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The Pacific was the last of the oceans to be explored, a vast area of water dotted with islands, the least known, yet the most romantic. Out of that great ocean appeared an inconspicous vessel called the "Eclair," which entered Port Jackson on the 23rd September 1851 and sailed slowly up Sydney Harbour, before dropping anchor in Neutral Bay. The small 50 ton schooner had sailed all the way from San Francisco via Honolulu and the Isle of Pines with just four passengers, in addition to the master and crew. One of those lucky voyagers was 24 year old Thomas Eastman Shoveller, who was destined to become a pioneer of the Northern Rivers region of NSW, and the developing settlement of Grafton.This story traces a genealogical journey through the ancestry of Thomas Eastman Shoveller (1827-1908), and covers the hereditary and ancestral families of Shoveller, Bignell, Eastman and Sabine in detail, examining the lives of his known forebears along the way. The work methodically explores each of the hereditary branches, highlights significant individuals and describes what is known to date of the forebears as well as the life, love and descendants of Thomas Eastman Shoveller.The process described in this book is a narrative history and it tells some of the great stories of these families, which mostly took place between the age of enlightenment about 1750, and World War I. But this is also a book written to entertain, and it spans great events such as the industrial revolution, the French revolution, the Napoleonic era, as well as the Victorian and Edwardian periods.
About the author
Dr Tracy Rockwell (1955) originally taught in both primary and high schools and was later appointed as a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Sydney University, where he spent 25 years, ahead of launching out on his own as an author, artist, and scholar. As a sportman he was a swimmer, surf life saver, rugby player, a NSW representative water polo player, and in 2021 was Oceanic Indoor Rowing champion for his age group. With a penchant for history he has written widely and published 'Water Warriors: Chronicle of Australian Water Polo' in 2009, receiving the 'Harry Quittner Medal' for his contribution to Australian Water Polo. He is also an avid genealogist and continues his 'Rockwell Genealogies' with this publication.
