Australian Ancestors: Volume 1 – My Ray and Zahnleiter Forebears

Volume 1 of Australian Ancestors traces the lives of the Ray and Zahnleiter families. Jane Burnside, transported from Ireland for petty theft, married Joseph Ray, whose death sentence for highway robbery was commuted to life in the colonies. They served their time. Then, rather than join the exodus to the Victorian goldfields they headed north to country that became Queensland. Meanwhile, Yorkshire-born Mary Ann Clarkson and her husband Philipp Zahnleiter, a German immigrant, journeyed overland to the Victoria goldfields from Adelaide. Their travels took them to Ballarat at the time of the Eureka rebellion and to Lambing Flat when the Chinese riots occurred. Their journey north was interrupted by Mary Ann’s own arrest in Mudgee, but the attraction of gold drew them onto Kilkivan in Queensland. Their children’s paths converged when Joseph Ray Jr. married Jane Zahnleiter. A stockman and selector, Joseph battled drought, dingoes, depression and hardship on his Kilkivan property. From convict beginnings, this is a story of endurance, courage and the making of an Australian family. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Format: Perfect Bound Trim Size: 189mm x 246mm Page Count: 327