Robert Shaw [929]

  General Notes:

Notes by: Alan Egginton

Robert and Barbara Shaw migrated to Australia from Scotland arriving in Sydney on 21 February,1855, on the ship Anna which sailed from Liverpool. This ship carried 420 passengers made up of :- married couples : 78; single : 83 males and 46 females; children 7 - 14 : 22 m. and 25 f; 1 -7 : 33m and 35f; under 1 : 9m and 9f.

Robert's occupation in Scotland was listed as being an ironstone miner and when they settled in Minmi, near Newcastle, N.S.W., he worked as a coal miner. I was told, however, that he had an orange orchard near the railway line in Minmi.

Shipping records state that both Robert and Barbara were able to read and write.

Of their children, Catherine was 3 and Annie 1 when they migrated but the remainder were born in Minmi.

Robert died from English cholera on 28th February,1877, aged 45 years and
9 months.

Barbara died from a cerebral haemorrhage on 10th December, 1901, aged 72 years, at the home of her son John in Union Street, Tighes, Newcastle.
At the funeral of Barbara Shaw, my mother recalls how she and her cousin, Nellie Shaw, both dressed in black, walked behind the coffin along Maitland Road from Tighes Hill to Hamilton railway station where they waited for a train to take them to Hexham and thence to Minmi. " And it was freezing cold," she said.

Both Robert and Barbara are buried in Minmi cemetery and on their headstone are memorials to 3 of their sons who tragically died in accidents - David who was killed in a railway accident at Minmi on 22 November, 1875, aged 17 years; Alexander who was drowned in the wreck of the 'New England' on 27th December, 1882, aged 8 years; and William Corner, killed in a mining accident at Lithgow on 4 March, 1890, aged 29 years. David would have been buried here but I don't believe Alexander's body ws recovered and I doubt that William's would have been brought there from Lithgow. I have photo copies of reports of the accidents to David and Alexander as published in the Newcastle Morning Herald and also
of William, published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

At the side of the headstone is a small memorial to Lizzie Shaw, my mother's sister, born on 22 August, 1893 and died on 10th July, 1896, just over 4 months after my mother was born.

( The marriage locations for Robert's children - Barbara, Catherine and Jane - are actually where the marriages were registered, not where they were married. )

Robert married Barbara Corner [2414] [MRIN: 325], daughter of William Corner [2424] and Katharine Bryson [2425], on 11 Jul 1853 in Renfrew Abbey, Paisley, Scotland. (Barbara Corner [2414] was born on 18 Oct 1829 in Muiravonside, Stirlingshire, Scotland and died on 10 Dec 1901 in Tighes Hill, Newcastle. N.S.W..)