Friday 11 October – Sunday 13 October 2019
What a wonderful weekend, meeting members of the family from all over Australia who gathered in Hobart to remember our ancestors Thomas and Ann Stone who arrived in Hobart Town on 11 October 1819 only fifteen years after the foundation of the colony.
It began on Friday morning at the Grand Chancellor Hotel where we collected our lanyards and name-tags which were colour-coded to indicate from which member of their family we were descended. From there it was on to the buses to take us to the former Congregational Church at Bagdad for the unveiling of a plaque in the cemetery there.
We then had lunch in the old church building and an opportunity to meet old friends and to make new ones.
After lunch we moved on to the site of the “Horfield” farm which is about 9 km north of Bagdad in a delightful valley.
On Saturday there were various activities available including a cruise on the “Lady Nelson”, bus tours of family sites in Hobart and talking about family history in the “Gretel Room”. The day concluded with a Banquet in the Marina Room at the Hobart Function and Convention Centre.
The main event on Sunday was the church service at St John’s New Town, where the visitors rather overwhelmed the usual Sunday morning congregation. It was great to be able to share in a service in the same church which Thomas and Ann would have attended for a number of years.
The Weekend concluded with a bus tour to Millington’s Cornelian Cemetery and lunch at Succulent Restaurant in the Royal Botanical Gardens.
