A matter of percentages

One hundred percent

The only claim of inheritance which can be made with absolute certainty is the result of a DNA test. A test taken by my late relative Dawn has consistently given this ethnicity result.

FTDNA test result 

Dawn's four sets of great-grandparents were quintessentially Irish and Australian:

Set 1 - McCarthy and Ryan were from County Limerick

Set 2 - Molloy migrated from County Limerick, Dwyer was from County Tipperary

Set 3 - Guinea was from County Limerick, Carney was born in Australia to parents from Tipperary

Set 4 - Halligan was born in Australia to Irish parents, and then there was de Chave. French ?  99% unlikely.

Dawn studied her family's origins before DNA testing was possible, so some family anecdotes were not disproven in her lifetime. What are the chances of doing so now?

Seventy-five percent likely

One of Dawn's great-grandfathers was John Henry De Chave. His name is recorded as such on a marriage certificate, his own [1], and a birth certificate, his daughter's [2]. He had a well-documented life in Grafton, New South Wales, between 1864 and 1874.

He was listed in the 1867 Samson directory for Grafton, and he appeared on the Grafton Electoral Rolls of 1869-70 and 1875 [3, 4]

but letters addressed to him in 1874 did not reach him. [5, 6]

Dawn recorded this family story in her research: 

John Henry DeChave died young. I have been unable to find any registration of his death. His daughter told her children that her father died when she was 8 years old.

Mary Ada Isabel, an only child, was born on 24 June 1866 and turned eight in June 1874, so this event could have taken place any time up until mid 1875.

Dawn's family held a photograph of her great-great-grandparents, the Henry and Margaret de Chave included on their son's marriage certificate:

This photograph was copied from one pasted into the Family Bible which was owned by Catherine DeChave (nee Halligan), later March, by her second marriage. It was labelled Great Grandparents by my mother. I strongly feel that it is of John [sic] and Margaret DeChave, but cannot be 100% sure.

 

Dawn's ethnicity measure means that they were Irish, and her family tree confirms this.

Fifty percent likely

Towards the end of 1874, around the time of de Chave's disappearance, a dead body was found in the mining area of Vegetable Creek (now known as Emmaville). de Chave had been involved in gold mining nearer to Grafton; in late 1873 the Vegetable Creek area saw an explosion in tin mining. 

The Tip-head near the Severn River was part of the Vegetable Creek tin mines. An enquiry about the dead body was held on 19 October 1874 by Robert Reid Cunningham Robertson, owner of Wellington Vale station, but did not result in a name. [7]

However, on 5 March 1878 in Glen Innes, De Chave's wife Catherine married a Vegetable Creek butcher, William March. [8] It can only be assumed that John Henry De Chave was dead. Was his the dead body found at Vegetable Creek ? 

All of the exploits of John Henry had fallen silent after 1874. One newspaper article in 1872 spells his surname as Shave:

Advertising (1872, April 9). Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton, NSW : 1859 - 1889), p. 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61878949

Would an Irish pronuncation of the surname Shea / O'Shea sound like Shave ? Both variants of this Shea  surname appear in the DNA match lists of other family members' genealogies. There is no evidence of another "de Chave" or its variations in various historical government repositories. 

Twenty-five percent likely

A common reason for using a pseudonym in the 19th century was to camouflage a convict crime. De Chave sometimes used Henry, and sometimes he didn't. Perhaps he was honouring his father?  Misdirectons?

In 1833, a Limerick man named Henry O'Shea arrived on the convict ship Portland after sentencing in a Tipperary court. Labelled as an indoor servant, his crime was stealing six tumblers. Servants were employed in "the big houses" and there was one in Tipperary County known as Marlfield House, owned by the Bagwell family over generations. 

O'Shea served his time of seven years. In 1848 he was working near Bathurst and he appealed to the Principal Superintendent of the Convicts' Office to reunite with his family - wife Barbara, daughter Caroline, and son John - by bringing them to Australia. [9]

They were in the care of Mrs Bagwell, near Clonmel. There appears to be no evidence of their arrival.  

