Australia Day 2026-the Ford side.

An Australia Day 2025  Lunch with seafood at Yum Yum Cafe

 

I saw a suggestion a couple of years ago- some family history within an Australia Day theme. I decided to get organised to write a bit about my husband’s family coming to Australia.

On his side the Fords, Hudsons and the Cassidys all came in the second and third decades of the 1900s

My husband’s paternal grandparents Sidney Ford and Ethel Hudson came as a married couple in 1913 just as the war was about to break out in Europe, they had left from England where they both lived and had newly married. He arrived to live officially in Melbourne on 20/6/1913 on a merchant ship Makarini. He had travelled backwards and forwards before that in the Merchant Marines between 1911 and 1913. Sid’s wife Ethel Hudson who arrived heavily pregnant gave birth in Melbourne before arriving in Sydney soon after Alice was born.

James Cassidy arrived in Sydney 3/11/1927 on S.S.Hobsons Bay  

Do the the Fords and the Cassidys have Australian royalty? Heaven forbid they were convict stock. Steve is an Australian mongrel. His  relatives are largely English. Just so happened his paternal grandfather Sid, was of British origin, but born while his father worked on the Coast Guard in Donegal Ireland. No wonder they called him Paddy.

Did any ancestors arrive under their own financial steam?

Yep, Paddy came out on a merchant ship (he jumped ship as they say) and his wife followed. The Cassidys probably paid their own way. Travel costs may have been paid by Hendersons who were looking for workers to work in their hat factory.

How many came as singles?

James E Cassidy- grandfather  was a widower. James came on the 3rd of November 1927 leaving his motherless daughters, Winifred and Patricia back in Bury , England with relatives. The girls were reunited with their father after travelling to Australia unaccompanied under the watchful eye of a stewardess after their father met and married May Davis.

May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926 with her family from Bedworth in Warwickshire. James married the boss’ daughter!

How many came as couples?

Ethel Ford Nee Hudson arrived in December 1913 on the SS Hobsons Bay . She had married Sidney in England and was expecting her first baby by the time she arrived to meet up with her husband who had come across on a merchant ship. She had to disembark to give birth in Melbourne. Then came the happy reunion in Sydney with baby Alice.

Ethel's shipping documents 1913

Did one person lead the way and others followed? James E Cassidy found himself a job and married the boss's daughter. Then his little daughters Winifred and Patricia arrived in Australia  unaccompanied.

Wyn and Pat arrived on the 8th of December 1928 on the SS Orsover via Ceylon, Columbia.. May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926.

Winifred's shipping documents - travelling unaccompanied

What was the longest journey that they came to get here? They all came from England directly.

Did any make two-step migration via another place? No.

What state or colony did they arrive in? New South Wales. All were aiming for Sydney. Ethel had a short stopover in Melbourne to have her baby Alice.

Did they stay in their first state or did they move? All made their homes in Sydney, Drummoyne and Ryde.

Do you have any first Australians in your tree? No.

Were any self-employed? Having seawater in his veins, for Sidney  the answer is No. Plying the waters of Sydney Harbour on ferries was Sid's calling.

James fell into his job at Henderson Hats. It was a skill he brought with him from Lancashire.

What skills or occupation did they make? Does anyone still follow this occupation?

Sidney work on Sydney Ferries all his life.

Hats fell out of fashion in the 1960s and James moved on to work as a watchman at Hoover in Meadowbank. However James's daughter  Wynne did work in Hendersons before her marriage . She met her future husband, Joe, via a note in the army hat she had prepared that was issued to Joe during WWII. Patricia became a nurse.

Did any ancestors leave or go home? No. They all loved Australia and led quite comfortable lives compared with their families back home.

Some questions for the Steve

What is your state of origin? New South Wales.

Do you still live here? Yep. Any special places you like to holiday now? See other answers. Share your favourite spot in Oz picture.

What's on your Australian holiday bucket list? I love a good railway trip and I'm sure my wife has ideas.

How do you celebrate Australia Day? Surrounded by my family, Aussie flags and after a few games eating a good barbecue.

The grandkids celebrating Australia Day 2021 in Yamba

Gene-Allergy: It’s a contagious disease, but we love it.

 

I'll just make room for my medals. The second one this week, and the third one this month. The medals are for “Nan of the Week” for helping with the history homework and other stuff.

Just so happens our granddaughter, Ariah  in Year 6 had to do a story about “10-pound poms”. I was unavailable. But when in doubt, search Nan's blog.

My daughter and granddaughter found a story about James Edward Cassidy leaving England, Lancashire, for Sydney in 1927. He was the widower of Amelia Duckworth, my mother in laws mother. James worked for the local Hat Manufacturer in Bury Lancashire, before and after the war. So, the local paper in Bury did a story celebrating/ lamenting his departure to Australia in post-war times. He was leaving his two young daughters behind until he was set up.

He arrived in Sydney, gained a job at Henderson's Hat Company, met the boss's daughter and married her.

Another story on the blog told of his two daughters, Winifred and Patricia, traveling to Australia to rejoin their father. The girls, aged nine and six, were supervised on board ship by a stewardess and travelled unaccompanied. They arrived on the SS Orsova after six weeks at sea in 1929.

Secondly, my grandson Oliver in Year Four was writing letters to Governor Arthur Phillip during his history lesson. He was asking for leniency on behalf of an unknown first fleeter who stole a couple of cookies. I surprised him with the fact that he had two first fleeters in his background. One was noted convict John Small from the “Charlotte”, and secondly Mary Parker who arrived on the “Penrhyn”, who eventually became his wife. As I'd recently been looking at convict resources, I was able to immediately call up details of John's crime and Mary's misdemeanor.

“Did you know, Oliver, John's crime was much worse than stealing a few cookies?” Normally I'd say that convicts only stole because they were hungry, but John Small was the equivalent of Ned Kelly. He was a highway robber, and incidentally Oliver had just studied Ned Kelly in a recent school project too. (He’s not a relative)

Extract from ConvictRecords.com.au for John Small

Mary Parker was convicted of burglary or housebreaking and there was a long list of items stolen from her employer.

Extract from ConvictRecords.com.au for Mary Small nee Parker

Both were transported for seven years. In this case crime does pay.

After marrying in Sydney, they had seven children between 1789 and 1804. They got their Tickets of Leave and the family flourished after they were given land at Ryde, New South Wales. They were quite affluent. The Fellowship of the Small Family Record book is testimony to their ability to breed and establish themselves all over NSW in farming and even as a policeman.  Oliver quickly requested the information as he was going to email his teacher.

 

I resisted telling him about another convict relative he has- let’s say Charles Dickens might have used him for the characters of Oliver Twist- “you got to pick a pocket or two.” Or should that be locks?

One day his response might be “My ancestors did WHAT?”

Finally, my second eldest granddaughter resorted to the blog to research her great-grandmother, who she wanted to cite as an inspirational woman in her family while applying for a university scholarship. Marlene Jewel Kelf my mother was a woman before her time when she gained her degree in the 1950s with a scholarship in between working, studying at night, marriage, and motherhood times 2.

Mum on her graduation day

Genealogists get a lot of flak but we have our purpose. I’m off to find my polish and celebrate my award-winning victory!