Thomas Ohalam Smith

Notes:

From Dan Byrnes:

His mother died a few weeks after he was born at Gilgandra. He was given to a family named Johnsn/Johnston to be cared for. He saw his father only once, when he was about three years old. Thomas applied for his birth certificate in 1928, when he was 40. Or, Ohalam. He may be John Thomas O Smith? Larkin has notes from general records, births, of Smith, 1888, Thomas O. Smith, to John T. and Catherine of Coonamble, in 1885 a John Thomas S, to John and Hannah at Brisbane Waters. This Thomas is of Waverly in the Larkin tree. Late in his life, his lost parents were once identified but he never bothered to delve further into who were his siblings. Where is that info? Grandfather of compiler Daniel Thomas Byrnes. Cf., David Austin Larkin, Cornwall to Coogee: Taylor, Rooke and Windle Family Histories. Self-published, Burpengary Qld, 1989. ISBN 0 9592440 1 8.



From daughter Marge Kelly 26/1/2008:

Tom's mother Catherine died when Tom was only 3 weeks old and Tom was raised on a farm by the Johnson family of Gilgandra. Tom's only memory of his father was when Tom was 3 years old his father came to visit him and gave him a bag of marbles, he watched his Dad ride away and never saw him again.

Tom became friendly with the Hamilton family who owned a hotel in Dubbo, and accompanied some of the Hamilton boys to Sydney. This was a permanent move for Tom. The Hamiltons also had an electrical store in Sydney and Tom acquired appliances from them. He owned a radio at a time when they were not common and also a clock which he kept all his life and which stayed in the possession of Elizabeth after his death. Those that knew Tom and Elizabeth probably remember the clock sitting on the mantelpiece and the ritual winding of same. Tom always kept in touch with the Hamiltons, one of the Hamilton sisters attended Elizabeth's 90th birthday in Tamworth and commented at the time that Tom "was always a good boy". Tom always said he was the youngest of 7 siblings.

Marge remembers Tom said that he slept his first night in Sydney on a Manly ferry (stowed away?)

Tom's foster parents only gave him two years of primary education prior to putting him to work on their farm. After moving to Sydney, Tom realised the he needed further education and studied as a mature age student. He turned out to be a good mathmetician and Marge remembers evening visits by Vaucluse Council engineers to discuss with Tom how a road should be designed and to work out the curves etc.

From Debbie Musgrave:

Grave details: Anglican 5D Row 7 Grave no. 87


From Debbie Musgrave:

Tom's mother did NOT die shortly after he was born, this was just a story that Tom handed down to his family. His parents actually abandoned him. His mother died at Redfern 33 years later just a short distance from where her abandoned son Tom was living.

Buried:
Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park
A5D - Anglican FM 5D - 87

Tom's burial was delayed by a strike at the cemetery.

Died:
Prince Henry Hospital (The Coast Hospital)

Thomas married Elizabeth Emily Windle on 12 Jul 1915 in Waverley, NSW, Australia. Elizabeth (daughter of Alfred Ernest Windle and Sarah Rebecca Meades) was born on 26 Nov 1893 in Coogee Bay, NSW, Australia; died on 29 Apr 1985 in The Entrance, NSW, Australia; was buried on 2 May 1985 in Botany, NSW, Australia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

From Dan Byrnes:

Phyllis died at 7am in a nursing home on 7-11-2000 (Melbourne Cup day as it happened, after suffering some years from Alzheimer's Disease and with some complications (as with her sister Sarah) from diabetes. Doug Smith recently said he was pleased he had seen her, she recognised him and squeezed his hand, and had a twinkle in her eye. More to come. See Larkin tree.

