By Karen Poh
IT’S been exactly 150 years since Thomas Burge Derham arrived in Australia with his wife Matilda from Somerset, England.
The biggest reunion the family has ever seen, 260 members of the Derham family gathered at Melrose Receptions in Tullamarine last Sunday, some meeting for the very first time.
It was a mammoth project, great grandson Bill Derham, 73, said.
“It’s the first time in 150 years, and what a job it’s been in getting them all and getting them there and organising them all.
“We have family attending from all parts of Australia, Somerset UK and Wisconsin USA,” he said.
“I started working on the family tree in 1974.”
Thomas and Matilda had 13 children in all.
“When he first came in 1857, my great grandfather traded as a butcher on La Trobe Street,” Bill said.
“And after his fourth child Emily was born, he then took his family to Albion in 1858, where he rented and then purchased land in 1860.”
Moving to Braybrook, Thomas Derham purchased the Braybrook Hotel in 1866.
He was an enterprising man involved in many pursuits, Mr Derham said.
“Land owner, cattle dealer, interest in an abattoir, hotel keeper, horse exporter … he rode overland to South Australia some 15 times, bringing back whaler horses to prepare for shipment to India as remounts for the British India Army.
“This was the start of a large export trade in horses, which his sons and sons-in-law became part of.
“His family spread out and prospered over various parts of Australia,” Mr Derham said.
By 1867, Thomas Derham was listed as a significant landowner in the Braybrook District rate book, with landholdings totalling almost 180 acres.
“But he also gave a great deal of time to the community, being on the councils of the Braybrook Roads Board, then Braybrook Shire, and both the Albion and Braybrook school committee.
“It’s an incredible story,” Bill said.
Apart from photo slideshow presentations of the family tree, relatives from near and far had a chance to swap stories.
“We had people speaking on various members of the family in sequence of their birth,” Bill said.
“But the other idea was to get them interacting together.
“The youngest member is about four weeks old, and the oldest member is 95,” he said.
And hopefully it wouldn’t end here, Bill said.
“We’re going to ask for a committee to continue on what I’ve been doing and also to organise five or 10 year gatherings… and mainly to organise the 200th year of (Thomas Derham’s) arriving,” he said.
