The Origins of the Shields' Matriarchy and Sisterhood John Chappell
It appears presumptuous and indulgent that, on my own initiative, Richard Whipp is recording these impressions on the Shields story, first in New South Wales and later when Australia became a nation.
My maternal grandmother, one of twenty-one grandchildren, in her reclusive farmhouse, was a voracious reader, a legacy from her grandmother Elizabeth's penchant for education. Her Aunt Fanny was her one connection with the outside world and her kith and kin. My grandmother said little, except about Aunt Mary spurning marriage, which became symbolic to me of female assertiveness long before it became fashionable. One of her sayings was "guard well thy thoughts as thy thoughts are heard in heaven" and a piece in my autograph book was "Love all, trust few and learn to paddle your own canoe" (first part from Shakespeare). This epitomized her philosophy and in time I was to learn that of the Shields too.
When Aunt Lizzie's great granddaughter Greta and her husband Richard and I sat down to view the Shields' family bible; there was nothing in it. All official documents never revealed more than their origins were in Ayrshire, Scotland. Robert was more forthcoming and proudly proclaimed he was from Paisley. In 1970 my mother told me that Violet Steel, (nee Field born 1882) one of the twenty-one grandchildren had passed away. Her daughter Phyllis revealed to me she held the ticket that the Millers had for the vessel "Indus" on which the four Millers immigrated to Australia (then New South Wales) in 1849 during a very long voyage. The voyage on this early P&O ship was so long that the fruitcakes were mouldy on arrival. Phyllis revealed that her Aunt Daisy, another granddaughter was hale and hearty at 83. For the following twelve years I plied her with questions that I couldn't ask my grandmother who had passed on fourteen years earlier. As Daisy Harper was the last of the twenty-one grandchildren still alive, she was the last link with Elizabeth Shields, her grandmother.
It is only comparatively recently that through the good offices of a gentleman at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine that all was revealed. The passenger list for the fifty or so passengers on the Indus, detailed the names of George and Elizabeth (nee Russell) Miller and their two daughters, one of whom is the main participant in our story, Elizabeth. They had come from Old Cumnock, Ayrshire where George was a grocer. We visited there in 1997 but much more research needs to be done to fill in so many gaps in the remarkable Shield story. I am proud to be counted as a descendant and share in the legacy. The sole purpose of this effort is to record what I have gleaned over the past forty years.
John Chappell
Toowoomba, Queensland
20 February 2003
My maternal grandmother, one of twenty-one grandchildren, in her reclusive farmhouse, was a voracious reader, a legacy from her grandmother Elizabeth's penchant for education. Her Aunt Fanny was her one connection with the outside world and her kith and kin. My grandmother said little, except about Aunt Mary spurning marriage, which became symbolic to me of female assertiveness long before it became fashionable. One of her sayings was "guard well thy thoughts as thy thoughts are heard in heaven" and a piece in my autograph book was "Love all, trust few and learn to paddle your own canoe" (first part from Shakespeare). This epitomized her philosophy and in time I was to learn that of the Shields too.
When Aunt Lizzie's great granddaughter Greta and her husband Richard and I sat down to view the Shields' family bible; there was nothing in it. All official documents never revealed more than their origins were in Ayrshire, Scotland. Robert was more forthcoming and proudly proclaimed he was from Paisley. In 1970 my mother told me that Violet Steel, (nee Field born 1882) one of the twenty-one grandchildren had passed away. Her daughter Phyllis revealed to me she held the ticket that the Millers had for the vessel "Indus" on which the four Millers immigrated to Australia (then New South Wales) in 1849 during a very long voyage. The voyage on this early P&O ship was so long that the fruitcakes were mouldy on arrival. Phyllis revealed that her Aunt Daisy, another granddaughter was hale and hearty at 83. For the following twelve years I plied her with questions that I couldn't ask my grandmother who had passed on fourteen years earlier. As Daisy Harper was the last of the twenty-one grandchildren still alive, she was the last link with Elizabeth Shields, her grandmother.
It is only comparatively recently that through the good offices of a gentleman at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine that all was revealed. The passenger list for the fifty or so passengers on the Indus, detailed the names of George and Elizabeth (nee Russell) Miller and their two daughters, one of whom is the main participant in our story, Elizabeth. They had come from Old Cumnock, Ayrshire where George was a grocer. We visited there in 1997 but much more research needs to be done to fill in so many gaps in the remarkable Shield story. I am proud to be counted as a descendant and share in the legacy. The sole purpose of this effort is to record what I have gleaned over the past forty years.
John Chappell
Toowoomba, Queensland
20 February 2003