Month: January 2010

Dyeing Fabric

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This is a wrap around skirt I made last year at college. I dyed it back then but didn’t like it so I dyed it again, using rust dye, recently and left it out on the clothes line for about a week too. It doesn’t look good in this photo and I’m still not quite happy with it. I’m wondering about printing on it or over dyeing it a much darker colour. Any ideas anyone?


I’m a lot happier with these experiments with disperse dyeing with bleach. I used full strength bleach, applied it with a spoon, rinsed in vinegar and then water, dried and then ironed them. I want to try some more using different coloured fabrics.

The Wight Family – A Project

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My Mum’s cousin asked me for some help with researching her Dad’s family. She wanted to know what ship they came to Australia on. I found it really good and challenging to have a new family to research. Having a defined task was good too. I tend to jump all over the place and have to really discipline myself and cut down on distractions to be able to stick to a task. Anyway I wrote her a report myself and annotated it, instead of using a standard report from a genealogy software program or online.

This is what I wrote-

The Wight Family

Charles Wight b circa 1799, England? d 6 Jul 1875, Adelaide
Married
Elizabeth Prior b circa 1802, England? d 4 Sep 1875, Adelaide

Charles and Elizabeth had four children before coming to South Australia.

Margaret Nancy Wight b circa 1832 (not in birth order)
Albert James Wight b circa 1841
Thomas George Wight
male Wight

Passenger List for the ship Brightman, Captain C G Cowley

WIGHT Charles, wife (Elizabeth?), Mgt Nancy, Thos Geo, Albert Jas and son arrived 1850-01-05 on Brightman from London 1849-08-23 via Plymouth

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Albert James Wight b circa 1841

Married on 24 Feb 1867 at St Luke’s church, Adelaide

Annie Scriven b circa 1845

Albert and Annie’s children

Fred Scriven Wight b 1867, Adelaide
Mary Prior Wight b 1869, Adelaide
Bessie Martha Wight b 1871, Adelaide
Kate Annie Wight b 1873, Adelaide
Ellie Alberta Wight b 1876, Adelaide
Daisey Scriven Wight b 1878, Adelaide
Albert Lawson Wight b 18 Sep 1879, d 13 Jan 1880, Adelaide
Ruby Hayward Wight b 1881, Adelaide
Albert Raymond Wight b 31 Dec 1883, d 8 Jul 1973, Adelaide
Harry Castle Wight b 1885, Adelaide

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A Time Line For Albert James Wight

circa 1841 Birth

23 Aug 1849 Departed London, England
8yrs

5 Jan 1850 Arrived South Australia on the Brightman
8yrs

24 Feb 1867 Marriage to Annie Scriven
26yrs

1869 Went into business with William Symons Billin,
Flinders St, Adelaide
28yrs

1881 Moved business to Angas St, Adelaide
40yrs

15 Mar 1883 Sold business to Adelaide
Aerated Water & Brewing Co Ltd
42yrs

1897 Alleged Stealing in dwellings (no further details
found-don’t know if right person)
56yrs

Died 8 Dec 1915, Knightsbridge, Adelaide
74yrs

Annie Wight died circa Jan 1916, Adelaide

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Albert James Wight’s headstone


Albert James Wight’s Ginger Beer business

I hope it may be useful or interesting for others too.

A Great Australia Day!

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Light Harmony Vocal Group (my Mum’s singing group, she’s first on the left) They sang the national anthem and Botony Bay.


My aunty and uncle watching the ceremonies.


My stepfather Andrew Taylor with his Citizen of the Year award.


After the Lions Club lunch and a cuppa at Mum’s I went to the Echunga cemetery searching for relatives 🙂 John Barton Hack (my distant, distant relative was an early pioneer of Echunga.)


A quick stop in Echunga and a reminisce, I went to primary school here.


Hagen Arms Hotel, Echunga


Echunga sights


An old horse trough.


St Mary’s Anglican Church, Echunga


St Mary’s cemetery


This is an amazing oak tree in the bottom corner of the cemetery.


I didn’t find any relatives here but did find the grave of a good school friend Mandy Young. I still remember going to play at her house. She was only seven. I cleaned up her grave a bit.

Forgotten Hack lacked killer colonial instinct – Eureka Street

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I came across this article today in my search for information about a distant relative of mine John Barton Hack.

John Barton Hack was one of the pioneers of Adelaide and, at first, one of its rising stars, a dynamic figure around the small, bustling settlement from the moment he arrived from his native Cheshire in February 1837……….

In the end, he gave his name to an insignificant laneway in North Adelaide and a range of hills and a track near the township of Echunga, a place he singlehandedly established and where he prospered until setbacks, unwise investment, and the ruthless treachery of his ‘friend’ Jacob Hagen set him on a downward path from which he never recovered.

The rest of the article is here: Forgotten Hack lacked killer colonial instinct – Eureka Street

It turns out the writer of this article is the father of an old primary school friend of mine. They lived on Hack Range Rd just out of the township of Echunga where Hack settled.

I have Hack listed as being born in Chichester and all the other articles I’ve found state this, so I’d be interested to hear where Mr Matthews got this information from. I have so far been unable to find Hack’s birth certificate. He also says that part of Hack’s poor fortune was due to the ‘ruthless treachery of his friend Jacob Hagen’. This is intriguing and also unique to this article. Another small mystery to unravel!!! I love it! 🙂


He looks like such a forbidding figure in this picture however it’s also said of him

Hack was too soft-hearted to be a successful pioneer; he paid high wages, gave generous credits and neglected to cover himself. Although he became a Wesleyan Methodist he was a Quaker by upbringing; he befriended Aboriginals and ex-convicts, advocated temperance, presided over the Mechanics’ Institute, looked after James Backhouse and George Washington Walker during their Adelaide visit, and gave land in Pennington Terrace for a Friends’ meeting house.