BUSH

Nicholas Bush was the brother of Magdalena Williardt nee Bush. Nicholas married Sarah A Gallimore in 1892 (NSW BDM 5255/1892) and they lived at Kurri and had 12 children. These included:

• ISAAC C - born 1894
• HAROLD V - born 1895
• NOEL K - born 1896
• ALLEN L - born 1899
• WILLIAM H - born 1900 (maternal grandfather of ex Knights NRL player Paul Harragon)
• EDITH M - born 1902
• DULCIE M - 1903 - 1942
• DOUGLAS R - born 1905
• MURIEL E - 1909 - 1947
• VERA E - 1911-1981
• SARAH A (SADIE) - born 1912

In 1912, Sarah died in childbirth, delivering Sadie. Three of the children, Dulcie, Muriel and a boy were sent to live with their cousin Rosina O'Connell nee Williardt on a property outside Gulgong. Rosina had married Eugene O'Connell in 1904 and had no children in the intervening eight years. Another sibling, Dulcie Bush, went to Gulgong Convent to be raised by the nuns.

VERA

Vera Bush was 15 months old when her mother died and. She lived at Goodiman with the O'Connells from 1912 to 1927. She grew up calling her cousin Rosina, "Madame". She is said to have been very strict, and a bit mean to the girls, but they loved Rosina's mother, Christina and called her "Nanny" (actually their aunt). Vera had very long hair as a child and wore it in plaits. She went to a Catholic school and walked or rode 4 miles to get there [possibly Beryl?].

Vera was very close to her sisters - Muriel and Dulcie) and despite the early tragic loss of their mother, they seem to have had happy childhood memories of Gulgong.

When she was 16, Vera moved to Balmain to live with her sister Dulcie. The following year, 1928, she married Samuel Lewis Solomons in Granville (NSW BDM 15833/1928). Samuel and Vera had 6 children and 14 grandchildren.

DULCIE

Dulcie died suddenly on 16 November 1942 at the age of 39. She lived at Merrylands, having married Stanley A Taylor at Kurri Kurri in 1922 (NSW BDM 3596/1922).

WILFRED O'BRIEN

In 1913, Wilfred's older brother, Eugene O'Brien, was working as overseer at Goodaman (listed on Census) but he later lived in Marrickville after their father (John Michael O'Brien) got a teaching transfer to Sydney. He had taught for 28 years at Tallawang and the family was well known in the Gulgong district. Wilfred had a bank job lined up in Sydney but broke his arm so stayed with the O'Connell's at Goodiman while it mended. His brother Charles took the bank job. Wilfred stayed on at Goodiman, ultimately taking over management of the farm after Eugene O'Connell died in 1930. Wilfred's time at Goodiman would have overlapped with some of the years that the Bush children lived there but stories of their existence were not passed on in the family. There is one remaining photo that is thought to depict Vera Bush with Wilfred.

Wilfred O'Brien with a young girl - possibly Vera Bush.
Source: VO