Belinda Jane Gooding was born on 25 February 1837 in Campbell Town, Van Diemen’s Land, the second eldest child and daughter of Andrew Goodwin and Lydia Hines. For some reason her birth was not recorded in the colony's birth registration records. Belinda was christened on 30 April 1838 in the Midland township of Ross, the district where her father Andrew was working as a sawyer. She was probably named after her Aunt Lucy Goodwin's youngest daughter, Belinda Bunster. Belinda Gooding's de facto uncle, William Bunster, was living at his property Trefusis, not far from Ross, when his niece was born.1

Belinda had a child out of wedlock on 1 May 1860 in Campbell Town. 2 Though no name was recorded on her son's birth registration certificate, Belinda named her son Charles Henry Ernest Gooding when he was christened at three months of age. His christening took place on 13 September 1860 in Campbell Town according to the rites and rituals of the Methodist church.3

Two years after Charles was born, Belinda Jane Gooding, then aged twenty-four, married George Henry White, aged twenty-one, on 3 April 1862 in St. David’s Church, Hobart.4 Prior to their marriage, the couple had applied for, and been granted, a license to marry, to hasten the process and avoid the publishing of Banns over a three week period.5

George Henry White was born in 1841 in England,6 but his arrival in Van Diemen's Land has not yet been located. His sister Margaret Louisa was born in Launceston to Henry White and Louisa Stones in 1847, making George Henry six years old at the most when he arrived. 7 Presumably Louisa Stones was also George Henry's mother, and the frequent use of the name 'Louisa' among Belinda's descendants certainly indicates that this was so.

Seven months after they married, George Henry and Belinda were witnesses to the wedding of Belinda's brother Andrew James Gooding and George Henry's sister Margaret Louisa White, on 25 November 1862 in Campbell Town. 8 It's not unreasonable then, to assume that George Henry and Margaret Louisa's parents were living somewhere close by the Midlands region, and this was where both couples chose to live after their respective marriages.

Belinda and George Henry's marriage got off to an unhappy start, when the newlyweds were both sentenced to spend time in gaol because of George's theft of numerous household articles at Avoca, and Belinda's receiving stolen items in Campbell Town. We can be certain that this was George and Belinda White nee Gooding, as George, then described as a jockey, had taken a racehorse to Avoca when he stole the property, and he was later the secretary of the eponymous George's Bay racecourse in St. Helens, on the East Coast.9 George bought these items back to their home in Campbell Town, and when the police searched their home, they found the goods stolen in Avoca, and yet more stolen by Belinda's acquaintance William Askill, in Campbell Town. The following newspaper articles, the first two from the Launceston Examiner, and the second two from the Mercury, describe the court proceedings in full:

CAMPBELL TOWN.
[From our own Correspondent.]
POLICE COURT. MONDAY, APRIL 20.
(Before Claudius Thomson, and G. Taylor, Esquires.

Larceny. - William Askill, a man totally blind, employed at Morrison's Hotel, Campbell Town, as boots, was charged by C. D. Constable Scott with feloniously stealing, on the 15th instant, one dozen table knives and forks, and a quantity of other articles, such as spoons, candlesticks, &c., the property of William Morrison; and Belinda White was charged with receiving the same, knowing them to be stolen. - C. D. Constable Scott's evidence went to show that Mrs. White's husband was suspected of having committed a robbery at Avoca, and on executing a search warrant at his house, they succeeded in finding the missing articles stolen from Avoca, and also the articles missing from Morrison's Hotel, consisting of the knives, forks, spoons, candlestick, plates, dishes, &c., now produced. - The female, on being questioned, said the articles were given to her by Askill, who said he had bought them at auction. - The property was sworn to by Henry Alford, waiter at the hotel. - The Bench were of opinion that the charge was fully proved, and sentenced each prisoner to nine months hard labor.

George White, whose name appears in the above, was brought before R. P. Stuart, Esq., at the Avoca Police Office, on Saturday last, and remanded until next Saturday, on a charge of felony.10

COUNTRY INTELLIGENCE.
AVOCA.
(From our own Correspondent).
POLICE OFFICE.
Saturday, April 25. (Before R. P. Stuart, Esq., Warden, and Captain Hepburn, J.P.)

