Meet the ancestors:
photos of various branches of my family,
in Australia since 1822

Click on the pictures to see full-size versions
These photos appear in roughly chronological order, although some are grouped to show a particular branch of the family.
To follow the relationships, consult the family tree index page.

An engraving of the Reverend Thomas Carr, brother of my six-times-great-grandfather William Carr. Thomas Carr was a chaplain with the East India Company in India in the early 18th century. This is the earliest ancestor of whom I have an image.

The grave at Richmond, Tasmania, of Sarah Butcher (1821-35), daughter of John Hunt Butcher, the first of my ancestors to come to Australia. John Hunt Butcher and his family arrived in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1822, and settled at Richmond, where he was a magistrate. The inscription on the headstone reads "In memory of Sarah Anna, the dutiful and affectionate daughter of John Hunt and Sarah Butcher, who died 24th May 1835, aged 14 years." (see some biographical information on John Hunt Butcher)

John Morris (c1826-c1900), my paternal great-great-grandfather, a Welsh born Melbourne iron merchant. His daughter Constance married George Eddington, my great-grandfather. My grandmother wrote on the photo: "My grandfather died about 1900."

My great-great-grandmother, Eliza Morris (nee Roberts), date unknown. She was the widow of John Morris.

My great-great uncle, Adam Eddington (1831-61), eldest brother of my great-grandfather George Eddington. A lieutenant in the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, Adam died in India in 1861, aged 29.

Adam Eddington's grave at Dagshai, near Simla, India: a photo preserved by my grandmother, provenance unknown.

Sir John Gillespie, one of the Scottish Gillespies and either an ancestor or close relative, although his exact relationship is unknown.

My great-great-grandmother, Grace Gillespie (1808-1901), who married my great-great-grandfather, the elder George Eddington.

This photo is also identified as being Grace Gillespie, but doesn't bear much resemblance to the photo above. Possibly it is a different Grace Gillespie.

A photo identified as being of "Aunt Bessie Eddington," presumably a sister or sister-in-law of the younger George Eddington and thus an aunt of my paternal grandmother, Leonora.

My great-grandmother, Constance Morris (born 1864), daughter of John Morris, who married George Eddington in 1892

Another photo of Constance Morris

A headstone in the cemetery in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, recording the deaths of various members of the Eddington family. At the top is my great-great-grandfather, the elder George Eddington (1796-1854), below are listed three of his four sons, his widow Grace, and a daughter. His fourth son, the younger George, emigrated to Australia.

My great-grandather George Eddington, with my grandmother Lenora, 1894

My great-grandfather George Eddington (1846-1917) as a boy in Scotland. The handwritten inscription identifies the figure at left as George's elder brother James Gillespie Eddington (1837-90), but he looks considerably more than nine years older than George. It is possible that this is in fact his father, the elder George Eddington, who would have been about 60 at the time.

My great-grandfather George Eddington on his verandah at Toowong, Queensland, about 1905

A small family tragedy: The only known photo of Driver George Eddington (1895-1917), son of Norman and Elizabeth Eddington of Adelaide, and nephew of my great-grandfather George Eddington and thus my grandmother's first cousin: killed in action in Belgium October 1917.

Mementos of George Eddington, preserved by his parents, who apparently had no other children, and eventually passed on to my grandmother.

My grandmother, Lenora Constance Eddington (1894-1970), as a girl in Queensland. Her name is spelled Lenora on her birth certificate, but in later life she spelled it Leonora or Leonore.

My great-grandfather James Carr, at left, with my grandfather William Carr (1883-1966) in his pram, in Thornton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, in 1883. The other two people in the photo are not known, and are presumably servants.

My great-grandmother, Mary Ellen Carr (nee Spencer) (1850-1920). The Carr family disapproved of her marriage to James Carr.

My grandfather William Car, seated centre with folded hands, at his preparatory school, Bracewell Hall near Skipton in Yorkshire, about 1893. He was born at Thornton-in-Craven, a village near the Lancashire border.

My grandfather William Carr (1883-1966), front row at right, at Marlborough College, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, about 1900.

My grandmother Leonora Carr, 1920s

My paternal grandparents Leonora and William Carr, 1930s

My great aunts (my grandfather William Carr's sisters), Doris and Muriel, Worthing, England, 1970s

My great-great-grandfather Robert Brockman (1841-87), the first of my ancestors born in Western Australia. His father, Thomas Brockman (1812-98), arrived in the colony from England in 1831.

Susan Hinds Brockman, nee Ridley (1842-1919), who married Robert Brockman.

My maternal great-grandfather William James Burchell Butcher (1858-1944), as a young man in Perth, 1881. He was born in Richmond, Tasmania, and moved to Western Australia in 1877.