In the photo of Dawn's great-grandparents, the gentleman is wearing a three-piece suit. The lady is wearing a decorated lace cap. Are they the garments of indoor servants who worked in Marlfield House, the Irish home of the Bagwell family ? They look grey-haired and well-fed. There is a carpet, drapes, and solid furniture. 

This rendering by Artificial Intelligence offers some tantalising interpretation.

AI image - colours are indicative only. [10]

Did Henry O'Shea return to Ireland? Was the photo taken after 1850? 

Did his son John travel to Australia on his own and stay, only to disappear in one of the isolated areas of the New South Wales ? 

There are other discrepancies which reduce the certainty of the possibility, such as the age John Henry gave on his marriage certificate - 23, as opposed to an age of 37 if calculated from the age given in Henry's appeal to reunite; the name of his mother - Margaret or Barbara; her maiden name - Ogilvie (which just happened to be a prominent family name on the Clarence River) or Barrett. Or was he trying to protect his family ? 

References 

[1] NSW Marriage certificate of John Henry de Chave and Catherine Halligan, #1865/2206. John's parents were given as Henry de Chave and Margaret Ogilvie 

[2] NSW Birth certificate of Mary Ada Isabel de Chave, #1866/8941

[3] The Clarence Electoral District, 1869-1870, ELE.1, Mackey Archives, Grafton Public Library

[4] The Clarence & Grafton Electoral Districts, 1875, ELE.2, Mackey Archives, Grafton Public Library

[5] No. 2. LIST OF LETTERS RETURNED FROM THE COUNTRY, AND NOW LYING AT THIS OFFICE UNCLAIMED. (1874, February 21). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 557. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223692919

[6] No. 22. LIST OF LETTERS RETURNED FROM THE COUNTRY, AND NOW LYING AT THIS OFFICE UNCLAIMED. (1874, December 8). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 3704. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223583275

[7] It hasn't been possible to substantiate a name for the dead body in the records of Wellington Vale station, A185. Held by the UNE Archives & Heritage Centre 

[8] NSW Marriage Certificate of Kate de Chave and William Newport March, #1878/5077

[9] Museums of Heritage NSW, State Archives NRS 905 Container 4/2844 Letter Number 49/278

[10] AI instruction developed by Andrew Redfern for photo restoration in Google Gemini, https://andrewredfern.com/juggling-family-history/

Johnno's sacrifice

Forty years ago, Australia’s first heart-lung transplant was performed on 7 November 1986 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. The patient was John Anthony O’Malley, a 26 year old Queensland man. He died 19 days later, on 26 November, from pneumonia and rejection of the transplanted organs. [1]

DON'T DRINK & DRIVE THIS XMAS
YA NEVER KNOW WHERE YA HEART MAY END UP
John, Donna and Taxi; 1984 Christmas card

Born in Brisbane in February 1960, John was the youngest of three children of Margaret and Brian O’Malley. [2] He was described as a ‘blue baby’, a symptom indicating a lack of oxygen in the blood. [3]

John had two older siblings - brother Glen and sister Margaret. John’s mother took pride in saying that each of her three children had arrived in a different decade – the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. 

John’s father was a draughtsman. He enlisted in the Australian Military Forces in Brisbane while still an art student, but was deemed medically unfit with colitis in late 1942. [4] He married WRAN Ellen Marshall, known as Margaret, in 1947. [5]

John was nine years old when his father died of renal failure and hypotension in 1969. [6]

In 1983 John moved to Melbourne with a friend and sought work as a labourer. After a short time, he had difficulty breathing and concluded that he was unfit. The difficulty worsened. John was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension. 

In early 1984, Donna, partner and carer to John, drove him to Gladstone in Queensland, to stay with his sister Marg and scout for a property to set up a nursery. John had relinquished paid work because of his health.