George Henry White alias Frost, a horse jockey, was charged with stealing sundry articles, conslisting of an opossum rug, one pair lamps, lantern, halter, &c., the property Mr. John Bailey, of the Woolpack Hotel, Avoca. The articles (produced) were sworn to by the prosecutor as his property, and from the ovidence adduced it appeared the prisoner had taken up his abode at the inn the night preceding the Avoca Races. The rug had been sent to him by Mr. Bailey for the use of his man who slept in the stable. The article having been missed by Mr. Bailey, suspicion fell, upon White, and through the vigilance of C.D.C. Scott, the property was found in White's cottage at Campbell Town, where he was taken into custody. The prisoner in his defence said he did not know how the things came into his cart. The Bench sentenced him to nine months' hard labor.11

CAMPBELL TOWN POLICE OFFICE.
MONDAY. APRIL 20TH, 1863.
PRESENT:- C. Thomson, and George Taylor, Esqs., J.Ps.

William Askill a blind man, and Belinda White, were brought up from 18th inst. Askill, charged by Mr. C. D. C. Scott, with feloniously stealing on or about the 15th inst, one dozen of table knives, one dozen of forks, and a quantity of other articles the property of Mr. Wm. Morrison, of Campbell Town.

The prisoner White was charged with feloniously receiving the same.

The evidence of Mr. Scott was taken,who proved he went to the house where the prisoner White and her husband resided to execute a search warrant for some property stolen from Avoca on the 16th inst. He found what he went for, and also the knives, forks, spoons, dishes, plates, and candlesticks, produced.

On being questioned she said they had been given her by Askill, who told her he bought them at auction.

Henry Alford, waiter to Mr. Morrison, swore to the property as belonging to his master.

The Bench considered the charge fully proved, and sentenced each of the prisoners to nine months' hard labor. 12

AVOCA POLICE COURT.
Saturday, 25th March
PRESENT. The Warden, and Captain Hepburn, J.P.

George Henry White, alias Frost, was charged with stealing at Avoca on the 16th inst, one opossum skin rug, value 10s., one lamp, value 5s. and other articles, the property of Mr. John Bailey.

Mr. Bailey, being sworn saith - I keep the Woolpack Inn at Avoca. The prisoner arrived at my house on the 14th with a horse, to run at the Avoca Races, I lent him the opossum-skin rug produced, for a man who was with him, to sleep on in the stable; in the same stable was also the carriage lamp, dark lantern, and martingale now produced. 13. They are all my property. They were safe in the stable on the 15th; on the morning of the 16th the prisoner left, and shortly after I missed the articles.

Mr. Charles Scott, C. D. C. at Campbell Town, proved he went to the house of the prisoner at Campbell Town about 6 o'clock on the morning of the 17th. On the floor of the front room a bed was made down, and the opossum skin rug he then produced was on it. He then asked the prisoner whether he had a lamp, lantern, or martingale in the house which did not belong to him, he said "no." On going into an adjoining room, he found these articles, and drew prisoner's attention to them. He said - "Well a man don't know all he has in his house." The C. D. Constable then took him into custody.

The prisoner, who said he did not know how the things came into his cart, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labor. 14

Whether Belinda's three-year-old son went to prison with her is not known, but the time she and George spent in prison explains in some way the long gap before her next child. George and Belinda’s first known child was a girl, Louisa Maria White, born on 12 March 1865 in Campbell Town. No name was recorded on the state birth registration.15 Louisa Maria was christened on 14 May 1865 in Campbell Town with her father George recorded as a Groom.16 Their second child was a son, George Henry White, born on 5 November 1867 in Campbell Town.17 George Henry White was christened on 7 February 1868 in Campbell Town, when his father George was recorded as a labourer.18 The couple's third and last child was another boy, Andrew William White, born on 9 June 1870 in Oatlands.19 No christening record has been found for Andrew at this stage. By 1875 the White family comprised George and Elizabeth, and their children Charles, fourteen, (who adopted the surname White in later life), Louisa aged nine, George, seven, and Andrew aged four.

George, Belinda and their family moved to the area known as Gould's Country, described below, around the time tin was discovered in the area, in 1874, and they remained there for the next decade or so.

The Municipality of Portland in the north-east of Tasmania was known originally as Gould's New Country. It was named by Charles Gould, who was a Government Surveyor, in 1830. Mr. Gould had walked up the east coast to Georges Bay; he then turned from the coastline and walked for two days through the bush until he came to a long mountain range. As it had not been named, he named it the Blue Tier. He explored a triangular area of land with its apex on the Blue Tier and base reaching from Ansons Bay to Georges Bay. He named this piece of land Gould's New Country.

In 1868 some twenty men with their wives and in some cases children, made their way with pack horses to the foot of the Blue Tier looking for land on which to settle and farm. Their first settlement at the foot of the Blue Tier was called simply Gould's Country.

