My family knew little about our early roots in nineteenth-century Colonial Australia. In the ninety years before WWI, the first three generations of my Quinn family lived on the New England Tableland. Detail of my Australian ancestors was limited to a few facts found in the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. The narrative of this historical novel reveals real and fictitious family events, embedded in a sometimes imaginative reconstruction of historical events of the time. My Great-great Grandfather, Patrick ...
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My family knew little about our early roots in nineteenth-century Colonial Australia. In the ninety years before WWI, the first three generations of my Quinn family lived on the New England Tableland. Detail of my Australian ancestors was limited to a few facts found in the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. The narrative of this historical novel reveals real and fictitious family events, embedded in a sometimes imaginative reconstruction of historical events of the time. My Great-great Grandfather, Patrick Quinn, was my first ancestor to live in the Colony. He arrived in 1836 from Ireland, married in 1842 in the colony, sired five children, and died in Glen Innes. His death certificate showed that he worked as a Bellman and Sawyer, lived 54 years in the Colony, and died June 5, 1889. The Glen Innes Examiner printed newsworthy details of Quinn Family members. This provided further details of the family activities of Patrick and his eldest son, Hugh Quinn. As the first of our Quinn Family born in Australia, this historical novel is told from Hugh Quinn's perspective. Details of his life are recorded in newspaper reports of his contribution to the region. His skill as a home-educated wordsmith was recorded in letters written to the Editor on various topical matters. These facts, filled out with fiction formed the foundation of this historical novel.
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