Like his brother, John inherited artistic skill, evident in his writing, his interest in spinning wool and Aran cable knit stitches, and the graphically-designed logo for his new business Tarin-Tooka.

He was also keen to learn more about in his origins. In a curious twist of fate, a brief genealogical search showed that John’s O’Malley great-great-grandmother Honorah O’Mahoney (known as Norah) of County Clare, was also the maiden name of Donna’s great-grandmother Honorah Mahony (known as Annie) whose father Denis was born in County Cork, Ireland.

John required an oxygen tank to keep breathing. 

Christmas 1984 

In the family Christmas card, John explained:

John acknowledged Donna’s support: “DONNA THE 22YRO WITH THE COURAGE OF NOONE I KNOW TO STAND BY ME.” 

It took almost two years to find a suitable donor. John was one of several eligible patients. The groundbreaking nature of the surgery ensured media interest in their stories. John’s health continued to decline, almost removing the opportunity for an operation, but eventually treatment with prostacyclin turned that around. 

In 1985, a decision was made to purchase a small acreage in the Hunter Valley where a native plant nursery could be established. John was keen to prepare for a future; he and Donna moved there late that year. 

Tarin-Tooka

Tarin means red gum and Tooka means grass, in the language of the Wonnarua tribe of the Hunter River, near to Wollombi. [7] 

As John explained in 1985 [8]: 

A new old heart-lung 

In late 1985, John was interviewed on the ABC television program Beatbox. This program, which replaced the well-known Countdown, was an experiment funded to provide work experience to unemployed young people. [9] John’s answers were spliced into a segment called “Alive and Kicking” which also featured a song with the same name by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds. [10]  

Interviewer: “When did you find out that you had a real big problem on your hands?”

John: “At the beginning of ’84, but it didn’t really sink in then. They just said you’ve got this heart disease, eventually you’ll get pretty sick, and eventually you’ll die, and ahh, I just thought, well I sort of feel OK now. I can’t chop trees down, but, or do all these manual jobs, but I thought ahh that’s OK, I can still get around.” 

(John had exhibited signs of breathlessness in March 1983, when he visited his partner’s family in Canberra and offered to assist with gardening activities, but assumed it was bronchitis.)

Interviewer: “Did you also think it was always other people who got really crook?”

John: “Yeah, I did. 

Even when I was living in Melbourne, a friend’s brother had a kidney transplant and I thought that couldn’t happen to me, not the sort of way I live.

I’ve got too much to do to stop for something like that.” 

Interviewer: “What is your attitude towards the transplant situation?” 

John: “I know it’s my only option to extend my life. It’s never going to make my life normal again. Lots of drugs to take and regular check-ups. I know all that but I just wanta give it a go and I know the doctors at St Vincent’s are gunna give it everything they’ve got.

And I reckon I can give it everything I’ve got and make a good job of it.”  

Interviewer: “Have you any ideas why you did get pulmonary disease?”  

John: “Ahh, doctors in the last coupla years just sort of, when I’ve moved to different places just said what fumigant were you using to get this, and I’ve only ever used one  fumigant in a workplace and that was some stuff called Methyl Bromide and it’s just ahh, at the time I thought this stuff can’t hurt me and it’s ahh, you just should sorta, and I just extend a warning to people that take jobs, you know it’s better to be on the dole for a few more weeks longer than take jobs where you have to work with chemicals or not work without earmuffs or steel-capped boots or, because there is no use sorta letting work hurt ya.” 

One year later, the call that John had been waiting for was received, and travel from Wollombi to Sydney was quickly organised.  The five-surgeon operation team at St. Vincent’s Hospital was led by the late Dr. Victor Chang and included the late Professor Don Esmore and Professor Phillip Spratt. The Hospital’s heart-lung transplant unit was relatively new. [11, 13] 

The operation was described in detail by The Sunday Telegraph two days after the operation. [12] 

The “transplant flats” 

Family members of transplant patients are accommodated in St Vincent’s “transplant flats” behind the Hospital in Darlinghurst. John’s family stayed, and his partner Donna helped with his care. By the end of the second week after the operation, Dr Chang advised Mrs O’Malley that John was not going to survive the "golden staph" infection and pneumonia which had taken over. [5] There was an opportunity to say goodbye. 

