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Record #5583

Name :: : Maxine ELLISON (1947 - )
aka : Maxine Wegner
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1947
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland, Northumberland, Northumberland City

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 23 Nov 1952
Country: : Australia
Ship: : New Australia
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Middlemore

NotesA birth registration was found for Maxine Ellison: Mother's Maiden Surname: Johnson; Date of Registration: Jul Aug Sep 1947; Registration district: Nthmbld C; Registration county: Yorkshire, Northumberland/Westmorland; Volume Number: 1b; Page Number: 478. Parents: John Turnbull Cowan and Emma Johnson.

In 1952, Maxine Ellison, 5 (along with brother, John C. Ellison, 6) arrived at Fremantle, Australia, in a group of 10 children en route to Fairbridge Farm School, Pinjarra, Australia.

In 2002, Maxine Ellison told their story to Margaret Price, who reported:

Maxine looks back on 50 years in WA

November 23 had special significance for Woodvale's Maxine Wegner.

It was the 50th anniversary of the day she and her brother John Ellison arrived from England as child migrants aboard the New Australia.

Aged five and seven respectively, they had come from Middlemore Children's Home in Birmingham to Fairbridge Farm School in Pinjarra.

They were in a group of 10 children travelling without parents, accompanied instead by strangers whose payment was the cost of their passage to Australia.

Their elder half-brother Brian had arrived at Fairbridge earlier.

The three siblings, who hailed from Northumberland, stayed at the farm school until age 16, before finding work, marrying and raising families.

Brian settled in Derby and John in Dalwallinu.

Although, over the years, Brian talked of an older sister Pat, information was scarce, even from their elderly mother, Emma.

When Brian and John visited her in England, she spoke only of four half brothers and sisters -- Mark, George, Gillian and Linda -- born after her older children had left for Australia.

They discovered that Brian had a different father although, to add to the confusion, John and Maxine shared his surname, Ellison.

About six years ago, fate intervened.

John struck up a conversation with a woman at wedding in Perth, sharing family information including the name of his father, John Turnbull Cowan.

It turned out that John and the woman were relatives.

She told him Peter an older half-brother in England had been searching for his Australian siblings.

Peter and his sister Pat were from John and Maxine's father's first marriage.

The Australian brother and sister also found a full brother, Tom, born just before they left for Australia and adopted out at six weeks in the local village.

'Tom came out for his 50th birthday and Christmas about four years ago and it was the best Christmas we have ever had,' Maxine said.

'Tom and John are the image of each other.'

Maxine said John and Brian had returned to England about 11 years ago to seek information about their family.

'They found our dad's grave, but they never found out anything,' she said.

'In fact Tom was only seven miles up the road and they never knew.

'Our mother never wanted to talk about it.'

Maxine hopes that by sharing her story, other children from the group of 10 who arrived in Fremantle on November 23, 1952 will make contact.

The New Australia sailed from Southampton on October 28, 1952.

To mark the 50th anniversary of their arrival, family put on a surprise party for Maxine and John, complete with Fairbridge memorabilia. There were also shipboard memories including a doll, and lead-look soldiers.

'Fairbridge was our home and we were always very grateful for that,' Maxine said.

'When I went back to England I was certainly very grateful that I had come out here to live.'"

ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-15 20:37:16 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-03-16 09:25:49 /

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Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

Page: [1] 2 3 84 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3061	ABDALE, John George	1873	ENG, NBL, Newcastle Upon Tyne	Mar 1891 : Norwegian	CAN	Barnardos
9729	AITCHISON, Isabella	1900	ENG, NBL, Newcastle Upon Tyne	Jul 1914 : Corinthian	CAN	Barnardos
10026	AITCHISON, Margaret	1903	ENG, NBL, Newcastle Upon Tyne	Jul 1914 : Corinthian	CAN	Barnardos
21339	ALESIA, Frances Elizabeth	1897	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jun 1913 : Corinthian	CAN	Barnardos
10160	ALEXANDER, Ernest Augustus	1892	ENG, NBL, Gosforth	Jul 1900 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
10161	ALEXANDER, Thomas Anderson	1888	ENG, NBL, Gosforth	Jul 1902 : New England	CAN	Barnardos
10489	ATKINSON, Eliza King	1910	ENG, NBL, Tynemouth	Oct 1920 : Scandinavian	CAN	Barnardos
17133	AUCKLAND, Alexander	1882	ENG, NBL, Belford	Apr 1894 : Labrador	CAN	Fegan Homes for Boys
5196	AUTON, Margaret	1922	ENG, NBL, Newcastle	Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Fairbridge Homes
5213	AUTON, Ronald	1929	ENG, NBL, Newcastle	Sep 1935 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Fairbridge Homes
5681	BEATON, George Alexander	1897	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Apr 1911 : Hesperian	CAN	Quarriers
26950	BELL, Alice	1930	ENG, NBL, Newcastle T.	Nov 1938 : Themistocles	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
26247	BELL, Doreen	1924	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jan 1937 : Oronsay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
26248	BELL, Harriet	1923	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jan 1937 : Oronsay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27388	BELL, John George		ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jan 1949 : Ormonde	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27389	BELL, Joyce	1938	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jan 1949 : Ormonde	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27306	BELL, Mary Rose	1932	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jul 1939 : Orama	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
27390	BELL, Rosalind Barbara	1937	ENG, NBL, Newcastle upon Tyne	Jan 1949 : Ormonde	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
26949	BELL, Sidney	1926	ENG, NBL, Newcastle T.	Nov 1938 : Themistocles	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
3571	BLACKETT, John	1912	ENG, NBL, Newcastle Upon Tyne	May 1929 : Montroyal	CAN	British Immigration and Colonisation Association
11884	BULLER, Dinah	1867	ENG, NBL, Ulverston	May 1884 : Sarnia	CAN	Unknown
10580	BYWATER, Gladys	1908	ENG, NBL, Tynemouth	Sep 1922 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
10627	CALLAWAY, George	1915	ENG, NBL, Tynemouth	Apr 1929 : Duchess of York	CAN	Barnardos
4461	CARR, Sidney	1908	ENG, NBL, Newcastle Upon Tyne	Aug 1928 : Cedric	CAN	Harvesting Scheme
26324	CHAPMAN, Joseph	1923	ENG, NBL	Aug 1932 : Oronsay	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
16132	COCHRANE, Michael	1876	ENG, NBL, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne	Mar 1892 : Carthaginian	CAN	Barnardos
12093	COLTMAN, Herbert Newton	1917	ENG, NBL, Newcastle T.	May 1928 : Ballarat	AUS	Fairbridge Homes
5147	COWEY, Patrick	1914	ENG, NBL, Newcastle	Oct 1928 : Montcalm	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
16396	CRAIG, James	1908	ENG, NBL, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne	Sep 1921 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
16395	CRAIG, Robert Sheppard Bradley	1911	ENG, NBL, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne	Sep 1921 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links

Page: [1] 2 3 84 Entries

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

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