Phyllis married Roy Musgrave in 1942. Roy (son of Musgrave and Duckworth) was born on 20 Jan 1914 in Summer Hill, NSW, Australia; died on 24 Mar 2006 in Long Jetty, NSW, Australia. [Group Sheet]

Sarah married Daniel Hilton Byrnes on 28 Feb 1942 in Watsons Bay, NSW, Australia. Daniel (son of William James Byrnes and Annie Jane) was born on 11 Oct 1912 in Cudal, NSW, Australia; died on 29 Aug 1976 in Tamworth, NSW, Australia; was buried in Tamworth, NSW, Australia. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Occupation: Upholsterer

Notes:

Buried:
Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park
A5D - Anglican FM 5D

Lionel married Doris May Archbold on 26 Nov 1938 in Woollahra, NSW, Australia, and was divorced in 1945 in Sydney, NSW, Australia. Doris was born on 3 Jan 1918; died on 21 May 1967. [Group Sheet]

Lionel married Living [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Occupation: Seamstress
• Residence: 1921 - 1940, Watsons Bay, NSW, Australia
• Residence: 1946 - 1956, Caringbah, NSW, Australia; 542 Port Hacking Road
• Residence: 1957, Cronulla, NSW, Australia; 87 Ewos Parade (Shelly Beach Store)
• Residence: 1958 - 2014, Caringbah, NSW, Australia; 60 Crammond Boulevarde

Notes:

Short Bio by Mike Kelly:
Marge was born Marjorie Smith in Willoughby in 1921 and in her childhood and teenage years lived an idyllic life at Watsons Bay, very close to Camp Cove beach ('Campie'). In her early school days she walked to school along the foreshores of Watsons Bay and on to Vaucluse Primary School. Weekend fun included swimming at the "Bogie Hole", a roughly cut swimming pool in the harbour side rocks near Camp Cove. In her secondary school years, she caught the tram from the terminus near Camp Cove into a girl's secondary school in Darlinghurst. During these years the students were able to observe the two arches Harbour Bridge coming together at close quarters from their school grounds. After leaving school she worked as a seamstress at a City firm, again catching the tram from Camp Cove: invariably running late, the tram conductors gave her the nickname of "the road runner". During her teenage years Marge and her cousin Sylvia often went dancing at The Trocadero in the City.
Around the time that World War II started, Marge met her future husband, Jack, when he was assigned to the military barracks at South Head. They married at St. Peters church at Watsons Bay in October 1941 and spent their honeymoon in the Blue Mountains. Not long after that, Jack was posted to New Guinea where he spent most of the war. Marge volunteered for war work and worked at the Beaufort Bomber factory in Sydney.
Jack and Marge's first child was born towards the end of World War II, when Marge was still living with her parents. After Jack was discharged from the army in 1945 they made the bold decision to move to Caringbah which at that time was mostly bushland, but it was their only option if they were to eventually own their own home. After renting a cottage in Regatta Avenue for a short they made the decision to buy a block of land in nearby Port Hacking Road. At the time building materials were very scarce and you had to "know somebody" in order to obtain building material such as timber, tiles etc.; luckily Jack was in the building trade and had a few connections. Jack and Marge first built a "temporary" dwelling followed by a full size house (both buildings are still standing). By this time their second child had arrived.
Marge and Jack lived in the "house that Jack built" for many years and in 1955 their third child was born. Around this time Jack decided to try his hand at retailing and they bought a small store at Shelly Beach near Cronulla. By 1959 Jack realised he was not cut out for retailing and resumed his career in the building trade and moving back to Caringbah. Marge always handled the family finances and helped out by taking on part time work whenever she could. Life was not always easy, but Marge staunchly held the family together and was a totally devoted wife and mother.
After Jack retired they were able to manage a few overseas trips and enjoyed many hours on Botany Bay in their little tinnie catching flathead by the dozen. They often relaxed at the Caringbah RSL club, where Jack was a very early member. The arrival of a new grandchild or great grandchild was a big occasion for Marge, she never forgot their birthdays and they could count on a card in the mail with the customary $5 note. When Jack became ill and was in hospital, Marge was a daily visitor and carer, often walking long distances every day. After Jack passed away in 2005, Marge continued as the family matriarch, she had a special place in her heart for a couple of the more mischievous great grandchildren. She always looked forward to the occasional glass of beer and the odd flutter on the poker machines at the SUS club on Sundays.
Marge's passing marks the end of an era, as all of her siblings and cousins have also passed away.
Marge Kelly was a gentle lady with a heart of gold, pioneer of Sutherland Shire and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

Marjorie married John Kevin Kelly on 24 Oct 1941 in Watsons Bay, NSW, Australia. John (son of Arthur Henry Kelly and Jessie Edith S Griffin) was born on 11 Feb 1916 in Sydney, NSW, Australia; died on 02 Jun 2005 in Kareena Hospital, Caringbah, NSW; was buried in Woronora Cemetery, Sutherland, NSW, Australia. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living (daughter of Living and Esme Elliott Hallstrom) [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Notes:

http://www.globaldogproductions.info/ron-smith.html

Ron Smith was born in Paddington, an inner city suburb of Sydney on the 9th. March 1941.

