Family Stories

a. click here to view The Harrower Compound – 126 Years in the Making

b. click here to view John Thomas Burchmore 1898-1985

c. click here to view Jean Alveen Burchmore 1903-1974

d. click here to view The Story of Flo and Harry

25 MAY 1852

We salute the hardy and adventurous souls of William Burchmore (then aged 32) from Flamstead and Emma Taylor (then aged 29) from Worcester, who disembarked from the clipper ship, ‘Euphrates’ on this day at Sydney in the colony of New South Wales in order to start a new life. With a mere population of about 40,000, Sydney was celebrating its tenth year as a city during 1852.

“It was in 1852 that I made a sudden resolve to try my luck in the colonies. At that period Australia was only known to the outer world as a distant penal settlement; I was, however, brought into closer touch with it perhaps on account of the wool industry, which already was in a flourishing condition.”
“My coming out to Australia was a mere act of chance, I had taken my seat at the breakfast table one morning when I suddenly made up my mind to travel. The astonishment of those present was amusing – for in those days a trip to the colonies was by no means a trifling undertaking – when I made known my resolve, ‘Where are you going – to America or to Australia?’ one of the company asked. “That I can’t say; I haven’t the faintest notion” I replied.
“We can soon settle that, then’ he said, taking hold of a walking stick he began to spin it, explaining that if it fell handle pointing towards me it decided Australia, and the reverse it was America. I got the luck of the handle, and in less than twenty-four hours I had packed up my simple belongings and was on board the clipper “Euphrates”, bound for Sydney.
“The voyage was 120 days out, and a good passage. I didn’t find it monotonous, either, on the contrary, it was one of the happiest and luckiest times of my life. Yes; for it was on board that ship that I met the lady who, a few days after landing, became my wife.”

William Burchmore

On 11 June 1853, Thomas and Maria Kemp (and family from Wiltshire) arrived in Sydney aboard the ‘Harriet’. They were blessed in 1867 with the birth of their eleventh child, a daughter, Alice Maud Mary, who ultimately fell in love with and married William and Emma’s youngest son, George, on 9 July 1885. From that union, the Sydney branch of the family grew rapidly.

The seventh of George and Alice’s eleven children was our father, John Thomas. It is our hope that this reminder will foster interest in our family heritage while informing younger generations about their place on the family tree. We are most fortunate to have Terence A. Walsh of Melbourne (a great, great grandson of William and Emma) whose research has unearthed world-wide details of Burchmore genealogy as far back as 1575. Those files can be downloaded from the attached e-mail and additional archival material is available to those interested.

With fraternal good wishes,

Ken and Noel Burchmore

A few notes about our grandparents and their family.

George and Alice Maud Mary Burchmore married at St Saviour Church of England, Redfern.in 1885.
They first lived at Waterloo where 4 children were born and then at Alexandria before moving to the leafy suburbs on the Illawarra line in 1914.

Grandfather worked for the NSW Railways at Eveleigh workshops as a fitter and turner but died in 1920 at the untimely age of 57 from a ruptured appendix, leaving Alice with 8 children still at the home they named ‘Australee’ at 14 Withers Street Arncliffe.

Their eldest daughter, May had married Edgar Brooker and started her own family; first son George was in the Royal Australian Navy, having served in the World War as a diver; Frank had drowned, tragically on his 21st birthday, at Woronora.

It wasn’t long before Charles married Eileen Jones,settling at Wollongong, followed by Nellie becoming Mrs Alex Ingram and Ethel marrying Sid Alewood. So by 1921 the youngest 5 children were living at the Arncliffe home with their widowed mother.

Jack was working in the glass industry when automation of bottlemaking was just starting. In 1924 they sent him to their Adelaide plant to commission automatic equipment and while there he married Jean Harrower.

In all, he worked 42 years in glass, closing his career as Manager of Crown Crystal at Waterloo. In 1932 Harry married Florence Godfrey and Bill tied the knot with Iris Hickey. Both Harry and Bill also spent most of their working lives in glass- Harry as AGM machine maintenance supervisor and Bill running a shift at Crown Crystal.

Alma was a nursing and welfare officer with the occupation forces in Japan after WW2 before adopting England as her home where she practised nursing. Ernest, who was the first in the family to earn a university degree (Civil Engineering), became ACI’s chief furnace designer and after marrying Winifred Rasmussen, MD was sent to Singapore for the construction of a glass furnace.

The year of 1949 saw the death of grandmother who had so serenely and lovingly served as matriarch of the family for close to 30 years.

We must make mention of ‘Old Uncle Bill’- a cobbler by trade and a bachelor. He was Wm and Emma’s first child, that is, grandfather’s oldest brother, and he moved in to keep grandma company. We knew him in the late 1930’s and early 40’s when, on many a Sunday we would call in to Withers St. with Dad on his return trip from checking production at the glass plant, to find ‘Old Uncle Bill’ ( he lived to 95),dozing in his favorite sunny spot- alongside the mangle on the back verandah.

Fond memories of a wonderful family!