Elsie Watson - papers, 1788-1989, being mainly photocopies, concerning the Bloodworth, Brown and Watson families

MLMSS 6117/Boxes 1X-5X

fonds

1788 - 1989, compiled 1962-1989

118637

2.65 metres of textual material (5 outsize boxes)

Elsie Watson was born at Mayfield, in Newcastle, N.S.W., in 1926. Her father John Brown was the great-great grandson of the First Fleet convicts, James Bloodworth and Sarah Bellamy. Bloodworth was the master builder responsible for the construction of the First Government House. In the late 1920s the Brown family returned to live in John's hometown of Rylstone, N.S.W. In 1949 Elsie married Andy Watson, a Scottish-born British sailor whom she met in Sydney. Elsie was the chief compiler of the papers, the result of genealogical researches conducted between 1962 and 1989, assisted by her husband and sister Enid Hughes. Elsie's family history, River Station, was printed in 1988. In the late 1980s Elsie contributed details about her personal papers, the originals of which are in her possession, to the Australian Historic Records Register, maintained and published by the National Library of Australia and partly funded by the National Heritage Program of the Australian Bicentennial Authority. The Register describes privately-held paper-based records of historic importance.

BOX 1X
1788-1989; Papers concerning the Bellamy, Bloodworth and Brown families, the Fellowship of First Fleeters and the First Government House site

BOX 2X
1812-1989; Papers concerning births, deaths and marriages in the Bloodworth, Brown and Watson families, including copies of certificates, correspondence and notes

BOX 3X
1910-1989; Scrapbook concerning the Brown family mainly at Rylstone, N.S.W., and the Watson family, including the activities of Andy Watson and his involvement with soccer in the Sutherland Shire, N.S.W.

BOX 4X
1910-1989, date unknown; Photographs and greetings cards of the Brown and Watson families

BOX 5X
1859-1989; Correspondence, being mainly letters received, of the Brown and Watson families, with a copy of River Station: Bloodworth and Brown Family, 1788-1988 by Elsie Watson, 1988

A similar collection of photocopied papers compiled by Elsie Watson is held at the National Library of Australia [NLA MS 7975] and is available for reference.