Approximately 60 descendants of various branches of the Pitman family enjoyed a day catching up and sharing a magnificent lunch at the 2007 reunion.

The outgoing Reunion Committee Chair, Rev Harold Pitman, reminded all attending to remember the work of Miss Haidee Pitman and her contribution to The Australians of a Branch of the Pitman Family.

His speech is copied below. See also the reunion photos on Facebook.

Remembering Haidee and other recollections

“There dwelt in the land of England, in the town of Trowbridge, county of Wiltshire, a respected citizen, a man named William Pitman. He was a weaver by trade but when bad times fell upon that industry, he was persuaded to migrate to the promised land of South Australia.

And so, with wife Emma (nee Angel) and family (except first born John) they took ship and after six months at sea landed safely in the new settlement. The ship Fairlie arrived at Glenelg on 11th July 1840. Apart from the perils of the ocean waves, the two youngest children of the family of 11 died of measles aboard ship at sea.

No 1 son, John, later (in 1851) followed the family to South Australia and settled at Inglewood, beginning a long tradition of fruit growers.

So, in the language of their Bibles –

• John begat George Eight
• George Eight begat Percy George
• Percy George begat Harold Dean (that’s me!)
• Harold Dean begat Graham Robert
• Graham Robert begat Craig Nicholas
• Craig Nicholas begat Noah Harry.

Noah was born on 19th March 2007 and, behold, in that same week the long drought of 2006-2007 was refreshed with the rain that turned the countryside from dusty brown to green. An appropriate response to Noah’s arrival.

While my enfeebled voice lasts, I want to say a couple of things. In 1949, while I was living at Inglewood, my dad told me of a visitor he had who was fervently interested in the history of the Pitman family. So the first three of my children just scraped into the first book. The name of Haidee Pitman ought never to be forgotten in the celebrations which we hold from time to time.

I count it an honour to have lived my life as a member of a family of which I can be so proud. I refer to page 8-9 of Pitman Families in Australia:1838-1990, a volume with which you are all familiar, and I quote:

The west coast family seems to have been endowed with health and strength of body and mind. Note how, whether in England or Australia, or in America, they live to a very ripe old age. The Australian Pitmans took with them not only West Country Bibles and West Country traditions but also an extrordinary family resemblance wich persists in mannerisms and characteristics as much as in “the Pitman nose” and longevity.

I have the nose and the long life and I trust that the character of my contemporaries in this family will maintain the good name we have inherited.”

See the Reunion 2007 album on Facebook for more Reunion photos.