On 18th March 1853 the ship Bloomer sailed from Liverpool with 277 emigrants bound for Melbourne to start a new life in the colonies. On board was John Kyle, formerly a farmer of some 25 acres at Jedburgh in the county of Roxburghshire, Scotland. At the age of 82 he was migrating to Victoria, in the company of eleven family members to start a new life. Their reasons for migrating can only be conjectured but it is unlikely to have been due to dire financial necessity as they were unassisted migrants, suggesting they were people of at least moderate means.

The Bloomer was a vessel of 887 tons under the command of Master Thomas Barry Allen. The full passenger complement comprised 128 English, 43 Scottish, 104 Irish and 2 other passengers, and included 63 children and infants. The Kyle party were of three generations:-

The girl listed as Mary Kyle was in fact Mary Story, John’s grand-daughter. His daughter Martha had married Robert Story and Mary was born in 1834. She was living with her grandfather as a servant at the time of the 1851 census.

The Bloomer took 110 days to reach Melbourne, arriving on 5th July in mid-winter. One of the 2nd class cabin passengers was F.W.Leighton, a 28 year old man, who kept a journal from which we learn something of the nature of the voyage. An outward passage of 110 days was not by any means a fast voyage. Bloomer encountered at least two severe storms, which the passengers found terrifying, and periods of calm, each of several days during which no way was made. Despite a shortage of water in the later weeks, the Bloomer was a healthy ship; by the end of the voyage there had been only four deaths at sea. She passed through The Heads into Port Phillip Bay on 4th July and it must have been with eager anticipation that passengers viewed their first close sight of land for over three months. Leighton records his first impression of Port Phillip Bay as follows: "No sight of habitation since passing the quarantine station where a vessel was riding at anchor in quarantine. Several huts were seen on the side of the rocky wooded hill also some small houses. The bay is most extensive and heights around it richly wooded. Some beautiful spots that we may well fancy will be in future time occupied by edifices for the numerous number of persons who flock to these shores."

John Kyle senior was born in 1772 in Bonjedwood, near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, the fourth son of Mark Kyle and Isabel Murray. Roxburghshire is one of the southern counties of Scotland, close to the English border and an area with a long history of strife. In 1798, in the parish of Cavers, John married Janet Ferguson who was born in Wilton, Roxburghshire. They lived in Jedburgh, where they had seven sons and two daughters:

The 1841 census shows John and Janet living in Castle St., Jedburgh, son George, daughter Isabella and granddaughter Jennet (the daughter of his son Alexander who had migrated to New South Wales in 1839). Janet died in 1848 at the age of 80 and she is buried in a marked grave in the Jedburgh Abbey churchyard. By the time of the 1851 census John was living at 2 Abbey Close, Jedburgh (a 2-story stone house still standing), his occupation shown as "Gardener and farmer of 25 acres". Living with him at the time were his daughter Isabella, his grand-daughter Jennet Kyle, age 25 and single, Mary Story age 18 (a grand-daughter by his daughter Martha), and son George, 35 and unmarried.

Not much is known about John Kyle after his arrival in Melbourne. It seems that he settled in Collingwood, possibly cared for by Mary Story, at least until she married in 1854. He died at the age of 87 on 15th January 1857 at Palmer St, Collingwood; the cause of death was recorded as "decay of nature". John’s second eldest son Alexander was present at his father’s passing. Alexander lived in New South Wales, as noted above, and there is nothing to tell us how he came to be in Melbourne, but it is possible that he had been notified of his father’s failing health. John is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery; the grave has been located but is unmarked. His death was noted back in Scotland; the Teviotdale Record of 23 May 1857 reported:

"On the 15th January last at his son's residence Palmer St., Collingwood, Melbourne,, Victoria, John Kyle, aged 87 years. This aged Christian retained his faculties to the last and died, full of faith and hope."

Alexander had migrated to Sydney on the Mary in November 1839 with his wife Mary, nee Turnbull, and four children - Margaret age 20, Martha 14, Isabella 10 and John 2. In due course they settled in the Hunter River Valley near Singleton, NSW. Martha married Duncan McLennan and they raised 6 children in Sydney. Isabella married Alexander Dean and they had 9 children, also in Sydney. John died at the age of 4 so the Kyle name in this branch of the family died out in New South Wales by 1888 with the death of Alexander.

