Connecting with my grandmother's family was the central purpose for my trip. I can tell you I have never been around so much family at one time! I faced a dilemma - photograph, or be fully present. I am happy that I chose to be fully present. Perhaps you might regret the lack of photographs!
One cornerstone of the event is a small ship, called the May Queen and on Wednesday we had an open family visit. She is Australia's oldest sail trading vessel - celebrating her 150th birthday this year. She was rotting away until Bob Chesterman (a cousin!) rallied support to get her taken care of and repaired.
You can see here how her planks were rotting and had to be reinforced. Her age and the need for rescue was evident.
She now sits in Constitution Dock as part of the Tasmanian Maritime Museum in the center of Hobart's waterfront. She is afloat, but no longer able to sail. This is sad, considering that she won many regattas in her day, in addition to being a working vessel. The May Queen was bought by my great-grandfather (Henry Chesterman) in 1873, to run timber from the Huon Valley, about a days sail to the south, to Hobart. A history that Bob put together says that these sturdy, Huon pine timbers were used to build the first wooden buildings in San-Francisco and that they were used as wooden pavers on the streets of London.
The boat was decked with a greeting for the family.
The May Queen in Constitution Dock.
It was a busy place during the Wooden Boat Festival! (May Queen on the right.)
Some curious and entertaining facts include that she had five collisions, ran into a whale once and sank twice, due to being struck by strong, quick gusts of wind. One of the rescue stories said that when the divers went down to attach dragging lines (to drag her to shallower water), she sat completely upright on the bottom of the Derwent in full sail!
Toni Hood, my sister is on the right, Bob Chesterman, the cousin who was instrumental in rescuing the May Queen is in the middle.
Over the course of 150 years, many things can happen! If you are really curious, here is a link that tells more. http://www.maritimetas.org/collection-displays/may-queen/may-queen-timeline. One of my favorites was the story from 1972, when a crewman got sick of waiting for the skipper to come back from his celebratory trip to the pub. The young man wanted to go home, so he sailed the boat himself. He was charged with piracy for his trouble! I was told this is the only piracy charge in Australia!
This picture shows the bunk that the poor lad would have been required to sleep on if they had spent the night out. You can see why he decided to sail home!
I have caught up with all my first cousins - which I won't detail here, other than mentioning a picnic with other extended relatives on Thursday noon and then a big dinner on Thursday night. Both were a blur of introductions and attempts to identify which of the seven branches of the family one belonged to. My grandmother had ten surviving siblings, seven of whom married. I have never stood in a full room before (about 120+ guests) where I have been able to say I am related to many. Most were second or third cousins. Of course, time only permitted the most cursory of connections. I found it easy to see the resemblances in the males - especially with many who shared the name 'Chesterman'. I found it impossible, sadly, to find resemblances among the women that manifested my kindly looking great grandmother, Mary Swinfield, who I know little about.
There were many starting to gather for the picnic.
My sister Toni, Cousin Joanne and Judy enjoyed a bite on the lawn.
While brief, it was well worth the effort for the experience. I did get a round of applause for having come the furthest to participate. I will probably endeavor to maintain contact with several 'new' cousins and their wives.
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