​As a “Moore” descendant, you have my permission to decide if you want the name to mean “moor” (marsh or bog) or the more appealing “stately and noble”. The name is a common last name throughout the British Isles and its former colonies. It has multiple and conflicting origins in Old English, French, Gaelic and Welsh that date to before recorded history, so feel free to pick the one you like the best.

​

Our Moore family line in Australia began with the immigration of 24-year-old Frank Moore from England to Sydney in 1883. Frank, born in 1859, was the second son of four boys born to George and Priscilla (neé Richmond) in Hartleford, County Durham. It appears my mother found little information on Frank’s brothers, Arthur (1858-90), James and Ernest (probably twins born in 1864) beyond the basics.

​

Frank’s birth came 30 years after the discovery of a large coal field in County Durham that played a significant role in fuelling the Industrial Revolution in England. George may have worked in the coal mines or Durham’s other primary industries: organ-making and carpet (textile) making, paper milling, mustard manufacturing and brewing. Unfortunately, no record of his profession survives but whatever it was, by 1881, George and Priscilla could afford to escape the smells, noise and coal dust of County Durham and move to Grouville, a small parish on the south-eastern side of the Channel Island of Jersey.

​

The sea air, gentle undulating hills and cows of Jersey must have agreed with them because they stayed on the island for the next 20 years. They returned to mainland Britain around 1901, aged in their early 70s. The couple moved to the pretty west country district of Devon and proceeded to live there until their deaths in their early eighties; Priscilla in 1911 and George in 1915. Their longevity proved hereditary.

​

Long before George and Priscilla move to Jersey, Frank joins the merchant navy. He is listed as a 14-year-old cadet on the ship Worcester sailing out of Greenlithe (near London). We know this because he is admitted to hospital with scarlet fever, a highly feared and contagious bacterial infection with a high mortality rate. Fortunately, Frank recovers and is soon back at sea.

​

By 1881, at the age of 21, Frank is married to Edith (maiden name unknown) and, when he is not at sea, living in Broughton, a town outside of Manchester. Of the working-class professions of the late 19th century, seafaring is one of the worst paid. But it did come with a few non-wage benefits, such as regular food (even if its quality left a lot to be desired), lodging onboard and the ability to rise through the ship ranks and improve earning capacity. Nevertheless, supporting a wife on a lowly seaman’s salary would not have been easy or even recommended for a young man like Frank.

​

There is no record of what became of Edith. Instead of Frank abandoning her, let’s just say that the marriage was short-lived and she died (possibly in childbirth?) soon after marriage because by 1883, Frank is sailing alone on the Sydenham to Sydney.

​

Frank’s decision to immigrate coincided with a push by all the Australian colonies to shake off the stigma of the convict era and attract settlers that would grow the country’s white population. As a seafarer by trade, its unlikely Frank had much money of his own. But since he sailed as an unassisted passenger, perhaps his family took pity on him in his bereaved state and raised the funds to send him off for a fresh start. Alternatively, he could’ve behaved so deplorably to Edith that they paid his fare to get rid of him, we won’t ever know.

​

The former motivation seems more likely because it appears Frank does have a plan for his new life in New South Wales. Soon after he steps off the Sydenham in Botany Bay into the scorching Australian heat on Boxing Day in 1883, Frank takes the train to Albury. Situated on the banks of the Murray River, Albury is well-established as an important wine, fruit and vegetable growing region. Frank’s intentions are to establish himself as a greengrocer and merchant. In Albury, he meets and marries his next wife, Lavinia Dowell.

​

Lavinia Mary Ann Dowell emigrated to Melbourne from London as a seven-year-old with her family in 1857. Melbourne was only twenty years old then but thanks to the Gold Rush that began a few years earlier, money is flowing hard and fast into the town. The squalid tent city of its early foundation has begun to give way to grander buildings, infrastructure and drainage. There’s also a pub on almost every corner. Melbourne presents an exciting opportunity for Lavinia’s father Charles.

