THE Lambourne family were very early settlers in Port Stephens.

First to arrive in 1827, on board the ship ‘John’, was convict Henry Lambourne, sent to Australia with a life sentence at the age of nineteen years.

Henry spent time with the AA Company on the north side of the Port.

Son Henry Edward Lambourne (b 1851) was of a whaling background when he married Lillah Priest and moved onto Fingal Island, where he was later appointed as Assistant Lightkeeper at the Outer Light in the late 1800s along with stepbrother Alf Glover.

James Priest was the Principal Lightkeeper at the time.

The Lambournes would have remained for a longer period on the lighthouse but for the tragic death of Lillah at the age of 33 years during her second childbirth, that of George, on the island.

Lillah had four children – Henry and Jack, Annie Victoria then George.

The latter two were born on the island.

Following Lillah’s death Henry moved his family back to the mainland where he was employed with his stepfather William Glover at the Inner Light in 1894.

William Glover was the first keeper of the Inner Light in 1876.

In 1896 Henry had the position of Preventative (Customs) Officer in Port Stephens.

Tragedy again followed the family when their son, Henry Eggleston Lambourne, a fisherman, drowned in Providence Bay on Broughton Island in 1905 aged 21 years.

Brother Jack, also a fisherman, worked the ‘Simplex’, while a third son, George, known affectionately as ‘Horsehead’, skippered the ‘Yacaaba’ and ‘Yoothapuna’, ferries owned by Alf Korsmann from Tea Gardens.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE