A Cottage By The Sea

A Home on River Street

A Seaside Cottage So why tell the story of a little cottage in a little town by the sea? It is not a house of a large farming dynasty, or an important large significant historic…

Acknowledging and paying respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land and respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In particular the lands that relate to…

William Lowther

Police Constable and Gentleman In 1861 the area was surveyed and in 1872 land grants for the main town area were put up for sale by the government, and so the beginnings of Yamba as…

William Henry Alderson

Wholesale & Retail Shipping and Family Butcher In August 1883, Mr W H Alderson purchased three allotments from the Estate of William Lowther for £35. The sale was recorded in both the Grafton and Sydney…

James Ryall & Hannah Eggins

Baker and Builder James Ryall was the son of Timothy and Ann Ryall (NSW Death Certificate 3433/1905) of Leigh, Salisbury in England. In the 1861 Census he is recorded as a son of Timothy a…

Dr James Houison & Kate Alice Small

Doctor of Medicine, Grafton James Houison – Architect & Ann Stark Dr James Houison was born 2 Aug 1842 in Parramatta, he was the son of the well known Parramatta architect James Houison and Ann…

G H Varley & E C C Platt

Tenants in Common (No Ownership) At 10 minutes to 3 o’clock on 11 September 1895, the Houison’s section of Allotment 10 was transferred as ‘tenants in common (no ownership)’ to George Henry Varley and Edward…

Ellen Fuller Brown

Wife of Constable Frederick Brown A baptismal record dated 24 April 1859, for St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico lists Jonathan Ward (Joiner) and Emma Fanny Ward of 57 Hanover St, with four children; John Fuller b…

George Lacey

Susannah Mary Proud On 17 December 1833, Susannah Proud and her brother Christian arrived on the ship the ‘Layton’ to the New South Wales Colony under the assisted immigrants scheme, they were both employed by…

Mary Ann McCooey

Widow Mary Ann Shannon was born in 1842 in Hinton NSW (near Morpeth), the daughter of Martin Ambrose Shannon born in County Cork, Ireland in 1804 and Catherine Kelleher born 1815 also in County Cork,…

Thomas Flitcroft & Robert

Retired Farmer and his son Job and Jane Flitcroft – Immigrants Advertisements for the sale of the cottage and property at 3 River Street have not been found, but on 26 March 1923, No A929461…

John Murphy

Hotelkeeper The beginning of the story of John Murphy and the cottage in River Street, Yamba starts with the story of his wife Alice Payne. Alice Payne – Family Alice was the daughter of Charles…

Malcolm Gordon Gray

Farmer Malcolm Gordon Gray was the son of George Abner Gray who came out to Australia with his family as assisted immigrants from the Isle of Wight, England, on the ship the ‘Thomas Arbuthnot’ which…

George Perkins Family

A significant link between the Gray family and the first white settlement and community at Yamba is that of Marie Perkins nee Gray’s husband Herbert ‘George’ Perkins (Schaumann) who was the great grandson of the…

Marie Jane Gray & George Perkins

A Home on River Street Marie Jane Gray married Herbert ‘George’ Perkins on 28th January 1933 at the Methodist Church in Grafton. When Marie and George married and after the birth of Lorna, the family was…

Rented & Neglected

The final transfer on the Certificate of Title Vol-Fol 1932-197 available on the NSW Land Titles historical viewer is recorded on 10 October 1985 when Marie Jane Perkins sold to the little cottage to the…