Circa:1848 At Sea
The long Journey Elizabeth Ann Hazeldine SHARROCK b:1848
After her birth, her father Joseph was approached by the Captain, also the owner of the ship, Captain McMeckham who asked whether the parents would be naming the child after the ship – a popular practice at the time. Joseph apparently was appalled at this suggestion, replying “ No, I’d rather tie a mill stone round the poor child’s neck!” And so my Grandma escaped the fate of being named Elizabeth Ann Hazeldine Mahomed Shah Sharrock, which indeed would have been a burden! Not that she didn’t have a number of burdens to contend with throughout her long life.
The Naming of Elizabeth Anne SHARROCK as described by her granddaughter, Beth (nee STANDISH) Goodacre. One of the stories I was told by my Mum was about grandma’s birth on the Mahomed Shah and her subsequent christening on board the ship. | | Circa:1860 Penshurst
Black Thursday Elizabeth Ann Hazeldine SHARROCK b:1848
Elizabeth was twelve years old and at the kitchen helping to get breakfast when there seemed to be a sudden change in the wind. She went outside and walked up to the gate to one of the paddocks. Fires had been burning for several days in the distance but now the wind had changed and the fire was headed for "Lovely Banks". She had come outside with the coffeepot in her hand, and realising the danger of the now fast approaching fire, she put the coffeepot down on one of the two large gateposts, and ran indoors shouting that the fire was coming.
They fought the fire and when it had past, what she remembered very vividly was that out side, where she had stood looking towards the oncoming fire, there was nothing of the fencing, even the gate was gone. Every thing had been destroyed but for one thing in this scene of devastation. On the one remaining gatepost, stood the abandoned coffeepot. From its spout curled a wisp of steam rising into the now still air.
‘Black Thursday fires burnt an estimated 7.6 million ha of Victoria. Account of the fires at Penshurst, 1860, as described by her granddaughter, Beth (nee STANDISH) Goodacre. | | Circa:1863 Penshurst
Coroners Inquest James SHARROCK b:1806
It is said that James owned a store in Holcot Northhamtonshire which put him in a large debt. He sold the store when Joseph sent money for him to come to Australia, but he still had a large debt owing when he left for Australia in 1858.
The story goes that the police or whoever he owed the money to, found out that he was at Penshurst and sent letters stating amount owed. It is believed that for this reason and in a state of insanity, that James committed suicide 20th December 1863 on Mt Rouse lookout by cutting his throat.
His wife Sophia shifted and lived with her sister and her husband Joseph and Mary Sharrock at “Lovely Banks” in a room they built on for her. She lived there until her death 26th May 1890 | | Circa:1874 Bessiebelle
Bullock Team James SHARROCK b:1838
In the year 1873 I purchased land at Bessiebelle in the lower Eumeralla River. I had a good many ups and downs at that time, the place being very rough and infected with dingoes. The damage to my sheep can well be imagined, they killed a great many of them but later on I began to do better, and the last 35 years as my family began to grow up we did very well. | | Circa:1884 Penshurst Victoria
Diphtheria strikes a young family Anna Elizabeth SHARROCK b:1859
Married on the 2nd of February, 1878 in the Presbyterian Church at Penshurst, William and Aner had four children all born at Penshurst. Rachel in 1878, William Thomas in 1880, Harriet in 1882 and James on the 1st of October, 1884.
In December 1884, diphtheria struck the young Whittley family. William Thomas the first to perish on the 12th December, aged 4 years old is buried at the Boram Boram Cemetery. On the 13th December, the day William Thomas was buried, his sister Rachel, aged 6 years also died. Rachel was buried on the 14th December, the same day that 2-year-old Harriet succumbed to the disease. Aner followed her children to their graves a week later, dying on the 21st December 1884. She was just 25 years old.
There was also another victim of the diphtheria in the Sharrock family. Aner’s maternal aunt, Elizabeth SHARROCK (nee PORTER), wife of Charles, died in Hamilton Hospital on the 28th of December of the disease. Elizabeth had helped nurse her niece and the children through the course of the disease. Family legend states that she was responsible for saving the infant James from becoming sick by passing him out the window. I assume to another family member who cared for him. It is also believed that Elizabeth contracted diphtheria by placing the nappy pins in her mouth whilst changing nappies. Elizabeth was also laid to rest in the Boram Boram Cemetery.
