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Frank Ebbern was born in Ilkeston in 1881, a son of Bath Street butcher Thomas and Mary (nee Birch). His early life was lived with his parents in Ilkeston and Cossall until, on October 10th 1913, he left for Australia aboard the ‘RMS Orama’ of the Orient Line (below).
On March 27th 1915 he married Elsie Ann France at Sydney, New South Wales. She was the daughter of John and Emma (nee Pepper alias Poxon), born at Awsworth, Nottinghamshire, in 1888, just a couple of miles from where Frank had been born !! They had travelled over 10,500 miles to get hitched !!
On his arrival in Australia Frank probably worked as a farm labourer in the Sydney area, though in 1925 he seems to have begun purchasing land at Kelso, Bathurst.
Frank the Aussie farmer
It seems that Frank never forgot his family ‘back home’. He sent the following group of photos to his mother Mary.
This one has the date Oct 10th, 1914 written on the back … the first anniversary of Frank’s departure
And this one is ‘for Pollie’ (an alternative for Mary ?)
Frank died on January 10th 1962 and was buried in the graveyard at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Kelso, Bathurst.
The Church …
…. and its background
Above right is a panorama view from the Holy Trinity Church in Kelso looking over the riverplain where the first farms in the area were settled. In the background is the centre of Bathurst on the other side of the Macquarie River. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Anglican_Church,_Kelso)
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Post Script
The photo below is from the ‘Ebbern Collection’ and might show a young Frank, at home in England, before his departure to Australia …. what do you think ??
And here, below, is a close-up — it’s the hair which convinces me
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