Used to printing decorative patterns on to material.Provenance and SignifcanceThis batik print block was owned and used by Emelia Shepperd (nee Mills).
Emelia Mills was born in Manchester in 1868. When she was 23 years old in 1891, she married Charles Christopher Shepperd at Lancashire.
Emelia and Charles lived in India for a few years where their two children were born. Sadly, one child died, presumably in infancy.
In 1900 when the family were living in Durham, UK, Charles died aged just 33 years. He was a mechanic at the time.
In 1914, Emelia remarried John Mills at Lancashire.
Emelia and Charles' son William Shepperd was born at Bombay, India in 1893. William married former school teacher, Mary Jane McCoubrey in Cumberland in 1920.
Mary Jane McCoubrey was born c.1894 to James Johnston McCoubrey and Eliza Sawyer Wilson. James and Eliza had several children including Margaret Ann, Mary Jane, Selina, William and Hannah.
Margaret Ann Johnstone McCoubrey never married. She was a seamstress and a Headmistress at a village school in Cumberland, from 1915-1920.
Emelia and Margaret's personal effects were inherited by Mary McKee (nee Shepperd), daughter of William and Mary Jane McCoubrey.
Mary Shepperd was born in Cumberland in 1925. She married George Lynas McKee in 1952. The McKee's moved to Australia with their children and settled at Shellharbour.DonorMcKee, Mary