The baby James, who survived the tragedy struck, grew up and married Elsie Florence Maud MEREDITH in Coburg on the 24th August, 1918 and the couple had four children of their own. James died on the 2nd of July 1935 and is also buried in the Fawkner Cemetery. James was a great painter and made his living by painting teacups and plates with bush scenes and garden scenes. He apparently travelled to America to study while he was still young. His apparent claim to fame was the painting of a war scene on one of the walls of Dame Nellie Melba’s house. There is a photograph of a painting of Aner which is believed to have been painted by James. | | Circa:1888 Mumbannar Victoria
Shot gun accident kills first son Herbert Benjamin SHARROCK b:1873
Benjamin was shot on a hill near the property of George & Jane Little at Wan Win near Mumbannar.
He was standing on a log at approximately 9:00 am with one barrel loaded & capped as he was loading the other barrel when the butt of the gun slipped and hit the ground and went off shooting Herbert in the stomach.
The Cousins carted him to Littles and Dick Little rode to Mt Gambier for the doctor. Jane Little nursed him until the doctor arrived bu there was ho hope for him. He died about midnight.
He was 17 years old and was standing on the log looking for Kangaroos that they were hunting | | Circa:1891 Dunmore Victoria
Wood cutting accident kills first son Edwin Lewis SHARROCK b:1876
His father at the inquest, Thomas (Shiner) Sharrock said on oath:
“I am a farmer residing at Dunmore. The deceased Edwin Lewis Sharrock is my son. He was fifteen years of age. He went out from home to a paddock about half a mile from my residence at or about 3 o’clock on the 4th inst. taking with him two dogs.”
“He took a small tomahawk with him.”
“As he did not come home to supper I went to look for him this would be about 9pm.”
“He said when leaving he was going to Bob’s paddock and I went there to look for him; having heard a dog that went with him bark. I went to the place where the dog barked and found my son there dead.”
“I am of opinion that he fell off the log he was cutting. There are two black marks on his shins. There was a limb lying across the log he was cutting and if he slipped or fell he would strike his legs against it and probably be thrown on to his head. He was slightly bruised on the forehead.”
“Soon after finding the body I called a neighbour Mr Lindsay and we removed the body to my house.” | | Circa:1917 Etaples France
In Memory of Josh Joshua Henry SHARROCK b:1880
Etaples is a town about 27 kilometres south of Boulogne. The Military Cemetery is to the north of the town, on the west side of the road to Boulogne.
During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick
Here in peace lies Josh Sharrock | | Circa:1921 Warrnambool Victoria
Kings Police Medal for Valour awarded to William Michael SHARROCK b:1872
Constable William Sharrock receives the Kings Police Medal for rescuing survivors from a sinking lauch. in Warrnambool.
On Sunday 9 January 1921, Constable Sharrock was amongst a group of eighty passengers on the motor boat “The Nestor” when it sank in the Hopkins River near Warrnambool. Sharrock assisted in saving the lives of a number of passengers including his sister-in-law and an infant.
He then rescued a child although "he was much exhausted by his efforts in the water". He sank as soon as the child had been placed in safety on board a rowboat. Ten of the passengers also drowned.
The constable was awarded the Valour Badge, the first such case of a posthumous award. He was also recorded in the archives of the Royal Humane Society. | | Circa:1938 Bessiebelle Victoria
The ranks grew Edwin Lewis SHARROCK b:1876
Back in the late 30’s teams playing against Bessiebelle usually found they did battle against a few families. Half the Belles were Sharrocks. There were multiples Pyes and Purcells, and only a handful of “visitors” were needed to make up the numbers. | | Circa:1965 Wanda Beach NSW
An unnecessary loss Christine Mary SHARROCK b:1949
The Wanda Beach Murders, sometimes referred to simply as "Wanda", are the case of the unsolved murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach near Cronulla in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 11 January 1965. The victims, both aged 15, were best friends and neighbours from the suburb of West Ryde, and their partially buried bodies were discovered the next day. The brutal nature of the slayings and the fact that they occurred on a deserted, windswept beach brought massive publicity to the case. By April 1966, police had interviewed some 7,000 people, making it the largest investigation in Australian history. It remains one of the most infamous unsolved Australian murder cases of the 1960s, and New South Wales' oldest unsolved homicide case.
Marianne Schmidt's next-door neighbour was Christine Sharrock,[6] who lived with her grandparents Jim and Jeanette Taig. Sharrock's father died in 1953 and her mother Beryl remarried and was living in the north-western Sydney suburb of Seven Hills. Sharrock moved in with her grandparents by choice and when the Schmidts arrived next-door, she developed a strong friendship with Marianne, who was the same age. It is not known why Sharrock preferred to live with her grandparents, not her mother and stepfather. | |