​

Charles married Lavinia’s mother Mary Ann Langley back in England in 1847. Shortly after, their son Frederick is born, followed by Lavinia and four more children. Spare a thought for poor Mary Ann trapped on the Blackwall for three months trying to entertain six children under the age of nine on a crowded emigrant ship. On arrival in Melbourne, Charles sets himself up as a blacksmith. The family find a place to live in Fitzroy, a suburb specifically created by Melbourne’s town planners to the north of the town centre to house factory workers and other members of the working class. Here they go on to have another six children, if you don’t count the “extra” one fathered by Charles in 1860.[1] Mary Ann finally succeeds in getting Charles to leave her alone after their twelfth child is born in 1871. Charles and Mary Ann proceed to live in Fitzroy for the next 35 years and several of their children marry locals.

​

Marrying young is not the path for Lavinia though as she makes her living as a dressmaker. It’s not known how she finds her way to Albury (women’s history is frustratingly hard to track) but she is there in 1884 when, at age 34, she marries Frank Moore, nine years her junior and ten months off the boat from England.

​

Since Frank has no family ties in the country, Lavinia has no difficulty convincing him to move to Melbourne so she can be close to her family. She seems to have inherited her mother’s fertility as she then proceeds to have five children; the last, Mary Anna born in 1895 when she is 45 years old. Frank Jnr, her second son, is our direct ancestor. He is born in Prahran in 1887 (pronounced ‘Purr-ran’). A year later, Frank Snr’s younger brother Ernest turns up and marries a local girl, Emma Andrade. Perhaps Ernest and Frank Snr start a greengrocery business out of a Prahran shopfront. The 1880s is what is locally called the ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ era. Prahran is a thriving hub of factories, markets, shopping and entertainment. This is when the railways and tramlines are built; and a number of iconic buildings are erected. But by the 1890s, a severe economic depression has hit Melbourne. It’s possible this also hit the family hard too. By 1906, Frank Snr, Lavinia and the kids are all living in Prahran at their shop and Ernest has moved to nearby St Kilda with his wife. It is around this time, one of them raises the idea of moving to Perth.

​

The decision to move across the country is a curious one. Unlike its fierce northern rival of Sydney, news of the happenings of Perth rarely captures much attention in Melbourne. One of the conditions for the Western Australian colony to agreeing to federate with the rest of Australia was the promise of a trans-national railway line. But in 1906, this was still some time away. Back then, Perth was only accessible by sea. Even with the advent of steam ships, the voyage west across the Great Australian Bight was against the prevailing currents and winds, time-consuming, inconvenient and notoriously rough.

​

But this decision would begin a familial connection between Perth and Melbourne that would filter down for new generations.

 

There’s no record of Frank Snr’s business being sold or bankrupted, or criminal trouble from either Frank or the kids. Something like that may have happened or maybe they all just had enough of Melbourne’s volatile weather and sought out some sun like Frank’s parents had years earlier. They must have been a close knit family as even their eldest son George, aged in his early twenties, moves to Perth with them. Brother Ernest stays behind in Victoria with his family.

​

By 1910, Frank and Lavinia live with the younger children in Cottesloe.[2] The electoral roll record shows Frank Snr works as a ‘carrier’ (someone who transports goods around) and at age 51, this implies they were down on their luck financially. Fortunately, the move is a successful one for the children. The two other sons, George and Frederick, both marry local girls. In 1911, at age 24, Frank Jnr works as a clerk and marries Hettie Walker Simmons.

​

There is frustratingly little information on Hettie’s origins, especially as, like Frank Jnr, she too is an emigrant from the Eastern States. She was born in 1889 in Wollongong but my Mum has not tracked anything about her parents, William Simmons and Emma Dowson, or their whereabouts.

