John TONKIN may have arrived in Pt. Adelaide on the 8-4-1855 aboard the ‘Lady McDonald’. The ‘Lady McDonald’ sailed from Plymouth on the 15-12-1854. He was listed as a miner from Cornwall, age 22.
John probably settled immediately in the Burra area and started working in the Burra copper mines.
John TONKIN married Susan Abbott at the home of Simon Mitchel in Redruth, Burra on the 16-12-1858. They were both living in Redruth at the time, and aged 23. The minister was John Gibbon Wright.
Susannah Abbott would have been born c1835. We know her father’s name was Stephen.
There is a Susan Abbott who arrived in Pt. Adelaide on the 25-10-1853 aboard the ‘Neptune’. The ‘Neptune’ sailed from Plymouth on the 7-6-1853. There is not enough detail in the shipping record to know if this is actually our Susan.
John & Susan had eight children:
1)Charles TONKIN. *Born 6-8-1859 in Redruth.
*Married 10-2-1886 to Eliza Jane Champion Hand in Moonta.
Issue:
a)Linda May TONKIN. b.4-1-1887-East Moonta.
m.25-9-1912. Stanley Gilbert Bentley-East Moonta.
b)William Charles Stanley TONKIN. b.18-8-1888-East Moonta.
m.1-7-1914. Ethel Martin-Moonta.
c)Jane Ann Abbott TONKIN. b.30-5-1890-East Moonta.
d)Ruby Alice Thomasina TONKIN. b.12-11-1892-East Moonta.
2)William TONKIN. *Born 9-11-1862 in Crafers.
3)Emma TONKIN. *Born 7-4-1864 in Kooringa.
4)Thomas Henry TONKIN. *Born 7-2-1866 in Kooringa.
*Buried 19-1-1923 in Broken Hill.
*Married on 28-2-1891 to Beatrice Bunney GRIBBIN in Broken Hill.
Issue:
a)William Francis TONKIN. b.1891-Broken Hill.
d.23-6-1957-Moonta.
m.11-7-1912. Hilda Elizabeth Emma Bohn-Moonta with issue.
b)Edward John TONKIN. b.1893-Broken Hill.
d.24-6-1944 in Parkside Mental Hospital, Adelaide.
c)Caroline (Carrie) Beatrice TONKIN. b.1895-Broken Hill.
m.1924. Richard Finlay-Adelaide.
d)Lucy Ellen TONKIN. b.16-4-1898-Adelaide.
d.7-8-1970-Broken Hill.
m.1917. George Allen-Broken Hill with issue (see Allen).
5)Alfred TONKIN. *Born 14-10-1867 in Kooringa.
*Married 7-4-1886 to Jane Ann (Jennie) Hearn in Kadina with issue.
Issue:
a)Eve Catherine Tonkin. b.17-6-1886-Kadina.
b)Bernice Gwendoline Tonkin. b.15-4-1888-Kadina.
c)Winifred Muriel Tonkin. b.9-8-1890-Kadina.
d)Alfred Alan Tonkin. b.4-2-1893-Kadina.
e)Hazel Aileen Tonkin. b. 5-1-1898-Kadina.
f)Gordon Newman Tonkin. b. 26-2-1901-Kadina.
6)Alice TONKIN. *Born 8-8-1873 in Moonta Mines.
*Died 8-5-1875 in East Moonta.
7)Alice TONKIN. *Born 27-11-1875 in Moonta Mines.
*Possibly married Stephen W. Clifford in Broken Hill in 1897.
8)Amelia TONKIN. *Born 27-6-1880 in East Moonta.
*Died 1-9-1880 in East Moonta.
John TONKIN was a miner. He probably moved to Broken Hill in the late 1880’s when the Moonta mines were scaling down, taking his wife and at least some of his children with him. I know William lived in Broken Hill South in Wilson Street. Like most Cornish miners, they were Methodists.
John TONKIN died in Broken Hill South in 1902 and was buried on the 14th June, age 67.
Susan TONKIN died in Broken Hill in 1916 and was buried on the 3rd August, age 79.
They are buried in the same grave, along with their son, Thomas Henry, in the Broken Hill cemetery.
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Thomas Henry TONKIN was born in Kooringa on 7-2-1866. He would have moved to the Moonta area at the age of about four.
As an adult he may have worked in the Moonta mines.
He moved to Broken Hill with his parents sometime between 1883 & 1891, and worked there in the mines.
Thomas Henry TONKIN married Beatrice Bunney GRIBBIN on 28-2-1891 at the home of Beatrice’s mother & stepfather (W.H. Moyle) in South Broken Hill. They had four children before Beatrice died at Parkside Lunatic Asylum, Adelaide of ‘convulsions and mania’ on the 6-2-1899 at the age of 26.
1)William Francis TONKIN. *Born 1891 in Broken Hill.
*Died 23-6-1957 in Moonta.
*Married 11-7-1912 to Hilda Elizabeth Emma Bohn in Moonta with issue.
2)Edward John TONKIN. *Born 1893 in Broken Hill.
*Died 24-6-1944 in Parkside Mental Hospital, Adelaide.
3)Caroline (Carrie) Beatrice TONKIN. *Born 1895 in Broken Hill.
*Married 1924 to Richard Finlay in Adelaide.
4)Lucy Ellen TONKIN. *Born 16-4-1898 in Adelaide.
*Died 7-8-1970 in Broken Hill.
*Married 1917 to George Allen in Broken Hill with issue (see Allen).
There has been some suggestion Thomas spent some time in New Zealand.
Thomas Henry TONKIN died in Broken Hill and was buried in the Broken Hill cemetery on 19-1-1923 in his parent’s grave, age 57. The grave is unmarked. George Allen, his son-in-law, was one of the witnesses to the burial.
Beatrice Bunney TONKIN died on 6-2-1899 at Parkside Lunatic Asylum, Adelaide. She was buried the next day in West Terrace Cemetery in her grandmother’s grave (Catherine Sparks BUNNEY).
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Lucy Ellen TONKIN was born in Adelaide on 16-4-1898. She may have spent the first 10 months of her life in Adelaide as her mother died there when she was just 9 ½ months old. They were living at the time in Hackney, Adelaide. We know, though, that Lucy grew up in Broken Hill.
She went to live with Joseph & Sarah BUNNEY (nee Hobbs) in Broken Hill. They were known as ‘aunty & uncle’ to Lucy and she carried their surname ‘Bunney’ for a time. She was known as Arthur Bunney’s little sister.
Lucy worked as a domestic before she got married in 1917 to George Allen.