In 1874 when the grey gold, as these [early] settlers had called the tin, was discovered on the Blue Tier life changed. Miners who came in to mine the tin settled in other areas of the Blue Tier in towns called Lottah and Poimena and the early farmers then grew the food to sell to the miners.20

It was in the small settlement then known as the Junction, but later as Lottah, that George and Belinda were first reported living in the area. And, once again, George was in trouble with the police, as reported in the Examiner in September 1877:

GEORGE'S BAY. (From a Correspondent.)
POLICE COURT - SEPTEMBER 1. Before H.Dawson and A.K. Chapman, Esqs., J.P.'s.

Sly Grog selling. - George White, residing at the Junction, Gould's Country, was charged by Constable Arthur Anderson with selling spirituous liquors without a license on the 25th ultimo. Mr. Gerrand appeared for the defence, D.C. Quinn conducted the prosecution, and called Constable Timothy Gately, who gave a rambling statement as to his having visited defendant's house on the day named in a the charge sheet, and whose evidence underwent a rather severe test by defendant's counsel; but on Anderson's testimony I believe the conviction rested, and White was fined £20 and costs, time being given until Tuesday next to pay the same.

I think great credit is due to …to Constable Anderson in White's case. It is to be hoped that the cases will be a warning to others.21

In December 1877 it was reported that George White was appealing against a decision not to allow him a license for a public house:

SPECIAL SESSIONS OF THE PEACE. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1877.

A special Sessions of the Peace was held for the purpose of hearing appeals. Present - J. Stanfield, Esq., Chairman, R. Carter, Esq. Appeal from Mr George White, of the Junction, Blue Tier, against the decision of the Licensing Bench, at St. Helen's, in refusing him a public-house license for a house to be known as "The Miners' Rest." Mr. White put in a petition in favor of the license being granted, signed by a large number of the residents at the Junction, and stated that he had been at great expense in building the house in question, having been induced by several residents to do so, as a house was much required. There was no opposition to the license, so the Bench granted the license till the end of the year, informing the applicant that no doubt if the house was properly conducted he would get the license at the next quarterly meeting, in February next.22

Almost three weeks after being granted his license, a meeting was held at George and Belinda's newly opened establishment:

GOULD’S COUNTRY

A meeting was held at Mr. George H. White’s, Miner’s Rest, Junction, Gould’s Country, [a] few days ago, to arrange for a prospecting party to make a tour of the Pieman River. It was decided that a party of three should start on Saturday last, and go overland by Lake St. Clair, and minutely prospect for gold and other minerals. The company which has undertaken this consists of ten members, and they have agreed to provide provisions for the party for four months. 23

The next year, George was involved with another passion - horse racing:

GEORGES BAY RACES.-Mr George H. White, secretary, notifies that the nomination for the " St. Helen's [transcription not yet completely available] 24

Unfortunately, it seems that George's license for the Miner's Rest was not renewed that year, as George was once more taken to court for "sly-grog selling":

GEORGE'S BAY, PORTLAND.
... Police Office on 18th instant, before H Dawson, and A. K. Chapman, Esqrs., J's.P. George Henry White was charged by Mr C.D.O. Grubb with illegally selling liquor at the Junction, Blue Tier, on the ... defendant on the 20th March; witness stood drinks for White, Budgeon, and himself; his own drink was... [transcription not yet completely available] 25

Apparently George and Belinda kept the Miner's Rest as a lodging house, as a meeting was held in the building in August 1880:

LOWER JUNCTION, GOULD'S COUNTRY.
[From an occasional Correspondent.]

There was an inquest held here, at Mr.G. White's lodging-house, on Monday, the 16th, before Mr. H. Dawson, P.M., the Coroner for George's Bay district, touching the death of Henry Mergerson, who was lost, between here and Thomas' Plains, a little more than three months ago. His body was found on the 13th, about five miles from here. The jury and Coroner had a treat on Monday, when they went to view his body, of which nothing was left but the skeleton.The road they had to traverse was one of the worst in the colony; impossible for a horseman to get along in parts, and mud up to the knees in other places. The man was over 80 years of age, and in a very weak condition. The verdict of the jury was, "Died from exhaustion, through having lost his way."26

Never one to give up, George tried to renew his publican's license yet again, at the end of 1880, according to the snide comments of "a Correspondent" writing for the Launceston Examiner newspaper:

LOWER JUNCTION, GOULD'S COUNTRY.
[From a Correspondent.]