John passed away on 27^th November. Four days later, Donna turned 24. 

Over the next two months, Margaret O'Malley received and responded to more than 250 letters and cards of condolence. [14] 

Prior to his murder in July 1991, Dr Chang and St Vincent’s Hospital performed three more heart-lung operations in the following two years: one in 1987 and two in 1988. From 1989, there were more than 10 operations per year. By 1991, there was a waiting list of almost 50 people. [15] 

As experience grew, lives were lengthened. John had made the ultimate sacrifice. 

References 

[1] John Anthony O’Malley, New South Wales death certificate #1986/27931

[2] Family Notices (1947, September 6). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), p. 4 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS). http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201321319

[3] Family letter, November 1992

[4] Mobilization Attestation Form, National Archives of Australia, B884 Item 4453009 O'MALLEY THOMAS BRIAN LEO : Service Number - Q153078; https://naa.gov.au

[5] Australians At War Film Archive, Interview with Ellen Margaret O’Malley, Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANs), 5 May 2004, UNSW Canberra, https://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1979

[6] Thomas Brian Leo O’Malley, Queensland death certificate #4273/1969

[7] Miller, Robert, "No. 188 - The Hunter River. The Wonnarua Tribe and Language.", p.355, p.357; Living Histories, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/57600

[8] Letter written by John O’Malley, late 1985

[9] ABC leads the field in IYY television (1985, July 2). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 17. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127205920

[10] Beatbox episode “Alive and Kicking”, parts 3 and 4, interview with John O'Malley filmed at Wollombi, NSW, 1985

[11] Weekend Australian magazine, 3-4 April 2004, pp.18-21 [12] Step by step: How they did it at St Vincent’s, The Sunday Telegraph, 9 November 1986, p.5

[13] Heart-lung transplant: How it almost went wrong, National Times on Sunday, 11 November 1986, p.3

[14] Letter written by Mrs Margaret O’Malley, 30 January 1987

[15] Transplantation in Australia – 50 Years of Progress in Medical Journal of Australia, Jeremy R. Chapman, 6 July 1992, pp46-50, ISSN 0025-729X

Newspaper headlines from articles in family collection. 

Wollombi pole house, November 1986

Porpoise graves

It was with much amusement that I looked at the AI-generated script of a Youtubed genealogy lecture. I momentarily lost the thread when the words paupers' graves were translated as "porpoise graves". 

But it neatly sums up the situation that a genealogist can find themselves in on occasion - a slightly off-kilter view of reality. Long before Artificial Intelligence solidified its presence, there have been many times when a chuckle was appropriate at the irony in research.

A distant family relative named Coral may have been amused when she married a man with the surname of Kay. 

Coral's mother was also the subject of a genealogical quirk. She was born prior to the marriage of her parents and formally adopted by them afterwards. As a consequence, her birth certificate is not able to be purchased, even though her birthdate and other details are fully available in services such as Find My Past. 

Coincidental connections in the English language are sometimes made without effort, but puns can be even more humourous. The following headline is notable, even though the story is unfortunate for the protagonists.

WIFE'S YANK KNOCKED THE "G" OUT OF GLOVER (1943, September 5).
Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), p. 14.
Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203756892

Close family has also been the subject of irony. My Sicilian father-in-law married a girl with 19th century Australian roots in Sydney in 1946 while he was still serving as a Prisoner Of War at the Cowra camp during World War II. This immediately conferred Italian citizenship on his bride while removing her Australian citizenship, as was required under war regulations.  

Like all other Italian prisoners, he had to be repatriated to Italy in 1947, but he returned, and family life resumed from then on. In 1953, he became a naturalised Australian. Was his wife still Italian? 