As noted above, Alexander’s daughter Jennet had remained in Scotland in the household of her grandfather. In 1852 she married John Hope in Jedburgh and they arrived in Melbourne on the Chance as unassisted migrants in October the same year. They had a son John born in 1860 at Ballarat. He died at the age of 6 in 1866 and Janet died the following year at Scotchmans Lead, near Ballarat. She is buried in the Buninyong cemetery.

Thomas married Janet (or Jennet) Henderson about 1825 when they were both about 23. They had a family of 4 sons and 5 daughters, all of whom survived to adulthood, and of which all but Agnes migrated to Victoria:

At the time of the 1841 census Thomas and Janet were living at Anna Gardens, Jedburgh, with Margaret, Adam, Alexander and Mark. By the time of the 1851 census they were living at 13 Friars Stead, Jedburgh (no longer existing), and residing with them were all their children except the two eldest girls Margaret and Janet who, by then, were married - of which more later.

Janet senior died in 1851 and so, like his father, Thomas was a widower when he emigrated to Australia with his five children. In 1859 he returned to Scotland taking his son Mark with him. While there he married Hellen Turnbull in the parish of Jedburgh and the three returned to Victoria on the White Star, arriving in January 1860. Hellen was born in Roxburgh, the daughter of John Turnbull and Margaret, nee Murray. She was about 55 and Thomas was 56 when they married. (It is noted that John Kyles' mother was also a Murray but it is not known what the connection was, if any. One can also speculate whether Hellen and Mary Turnbull, the wife of Thomas’ brother Alexander, were related).

After coming to Australia Hellen only lived five more years and died in 1864 at the age of 60. Thomas had cards printed announcing the time and place of her funeral procession (one of these cards still exists); the procession departed from 137 Leister St., Fitzroy, which was probably their home. Some time later Thomas had a memorial erected in Jedburgh to his two wives. A century-old photograph of the memorial stone exists, taken by a Jedburgh photographer named William Bell, but attempts to locate the monument in the Jedburgh Abbey grounds in 1996 and 1997 were unsuccessful, and it may not be still standing, or may be located elsewhere. (William Bell was possibly the husband of Isabella Story, a grand-daughter of John Kyle by his elder daughter Martha) The inscription on the memorial read :

"Erected by Thomas Kyle in memory of Janet Henderson who died at Jedburgh 9th Oct 1851 aged 49 years also Helen Turnbull his wife who died at Melbourne Australia 14 Jan 1864"

Thomas died in 1889 age 88 at Albion St., South Yarra, presumably No. 19 the home of his son Alexander. Thomas is buried in a well-marked grave in the Melbourne General Cemetery with Hellen, his daughter Elizabeth, her husband George Blair and their son Thomas.

William and Andrew Kyle, passengers on the Bloomer, were father and son. The connection between William and John Kyle is not known but there is some evidence to suggest that they were related. It is possible that William was John’s nephew; he died in South Yarra in 1894 at the age of 78 and his death certificate identifies his parents as Mark Kyle and Margaret, nee Stewart. John Kyle had a brother named Mark. Whatever the relationship, it is apparent that they were close. William was born in Selkirk, Roxburghshire, in 1816 and married Margaret Fletcher in 1847. They only had the one son, Andrew George, before Margaret died in 1851. So it was that William was the third widower when they emigrated to Victoria, bringing his infant son with him.

In 1855 William married Jane Barrie, a spinster twelve years his junior. Jane was also Scottish, born in Eastmuir to John Barrie and Jane, nee Dick. William and Jane raised a family of five girls on the goldfields of Ballarat and Sebastapol;

He had a drapery business and was involved in gold mining at Sebastapol with other members of the family, of which more later. He died in 1894 at 33 Hawksburn Rd., South Yarra, at the age of 80. His wife Jane lived until 1919. They are buried together in the St Kilda Cemetery in a well-marked grave.

William’s son Andrew George Kyle married Lizzie Lewis in 1876 and they had one daughter, Carol Margaret Kyle, at Melbourne in 1884. The 1899 and 1903 electoral rolls show Andrew and Elizabeth Kyle living at 637 Hoddle St, South Yarra. Andrew’s occupation is shown as Warehouseman. He died in 1923 at the age of 73 and is buried at St Kilda with his parents.