​

Frank and Hettie’s relationship defied the social conventions of the time by producing twins before their official marriage date. To have a baby born illegitimately (a concept obsolete today) in Western Australia in the early 20th century would have caused significant social stigma against the family, particularly for Hettie. Children born outside of marriage to unwed mothers were sometimes baby-farmed (given to a couple in exchange for a lump sum payment), a derogatory term that usually meant the child would be mistreated or worse, left to die once the money ran out. Other mothers were abandoned by the baby’s father and the child was simply handed over to childless couples without any paper trail. But this did not happen to Hettie.

​

Western Australia was the first colony to create legal adoption (in 1896). This was done to stop people abandoning their babies to carers and then trying to get them back when they were old enough to be “useful”, i.e. work. In hindsight, it was quite a progressive policy for its time as legal adoption was some decades away in other states. I don’t know what became of the twins (I will update if I ever found out) or how willing Frank and Hettie were to give them up but it seems they cared for each other sufficiently to decide to marry after this sad start to their lives together.

​

After marriage, Frank Jnr and Hettie quickly have a daughter, Eveleen “Eva” Dowson. When their second child George is born in 1914, the couple are living at 120 Thomas Street, in West Perth. Irene arrives in 1916, then Eric in 1921 and finally Lavinia (who they call “Vin”) in 1928. By this time, the family has moved to a property at 11 Judd Street, South Perth, situated less than 200m from the Swan River. They will live there for many years and Frank’s parents join them once the children moved out.

​

Frank Snr may well have been too busy working and producing babies to sail for pleasure back in Melbourne, but Frank Jnr quickly forms an attachment to the recreational sailing opportunities Perth offers. He likes to sail the river on his small sailboat, Corona. Back then, the Judd Street section of South Perth is unconnected to Perth’s CBD (the Narrows Bridge will not be built for another 25 years) and Canning Highway to Fremantle is still a pot-holed, dirt track. To cross the river to the city, one needs to travel all the way around Mill Point to the Causeway. Perth’s suburban development was beginning to flourish in the 1920s but the property at Judd Street would have still been quite isolated. So when Frank Jnr accidentally shoots and kills 21-year-old Bruce Sinclair, there is little hope of help arriving in time to save him.

​

The tragedy unfolds on a sunny Perth day in December, 1930. Frank is partial to taking Corona out to shoot at the shags and cormorants that populate the Swan River with his pea rifle. On the fateful day, he has invited his young friend Bruce Sinclair to go out with him. It’s not too clear how they know each other (Frank is 43) but Bruce works as an insurance clerk so perhaps the two men know each other that way. Bruce lives nearby with his brothers (not his parents) so perhaps Frank has taken a fatherly interest in him. Bruce may also have been a friend of one of Frank’s children, or a neighbour’s son, we don’t know. Anyway, Bruce has a pea-rifle too and the pair have taken to yachting together every weekend.

​

According to an article in the Swan and Canning Leader, “Soon after leaving the moorings, close to Mill Point, on the Como side, Moore noticed a number of shags. He loaded the pea-rifle and took aim while Sinclair went into the cabin to obtain his own rifle. Just as Moore pulled the trigger the younger man came out of the cabin and the bullet entered his head. He fell backwards.”[3]

​

Horrified, Frank turns Corona about and heads back to the shore near his home, running the boat aground. Bruce is bleeding profusely and probably already dying. Frank lifts the younger man out of the boat and carries him to his home in Judd Street. Someone finds the doctor, who in turns summons the St Johns Ambulance to rush Bruce to hospital. Unfortunately, all this takes up a lot of time in an era before cars and telephones and sadly, Bruce dies soon after he arrives at the hospital.

​

If there was a coronial inquest, no record of it survives because Western Australia destroys coronial records after ten years. The article is probably a summary of any investigation undertaken. A surprising array of local luminaries, including a member of the legislature assembly and an army colonel attend Bruce’s funeral. Bruce’s brothers allow Frank to be a pallbearer but there’s no indication any of the Moore family attend.

​

Given that no-one surviving today knows about this incident, I expect that after the funeral, No-one in the Family is Allowed to Ever Speak of It Again, a common approach to dealing with inconvenient family scandals. We will never know the psychological effect on Frank of being responsible for the death of his young friend.

