They came of bold and roving stock that would not fixed abide;
They were the sons of field and flock since e'er they learned to ride;
We may not hope to see such men in these degenerate years
As those explorers of the bush ~ the brave old pioneers'Twas they who rode the trackless bush in heat and storm and drought;
'Twas they that heard the master-word that called them further out;
'Twas they that followed up the trail the mountain cattle made
And pressed across the mighty range where now their bones are laid.But now the times are dull and slow, the brave old days are dead
When hardy bushmen started out, and forced their way ahead
By tangled scrub and forests grim towards the unknown west,
And spied the far-off promised land from off the ranges' crest.Oh! Ye that sleep in lonely graves by far-off ridge and plain,
We drink to you in silence now as Christmas comes again,
The men who fought the wilderness through rough, unsettled years ~
The founders of our nation's life, the brave old pioneers.
~A B (Banjo) Paterson
"Pioneers" Dec 1896
I don't believe you can take events out of people's lives and call it history - this is why we all know that MacArthur raised merinos, someone hid under a bed and Adelaide was Light's vision - but we often don't know much more about these events.
Fifteen years ago a number of people began to realise there was more to the arrival of the Agincourt and Harpley in 1848 than met the eye. Bert Archer, Bill Brownlow, Lenore Keyes, with the assistance of Elizabeth Simpson in Nottingham and Margaret Audin in Paris all began to make connections.
In 1982 the first scholarly piece on the story appeared in print - Doug Webster wrote a very accurate record of the arrival of William Branson, and the motivation behind his immigration - it appeared in Descent, the journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists.
Somewhere here I became interested, and then addicted. A society was formed and I remember quite clearly someone saying that in 1998 it would be 150 years since they arrived - and I think I can credit that to the late Theo Saywell.
The discovery of gold altered forever the close knit community of the lacemakers of Calais. The lives of the Lacemakers were like the bobbins of their trade. From the beginning of the machine made lace industry their lives had swung closely alongside each other, twisting and transversing, stopping and moving on, weaving a complex web of life just as the bobbins moved to weave the complex web of lace.
The major changes of moving from Calais to Australia had not altered the movement. Their lives continued to twist and transverse. The pattern of the fabric was changed, not the threads weaving it. The discovery of gold altered all that. The bobbins of the Lacemakers' lives swung out and away from each other, twisting and transversing the colonies. The close knit community of the Lacemakers of Calais had disappeared into the fabric of the developing Australian Society. The last rack had been made, and it was made with golden thread.
We are a unique group of people who share a bond that is 150 years old. Not many people know who their families were friends with 150 years ago - it intrigues me that that bond still exists. Today we have with us quite a few of the next generation - may those bonds continue.
Extracted from Gillian Kelly's address at the launch of "Well Suited to the Colony"
21st February 1998
Three small articles from Descent, heralding the creation of ASLC
The Agincourt The Fairlie The Harpley
(Andromache, Baboo, Emperor, General Hewitt, Harbinger, Navarimo, Nelson & Walmer Castle)
Most issues from 31 to 66, compiled by Craig Williams
And subsequent issues from
67 onwards,
compiled by Richard Lander
was the venue for our sesquicentenary thanksgiving service and celebration.
Reverend Tom Halls, the Rector at St Peters, is a Lacemaker descendant.
Copies are available at a cost of $34 plus $8 packaging and post anywhere in Australia.
International orders, please enquire first about the mailing costs and options. Postage to the UK (as at November 2007) is £14 (for the book) plus £12.80 (for airmail postage).
Mail your order to
ASLC
PO Box 1277
Queanbeyan NSW 2620
AUSTRALIA
Links
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Sites about lace
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GenRing Linking the World of Amateur Genealogists This GenRing site is maintained by the Australian Society of the Lacemakers of Calais.
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