William’s daughter Janet Ferguson Kyle married John Leask in 1886 and they had a son John George Leask in 1888. John senior died in 1888 and Janet married Henry McHenry in 1898, a union apparently without issue.

No further firm information concerning Thomas' eldest son John has come to light. The 1968, 69 and 70 issues of Baillieres Post Office Directory list two John Kyles, one a butcher of Kilmore and the other as a farmer at Wallan Wallan, while the 1875 issue lists two John Kyles as butchers, one at Wallan Wallan and one at Melbourne. The butcher at Kilmore, who married Hannah Pickering, has proved not to be the son of Thomas Kyle.

By 1862 William, Adam, Mark and Alexander Kyle were at Sebastapol and had invested in gold mining from which venture they apparently did well. A prospectus for the Defiance Gold Mining Company of Sebastapol dated about 1862 shows William, Mark, Alexander and Adam Kyle as working shareholders. A Miner’s Right dated 16th May 1863 issued to Alexander Kyle has survived. On Alexander's marriage certificate both he and his father Thomas are described as miners so it is likely that Thomas and Hellen were at Sebastapol also. The Defiance was an alluvial mine located at the southwest corner of Ophir and Spencer Streets, Sebastapol. The shaft was 355 feet deep and produced 31,222 oz of gold, yielding dividends of about £67,000. The mine paid its first dividend in August 1862 and in May the following year it paid out £140 per share for a fortnight

There is other evidence of a strong Kyle presence in Sebastapol in the 1860's. Two photographs taken for the Melbourne Exhibition of 1866 show a dwelling and shop named "Sebastapol House" in Victoria St. with an extensive garden. According to a sign on the shopfront, the proprietor's name was Kyle and they sold hosiery, drapery, boots and shoes. The 1865/6, 1868, 1869 and 1871 directories list William Kyle as a draper of Victoria St., Sebastapol. The garden must have been quite a showplace in the town. Local historian W. Williams described it as having an excellent orchard in the centre of which was a large dam well stocked with fish. There is a Kyle Street in Sebastapol and they had a property where the school now stands.

The family was also active in community affairs. Minutes of the Mechanics Institute of 15th June 1863 record the appointment of William and Adam Kyle to a committee to establish a new school at Sebastapol, and the 1868, 69 and 70 issues of Baillieres Directory list Mark as the Secretary of the Mechanics Institute.

Alexander Kyle 1839 - 1925

Alexander married Mary Coupar who was born in Gottenburgh, Sweden, about 1843, the daughter of John Coupar, a farmer of Perthshire, Scotland, and Ann, nee McDermot. Mary was 20 and Alexander was 24 when they wed in the Sebastapol Presbyterian Church on 9th July 1863. The witnesses to the marriage were Alexander's twin brother Mark and Jane Kyle, William’s wife. Alex and Mary had their first two children in Ballarat and Sebastapol in 1865 and 1867. The 1868, 69 and 70 issues of Baillieres Directory list Alexander as a gardener of Sebastapol. About 1869 he took up a property of 759 acres at Coimadie Creek on the Bacchus Marsh - Gisborne road where the rest of the family were born between 1869 and 1885 by which time the family of eleven comprised:

The 1884/5 issue of Wises Post Office Directory lists Alexander Kyle, farmer of Coimadie Creek. The Coimadie township no longer exists and the site is under a reservoir which supplies water to Bacchus Marsh. In September 1878 Alexander also bought 759 acres at Merrimu for £107 and 322 acres at Gorrockburkghap for £70; both properties being south of the main road from Melbourne.

By 1899 Alexander and Mary had taken up a dairy business at 19 Albion St, South Yarra, with the milking herd located at Heidelberg. He was subsequently joined in that business by his sons Thomas and James. After living for some time in Albert Park and then Ascot Vale, by 1912 Alexander and Mary had moved to a dairy and cattle farm named Athol Park at Wyuna East, near Kyabram, with their daughters Ellen and Mary, their son John Coupar Kyle and his wife Ellen Sarah, known as "Sis". For some time their grandson James Young, son of their daughter Ann, also worked on the farm where all the milking was by hand. Alex and Mary were still living at Athol Park when they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in July 1923. Mary died just 8 weeks later at the age of 80, and Alexander died two years later at 84. They are buried together at Kyabram in a well-maintained grave.

