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England, 02-07 October. Picking up the story to date … we spent the previous nine days in Scotland, and after dropping Nat off at...
Scotland. The land of my forefathers (and mothers) birth ...
In mid 1853 my great, great grandfather Matthew Campbell, a young man of only 33 years, and his young son James, aged just 8, left his home in Greenock, Scotland, possessed, I assume by "gold fever". They arrived in Ballarat, Australia to join our Victorian gold rush, less than 18 months before the infamous Eureka Stockade rebellion; an event at the very heart of Australian culture. Indeed, history recalls they they were amongst the first people to enter the stockade the day after the massacre.
Over 160 years later I make my first trip to Scotland, accompanied by my daughter Natalie, a 5th generation Australian and great, great, great granddaughter of Matthew.
These pages document this journey. Click on the blue hyperlinks below to see each day's post.