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Saturday, December 31, 2011

WHERE GEORGE MAWBEY(2) LIVED

George Mawbey(2) and Nellie Smith were both living at Marrickville, now an inner western suburb of Sydney, when they were married there in 1885.
Their first child, Ina, died and their second, Elizabeth, was born the following year, 1886, the latter at the central western country town of Orange.
Their next four children - George(3) b.1887, Violet Ethel, b.1889, Linda, b.1892 and Daphne Hilda, b.1897 - were born in Sydney, and their last, Norman, in 1901, at Adamstown in Newcastle, a large town north of Sydney.
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From 1887-1890, when George and Violet were born, George Mawbey(2), was living at 261 Palmer Street, East Sydney, near the corner of Burton Street.
It was a block away from Darlinghurst Gaol.
Being so close to the gaol was not a desirable place to live, particularly when public hangings were still taking place outside its main entrance, so rents were probably cheap.
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In January 1901, George Mawbey II attended the hanging of part-Aboriginal man, Jimmy Governor, at the gaol, representing the Mawbey family, four of whom who had been his murder victims. [See Google Maps Palmer Street, East Sydney.]

261 Palmer Street, East Sydney
2011
This photograph (C) Pamela Mawbey 2011
Please acknowledge my copyright if reproduce.


In late 1890, George Mawbey II moved to 35 Ann Street, Surry Hills, on the other side of the main road, Oxford Street.
This house is no longer standing, but the one beside it consists of two two-storey semi-detached terraces.
Houses on the other side of the road are attached single storey working men's houses.
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The house where George Mawbey II and his family lived in Ann Street was a block away from turn of the century Sydney's worst slum, Frog Hollow, on Riley Street, Surry Hills.
A good summary of what the area was like can be seen by clicking on Tour of Gangland Sydney
[See also Google Maps Ann Street, Surry Hills, Sydney
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In the 1893 Sands Directory, George Mawbey II is listed as a 'van proprietor' living at 93 Gipps Street.
This street no longer exits, but appears to have run behind Central Railway Station, near where Eddy Avenue is now.
It was named after a former Governor of New South Wales.

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In 1894, George is back at 35 Ann Street, Surry Hills where he stayed until 1912. Daphne was born while the family were living there.
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In 1913-14 he was living at Villiers Street, Kensington, in a street that is now about a block away from Randwick Racecourse, Sydney's most prestigious racetrack.
See Google Maps Villiers Street, Kensington, Sydney
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In 1919, George(2)'s youngest son, Norman, was an apprentice to a Rosehill horse trainer.
His interest in horse racing may have been whetted by growing up near Randwick racecourse, his family having moved there when he was around 12.