Simmo's ancestory

[simmo123]

Hi Folks, just like to share some of our families history with you which came to light recently and to what was quite a surprise to all us Simmo's over here, it was done professionally through a family acquaintance, it was on Mums side of the family ( Haines),there is also another family member who was transported to W Australia (Fremantle) and he was set to work to help build Fremantle Prison. I have always suspected that there was a bit of skullduggery in the Simmo family ,just another bit of rambling from Simmo to brighten your day. The attachment below is from an original court document which I have. Regards to all Simmo


Convict Records
• Search Convicts
• Browse Convicts
• Contributions
• Resources
Convict Records > Browse > H > Haines > Thomas
Sentence Severity

Sentenced to 10 years
Do you know more about Thomas Haines?
Contribute to this record
Thomas Haines
Thomas Haines, one of 276 convicts transported on the Asia, 25 April 1840
Known aliases:
none
Convicted at:
Convicted at Gloucester Quarter Sessions for a term of 10 years.
Sentence term:
10 years
Ship name:
Asia
Departure date:
25th April, 1840
Place of arrival:
Van Diemen's Land ( Tasmania)

[oliver101]

Hi Simmo,

I love reading your ramblings, everyone seems to have interesting things that have happened somewhere in their family history. My only 'semi interesting' thing is that my Great Grandad on my Fathers side died in Bedford Jail. He was the prison Chaplain not a convict though.

Ian

[simmo123]

Hi Ian, many thanks for your comments on my latest rambling, it is always interesting when you go back through the family history albeit good or bad, who would have thought that when Patricia and I with two ankle biters ( kids )in tow arrived in Perth Feb 1968, some of our ancestors had been here around 130 years earlier. Strangely though it may seem one of the first jobs I applied for was at Fremantle Prison & believe it or not I was accepted. In those days in the prison it was like stepping back in time, it was a real culture shock for me, I remember the wages were about $28.00 a week doing shifts which entailed being locked up with another warder inside the division for 12 hours, duties included going around every hour to check the cells, we had to peep though a small eye hole and if the inmate was asleep you had to kick the door until he moved some part of he's body, the cell lights were permanently on day and night. After your twelve hour shift they would unlock the division and let you out. Part of the day shifts duties would entail being up on the perimeter wall gun turrets that overlooked the open yards with a loaded rifle whereby that also was also a 12 hour shift, probably the most un-nerving duties were being locked in the outdoor open yards with the prisoners during there free times , of course you were not allowed to have a rifle or any other weapon while doing this shift. In short I found that this prison officer job was definitely not for me. After doing about a month of this I decided to hand my written resignation in to the Superintendant of the prison, an animal of a man called Mr Thorpe who I found was worse than any of the convicts. I vividly remember the day I went to he's office and submitted my written resignation, he around he's desk and for one moment I thought he was going to attack me, he verbally abused me calling me F**** Pommy B**** and informed me that I would have to serve out a months notice or else he would have me locked up.( scary stuff for then (Young) Simmo.OK my next job is to break the news to Mrs Simmo who was probably at that time a little worried as to how we would manage if I did a runner from the job. Briefly what took place next was to parcel up my prison uniforms that were supplied with the job and then in the darkness I left them on the steps of the outside gates of Fremantle prison with a note. Next day I went job hunting (remember I had no trade qualifications to fall back on)I then went around all of the places where I thought I might get some sort of a job, labouring was my only qualification plus a readiness to have a go at anything at all just to get some money to keep the family going. To briefly go to the next episode of events I managed to get a labouring job with a building company, AV Jennings who promptly offered me a job labouring at a new mine site ( iron ore ) at a place called Mt Newman which was around 1000km north of Perth and 600 km inland, in other words the back of beyond. The bad news for Patricia was it was a 6 month stay away from home contract which meant of course she would have to keep things going on her own. So next day I flew out to start my new job, the other detail from my leaving the prison job was that they took it to court & I copped a pretty nasty fine for breaking my contract but it was well worth it. A lot of the follow on of the Simmo's can be found on some of my earlier ramblings if anyone is interested. My memory goes a little astray at times with the small detail as it was around 48 years ago, but most of it is fairly accurate.
You can google Fremantle prison it is now been preserved as an historic building, also Mount Newman is one of the biggest iron ore producers in Aussie.

best wishes to all...From the Simmo's Terry & lovely Patricia ( she has been my rock)

[simmo123]

Hi again folks, I have just been having a bit of a look back at some of my old rambling's which I thought I had lost after our old computer went bung!! when I stumbled across this one from way back so I thought it just might be worth running it past the forum again for the benefit of the newer members, it was another period of our earlier years in Aussie.

