Elizabeth Moulding outside her home in Blackrod, Lancashire

Date1908

Object number00039557

NamePhotograph

MediumSilver gelatin print on paper.

Dimensions140 x 90 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Dorothy Ellis

Terms

Blackrod

HistoryElizabeth Walls married Edward Moulding in1904 in the town of Blackrod, Lancashire. Her sister Mary, married Edward's brother Peter. Elizabeth worked in the cotton mills as a weaver and Edward was trained as a mechanical engineer. The Moulding brothers decided to migrate to Australia after Peter's doctor recommended 'a long seajourney' as a remedy for his chronic asthma. Dorothy suggests that bigotry against Methodists in the district and unrest in the mills may have also motivated the brothers' decision to leave. Edward and Peter were unsure if life in Australia would be 'fit for a lady' and decided to send for the sisters after they had tested the waters. Once they arrived, Peter secured a job as an electrical engineer in Melbourne and Edward eventually found work in Queenstown,Tasmania. He despised the working conditions there and soon found work as a mechanical engineer in the IXL jam factory in Hobart. Several months later the brothers sent for Elizabeth, Mary, and Mary's two children. Bill(8) and Annie(12). Elizabeth settled with Edward in Hobart eventually transferring to IXL in Sydney. In 1919, at the age of 45, she gave birth to her only child, Dorothy. The Mouldings never returned to England, although Dorothy believes that this was mainly due to financial considerations.