Artist & Photographer of Melbourne, Australia

HIS FAMILY

Sat 16th Dec 1893. Owing to the terrible depression in Melbourne following the collapse of the Land Boom and failure of the Banks, we see no hope of making a living by Art or Farming. We leave the land of misery and starvation to try our luck in New Zealand.

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EDWIN BERTRAM HAMMOND

Sept 4th 1904. After months of illness and worry, brother Bert passes out on the sands of his beloved Sandringham at sundown; another terrible shock to my already overstrained nerves. My favourite brother from childhood, good natured and tallented, who had planned such a happy future for us both at Sandringham; who had shared so many ups and downs, and been my sole chum for years, leaves me sad and lonely. Fate willed that he should never live there - he could at least die there.

Novr 1889. Hal arrives in Melbourne unexpectedly from Canada. Bert & I meet him at Spencer Street Stn. Our first meeting since we were schoolboys in London in 1883 when Hal left home for Canada.

HARRY (HAL) BEAUMONT HAMMOND

Hal, sketched by Charlie on the eve of his marriage to Ella Stocks at Mountain View.

Monday 7th May 1900, Hal's wedding day. I go up from K's Studio to act as best-man. They go to Lakes Entrance for honeymoon. We dance till the cows come home.

Bert, Hal and Charlie with their hunting rifles in the outback of Victoria, Australia. They would shoot rabbits and kangaroos, both of which were considered pests, competing with stock for the scarce forage.

I had looked forward all the voyage to the pleasant times I expected to have on Lil's sheep run & had dreamed of green hills; flocks of fat sheep; wild fruit; ponies to ride &c, but when Lil met me on the wharf & told me they had given up the sheep run, It was the greatest disappointment I ever had.

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HELEN SCHABNER STAVELEY nee HAMMOND

Helen (Lil) and her sister Edith sailed for New Zealand in 1884. Helen met an Irish solicitor, Robert (Jack) Jones Staveley on board the ship, and they married that same year, soon after their arrival in New Zealand.

However Lil's home was prettily situated on the hills of Mitcheltown, Wellington & I soon overcame my great disappointment

Helen Shabner Hammond & Robert Jones Staveley of Wellington were the great grandparents of Kae Lewis, webmaster of this site.

Strangely enough Edith also arrives unexpectedly from Hamilton. This was our first meeting since I left her in Auckland NZ in 1885

Note: Charlie looks worried because he never did get along with his sister, Edith.

EDITH CLARA HAMMOND

Edith and her husband Frank Hammond out driving. Edith married her cousin, Frank Hammond Jnr, eldest son of her uncle Frank Hammond of Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand. In about 1886, they came to Australia and were living at Hamilton, Victoria, Australia by 1888.

Bert, Edith and her daughter Jessie, with Charlie and Hal on horseback on a trip to Fern Tree Gully, near Melbourne 1889

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The Hammond Family

Parents:

Children:

1. Ada Louise Hammond (1856 - 1925)
2. Bessie Mary Hammond (1857 - 1891)
3. Percy Rowland Hammond (1859 - ?)
4. Edith Clara Hammond (1860 - 1951)
5. Helen Schabner Hammond (1862 - 1947)
6. Edwin Bertram Hammond (1864 - 1904)
7. Harry (Hal) Beaumont Hammond (1866 - 1948)
8. Charles Edward Bruges Hammond (1870 - 1953)
9. Emma Marguerite Hammond (1871 - 1958)

Edwin's second marriage:

Children:

10. William Henry Page Hammond (1889 - 1967)
11. Helen Janet Hammond (1891 - 1891)

Edwin's third marriage:

Child:

12. Edmund Garnham Hammond (1896 - ?)

Left: Emma (Daisy) Hammond,
Youngest sister.
Right: Ada Hammond,
Eldest sister.