As I feel in rather a communicative mood just now, I will try and let you know how things are going on here….Licensing day is drawing nigh, and there are two residents here who intend to apply for a publican's license; both are making improvements to their places. How one expects to get a license granted to him I cannot say, for he has been twice convicted of sly grog-selling, and the last time fined £100 and costs. 27

It appears that George was not successful, as another hotel was licensed in the area at around that time to D.J. Conlon, in partnership with F. Gough. The next year, 1881, Belinda's first child was married, and over the next five years all of the White children were to start making their own way in the world. Charles White, then twenty-one years old, married Honora McAuliffe, aged nineteen, on 28 April 1881 in Oatlands, Tasmania.28 Honora was born on 5 January 1862 in Tunnack, Tasmania, the daughter of Michael McAuliffe and Elizabeth Dahley.29 Eleven children have been traced to the couple, two of whom died in childhood.

Unfortunately George was not to see the rest of the family married - he died prematurely on 18 November 1882 in the Portland district. Charles White was the informant on the death registration certificate, identified therein as the son of the deceased. George was reported as thirty-eight years old when he died, and apparently had been a licensed victualler once again at the time he died. The cause of death was blood poisoning, which would probably now be called sepsis.30 As there was no inquest following George's death it would appear the infection was not caused through a major physical injury. In those days, without antiobiotics, even a simple scratch could lead to blood poisoning and subsequent death. George's death notice appeared in The Mercury three days after he died, no small feat considering the communication difficulties between Gould's Country and Hobart Town.

DEATHS - White. - On November l8, at Junction, Gould's Country, George Henry White, aged 38, of blood poisoning.31

Belinda was left with a relatively young family to support, with Andrew being only twelve, George aged fifteen and Louisa aged seventeen. Belinda stayed on at the Junction, probably still running her lodging house, the former Miner's Rest, and in February 1883, the only hotel then in the township was transferred to Frank Gough.

BLUE TIER JUNCTION.
[From our own Correspondent.]

The Junction Hotel has passed into the hands of Mr. F. Gough, partner of the late Mr. J. D. Conlon (the previous holder of the license), Mrs.Conlon having retired in consideration of the payment of a rental….

There is little of interest to report, in mining matters. Work at the Anchor is steadily progressing. The Lottah tunnel, is slowly being completed, the stone being remarkably hard. 32

Less than a year after George's death, Belinda was dealt another blow when her only daughter, Louisa Maria, died. Her death notice appeared in The Mercury newspaper on 23 October 1883:

DEATH.
White, - On October 16, at the Lower Junction, Gould's Country, Louisa Maria, only daughter of the late George and his relict, Belinda White, aged 18 years and 7 months.33

Louisa Maria White died on 16 October 1883 at their home in Gould's Country, Portland. Louisa's death certificate recorded her age as eighteen, and the cause of death was given as Consumption, now known as Tuberculosis. Louisa was identified as a miner’s daughter, and her death was registered by her brother George, a heavy responsibility for a sixteen year old.34

Less than two months after Louisa's death, Belinda tried to reopen her lodging house as a public house named the 'Anchor', after the new mine in the area. Her application was refused on the grounds that one hotel at the Junction was all that was required there, as the following newspaper article explains:

ST. HELEN'S.
[From our own Correspondent.]

The annual licensing meeting was held at the Court-house, St. Helen's, last Saturday, the following justices being present:- Messrs. Henry Dawson, S.M., John C. Macmichael, H. W. Littlechild, and J. W. Robinson, J.'s P. The following applications for certificates of approval for annual public house licenses were granted:- William Lee, Imperial Hotel, St. Helen's; J. R. Abel, Union Hotel, St. Helen's; Ellen McLaren, Telegraph Hotel, St. Helen's; Clara L. Trowbridge, Travellers' Rest, Gould's Country; Frank Gough, Junction Hotel, Junction; David Jones, Blue Tier Hotel, Blue Tier; Edward Isaacson, All Nations Hotel, Thomas' Plains; Oliver G. Reeman, Thomas' Plains Hotel, Thomas' Plains.

An application was made by Belinda White for a license for a public house to be known as the Anchor Hotel, at the Junction, but was refused, it being considered that a second hotel at the Junction was not at the present time required. 35

The next year in June 1884, Belinda was again in court at St. Helen's, where more than her knees were quaking apparently!

GEORGE'S BAY. Sunday.

At the police court on Saturday morning, before Mr. H. Dawson…Belinda White was fined 5s., and costs 7s. 6d., for allowing pigs to be at large on the township of Lottah. Earthquakes are numerous, two or three shocks being felt every day. A sharp one occurred early this morning. [29 June 1884] 36

Just a month after this court appearance, Belinda, then forty years old, married Bartholomew Griffin, who was twenty-six, on 31 July 1884 in Launceston.37 Bartholomew was the son of Bartholomew Griffin and Bridget Manion (also written as Mannion and Manyon). His parents had married on 2 May 1853 when the elder Bartholomew was twenty-four, born about 1829, and Bridget was twenty-two years old, born about 1831.38Between 1882 and 1884 when Bartholomew married Belinda, he had relocated to the north of the island from Hobart Town, where he was born. He may have continued his earlier work as a miner in the tin mines of the north east, where it seems he and Belinda met each other.

