Jinnie (left) with sisters Fanny and Mary |
Jane Louisa “Jinnie” Bunston was born on
December 23rd 1878 at Skipton, Victoria. Jinnie was the seventh child of George and Elizabeth Bunston. She attended Skipton
Common School, and is likely to have completed her education in 1892.
Before she married, Jinnie lived at "Mount Widderin", a property just south of Skipton on the Lismore Road. The 30,000 acre sheep station was owned by the Austin family at the time. The 1906 electoral roll states she worked as home duties so chances are she was a maid in the house.
Jinnie married David John Wilkie
on July 3rd 1906. They owned the general store near the Mt
Emu Creek Bridge on the west side of the creek.
David was the third of twelve children of David Stewart
Wilkie and Marion Murray.
Together David and Jinnie had three
children: Georgina (1908); Phyllis (1911) and David (1916).
Jinnie and David later lived in Lismore Road,
Skipton opposite the home of Jinnie’s sister Mary. Here David ran
a petrol agency.
Sadly, Jinnie died on December 22nd
1919 a day before her 41st birthday. She is buried in the
Skipton Cemetery.
The old General Store, pic sourced on Trove taken by John Collins |
After Jinnie's death, her sister Mary
helped David raise his young children before his second marriage. David married Mary Victoria “Sis”
Cairns after Jinnie’s death, and they had a daughter, Mary Carmel
together.
Sis was the daughter of Robert Cairns
and Frances McCoy. She was born in 1887.
David, who died on December 23rd
1948 aged 71 is buried at Skipton with his first wife. Sis died in Ballarat in 1965, aged 78.