Ethel had two children to Jimmy Governor, both born on the same day, 9 April, two years apart:
1899 Sidney Golding Louis @ Gulgong
1901 Thelma ''Violet" H Reta @ Wollongong
***
In November 1901, 10 months after Jimmy's death and seven months after the birth of their second child, Ethel remarried.
Her second husband was another part-Aboriginal man, Francis "Frank" Joseph Brown, who was five years older (b.1877).
He was born on the Clyde River, at Currawan Creek Reserve, on the NSW South Coast.
According to his marriage record, his parents were Thomas Brown and Annie (Unknown).
His father's occupation was recorded as 'farmer'.
*
At the time of the marriage, Frank Brown was living at Mount Kembla and Ethel at Clifton, a coal-mining town near Coalcliff on the coast between Sydney and Wollongong.
His siblings were:
Patrick, Thomas, Richard, Charles, John, Myrtle and Margaret.
*
According to Aunty Vic Carriage, a still living daughter of Ethel Brown (nee Governor), and sister of 'Violet' Governor (later Brown), Ethel had nine more children to Frank Brown.
This information was published in an interview with her in the National Parks & Wildlife Service newsletter, Coastal Custodians (Vol2Is7, February 2005)
*
The children of Ethel and Francis Brown were:
Robert Joseph Golden
1904 Julia Alma Jane @ Milton, South Coast
1906 Doris Murial Florence @ Kempsey, North Coast
1908 Mabel Martha (Martha Mabel) Marie @ Kempsey
Charles William Thomas (disappeared age 21 - drowned in a storm while fishing)
Eunice Coral Agnes
Daphne Hilda May
Francis Zeacle Patrick (disappeared age 9 - drowned in a storm while fishing)
1920 Ruth Victoria "Vic" Queen
[Dates of birth are missing because NSW Births Deaths and Marriages does not make any births after 1909 publicly available for family history purposes.]
So they raised 10 children, including Thelma Governor.
***
In a recent play about Jimmy and Ethel Governor, Posts in the Paddock, performed in Sydney in November 2011, it was revealed that Sidney was adopted out under another surname, Duncan.
This was said to have been done because the notoriety of the name 'Governor' would have made life difficult for him..
***
Thelma 'Violet' Brown (formerly Governor) married George Parsons and had four children:
Cyril, Ethel, Robert and Ruth.
*
Her younger sister, Ruth Victoria Queen Brown (Aunty Vic Carriage) was born in 1920 at Milton on the NSW South Coast.
Aunty Vic says in the article that her mother, Ethel Page, wanted to call her 'Queen Victoria', but it was not allowed by the authorities.
***
Ethel Brown (nee Governor nee Page) died in 1945, aged 63, at Newington State Hospital, in Sydney.
This was an asylum for women unable to look after themselves and with nobody to care for them.
Records of admissions to this institution are withheld from public inspection for 110 years from the date of death.
Today the old house around which the hospital was built is located within the grounds of Silverwater Gaol.
Ethel is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
1899 Sidney Golding Louis @ Gulgong
1901 Thelma ''Violet" H Reta @ Wollongong
***
In November 1901, 10 months after Jimmy's death and seven months after the birth of their second child, Ethel remarried.
Her second husband was another part-Aboriginal man, Francis "Frank" Joseph Brown, who was five years older (b.1877).
He was born on the Clyde River, at Currawan Creek Reserve, on the NSW South Coast.
According to his marriage record, his parents were Thomas Brown and Annie (Unknown).
His father's occupation was recorded as 'farmer'.
*
At the time of the marriage, Frank Brown was living at Mount Kembla and Ethel at Clifton, a coal-mining town near Coalcliff on the coast between Sydney and Wollongong.
His siblings were:
Patrick, Thomas, Richard, Charles, John, Myrtle and Margaret.
*
According to Aunty Vic Carriage, a still living daughter of Ethel Brown (nee Governor), and sister of 'Violet' Governor (later Brown), Ethel had nine more children to Frank Brown.
This information was published in an interview with her in the National Parks & Wildlife Service newsletter, Coastal Custodians (Vol2Is7, February 2005)
*
The children of Ethel and Francis Brown were:
Robert Joseph Golden
1904 Julia Alma Jane @ Milton, South Coast
1906 Doris Murial Florence @ Kempsey, North Coast
1908 Mabel Martha (Martha Mabel) Marie @ Kempsey
Charles William Thomas (disappeared age 21 - drowned in a storm while fishing)
Eunice Coral Agnes
Daphne Hilda May
Francis Zeacle Patrick (disappeared age 9 - drowned in a storm while fishing)
1920 Ruth Victoria "Vic" Queen
[Dates of birth are missing because NSW Births Deaths and Marriages does not make any births after 1909 publicly available for family history purposes.]
So they raised 10 children, including Thelma Governor.
***
In a recent play about Jimmy and Ethel Governor, Posts in the Paddock, performed in Sydney in November 2011, it was revealed that Sidney was adopted out under another surname, Duncan.
This was said to have been done because the notoriety of the name 'Governor' would have made life difficult for him..
***
Thelma 'Violet' Brown (formerly Governor) married George Parsons and had four children:
Cyril, Ethel, Robert and Ruth.
*
Her younger sister, Ruth Victoria Queen Brown (Aunty Vic Carriage) was born in 1920 at Milton on the NSW South Coast.
Aunty Vic says in the article that her mother, Ethel Page, wanted to call her 'Queen Victoria', but it was not allowed by the authorities.
***
Ethel Brown (nee Governor nee Page) died in 1945, aged 63, at Newington State Hospital, in Sydney.
This was an asylum for women unable to look after themselves and with nobody to care for them.
Records of admissions to this institution are withheld from public inspection for 110 years from the date of death.
Today the old house around which the hospital was built is located within the grounds of Silverwater Gaol.
Ethel is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
