William Eckford came to Australia a free man, was convicted of stealing a sheep (lies I tell you) and was sentenced to death but because of Rev Samuel Marsden's testimony of his good character was instead sent to Newcastle as punishment (Hmmm?). He was the second harbour pilot of Kings Town (Newcastle), a job which he had for many years. His children accounted for 5 of the 14 students at the first school in Newcastle. He and his descendants eventually settled in and around the Maitland/East Maitland area and have spread out from there. The following is the exact text of the notice for the upcoming Eckford Family Gathering. Regards... Tim ============ On 12 June 1801 William and Mary Eckford arrived in Australia on the "Earl Cornwallis". To commemorate this occasion, 200 years later, a gathering of Eckford family descendants will be held in Maitland, NSW on Sunday 10 June 2001. This gathering will take the form of an informal bring-your-own picnic lunch on the east side of Maitland Park (vehicle access is via Cross St then Devonshire St on the southern side of the New England Highway). Photographs and documents will be displayed in the hall. If you have any relevant photos and/or documents please bring them along. Please invite any other members of the family you may be in contact with as there are sure to be others we do not have details for or are not aware of. For those wishing to do so, a welcome has been extended to attend one of the normal Sunday morning services at St Peter's Anglican Church, William St, East Maitland (where the early Eckfords worshipped). Normal Sunday morning services at St Peter's are at 7:30 am and 9:30 am. General Timetable We will be opening the hall at about 8 am and expect to finish up around 5 pm (or when it gets dark). We are hoping to have lunch finished by 2 pm at which time we are planning a group photo. What to bring Please bring along a well filled picnic basket and any other things you may need for an enjoyable picnic (fold up table/chairs, rug, etc). As mentioned earlier, please feel free to bring along any relevant photos and/or documents. Please also bring a name tag. *** We would like to have a computer set up in the hall on the day so we can display the current family tree and update it with any new information that people can provide us with on the day. Any information that you can bring along that might help us update the family tree would be well received. It would be very useful and greatly appreciated if any such information could be left with us in order to cross check the details at a later time (eg copies of photos, documents, floppy disks, etc). If you are able to bring a computer (preferrably a laptop) would you please contact Jack Jones whose details are below. To give us some idea of the numbers of people who will be attending would you please RSVP as soon as possible. If you have any inquiries about the gathering or can offer any assistance please don't hesitate to contact one of the following people: Jack Jones (02) 4954-8808 Norma Eckford (02) 6653-1163 Heather Gray (02) 6653-1489 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This message and any attachment is confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you have received it by mistake please let us know by reply and then delete it from your system; you should not copy the message or disclose its contents to anyone.