river to Rockhampton.  The year was 1862 and this was the first ship to bring immigrants directly to Rockhampton. The 324 passengers swelled the population of Rocky by about 50%!

Descendants and History buffs are invited to attend the celebrations being held next weekend (3/4 November).  The launch of a book by a local Historian at the Public Library, Lunch at the North Rockhampton Bowls club which is along the Fitzroy River not far from the arrival point and a bus tour of historic sites. These include the memorial stone to mark the arrival of the "Utopia", other old establishments along the river and the old cemeteries.

Several of my own family will be enjoying the day with me and many of my more extended relatives.  My father's maternal great  grandparents, (on both sides) were passengers on the "Utopia".  Two young couples, the Bonds and the Rattenburys.  Each with two small children arrived here among the adventurous souls who travelled from England's fair shores to the blistering heat of our Australian summer.

Each family had quite a few more children after coming to Australia and my  great Grandfather, Charles Bond went on to marry Sarah Rattenbury.  As you can imagine in a large country town like Rockhampton there are still many descendants of those first pioneers who lay claim to this wonderful piece of Aussie history. 

If you would like to read a little about the ship, her voyage and arrival and the good folk who travelled on her , follow the link:

The Arrival of the Utopia

The article concludes with a photograph taken at the fifty year celebration of the "Utopia" and my ancestor, Richard Bond is in it.  He is the gentleman with the bushy beard.

(Hahahahahahahahahhahahaha)

Great great grandparents
Richard and Mary Bond

In family folk lore, and also other articles, it is told that the crew of the ship mutinied and that the able and willing men on board performed the crew men's duties to aid the captain to bring her to her destination.  It is mentioned in this article that the men were hand picked according to their skills and trades.  This was a great boon to the newly settled area.

The Bonds became dairy farmers. 
A friend of mine now lives in Bond road close to the place where they once lived and worked.

The Rattenburys were also farmers and Dad was telling me recently that they also dabbled in mining. There were several mines in the area in the early days including 

gold at Mt Morgan.

More on this after the event!

Haha, if you missed the joke I know you didn't look at the link!

   Two special people♥

21 October, 1972

My eldest sister's wedding day. 

Happy memories even though I am bawling!

Meeting the Challenges

One day at a time.
♥
♥
♥
♥
♥

Being a little overwhelmed by some of the present challenges that life holds before me, I came to the realisation that without challenges, it would be a very boring existence indeed!

I am constantly put to the test by technology :-) This week it is my printer. I have put in a new ink cartridge only to be told that it will not print because the cartridge is not genuine.  The trouble being, it is a genuine cartridge.  I do not have the smarts to inform my computer of this fact and so have not been able to print anything out.  It is amazing just how much printing one needs to do when one can not :-)

A serious challenge at present is planning for the 2013 academic year.  My older son will be Year 11 age.  He has no huge goals at present but is keen to try out different things and gain skills.  He is not, however, keen to attend TAFE, which was the way we thought we were heading.  The pre-vocational courses run during Years 11 and 12 look really good and interesting and useful for life no matter what he decides to do. The sticking point is the "classroom" element which is a component even of the hands on courses.  I understand that because I am his teacher and I know the challenges he has to face each day.  His Year 11 & 12 subjects will be through the Enrichment Program with Groves DE so basically continuing at his present ability.  He would like to do some work as well as school if not attending TAFE.  I am for this also but I know having had others working casual jobs and completing schooling that often the hours the student can actually do school work can be limited. 

Second son will move up to year nine but also has many challenges.
For me the great challenge at present is motivation.  They are past the stage of carefree days rambling the Botanical Gardens for leaves and bugs.  They are almost through their school years and looking at a working life but still struggling with many of the basics.
Some days it is tough to be positive and inspiring!  Come on all you creative people out there.  What do you do to ignite the fires of imagination in flailing young minds?

