William Cochrane

Story

William Cochrane left Scotland to cut the stone at Moruya quarry for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (I do not have any further information, as all my family is now dead). Possibly there was the chance of a better life in Australia for the family.

I believe it took quite some time for the trip from Scotland to Sydney, and my grandmother Catherine had three sons and her husband to look after. It would have been quite hard on her to leave her home and family to come all this way. She’d also been told to have beads and other trinkets to give to the aborigines.

The family arrived in Sydney in the middle of a heat wave in summer, and were transferred by train to the migrant hostel in Hay. The train was derailed or stalled by a locust plague on the way. Eventually the family went to Moruya, where William became a “dunter” and Charles an apprentice stone mason at the quarry. Another baby was born there – a girl – who died in dreadful circumstances. The water for washing had to be boiled, and the toddler fell into this and was scalded. She is buried in Moruya cemetery, alongside her parents.

I really don’t know very much about the early days, and have had to rely on what I remember being told when I was very young. I do know that my grandfather’s and father’s names are on a plaque on the Pylon of the Harbour Bridge, along with all the other masons and tradesmen’s names. I hope this bit of information is of some use. There were a great many Scottish stone masons, and a couple of websites have a lot more information about the quarry and photos of the workers.

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