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Ancestors of Warren John Sheppard




Generation No. 1


      1. Warren John Sheppard, born May 22, 1949 in Lismore, NSW. He was the son of 2. Norman James Sheppard and 3. Constance Mary Byrnes. He married (1) Rev. Christine Hopwood December 21, 1974 in Holy Family Church, Merewether,NSW. She was born January 7, 1950 in Newcastle, NSW. She was the daughter of Harold Arthur Hopwood and Esme Oldham.

Notes for Warren John Sheppard:
The Family Story in Outline (1994)

The Sheppard family has lived in Australia since 1855. Samuel and Mary Shepherd arrived in Sydney on board the immigrant ship, "Gilmore", on Thursday October 18th, 1855 after "a lengthy passage of 127 days" from Southampton, England.

Soon after their arrival they moved to Casino in northern New South Wales where Samuel bean work as a timber cutter in the cedar forests that were abundant in the region at that time. Samuel died in Casino on August 21st, 1900. It was not until Warren and Christine Sheppard flew to London, in December 1978, in a flight that took just 36 hours, that a member of our branch of the family, returned to England.

The Sheppard family story began to catch my imagination when I was told, many years ago, that a member of the family had been "hung, drawn and quartered on Ty burn Hill in London". As yet there is no proof that this story is true, but history tells us that Tyburn Hill was a place of execution and that a Highwayman of some fame, one Jack Sheppard, was hung there around 1720.

Another story of more substance is told about my father's mother, Augusta Caroline Bird, or Nanna, as she was known in her later years, was born in London. In 1912 her mother, Agnes Trim, decided to leave London and emigrate to the colonies. As assisted immigrants the family was booked on the RMS "Titanic". At the last minute they discovered that their passage was double booked, and as they had already sold everything they had and could not return to London, they took up the offer of a passage as assisted immigrants to Brisbane, Australia. On the way out, when they docked at Cape Town in South Africa, they discovered that the "Titanic" had sunk with a loss of some 1500 lives. It was one of the great "what if's" in our family story.

Samuel's grandson Leslie married Nanna in 1919 and in 1923 my father, Norman James Sheppard, was born. Early in his life the Great depression impacted on the nation, and as his father Leslie had died, and with no money to support the family, Nanna had to place the children in a orphanage in the Grafton district for several years. This experience engraved itself on the children's lives. By the time World War II had arrived my father had left home and become involved in the defence industry, at one stage building aircraft for the war effort. On VP Day (August 15th, 1945) my father and mother (Connie Byrnes) met. They married in 1947 and I was born on May 22nd, 1949.

In the early 1950's, my father and mother lived in Lismore. It was a difficult period that was eased by the support given them by my mother's family, Elizabeth and Reginald Byrnes. My mother had a major heart operation in 1952 and in 1954 a major flood hit Lismore. Our family decided to make a new start in life by moving south to the great industrial city of Newcastle. Newcastle at this time was a smokey polluted city. For my father the attraction was work. We settled first in the suburbs in Cook's Hill, just near the No.1 Sports Ground, then moved to Toronto on the shores of Lake Macquarie. We stayed there 15 years. During this time there were frequent trips by train back to Lismore for holidays. My brother Daryl was born in 1956. I went to primary and high schools and graduated from Teacher's College in 1967. In June 1971 my mother died (at the time I was teaching at a little one teacher school, Kirkconnell, which is 18 miles from Bathurst.)

At this time I began to travel. First to Ayers Rock, then New Zealand, then Tasmania. On this trip [1973] I met Christine Hopwood. We married 12 months later on December 21st, 1974. Christine and I were both teachers. I moved to Coonabarabran NSW which is approximately 250 miles [400km] west of Newcastle. We enjoyed our time in this small country town remaining there until January 1982. In November 1980 our daughter, Sarah Miriam Sheppard, was born.

Over the next few years our lives changed rapidly. Christine's father died (January 1981). We moved to Raymond Terrace (January 1982). While I continued to teach Christine gradually became aware of another calling, that of the ordained ministry in the Uniting Church. We took the risk to follow this calling, moved to Sydney and three years later, both of us, had a Theology degree and Sarah had completed two years at a Jewish pre-school, "Yolanda Kramer" and one year in Kindergarten.

It's now 1994. Sarah is almost 14 and is at Kinross Wolaroi School, Orange, as a boarder. Christine is a Chaplain with the Hunter mental health Services. I am a lay Pastoral Worker at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Waratah. Just under 18 months ago [October 1992] Christine, Sarah and I flew to Europe visiting England, Ireland and France. Ireland was something special. It was like returning home after a long absence. The people, the music, the land, the sense of humour were all so familiar. It was the place my mother's family, the Byrnes, came from. In England we visited Cavendish, Samuel and Mary Shepherd's birthplace, and walked into the church they were baptized and married in all those years ago. It was 137 years since Samuel and Mary had left their home village.

Such are the connections in the family story.
[Warren John Francis Sheppard 18.5.1994]





More About Warren John Sheppard:
Baptised: 1949, Lismore Base Hospital
Occupation: 1990, Pastoral Care Associate; a teacher 1968-1990.
Religion: Catholic

More About Rev. Christine Hopwood:
Baptised: May 20, 1972, Park Street Methodist Church in Merewether
Occupation: June 13, 1987, Minister of Religion; previously a teacher
Religion: Methodist, then Uniting Church in Australia



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