Bartholomew junior was born on 7 March 1859 in Hobart.39 Bartholomew Senior was noted in Legislative Council Papers as receiving public funds which were first granted on 24 November 1869. He was granted the support because he “suffered from asthma [and was] unable to work”. It was noted that he had five children under twelve.40

In March 1874 Bartholomew Griffin Senior was reported in the paper in what appeared to be a family dispute between Griffin and the brother of his son-in-law. The real issue appeared to be one of straying animals, and Bartholomew Griffin Senior was repeatedly in court on this issue over the next 30 years. As the case was reported extensively the details are included on the Griffin v Dillon page. In February 1875 it was probably Bartholomew Griffin Junior who appeared in court for what we would now describe as dangerous driving:

CITY POLICE COURT.
WEDNESDAY, 17TH FEBRUARY, 1875 Before the Police Magistrate and Mr R T Westbrook, J P ,...

FURIOUS DRIVING.- Bartholomew Griffin was charged by Chief District Constable Quodling with a breach of the Police Act, by furiously riding, on the 7th instant, on the Cascade Road, thereby endangering the lives of certain pedestrians. Defendant was fined 20s., or the option of 14 days in the House of Correction. William Purcell, charged with a similar offence, at the same time and place, received the lighter penalty of 10s., or the alternative of seven days' incarceration, in consideration of his extreme youth.41

In July 1875 Bartholomew Griffin Junior was again in court for failing to honour an agreement he had made to serve on a ship as a seaman:

CITY POLICE COURT.
MONDAY, 5th JULY, 1875.
Before the Mayor, Aldermen Addison and Perkins, and Mr. T. Westbrook, J. P....

NEGLECTING TO JOIN HIS SHIP - A lad named Bartholomew Griffin was brought up on a warrant, charged with neglecting to join his ship, the Marie Laure, Mr. Thomas Sheehy appeared for the prisoner, and, to save the time of the Court, admitted that an agreement had been entered into between the prisoner and the owner of the vessel.
The Mayor remarked that that being so, there was an end to the case, and the prisoner must be sent on board.

Mr. Sheehy said that did not necessarily follow, owing to the peculiar circumstances of the case. He explained that the prisoner, a few days ago, in a boyish freak, went to the shipping office and signed articles to sail in the Marie Laure. The lad was in the service of Mr. Shirley, baker, and was almost the sole support of his parents, who were very respectable people. His conduct was certainly not to be commended, but it would be manifestly wrong to punish the prisoner and his family by sending him to sea for a "mere joke," committed in the exuberant spirits of youth. But the prisoner happened also to be in Mr. Shirley's debt, and even if the Pencil ordered him on board the ship, Mr. Shirley could, under the Masters' and Servants' Act, obtain an immediate warrant for his apprehension.

The Mayor said there was no doubt a great deal in what Mr. Sheehy had advanced, but there was only one course for the magistrates to pursue. It was not within their province to inquire whether the prisoner had engaged himself by way of a joke. Their simple duty under the circumstances was to have him sent on board. It appeared that the lad had not only signed the agreement to join the ship, but had received his advance note.

Mr. Sheehy submitted that the discretionary power vested in the Court might properly be exercised in a case like the present.

The Mayor: But the owner prays that the lad may be sent on board.

Mr. Sheehy: But surely it is not incumbent on the Court to comply with that application.

Mr. Reynolds, the Bench Clerk, explained to the magistrates that about a week ago the father and mother of the prisoner came to the Court and asked that he should he stopped from going to sea. He (Mr. Reynolds) advised them that the only way to do so was to get Mr. Shirley to take out a warrant and have the question tried before the Bench, when his engagement would have priority. This, however, had not been done.

Mr. Sheehy explained that the reason for that was, that owing to the prisoner having returned to his work, Mr. Shirley believed that the affair had blown over.

Mr. Sherwin, owner of the Marie Laure, in reply to the Mayor, said he would still press to have the lad sent on board, as the vessel was short-handed.

The Mayor said there was no alternative, and the Court ordered the prisoner to be sent on board.42

Subsequent to the previous case Bartholomew's employer lodged a separate complaint which would ultimately play out in Griffin's favour:

CITY POLICE COURT.
TUESDAY, 6th JULY, 1875.
Before the Police Magistrate and Mr. Horne, J.P....

