Josephine was actually born on the back of a dray attempting to make Cooktown some 10 miles away.3

Marriage registration: 1913/27/Blackwood.5

Thomas (Tom) was born in 1892 in the eastern Victorian gold-mining town of Foster. In 1903 the family moved to Creswick.

About 1907/1908 Thomas and his sisters, Esther and Mary Beatrice (Trix) set-off for Western Australia and by 1908 were settled in Greenbushes; a tin mining and timber mill town located on the South Western Highway near Bridgetown, WA.

In 1913 Thomas married Josephine Portwood at Greenbushes. Their wedding certificate recorded:
Thomas – age: 20 years; bachelor; occupation: “engine driver”, residence: Greenbushes, father’s occupation: “engineer” and
Josephine – age: 20 years, spinster, father’s occupation: “miner”.
They were married by Rev Stanley Jarvis of the Methodist Church, Greenbushes.

Josephine’s parents had been to the gold rush on the Palmer River in far north Queensland. It was there that Josephine was born in 1893; at the Annan River crossing, on the back of a dray attempting to make Cooktown some 15 kilometres away. They then moved to Western Australia – to Greenbushes – for the tin mining.

By 1914 Tom and Josephine had moved to Kalgoorlie goldfields of Western Australia where their first child, Josephine, was born in February 1914 and their second child, Thomas, was born in 1915. At Kalgoorlie, Tom worked as an engine driver at the mines. The 1916 Commonwealth Electoral Roll noted Thomas’s occupation as: “engine-driver”; Josephine’s as: “domestic”, residence: 95 Bourke St, [Kalgoorlie]. There is also a second entry on the 1916 Commonwealth Electoral Roll which noted Thomas’s occupation as: “woodcutter” and residence: Comet Vale.

By 1920 Tom had joined the Western Australian Police and the family were living in Police cottages at the entrance to Fremantle Prison, Perth. The 1925 Commonwealth Electoral Roll noted Thomas’s occupation as: “police constable”; Josephine’s as: “married” and their residence: 14 Henderson St, Fremantle.

By the late 1920s Tom worked as an engine driver, initially at the Mornington Mill near Harvey, WA, where stationary steam engines were used to drag logs in from the forests on long steel cables and chains and later at the timber mill in Nanga Brook, WA.

By 1936 the family had moved to Mt Palmer (near Yellowdine) WA where Tom again worked as an engine driver at the mines. The 1936 and 1937 Commonwealth Electoral Rolls noted Thomas’s occupation as: “engine-driver”; Josephine Mary’s as: “home duties” and their residence: Mt Palmer,.

After the Mt Palmer mine closed they moved to Coolgardie where Tom continued to work as an engine driver. The 1943 Commonwealth Electoral Roll noted Thomas’s occupation as: “engine-driver”; Josephine Mary’s as: “home duties” and their residence: Tindalls GM [Gold Mine], Coolgardie. Later they moved to the south-west. The 1949 Commonwealth Electoral Roll noted Thomas’s occupation as: “engine-driver”; Josephine’s as: “home duties” and their residence: Hoffmans Mills.
By 1954 Thomas and Josephine had moved to the Perth suburb of Bassendean. The 1954 Commonwealth Electoral Roll noted Thomas’s occupation as: “engine-driver”; Josephine’s as: “home duties” and their residence: 85 Second Ave, Bassendean.

Thomas was a resident of Bassendean at the time of his death in 1957.3

Acknowledgements:
• Rick Smith, Launceston Tasmania, Australia
• Mavis Coghlan, Upper Swan, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
• Joyce Tuohey, Quambatook, Victoria, Australia
• Richard (Dick) Deason, Moliagul, Victoria, Australia
• Billy Warburton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Maureen Ward, Southlake, Western Australia, Australia
• Kaylene McDonald, Western Australia, Australia
• Linley Scott, Busselton, Western Australia, Australia
• Gary McDonald, Western Australia, Australia

References:
Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths & burials (Aust):
• Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Vic), 2001, Historical Index (1855-1920), extract for Deason (ref – D_Doc_#106)
• Greg Campbell, 2000, Western Australian records for Deason (births, deaths, burials & marriages) (ref – D_Doc_#130)
• Western Australia – Marriage indexes 1906-1965
• Western Australian (newspapers) marriage indexes – 1897-1920
• West Australian (newspaper) death & burial indexes – 1906-1911, 1985-1994, 1997
• Mavis Coghlan, 2007, Discussions, including Marriage Certificate of Thomas Deason & Josephine Portwood
Family trees & history:
• Billy Warburton, 1969, Deason Family Tree (ref – D_Doc_#014 & 015)
• probably Venus Free (nee Deason), c1967, Deason Family Tree (ref – D_Doc_#016)
• Venus Free (nee Deason), c1940, Deason Family Tree (ref – D_Doc_#017)
• Rick Smith, 2005, Deason Family Tree (ref – D_Doc_#136)
• Rick Smith, 2011, Deason Family Tree (ref – D_Doc_#408)
• Mavis Coghlan, Maureen Ward, Marie Deason, 2006 – Discussions, Moliagul (150th Anniversary of Discovery of Gold, Dunolly)
• Mavis Coghlan, 2005, 2006 & 2007 – Correspondence
• Maureen Ward, 2007, Correspondence
• Kaylene McDonald, 2007, Correspondence
• Linley Scott, 2011, Correspondence
• Gary McDonald, 2012, Correspondence
• Winston Deason, 2013, Discussions
Other information:
• Commonwealth Electoral Office – Electoral Rolls, 1903, North Creswick, Vic, 1916, Kalgoorlie, WA & Menzies, WA, 1925, Fremantle, WA, 1936, 1937 & 1943, Yilgarn, WA, 1949, Wellington, WA & 1954, Bassendean, WA (ref – D_Doc_#290)
• Western Australian Shipping Arrivals, 1898-1925