General News
26 October, 2024
Tree grows at Leach reunion
DESCENDANTS of Jonathan and Jane Leach returned to Rheola on Sunday. The family reunion, more than 160 years after Jonathan and Jane settled in the area, was attended by 50 people. They travelled from Melbourne, Bendigo, Geelong and St Arnaud to...
DESCENDANTS of Jonathan and Jane Leach returned to Rheola on Sunday.
The family reunion, more than 160 years after Jonathan and Jane settled in the area, was attended by 50 people.
They travelled from Melbourne, Bendigo, Geelong and St Arnaud to join family members still living in the district, sharing family history over afternoon tea in the Rheola hall.
Organiser Julie Piening said Rheola was the central place for Leach family history.
“Stories and photographs were shared as people wandered around the displays,” she said.
“We all had fun adding ourselves and each other on the branches of the family tree mapped out over several large tables in the middle of the hall.”
Jonathan and Jane Leach and their family arrived in Rheola in the 1860s.
Jonathan came in the search for gold. Jane, a school teacher from Scotland, set up her own private school before the Rheola State School opened in 1870.
Julie said the eldest of the four children, Priscilla had married Josiah Austin and settled in Maldon before the rest of the family moved to Rheola.
“The youngest child Sarah Jane, worked at Tyler’s Halfway House in Rheola before moving to the Western District to work at the Barunah Plains station before marrying Jabez Button and settling in the Ballarat area.
“The middle two brothers, William and Thomas married the two Bell sisters from Rheola, Sarah and Mary.
“After leasing and working at Kingower Station they purchased portions of the land when it was opened up for selection.
“This has led to many generations of farmers and land owners in the Rheola district with the original Kingower Station land still in the family “
Julie and present-day descendants remain active in the Rheola community.
Julie earlier this year released a book on the 150 years of Rheola Charity Carnival.
She continues to research both family and district history chronicling more than a century.