The Morris Family Tree recently ticked over 8,000 relatives and one cameo appearance of a second cousin, twice removed, caught my fancy. At its core is altruism, but not quite Carmyl's daring do of a "dead hero".
Sarah Elizabeth WALKER, known as Craigie, Birrdhawa Country, in the nascent country of Australia in 1904. Craigie, boasting a school and nothing else, is a farming area 22km from Bombala. Juxta-positioned near the Black - Allen Line, and on the Monaro Highway, the main route from NSW to Victoria.
Her paternal grandfather was a convict and the only picture of her mother, coming from strong Wesleyan stock, is of her touching a bible. One strongly suspects her mother's influence, coupled with the mores of the day, made religion a central part of Sarah's life.
Her father, from Sydney, leased land at Craigie and the propinquity theory of marriage holds true, meeting and marrying her mother Clara in 1893 in Bombala. Whatever the circumstances, Sarah found herself in Sydney as a house maid, later meeting and marrying Ernest DANIELS in 1924.
From 1928, Sarah resided at 16 McFarland Road, Merrylands, now a conurbanised suburb, 25Km west of Sydney. They had one child, James, born in 1926. Ernest, a chiar maker, died in 1943 and Sadie did not remarry.
The only information about her life in Merrylands is gleaned from a plaque honouring her. She and her husband were active and well respected in the community, a meaningless statement with no sources or activities cited. She was renowned for her fine needlewrk beading and her love of writing, including poety and religious verse.
Sadie dies on 4th November 1981 at 16 McFarland Road, Merrylands and leaves no other mark of her life until the reading of her will.
Sadie bequeaths 16 McFarland Road, now in the middle of the shopping precinct, to Holroyd Municipal Council to be used as an open space for the elderly. James, her son, does not receive his cadastral inheritance. One would need to be Sherlock Holmes to fathom the reasons, so it remains tacit.
The bequest's reasons probably has its genesis in the tenuous religious thead previously mentioned. Did Sadie in her older years have the foresight to see a need for the elderly, and now for all comers? Perhaps. The land was developed as an open space in 1985 and refurbished in 2011 to a functional rest area, 'Sarah Daniels Court'.
Sarah Elizabeth WALKER, known as Craigie, Birrdhawa Country, in the nascent country of Australia in 1904. Craigie, boasting a school and nothing else, is a farming area 22km from Bombala. Juxta-positioned near the Black - Allen Line, and on the Monaro Highway, the main route from NSW to Victoria.
Her paternal grandfather was a convict and the only picture of her mother, coming from strong Wesleyan stock, is of her touching a bible. One strongly suspects her mother's influence, coupled with the mores of the day, made religion a central part of Sarah's life.
Her father, from Sydney, leased land at Craigie and the propinquity theory of marriage holds true, meeting and marrying her mother Clara in 1893 in Bombala. Whatever the circumstances, Sarah found herself in Sydney as a house maid, later meeting and marrying Ernest DANIELS in 1924.
From 1928, Sarah resided at 16 McFarland Road, Merrylands, now a conurbanised suburb, 25Km west of Sydney. They had one child, James, born in 1926. Ernest, a chiar maker, died in 1943 and Sadie did not remarry.
The only information about her life in Merrylands is gleaned from a plaque honouring her. She and her husband were active and well respected in the community, a meaningless statement with no sources or activities cited. She was renowned for her fine needlewrk beading and her love of writing, including poety and religious verse.
Sadie dies on 4th November 1981 at 16 McFarland Road, Merrylands and leaves no other mark of her life until the reading of her will.
Sadie bequeaths 16 McFarland Road, now in the middle of the shopping precinct, to Holroyd Municipal Council to be used as an open space for the elderly. James, her son, does not receive his cadastral inheritance. One would need to be Sherlock Holmes to fathom the reasons, so it remains tacit.
The bequest's reasons probably has its genesis in the tenuous religious thead previously mentioned. Did Sadie in her older years have the foresight to see a need for the elderly, and now for all comers? Perhaps. The land was developed as an open space in 1985 and refurbished in 2011 to a functional rest area, 'Sarah Daniels Court'.
Today 16 McFarland Road is opposite the vast Stocklands Shopping Complex and 220m from Merrylands Railway Station and Bus Terminus. Well done, Sadie.
Graeme Morris
October 2022
Graeme Morris
October 2022
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