Still an enigma

Vegetable Creek. (1874, March 28). 
Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), p. 20. 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70473485

As the search for John Henry d'Chave, or John H. De Chave, or H. DeChave continues, it has become clear that this is not his real name. 

For a moment, I thought he may have crossed paths with J. W. Lindt, the German photographer who resided in Grafton, New South Wales, during the 1870s. They may have met and recognised the wandering soul in each other. 

I have explained this in a brief story I submitted to NED, Australia's National Electronic Deposit service, hosted by the National Library and all State and Territory Libraries. Luckily, the State Library of New South Wales took me on and the story will remain available in Trove. 

It's not clear where or when the search will end. John Henry remains an enigma. 

   

Finding a Leman in the Laman tree

It is sometimes harder to find out about the life of someone if they go off script by not having children of their own, or migrate more than once. But it is possible to follow someone from cradle to grave when starting somewhere in the centre.

For Daniel Lamon Hines, this was his marriage to my great-great-great-grandmother, his first, her second, in Grafton, NSW in 1868. Daniel believed he was seven years younger than his wife.[1] Even though she stated her age as 38, Mary Halligan nee Campbell was closer to 43. (Her bounty immigrant record gives her age as 16 in January 1842. [2])

Daniel provided an unusual second name for this marriage. It was written as Lamon, allowing it to be interpreted as Ramon, and seems to have been inherited from his father William Lamon Hines. 

When Daniel made his way to Grafton is not certain. There is one possible arrival in Melbourne on the Royal Mail Ship Boomerang from Liverpool, England in May 1855, shown as Dan'l Hynes. [3] 

Not all details match with his Grafton description, but a young Englishman who aspired to be a miner has time to make his way north. By 1858, a Daniel Hines appeared in Black Forest (now Woodend), Victoria, making a wage from woodsplitting. [4]

Then much further north, a letter arrived in Grafton, NSW in mid 1867, addressed to Daniel Hines. [5]

Mary had four children with her first husband convict William Joseph Halligan (~1810 - ~1860). Their son John and daughters Catherine and Letitia had all married and left home by the time Mary met Daniel Hines. Mary's youngest daughter Eliza, who experienced epileptic fits, remained at home with her mother. Mary had been deemed a widow after her husband left home for the Tooloom gold diggings in June 1859, never to be seen by family again. 

However, soon after their marriage, Daniel and his wife Mary moved to the Tweed River. The first record confirming this is an 1869 Conditional Purchase of Portion 2 in the parish of Kynnumboon near Murwillumbah. [6]

A second family tragedy occurred in 1874 - the disappearance of Mary's son-in-law John Henry De Chave. This was followed by another family loss - the death of Eliza Halligan on 10 February 1876; her stepfather Daniel was listed as the informant. [7] 

And in February 1904, Mary passed away. A curious description appeared in the Tweed and Brunswick Advocate and Southern Queensland Record (precursor to the Tweed Daily News):

3rd February 1904

Mrs. D Hinds [sic] died at her residence Monday night last. The deceased lady, who has been a terrible suffer [sic], was well known and highly respected in the district. 

She leaves no children, and her husband who survives her intends, it is rumoured, to visit the old country. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon. 'Twere absurd to express sympathy where congratulation would probably be more acceptable. [8]

It was certainly true that none of her remaining children lived in the Tweed River area, but what did the rest of it mean ? Did Daniel Hines return to his "old country" ? 

It did not take long to find a record of departure for one D. Hines, aged 68, on The Oroya leaving Brisbane in April 1904 for a return to London. [9] His marriage certificate stated that he was born in Devon/shire. He was easy to find in the 1841 UK Census with his siblings and parents William and Sarah at Plymtree in Devon, but there was no supporting birth record.

This time Familysearch gave a clue: there was a possible link to Daniel Leman, born to William and Sarah and baptised in 1836 in Plymtree, Devon. 

