Two of the women who have been a significant part of my family history circle for many years are my (distant) cousins, Ann Bowen and Helen O’Meara. Ann and Helen each played a very important part in this story. So thank you both!
On 28 November 2021 , Kylie Madden put up a post1 on a Facebook group called Unidentified Photos Australia. The post said ‘Another challenge. Who can decipher the writing on the back to help me with this unknown photo of ours?’ It contained images of both sides of an old post card. Within hours, about 70 people had commented on the photo. One of them was Ann who sent a private message to me because she knows that I’m the family historian. If you read all the comments on Kylie’s post, you will see that Ann refers to me as the ‘keeper of the family’.
The image on the front of the post card was formal portrait of a pretty young girl in a lovely white dress. She looks to be aged around 9 or 10.
On the left side of the reverse was written ‘To Dear Brother, Wishing you many happy returns of the 7 th February 1914, from all at Lionsville’. Underneath (and upside down) someone had written ‘Maude’ in pencil.
On the right side, were the words ‘Dear Ted. This photo was taken near 12 month ago & I have a large one painted. I also got one done for mother so I don’t want two and I know you will be pleased with this one. I got your letter last night. Cilla & children are all
on the mend, love to all from Alice’.
Helen O’Meara had picked up on the mention of Cilla. Her grandmother was Priscilla Rogan (nee Hamilton), known to one and all as Cilla, and Cilla had a younger sister called Alice. Ann Bowen had picked up on both Alice and Lionsville. Her great grandmother was Alice Ward (nee Hamilton) had lived at Lionsville and she thought the girl in the photo might have been her daughter, Alice Ward, Ann’s grandmother.
And that’s how I came to be part of this story. I got tingles when I first saw the postcard in my facebook feed because I knew that two of my great aunts were Aunty Cilla and Aunty Alice. At first, I was concentrating so hard on everything else that I didn’t even notice the name ‘Ted’ or at least it didn’t ring any bells. Perhaps because I didn’t call him Ted??
But once I did wake up, I realised that I could be looking at something that had belonged to my own grandfather, Alfred Hamilton. Of course, no one called him Alfred. He was just Ted! And his birthday was February 7. Ted was the third son and eighth child of William and Alice Hamilton nee Armstrong and he was born in 1893 on Broadwater Station which was then part of the Yulgilbar selection of E. D. S. Ogilvie in Baryulgil on the Clarence River.
Now you don’t have to be a mathematician to work out that, if Ted was born in 1893 and the postcard was written in 1914, Alice was sending not only a birthday greeting, but a very special 21st birthday greeting to her brother who was seven years her junior. By 1914, Ted had been married for three years and was living with his wife, Addie and their two daughters, in Sydney.
So here I was looking at something that had been sent to my grandfather on his 21st birthday. But that still did answer two big questions:
- Who is the girl in the photo?
- How did the photo end up with Kylie Madden
Ann thought the photo might have been her grandmother, Alice Ward. But from the message we know that the photo was taken some time in 1913, and Alice would have been only 5 in 1913, so it wasn’t her. Looking at the other Hamilton sisters, Mary would be 18 and Emily would be 15 and that only left Constance who was born in 1904 and would be 9 when the photo was taken. Oh, and by the way, Constance was always known as Maude in the family which matches the notation on the back of the postcard.
And this brings us to the second question. How did Kylie come by something that was obviously something that should have still been with my extended family?
Kylie and I started corresponding to organise for the postcard to be returned to the family. I explained that I would give it to my Aunty Dawn who was Ted’s only surviving child and, in passing, mentioned that she was still living next door to her childhood home in Lidcombe. Kylie responded that her grandmother’s family had lived in Lidcombe, in Raymond Street. And so the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.
The Hamiltons lived at 42 Raymond Street, Lidcombe. Kylie great grandparents had lived next door and her grandmother’s aunts and uncles had all had homes in Raymond Street. Dawn and Kylie’s nan had played together as children and were in and out of each others homes constantly. At some point, the photo must have found its way from No.42 to No.40.
The postcard is now in my possession. Unfortunately, Dawnie was unable (due to her age) to recall her childhood friend and so I brought to postcard back to Perth with me where it will be carefully stored and its story will not be forgotten.
Footnote: Maude married Sam Barnier at Grafton in 1927, but was killed in a domestic accident in 1932 without having any children. The photo above would have been taken not long before she died.
Our Family's History 
Leave a comment