George Powney was the middle child of seven children born to William Powney and Maria Bath in Wiltshire, England. As a thirty-six year old man he decided to follow in the footsteps of his oldest brother, Sydney who, together with his wife Sarah and children, had immigrated to Geelong four years earlier. He was accompanied on his journey by Frederick the sixteen year old son of his brother, William.
George, whose occupation was that of a gardener soon settled into life in Geelong, helped, no doubt, by having family already established in the area. In 1861, four years after his arrival, he married Ann Morse and over the next five years the couple had four children; William, Ada, Maria and Richard. George and Ann spent thirty years in Geelong before deciding to move to Beech Forrest to live with their sons in their old age. Sadly, they lived there for only four years before George, while visiting W. Yates in Colac, suddenly became ill. A doctor was summoned and treated him. George appeared to be recovering and said that he felt much better, but he died just ten minutes later. It was a sudden and unexpected death, which must have been deeply distressing for those present.
Research by Raye Loughnan & Merrill O’Donnell
Story by Norma Bakker

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