This is a photograph of the four daughters of Mrs George Thomas. L -R : Elleen Parsons, Julia Eaton, Eva Murray and Violet Gay. George Thomas and Gtranny Thomas lived at Newmerella on Grand View Road until the 1950's. In the Newmerella Koorie Community, there were about 15 families. The family was a very well-respected local Aboriginal family. . George was a stockman for Jas Stirling. From Colin Thomas "I learned that George Thomas was Kitty Johnson’s oldest son. As a young boy George had been found by the Reverend John Bulmer, in addition to other young Aboriginal children in the bush around the Lake Tyers area. He had gathered them all together and took them onto the reserve at the Mission. After quite a number of years had passed George had met and fallen in love with a young half-caste girl, known as Agnes Patterson. Agnes was of Monaro descent and came from New South Wales. George and Agnes got married at Lake Tyers. Because of the half-caste act George and Agnes had to leave the reserve along with their nine girls. They moved to Newmerella, situated outside the township of Orbost. This was the place that George and his wife and children came to call home. Soon after, George and Agnes would add to their family bringing the total of children to fourteen, the last five of whom were boys. At the time of the First World War George’s boy’s volunteered their services and joined the army. When in Europe one of the boys sustained an injury which caused the loss of an arm. Following the end of the war the boys came home, as men." The Thomas family was a well-respected family in Newmerell in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. The daughter were well known for their needlework and craft skills.A black / white photograph of four women wearing log skirts / dresses and elaborate hats, two sitting on a log and two standing on either side.thomas-family newmerella koori-family

Photograph from Mrs E Dowling collection. Black and White. Ten people posed in two rows. Bush backdrop. On reverse labelled - Uncle George's Family. Back row left to right - Eva, Nellie, Gilbert, Lansell, Elsie, Edna. Front Row - Edith, Dad, Mum, Hillier. Possibly related to Lithgow and Weir families.genealogy, family, lithgow, weir family, lithgow family

Francis Matthew Child was 15 when he came to the Valley with his father, Matthew Child in 1855. He married Martha Jeeves (born 1857) in 1875. They had 6 children. Harry, May, Edward, Alice, Bert, Eva.Posed photograph of Francis Matthew Child, his wife Martha (nee Jeeves) and six children, all well dressed with background of bushes. Handwritten inscription on back by John Lundy-Clarke.F.M. Child and Family about 1886. Back Row Martha (nee Jeeves), Harry, May, Francis Mathew, Edward (Ted). Front Row Alice (Petty), (Bert), Eva.francis matthew child, martha child, martha jeeves, eva child, bert child, harry child, alice child, may child, ted child, edward child