Eliza Linklater
| First name | Eliza |
|---|---|
| Last name | Linklater |
| Country of Origin | Orkney Islands |
| Date of Birth | 11/1/1855 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1875 |
| Submitted by | Doris Ellem |
Story
Eliza Linklater born in Stromness, Orkney Islands on 11th January 1855, the sixth of eight children of William Linklater (b. 1813, d. 17 March 1882, Kirbister, Orkney) and his wife Margaret Stockand (b. 1818).
Eliza\’s siblings spread across the world: William, a blacksmith (b. 1840) was drowned in Hudson Bay, Canada on 25 July 1863. David, a shoemaker (b. 1842, d. 11 June 1893) came to Melbourne, Victoria. Samuel (b. 1853) became a doctor and went to Portland, Oregon where he was knocked down and killed by a streetcar. Jacob, a Minister of the Free Church died near Ballarat, Victoria on 9 October, 1898. Eliza also had three sisters: Eliza (same name) who died 12 December 1853 aged 2 years 8 months, Margaret (b. 1849), and Hellen (b. 1859). The latter two also went to Portland, Oregon where they married into well known timber families.
Eliza came to Melbourne in 1875 as a 20 year old to help her brother David in his shoe shop in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton. Here she met William Burlison, a local baker, who was the son of Nicholas Burlison of Chewton, Castlemaine, Victoria. Nicholas was born at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, England in July 1817 and arrived in Sydney on the ‘Telegraph\’ in September 1853.
Eliza and William married on 29 September 1887 and had four children: Albert, born 1888; Margarita, born 1890; Lillian, born 1892; Roy, born 1894. Albert became Chief Fire Officer at Eastern Hill Station in Melbourne and served there for many years. The two girls married and had families. Roy, the youngest enlisted in the AIF the day he turned 21 and went to France in 1916 with the 8th Brigade, Field Artillery, 3rd Division, Australian Imperial Force. He served in Ypres, on the Somme and most of the major engagements before eventually arriving home to Melbourne about July 1919. He met Dorothy Stratford, a great granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Aldborough. They married and had three children: Evelyn who died in infancy, John and Doris.
John married Margaret Cooke and had a daughter Susan, who is the mother of two children. John became principal of Kurrajong East Public School (near Richmond, NSW). Doris married Arthur Ellem, a Wing Commander in the RAAF and a great, great, great grandson of Ann Forbes, a First Fleeter. They had two sons, Matthew and Andrew and four grandsons, who all at the time of writing (August 2006) reside in Canberra with their families.
And so, the generations go on.