Hugh MacDonald with his family around 1900
Photograph of Hugh MacDonald with his family around 1900.
Courtesy of Barbara Hall & Grace Boyd
Hugh MacDonald was born in 1850, the son of John MacDonald, a blacksmith at Balinoe, and his second wife Flora Campbell. In 1853 he emigrated to Australia with his parents, brother Hector and half-sister Catherine on board the S.S. ‘Utopia’.
Hugh trained as a school teacher and in 1881 married a widow Mary Grace Hamilton with a young son. The couple had thirteen children, twelve of whom survived to pose for this photograph. Hugh was described as ‘a tall imposing man’ and his wife as ‘a small woman always dressed in black’.
Like many other Scots emigrants of the time, Hugh was a very religious man. He was said to be ‘a stern disciplinarian in the true Scottish teaching tradition’ but with a sense of humour. He died in 1927 of heart failure.
Black and white photograph of the family of Hugh MacDonald (1850-1927) from Balinoe.
The family of Hugh MacDonald (1850-1927) around1900.
L-R: (back row) Mona, Hector, Dulcie, Keith, Flora Dash (niece of Hugh, daughter of Catherine MacDonald and Edward Dash), Hugh, Norman, (seated) Daisy, Kate, Hugh senior with Rex, Ruby, Mary Grace (Hugh’s wife), Mavis, Hugh’s stepson Gib Hamilton, (kneeling in front) Eric.