The Murray Family

This is our story

My father’s name was Raymond James Engle Murray. This was unusual for a few reasons. Firstly, it was one name longer than most people had. Secondly, he was always called Peter rather than Raymond, for reasons nobody could quite fathom. And most intriguingly, for me, was the foreign sounding name of ‘Engle’. I asked my father about his exotic middle name, but he could only tell me that he thought it was Dutch, and that it was a family name that had been handed down from his father.

Many years later, I discovered the mystery of the family name “Engle” and, in turn, the much wider story of our Dutch ancestry. It is a story that involves the brass making industry, firstly in the Low Countries of Europe and then Bristol, England; from the early years of the industrial revolution through to the mid-19th century. It also involves the early years of gold mining in Australia, from the mid-19th century, with a particular focus on the small, town of Grenfell in western New South Wales.

It is a story that involves emigration from the Low Countries to England at the beginning of the 18th century, and from Holland and England to Australia in the 19th century. It is a story of skilled artisans, intrepid gold miners and resilient women; of people escaping from economic hardship, and, at times, persecution; all having one thing in common, a desire to find a better life in a new country for themselves and their families.

More recently, it is a story of economic loss in the Great Depression, family breakdown, and the traumatic effects of World War II; and out of this, the resilience and business acumen of my father, who, with the support of my mother, Audrey, laid the foundation for the successful lives of their children, Chris, Paul, Michael and Lynn.

This is our story.

Read the Murray story