Thursday, March 15, 2012

COMING SOON – MARIE LOUISE UPDATE


Family history demands constant updating. Months, years of research can pass before some new obscure little clue emerges from the mists of time, a small piece of information to fill a yawning gap.

In this case, I’ve come across new snippets about the Marie Louise, one of the island vessels my great grandfather back in the 1870’s sailed around the many islands that make up the South Pacific country of Fiji...

To tell this new version of the Marie Louise story I will very soon delete the January 2012 original story entitled ‘IF SHIPS COULD TALK’ and republish with a three part replacement ‘FIJI 1870’S the MARIE LOUISE’.  

Part 1 – HOBART TO FIJI- THE MARIE LOUISE...
Part2 –  DISCORD ABOARD THE MARIE LOUISE
Part 3 -  DODGY DEALINGS –THE MARIE LOUISE

The 1870’s when my great grandparents married and raised their family in Fiji, were both exciting and worrying times. The islands were emerging from their cannibal past with, for the most part European and Australian settlers striving to imprint their Victorian era standards upon a nation just beginning to recognize its potential worth.  It would be an interesting tussle of ideals.

 The islands history is rich with stories about the men and women who lived there then.

My great grandparents, Geraldine and William McGowan’s story and that of the Marie Louise is only one of many.

____

Robyn Mortimer -  March 2012

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