Miss Cygnet 1910
In 1910 seventeen year old Miss Christine (Queenie) Hanslow was crowned as 'Miss Cygnet' with a hand made crown of faux pearls.
Photos of the crown were discovered in 2007.
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Email received 3 May 2014, from Keith
Apropos the entry and photographs of the "Miss Cygnet" Crown, although I unable to add to that, you may be interested in the following. Christine (Queenie) Hanslow was my Aunt. Her grandmother Christina Hastie was buried in the Cygnet Cemetery, and as you will read, Her parents were living in Cygnet for some years.
The following is an extract from a book on the Hanslows of Tasmania, originally compiled by my late cousin Peggy Morgan (nee Hanslow, and revised and reprinted by me, Keith Wools-Cobb, son of Jessie (nee Hanslow)
THOMAS EDWARD HANSLOW 1866 - 1947
and AGNES (NEE Hastie) 1870 - 1953
Thomas & Agnes were married at St. Mark's C of E Church, Pontville, Tasmania on the 11th February 1892.
Children :-| Christine Viola Agnes | b. 10th January 1893 at Brighton |
| Thomas Stewart Roy | b. 2nd January 1896 at "Woodreeve", Brighton |
| Jessie Victoria | b. 11th March 1899 at "The Cove", Brighton |
| Mabel Elizabeth | b. 23rd November at Brighton. |
| Nellie Adeline | b. 15th July 1905 at "Genappe", Brighton |
| Bertha Edna | b. 16th August 1907 at Mundy's farm, Brighton. |
| Joyce Hazel Emily | b. 17th September 1909, at Cygnet. |
Agnes was born at 40 High Street, Airdrie, Scotland on the 19th September 1870. She was the youngest child of Robert Hastie and his wife Christina (nee Stewart). The Parish was Monkland, in the County of Lanarkshire.
The Hastie family arrived in Melbourne, Australia in June 1871, sailing from Plymouth on 18 March 181 aboard the "Star of India" "with 357½ souls on board". Agnes was 6 months old. Her parents had plans to migrate to Australia earlier, where Agnes would have been born, but an unfortunate accident happened when their daughter Barbara was bitten by a rabid dog, and died.
| The passenger list shows:- | |
| Robert Hastie, | 43 years, a shoemaker |
| Christina, his wife, | 42 years. |
| William, | 19 years |
| Robert Jnr., | 18 years |
| James Stewart, | 13 years |
| Peter Stewart, | 9 years |
| Janet, | 6 years |
| Agnes, | an infant. |
The family settled in the small village of Evansford, Victoria, in 1872, where Robert became the Post Master until his death in 1891. His daughter Janet then took over for a period. Robert was buried at the Amherst Cemetery, section 15, grave No. 25. There is no headstone.
Agnes would have attended the local school, still standing in the 1990's, but with some alterations since the Hastie days. The school is now used as a community Hall, and there is no longer a post office. Highlights of the young Hastie family might have been visits to nearby villages and to Ballarat.
The journey between Evansford and Ballarat still shows evidence of the gold mining boom in the early days, with diggings standing out as memorials most of the way on the flat countryside.
With sister Janet (Jessie) a few years older and growing up, we have a family story of Agnes accompanying her on one visit to Ballarat to visit her friend Will Cleverly. At the same time, over from Tasmania, was Will's first cousin, Tom Hanslow and his sister Eliza.
Tom showed great interest in one of the Hastie sisters, but Will warned him off, saying that Janet was his friend. "No" said Tom, "It's the other one, Agnes".
More visits were presumably made to Ballarat, as Agnes later said that Tom courted her on the banks of Lake Wendouree. They were married on 11 February 1892 at St. Mark's Church, Pontville, Tasmania. Agnes was my grandmother, and many years later I visited Victoria with my Aunt Bertha to recall a little of past family history. We stayed a few days at Ballarat near the side of the beautiful lake where Tom and Agnes courted. We had previously contacted a relation of the Cleverlys, Robert Goyen, and his wife Lois, who looked after us very well, and with their help visited Evansford, Talbot (Cleverlys), the street in Ballarat where the Cleverlys once lived, and the cemeteries there.
Thomas and Agnes lived at Brighton, not far from Hobart, amid many of Tom's relatives, and most of their children were born there. One custom, still upheld by many families, was passing around a family Christening gown, and the Hanslow gown was a beautifully hand-made garment with much tucking and lace, presumably used many times for Tom and Agnes' children.
They lived at various homes around the area, as shown by the birthplaces of their children, Tom working at farming and orchard work. Late in 1908 or early 1909 they moved by the usual method, horse and cart, further south to Cygnet.
Tom first worked for Mr. Harvey in his orchards, and their home was a cottage near the apple sheds. This was burnt down, and the family moved to a cottage in Garthfield, Cygnet, which is still standing. Joyce was born here, and some of the children attended school there. Roy joined the Post Office as a messenger boy. Agnes made a journey to Adelaide at this time, to bring to Tasmania her widowed mother Christina Hastie, to live with them. Christina died in 1914.
The family moved to Bruny Island in late 1914. World War 1 had broken out, and Roy enlisted in 1915. Before leaving he was able to say farewell to his family by walking from the army quarantine base at Barnes Bay. By January 1916 he had sailed for the Middle East. Queenie at this time went to Margate to help Mrs. Weymouth with her family.
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