This is for anyone else interested in the family legends. I have messaged Woodydog with more detail.
James & Arthur (brothers) married Lillian & Violet (sisters). James & Lillian had three children Eileen, Ian (called Don) & Evelyn (sometimes called Megan).
Arthur & Violet (called Suzie by the Piddington’s though I never knew her called that), both deceased, had three children Kathleen, Eric & Allen. When James & Lillian died Arthur & Violet brought up their kids as well as their own, they were all close in age.
Pratt strain we originated from – Arthur & James were brought up in Halifax, Yorkshire. Their mother was Isabella MAYLOR, their father was Benjamin PRATT.
Families in Australia often went into partnership together and associated with each other closely. My Dad and Uncle Allen are best friends for instance. As was James & Arthur to an extent. And you can tell that brothers and sisters often married brothers and sisters.
Share farming is a varying agreement between land owner and worker – depending on a ratio of ownership of the land used, the ownership of the machinery used, and who does the actual work – this determines the profits and the risks. It was a common way of farming in Australia in Arthur’s day and in my Dad’s.
The properties called Wheatley, and Wheatleigh were called so because Wheatley was the name of a Viaduct that ran through the area of Halifax where James & Arthur came from and Wheatley was the birthplace of Benjamin, their father. Wheatley at Gubbata was owned by James, Wheatleigh at Griffith was owned by Arthur. These lots were both only small and did not contain enough land to make a real living, both went bust after bad seasons. Arthur & Violet walked off the land owning a cultivator, horse and cart, 3 kids and nothing much else. Lillian & her kids were left on the land while James went off to war. She developed Cancer and was dying, the family went and picked her, the kids and their worldly possessions and brought them back to Peak Hill where she eventually died a couple of years later.
James and Lillian were married at “Maroomba”or “Marobah” depending on the date used, a property at Mungery, (next to Dooragog) not Mungery School.
Dooragog was called such because Henry Charles PIDDINGTON (Great Grandfather Piddington) said it was to have a open door policy for family. Door – a – Gog.
Enjoy.
