Hi Marion, I have said book and here is the detail from page 293 on William Barnes of Katamatite. "Barnes, William, Katamatite, was born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1839, and came to Victoria by the ship "Omega" in 1855. He was farm labourer for a time in the Geelong district, and then rented a farm on his own account and carted to the diggings for a few years. He was next farming for two years at Jan Juc, after which he selected 30 acres in the county of Hampden, and finally went to the parish of Katamatite, where he selected 280 acres, and has since purchased an additional 600 acres, which he devotes to farming purposes." Doesn't give much does it? - simply whets the appetite !! regards dorothy -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Marion Stainsby Sent: Sunday, 1 April 2007 5:04 PM To: GEELONG List Subject: [GEELONG] Victoria and Its Metropolis Dear Listers Can someone please help? I am trying to identify members of the 1867 Building Committee of the Wesleyan Church at Highton, and with the wonderful help of all sorts of people, and the references on the Geelong Book and Cemeteries Indexes, I can more or less pin down 15 of the 17 men listed (and most of their wives). The two missing are William Hill (far too many Hill families, unless some descendant can establish the right one!), and William Barnes. I note a lot of references to the Clyde Company Papers for this name in the Book Index, but don't think he's the right man. However. Stewart McAdams' Card Index, expertly typed by Pam Jennings, has a William Barnes of "Mt Moriac/ Highton / Cressy /Katamatita " and refers to the 1888 "Victoria and Its Metropolis". If some kind soul has this book, and can copy out what it says - in literal detail, as I may want to quote it in print - it would be an enormous help. I am wanting to be able to make some generalisations about the background and progress of this group of people, without the danger of being proved wrong by some inconvenient fact. We are wanting to make our book a resource for future local and family historians, if only by gathering together a lot of information from many varied sources and finding what doesn't add up. Many thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you! Marion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For on-line indexes and information on Geelong and District http://www.zades.com.au ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank you, Dorothy, that's spot on - and it actually sums him up nicely for the sort of book we're trying to write about the church. With the aid of the IGI and our PROV and Victorian BDM Indexes, I've already found out more about William Barnes and his wife and nine children. The challenge now is to condense it! Your help is very much appreciated, and gives me exactly what I needed. You also kindly went the extra mile in looking up the Clyde Company. The Book Index refers to the volumes of the Clyde Company Papers edited by P L Brown, which I have. The William Barnes who is referred to in them is mentioned several times in letters and documents, and was apparently a businessman in Tasmania at an earlier date than our man. Many thanks Marion