My father was born on May 25th, 1860, at Ballarat in Victoria. His father was Richard English, one of a family of six born in Durham, England. His mother was Rebecca Colclough, one of eleven - who came from Kilkenny, Ireland. I assume that the two were unknown to one another until they chose to emigrate to Australia on "The Champion of the Seas" in December 1856. Rebecca's sister Matilda - of 16 years - accompanied her. I have no copy of their marriage certificate but assume that it would have been in 1869.

James Henry Punch and his wife Mary Kate (Polly) were married about 1920 - she being a sister of Mr Carlo Wilkins of "The White Swan" Hotel in Swan Hill and Mrs Nan Barwick of "The Royal Hotel" in Swan Hill.

In 1923 they bought the Ultima Railway Hotel, but soon afterwards it was destroyed by fire, along with all their possessions. Two daughters, Mona Beatrice ("Peter") and Sheila Patricia ("Pat") had been born by then, but son Michael Wilkins was born later, when they were in the new building. A younger son, Billy, died in infancy.

My Great Great Grandmother Evans arrived from Cornwall in England on a sailing ship. After a long and perilous journey, they landed at Geelong in 1857. They travelled overland by bullock dray with their possessions, to the Goldfields at Creswick, near Ballarat. While they lived at Creswick the miners at Eureka Stockade rose up in revolt under Peter Lalor, whose arm was injured in fire from a policeman's musket. My great great grandmother, who was a trained nurse, helped Dr Gosling to amputate his lower arm.