CHARGE UNDER THE MASTERS' and SERVANTS' ACT. - Bartholomew Griffin, a lad sixteen years of age, was brought up under a warrant, and charged by his employer, Mr. John Shirley, baker, with absenting himself from his business. This case was the sequence of one heard on the previous day, in which the same prisoner was ordered by the Court to join the whaling barque Marie Laure, to which he had articled himself as a seaman. The prisoner pleaded "guilty."

Mr. Thomas Sheehy, who appeared for the prosecutor, briefly recapitulated the facts of the case, as detailed in our police report yesterday.

In reply to Mr. Tarleton, the prosecutor stated that the prisoner was in his employment as a weekly servant; that notice to leave had not been given on either side, and that the prisoner was indebted to him.

The Police Magistrate, in giving judgement, said it was clear to the bench that the prisoner was under an engagement to serve Mr. Shirley for an indefinite period, and that no notice had been given terminating that engagement; so that he was still to all intents and purposes Mr. Shirley's servant, and as such, his agreement to join the barque Marie Laure became null and void. There was no doubt the boy was bound to return to Mr. Shirley and serve out the term for which he had agreed, whatever that might be. Addressing the prisoner, Mr. Tarleton told him he had acted a very dishonest part, and it was fortunate for him that he had lost the advance note, otherwise he would have been liable to an action for obtaining money under false pretences. The magistrate fined the lad 10s., or 14 days' imprisonment, and discharged him from his engagement to the owner of the Marie Laure.43

In December 1875 Bartholomew Griffin was charged with trespassing:

CITY POLICE COURT.
TUESDAY, 14TH DECEMBER, 1875.
Before Messrs. Tarleton, P.M., and Win. Crosby, J.P....

TRESPASS.- Bartholomew Griffin was charged by John L. Livingstone with having, an the 6th inst., unlawfully entered upon certain land, situated at Stoney Steps, the property of the said John L. Livingstone. The defendant pleaded not guilty.

The complainant deposed that on the evening of the 6th inst., he saw the defendant upon his land. Witness warned him off, but he used bad language. The defendant had no lawful business to be there. The track on which the defendant was, has been used for a thoroughfare by the inhabitants of the district for many years. The defendant would have to cross a fence to get at the spot where he was.

The defendant pleaded that he was not aware that he was trespassing.

The information was dismissed, as the Bench did not consider the trespass to have been wilful.44

In September 1877 Bartholomew Griffin Senior's daughter Sarah underwent a highly publicised operation to remove a malignant ovarian tumour.

OPERATION AT THE HOSPITAL. - We learn that the young woman, Sarah Griffin, from whom an ovarian tumour, weighing over ll lbs, was on Wednesday successfully removed by Dr. E. L. Crowther, continues to improve, and although consequent on so severe an operation the patient remains exceedingly prostrate, no untoward symptoms have set in. The tumour has been photographed and a model in plaster made, both of which are to be presented by Dr. Crowther to the Royal Society. A copy of the photograph has been sent to this office.45

Two days later however Sarah died in the Hobart General Hospital:

Griffin.- On the 19th September, at the General Hospital, Sarah, the beloved daughter of Bartholomew and Bridget Griffin, aged 20 years. The funeral will leave her father's residence, Macquarie street for the Queenborough Cemetery, on Saturday, 22nd inst, at 2 p.m. Friends are respectfully invited to attend.46

There was a lot of controversy over her case as apparently she underwent a post mortem without permission. Late in the following year, November 1878, it appears that it was Sarah's brother Bartholomew Junior who was arrested for disturbing the peace:

CITY POLICE COURT.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4.
Before the Mayor, and Alderman Maher J.P.

PEACE DISTURBERS.- Bartholomew Griffin, Thomas Brown, Jane Ladds and Emanuel Brown, arrested for disturbing the peace in different parts of the city, between Saturday and Monday morning, were fined, the two former 5s., or seven days imprisonment, and the last named pair 10s. 6d. or a fortnight's detention.47

He was arrested on the same charge three years later in July 1881, so he wasn't someone who could be labelled a chronic offender:

CITY POLICE COURT.

The Mayor (Alderman Harcourt) and Alderman Maher disposed of the charge-sheet yesterday. Thomas Pattison, for using obscene language in the Queen's Domain on the evening of the 1st inst., was fined 10s. 6d.; and Bartholomew Griffin, for disturbing the peace in Davey-street early on the morning of the 2nd inst., was fined 5s.48

In June 1882 however Bartholomew's anti-social behaviour was becoming more and more frequent, and for the first time he faced the possibility of a gaol term when he was sentenced:

POLICE COURT.
Tuesday, June 27.
Before the Police Magistrate and Mr. J. T. Robertson, J.P.

