William Green (1840-1/9/1905) (possible a third generation of Williams), my great grandfather, born in County Clare in Ireland, came to Australia in the 1850s. Escaping the potato famine, and attracted by the gold rushes, he and his cousin Michael (speculated relationship) raised their families in Beaufort,Victoria.

William (Co.Clare) (1770?-?) (1st generation)	(his existence speculated by Albert Greene)
William (Co.Clare) (1810-1870?) (2nd gen.)	married Bridget Nagle (details unknown)
William (jnr - emigrated) (1840-1905) (3rd)	married Bridget Duggan in Victoria
Michael (my grandfather) (1870-1953)	married Isabella Cahir in Victoria
William Vincent (my dad) (1915-1982)	married Joan Sykes in Victoria

His marriage certificate shows his parents were William Greene (farmer) (2nd generation in chart above) and Bridget Nagle (no place mentioned). Unfortunately we can find no records of the date or place of the birth, marriage or death of his parents.

Land records from Ballycotton in County Clare show both Greenes and Neagles. William (2nd generation) may have had a brother Luke (the father of Michael, who lived with William - 3rd generation - in Beaufort) and a father William (1st generation) in Ballycotton, County Clare.

William arrived in Victoria around 1861 (unfortunately we can find no record of his arrival in the shipping records), and until 1870 gave his occupation given as 'miner' or 'gold miner'. He is likely to be the author of articles about gold mining in the local paper. In 1899 on the Referendum roll, he is a 'line repairman', then 'farmer' upon his death. His obituary says he was a railway line repairman for many years, then retired to his farm.

According to rate books, William paid rates in 1900 on 166 acres. After his death in 1905, Annie, his daughter paid the rates (for more details, see 'Land Ownership' below).

William died at Trawalla, 65 years old, of pneumonia and cardiac arrest. According to the local paper, he died of senile decay. "31 vehicles followed the hearse". His grave is in the Beaufort cemetery (#7821), with his wife Bridget and son William.

Bridget Duggan (servant) (1839-18/8/1918) was born in County Clare, daughter of Patrick Duggan (farmer) and Bridget Condon (Ireland) (Condon is an ancestral name in County Cork), and came to Australia in 1862, aged 23. She couldn't read or write ('her mark' appears on one of her children's birth certificates). According to her obituary, she lived in Chute and Stawell, then returned to Beaufort, settling on land at the Trawalla road, three miles from Beaufort. Several weeks before her death, she sold this land and moved to Beaufort (where her daughter Annie lived). She died at 79 years in Beaufort of senile decay and heart failure: an "old and highly respected resident of the district", she "had fallen and fractured one of her arms when bushfires menaced her property at Trawalla". This, it says "hastened her end". Buried in Beaufort (#7415).
I have had the good fortune to speak to Gladys Leister, who knew Bridget personally.

William and Bridget were married 14/10/1863 at the newly built Beaufort wooden Catholic church (since replaced by the current stone church) (#2853). A Michael Green (William's cousin) witnessed the marriage. The year before, Michael married Ellen Murphy in Beaufort, with William as a witness.

William and Bridget lived with, or near, Michael and his wife Ellen for about ten years - in Beaufort for a year or so, then both couples moved north to Raglan for a year or two, then north again to Chute (known before 1883 as Charlton). Bridget witnessed the marriage of Michael's youngest daughter, Ellen Green, in Geelong.

William and Bridget had four children
- Annie,
- Mary (died age 12 months),
- William
- Michael (my grandfather).

William and his family built a house and settled on north side of the Trawalla road, which runs from Beaufort to Ballarat, until Bridget's death in 1918. The house and land were bought by the Pringles family. Michael, William's older cousin, left with his family many years earlier to live in Geelong.

William - Mining Geologist
In late 1891 and early 1892, a series of nine columns titled 'Geological Notes' by W. Green, a Mining Geologist, appeared in the 'Ripponshire Advocate' (Beaufort is the main town of the Ripponshire region). The same W. Green also published a pamphlet on gold prospecting, based on, the paper reported, his knowledge of New Zealand and Australian gold mining. In one article, he refers to his 'ramblings' around the Beaufort area. It seems very likely that this was my great grandfather William Green (goldminer/ railway line repairman/ labourer /farmer who lived in Beaufort), and that he joined the gold rush to New Zealand, which started in 1865. According to the shipping records, two William Greens arrived in New Zealand in 1867. One of them is likely to be my great grandfather, who made the visit between the birth of his two sons.
Michael Green, William's cousin, left for New Zealand in 1866, a year before William, and appears to have stayed for between one and three years.

Land ownership
There were five main purchases by the Greens between 1894 and 1919 of adjoining land on the Ballarat road.
In 1894 William Green, line repairer, purchased 113 acres. This is most likely the block the family lived on, today an empty paddock except for several large pine trees. It included 79 acres north of the railway line. This was purchased from W. Dutton, who purchased the original title for £30 in 1887.
In 1896, William purchased purchased 53 acres west of the large block north of the railway line.
In 1897, William purchased 31 acres on the Ballarat road, towards Beaufort, next to what is now Packhams Lane.
According to local rate books, William paid the rates for these three blocks in 1900. Annie paid the rates after his death.
In 1905 William, on his death, left all land in his name to his son Michael Green, railway employee of Foster (why not to his oldest son William? - had Michael lost his hand already? - was William ill - he died four years later - or an alcoholic?).
In 1910, after the death of William jnr., Michael Green, of Lal lal, bought 31 acres from M.O Callaghan - the block between two purchased by William.
Finally in 1919, a year after the death of Bridget, Michael purchased three blocks of land, and Annie a fourth, side by side, to the east of Packhams lane. Each was 20 acres, and each cost £20.
Michael paid the rates on these last two main purchases until 1917 (?)
In 1921, three years after Bridget's death, and when Michael's son William (my father) was six years old, all of the land, totalling 291 acres, was sold to S. Hancock, and the house they lived in was moved to Beaufort.
In 1928 most of this land (the three middle blocks) were transferred to Janet Allan Packham - the mother of Gladys Leister.