From the Shetlands to Sydney
A Family History of Elsie Margaret Smith, my Mother
Written by William Mackarell
Edited and produced by Broadcast Books
On one side of Elsie Margaret Smith’s family, the Thomases came from Irish stock, while the Smiths descended from generations of fishermen from the Shetland Islands. They were all hard-working women and men who had led tough lives.
On the other side, her mother was a Crockett, whose family was in complete contrast to the Smiths. The Smiths were solid, straightforward folk of Shetland, while the Crocketts were volatile, aggressive and colourful, with a background forged in the industrial city of Birmingham, where survival of the fittest was the order of the day. It was not surprising, therefore, to discover that my mother’s ancestral line had some links with Australia’s convict history through the Crockett side of the family.
This is the story of how the Smith, Thomas and Crockett families found their way to Australia and how, through the marriage of George Smith and Sarah Thomas, they merged to form the Smith family. As it traces the growth of my mother’s family, From the Shetlands to Sydney also follows the development of the colony of New South Wales, from its infancy to the present.
My special thanks go to: Bernadette Foley and Liz Seymour at Broadcast Books and Peter Vaughan-Reid and Carolyn Page for their support and understanding and for their sympathetic editing, proofreading and creative design. William Mackarell