The ninth child of Thomas Hope and Alcie (Alice) Armstrong, William Bryce Hope was born in 1851 at Jedburgh, Roxburgh, Scotland.

In the 1851 Scottish Census, we note that William is recorded as being Bryce, not William. I've been looking at why Thomas and Alice named their children the way they did and so research is ongoing as to who "William" was and who was "Bryce"??? I note that Alice has a brother "William", was it after him, that she and Thomas named their ninth child? Or did Thomas have either a brother or half-brother called William? Ah! More avenues and reasons for researching our family's history!!!

He was five years of age when the family arrived in Australia (1856) and his early years were spent in the Hynam/Naracoorte district of South Australia, where as a young man, he worked for his uncle, Adam Smith of Hynam Station. Will taught himself to play the cornet and also he taught himself to speak several languages as well as read, write and talk German fluently.

I have visited Hynam House and was invited to look over the ledgers and manuscripts that have been handed from generation to generation, with the aim of trying to locate as much information as possible about the Hope family. Extracts from the ledgers kept by the Smith family show that William Hope was in fact employed by both Adam Smith and his son, also Adam Smith.

Two entries in the ledgers, show that on 17 October 1877 he received 20 pounds and another 32 pounds 8 shillings on 3 March 1879. In lieu of wages, William often took payment in either livestock or goods, i.e. tobacco, and these are also listed.

On 1 June 1882, William Bryce Hope of "Huntley" Apsley, Victoria, married his Mother's maid, Eliza Ann Robertson. (see section on "Robertson" for further information of her family). Eliza, or "Annie" as she was known, was born at West Sinclair, near Heywood, Victoria on 28 April 1861, the fifth child and eldest daughter of Robert Robertson and Elizabeth Betts. Prior to her Marriage to William Hope, she was living at Edenhope. Eliza died at Powers Creek, Victoria on 18 June 1892 of pneumonia aged 31 years, only 7 months after her fifth child, David, was born. (See Appendix 11 for more information on Annie Robertson's family.)

Hang in there - William's page and those of his family are still a "Works in Progress". I am putting as much time as I can into bringing them up to date with the material I have on hand. In the meantime, if you have anything - text or photos which you would like to add to what you already see, then your contribution will be most welcome. You can contact me at:

stemmata@gmail.com

William the Poet

William wrote these lines which were placed in Annie's coffin:

ANNIE

Good-bye Darling, till the morning

Thus I lay upon thy breast

O'er thy heart, now cold and pulseless

Parting words to thee addressed.

Good-bye Darling, till the morning

Brings me hopes which may not wane

And the sad farewell for ever

Never shall be said again.

THE SOLDIER'S MONUMENT

... Oh! Thou who God of battles art

From us hide not thy fall

But cause thy love in ev'ry heart

To find a dwelling place.

And may thy love throughout the world

Expand still more and more

Till peace her banner has unfurled

O'er every sea and shore

NOTE: This poem was given to me by one of the family who has since died. The paper had yellowed over time and as it had been folded for decades, the first part of the poem was illegible. However, those words that remain are still worth recording.

From documents and family records relating to William and Annie, they never settled in one spot for long. In 1882 and 1884 they were at Wytharrone, western Victoria, in 1886 they had settled at Boikerbert; 1888 saw them at Bogalara, and by 1892 they had set up home at Powers Creek which is 20 miles south of Edenhope. As mentioned earlier in this book, the families of William Hope and his brother Richmond, lived together. Also living with them, were their two bachelor brothers, David and Thomas.

William died on 18 November 1912 at Powers Creek, Victoria and the obituary in the Narracoorte Herald of 25 November 1912, sums up his life well:

"Mr William Hope - Our Edenhope correspondent reported in our last edition that Mr William Hope died suddenly on November 18 in that town.

Mr Hope was a member of a well known pioneer family of the border district between Naracoorte and Apsley and was well known in Naracoorte in the early days, being a prominent in the social life. He was a man of more than ordinary ability which might be termed "a touch of eccentric genius" and if he had followed his literary proclivity up, he would have attained prominence.

He had considerable poetic talent but he made no systemic effort to cultivate it. He occasionally flashed off some very good verses in the inspiration of the moment and a number of these occasionally found daylight in the press. he was well versed in the poetic, and general literature had in him an attentive student. He had a prodigious memory and he could interest a company of friends with hours of poetic selections from the best authors. He was a great admirer of Burns and Lodeon and had lectures on both of them which he used to entertain private friends with and delivered them on several occasions in country towns when the spirit moved him.

He figured for a number of years as a member of the Naracoorte Band under the late Mr Elsden and was a great coronet player.

He was farming and grazing for a number of years in the Apsley district. He gave up land and after the death of his wife, moved about the country, doing whatever his hand found to do until he anchored near the old spot at Edenhope a year or two ago.

His abilities never seemed to have found the groove they should have done.

We are sure many old Naracoorte folk have kindly remembrances of him and will regret to hear that he will strike the lyre no more."

Extracts from early Naracoorte newspapers report that William Hope was very active in the social circle of the town:

Naracoorte Herald of 4 July 1876 under "Entertainment": "... The entertainment in connection with the Good Templar Lodge here was well attended on Wednesday night - the Wesleyan Schoolroom being filled to excess ... Mr W Hope having sung in good style "Waste Not."

Naracoorte Herald of 3 October 1876: " ... Opening of the Naracoorte Institute on Thursday night last ... At the concert Mr W Hope sang "Sweet Home ..."

Naracoorte Herald of 29 May 1877 under "The Anniversary of the Loyal Mosquito Lodge, I.O.O.F., M.U.": "On Thursday the 24 May (Queen's Birthday) the members of the Mosquito Plains Lodge, I.O.O.F., M.U., celebrated the 12th Anniversary of their Lodge ... Brother W Hope sang "The March Of The Cameron Men ..."

Naracoorte Herald of 1 April 1879 under "Entertainment - Good Templar": " ... after an interval of ten minutes, the second part of the programme was opened by an instrumental duet - "Woodland Whispers" on the piano by Miss Sharpley and the coronet by Mr W Hope, this was followed by a song by Mr W Hope "Why Chime The Bell ..."

From the above extracts recorded in the "Narracoorte Herald", it is obvious that William Bryce Hope was a very talented man, although he didn't use it to his greatest advantage. After reading the obituary notice, which I did back in about 1983, I tried to locate some of his poems. I searched dozens of columns of old newspapers for any sign of his work, but to no avail. Although I didn't give up the thought of locating any of his literary treasures, I certainly had to put a hold on that part of my research and wait for some additional clues to surface. William was also fluent in both French and German languages. In addition to playing the coronet, he was a self taught cornet player.

In Margaret Mulcahy's letter dated 23 September 1985, she says: "Bill's wife once worked for his mother, and I wonder in that class conscious age, if that was not acceptable. Everyone was poor, but those of 'good family' very definitely never forgot it. I don't think it was snobbery so much as an effort to seek a standard for the families. In later generations of course, snobbery was very evident, and for the worst possible reasons, usually money."

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Thomas Hope (father)