Here you’ll find

• links and sites relating to members of the families descended from Robert Ernest Thwaites.
• the homepage of the Michael and Honor Thwaites Heritage Association, supporting the literary estate of poet and author Michael Rayner Thwaites and his wife Honor Mary Scott Thwaites.

History

Robert “Ernest” Thwaites, a young schoolmaster, emigrated from Yorkshire to Australia in 1913 to take up a teaching post in Brisbane.  His brother Francis emigrated to the USA and his brother Jack emigrated to Canada.  They were part of a flood of young men seeking a better future than was offered to them in the England of a century ago.

Ernest’s descendants are now into the fifth generation, contributing to Australian life in many different ways.

There are many threads to follow back in time to ancestors in England, Scotland and elsewhere. The blog Forebear with Me shows some of the ancestral photographs we are trying to identify (some well over a century old).  Comments, advice or information are welcome on this blog.

The name

There were Thwaites families in Australia before Ernest, and others have arrived since. But people still seem to find the name unusual. “Tveit” is a Scandinavian word for a piece of land cleared for agriculture – a field. Spelled “thwaite” or in several other ways, the word is common in place names and family names in parts of northern England invaded and settled by the Vikings about 1000 years ago. See more on Thwaites name origins here.

What you can do

If you are connected to, or interested in, the family of Robert Ernest Thwaites or another Thwaites family in Australia, you are welcome to submit links with a brief description to the webmaster of this site.