NOTE: Since this story was originally posted, the family has been located and the original photos passed on. If anyone would like to contact them do let me know – moyasharp@outbackfamilyhistory.com.au
I would like to tell you about a collection of photographs and family information of which it is my ‘Mission’ to find a home for. Not so much a project but a promise to a dear friend.
The story of the collection started way back in 1979 when an antique dealer, who would buy deceased estates, asked if her friend, Judith Gernsch, would like some of the family photographs which were destined for the tip. Judith being a keen historian made it her ‘Mission’ to see if she could locate the family and return these amazing photographs to them.
The photographs concern the Lihou family from South Australia and Gurnsey in the Chanel Island. There are 14 cabinet photographs of members of the family taken in Gurnsey. It appears that Nicholas Lihou married Marie Rouget, their daughter, Alice Rachel Lihou married ‘Birt’ in Burra SA on the 16th April 1879 ,he died in Perth. Their daughter, Viardot Birt, married Marshall Broadbent in Southern Cross in 1916 (the marriage is however registered in Perth). The photograph below was taken on the day.
The wedding of Varidot BIRT and Marshall BROADBENT, Southern Cross 1916.
Judith, who was living in Brisbane, Qld at the time was put in touch with my dear late friend Shyama Peebles and they corresponded for some time each adding their own research to the file (all pre internet days mostly). Shyama tried to find a family to give the photos to, off and on for many years, and she always joked that when she died she would pass the ‘mission’ on to me.
A Lihou family member Gurnsey
A Lihou family member Gurnsey
Well now it is my turn to carry the baton and I promised my friend just a couple of days before she passed away that I would try my best to find the family.
Sapper Marshall Broadbent, Somewhere in France. 1917
I was able to add a small bit to the file in the shape of a photograph of Marshall Braodbent. He is a Southern Cross man, one of my miners on the Miners Memorial and he was someone who went to war and survived only to return to the Goldfields to die in a mining accident.
Canberra Times 28 March 1940
Kalgoorlie Miner 28.3.1940
He was killed in a horrific accident at the Golden Horseshoe Mine in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the 27th March 1940. He was aged 45yrs and a Sluicing Plant Shift Boss. His decapitated body was found by his son James.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate NSW, Thursday 28 March 1940, page 7
HEAD BLOWN OFF IN EXPLOSION : KALGOORLIE,With the head .blown off, the body of Marshall Broadbent, a shift boss, of Kalgoorlie, was found by his son James Broadbent, in the explosives room of the re-treatment plant of the Golden Horseshoe (New) Co. Ltd. today. Broadbent apparently had been testing explosive material when the explosion occurred. It blew holes through the galvanised iron roof of the building. His son was concerned about the non appearance of his father from his usual round, and went to look for him.
Can anyone help by passing the word around, it would make me very happy to complete this search that has gone on for 38yrs. The photos were meant to find their way home?
Moya Sharp
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There are a few families with the Lihou and Rouget name in their trees on ancestry…
… I did send a message to one, a private family tree called Lihou Family Tree and based in SA notifying her of this page and if she (or if she knows anyone closely related to that particular line) who might be interested, awaiting reply.
I’ve only found your message now, which may be too later, but my family is Lihou too. My grandmother was Alice Sophia Lihou, niece of Nicholas. I’m afraid I don’t know the Broadbent family (sadly, the families didn’t say in touch after my mother died.) I would love to see any photos that you have of the family (I have a Lihou tree on Ancestry). I can send you a photograph of Alice Sophia when she was 30, with her three oldest girls, all then babies in 1903. I’d be delighted to find family out in Australia especially if that are also doing a bit of family history research.
Thank you for your work and efforts to re-unite people.
Hi Diana Im afraid that I have sent the package on to another Lihou relative but I am sure she would be happy to share with you, may I pass on your contact details to her.
Hello Moya
if you still have the contact details of this Lihou family member could you please forward my contact details. my father was Harry John Lihou aka Henry John Hedley Lihou who was in Australia and then sailed on to New Zealand where he settled with my mother and died in 1956.
thank you
Edwina Ruwhiu nee Lihou