He passed away on the 14th. October 2006 after a few days in hospital.

He could be found at different collector's fairs & had a great many interests, he was an avid collector of stamps, phonecards, [when they were popular he would get up very early each morning & do the rounds of all the phoneboxes in the area looking for the discarded used phonecards], matchbox cars, used train tickets [yes, there are collectors of used train tickets, which his friends found out when they cleaned out his flat after his death, he had train tickets from every station in the Sydney rail network], cigarette packets, cigarette cards, big event memorabilia & the very popular collector cards, he collected the various sets of Elvis, Beatles, Rugby League, Cricket, US basketball & was still in the process of collecting the Kinkara tea "Birds Of Australia" series that started in the 1960's which in total has 5 books & holds the 480 cards.

He was well known in the matchbox collectors club, & was putting out the club magazine whilst working on what he thought would be the definitive catalogue, he bequeathed all his collection [matchboxes & matchbooks], which filled 4 large garbage bags to the matchbox club.
Ron's working life was operating a cigarette manufacturing machine at WD & HO Wills for about 30 years,In the 70's he was living in a flat opposite the factory in Todman Ave. Kensington which was an area that had a very good public transport bus service which enabled him to get around Sydney.
He worked the afternoon shift so he was free to pursue his passion of looking for records at the local opportunity shops & second-hand record shops, with the then legendary Ashwood's being one of his regular haunts.
When WD & HO Wills moved to their new factory at Pagewood, Ron went with them, he also moved to a new flat in Kensington Road a kilometre or so from his old unit. Ron was such a heavy smoker by this time that the walls & ceiling became discoloured & the flat reeked of cigarette smoke.
When the machines with which he was working were moved across the Tasman to New Zealand, Ron took the offered redundancy package.
That was his last full-time job.

Ron saw all the legendary Rock'n'Roll Sydney Stadium shows during the 50's & early 60's.

He enjoyed most Rock'n'Roll but had quite a liking for the instrumentals, the more obscure the better.

One of Ron's favourite singers was Johnny Cash, Ron waited outside the hotel in Sydney where Johnny Cash & June Carter were staying on their last visit to Australia, he managed to get them to autograph a record album.
It was in the early 70's he started to work on what he really enjoyed doing, which was trying to form a catalogue of all the Australian record label EP's. & singles of the 50's & 60's. Typical of Ron was that he could not stop some labels & catalogued Festival & RCA into the 90's. He worked with many collectors throughout Australia doing these labels.
Ron could be seen at all the record fairs with his blue bag, pen & book going from stall to stall writing down any records that he did not think he had listed.

His last major achievement was the "Australian EP Discography / Price Guide" compiled by Brett Leslie, Peter Bambini & Ron.

Ron got to spend a few days in Festival Record's Archives in 1999 chasing down all the unissued & cancelled EP's & singles. This has helped to complete some of these listings.

Missed by his friends.

Carole married Neil Frederick Smith in 1961 in Boolaroo, NSW, Australia. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living (daughter of William Grayer and Marjorie Hester Robertson) [Group Sheet]

Living married Living (son of Bernard Thomas McGreal and Catherine Cecilia Roughan) [Group Sheet]

Living married J.G. Cummings. [Group Sheet]

Living married J. Courtney. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married J. Beard. [Group Sheet]

Living married .. Unknown [Group Sheet]

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married .. Unknown [Group Sheet]

Private married Living (daughter of Living and Living) [Group Sheet]

Private married Living (daughter of Brian McCabe) [Group Sheet]

Private married Living [Group Sheet]

Private married Living (son of Living and Living) [Group Sheet]

Living married Living. [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]

Living married Living [Group Sheet]