I found an interview with Clarence Victor Crews on the Trove website.  I bought a copy of the interview which was then digitised and sent to me on a cd in mp3 format.  This is some of my notes I took while listening to the interview and some newspaper articles I’ve found.

Clarence was my second cousin three times removed.  He was born in Littlehampton, South Australia in 1881.  Clarence’s father Frederick Albert Crews was a Cobb & Co and John Hill & Co driver.

Clarence was 88 years old when this interview was recorded in 1969 in Canberra. This is what it says on the Trove website about the interview.

“Mr Crews, talks about his father Fred Crews, a reinsman with Cobb & Co. and John Hill & Co. in South Australia. He discusses each photo and tells something of his father’s life history.”

This recording is really more of a conversation than an interview.  Clarence reminisces as he goes through some photos with Carol Kiss the interviewer.  He doesn’t speak much at all about himself it’s almost all about his father, people they knew and the properties they owned.

He recalls that his mother Louisa Wigzell ran the Littlehampton Post Office and this is where his parents met when Frederick was the mail coach driver.  Louisa’s parents Jesse and Jane Wigzell had a general store/grocer in Littlehampton also.

Some of the other mail routes Frederick Albert Crews drove were Terowie to Broken Hill, Adelaide to Kadina and Adelaide to Kingston however specific dates weren’t mentioned in the interview.

The Crews family went to Western Australia circa 1894 where Frederick ran a carting business with a partner before buying his first station Outalpa.

As far as I can tell Clarence worked on his father’s sheep properties for most of his life.  He made it to 91 years old passing away in 1973 shortly before his 92nd birthday.

It was well worth buying this recording as it hadn’t been previously digitised.  Now I have a copy and it’s available for others to obtain also.  I’m not sure what the charges would be as I paid for the digitisation as well as the cd.  If anyone can give me any further information about the Crews family please leave me a comment!!

I thought I’d write my blog posts by what I found out in each particular town. The Bendigo Family History Group are located in the upper level of the Bendigo library and are extremely helpful to everyone coming in to ask questions.  As I was the only one asking for help (that day) I received help from several volunteers!

I’ve got lots of notes and records to compile when I get home.

Here is a picture which shows the Mining Engine Drivers 1884 to 1886.  My ancestors listed in this book are; Charles Robert Wigley, his son in law Thomas Tregear,  and Thomas’ brother John Tregear.  This information shows that Charles, Thomas and John were educated men and that they were mine engine drivers in the Bendigo area.  This confirms previous information I had about Charles and Thomas but is a completely new piece of information about John.

I met a lady named Norma who told me that Charles Noah Wigley was her Sunday School teacher at Buckley St Methodist Church.  She also knew Ida May Tregear who also attended that church.

I keep going back to Bendigo.  I’ve visited there the last two years and will be again this year.  (very soon)

This year, as well as visiting my old favourite places, I want to visit some of the outlying towns where my ancestors lived and worked such as Majorca, Craigie, Maryborough, Elmore and Echuca.  The Echuca visit is to do with the river trade I didn’t have any ancestors, that I know of, who lived there.

My Wigley and Boyd ancestors lived in this area.  The Wigleys were miners and the Boyds were farmers etc.  This is a very broad generalisation as I didn’t want to list ALL the occupations here.

I’m excited just thinking of what things I might find out on this trip!!