Apr 2, 2011 at 5:15pm
Quote
Post by simmo123 on Apr 2, 2011 at 5:15pm
Hi again forum members,Ole Simmo decided to give you a few more of of he’s recollections of the Simmo’s family early life in W Aussie back in the late sixties/early seventies,as most of the members are probably are aware Patricia & myself arrived in Perth with two ankle biters in tow in Feb 1968 after forking out the princely sum of twenty pounds for our fares (non refundable of course). I have already posted an account of my time spent up at the Mt Newman iron-ore mine site in a previous post ( i have saved a copy if anyone is interested),the period i am looking at now was my time as a truck/driver/plant operator for a small earthmoving company whom i spent several years with..Most of the work was country based & a big proportion was doing the earthworks for the erection of large wheat storage bins (silo’s) in the wheat growing areas which cover huge areas east & north of Perth,this of course mean’t long periods away from home but not as long as the six months i had just spent up at Mt Newman.The accommodation would vary depending on the isolation of the site but mostly if we were lucky enough we would get some rooms in the local spit & sawdust pub,all paid for by the boss,we were a fairly small team having a few machine operators plus a few labourers plus us truck drivers.We would base ourselves at one place for a good period of time as we moved further along the railway doing the earthworks for more wheat bins which when full the wheat would be taken by rail transport back to Perth.Our first camp was at a tiny place called Kununoppin which would be our base for quite a while so after a couple of weeks staying at the pub myself & the other truckie spotted an old (and i mean really old!!!) part furnished house which was just outside of this one horse town & after a couple of enquiries we found out that for $5.00 a week we could rent it,the house was almost big enough to hold both of our families but there was a really run-down caravan on the block of land which we could also utilize we decided it would great to bring both of our families down & we could all live there the other thing was we would benefit financially as well as it was costing our boss heaps for our pub accommodation & he agreed to pass some of the savings he would be making on to us.Right!! next job drive back to Perth & break the news to the girls,which was a bit of a shock for them however the upside was at least they would see more of us...the kids were quite excited about the big adventure we had now three boys aged from around 4-10 years plus our adopted daughter who we got when she was six weeks old & who now was about two years old,we took them out of school & next day headed back to Kununoppin with the trailer packed with anything we could fit on including the kids bikes...the big adventure for them had begun.All was well as we travelled back to their new temporary home in the bush,that was until we finally came ove the brow of the hill & they took the first look at at was in those days a typical small country town,one pub a general store a few scattered houses a small church,a school plus a tiny hospital which served a very large rural area of wheat farms etc.The biggest area was the wheat silo’s & the railway sidings which is what kept every thing going.As soon as our kids saw this they all started to winge (moan) & cry,this is not what they had expected,however within 10 minutes of arriving at the new abode they had the bikes off the trailer & headed for the surrounding bushland to explore coming back a while later to tell us that this was the best place they had ever been to.the other family arrived shortly after which consisted of mum dad,two boys of around the same age as our mob & a very young baby,we sorted the accommodation with our family split between the dodgy old caravan & the house while the other family squeezed into the house owing to having the young baby.I can remember even after 40 odd years details of the house,it was your typical corrugated iron roof with weatherboard timber exterior walls with most of the paintwork peeled off by the weather conditions,a covered verandah went down 3 sides of the house,toilet separate from the main building,standing on its own down the block (definitely a torch in hand job after dark).the inside of the house was just about the same condition as the outside but hey!!! $5.00 a week who cares,surprisingly Patricia & Kaye the other good lady excepted it without a moan or a groan to be heard they just got stuck in & had the place looking homely in no time at all,the other feature in the interior of the old place was in most of the rooms there was timber panelling halfway up the walls which was finished off with a timber moulding on the top of it almost like a small narrow shelf,there is a reason for Ole Simmo going into this detail as you will see shortly.From the narrow shelf up to the very high ornate ceilings the walls were covered with pressed tin which had an embossed pattern pressed on it,quite common in the pioneer type homes.Well all settled in the new home so time to pop out & get a couple of coldies plus some stuff from the general store,get the kids enrolled at the tiny school,in fact with all of our school age kids we almost doubled the population at the school in one sweep.The next episode in the house came very quickly,on returning to the old place after sorting everything out we were met by a couple of anxious women namely my Patricia & Kaye...problems!!!,the house has come alive with mice..not just a few mice but dozens of them,we had wondered why there seemed to be o lot of mouse traps around the place,i must admit i have never seen so many of them ever,the narrow shelf i explained earlier was almost a continuous stream of mice, we went back to the local store to get a heap more traps & methodically put them in every room from then on all you could hear every couple of minutes was the sound of the traps going off,of course us blokes had to get back on the job so one of the main tasks for our two little heroines during the day was to keep emptying the trapped mice then drop them into several buckets we had spaced around the house plus when they were full they were taken out the back & disposed of.In the evenings all you could hear was the sound of the traps going off in between the conversations etc,all food had to be put into containers as well.That particular year there had been big problems with plagues of mice in the rural areas,the other downside as well is that where you get those large numbers of mice it always draws in the added problem of snakes as well looking for a feed as well so this was something else that you had to be on the lookout for,the shovel became a useful tool for this purpose as far as we were concerned there was no such thing as a non poisonous snake in the bush,although Patricia has a fear of all reptiles she had to overcome this as well.In Aussie in those days we used to put new born babies into what were called safe cots,these consisted of a normal cot but it was completely enclosed with a strong fly wire mesh,access was through two hinged mesh covered wooden frames which folded back to enable you to attend to the bub & then close it up after ie, a nappy change etc,our good friend Kaye as i mentioned had a very young baby & of course it stayed in this safe envirement,so imagine the shock when both the women went to check on the baby only to find that the mice had actually chewed right through the mesh & the baby was covered in mice mainly around the neck area,it is something that we often bring up in conversations about the old days,we will never forget that moment,as it happened the little one was ok other than a lot of scratches around her neck.Well Ole Simmo could ramble on forever about the good old days but the experience was interesting to say the least,we finished the country contract after a while but Patricia had to return to Perth earlier as our adopted daughter got bitten by something ( we never found out what) but she was pretty sick at the time & it was a rush job to a major hospital,but all turned out well.I hope that this saga & it has turned out to be longer than than i first thought,is of interest to the forum,i find that it is very satisfying for me personally to go back on our early days in Aussie,my memory seems to be holding up ok at the moment...72 this year..where has all the time gone., Best wishes to all..The Simmo’s Terry & Patricia


Apologies to all the members who may have seen it before, I must admit that its a great way to keep my mind active as well as having the music gigs as well.

once again from the Simmo's Best wishes to all the forum members New & Old