Of Mary and Alexander's four sons only two had issue, both at Melbourne. Thomas married Alice Maude Bishop in 1901 and they had a son and two daughters:

 James Henderson Kyle married Mary Henderson Armstrong in 1905 and they had one son and a daughter:

 James junior was living at Rosebud, Victoria, at the time of his death in 1998 and his widow, two sons and two daughters still live close by. The senior James Kyle was a cricketer of note and played for Victoria in Shield matches and against England. The Herald newspaper of 1st December 1911 has a glowing report of his bowling figures for the 1907 to 1911 seasons, and it was reported that he did not once bowl a wide or a no-ball. He collapsed and died playing cricket at the age of 39 and is buried at St Kilda Cemetery with his brother Alexander who died in 1900 and next to his maternal grandfather John Coupar. Both graves are unmarked.

Five of Alexander and Mary's seven daughters married and raised families:

Mark started out in the printing trade but by 1862, as we have seen above, he was a working shareholder in the Defiance mine at Sebastapol. He married Mary Brownell in 1865 at Sebastapol, when he was 26 and Mary was 18, born in New Zealand in 1846. They had two sons at Sebastapol, then Mark also took up property which he called Merrimu Park, said to be about 278 acres, at Bacchus Marsh on the Djerriwarrah Creek, for which he paid £61. We can reasonably assume that his success in gold enabled him to acquire the property. There they had a daughter making a family of three in all:

 Mark provided land on his property for the erection of School No. 1635 which was opened in 1914 but has been long-since closed. They also lived for some time in Bacchus Marsh town on the corner of Young and Lerderderg Sts. The house, which is still standing, was subsequently occupied by Alexander's daughters Ellen (Nell) and Mary Coupar Kyle.

Mark and Mary celebrated their Diamond Wedding on 2nd August 1925 when they were recipients of congratulations from far and wide. Mary died in 1928 and Mark the following year. They are buried together in a marked and well-maintained grave at Maddingly Cemetery, Bacchus Marsh. At Mark’s funeral there was a large representative attendance. The service at the graveside was conducted by Rev. R. W. McLean of St Andrew's; Rev. B. Williams, of Ascot Vale (formerly of Bacchus Marsh) and Rev. Nairn, of Flemington (a relative of the family).

Mark was active in civic affairs, as he had been at Sebastapol. His impact in the area is best illustrated by quoting from his obituary in the local newspaper in May 1929:

Mark’s elder son Thomas Henderson Kyle married late in life to his cousin Mary Coupar Kyle, the daughter of Mark’s twin brother Alexander. They married in 1930 when she was 55 and he was 64.

Mark's second son John Kyle married Martha Margaret Agnes Lees in 1908 and they had two children in Geelong, Mark Davidson Kyle and Greta Brownell Kyle. They both married and had children. John Maxwell Kyle, the son of Mark Davidson Kyle, is living in North Ringwood with his wife and two sons.

Agnes Ann was still residing in the Bacchus Marsh house by the time of the 1903 census when she was 32. She apparently married as her death in Melbourne in 1946 appears under the name Gannon.

Adam Kyle, also of the Bloomer, started out making hand-made bricks in South Yarra. Later he carted supplies, mainly food, to the goldfields of Ballarat by horse and dray; it is likely that he was in this business with a friend John Douglas who has left record of a connection with Adam. He invested in gold shares and, as noted above, at the age of 25 he was a working shareholder in the Defiance Mine at Sebastapol by 1862. There is every reason to believe that he prospered. With the money he made he bought four terrace houses in Eastern Rd., South Melbourne and in the 1860’s he revisited Scotland and returned first class on the Great Britain in February 1865. On the voyage back to Melbourne he was accompanied by a J. Kyle, an adult male as yet unidentified. When in Scotland he sent back a photo of himself to his sister-in-law Mary, Alexander’s wife; this photo still exists.

In 1875 Adam, then 38, married a widow Isabella Hardie (previous married name Kelson) in Melbourne and they had two sons and two daughters, all born in Melbourne.

