Richard Pence wrote: >Great story, Joan. The "high cheek bones and black hair" are an >integral part of the American Indian heritage tradition in many >cases. I live in the farthest southwest tip of the Australian continent. In terms of the globe we are diametrically opposite some point in the North Atlantic, somewhere north of Bermuda. That places us as far as it is possible to get from New York, for example, and still be on land. We are as far removed from American Indian blood. Guess what. We have European families here too with high cheek bones, dark almond eyes and long black hair, except that people here insist "they must be gypsies" . . . . Gil Gil Hardwick <gruagach@highway1.com.au>

> Richard Pence wrote: > > >Great story, Joan. The "high cheek bones and black hair" are an > >integral part of the American Indian heritage tradition in many > >cases. > > I live in the farthest southwest tip of the Australian continent. > In terms of the globe we are diametrically opposite some point in > the North Atlantic, somewhere north of Bermuda. > > That places us as far as it is possible to get from New York, for > example, and still be on land. We are as far removed from American > Indian blood. > > Guess what. > > We have European families here too with high cheek bones, dark > almond eyes and long black hair, except that people here insist > "they must be gypsies" . . . . > > Gil Hardwick <gruagach@highway1.com.au> Don't be so certain those high cheek bones and long dark hair aren't from Native American ancestry. It seems I remember corresponding with a lady in Australia on the Metisgen list who is descended from Native Americans. I believe some were sent from Canada in part of the effort to remove Indians from Canada. And if I remember correctly, her husband may be gypsy. Sharon Sharon Simpson <sharonlsimpson@comcast.net>

Sharon wrote: >Don't be so certain those high cheek bones and long dark hair aren't >from Native American ancestry. It seems I remember corresponding >with a lady in Australia on the Metisgen list who is descended from >Native Americans. I believe some were sent from Canada in part of >the effort to remove Indians from Canada. And if I remember >correctly, her husband may be gypsy. There as a very great deal of population movement all over during the turmoil of the 60 years between about the French & Indian War and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Certainly without it Australia would never have been considered, and it takes little to deduce the diverse range of people moving back and forth as a result. Two daughters of the family I mentioned did indeed marry sailors and went off variously to the Pacific Islands and the Americas. But that was much later. The two original brothers carrying that family name had been in Tasmania where was murdered by convicts and the other took off for the Swan River colony where he was speared by an Aboriginal in 1841. But that says nothing of the women of the family, or their origins. In the one photo we have the daughters are all very striking, while the mother is dressed in very traditional Irish fashion. I doubt however that they originated in the Americas. The two girls married and went from here, not the other way around. I would be interested to know where your Canadians had been sent, and when. It is all very interesting to me. Gil Gil Hardwick <gruagach@highway1.com.au>