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September Meeting -
Whitening the Black Sheep
Rev Professor Emeritus Robert Gribben was the
speaker at the September meeting where he
shared with us his research journey into a
family member - Joseph Gribben.
A
Uniting Church Minister, Robert had been at
the Uniting Church Theological Hall before his
retirement, had worked in Parishes throughout
Victoria, had studied at Cambridge and was
proud of his Methodist heritage.
His
journey
began
in the hills behind St Agnes where Joseph
Gribben and his wife Eliza (m/s Paull) had 6
children - Joseph, William, Paul, Eliza, Edwin
and Lydia. At the time the main industries
around St Agnes were farming and copper and
tin mining. Three of the brothers came to
Australia for economic reasons - Joseph, Paul,
and Edwin - hoping to make their fortunes on
the Gold Fields of Victoria, all having worked
in the mines in Cornwall.
Paul
was the great, great grandfather of Robert .
Joseph
had always been painted as the ‘black sheep’
of the family and it was his story that Robert
was interested in.
Robert
was fortunate that he had some named
photographs and also access to a diary kept by
one of the brothers, Edwin.
He
managed to trace the movements of Joseph
around Victoria - California Gully and Woods
Point, to the Gold Rush in New Zealand and
then back to Stawell, Bendigo and
Tallygaroopna.
Through
the
wills
of both Joseph senior and junior, Robert was
able to extend his knowledge of the family.
He
was extremely grateful to a woman at the
Goldfields Library in Bendigo who found a
memorial notice of the death of Joseph in
Cornwall.
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