William Butcher in later life. He was a pastoralist and explorer, and was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1901 to 1911 and from 1915 to 1917.

My great-grandmother Frances Chenery (nee Watson) (1868-1956), my mother's paternal grandmother, with my father's elder sister, my Aunt Alizon (left), about 1950

From left, my mother, my grandmother Kathleen Chenery and my great-grandmother, Margaret Butcher: Perth 1940s.

My mother's maternal grandmother, Margaret Brockman (1873-1968), as a girl. She was the daughter of Robert and Susan Brockman.

Margaret Brockman married William Butcher in 1892. They had three sons and five daughters.

Margaret Butcher (nee Brockman), my grandmother Kathleen Chenery (nee Butcher) (1896-1970), and my aunt Margaret Lacey, in Perth in the 1940s

My maternal grandmother, Kathleen Butcher (back row, second from right), at St Hilda's School, Perth, about 1913

My great-uncles John Butcher (1902-25) (left)
and James Butcher (1903-27) (right), brothers
of my grandmother Kathleen Chenery. Their early deaths
in station accidents were a family tragedy.

My maternal grandfather, Ernest Chenery (1892-1958) (second from left), at the family property, Boolathana Station, near Carnarvon, Western Australia, 1920s

Ernest Chenery with my mother Anne Chenery, probably at Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia, where the family held a pastoral lease

Ernest Chenery in the uniform of the Australian Imperial Force, 1914. He served as an artilleryman at Gallipoli, in France and in Italy, and won the Military Cross. He served again as a transport officer in World War II.

My maternal grandmother Katheen Butcher as a girl, about 1910

My mother and grandmother on Cottesloe Beach, Perth, 1929

My mother and her younger sister Margaret, Boolathana Station, mid 1930s

The grave of my great-grandfather James Carr and his wife Mary Carr, Thornton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, photographed by my Aunt Alizon during a visit to Britain in 1949.

My grandfather William Carr as a surgeon in the Royal Australian Navy during the First World War. The war took him to New Guinea and Nauru, to the Middle East and the Caribbean in RAN ships.

My grandmother, Leonora Carr, with my father, James Carr, on her knee, and my aunt, Alizon Carr, about 1927

My grandparents, William and Leonora Carr, with my father and my aunt Alizon standing behind, and my Aunt Gillian, about 1934

My grandfather William Carr with my aunt Gillian, about 1930

My grandmother Lenora Carr with my father and my aunts Alizon and Gillian, about 1932

My aunts Alizon and Gillian, about 1935

My father (middle row, second from right) on his enlistment in the Royal Australian Navy, December 1942

My grandfather, my father and my aunt Alizon in uniform, 1945.

William Carr in the uniform of the Royal Australian Navy. He served as a naval surgeon in World War I and was Director of Naval Medical services 1935-1946. He retired with the rank of Surgeon Rear Admiral.

A very important photo, early 1950s. At left is my paternal grandmother, Leonora Carr. Next to her is her great friend Hilda Daniels, nee Chenery. Hilda was the sister of my maternal grandfather Ernest Chenery and thus my great aunt. It was the friendship between these two that led to James Carr (my father) meeting Hilda's niece Anne Chenery (my mother).

My mother aged 16 in Perth, 1942

My mother aged about 20 in Perth, about 1946

My parents' wedding, Perth, April 1952.

The newlyweds, Shepparton, Victoria, 1952

My christening, October 1953. From left, my maternal grandmother Kathleen Chenery, my paternal grandfather William Carr and (holding me) my paternal grandmother Leonora Carr, on the lawn at my grandparents' home, "Pear Trees," Frankston.

My christening, October 1953. From left, my mother, my great-grandmother Margaret Butcher and my grandmother Kathleen Chenery (holding me)

Me with my grandfather William Carr , on the lawn at "Pear Trees," 1955.

Me on Frankston Beach with my brother David, 1962.

Me with my brother David and my sister Cate, 1961.

My mother with me and my brother David about 1959

Me with my mother, about 1955

Me with (from left) my brother Sandy, my sister Cate, my brother David and (foreground) my sister Maggie, 1963.

Family gathering, Christmas 1963. At left, my grandfather William Carr. Standing behind, my aunt Alizon holding my brother Sandy, my aunt Gillian, my mother holding my sister Maggie. Standing at front, my bother David, me, my sister Cate. Seated at front, my grandmother Leonora Carr

Family gathering, Christmas 1969. Behind: me, David, my father and mother, aunts Gill and Alizon. In front: Maggie, Sandy, grandmothers Kathleen Chenery and Leonora Carr. Both grandmothers died the following year.