We have only recently received this family photo, 150 years after my husband's great-grandfather left Newfoundland. We have reestablished communications with his GGF's descendants. Here is the story of how this happened.  

We love reading about life over there each month and have our calendar on the wall, everyone loves the snow photos.

I feel the story of how we came to have the photo is as interesting as the photo itself.

In 2006 I decided to start researching my husbandÂ’s family tree; my children were very interested to know about their ancestors as their paternal grandparents had both passed away in 1987, when our eldest daughter was just a toddler.

My husband did not know a lot about the Read family history as his own grandparents had both passed away when he was a small boy.

My sister-in–law mentioned that she had an old tin box with about a dozen letters in it written to their great-grandfather George Wyatt Read, who emigrated to Australia in 1873.

George, for reasons unknown to any of our family, left La Poile, Newfoundland in 1858, and had no contact with any of his family until he wrote home to La Poile, Newfoundland in 1887; the letters are the replies he received from his brother Francis Augustus Read (who is seated in the photo) Francis' sons Alexander Read (back row on the left) and Horatio John Read (Canon HJ Read, front row left).

Had George Wyatt Read kept in constant contact with his family in Newfoundland, we would not have the 30 years of family news that the first letters of contact contained.

After reading all the letters dated from 1888 til GeorgeÂ’s death in 1893, we were able to draw a rough diagram of most family members.

I wrote to the Gulf Newspaper hoping someone in La Poile would read it, but did not receive any replies; after more research, I decided to write to the Western Star in May 2008, and received several replies from Francis Augustus ReadÂ’s direct descendants, one of which, Frances Shears, surprised us with a 12-month subscription to your wonderful magazine, which we look forward to receiving each month.

Frances keeps in touch with us via email, and we have shared lots of stories and photos about the differences of our lives living 17,000 kilometres and half a world away. One day Frances was sending us photos of very deep snow falls while we had temperatures of 48 degrees Celsius.

Also we share some wonderful family moments like wedding day news, new babies in our families etc. Frances' granddaughter is coming to visit with us in June this year, which we are very excited about. Wallace Read, a retired engineer, also replied to our email; coincidentally, Wally had also been researching the family tree - he emailed us his information, and we emailed a copy of several letters written by Alexander (in the photograph), who is WallyÂ’s grandfather, and who passed away 8 years before Wally was born.

Wally was intrigued by our story, as none of the Newfoundland Reads knew that George Wyatt Read had immigrated to Australia. Wally and Helen traveled to Australia in October 2008 to visit with us. He gave us the photo. My husband and children were thrilled to see the faces of our letter writers; imagine - 120 years after the letters were written, finally, four generations later, putting a face to the names.

Wally and Helen had a wonderful visit and we showed them the original letters, and gave them copies we had done by a historian (as normal photocopying light would be too harsh on them). The letters are in very good condition, some are written left to right and then turned 90 degrees and written left to right over the original ink, which made them a little harder to read.

Dr. Frank Blackwood, who taught school in La Poile in the 1960Â’s before becoming a doctor, also keeps in touch via email; he wrote us stories about life in La Poile, and very often sends us funny stories and photos of life over there.

Frances, Wally and Frank all wrote to us after the terrible bushfires, the worst in Australian history; at a time when all Australians were very shocked and saddened by the loss of so many lives, it was wonderful to know that people cared enough to write with their support and good wishes.

I hope the photo is of interest to your readers as it is a precious family heirloom that will hang on the walls of many Read descendants' homes in the years to come.

George Wyatt Read was born in St. JohnÂ’s, the capital of Newfoundland. He moved to La Poile circa 1840. He left La Poile in 1858, he was 25 years old. The last known contact with his family before he left 150 years ago was with his sister Matilda Mary Roy (nee Read) when they parted at Halifax, Nova Scotia. George sailed to Australia in 1873, he was 40 years old.

His route would have been across the Atlantic Ocean to England; from England he sailed south around the west coast of the African continent, over the Atlantic Ocean, then eastward, across the Indian Ocean, across the southern side of Australia, turning northward into the Pacific Ocean and on to Botany Bay. This was the most common route in the 1870Â’s, and Matilda mentioned in her letter that George met up with a mutual friend of theirs, a Captain Le Fros, in Mauritius; a supply stop for ships sailing the vast distance. Captain Le Fros later told Matilda that he had sailed on to Australia with George and they parted company in Sydney.

George moved to the Cudal area circa 1880, here he purchased the property “Pleasant Hills.” George was 47 years old. He married Eliza in 1880 at Cudal, NSW. After his marriage and the birth of several children he wrote home to his brother Francis Augustus Read (Frank) on November 9th, 1887, 29 years after leaving La Poile, Newfoundland. He received replies from his brother Frank, Frank’s sons Alexander and John and his sister Matilda. Over the next five years, until his death in 1893 at the age of 61 years, George received at least 12 letters; the letters Wendy has, from his family in Newfoundland and Channel Islands. Despite no contact with his family for almost 30 years, the letters convey the delight and surprise of his family, who had supposed him dead.

The genuine affection between George and his family is evident in all the letters written to him. Why he left home and where he went between 1858 and 1873 still remains a mystery. I donÂ’t know if he married before he came to Australia, but on his marriage certificate it clearly states, status Bachelor. Why he decided to write home after such a long time we will never know, but considering we started with a handful of letters, we have found out more than we ever imagined - especially the reestablishment of contact with GeorgeÂ’s brother Frank ReadÂ’s descendants.

If George had been in constant contact with his family over the years we would not have had all the information available to us; family names, occupations, were they were living at the time etc. The letters would have only contained the day-to-day lives of this family, not the history of the past 30 years that is actually stated.

George Wyatt Read, “the happy wanderer,” as referred to by his sister Matilda, travelled 17,000 kilometres to settle half a world away - literally and figuratively - from his birth place to a vastly different life that was not only on the other side of the world in distance, but possibly the complete opposite in every way; climate, area, lifestyle, employment options etc.

George purchased a property and livestock, he spoke of sunstroke and heat to a family that had only known snow metres deep and owned and ran a huge fishery business in the vast Atlantic Ocean, contending with icebergs and shipwrecks.

He and his Newfoundland family expressed their wish to be reunited once more. GeorgeÂ’s wish to return to visit his family was never fulfilled due to his declining health; maybe someday one of his descendants may achieve this goal on his behalf.

Photo Circa 1880

Back Row: Alexander Read, Marcella (Read) Horman, George Francis Read
Front Row: Horatio John Read (Canon HJ Read), Francis Augustus Read, Susannah (Collier) Read, Charles Read   Submitted By: NULL