Henry GONINON

                   Henry was baptised with his sister, Jennifer, on the 22nd Sept 1833 at Gwinear Parish Church. His age given at the 1841 census (12) suggest that he was born in 1828 or 1829 but, to confuse the issue even further, the family bible gives a birth date of 14th July, 1827 (although this was entered much later). At the time of his marriage Henry was living in Connor Downs and he was a miner. He married Mary Ellis on the 12th October, 1850 at St Ives Parish Church. Mary was a spinster living in St Ives and her father, Thomas Ellis, was a miner. Having tried America first, sometime around 1857 Henry went to Australia. Mary followed with their children in 1863 aboard the sailing ship 'Golden South' which arrived at Melbourne on the 26th Feb 1863. They lived in Victoria and South Australia before settling in Tasmania. They had ten children, Henry, Richard, Mary, William and John Thomas born in Cornwall and Robert Richards, Edgar, Edward Francis, Robert Matthew and Wesley born in Australia. Henry died of T.B. on the 11th Feb 1886 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania.

Henry was the son of Richard and Mary Ann Goninan and he was baptised at Gwinear Parish Church in Cornwall on the 22nd September 1833 along with his sister Jennifer (although he had been born on the 14th July 1827). 
At the age of eight he was working in the tin mines around Camborne and as a young man he went to the Keweenaw (Upper Michigan) where he worked at the Copper Falls mine. He returned home and on the 13th Ocotber 1850 he married Mary Ellis at St Ives Church. They had five children before Henry took himself off to Australia and the goldfields in Bendigo, Victoria.

In due course Henry sent for Mary and she sailed, with the children, from London on the ship Golden South. The Golden South was in collision with another ship in the English Channel and had to return to London for repairs. Mary and the children finally arrived in Melbourne on the 26th Feb 1863

Henry and Mary had five more children in Australia. Henry worked at the copper mines of Moonta before the family moved to Tasmania where they settled.There is a lovely story about Mary that has been handed down through the generations -'Mary was known in the minefields as a very good cook and in the 1880's she was asked to judge the cornish pasties at the Zeehan show in Tasmania (then a major mining town). After closely studying the entries she announced she would not award a prize because there was not a cornish pasty among the whole lot. One can imagine the outrage amongst the ladies. Nevertherless Mary stuck to her guns, softening a little by saying there were a number of good pasties there, but again, there were no cornish pasties. She then made an offer, "bring me these ingredients, bring in a stove or camp oven, and I will teach you how to make a real cornish pasty". The organisers did just that and the hall was crowded out. For a number of subsequent years, the making of Grannie Goninon's Cornish Pasty was a highlight of the Zeehan show'