It is a challenge living here in our once large but growing smaller home :-).
This is one challenge that has so many good sides that it is really not weighing on my mind.  Of course, there are days, today being one, where we all heave a collective sigh when the little darlings finally go to bed.  Four active, inquisitive toddlers generate a lot of noise, mess, washing, chaos, did I say mess?  But I do love those little guys ♥
If only we could get a clear day to clean .... before the troops come tromping back through the house! I am grateful, in a strange sort of twist, that I do have a worn out, falling apart, going to mildew sort of house.  How hard I would find it if everything was "precious".

My greatest personal challenge is to keep myself on an even keel health wise.  After poor results two months ago, my Renal Clinic appointment today was a little more encouraging.  I am never going to "get better" but by being as diligent as possible my blood sugars are slightly better, my Renal function is stable, blood pressure is fine. While the heat tends to make my battle with tiredness worse, our Spring has been reasonable so far and I am enjoying the days.

My No.2 grandson was four on the weekend and again my gadgets let me down. (Seeing a pattern here?)  Therefore I have no photos to show of the fantastic little fellow with his gorgeous green frog umbrella!  Something to look forward to, eh?

The Birthday Boy

Because blog reading seems to have become almost a past fad, I am probably writing a little more personally than I used to because I know all you fine ladies who read or at least comment here.  So many blogs have finished now and I am missing some of those which I found particularly uplifting. I am not planning to cease.  For two years now I have only posted once or twice a week and I enjoy the journalling aspect of it. 

So, to all who drop by here this week.  Take up your challenges one by one.   Do not be anxious for anything and cast your burdens upon the Lord for he shall sustain you. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Philippians 4:6

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Looking Back....

You know what it is like.  You plan and organise every detail for a big event, like your wedding, and then blip.....in the blink of an eye it is all over.  There's a high, then a sort of deflation right afterwards.  Then, as time goes by you remember the great event with happy satisfaction and it is stored away in the archive of happy, golden memories that will always be treasured.

So it is with the great family Centenary Celebration!  We've had lovely thank you emails from many of the travelling relatives.  I notice this is mostly the older generation, and remind myself to be more diligent in sending Thank you notes and encouraging the children to do so. I wrote an article for the Local Paper and was thrilled that they edited it very little and printed all four photos that I sent.  It was a full page article on Saturday, so everyone was very thrilled!

Our littlest grandchild had his first birthday on the day of the reunion, so we celebrated jointly with his dad, on the Monday public holiday.

He is such a cute little fellow and despite being a little off colour

had a wonderful day being the centre of attention!

Birthday Boys!

My two boys had a great week  with their friends at the Gold Coast.  As they all get older, start jobs etc.  it is becoming more difficult to plan times when they can all meet up.  They really enjoyed it, as always, and also got to meet more of the boys new friends.  The reality is that over time their lives will diverge more and more.  "Jasmine" their mother is a special friend of mine and I relished the short space of time we had to catch up on Friday when we collected the boys.  She is one of those rare to find friends with whom I can immediately fall back into conversation.  It is almost as if we just took up where we left off about 12 months ago! I pray that our children will enjoy the same closeness of fellowship in years to come.

Friday was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday!  She is a very with it woman with a lot still to offer and enjoy.  She still teaches music students (piano) and I think she will do so for as long as possible.  It is her great passion and I think it keeps her going!

We had a lovely family dinner at a Community Sports Club in Sunnybank.  Everyone was there except my two girls and their children.  I loved meeting two great nephews who we had not met before. Hubby and I made a very quick two day trip for the occasion but we hope to go back again soon for a longer visit.

Nana had a wonderful 80th surrounded by her family.
Here she rides happily back to the car park and enjoys the well wishes.

So, after all the excitement of the September holidays we have now to get back into school mode.  I can scarcely believe that Term 4 is on us already.  We always find the heat of first and fourth terms challenging.  This will be the first summer term for many years where we are not doing swimming on Fridays.  Perhaps I'll incorporate that anyway.  There are end of year events to think about and school work returns and .............

