The story of the marriage of William and Julia being brokered by Richard Hamilton and Joe Brown from Knockaleery, both of whom were members of the police force, is a true story, although obviously I have invented the details. I imagine that William may well have found Julia very different from his Irish wives, although she certainly embraced the task of mothering his children, and was close to them all until the time of her death in 1934.
Joe Brown was a long-time friend of William’s. He was a pallbearer at his funeral, and Superintendent and Mrs Brown and their daughter were guests at young Eliza Irwin’s wedding in 1896, as was Mrs Humffray, Hugh Morrow with his wife and daughter, and Mrs McGoldrick – Lizzie’s cousin Mary Jane, daughter of Robert Irwin. Joe Brown’s police record says he was of a nervous disposition, which was my starting point in creating the character.
Julia gave birth to two children before Harold, both of whom lived only a very short time. The first child was actually called Hamilton Brown. Harold was her only surviving child and she doted upon him. The two dancing costumes she had made for him are still in the family, in perfect condition, for he did change in the woodshed and skip his dancing lessons in favour of the more robust pleasures of colonial boyhood. He was probably asked to sign the pledge at Sunday school, and William, I am sure, would have prevented this.
William did make his will with Hugh Morrow on the day he died, and the account of his funeral comes from the Ballarat papers. Julia died in Ballarat and is buried with William in the family grave in the Old Ballarat Cemetery. Towards the end of her life she tended to adjust her age upwards, so her true date of birth is still unknown.
There is an enormous amount of personal loss in this story. There is a view that when premature death is more common in a society, it becomes a lesser matter. I am not at all sure about this. Perhaps there is more acceptance, but I am not sure that this means there is less grief. Many Victorian families suffered enormously through the premature deaths of children and parents, and it seems arrogant to assume they did not really feel such things as we might today.
In the process of writing this book, I have become so deeply immersed in it that it now feels that this was the life of William and his family in Ballarat, and of Eliza back in Knockaleery. I remind myself that it is, of course, fiction, with factual bookends and markers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The inspiration for this book came from a collection of letters written to William Irwin from his family in Knockaleery, Ireland. Over many years there were several attempts to decipher and transcribe the letters, and eventually this was done by my sister, Alison McIntyre, who not only transcribed them but annotated them with details of family relationships, political events, archaic words and historical facts. Since these letters were the starting point for this book, I owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for all that work, as well as for our many conversations about the people of whom I have written.
Similarly, my uncle John Irwin has been chasing bits of our family history for years. His research and family knowledge have been invaluable to me. Even more, I value his unfailing interest in the project, his unstinting encouragement and his reading and rereading of my manuscript.
On my numerous trips to Ballarat I was generously assisted by many people. I was able to track down all sorts of information and, perhaps more importantly, to draw on ideas about the development of Ballarat, which really made the period come alive for me. In particular my thanks go to Dr Jill Blee, Dianne Campbell and Peter Freund, who were so generous in sharing time and ideas. In addition, I wish to thank Ann Doggett of Ballarat University; Dot Wickham; Elizabeth Trudgeon, the archivist at St Andrews; and Roger Trudgeon at the Gold Museum. Brett Edgington and Jeff Taylor were most helpful in finding out about William’s membership of the Freemasons and information about masonry.
In Ireland, my thanks go to the Lyttle family, who now live on what was Knockaleery Farm, and who showed me the remains of the old farmhouse at Tattykeel and provided a lot of background information about the land. In Belfast, I was given invaluable assistance by the staff of the Linen Hall Library, particularly Hugh Odling-Smee, and by Mark Phelan of Queen’s University drama department. Also, the staff at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum provided an enormous amount of information on living conditions and farming methods in Ulster in the nineteenth century.
My daughter Sophie Townsend read various drafts of the manuscript and provided incisive and creative feedback as well as unfailing encouragement.
My husband, Steve Townsend, had to live with William Irwin, his wives, his children and the family in Ireland for a much longer time than one normally has to put up with relatives. He was always ready to talk over ideas and was invaluable in providing technical support.
My thanks also to my agent, Fiona Inglis, for her unfailing and generous support.
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