A Devine Family History

During the depression of the 1890s the family moved to Sydney and lived at the Rocks area before settling in Woolloomooloo. They lived in Fort, Kent and Cumberland Streets, during and after the bubonic plague outbreak in 1901. During that time, there were still seven adult children unmarried and one eleven year old boy living with the family. The eldest daughter lost her husband to the plague and relied on her family for support. In the early years of the new century, most of the children married and by 1910 they all moved to Woollomooloo. (This coincides with the redevelopment of the Millers Point and Rocks Area) James and Ann Devine lived out their lives at 91 Bourke Street, while most of their eight sons and six daughters lived around them in nearby Kidman Lane, Palmer Street, Forbes Street and at Brougham Street and Rowena Place, while one or two lived a bit further away at Paddington. The whole family was within walking distance of each other.  James is frequently a witness to his childrens marriages and Ann is always present when her daughters give birth. Sunday lunch at 91 Bourke Street is a ritual remembered for the sterness of the matriarch Ann and her strict observance of wine one Sunday and beer the next.

James and Ann passed away in 1924 and 1928 respectively and  their children and their families moved further and further out to the suburbs. To the east, west, north and south of Sydney and even up and down the coast. The closeness that families of previous generations experienced was no longer possible. Now in 2009, only a handful of family descendants are aware of their connections with each other and of their ties with a James Devine and Ann Gillatley. Having left around forty grandchildren in 1928, this is all rather sad but slowly we are bringing their story to more and more of their descendants,

 Between 1903 and 1908 the family ran the Crown and Anchor Hotel at 111 Kent Street, Millers Point, on the corner of what was then Agar Steet. This area was later to be cleared as part of the slum eradication program and now the site is occupied by the Observatory Hotel in Kent Street and Agar was renamed High Street.