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Hulin Family Reunion

The Reunion of the family of William & Mary Hulin 2006 at Singleton, New South Wales






Well it's been some time since I lasted added to my Blog page. Last weekend I attended a family reunion near Singleton, N.S.W, for the family of my cousins William and Mary Hulin. William & Mary Hulin came to Australia in about 1833 as convicts; William from St Briavels in Gloucestershire and his then wife to be, Mary Donahue from Ireland.

On Sunday the 1 October 2006 my sister and me attended the second day activities of the Hulin family reunion with a visit to Vere where William and Mary Hulin had lived. The actual location is now incorporated into land controlled by the Australian Army, so it was with special permission that we were allowed to visit the two homestead locations for William & Mary Hulin and that of their daughter and son-in-law, Sarah & George William Bates.

Later that same day a larger number of family members gathered at Catherine Vale Winery at Milbrodale for lunch and the exchange of family history information. In excess of 50 people gathered for lunch. Of course this number represents just a fraction of the descendents of William & Mary Hulin's family.

I have included some photographs of the day for anyone interested. Please feel free to download these photographs as copyright is given for personal or non-commercial use.


This image, and the one above, is of the Catherine Vale Winery.












It was a great opportunity for me to meet some of my distant cousins, as my connexion to William Hulin goes back to the 1790s through William's great, great, grandparents George Hulin and his wife Martha King of St Briavels in Gloucestershire.









My cousin Wal Mills was the main person responsible for organising a full weekend of Hulin family related activities. Thanks to Wal and his team the weekend was a great success. I hope there will be similar events in the future, as there was not enough time to met and talk at length with all my cousins who attended. As I could not find out all the names of the people in the above photograph, I would be delighted if you could let me know any names by e-mailing me at sluggan@gmail.com. Then I can repost this image with all the names attached, so other family members will then know as well.





I have quite a few other photographs taken on the 1 October 2006, so if anyone wants to have a copy of these please contact me for a copy.












This photograph is of the oldest member of the Hulin family who attended on the day. I'm not sure of his exact name, but I'm sure someone will help me out here.



















The pepper tree in the background is all that remains of the homestead at Vere, N.S.W of Sarah & George William Bates. Considering that this is now in the direct firing line of the army's target range, we are lucky that even this tree is still growing. The tree was at the back door of the farmhouse. Behind the raised ground at the back is a disused railway line, built by the army during the Second World War to tow moving targets. Apparently the farmhouse was still standing at the time of the Vietnam War, but every trace has now been removed. Yes that's me on the far left of the above photograph. Take a good look as you'll see very little of me in photographs in these blog pages.

Here we are being instructed by Firing Range Officer, Andy Thompson not to pick up any strange objects lying about. He was very helpful in telling the story of the army's control of this area and of the Bates' farm. He was a most gracious host and had a good sense of humour; well- done Andy!


On the right-hand side of the road is the farm land of William & Mary Hulin. This road, for as far as one can see, is now part of the Singleton Army Base.




Here in the Broke Cemetery are the unmarked graves of William & Mary Hulin, together with that of their daughter Sarah Bates. We all had an interesting time here as many of those buried in the Broke Cemetery are related to the Hulin and Bates families. The memorial shown here commemorates those people in unmarked graves.







Here is the headstone of George William and Sarah Bates at Broke Cemetery



Buried next to her parents is Kezia MacDonald, daughter of George William & Sarah Bates.






Below is a general shot of the very picturesque Broke Cemetery at Broke, New South Wales.















Below is a shot of the next generation, enjoying themselves at the family reunion.

Welcome to my world

My desire in these pages is to be able to show my world through some of my photographs. If you want to use any of my photographs for your own use, you'll need to ask my permission as they are all under copyright, but don't assume that I won't give you permission. This shot is of my nephew taken outside his aunty's florist shop in the Southern Highlands.

The third shot below of Lake MacQuarie was sent out to family and friends this past Christmas in leiu of a Christmas card. I realy like how the colours of the setting sun are reflected on the bottom of the boats. The second shot was taken in 2000 during the Sydney Olympic Games. My brother, also a keen photographer and artist, came with me this night to try and capture some of the sights associated with the games. Night photogrphy is a favoured form of past-time for me. I must have taken a dozen differing shots of the Harbour Bridge with the Olympic rings. We had a lot of fun that night but were pretty worn out from walking around a large part of the city. From memory we finished about 2.30 am.






My great uncles were professional photographers and artists and my great grandfather was a stained glass window artist. Two of his daughters were ecclesiastical embroiderers, who made fine altar covers and vestments. And with one son an organist and choir master, the family made a good living from the church. I suppose some of these artistic genes must be flowing in the blood. My two sisters are also artists, so I hope to show some of their work from time to time.

My family were also connected to the famous Bristol stained glass window company of Joseph Bell and Sons. That company ran from the 1840s until 1996. My great grandfather Richard Pook Collett ran his business in Leicester. I have only identified a few of his windows so far. One is in Barclay's Bank in central Leicester - an internal widow depicting grape vines, and another of St George killing a dragon in the parish church of St Michael & All Angles at Hallaton, Leicestershire ( http://www.hallaton.org/index.html). I know he did a lot of work in the mansion houses along London Road, most of which are now part of the University of Leicester.

Now and again I'll be adding a few political comments covering a wide range of subjects - mainly dealing with the stupidity or down right dishonesty of politicians - most of whom deserve our greatest contempt.

The forth shot below was taken during the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. This shot was taken from a private garden over-looking the harbour. My brother and I made out we were invited to the party going on in the house above us. We sure had a good view, and our supply of vintage 1996 Samichlaus Bier (Beer) lasted us most of the night. By the way, Samichlaus is a fantastic beer, but very hard to find. And before anyone asks, no that was not camera shake, but wind blur!

You might notice that water features in a lot of my photography. It's the stuff they make into beer!

The fifth shot below was taken on the South Coast of New South Wales near Scarborough. I'm not sure the exact name of the beach, but it is a great location for landscapes.



















The cloud shot was taken near Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney when out airplane spotting with my friend Chris. If you can't find any interesting airplanes than I suppose a good cloud will do!







Caught in flight. A native bee so small that I could hardly see it with the naked eye. This was taken on a bush walk along the coast near Newcastle, NSW. It's not the best shot, but that's life when trying to capture nature.






This shot was taken at Kings Cross, Sydney. It's a view of the El Alamein fountain, which was designed by a friend of one of my sisters. He got the idea from the dandelion flower when in seed.






Another nephew riding his bike on Sunday afternoon. He's a checky boy!














This shot of Matthew was taken in the late afternoon, when the sun casts some interesting shaddows.