maietime2

 Introduction and Contents Mary Ann is the third child of Eliza Ann and William Edward Carter, born on 17 th April 1846.  Whereas her older brother William George is born at Scone, Mary Ann and her sister Sarah Jane are born at Muswellbrook, so the family must have moved further south after Williams’ birth to settle in Muswellbrook for a while.  Mary Ann is baptised at Muswellbrook by Rev. William F Gore on 31st May 1846. In 1851 gold is discovered around Mudgee and the young family is on the move.   Mary Ann would have been six years old.   It appears as if, for the next three years, the family follows the gold from Grattai to Avisford to Maitland Bar until they arrive in Mudgee in 1854 and settle down.   Mary Ann is about eight years, Sarah Jane ten years and William George twelve years. By 1855 a public school is built in Perry Street, Mudgee. [1]   I wonder, as their mother can read and write and the family is living in the same street, if the children attend school, although