Writing the family history

Every family has stories to tell… these are the stories of my ancestors.

Two years ago, I retired from full-time work and started thinking about how I should start writing the book I had always wanted to write about my fourth great-grandmother, Elizabeth.

I’ve written a lot before – reports, articles, even a couple of theses, but never something like this – which is in the genre of creative nonfiction.

What is creative nonfiction? According to Wikipedia – “Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.” And that’s what I’ve done here.

I gathered up all the genealogical information we have, did some historical research on the times and places that she lived in, and then put it all together, with a generous sprinkling of imagination, into this book – “Fighting the Shadows”.

It tells the story of the life of Elizabeth, who was transported to Australia from Ireland as Elizabeth Church. However, while she was transported from Ireland, DNA tells us that she was born in North Carolina, in what is now the United States of America. In the early 1800s, Elizabeth travelled from North Carolina to Dublin and then to Australia, an epic journey for a woman in those days, even if not entirely on her own terms.

The story’s bare bones are historically correct, but I had to imagine many of the details, as their lives were not significant enough in the grand scheme of life in the nineteenth century to have been recorded. Even worse for Elizabeth was to have been born female, where not even your crimes were enough to etch your name in the history books. Yet, being a woman in the early days of white Australian settlement was dangerous and challenging, requiring fortitude and courage to survive.

Life for women in the colony of New South Wales, extending to what we now know as Tasmania, was harsh and unforgiving, demanding immense strength and resilience. Men comprised approximately 80 per cent of the population in 1811 when Elizabeth first landed in Botany Bay, leaving women highly vulnerable. In addition, female convicts were widely viewed as either a drain on resources or a moral and social threat to the colony. Governor Lachlan Macquarie remarked, “Let it be remembered how much misery and vice are likely to prevail in a society in which women bear no proportion to the men … To this, in great measure, the prevalence of prostitution is reasonable to be attributed”.

For women like Elizabeth, survival meant enduring gruelling work, overcrowded conditions, and the constant threat of exploitation or violence. It meant bearing children year after year, often with little time to recover, and making do with what little they had. These women didn’t live lives of comfort or privilege; they faced daily battles against hardship and uncertainty. Yet, despite these struggles, they persevered—raising families, building communities and supporting each other through shared burdens.

Whether convict or free, women existed in a society dominated by men, where they were often valued more for their labour or potential as wives than as individuals. But our foremothers were resilient, determined and resourceful, carving out lives in a land as wild and untamed as their circumstances. Their survival required physical endurance and an unyielding spirit, and their struggles laid the foundation of our society today.

This book is a labour of love, and pays homage to Elizabeth. While most of her story as I have written it is imagined, her life would not have been an easy one, but it is through her strength and resilience that her many descendants are here today.