Have a great week everyone, especially if you too are back to school.
Remember to hug your children. Try not to  let those precious opportunities pass, when you can show your love, grace and forgiveness to others.  Life is so short.
I am reminding myself to send that note of thanks or comfort and share a little of the blessings which God bestows.

One Hundred Years of Farm & Family #3

One Hundred Years of Farm & Family #1 & #2

are the two previous posts.

When the melee of the tree planting was over

(we had decided they would all be planted at one time

to prevent a long drawn out session)

the men started up the branding fires for the branding of

the entrance gate and fence.

In real life, branding cattle used to be a very hot, smelly event.

The gas burner still get hot and the one doing the

branding needs to be careful.

P7J

Formally Dad's and now my youngest brother's.

Planks were branded for any who wished to take

home a memento.

6GD

Grandad's brand and now my cousin's/

Another cousin and her husband constructed the gate and fence

and put in a watering system for the grove.

Note the old cow bell hanging on the gate.

Dad can no longer see.

He listens carefully as my sisters read out the brands.

Of course, he knows whose each one is.

Sunset at the top of the world!

With wine and cheese

we soaked in the splendid view from the highest point

on my brother's place.

A 360 view of the Callide Valley and toward the Dawson.

Westward ho!

The local school bus driver, and family friend

loaned his bus for ferrying folk around.

My grandkids loved the bus ride but being

almost dark, fell asleep on the trip up the mountain.

Memorabilia displayed on what was once my grandparent's

family table and later hosted many happy occasions

at my own childhood home.

including my Family History Albums.

(And my sweet grand-daughter behind)

Old photos hanging in the corrugated iron shed

plus old implements, cream cans etc

added to the rustic feel.

My youngest son and his cousin give my two

grandsons a ride on the quad.

In our day, visiting kids got rides on horses.

My brothers are both horse lovers and good horsemen and

use them for mustering,

but many farm jobs are done on bikes these days.

And so it is over......sigh.

Our celebration and reunion were well worth all of the effort

that went into it. 

Every detail seemed to fall into place.

Thank you for reading and sharing in this special occasion.

100 years of Family and Farm

One Hundred Years of Farm & Family #2

Please see the previous post for #1

From my brother's house and the main location of eating, drinking and

reminiscing, we made the short trek over to the original homestead site.

This is now owned by one of my cousins and formally his parents.

 My grandfather had named his property "Ashgrove" probably because

a large cluster of Moreton Bay Ash grew around where the hut, and later

their home for many years, was built.

Over the years the old place was demolished, some of the trees

had died and others were cleared.

This is where the idea of planting a memorial grove came from.

Dad seated between his sister and brother listen to their sister

give a short history of the site.

My cousin, now one of the land owners at Jooro reminisced of our grandparents.

She also read her poem

"Our Song"

As these two cousins unveiled the memorial plaque.

The verses are engraved along with pictures of our

grandparents, their family and the house.

(Try clicking to enlarge)

Friends, relatives and other neighbours watch on from the shade

as we proceed to plant the fifteen trees.

These trees represent the original family, the present owners and also two

"Guarding Gums" as mentioned in the poem.

My two younger brothers plant the tree for our Dad.

My older brother helps Dad in the planting of the tree for Michael.

His father and our grandfather.

My cousin Jenny & I plant a tree for Norah.

She was Grandma & Grandad's fifth child and first daughter.

She was still born in June, 1927

Jenny's daughter was still born in 2003

and our son died at 8 days of age.

We felt very privileged to honour our Aunt this way

knowing that our Grandmother grieved her all her life.

My Dad flanked by his descendants at the Reunion.

(About 20 were unable to attend.!)

I was thrilled that my four children, my son-in-law and

my six grandchildren were all there for this

big family event.

They are on the far left of this photo.

To be continued......