Reunion Windsor 10/11 February 2018

How the 230^th Wedding Anniversary Celebrations in honour of Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes’ marriage came about and the theme Celebrate the Children took shape.

KABLE-HOLMES COUSINS-WELCOME TO WINDSOR/CLARENDON 10/11 FEBRUARY 2018!

In gathering today we Acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we are on and pay our repects to Elders, past, present and emerging. We also extend that respect to other Aboriginal people here with us this week-end and from my perspective I thank these indigenous ancestors for modelling, how to live on a land so tangentally different to that which our ancestors came from- England. This modelling of hunting, gathering, fishing, bearing children and other skills for this new land, I believe served to give hope to those wide eyed FIRST FLEETERS in the fledgling first years of the growth of “Modern Australia”.

Congratulations to all the KABLE-HOLMES descendants here today, who continue to share in the wonder of our ancestors involvement in the beginning of the formation of the modern nation of Australia. I often think that our ancestors must have watched and seen and learnt from those people already living on the land and who fished , hunted, gathered and bore their children and raised their families. With this model I like to think that our ancestors accustomed to English weather, foods, housing and clothing were able to see alternative prospects and begin with a new start!

My family history story learning has probably taken the same or similar path to many of you here today, albeit much more humble than some of our other cousins who have achieved illustrious outcomes. To these elders I pay respects to you youthful recognition of the significance of the story and to your maturing but keen interest in keeping this “social folklore” aspect of the growing Australian nation alive.

After writing my own very simple family history for sharing within our “clan”, I decided to begin a digital communication of the story with my family, anticipating that at some time in the future my grandchildren and I could connect in this way too. So on the 26^th September 2014. I opened the Kable Henry & Susannah Holmes -Sydney Cove 1788 FACEBOOK GROUP. The purpose of the group was to continue to share the story of my/our ancestors with the immediate family.

For almost 15 months the group puttered along with posts from me to my family. In November 2015 Zillah Campbell requested to join and gradually I gained a wider background of almost fifty years of the Kable story from all sorts of perspectives, including the grand event of the 1988 Reunion for family. We talked about the reunion of 1988 where I expressed my thoughts of having another reunion for those who did not have the experience of 1988. Zillah was keen on this idea too. In talking about coming to know our individual KABLE-HOLMES STORY (mine through the Diana Teale line) I shared that I learnt most of it from my “nanna Flo” starting about 1975.

However as for many of us, work and family demands often put a hold on completing our stories. Over at FB others gradually started to join the group so that by mid January 2016, almost 18 months after opening the group, the reunion idea gained momentum when it was raised again, and Sharon Lamb responded that it would be a great idea. She suggested the date of the 10^th of February 2018 as it would be the 230^th anniversary and 30 years since the 1988 Kable Bicentennial Reunion.

The seed was planted and began germinating. This FB group agreed to chat all things KABLE-HOLMES leading to a 2018 reunion. At the Fellowship of First Fleeters Australia Day lunch in January 2016 Sharon and I spoke more about this idea. However Bernadette Kelly wanted to share the fun much earlier, so Bernadette and I set about planning (a dry run event) for mid 2016. Bernadette organised the busses for the May outing in 2016, and today (2018) are using the same bus company.

The 2016 event organised by Bernadette and myself cemented a group of about 30 people who had a day out at the Rocks and Windsor. From this 2016 Sydney-Windsor outing group and with some additional help, the 2018 reunion was in the making, rest is history.

The first flyer – design Deborah Martin

We owe our thanks to this group who have independently shared in organising this week-ends activities. See the acknowledgements at the end of the Kable Reunion Book.
Equally we owe a debt of thanks to those who agreed to deliver short presentations. See the back of the Kable Reunion Book for short biographies and acknowledgements.

So to the theme Celebrate the Children … well Gladys Busch has given us that theme and all will be revealed along with the thoughts and words of other elders – June Whittaker, Paul Kable, Zillah Kable, Scott Kable all of whom are ably supported by Kable cousins as MC’s, committee support persons and all the folk who are just participating.

So cousins, I say thank you all for your keenness, enthusiasm by participating, helping or just encouraging and donating “items” digital concrete or spiritual (Mary Therese Edgerle in Guam) to make this weekend eventuate. Also to those who wish to attend but for other reasons belatedly had to withdraw (Kathleen Mary Bleechmore).

Lastly I thank, although without sufficient superlatives, Johan. His commitment to keeping the wheels running in all forms of backup was and is “THE BEST!” For those of you, who enjoy the this website/family tree… you are sharing my 65^th birthday present. Johan has worked continuously for 18 months to build the site, supported by lots of information from Roslyn’s gedcom files, which in turn have been formed from the research of others, who have come before, gathering the stories and collating them. Significantly, Johan has brought the female lines into the picture as well, with this birthday gift. Now Diana, Eunice and other females share their stories alongside the Kable male partners.

Finally, enjoy the weekend cousins and make the most of meeting, greeting, sharing, hugging, chatting, laughing and spinning an odd yarn or two. Maybe even raise a glass to the thousand loves that have gone before, that made us what we are today.

Jane and Johan van Woerkom 10^th and 11^th of February 2018, Windsor.

Facebook group commences 26 September 2014-October 2014/ 9 people by January 2018/411 members. (Editorial June 2018 / 484 members).

Before the reunion officially kicked off, a morning tea was organised to enable ALL committee members to meet one another, most of them for the first time. In the 18 months leading up to the reunion most contacts took place by email or phone.