Prologue

In 1997 I made a trip to Europe. One of the ‘must visit’ places on my list was Shetland, for I was curious about the place my grandfather had come from. Brother Mac had been following up a bit of family history in a rather on and off manner for some years, so I offered to see what I could discover about the Robertson family while I was in Shetland.

As a result of that short trip to Shetland - which I have written about elsewhere - I started on a much longer journey in search of relations I had not seen since I was a child, had only heard other people talk about, or whose existence I knew nothing about until I went looking for them.

This documentation of the Robertson family history has been very much a joint project, with contributions from people both within and without the family. I thank all of those who have participated. Discovering my relations has been a wonderful experience for me. Searching out documents and records, meeting and getting to know people, listening to the stories they have to tell, looking for common characteristics among family members and the enjoyment of being with a whole new bunch of friends.

The following narrative is an account of what we have discovered. A joint memoir, for which I am no more than the scribe who has written it down. A collection of stories and potted biographies of the many family members I have been able to track down. The descendants and the forebears of Margaret Henderson and Arthur Robertson, who came to Australia with six of their children in the 1860s.

The genealogical charts and the portraits of family members I present, have been put together with the help of written records and from information and stories given to me by a wide variety of people. Not all of our relations have been interested in contributing and that is their choice. Others were full of good intentions but never got around to sending anything. This does mean you will find gaps in both the genealogical charts and the potted biographies. The cut off birth date for the biographies is 1944. Obviously it has not been possible for me to check every date of birth, death and marriage against official registers, so I have had to rely on key members in each section of the family to supply this information. I apologize if there are inaccuracies or omissions in the genealogical charts, or if names are not spelt correctly.

It is highly unlikely that my account of the Robertson Family story will please everyone. Steering a tactful course through the information and stories I have collected, as well as the sensitivity of individuals, has not always been easy. There are those who want an open and frank ‘warts and all’ approach to the family story and are happy to have both the faults and virtues of their close kin included. Others want a sanitized version with none of the nasties written about or even hinted at. I have been surprised in some cases when people have asked me not to publish some seemingly harmless story or piece of information, particularly when this information is well known among other people or is on public record. One person emphasised the need for a factual presentation and then, in the same letter, asked me not to publish certain facts!

These different attitudes illustrate for me one of the things I have found most pleasing about my Robertson relations. They are very human everyday sort of people. Let me assure you I mean this as a compliment. I have not discovered any saints, nor have I found any incorrigible sinners and I would not be doing individuals a service if I presented them as all good or all bad. Whether we like them or not, the people described in this publication are our relations. While recognizing and accepting each other’s faults, we need to look for and celebrate the good that exists in great abundance within our family.

Some people may question the authenticity of the material I present. Where possible I have used official records and documentary evidence to help me sort out the most likely version of events, and in many cases I have asked direct descendants to check what I have written. Sometimes however this has produced contradictions and confusion rather than clarity. So I

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have had to make editorial decisions about what to include and what to leave out. I hope no one will be offended by what I write and will understand if my portraits and version of events differ a little from what they believe to be true.

This version of the Robertson family story is not intended to be a definitive account. I see it more as a starting point for those of you who are interested in learning about your family background. The very publication of my account may produce new information that has not been available to me, prompting people to explore their memories and the cupboards where forgotten letters and family documents are stored. My time and resources have been limited and someone else may be interested in continuing the research I have started. The overseas connections could certainly do with further exploration.

As much as possible, I identify the sources from which stories and information come. In many cases very similar information or stories come from a number of sources, so that what I present is a composite and cannot be attributed to a single individual or record.

In both the genealogical charts and the biographies, I identify women by their maiden names in preference to their married names. This simplifies the identification of family units and fits in with the practice of our Shetland ancestors. Direct quotations are indicated by double quotation marks and in these I use the original spelling and grammar of the writer. Single inverted commas are used for second hand quotations, for emphasis, or for the names of ships, books and so on. Square brackets are used within quotations when I have added words to facilitate clarity and for editorial comments.

The people who have assisted me are too numerous to mention individually, but let me assure you it is your enthusiasm and encouragement that has kept me at my task when I have been tempted to give up. Time now to get on with the story. I hope you will enjoy what I have written.

author

With kind permission of the Innisfail Advocate

Margaret Worrall
Innisfail, 2002

Garry Gillard | New: 5 March, 2019 | Now: 5 September, 2022