Minor Offences.- A drunkard was fined 5s. with the usual alternative. George Hanoock pleaded not guilty to disturbing the peace in a yard abutting on Harrington-street, on the 22nd inst. The information was sustained by the testimony of Sergeant Ronnie and Constable Petersham, who stated that the defendant aggravated the offence by making use of foul language. He is a notoriously bad character, and was sentenced to pay a fine of 40s. 6d., or to be imprisoned for two months. Bartholomew Griffin pleaded guilty to committing a similar offence in Davey-street, on the 21st inst. Defendant had been three times previously convicted, and was fined 20s. 6d., with the alternative of a month's imprisonment.49

In November 1882 Bartholomew was a witness in a case of false pretences, and of forging and uttering, which provided evidence that he was working in a coal mine for six weeks from the end of August to the beginning of October of that year:

George Roberts, residing at North-West Bay, deposed; I was engaged by defendant to work on a coal mine in the parish of Longley. I commenced working there on the 28th August. We worked for about six weeks from that date.... the date of the last pay-sheet [was] October 7. The works were discontinued when I left.... during the six weeks I was there.... The names of the men who were at work with me there were James Matthews, Bartholomew Griffin, James Daly, John Cornish, and John Livingstone.50

Between 1882 and 1884 when Bartholomew married Belinda White, nee Gooding, he had relocated to the north of the island. While Belinda went to Launceston to marry Bartholomew, it's not known whether the newlyweds moved to the town, or returned to Lottah afterwards. Apparently her son George was living in Campbell Town not long after his mother's second marriage, and since he was a young man by then, he may have lived there for quite a time. Whatever the circumstances, George White Junior, like his step-father Bartholomew, married a woman who was considerably older than he was. He married Mary Agnes Sughrue in Campbell Town on 8 September 1887. George was recorded as twenty years of age and Mary Agnes was thirty-three years old.51 Only one daughter has been traced to the couple, and she sadly died in childhood.

In 1888 Bartholomew was in Launceston, where he appeared as a witness in a case of assault which occurred during a local football match:

LAUNCESTON.
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
Friday.

The assault case arising out of last Saturday's football match was commenced this morning at the police court, which was crowded with members of the different football clubs. James Williams was charged with having violently assaulted Frederick Deane by kicking him in the stomach on September 1 on the association ground…..

Richard Sams deposed that defendant deliberately kicked Deane when the ball was 15yds. away. Bartholomew Griffin corroborated this evidence, and this concluded the evidence for the prosecution.52

He was still in Launceston in 1892, so presumably Belinda was there with him:

NO LICENSE.

Bartholomew Griffin was proceeded against by the Superintendent of Police for having on April 1 driven a cab without having obtained a driver's license. He pleaded guilty, and was fined 10s and costs. 53

It would appear that Belinda's family was spreading further afield, as one researcher has located Belinda's youngest son Andrew William White marrying Mary Jane Harris in 1894 in Victoria.54 This record however has not been found in the Victorian state registration system.

Belinda's father-in-law, Bartholomew Griffin Senior, died on 24 October 1900 at 369 Macquarie Street, Hobart.55 He was buried in the Cornelian Bay Cemetery at the reported age of 70.56 His son, and most probably Belinda, were back in Lottah in the same year, where Bartholomew had become a prominent member of the local community:

The "Hobart Gazette" of to-day contains among other items the following:-

Appointments: Trustees of the Lottah Recreation Ground - Messrs. Andrew Dishington, Bartholomew Griffin, William Troehoe, Charles H. E. White.57

Unfortunately Belinda became so ill the next year that she was admitted to the General Hospital in Launceston, where she died, on 18 July 1901.58 Upon checking editions of the Examiner of the time in the Archives Office of Tasmania the paper for the day after Belinda’s death is not available (19 July 1901) but apart from that there was no death notice. Belinda was buried in the Cypress Street Cemetery in Launceston.59

Prior to Belinda's death her son George Henry White had been married and had at least one child. He enlisted in the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen and served in South Africa. Peter Woolley has provided an interesting account of George's service which is included in a comment below.

