Merriott Families Genealogy

About me  (Sue Osborne) and my Family

I'm a forty-something wife (of Jeff) and mother (of Christine & Lisa).  Jeff & I both grew up in Brisbane, Queensland, only a few miles from each other; we met in 1983 and married in 1987, and we have lived just outside Brisbane for the past ten years, on five acres of peaceful gum-treed land.   

My other Genealogical Interests

The other genealogy I find fascinating is the immigration of colonists to Queensland from the United Kingdom and Ireland during the 19th century.  All my own as well as Jeff's ancestors migrated to Queensland between the 1850s and the 1890s, making us both 5th generation Queenslanders.  

Jeff's O'BRIEN ancestors came from Ireland on the Queen of the Colonies voyage of 1863.  Click on this link to go to my Queen of the Colonies page.

My Previous Life

After thoroughly enjoying school (mostly!), I took a course in Medical Laboratory Science from the Queensland University of Technology which, when I graduated,  saw me working in labs in hospitals & private practice as far west as Charleville, Queensland, and as far south as Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.  I really enjoyed the investigative work involved in a medical laboratory, but after my two children arrived, I gave up this career to look after them, eventually playing a fuller role in our family Printing business.  Now the only investigative work I do is family history, and it makes a nice change from the pen-pushing and paper-shuffling I do part-time, five days a week. 

The other things I enjoy

I've had a penfriend named Sandra in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since I was 15 and she 16 years old.  We have now graduated to emails to correspond after years of using the postal service.  We have never met, but found some coincidences in our lives over the years.   We both had our first child in 1988; we both drove a blue Corolla, and we both have the same (rare) blood group, to name a few.  One of these days one of us will travel to meet the other - or maybe we'll meet in the middle somewhere!

I'm a big fan of Pierce Brosnan; and also love the X-Files (or I used to until Mulder left - not sure now).  My daughter Lisa & I both love collecting Barbie dolls;  she plays with hers but mine are still in boxes waiting for that magical day when we buy a display cabinet for them.  When Lisa grows out of Barbie, then all hers are  ear-marked for my collection.   I like the character Barbies such as the X-Files Mulder & Scully, the Elvis, the Cher, the Jeannie (from I Dream of Jeannie), Snow White, as well as the dolls from around the world.    Other than that, I spend most of my spare time transcribing records and writing letters.

Jeff & I have been privileged to have been associated with Albany Fair, our All Saints Parish & School's Fete, since 1991, its second year.  This  event, held on the first Sunday in June each year, grows bigger and bigger.  In 2002 it won the Australia Day award for the Community Event of the Year in our Pine Rivers Shire.  It is a massive undertaking by a dedicated band of volunteers, but an incredibly rewarding experience.

The Genealogy Bug Hits

During my childrens' early years I was too busy making family history to be researching it.   I used to do a lot of craft work - especially cross-stitching, and Jeff & I both helped run our School Fete for several years- a job which kept me busy for four months of the year.    However my Mum, a keen genealogist for many years,  kept throwing me snippets of family information, and eventually got me hooked.  As she had "our" side of the family well covered, I decided to research Jeff's Osborne side.  Through some initial work done by my Mum, I found the placename "Merriott" on the marriage certificate of our first Queensland emigrant, Samuel Osborne, and I was off & running.   An enquiry to Peter Scott, listed in the GRD as being interested in the Osbornes of Merriott, resulted in a major breakthrough in the search, and the confidence to start English research. 

The other surnames in Jeff's ancestry include HOWARD (from Cork, Ireland), O'BRIEN (from Armagh, Ireland); HARTEN (from Cavan, Ireland); WEATHERILL (from Yorkshire); and PAYNE & KENDRICK (from Birtsmorten, Worcestershire).  All arrived in Queensland in the mid to late 19th Century.

My own surname is FARMER (from London, 1884);  other ancestral surnames include SANDERCOCK (Cardinham, Cornwall);  COX & PLATER (London); LIND (Norway, originally Denmark);  GARLAND (Fife, Scotland); and MULLER (Germany).  All arrived in Queensland in the mid to late 19th century.

As you can see, Jeff & I are blessed with a multitude of lines to investigate, and, with families being researched to the nth degree, have found two separate connections in our hundred and fifty year old Queensland trees, in addition to our own marriage.

Colourscan - the Business to Support my Genealogy Habit

In 1979 Jeff started in business for himself, initially  a typesetting business in a room rented from his cousin Peter Osborne, who was, and still is, involved in Advertising here in Brisbane.  Jeff has stayed in the Printing Industry in Brisbane ever since, operating various companies, gradually building up a reputation and position in the industry.   In 1985 he decided to branch out from typesetting and colour separations into a new business, the printing of business forms - stationery & letterheads etc.  He bought a single printing press & installed it in the car park under the typesetting business, at Milton, Brisbane .   The new company was called Colourscan, and still operates today, with a greatly expanded factory site of one and a half acres at Newmarket in Brisbane, (to which we moved in 1988, in the week our first daughter arrived unexpectedly early) and a greatly expanded range of products able to be printed, from multi-part business forms to booklets and magazines.  Colourscan is still Jeff's solely-owned business, and has sales offices in Townsville, Coffs Harbour and Sydney.  Needless to say, Jeff works too hard, as many people do.

Link to the Colourscan website:  www.colourscan.com.au

Motorsport

Jeff's other passion is Motorsport, although these days he is an armchair  spectator rather than a participant, after the sale in January 2001 of his Colourscan V8 supercar.    Jeff & his brother Danny started out in local Brisbane motorsport around 10 years ago, running Toranas at Lakeside.   Jeff did the team management & Danny did the driving.  Danny did very well in Queensland Sports Sedans, and eventually Jeff & Danny moved on to the Trans-Am series and later, the V8s - the pinnacle of Australian Motorsport.   In 1996 Danny co-drove a Ford prepared in our garage, with Dick & Steven Johnson, well-known Queensland motorsport figures, in the Bathurst 12 hour endurance race.   The team won 6th outright, and first in its class.   After a few years running in the Shell Series, the final race for the Colourscan team was the Bathurst 1000 in the year 2000, at which the team produced a 15th place result, with drivers Brett Peters & Rick Bates.   By this time, Danny had had to retire from this level of competitive driving, after a particularly nasty accident in the Adelaide round of the series in 1999, from which Danny was able to walk away, but which left him with back injuries which have not totally healed.  He did continue to drive in some races after this, but found he was unable to keep up the stamina required, especially in the endurance races.     In early 2001, Craig Lowndes approached Danny and asked if the car might be available for sale, as he needed a second back-up car.  The rest is history, and I have my husband back every weekend of the year!  We haven't yet worked out where all the "spare time" we should now theoretically have, has gone.         

Jeff is also a collector, though not of Barbie Dolls!   Jeff enjoys collecting model cars, especially those of Australian Motorsport.

Our New Puppy

At the end of March, 2002, we decided to enhance our lives with a new puppy.  Toby is our Labrador-Golden Retriever cross and we who never have had a dog are now hooked!   He has been a wonderful happy addition to our family.