> As these girls returned to uk as young teenagers it leads > me to assume > either father died or remarried...will try to check other > states for > information. Just a thought, but have you considered that the family may have returned to the Uk as well and their father may have been a publican IN the UK? For example, if their father was in the army and posted to Australia the girls may have been born here and then returned to UK when the regiment was sent home. Once there father was pensioned off he got work as a publican in the UK. Or, perhaps their father came out during the gold rush, the girls were born here and then the family returned home after a few years. I have branch of a family who did just that and coincidentally were publicans too. The youngest sister stayed and married. Older sister, husband and children all returned home. It's just a thought but it is always worth thinking outside the square. Jennny