ANCESTOR STORIES: ANNIE DUKE
ANNIE DUKE's story
by Margie O'Brien
|
Ann ‘Annie’ Gaynor was born in County Armagh, Ireland 21st November,1838. The Gaynor family arrived in NSW on the ship ‘William Sharples’ on the 29 January 1842 and came to Victoria in 1844. The family lived in Lonsdale St and Ann told her daughter Annie that she played around Collingwood Green near St Francis Church.
The family moved to Ballarat where her parents had a store on the diggings and her brothers Thomas and John carried goods between Melbourne and Ballarat. Ann married George Duke in the Independent Church of Christ, Poverty Hills Goldfield near Castlemaine on 8th March 1854. It is possible that they eloped as Annie was not yet 16. Ann was Catholic and George was Methodist and the church was some distance from where her family lived. Annie was a seamstress and family lore says that she was one of the women who sewed the Eureka Flag. Annie who was 8 ½ months pregnant was in the stockade while the battle was on. She and a Mrs Parker lay behind a pile of logs near their tent. The tent, their utensils and clothes were riddled with shot. Thomas Gaynor is said to be one of the many people who aided in the escape of Peter Lalor. After finding each other after the battle, George and Annie fled to her parents, in Bendigo in fear of retribution. Annie gave birth to their son John on 13th December 1854 on the road to Bendigo under a spring cart with the help of an older lady. |
Annie and George eventually had twelve children. Their seventh child, Annie is my great grandmother and was a dressmaker like her mother.
The story in the family over the years was that Annie made the flag with two other women. It was kept quiet outside of the home as she and George feared they would be arrested and tried for their part in the rebellion. It wasn’t until long after her death that we found out what Annie and George did, and we are now so proud of our Great Great Grand Mother and Father for their part in Australian History.
Just before George died, he converted to Catholicism so he could be buried with his beloved Annie. Annie and George are buried in the Echuca Cemetery.
Annie Duke Beckwith (Annie’s daughter) wrote about her mother’s story for a publication “Pioneer Women of Victoria” some time before her death in 1948.
The story in the family over the years was that Annie made the flag with two other women. It was kept quiet outside of the home as she and George feared they would be arrested and tried for their part in the rebellion. It wasn’t until long after her death that we found out what Annie and George did, and we are now so proud of our Great Great Grand Mother and Father for their part in Australian History.
Just before George died, he converted to Catholicism so he could be buried with his beloved Annie. Annie and George are buried in the Echuca Cemetery.
Annie Duke Beckwith (Annie’s daughter) wrote about her mother’s story for a publication “Pioneer Women of Victoria” some time before her death in 1948.
