Christening at Norahville

Christening at Norahville. Edward Hargraves who builds Norahville at Norah Head is friendly to visiting Aborigines from the ranges and local Aborigines on the coast. “King Bonney, an immense black, the chieftain of the tribe from the Hunter River, attends all tribal gatherings and calls at the Noraville homestead. He has an almost insuperable distaste for clothes and his appearances causes some embarrassment to residents. He is invited to attend a gathering in the Noraville drawing room for the baptism of a son born to Molly and Margaret. He promises faithfully to wear a discarded suit of clothes given to him by E.H Hargraves but arrives wearing only the waistcoat. Hargraves identifies “the mother ‘Queen’ Margaret and the father ‘King’ Molly (‘Ned’ on the coast), to whom he had given a breastplate”. (Swancott in Ford p79). [Brisbane Water/Gosford Letter Books 1835-74] (Historian, Charles Swancott in Ford p79).