Friday 10th

We spent
the morning walking the streets of Freo.
First to the Markets where we bought Baklavas for Errol and Sally who
would be hosting the family gathering at 2.00pm today and Cheese for Trish who
had organised it.

We wandered the streets
down to the Round House, The
Roundhouse is the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia.
Opened in January 1831, just 18 months after settlement, it was built to hold
any person convicted of a crime in the settlement and was used until 1886.

After it
ceased being used as a gaol it became a Police Lock-up until the late 1890s and
then was used as accommodation for the Water Police, and afterwards as a
storage facility for Fremantle Ports. When threatened with demolition in the
1920s it was saved and later control went to the State Government before it was
deeded to the City of Fremantle.





We really
didn't do much except orient ourselves to the town and visit the information
centre.

The
afternoon was even more than I could have hoped for. Briefly, my grandfather’s brother Jim was
taken to Kalgoorlie by my GGrandfather Bob when he was 15. Bob bought the Carbine mine, struck payable gold
and Jim eventually took over the mine and had five children, two boys and three
girls. Two of the sons and two of the daughters had children and 9 of them were
at Errols to meet us. With one son and
some of their partners, there were some 17 of us.

We spent a
wonderful 4 hours getting to know each other and tell yarns about the family.

John, if you read this, I'll give you a call to tell you more about the gathering.