And grandson James Allan Downie took up blacksmithing for a time pre WW1.ġ894 saw a James Downie, Blacksmith, sustaining a nasty injury but surviving somehow – was this Scottish born James Downie or his son James Jnr ?Īnd Leonard Andrew”Len” Downie was known as a blacksmith decades later. While sons James Downie and Daniel McCann Downie took up the blacksmithing and were employed at South Bulli Mine. However sons Alexander “Aleck” Downie and Andrew Thomas Ramsay “Ramsay” Downie took up blacksmithing.
Perhaps James had worked with older brother, Andrew, as a blacksmith in Wollongong, before moving north to the little village of Woonona ?Īnd not all of James Downie’s sons followed him into the blacksmithing business at Woonona – Son William Downie headed to southern NSW & then Victoria while Thomas Caldwell Downie moved up to the Lismore area. Examining the 1859 shipping records, it appears that Alexander and James had probably arrived in Australia in 1859 on the “ Parsee“, with their occupations both given as blacksmith, and their origin as Stirlingshire, Scotland. Their origins were from England rather than the Scotland from where the Woonona Downie blacksmith family originated.Īccording to James’ 1908 obituary, he arrived in Australia as a 24 year old – suggesting he would have arrived around 1859, and that he also spent 5 years in Wollongong before moving to Bulli. Note – there was another Downie family in the Illawarra – around Port Kembla and Wollongong in the 19th Century. And both of these brothers, like James, also seemed to have been blacksmiths – perhaps they had all been blacksmiths in Falkirk Scotland? It appears that older brother Andrew Downie possibly arrived first in Australia in 1849, and he was a blacksmith in Wollongong some years later. James Downie‘s older brothers Andrew Downie and Alexander Downie also emigrated to Australia – possibly an example of the Chain Migration of the Scottish Diaspora. Note – this is contrary to the claim of 12 children in the information in the Wollongong Council page on Woonona. And while it seemed that there have always been lots of James Downie’s descendants around the Woonona area, in fact some left the area, moving to northern NSW, southern NSW or to Victoria. Information from the Illawarra Family History Group’s Illawarra Pioneers Pre 1900 and Pre 1920 indicates that there were 13 children of James Downie and Margaret Kay McCann. Another strand to the fabric of Woonona’s history.ĭownie’s the Woonona Blacksmiths had their origins in Falkirk Stirling Scotland. And, Downie descendant, and Black Diamond Heritage Centre volunteer, Graeme Stewart, has been busy researching the history of the church and its graveyard for some time. The Downie’s were from Scotland and probably contributed to the congregation of the Presbyterian Church had been built in Woonona and opened on. And the Gahan – Boland clan may have been around Woonona since the 1840’s. The Charlesworth’s were in Woonona by the 1850’s – not too many years ahead of the Downie’s who date their time in Woonona by the early 1860’s. They have maintained a continuous presence in the town since the mid 19th Century years. Along with the Charlesworth’s, and the Gahan – Boland Clan, the Downie’s are one of the oldest families in Woonona.
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