My paternal grandfather was a metal machinist & died when I was 2 months old. He was a widower, who lived with his only son, & Mum moved into the house when she married.

The house had been built in 1916 by his father who was a stonemason. The basement/foundations of the house apparently contained blocks from Sydney's old General Post Office (built c.1850) & removed in renovations in the later part of the 19th century or earlier 20th.

Dad's Grandfather had worked on a lot of Government buildings in his career with his father who was also a stonemason who arrived on Oz in 1870s from Liverpool. Dad's grandfather married the grandaughter of a convict who came from York in 1812. The convict & most of his sons beame landowners with large properties, except for my direct ancestor who was a blacksmith.   

My maternal grandfather died when I was around 7 & I have no memories of him, tho in much later years I always agreed with Nana when she spoke about him & agreed with her when said I remembered him. I was his first grandchild & apparently I loved sitting on his lap, buttoning & unbuttoning his cardigans. He was a house painter & lost his business during the depression.

His father was a cabinetmaker/French polisher & arrived in Oz before 1869 from Sussex.

Mum's maternal grandfather was an cordial manufacturer, and his father-in-law was an inkeeper who was born in London in 1825 & arrived in Oz before 1855.

My cabinetmaker GGF made some beautiful miniatures which I had custody of in the mid 70's after I moved into my own place. One day my younger sister visited & said Mum wanted them back. Years later Mum asked where they were & I said I gave them to her cos you wanted them. Sister denied knowing anything about them.

They were very small & beautifully made - one cabinet of 6 or 8 drawer, all with mortise and tenon joints, was only about a finger long, 2 fingers wide & several fingers deep. The drawers were too small to fit a fingertip into! I hope they went to a good home, not landfill.

sandra