A further search for his parents' marriage at Broadhembury in 1824 provided a partial confirmation [10]:

Daniel's father had used an inverted version of the surname: Hine Laman. One of Daniel's brothers, Levi, also used this version in various documents [11].

In January 2022, the UK government released the 1921 Census of England and Wales. It was self-reporting. As in the 1911 Census, Daniel chose to use a variant of Hines as his surname. Was it him ? 

It was a thrill to see final confirmation in this way. Neatly crossed out by the 1921 Census enumerator, under the heading of Place of Work, Daniel had written New South Wales. 

References

1. Marriage certificate NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages #2314/1868. This certificate copy was purchased in 1988

2. The William Sharples, Ship News. (1842, February 1). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2555644

3. Arrival of unassisted passenger 'Danl Hynes', aged 24, miner, Public Records Office of Victoria

4. Friday, Oct. 23. (1858, October 23). The Kyneton Observer (Vic. : 1856 - 1900), p.2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240894850

5. No title (1867, June 4). Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton, NSW : 1859 - 1889), p.2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63665690

6. Conditional Purchase, Portion 2, Book 479 No 117, NSW Land & Property Information 

7. Death Certificate NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, #10347/1876

8. File held by the Tweed Regional Museum at Murwillumbah

9. UK and Ireland Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 - 1960

10. Marriage Banns courtesy of South West Heritage Trust and Parochial Council (UK)

11. For example see the 1851 UK Census for Plymtree Parish

Acknowledgement

Thanks go to the Tweed Heads Historical Society for filling in some gaps in local records.

Picture Us

During its 15th birthday celebrations last year, there were numerous comments about the essentiality of Trove for social and historical research in Australia. 

One comment included a brief statement acknowledging the 25th birthday of the service which started the National Library of Australia's journey into making digital content accessible to everyone via the world wide web.  

So that means Picture Australia would be 25! Congratulations, hard to remember what we did before you.

            - F.S. 4 December 2024 

It is very gratifying to know that our work made such a difference to the working lives of colleagues and, by extension, to the public.  

Today marks 25 years since the launch of PictureAustralia. 

PictureAustralia was written in the naming trend of web services in the early 21st century.  It was officially launched on 4th September 2000. A prototype called ImageSearch made its debut at the national librarians' Online On Disc conference in Sydney the year before.  

It was an experiment for the National Library, which trialled new web-enabled search engine software, browser design to maximise interrogation, and behind-the-scenes interactions with library "catalogues" hosted elsewhere that displayed the content in real time. Its simple technical architecture inspired other libraries, archives and museums to join in. 

PictureAustralia enjoyed several interface design iterations, including this one. 

The service had been well promoted with a series of items to be shared with the public. The PictureAustralia logo loaned itself to many formats, although a postage stamp was eventually vetoed.

bookmark

flyer

tattoo

The service was marketed nationally through a very large range of postcards. Its scope had broadened after five years, as evidenced by this postcard image from participant The City of Sydney Archives found at the Elephant Rock cafe in Currumbin, Queensland. 

Robyn Bracken, Archaeology of Bathing.
webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20091021195941/http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/waterexhibition/images/zoom/archaeology.jpg.html

Both the National Library of New Zealand and Libraries & Archives Canada were keen to emulate the service; NLNZ joining in and LAC introducing Images Canada.

Picture Australia was switched off in 2012. The records linking to a myriad of Australian collections of images were added to Trove, and made available in the Photos zone... the ethos of one simple search across many sources of heritage content was carried over too. 

Acknowledgements: CL & DF, JF & WSC, TB & DL, FH and Lady N

   

The Australian, 29 August 2000, p.41

Tales of the Wimbriatta

Wimbriatta cannot be found. At least, not with that name. 

