In genealogy, you always start with the known. Amy Caroline Rebecca Smith was our great grandmother. She was born in Newcastle 14th April 1873, the first child of Robert Christian Smith and Maria Rebecca Millerd. The Smith family of Robert & Maria had eleven children of whom eight outlived their parents. 

Amy went to school at Newcastle East Public School.  She was an outstanding student winning several awards at school for educational excellence. At thirteen she was asked to be a pupil-teacher, however during that time, Amy suffered from severe headaches so declined the offer and left school to work in retail in a haberdashery store in Hunter Street. It was later discovered that the headaches were due to vision problems. Once she was prescribed glasses, the headaches went away. 

In the book To Climb the Hill- A People’s History of Newcastle East Public School 1816 -2016, Amy has her own chapter which records her family history and association with the school. A copy of the book was donated to us by Lake Macquarie Family History Group. Many generations in our family have continued to have children enrolled at either or both Newcastle East Public School and Newcastle High School .Newcastle High School originally grew from the School on the Hill. Information on Amy and her son Austin is also found on the Newcastle Boys High School Old Boys Association,(NBHSOBA) website.

School Awards

Working Life

In her working life, Amy Smith may have been working at Winn’s’ Department store, in Hunter Street Newcastle. The business originally started by their mother was owned by brothers William and Isaac Winn and their sister in law Mrs Aird. Isaac Winn’s first wife Euphemia Smith Arnott had died in 1884. They had one son William Arnott Winn.

Following his wife’s death, Isaac met and later married Catherine Jane Rutledge of Kiama in 1886. Catherine as a young woman was working as a teacher at a Newcastle South school. Following Catherine and Isaac Winn’s marriage in Gerringong on the South Coast of NSW, they returned to Newcastle to help with the family drapery business W.Winn & Co.

In 1950 I remember visiting Catherine or Aunty Jinny at her home in Hamilton South. In 1951, after Catherine’s death, my grandparents inherited some of her furniture. Following my grandparents’ deaths, I was very fortunate to have inherited a piece of Catherine’s furniture from them. As a child, I always loved this piece of furniture in my grandparents home.

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A few years later, younger brother of Catherine Rutledge Winn also came to Newcastle and worked in the Winn’s family business. William Alexander Rutledge appears to have been very involved with the Newcastle Shop Employees’ Association. From newspaper articles in Trove, Alex held the position as Hon. Secretary between 1895 and 1896. In this role he advertised the associations’ general meetings, also he is seen to encourage female shop assistants to join the trade group and to promote social events including a cruise on a steamer to Tomago for an afternoon of fun activities for all members. Maybe Amy Smith was one of the female shop assistants who joined the Newcastle Shop Employees’ Association and attended the social events.

In 1898 a newspaper article in Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate Friday 20 May 1898 reported on the social events conducted through the YMCA and refers to both William Alexander (Alex) Rutledge and Miss Smith. It continues to connect the Arnott and Winn families also, who were responsible for organising The Dickens Fair, which is quite unique in colonial history. This article shows that William Alexander and Amy Smith both participated in this social event. They were also active members of the Methodist church in Newcastle and Mayfield.