Isabella also had three children by her previous marriage; but only one, Harriett Jane Kelson, had survived. On the marriage certificate Adam described himself as a farmer of Bacchus Marsh but there is nothing to suggest that he was there for any length of time as in 1877 he and Isabella were living in 93 Eastern Rd., Emerald Hill (South Melbourne), until about 1895 when they moved to a 2-acre block on the corner of Beatrice and Princess Sts, Kew, which was part of the Chief Justice's farm. The family home is still standing. The daughters Janet and Agnes appear not to have married but Oswald and Athol had families in Werribee and Melbourne. Isabella died in 1902 and Adam in 1930 at the age of 92. They are buried at Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, with their daughters.

Martha Kyle 1843 - ?

The last of Thomas' family on the Bloomer to be accounted for is Martha, the youngest. Her age was recorded as 8 on the ship's passenger list, but she was 10. She married Alexander McLeod in 1859 in the Presbyterian Manse, Ballarat, at the age of 16; the register shows her age as 21 as she did not have parental consent, and the parents were not present. Two years later, at the birth of her first baby, she still claimed to be 21. They had five daughters and one son at Ballarat and Sebastapol:

 In 1869 Alexander McLeod was named as a witness to the burial at Sebastapol of his brother-in-law, James Young, the husband of Janet Kyle.

Janet Kyle 1827 - 1904

Apart from those who were on the Bloomer, Thomas Kyle had three other daughters who came to settle in Victoria. Janet was his second eldest and she married James Young in Jedburgh in 1845 when she was 18. It is believed they first went to America or Canada before coming to Victoria, in 1853 or 1854. They already had three children when they arrived and produced another five boys and two girls at Ballarat, Durham Lead and Buninyong. In all there were:-

James Young senior was a miner and it is believed that in December 1854, at the time of the Eureka uprising, their tent was at a location known as the Gravel Pits which was enclosed by, or close to, the Eureka stockade. (There is a record which shows that in March 1853 a James Young took out a gold licence and gave his address as the Gravel Pits) Family anecdote relates that Janet hid Peter Lalor, leader of the uprising and later a Member of the Victorian Parliament, and tended his wound while the troopers were searching for him immediately after the rebellion was quashed. It was this wound that ultimately led to the loss of his arm. James Young was killed at the age of 43 in an accident while working at the Band of Hope and Albion mine in 1869. Janet did not remarry and lived to the age of 79; she buried with her husband in the Ballarat Old Cemetery.

Janet’s eldest daughter Ann married Donald McLachlan who became the first police magistrate for Bendigo and Castlemaine. Ann lived to the age of 98. Her grand-daughter, Donalda Ann Wattis married Ernest Martin Wills who was Town Clerk for the Borough of Sebastapol for 40 years from 1934 to 1974. As a young woman, Donalda studied singing and piano at what is now the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music under Nellie Melba. In 1875 Janet Young, the second eldest daughter, married John Coupar the brother of Mary, the wife of Alexander Kyle. They had a son and two daughters at Kingston. In the 1890's John Coupar and his wife’s brother John Young were in business together as wood, coal and produce merchants at 555 Chapel St, South Yarra. The second son Thomas married his cousin Ann Kyle, the eldest daughter of Alexander and Mary. The third son James was a butcher and moved to Geelong where he gave his services to the municipality of Newtown and Chilwell. He was a Councillor and Justice of the Peace there for 25 years. In 1925-6 he was President of the Borough of Sebastapol.

Another daughter of Thomas Kyle to come to Victoria in the 1850's was Elizabeth. We don’t know when she emigrated but she apparently did so as a single woman as she married George Blair in Victoria in 1857 at the age of 23. They had seven boys and five girls in Melbourne;

Only two are known to have married and raised families; William married Mary Sheen Kilgour Farquhar in 1888 and they had a son and a daughter. Bessie married Robert Nairn in 1906 and they had one daughter. It has been recalled that someone in the family, presumably one of the sons, had Blair’s Grocery Shop in Brunswick St. Fitzroy.

