LIKE many of the young unfettered minds of the 1800s, 21-year-old English sailor William Carrington travelled the high seas to Australia in search of riches and fortunes.
He mined for gold in Victoria with wife Eliza Hooker, and moved to gold hub Ravenswood in the early 1860s.
William went on to work as a teamster running horse and bullock teams, and hauling supplies by wagon from Rockhampton to the west when the rail line was under construction.
He owned a store and butchery in Comet in the 1870s, where one of their many children, John (Jack) Carrington, was born on March 13, 1863.
Twenty-six years later, Jack married fellow English immigrant Annie Austin. The couple had 10 children together.
Jack and son Ted purchased Old Planet Station in Western Queensland in the mid 1920s, only 12 miles away from extended family at Planet Downs.
In a moving commemoration of the family's history and an effort to reassemble the modern family tree, more than 100 Carrington descendants reunited in Townsville a few weeks ago.
Great granddaughter of Jack and Annie, Sharn Boyd, compiled "A Trip Down Memory Lane Through the Eyes and Minds of Carrington Descendants".
Relatives shared stories, including the one about "Old Bob", an Aboriginal at Planet Downs, and Ted's prized thoroughbred, Karaset.
Sharn, Elaine Riley (nee Carrington), Proserpine, and Claire Malyon (nee Sturmfels), Brisbane, addressed the crowd.
Elaine said the catalyst for the reunion came when she lost her parents and rekindled links with relatives, highlighting the importance of family and keeping connected.
Claire said family was about love, not bloodline, noting the Carringtons' penchant for good food, good fun, and plenty of affection.
"If you can't get rid of family skeleton, you may as well make it dance," she said.
The crowd came together from all over the country with only a little assistance from Facebook; the phones were running hot in the lead-up to the get-together.
