Kath was the daughter of Alec (Alex/Alexander) Eason and Sadie (Sarah) Huggett. She grew up in Maidstone and Footscray and married Jack at 17. Kath's skills included sewing, and she had a fine voice that was never developed.

Her father Alec was a well known Geelong football player and was chosen for the interchange for the Team of the Century. He was the the son of Alexander Richard Eason and Annabella Sisson. Alexander and Annabella came to Townsville Queensland with their five children in 1883 and later settled in Geelong in Victoria, where Alec was born.

Alexander Richard was the son of Richard Eason and Cath Cameron, both born in Ireland but living in Liverpool. Annabella was the daughter of George Alexander Bayfield Sisson of Liverpool and Catherine Walsh.

Sadie Huggett was the daughter of Thomas James Huggett and Esther Newell.

Thomas's parents William Huggett and Fanny (nee Pearce) were farmers from Lewis in Sussex who farmed at Heighton near Geelong.

Esther was the only child of Thomas Newells and Jane Trafford, who married in Hull, England and came to Australia in 1853. Family lore says that Esther was born on the beach and that the family lived in a tent.

Jack was the son of George William Byrne and Annie McKenzie, and grew up on a wheat farm at Yaapeet near Rainbow in the North West of Victoria, Australia - the Mallee wheatlands on the edge of the desert.

George's parents were Jimmy (James) Byrne and Mary Jane Burgess. Jimmy was born near Harrow in the Western District of Victoria. Jimmy and his family moved to Hopevale and later his son George farmed at Yaapeet where my father was born.

We have not yet traced how Jimmy's father Michael came to Australia, although family lore says he came from Scotland and that the Byrne family disembarked at Portland. Michael Byrne married Margaret Maroney in Melbourne in 1843. They had five children and were settled around Harrow where Michael worked as Station Manager of Clunie station. Margaret was widowed on 1st February 1856 but we have no record of how Michael died. She remarried to Stewart Miller in 1857 and had another child Betsy.

Mary Jane Burgess was 5 when she came with her parents Thomas and Hannah (nee Burden) to Australia in 1852. They settled around Harrow. The history of the Burgess and the Burden families go back to the 1600s.

Annie was the daughter of Paul McKenzie and Margaret Robertson. She was around 4 years of age when her mother died at Minyip in Victoria. Paul and Margaret both came to Australia from Skye as children. Margaret was four when she arrived in 1852. Paul was ten when he arrived in 1853.