The Tree of Me

Since purchasing Ernie Dawson's war medals, I have been trying to find out more about his war experiences. A search at the National Archives last night for All Records, not just WW1 turned up a digitised 244 page document of post war information. I will discuss this in more detail in a later post. This post, however, is dedicated to a family story that has not previously been documented. My second cousin Fay asked me earlier this year if I had heard about Bridget's (our great grandmother's) twins - her first born children. Her aunt had told her about them. This was news to me! I only had 16 children born to Bridget Mylan and her husband Harry Dawson. A thorough search of NSW BDMs failed to find the birth or death of twins. A search in Victoria also proved fruitless. However, while going through the document last night I discovered evidence that the twins existed. Ernie had applied for benefits under the Repatriation Act and had to give details of his family's me...

Rupert Dawson (1887 - 1898) Rupert Charles Dawson was the second son of William Henry Dawson and his wife Bridget Mylan. He was born at Callan Park Hospital in 1887. His father was an attendant at the hospital and the family lived in one of the houses in the Hospital grounds. In September 1898 a lot of construction work was going on at the hospital. Rupert and his friends were playing a game and jumping over an open sewer in the course of construction. He missed jumping over the gap and fell in the sewer.  An inquest was held on 5th September, 1898 at Callan Park. THE FATAL ACCIDENT AT CALLAN PARK HOSPITAL Yesterday an inquest was held at the Callan Park Hospital by the Acting City Coroner (Mr Bowden) touching the death of Rupert Charles Dawson, aged 12 years, a son of one of the attendants of the hospital. Dr. Flashman, who saw the deceased shortly after he fell down the sewer shaft at the rear of the institution, said deceased had his skull fractured, but the immediate cau...