Talking to our Ancestors.

Just a little over a year ago I made the decision to start looking into our family history and little did I know the road it would take me on. I did not know where to begin but having a computer I started looking and began by putting my mother’s maiden name into a search engine. To my surprise up came a Web Site on Hovey’s, I looked through all the information for several hours and then to my surprise I spotted a one line notice on a Notice Board which simply said! Looking for Hovey’s in Australia and mentioned John Hovey and Charlotte Parker. I quickly copied down the E-mail address only to find the message bounced.

My next move was to look up the name in the Electoral Roll and finding the address I came home and rang information to get the phone number only to be told it was a private number. My next move was to write a letter and sit back and wait for an answer. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later the phone rang one night and when I answered I heard hello cousin on the other end of the phone. We started exchanging information and then Kevin asked do you know that you are a descendant of First Fleet Convicts? My reply was no, but tell me more.

Our ancestors were Nathaniel Lucas from the "Scarborough" and Olivia Gascoigne from the "Lady Penrhyn". Within a few days of arriving in Australia they were specially selected for their character to pioneer Norfolk Island. They were put on board the “Supply” to help establish a settlement there. From the moment I heard this news I knew that I wanted to visit Norfolk Island, I really can’t explain why it was just a very strong feeling. Over the months I gathered as much information on the First Fleet and the Settlement at Norfolk Island and learnt more about our history than I ever did at school.

On New Years Day 2001, I said “this year I will visit Norfolk Island,” I was not sure when or how it would happen but I was confident it would. Within a few days I had a phone call from my cousin Janice in Brisbane and she had seen an invitation in the paper for all First Fleet Descendants, to gather at Norfolk Island with our Governor General for the Foundation Day Celebrations on the 6th March 2001. I decided to look into it, after phoning Norfolk Island Travel Centre, I was told it was booked up but then the lady said, where do you come from? When I replied Queensland she said there were a few seats still on the plane. Without hesitation I said we would take them, without knowing if I could take the time from work ( which I do at home) and also not knowing if my cousin could get the time off. I phoned my cousin and said we are going to Norfolk on the 1st March, returning on the 8th and she replied are we!

Her brother and a friend decided to come as well as did two of my friends so this was now 6 seats we would need not two, one more call to Norfolk and yes they did have 6 seats left on the plane. As the 1st of March drew near the excitement grew, and I spent many hours getting a file of our family together, painted a banner, and compiled a file of all I had on our ancestors and the First Settlement.

This was my first holiday in 15 years so I was really looking forward to it with great anticipation. There were several planned celebrations for the descendants the first being a luncheon on the 5th March at the cliff top home of John Forrester a descendant of First Fleeter’s. Sir William and Lady Dean were invited to attend along with other special guests including Helen Reddy and Toni Lamond. What a fabulous time we had all proudly wearing our name badges that were presented to us on arrival at Norfolk. Another lovely touch was that the Travel Agency were there to meet us and had little gifts of beautiful teaspoons or key rings which had Descendant of First Fleet on them).

A lovely lunch was served at John Forrester’s and some speeches were made but our greatest excitement came when a lady walked up to my cousin and said Hovey? My husband’s grandmother was a Hovey. That was it we were oblivious to all that went on around us as we connected with our family. By the time the luncheon was over and photographs taken, we had exchanged information, invited each other to come and stay at our homes and arranged to meet the next day.

The following day the 6th March 2001, 213 years after the landing of the First Fleet, there was a re-enactment of the landing of the First Fleet Settlers. A dedication to the “Sirius” was held,(which was wrecked on the reef at Norfolk on the 19th March 1790), followed by another luncheon with our Governor General. I could not help but reflect while watching the re-enactment and try to imagine the fear and anguish that would have been in the hearts of those first 23 that landed on the 6th March 1788. This was an uninhabited island and there was nothing there and they had to become self-sufficient very quickly or starve to death.

Within a few months 4 of those 23 had perished by drowning so the remaining 19 were responsible for the success that the First Settlement was. I was not aware until my visit to the island, that Norfolk Island small as it was, fed Sydney, Australia and saved the Colony here from starvation. I knew that my ancestors had been granted land on Norfolk, I tracked down the allotments and asked the present owners if we could have permission to walk on the land. They generously gave us, not only permission, but showed us a folder they keep on our family, so they are able to show visitors to the island who owned the land and the history associated with the allotment, (which is now accommodation right at Kingston, very near where they landed.)

It was when I walked on to the land that the feeling of being in contact with the past really hit me. I had felt an incredible connection that I can’t explain from the moment I landed on Norfolk Island. It was on the land as the owners showed us where their house would have been, and where they would have drawn their water from the creek, that I began talking to my ancestors. I thought I was going mad and was not prepared to tell anyone what was going on in my mind until my cousin said, well Nathaniel so this is where you built your house, raised your children, and grew your crops.

We sat on the land and felt their presence and learnt that although they were convicts they were highly regarded as valued assets of Norfolk Island at that time. On the 11th June 1795 Nathaniel was appointed as Master Carpenter and by 1802 there is a record of him selling wheat, maize and pork worth 450 pounds to the government. There is a great deal of information about Nathaniel and Olivia, some is held at the Mitchell Library especially a letter he wrote home to his father in 1796 describing life on the island and also the tragic death of his twin daughters at the age of eighteen months.

In the letter Nathaniel wrote, “I had the unspeakable misfortune to lose 2 twins, girls by an accident which could it be represented in proper manner would awaken the most tender feelings and melt the hardest heart into sympathy. It was by the fall of a pine tree which stood near the house, which buried my lovely infants in the ruins and almost my worthy partner who nearly escaped with her life, for she was dragged out in a situation in which her life was despaired of. O father I am not able to express the poignant grief I felt on this very shocking scene without dwelling long upon this displeasing subject together with a variety of misfortunes”. Olivia was also nursing a baby, which could also have been killed.

As I thought of the hardship they faced I felt extremely proud of them and found myself telling them that I was grateful that they were my ancestors. Although many generations have past, (my grand children are eighth generation) their strength and tenacity is still evident in our current generations and Australia is the country it is today because they had the courage to press on through difficult times. Being there on Norfolk where our “Southern Hemisphere Story” began touched my soul and spoke deep in my spirit and I know my life will never be the same again.