MY FAMILY HISTORY: About Blog! My Birth, Childhood, and Family Roots.

Birth

I was born at the Mercy Women’s Hospital, East Melbourne.

I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners, on the land where I was born, the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung, people of the Eastern Kulin nation. And I pay my respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

On this country, I acknowledge, I will always be an outsider, as a settler descendant, largely ignorant of its timeless language and culture. Nevertheless, it is the only place I feel like l belong and want to belong.

Where and when my umbilical cord was cut means I have a relationship with that land place, that country. I was my mums second birth. That means my brother was getting about that country before me and was there when I was. I lived nearby for two years. That means I was responsible for that place and in some ways I still am.

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My Great Great Grandad Drove a Bullock Team On the Murry.

“Your great great grandfather managed a bullock team, dragging River Red Gums off the banks of the Murry River. You could say he helped pioneer the Mallee Country, in [Northern] Victoria.”

Ester McCann (my grandmother).

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My Great Grandad Treated Aboriginal People with Compassion – It Was 1930

“Dad (my great grandad on my grandmothers side) said it was OK that the Aborigines lived down the paddock [on the property by the river]. They were not wrong to live there. They didn’t have much. They were poor people.”

Ester McCann (ma grand-mere)

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My Great Grandad was rushed to Bendigo on horseback to save his life

“Your great great grandfather was rushed down to Bendigo on horseback to save his life.  He was sent to the Famous Chinese Man who knew medicine.  He had a kidney problem.  The ride was 200km.”

Ester McCann – and confirmed by Heather Tuckerman (Ester’s daughter).

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My Great Grandad Was One of Three Irish Brothers

“Your grandfather was one of three Irish brothers. They all to went to Scots College in Melbourne. The family was respectable. Two brothers were city types. They did well there. One brother, your grandfather, was not suited for city life, and therefore went the bush way. He made his mark in the country – in the Australian rural way.”

John McCann (my dad).

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My Great Grandfather Attended Scots College Melbourne

“Your grandfather attended Scots College in Melbourne. He attended with his two brothers. The family had a good reputation. However your grandfather eventually disgraced the family. The other two brothers continued to be successful in business. But your grandfather thought better. As the wealthy did in those days, they payed him off. They bought a farm in the country for him to run.

Doug McCann (Uncle).

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My Grandma Was Tuffer Than Old Boots But Shouldn’t Have Needed To Be

“You know she left once, your grandma. She fled from that abusive violent old bastard, your grandfather, once. He was a horrible drunk. And a stinking rotten man. On that day, she piled her five kids, together with one suitcase and rode a country train and left him. All four foot eleven of her! You know she rode that train to the end of the line. But you see there was nowhere to go in those days for a woman on her own with kids. This was the 1940s remember! There was no help for women who had come to be on their own with children. That’s why your grandma rode that train to the end of the line, turned around and rode it all the way back again. That was the time your grandma left your grandfather.”

John McCann and Ester McCann (from the horses mouth).

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My Uncle Flew Lancaster Bombers Over Europe During the War

“John [Weaver] was a pilot. He trained in Adelaide. Then he went to Britian. He flew Lancasters. Though he was in in the war he didn’t say much about that afterwards. He did say it was extremely cold in the sky, particularly at night. After Europe he flew in New Guinea against the Japanese. When he came home all he wanted to do was be a paddle steamer captain on the Murry River. He wrote a book of his days as Captain on the boat the ‘Mannon’. After his time on the Murry he flew for TAA.

Graeme Sinclair (my Step-Father).

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My Dads Great Grandfather Came From Ireland

“Your great great grandfather was irish. The tale that three brothers came from Scotland was not true. Some McCann’s came from lreland and went west to America. Your great great grandfather came to Australia on his own. He came 10 years after the first fleet.”

Heather Tuckerman (My Auntie).

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McCann Convicts: There were 27 McCann convicts

“There were 27 McCann’s sent to Australia as convicts. The spelling of the name varies, moreover many convicts could not spell. They started coming from 10 years after the First Fleet in 1787.”

Victor Tuckerman (Uncle).

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Ringleader: A convict named Makan (probably poor spelling of mccann) stole a ship and was never seen again

“In the early colony of Van Diemens Land a small group of convicts on a ship traveling from Hobart town around the coast to Strahan was seized by Makan and his mates. Makan was recorded as one of the ringleaders of a group of these rogues and absconders. They took control of a ship which transported them. Off shore of the port of Strahan, Makan and his group, put the official crew in a row boat to find shore. Then they sailed away never to be seen of again.”

Craig Williams from Jerico, Tasmanian Historian

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My Grandfather Played A Practice Match With Fitzroy

“Your grandfather played a practice match with Fitzroy Football Club. Stan was an OK footballer. He was an even better pub brawler.”

Doug McCann (Uncle).

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My Grandfather Played For Geelong Country Football League

Geelong Country Football League

Your grandfather played for Geelong. It was country league then. Not the big league club like it is now. He was tall and tuff. He was picked more because he was willing to brawl than his etiquette

Dr Doug McCann