​

Life continues at Judd Street and South Perth develops rapidly around the family. The children grow up and find work as clerks, like their father. In 1937, Irene, Frank and Hettie’s second daughter, celebrates her 21st birthday with a party, competitions, dancing and games. According to the article about it, she is “popular in tennis and musical circles.”[4]

​

Eva, the eldest, shows no interest in marriage and when WWII breaks out, she and her brothers George and Eric enlist. Eva trains as a nurse (a profession she will continue in until her retirement) and joins the Army’s Second Australian Imperial Force. George, who married Sydney-born Jean Elizabeth Short in 1940, enlists in the Royal Australian Airforce the same year. He trains as an airman and sees action in the Middle East and Egypt. Eric enlists in the Australian Army on 7 November 1941. Eric’s service records show he was in the North East Indies and saw action against the Japanese in the Philippines. During the war, their grandmother Lavinia, who is nine years older than Frank Snr, dies at the ripe old age of 93 in 1943. Frank follows her a year later at 85.

​

George is discharged from the Army in August 1944. He now has two daughters with Jean, Janice and Elinor, and a son Richmond is born in 1950. Irene marries a Victorian man, George Meagher in 1945. They move to Melbourne and run an insurance company for several decades. As far as any surviving family members know, they never have children. In 1950, Vin marries William Pike and has three sons (Gary, Anthony and Roger) and a daughter, Kerry. Hettie’s health begins to decline and she dies in 1952. Frank lives long enough to know a few of his grandchildren and dies in 1959.

 

After the War, eldest son George joins the Department of Veterans Affairs where he stays until retirement. Eric is not discharged until 1947. He quickly marries Sheila Margaret Fraser, who he grew up with on Judd Street, and their only child Peter is born in 1950. Eric’s employment is listed as ‘traveller’ for some years after. Eva lives on at Judd Street. At some stage, she takes it upon herself to drive from Perth to Melbourne and back, possibly to visit her sister Irene. A cross-country drive of that nature, especially in the days of no air-conditioning, is not for the faint-hearted. On her return, Eva decrees she is never driving again.[5]

​

The siblings who went to WWII feel the ongoing effects of serving and perhaps this shortens their lifespans. Eric dies at 51 of cancer in 1972. Eva dies in 1983 at 72; and George suffers war-related hearing loss and eventually succumbs to Parkinson’s disease in 1989, aged 75. Irene on the other hand, lives to her mother’s age: 93 and dies in 2009. George had died some years earlier. Irene is remembered fondly by neighbours as a kind and generous friend.  Vin, the youngest of the family by some years, dies in 2016 at age 88.

​

At this point in the family history, Ancestry.com suppresses information on living descendants. I have collated family trees on the descendants of George, Eric and Vin. George and Vin are both remembered in the middle names of two great-grandchildren. If you are a descendant, please email me and I will be happy to send them to you.

​

In a final note, it is a funny coincidence that the first place I lived when I moved from Perth to Melbourne in 2004 is Prahran. It seems there is one in every generation of the Moore family who makes the return journey to Melbourne where the family began 140 years ago.

 

UPDATED 10 OCTOBER 2025

 

[1] This child, Henry Dowell is listed by Elinor on Ancestry.com as a half-brother to Lavinia. Whether a child born adulterously would carry the father’s name is unclear. It’s more common the father’s identity is concealed in these scenarios to cover their sins! It’s possible he was born of a different Charles Dowell. He also could’ve been given the name by his unknown mother, who knows?!

[2] This is according to electoral rolls that show they lived in Prahran in 1906 and Cottosloe in 1910.

[3] ‘River Tragedy’, Swan and Canning Leader, 19 December 1930, page 2.

[4] ‘21st Birthday Celebrated’, Daily News, 6 Oct 1937, pg 13.

[5] According to the recollections of Ric Moore.