To all my Aussie followers:
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
26 JANUARY 2012!
Celebrating the day the First Fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Harbour.
The flotilla of 11 ships carried convicts, soldiers, sailors, a minister of religion, servants and others who were the first 'Aussie battlers' of this wonderful country.
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Thank you to Ancestry.com.au for allowing free access to its Australian convict records for three days as an Australia Day gift!

SYDNEY-PARRAMATTA RAILWAY LINE

It was while George Mawbey I and his family were living at Dural that the Sydney to Parramatta railway line was opened.
This was the first government-owned, public railway line to be opened in Australia.
It must have been a momentous occasion, making it much easier for them to visit their relatives in Newtown.
The opening took place in 1854, prior to the last three Mawbey children being born, Elizabeth (b.1855), George (b.1860) and Mary (b.1862).
Steam trains plied the track between Parramatta Junction (Granville) and Sydney (the station then being located near Devonshire Street, between the present Central and Redfern stations).
There were six stations along the line, one of them being Newtown where the Mawbey relatives lived.

This photograph is copyright.
(C) Pamela Mawbey 2011

This photograph is copyright.
(C) Pamela Mawbey 2011

This extraordinary book containing the names and addresses
of a people working on the land and in the cities
in each state of Australia
was published in New York in 1881.
It consists of 2,000 pages
set in hot metal
by printers
on the other side of the world.
What a feat!

It contains an entry on page 166 placed by my great grandfather:

John Mawby, fruiterer, Market lane, Mudgee.

This book is at the State Library of NSW.

DAVID AND ALICE WILLIAMS

I appear to have found more information on Ancestry.com about David and Alice Williams, my great, great, great grandparents, who arrived in Sydney with their five children in October 1833.

They were 'unassisted arrivals', free settlers, who travelled from Liverpool, England via Hobart Town, on the Mary Catharine.
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David was aged 38 at the time, indicating he was born c.1795.
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There is a marriage record on Ancestry for a David Williams and Alice Jones who wedded on 16 September 1816 at St Nicholas church, Liverpool, Lancashire.
If this was my GGGG/GF, he would have been 21.
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One of their two daughters, my GGG/GM, Ann Mawbey (nee Williams), was born in 1819.
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There is a record on the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages register of a David Williams dying in Newtown in 1870.
And a newspaper Family Notice for another one, formerly of Newtown, who died on 5 May 1872 at his daughter's residence in Melbourne.
Was this his other daughter, Margaret?
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David Williams had been a cooper, making wooden barrels, and it is possible he may have worked in one or both of the two breweries in nearby Parramatta Street (now Road).
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There is also a John Williams working as a cooper listed in a trades directory who may have been his son.

ANN MAWBEY IN 19TH CENTURY NEWTOWN

The City of Sydney Archives has a wonderful online website called the Newtown Project.It draws together lots of useful historical information that would take ages to find otherwise.
The site includes Sand's Directories for Newtown, Assessment Books, old maps and even a timeline!
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Studying this site has given me a greater insight into what was happening with Ann Mawbey, after her husband George died in Newtown in November 1862.
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Sand's Directories 1864-1880
I first found her listed in the 1864 Sands Directory, living in Egan-street, Newtown.
But then I noticed that a D Williams, possibly her father, was also living in Egan-street.
I then looked at the 1863 edition and found a more conclusive entry, for Williams, David, cooper, Egan-street, Newtown.
So George Mawbey may have died in his father-in-law's home.
And his youngest child, Mary, may have been born there.
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The next listing for Ann Mawbey is in 1866 as Mrs Ann Mawley, still at Egan Street, but there is no D Williams.
The next time she appears is in 1870 as Mawbey, Mrs Ann, greengrocer, Newtown Road (now King Steet, the main or high street of Newtown).
In 1873 she is living in Albermarle Street, Newtown, on the north side between Denison and Regent Streets.
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Then I had a big surprise!
In 1875, the listing in the directory is for Mawbey, John, carrier, Albermarle-street.
This was the year Ann's eldest living son was married in Mudgee, to Sarah Clarke, in St John's Church of England.
I had assumed he had stayed in the country until he opened a wood shop in Mudgee in 1878.
But he is still in Newtown in 1876, this time listed as John Mawby.
Was his wife Sarah with him, or with her parents in Mudgee?
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In 1878, there is no listing for John or his mother.
In 1879, Mrs Ann Mowbay, is listed as living in Albermarle Street and in 1880, Anne Mawbey was still there.
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Note the variant spellings of Mawbey in the Sand's Directories:
Mawbey, Mawby, Mowbay, Mawley.
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This may or may not be relevant, but in 1878, a William H Williams was renting a shop and dwelling in Newtown (now King) Street.
Could he have been a relative of Ann Mawbey (nee Williams)?
The rate payer and owner of the property, valued at 58 pounds, was Hannah Barrett.
[Ref: CSA023540, ratebook A, p.53, rate no.9]

I did have some success, however, with finding out more about where my great uncle, George Mawbey II, lived in the Assessment Books held by the City of Sydney Archives.
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His name did not come up when I did searches for 'Mawbey' and 'Mawby'.
When I looked at his address, I found his name had been misspelt 'Mawley'.
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In 1907, when he was living at 35 Ann Street, Surry Hills, in the ward of Belmore, the house he was renting was valued at 52 pounds.
It was the second most expensive house in the street.
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The most expensive was the house next door, 33 Ann Street, owned by the same landlord, William Goldsmith.
It was valued at sixty-five pounds.
It also had a stable.
Being a carrier, using a horse and cart for his livelihood, George Mawbey may have kept his horse there.
The name of this next door neighbour was Thomas Wade.
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On the other side was William A Cooper whose rented house was only worth 36 pounds.
The owner of his house, Hugh Dalveen, owned the five adjoining houses, all rated at the same amount.
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Both properties owned by Mr Goldsmith were brick with slate rooves, and two-storey with six rooms.
No 35 had a connecting lane.
[Ref: CSA027476, p.83, line 5, Assessment Book 1641]