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Rediscovering Ginninderra:
William Boyd

Born: 1833; Died: 1889; Married: Rosaline Emma Kennedy Rayner

William Boyd arrived in NSW with his parents (William and Ann Boyd nee Phillips) from Ireland on the Joseph Cunard in November 1841. He married Rosaline Emma Kennedy Rayner at Tarago in 1864. They spent some years at Ginninderra working for William Davis and living on the Ginninderra Estate. In 1872 he was amongst a group of Ginninderra residents who gave a written undertaking to send their school aged children to the proposed Ginninderra Provisional school. William evidently had some musical talent. Gillespie records:

"Residents sometimes organised social evenings for the enjoyment of their friends or to celebrate some special occasion, such as a 21st birthday or wedding anniversary. A typical gathering of this nature took place at the home of Thomas and Catherine Gribble when they entertained their neighbours and guests from Murrumbateman, Gundaroo and other places. William Boyd and William Morris provided the music"

Having hitherto been described as a labourer, on the birth of son Charles John in 1876, William is described as a shepherd; in 1878 when Edgar Reginald was born he is called a farmer. In 1886 The Wizard reports that "William Boyd mentioned as a leading farmer and as having bought a new McCormick string reaper and binder. [Goulburn Evening Penny Post (Wizard's Notes) 2.12.1886] . The following year 'William Boyd was among those present at a Wallaby drive at P Cavanagh's One Tree Hill. [Goulburn Evening Penny Post (Wizard's Notes) 25.8.1887].

At some stage he purchased a small plot in the Tea Gardens area, but later moved to Murrumbateman, where he died of 'dropsy' (edema) in 1889 aged 54, having lived 48 years in the colony. He and Rosaline had ten children:

Related Photos


Eliza Jane Boyd ⧉

References

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