Margaret Kyle 1825 - 1904

Margaret Kyle was Thomas’ eldest daughter. In 1849 she married Thomas Renilson (or Renalson) in Jedburgh and they lived there at 3 Blackhills Close where all of the children but one were born. Thomas was born about 1826 in Hawick, 12 miles from Jedburgh, the son of Adam Renalson. They had six children:

 They lived at various addresses in Jedburgh as revealed by the censuses; in 1851 they were at 32 High St, in 1861 at 21 Burnswynd, 1871 at 3 Blackhills Close and 1881 at Bongate Mill Cottage. Thomas served with the 92nd Gordon Highlanders as a private for a period, probably between 1855 and 1866, including duty in India.

In 1882 Thomas and Margaret emigrated to Australia, arriving in Sydney on the Samuel Plimsoll with their family who were then aged 13 to 32. When they arrived in Melbourne is not known but they lived from 1884 to 1887 at 84 Chestnut St., Richmond. Nothing further is known about Thomas other than that he is believed to have died about 1890.

Adam Renalson lived and worked in Broken Hill, becoming manager of the Black Prince mine in 1887. He died in 1890 in an Adelaide hospital at the age of 39.

Thomas married Jane Gladstone in 1882 in Sydney. She was born in Berwickshire. They had two daughters, Margaret 1882 and Jane Gladstone Renalson in 1885, both born in Richmond, Victoria. By 1891 they had returned to Jedburgh where they had two more daughters.

Isobella had a son Adam in 1884 at Heidelberg, Victoria. He was brought up by his Margaret and Thomas, always believing them to be his parents. Isobella subsequently met William Smith Banks. He came from bath, Somerset, and emigrated to Brisbane on the Duke of Baccleuch as a free passenger in 1883 and moved to Victoria a couple of years later. Isobella and William had their first child Vida Matilda at Clifton Hill, Melbourne, in 1887. They moved to Broken Hill, NSW, and William worked in one of the mines before establishing a home and the Banks Timber and Wtare Yard at 396 Cobalt St. They had five more children in Broken Hill - Ivy Bonanza 1888, Wilfred Lawson 1890, Grace Gertrude 1892, Herbert McKenzie 1894 and Alma Olga 1896. William died in the Broken Hill Hospital in 1928 at the age of 70 and Isobella died there in 1940, aged 85.

John married Rosamond Jane Wallis in 1891 in Petersberg, South Australia. They also lived in Broken Hill.and had seven children - Edwin 1892, Rosamond 1893, Robert 1897, John 1900, May 1902, Cyril about 1905 and Allen in 1907. Edwin, John and Cyril all died in their youth. Rosamond married a Campbell, Robert married Dulcie Muir in 1925, May married Alan Grant and Allen married Rita May Annie Woodham. This family lived at Broken Hill. Rosamond was a top equestrian and held the Australian record for show jumping, clearing 6’10’" over logs side saddle. Rosamond’s grandson Victor was a paralympian. In the 1950s he lost one or both legs in a car accident and as an amputee competed in Australian national, Commonwealth and Olympic games with distinction. He held world records in the haevy-weight benchpress, discus and javelin events. The Victor Renalson Close in the Sydney Olympic Village was named in his honour.

By 1891 Thomas Renalson had died and Margaret returned to Jedburgh where she died in 1904 at 3 Blackhills Close where she had lived prior to emigrating. She was accompanied on her return voyage by her son Mark and grandson Adam.

Mark Renalson married Agnes Bowman in Edinburgh in 1899. They had six children: John who died at infancy, Catherine, Margaret, Thomas, Wilson and Agnes. Marka and Thomas worked together in Jedburgh for some time untilThomas emigrated to New Zealand in 1925 at the age of 23. There he married Margaret Black and raised a family of four. Mark died in Jedburgh in 1950.

In 1911 the younger Adam Renalson returned to Australia where in 1920 he married Catherine Bowman, born in Edinburgh, in Ross Park, South Australia. They lived in Broken Hill where Adam worked as a salesman for Campbell and Sutton for 36 years. They had only one son, Charles Campbell Renalson. Adam died in Broken Hill in 1953 at the age of 69.

Of Isobel and George Kyle on the Bloomer nothing further is known other than that George appears in the 1863 Buninyong rate book. His location was given as Winter's Hill which is not far from Sebastapol. He paid 7 shillings in rates.

