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of your much loved Sister''.437

After her marriage Susannah Shelley wrote to her brother giving news of her baby daughter
who was recovering from an illness and was ''quite lively although her cough is very troublesome''.
She also referred to her younger sister, Ann Hassall, who was going to visit friends at Kissing
Point.438 There is no date on this letter so it is not clear which of her daughters she refers to. When
their fourth son, William Shelley was born, his father wrote to James Hassall - ''I have the pleasing
intelligence to communitcate the birth of a Son this day - a fine Boy and Mother and Babe, both
exceedingly well'' - and then went on to discuss matters concerning sheep farming!439

William Shelley had a house and land in Parramatta near his mother when he married. He
acquired 500 acres, Portion 18, in what is now the City of Penrith in the Parish of Claremont,
County of Cumberland. However he began to look for land beyond the Nineteen Counties and
acquired land for which he received the title in January 1836 - 960 acres, Portion 1, Parish of
Merrill, County King, three miles north of Gunning. It is not known whether he lived there and the
land later became absorbed into holdings owned by the Hume family.

[Picture]
Remains of cottage on land bordered by the Lachlan River north of Gunning take up by William Shelley.
It is not know whether this and other buildings on the site now in ruins date from the period of Shelley's
ownership.

Photo: David Stewart, 1996.

437 Hassall Correspondence, Mitchell Library, Reel CY925, p.1692.
438 Ibid., Reel CY 938, A/1677-3, p.6097.
439 Ibid., p.2041.

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