This is one post I have written each time I have taken part in the #52ancestors challenge. I had to check out what was my favourite photo from previous years so I don’t choose one of those again this year.
My parents had a great friend called Jon Grey and he enjoyed photography. He took a couple of fantastic photos of my parents when they didn’t realise they were in his camera frame. These photos are very reminiscent of how my parents were – thoughtful, loving the outdoors and together always.
Jon caught them at just the right moment to get these photos and then he sent them to dad and also to me.
Lottah is a town in north east Tasmania. Nowadays it is virtually just a couple of houses at a cross roads. In the 2016 census, the population was 13.
Lottah in 1981
Originally it was known as Blue Tier Junction in the late 1870’s. The town was developed around a tin mine which was discovered in 1875. At the peak of the Anchor tin mine operation, there were several hundred people living around Lottah. The town included a school, two hotels, two churches, a bakery and a football club. Many residents were part of a Chinese community. The Anchor Mine closed in 1950.
The ABC put together a fantastic report about the town including lots of images.
How does Lottah relate to my family?
My great grandmother Nellie Somers/Summers/Clark(e) was born at Georges Bay in 1889 – now called St Helens. Her father, Thomas Somers, was supposedly a miner in the Gould Country area which includes Lottah.
But as well as the ancestral link, my father often went to St Helens on holidays as a child. He then took my brother and I there as well. We would often go bush bashing through the scrub looking for stampers of mines and water races. This was usually up in the Gould Country/Blue Tier area.
Closer view of stampersHow the stamp battery works
Judbury is a rural area in the Huon Valley which is south west of Hobart in Tasmania. It was originally called Judds Creek in 1855 named after the earliest settler there John Cane Judd.
If visiting Hobart on the second Sunday of the month, then a great drive down to Judbury for their market is well worth the time. Great food over the lunch time as well as local products. It is held at Calvert Park which is the Judbury Recreation Ground.
My parents enjoyed bike riding and one of their favourite places to go with the Hobart Walking Club bike riders was down around the Huon Valley area especially Ranelagh to Judbury. In the photo above, mum wasn’t well enough to cycle so I drove her in the car while dad joined their friends. We met them at Judbury for lunch.