An exploration of the life of its author, Frederic J. Davey, reveals clues but not confirmation. Davey was born in the Cornish town of Tuckingmill, an only son with seven sisters, in 1850. [1] After his 20th birthday, he migrated to Auckland in New Zealand on his own to seek work as an architect / draughtsman. The reclamation of Auckland Harbour was underway and offered employment.

New Zealand Herald, 8 March 1871, p.2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18710308.2.10

Daily Southern Cross, 13 February 1871, p.1

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18710213.2.2.3

While in Auckland, Davey met his future wife Robinah Hooper, a London-born immigrant who travelled to New Zealand with her family. Her older brother James became an actor and comedian. He appeared at the Theatre Royal, a short-lived theatre north of the Bombay Hills. It is likely that Frederic and Robinah met at the Theatre as six months after his arrival, he launched a play.

Described as a 'new local farce', the play was titled "Potagold's Peep, or Sammy Come Home". One of the jokes centred around the Queen Street sewer. A newspaper of the day referred to it as "The main sewer nuisance". The title of the play was also a puzzle, until I heard the name Samuel Pepys (pronounced Peeps)  mentioned in passing. He was an English diarist who wrote about the state of the London sewerage system in the 17th century. There is no doubt that Davey was a scholar, but he was also unwell. 

With work on the Harbour coming to an end and his health not improving, Davey, his wife, and son Albert migrated to Sydney in July 1877 on the Rotorua. He joined the Colonial Architect's office. 

Australian Town & Country Journal, 14 July 1877, p.31

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70607378

But the climate in Sydney was not dissimilar to the climate in Auckland, so after the birth of a daughter, the family moved north to the Tweed River. Davey resumed his architectural career, and was instrumental in designing public buildings in Tweed Heads including pubs and St Cuthbert's church. Another son and two daughters arrived between 1880 and 1888.

Despite this investment in the future, Davey paid a farewell visit to England in 1890 to see his mother Anna and his sisters. This journey may have helped to extend his life. Between 1900 and 1903, a series of articles appeared in the British journal Good Words. They were advertised as "Tales of the Australian bush", and noted in Davey's 1913 obituary as 'Tales of the Wimbriatta". [2]

It is not possible to search in text databases for the word Wimbriatta and find the articles; rather, a search of the author's name is required. So where is the Wimbriatta ? Almost every one of the nine articles detailing life on a river was accompanied by photographs, taken by one F. J. Davey. Some of the photographs include himself. 

The Last Pioneer, Good Words, Dec. 1903, pp.36-42
https://www.proquest.com/britishperiodicals/results/F0A7E4E58CC44A43PQ/

The Wimbriatta is Terranora, on the Tweed River in New South Wales. 

Davey's home at Terranora was known as Mighbyn, pronounced 'Mij-bin', and is most likely a reference to the local palm in the Bundjalung language. [3] Perhaps Wimbriatta will  eventually be located  in the same language. 

The nine articles in Good Words are:

Davey, F. J. (1900). A NEAR THING. Good Words, 41, 188-194.

Davey, F. J. (1900). "ORATOR" EXTON. Good Words, 41, 483-494.

Davey, F. J. (1900). THE CAVE. Good Words, 41, 738-747.

Davey, F. J. (1900). OUR LITTLE ALL. Good Words, 41, 846-852.

Davey, F. J. (1901). NO GREAT CATCH. Good Words, 42, 599-605.

Davey, F. J. (1902). A friend in need. Good Words, 43, 401-408.

Davey, F. J. (1902). A back seat. Good Words, 43, 577-585.

Davey, F. J. (1902). Coo-ee! Good Words, 43, 845-854.

Davey, F. J. (1903). The last pioneer. Good Words, 44, 36-42.



References

[1] English Birth Certificate #204, 11 September 1850, to Thomas Davey and Anna Heynes.

[2] British Periodicals, Good Words, December 1902, p.2; Advertisement. (1902). Good Words, 43, 2. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/historical-periodicals/advertisement/docview/3445793/se-2

[3] Ian Fox, email communication, 2016. Other spellings were also used.