On an Alchin Family History Mission: Coffee and Stories with Miss Hazel Doris Alchin

Hazel Doris Alchin with nephew Garry Norman Smith

By Garry Norman Smith

Hazel Doris Alchin is arguably the oldest living direct descendant of Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and Ann Alchin (nee Waters) (1799-1858). This image is of a woman who recently turned 95 years old. Hazel is from two long lines of pioneer families: the Thompsons of West Pennant Hills and the Alchins of Oolong Creek and Gunning.

Roy Irwin Alchin (1922) and Doris Irene Thompson (1919)

While Hazel’s father, Roy Irwin Alchin (1897-1976) was born at Gunning, she has never actually visited the town. 

(l-r) Daphne, Doris, Hazel, Roy, Joyce & Ellen Alchin c1938

Charles Alchin and Mary Alchin (nee Stear)

Roy married Doris Irene Thompson (1902-1990) in 1922 at Dural, New South Wales; Hazel was born that same year at Dural. Hazel and her four sisters lived their early lives in The Hills District. Her grandparents, Edward Alchin (1863-1941) and Elizabeth Ann Alchin (nee Bailey) (1872-1964), had come to that district c1920 from Gunning to operate an orchard at Galston and later a poultry farm at Castle Hill.

Roy was a late-comer to the orchard having worked at the oil-shale works at Newnes in the Wolgan Valley near Lithgow after he left Gunning. He celebrated his 21st birthday there. His forebears had been farmers and labourers.

Ambrose Alchin

Hazel remained unmarried, having left home in her early teens to work as a family help for the Godbee family of Glenhaven, near Castle Hill. This began decades of a working life. Like her forebears before her Hazel had a strong work ethic and was unafraid of hard toil in the house, garden or orchard at the Godbee’s home.

Hazel’s great grandparents were Charles Alchin (1837-1908) and Mary Alchin (nee Stear) (1843-1897). Her great, great grandparents, Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and Elizabeth Ann Alchin (nee Waters) (1799-1858) were early residence of the Oolong Creek- Dalton district.

 

My recent visit with Hazel was designed to deliver her shopping, top-up her petty cash and identify old photographs but it also continues a link with a beloved auntie who, unfortunately, has only a loose grasp of her Alchin family history; that is my mission: to make sure she hears stories about her forebears and sees images of her story, a story which makes her worthy of the family history and the family coat of arms.