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Willf Harwood with Steve and Carole Ockerby and Frank Ockerby (r)

Wilf Harwood's input was also most substantial. He and Marjorie Sturgess (a grand daughter of Tom Ockerby, and therefore cousin of Wilf's mother Allison) had been working separately and independently of Kathy to research their ancestry. Marjorie's contribution to the research at the Australian end was enormous.

By comparing notes, Wilf, Marjorie and Kathy managed to fill in many of the gaps and also provide each other with valuable documents and photographs.

Wilf added another dimension by painstakingly verifying the Lockton family tree (i.e. that of Featherstone's wife Mary Lockton) through the Latter Day Saints.

Wilf also spent countless hours scanning most of the photos for Tasmanian Pioneers.

The "Rellies"

When Featherstone Ockerby set off for Tasmania in 1883, little could he have suspected that by the end of the second millennium there would be more Ockerbys living in Australia than in his land of origin.

From their early beginnings at Aberfeldy at Sulphur Creek near Penguin, his descendants have spread to the four corners of Australia.

Of the "rellies", Kathy Wright (whose mother, Nancy, was an Ockerby) has been unstinting in gathering as much information as is humanly possible on the histories of her forebears and has been instrumental in bringing together the varied and scattered descendants of Featherstone to rejoice in the unique heritage of the Ockerby surname.

Kathy has been meticulous in her research and with much dedication and hard work, managed to put together a magnificent book, Tasmanian Pioneers, which brings life and depth into what would otherwise be a dry tally of births, deaths and marriages.

Tasmanian Pioneers not only records what happened when Featherstone and his nine children (he subsequently fathered 11 in total) landed in Tasmania, but also takes us back to his parents' home who earning a living running a successful cab business in and out of Dewsbury, Yorkshire. We can also trace Featherstone's history back through his grandfather who remained in Little Fenton and subsequently back to his great great grandfather, John Ockerby, born in 1724

Kathy's email address has not been listed in order to avoid spam, but you can obtain a copy of The Tasmanian Pioneers by contacting me on ockerbytree@ockerby.co.uk

Featherstone and Mary Ockerby made the brave decision to start a new life in Australasia at the age of 46.

By this time Featherstone had already sold his coaching business and, having always suffered from a weak chest, determined to head for warmer climes.

Their eldest son, Jack, left from London in February 1883 aboard the SS Potosi with the task of assessing whether Tasmania would make a suitable country in which to settle.

In October 1883, following Jack's favourable reports of the prospects in Tasmania, Featherstone, Mary and their nine children boarded the SS Tiverton on its maiden voyage bound for Melbourne and from there on to Launceston, Tasmania.

Early in 1884, Featherstone purchased 100 acres of land on the north coast of Tasmania near Penguin and shortly afterwards commenced the construction of the family home, Aberfeldy.

Construction was all by hand, but as an ardent Methodist, Featherstone would not permit any work to be done on Sunday anmd the only reading which was permitted was of the bible.

Mary died in 1910 at the age of 72 and Featherstone died in 1916 at the age of 79. They were buried at Penguin Cemetery together with their daughters Lizzie, Alice and Kit who had predeceased them

the above detail is taken from Kathy Wright's "Tasmanian Pioneers"