This photo shows four generations, dated about 1916-1917.
Standing is Mr R’s great-grandmother Helena Randall, nee Prince. Helen was born 1870 at Avenel, Victoria and married Robert McMillan Randall in 1895 at Collingwood. Helena died 1937.
Seated, right: Helena’s mother, Eliza Jane Prince, nee Mutton. (Rob’s great-great-grandmother.) Eliza was born 1853 at Avenel, the daughter of the town’s pioneers William Henry Mutton and Elizabeth Lock. Eliza married Joseph Cawtheray Prince, 1870, at Seymour. She died in Brunswick, 1937, and is buried with her husband at Avenel. Eliza went to school with Ned Kelly, and Ned’s father rented a dairy farm from Eliza’s mother.
Seated, left: Lillie Eliza Drysdale, nee Randall, the eldest daughter of Helena and Robert Randall. (Rob’s great-aunt.) In 1915, Lillie married Stanley Adam Norman Drysdale, a police officer in the metropolitan area . Lillie died in 1934 and is buried in The New Cheltenham Cemetery. (Stan’s career advanced until he attained the rank of Inspector at Horsham, 1946. Prior to that he was Sub-Inspector at Russell Street.)
On Lillie’s lap is their first child, Joyce Lilian Drysdale, who was born in Carlton in 1916. This puts this photo in that time frame. Joyce died in 1982 as Joyce Lilian Taylor. Her death was registered at Box Hill, Melbourne.
Christine R 
Wonderful having a pictorial history of the important members of the family. Still cross with mum’s sister, Auntie Alma, for getting rid of the family portrait (great grandparents and their children).
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Oh no, Sue, that’s dreadful!
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You are so lucky. I have NO IDEA of my family history on either side,and it distresses me.
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And Western Australian birth, death, marriage certificates are so bloody expensive! I can have a poke around tomorrow, M-R, I love that sort of thing. I bet I can come up with some info for you before Sunday. ❤
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Good grief, Christine – you know about all that stuff ? It gives me a headache just thinking about it ..
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Oh yes, I am into it in a big way! I’ve corresponded with hundreds of found cousins over the past decade. If it wasn’t for family history, I would never have found out that Mr R is my 6th cousin. 😀
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And speaking of Mr R, I now know (at least partially) why “Outlander” might have appeal for you. 😀
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I didn’t know what you meant first, but then figure it’s because Jamie and Claire are cousins, aren’t they? Yeah, it’s strange we had an instant rapport from the first time we met – me on one side of the bar, he the other. 😀
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That and the name, you IRIOT !! 😀
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oh! McMillan, of course. [blush]
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[M-R pokes Christine sharply in the ribs with a very pointy umbrella]
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Christine, this is a wonderful photo. You have obviously done a lot of work researching your antecedents. Most interesting, particularly the Ned Kelly link!!
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Family legend said Nanna Prince nursed Ned Kelly, but it turned out she was only a year or two older, and is likely to have nursed Ned’s younger brother who was born in Avenel. After the father died, the family moved on again. 🙂
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I have been lucky to have lots of info on all sides of families, plus a cousin deep into geneology. Great picture Christine.
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It seems there is always at least one in the family who takes on the family historian role. Thanks, Kayti.
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It is pleasing to know someone (you in particular, Christine) cares enough about their family history to search and record. Histories are too quickly lost and, sometimes, casually discarded. I wish I could tell my great grandparents and others how grateful I am to be their progeny…just be able to say thank you.
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Apparently, genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world. A lot of kids these days will grow up having their ancestral information at their fingertips. Carol Ann, keeping their names alive is an honour and the best way we can express our thanks.
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My mom’s name was Carol Ann. My daughter came home the other day after visiting one of her boy friends grandmother’s whose name is Carolann or was it Caroline, anyway, she made the connection. But, I told her, no, Mom’s name was Carol, and only Grandma and Aunt Sarah, oh, and her cousins, called or call her Carol Ann.
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I began keeping family stories and records many years ago with bit and pieces my grandmother had saved. I have a great number of albums typewritten before there were computers. As you say, there will always be one who is interested. I have’t discovered which one it will be!
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I’m going to do that with my dad this weekend. Good times. I’ll post later.
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Eliza and her daughter Helena died in the same year? Like my mom and grandma (her mom). Aww…
Ned Kelly, I don’t know much about him, but I did eat a restaurant called Ned Kelly’s which is also supposed to own Outback Steakhouse.
Lillie died before her mom, aww..
So, is Joyce Rob’s mom? or is it Mum?
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Very observant, Suzy. Helena had leukemia and her mother died of cervical cancer about two months later. Poor Lillie died at 40, an abcess on her pancreas. She left behind five children. Lillie was the older sister of Rob’s grandfather, making baby Joyce his first cousin once removed.
Ned Kelly is our infamous outlaw, held up banks and coaches back in the day. He was a hero in Avenel as a kid because he saved a young lad from drowning. The lad’s father, a big landowner, gave Ned a green sash which is in museum. Ned was of Irish descent, and said in some of his writings that the people of Avenel were stuck up English snobs (or something like that!) and no doubt they were.
Anyway, his name is used in every town in Victoria he ever set foot, and probably some he didn’t. 🙂
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