Following Belinda’s death Bartholomew remained in the North East, and was married for the second time to Margaret Rosina Harris, on 29 November 1906, in St. Helen’s.60 The couple had two children, the first of whom was born in the mining town of Poimena:

BIRTHS. - GRIFFIN. - On February 13, at Poimena, Blue Tier, the wife of Bartholomew Griffin: a son. 61

Apparently Bartholomew and Belinda had no children of their own, but Bartholomew, or Bart as he was known, maintained contact with Belinda and George Henry White’s children in the years following. Belinda's son Charles and her daughter-in-law Honora White, nee MacAuliffe, were known to be in close contact with Bartholomew and his new family - she died, as 'Norma' White 62 at Lottah in the North East on 7 July 1916, and was buried at St. Helen's. 63

Honora's widower, Charles Henry Ernest White, then aged sixty-five, was married for a second time to Annie Beechey nee Le Fevre, aged forty-nine, on 3 April 1925 in Campbell Town.64 The marriage certificate recorded Annie’s parents as James Le Fevre and Jessie Pratt, and stated that Annie’s first husband had died in 1921. Both Annie and Charles were recorded with six living children each, making twelve living children, although it can be assumed that they were all adults at the time of the marriage. Charles was also listed with eight deceased children. Charles recorded his parents as George Henry White and Belinda Jane Gooding, and his occupation as labourer, while Annie’s occupation was recorded as 'domestic duties'.65

Andrew William White was probably the Andrew William White, aged sixty-six, who died in Melbourne in 1937.66 Charles Henry Ernest Goodwin/White was still in the North East of Tasmania when he died, on 21 January 1936 in Gould's Country.67 Charles pre-deceased his step-father Bartholomew Griffin, who died in December 1939 in Scottsdale in his eighty-first year.68

• 1. AOT Baptism Registration NS1190/16
• 2. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1860/695
• 3. AOT Baptism Registration NS499/3147
• 4. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1862/190
• 5. AOT Permission to Marry License No. NS373/2 No. 2485
• 6. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines", Privately Published
• 7. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1804/1847
• 8. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1862/51
• 9. Examiner 29 March 1878
• 10. Launceston Examiner 25 April 1863
• 11. Launceston Examiner 30 April 1863
• 12. Mercury 22 April 1863
• 13. Martingale: The strap of a horse's harness passing from the noseband to the girth between the forelegs, to keep the horse from rearing or throwing back its head
• 14. Mercury 29 April 1863
• 15. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1865/167
• 16. AOT Baptism Registration NS499/3147
• 17. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1867/170
• 18. AOT Baptism Registration NS1190/1
• 19. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1870/1224
• 20. http://www.bluetier.org/articles2/kburns.htm
• 21. Examiner 6 September 1877
• 22. Launceston Examiner 13 December 1877
• 23. AOT Tasmanian Mail, 22 December 1877
• 24. Examiner 29 March 1878
• 25. Examiner 23 April 1878
• 26. Mercury 23 August 1880
• 27. Mercury 19 November 1880
• 28. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1881/380
• 29. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines" (No birth record located in Tasmania)
• 30. AOT Death Registration RGD 1882/576]
• 31. Mercury 21 November 1882
• 32. Mercury 23 February 1883
• 33. The Mercury 23 October 1883
• 34. AOT Death Registration RGD 1883/668
• 35. Mercury 8 December 1883
• 36. Mercury 30 June 1884
• 37. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1884/558
• 38. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1853/712
• 39. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1859/2303
• 40. AOT Return of Persons who were in receipt of public funds on 1 Dec 1870, Leg. Council Paper: No. 47/1871 p. 39
• 41. Mercury 18 February 1875
• 42. Mercury 6 July 1875
• 43. Mercury 7 July 1875
• 44. Mercury 15 December 1875
• 45. Mercury 17 September 1877
• 46. Mercury 21 September 1877
• 47. Mercury 5 November 1878
• 48. Mercury 4 January 1881
• 49. Mercury 28 June 1882
• 50. Mercury 9 November 1882 & 13 November 1882
• 51. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1887/57
• 52. Mercury 8 September 1888
• 53. Examiner 12 April 1892
• 54. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines" (No marriage record located in Victoria)
• 55. TFI Death Registration 1900/1821
• 56. SRCT
• 57. Mercury 1 May 1900
• 58. TFI Death Registration RGD 1901/193
• 59. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines"
• 60. TFI Marriage Registration RGD 1906/1103
• 61. Mercury 27 February 1908
• 62. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines"
• 63. TFI Death Registration RGD 1916/1106
• 64. TFI Marriage Registration RGD 1925/18
• 65. AOT Marriage Registration NS1190/X
• 66. VIC BDM Death Registration Ref. No. 1937/4291
• 67. Hammond, John: "Descendants of Andrew Gooding and Lydia Hines"
• 68. Examiner 18 December 1939