James Henniker born 4 December 1826 in Westwell, Kent, England
- Maria Henniker born 10 October 1828 in Westwell, Kent
- Harriet Henniker christened 3 July 1831
- Ann Henniker born 1833, christened 19 March 1833, Westwell, Kent
- Catherine Frances born 12 April 1835 Westwell, Kent
- Thomas Henniker ch: 2 July 1837
- William born 1840
- George born 10 Dec 1843 First Creek, South Australia
- Robert born 23 Jan 1845 First Creek, South Australia
- Henry born 6 Oct 1846 at Magill, South Australia
First Creek in South Australia
“Fall of the First Creek near Glen Osmond S.A. by E.V. Guerard, jpg. This image, which was originally posted to Flickr.com, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 08:21, 28 July 2011 (UTC) by Abu-Dun (talk). On that date it was licensed under the license below, from: – commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Fall_of_the_first_creek_near_Glen_Osmond_S.A.-by_EV_Guerard_.jpg”
First Creek flowing through Hazelwood Park, Adelaide, Australia in 1925.
Digital reproduction or scan of original photo. No known submitter of this image.
Image from: “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hazelwood_park_first_creek_1925.jpg”
After landing in South Australia in June 1839 Thomas and his family initially lived for probably a month (usually as long as settler’s could stay) at Emigrant Square. A seemingly rough and tumble place, with few necessities, very basic living and open to the elements, but at the same time offering some shelter and supplies and a chance for the settlers to get their bearings after such a long and arduous sea journey. After this, Thomas took his family to Magill and then later to an area along the First Creek. Where is not known exactly, but the First Creek runs from the River Torrens, and today when driving from Magill along Montacute Road and Old Norton Summit Road you can see signs which let you know you are crossing over First Creek. Some of his later children were born at First Creek. It is known that Thomas and Jemima eventually settled at Gawler, South Australia, with both dying in this area as well.
Working now as a nurse, I previously worked as a Library Technician at the State Library of South Australia and then Noarlunga Library Services. I was lucky enough to work at the State Library in the Archives department, which is now a separate entity and housed at a suburban site. then Noarlunga Library Services. I always loved English and Australian history, and began my Heneker family history in about 1980, well before the advent of the internet, and now of course with so many digitised records online there is a treasure chest of information out there, and it just keeps growing. One of the most wonderful treasures we have here in Australia is the Trove website, the free digitised newspapers of nearly every place in Australia, provided for free by the National Library of Australia. This has opened up so much day to day information for people searching for further information about their ancestors. I chose to write a blog as a way for me to put down a lot of information I had that wasn't necessarily easy to slot into a "family tree" as such. And I wanted to record some of the stories of the Heneker clan, and especially James Heneker (1826-1917) who arrived in South Australia as a 12 year old boy with his family. Like most of us in the genealogy community I have become obsessed, and of course, this is really a never ending story. The community of bloggers, and also Facebook specialist pages has allowed me and many of us to learn from each other, and to use some of the many amazing tools that are out there now for us to use and enhance our research. I just want to stay awake at night reading or researching or just browsing online for more and more information and I am sure I am not alone. My one wish?? Dad Neville Laurence Heneker 1929 - 1987, this is for you, for all the things you told me, and the stories you related, often when we were up north in the Flinders Ranges, at Beltana, Hawker, Blinman and many other amazing places. I wish you were here, so I could share all this new information that has come to light. And of course for you Pa (Laurence Douglas Heneker), your stories were incredible and watching you sleep out under the stars at Arkaroola with a rock for your pillow is an image I will never forget. Oh if only we had digital cameras back then...I think of you both every time I write my words and read my books. I love you both.
