| Preface and Acknowledgements |
| Copyright © 2001 Tunks Descendants Association Incorporated. All rights reserved. Contact the Webmaster with any problems relating to this site. Revised: 20 September 2004 |
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| ‘In 1977 Joyce Cowell published her book on the Tunks family’s Australian beginning “Memorial to a Marine” copies of the 1985 reprint are still available from the TDAI or the Fellowship of First Fleeters, price $7.00 per copy + postage. |
| Preface and Acknowledgements In 1978 knowing nothing at that time about the First Fleet or William Tunks, Len Chalmers succumbed to pressure from some of his first cousins to compile a family tree of his grandparents descendants in 1979 he was able to put together a family tree of William Henry Tunks and Charlotte Emily Harper and distributed a copy to the approximately 100 living descendants. During collection of information for this book he visited the Fellowship of First Fleet office and, happily, found four dedicated Tunks descendants working there – Joyce Cowell (Archivist) her cousin Jean Cowell with sisters Hazel Liebau and Naida Jackson. Len and these four ladies assisted by others were the foundation on which the Tunks’ Descendants Association was built. The first Tunks family “get-together” was held in Parramatta Park on a lovely sunny Sunday in November 1981. approximately 130 family members of all ages met at the “Pavilion” and enjoyed the day so much another “get-together” was organised for October 1982. It is interesting to note that the notice for this second gathering contained a request for family details to assist with the proposed compiling of a Tunks Family Tree. At this second gathering in October 1982 The Tunks Descendants Association was formed and an executive committee elected. the committee members were Len Chalmers, Ron Chipps, Joyce Cowell, (author of the book “Memorial to a Marine” 1977), Ted Freeman, Naida Jackson, Betty King, Hazel Liebau, Myrl Skinner, Dudley Tunks, Maria Tunks and Peter Christian as Secretary and Cynthia Curry as Treasurer. The aims defined in 1982 are still applicable today in the 21st Century. - To bring together in friendship the descendants of William Tunks and Sarah Lyons. - The dissemination of family information. - The preservation of family memorials and artifacts. In July 1984 the first “Tunks Talk” newsletter, edited by Peter Christian, was published. At each annual picnic Len Chalmers displayed his ever growing “Tunks Family Tree” and made appeals for more family tree information. In 1986 the first edition was published. In the following years three alterations and updated information was circulated, Len thanked all Tunks descendants who contributed to the “tree” especially those who undertook voluntarily to collect details from large sub-families. He gratefully acknowledged help from Joyce Cowell, for use of material from her book and help from Peter Christian with material collected for his Book of Profiles. Len also thanked his daughter Meg (Burns) for so ably deciphering his draft when entering the family tree into the computer and providing the master sheets for the printer, sadly Meg died in 1990. In 1999 the TDAI committee decided to update and reprint the 1986 Family Tree both in hard copy and on CD. Unfortunately the old style computer disks of the original book, which were in our archive had become corrupted. Thankfully our past President Marian Perrem volunteered to enter all the thousands of names and family detail into a new ‘Brothers Keeper’ genealogical computer program. Having achieved this gigantic task Marian then backed up and volunteered to enter and check all new update information as it came. Marian has made a number of back-up disks of the new tree while in progress and when completed so that this herculean task of entering over 6000 individual names and associated detail never needs to be undertaken again, it is clear that this 2001 update would not have happened if it wasn’t for Marian Perrem. A new 2004 update edition is due to be released mid October. This will be available to TDAI members as a printed book or CD for $ 35.00 plus postage & handling. Inevitably, despite Marian’s meticulous care, there may be some errors and / or omissions of names and dates etc. perhaps caused by indistinct hand writing. Your committee apologises in advance for this and invites members and others to send in any correction so that at least the master can be corrected so that any future edition will not carry the same error. Your committee also asks that when sending in corrections or future update information please list the family member number as listed in this family tree and the page number it belongs to. In this edition of the “Family Tree” every individual has a computer allocated number to facilitate a quick search, if you are sending in update information, for instance a newly born family member list the number against their mother or fathers name, or in the case of an update sending. It is your committee’s intention to print an updated of this Family Tree each 3 or 4 years and thanks go to modern CD technology it will be possible to revise the CD Rom edition every twelve months. As President of the Tunks Descendants Association Inc. I would also like to thank those hundreds of family members that have sent in corrections and additions to this 2001 Family Tree update. Thanks go also to members of our hard working executive in helping to bring about this new 2001 edition. John Daniell AM President TDAI March 2001. |
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