As mentioned earlier, Mary Kyle on the Bloomer was actually Mary Story, John's grand-daughter. In 1856 she married Charles Morrison, a mariner aged 27, born in Bigtown, Shetland. The marriage certificate states that the wedding took place in the home of Robert Kyle, Palmer St, Collingwood. There was no Robert Kyle that we know of but it was probably the home of her grandfather John Kyle who was living in Palmer St at the time of his death the following year; Mary was part of John's household prior to leaving Scotland, and she may have continued in that role. It is also of interest that the marriage certificate shows her residence as "Collingwood, late of Sydney". Perhaps she had visited her uncle Alexander and family in New South Wales. No children have been found in the Victorian records born to Robert and Mary. There was the death of a Charles Morrison in 1864, the age is correct but nothing further to confirm an identity. If it was Mary’s husband no trace of a second marriage has been found.

Referring again to the New South Wales branch of John Kyle's family, apart from the fact that Alexander was in Melbourne when John died, there is other evidence that they kept in touch with their Victorian relatives. Two photographs which were in Mary Kyle's possession and were taken in Sydney about 1868 of are of James Morrison Dean born 1866 and Isobel Dean born 1868, grandchildren of Alexander Kyle. Also Alan Kyle, grandson of Adam, recalls how his father went to work on an uncle's property located on a river near Dubbo in the early 1900's. Over the years this contact between the two branches of the family became lost and it has only been through the current research that they have come to know of each other's existence.

Emigration of the descendants of John Kyle has continued to the present time. George Hall Oliver, a great great great great grandson of John through John’s daughter Martha Story, settled in Melbourne in the 1986 with his wife Elizabeth and sons Andrew and James. (George is also the great great grand nephew of Mary Story above)

Other Kyles came to Victoria about the same period, or even earlier, but there is no known relationship with the family above. William Kyle, a butcher of Kilmore, came out to Port Phillip from Scotland in 1841. In 1850 a Margaret Kyle married James Ferguson at St Peters Church of England, Eastern Hill, Melbourne; they had children in Kilmore, Kal Kallo and Donnybrook. Arthur Kyle, age 26 from Ireland arrived in 1853 on the Marie Eliza; he died 5 years later without marrying.

In September 1853, just two months after the Bloomer arrived, another family arrived at Melbourne on the Sophia Burbridge from Glasgow; they were James Kyle, a joiner age 26, his wife Elizabeth age 24, Alexander 3, David 10 months and James born at sea. Elizabeth's maiden name was Pettie, or Petty, and James was the son of Alexander Kyle and Grace Boyd. They had a daughter in Melbourne in 1855 and then settled at Beechworth where they had four sons and three daughters between 1857 and 1873. The 1880 issue of Baillieres Directory lists James as an undertaker in Beechworth. Several members of the family moved to the goldfields of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. A notable grandson of James and Elizabeth, born in Kalgoorlie, was Air Chief Marshall Sir Wallace Kyle GCB KCVO CBE DSO DFC, Governor of Western Australia 1975 to 1980.

A James Kyle, born in Roxburgh, Scotland, settled in eastern Victoria. Although he came from the same county as the family on the Bloomer, there is no known connection. He married Ellen Hine in 1871 and raised a family of seven sons and four daughters who were born at Woods Point and Bairnsdale, and all of whom lived to maturity and married with the exception of one son. There is still a strong presence of Kyles in Gippsland. There was also William Kyle who married Sarah Ann Lobb in 1854 and had a family of four sons and five daughters at Brunswick, Kilmore, Kal Kallo and finally Echuca.

William and John Kyle arrived on the Thomas Arbuthnot in October 1841. William married Sarah Ann Lobb in 1854 and they had nine children in Brunswick, Kilmore, Kal Kallo and Echuca. A grandson of William's is Albert Roy Kyle who at the age of 98 in 1995 was still living in Belmont, Geelong. Another family were from Durham in north-east England. They came out as bounty passengers on the Himalaya arriving at Port Phillip in February 1842. There was Robert, a carpenter age 27, his wife Maryanne age 25 and their 3 year old son Alexander. With them also was Caroline Kyle age 21 from South Shields, Northumberland.

Len Williams
35 Riley St McCrae
Australia 3938
Tel. (03) 59866794
E-mail:- lenwill@hotkey.net.au