AUSTRALIAN PIONEER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19727, 29 August 1927, Page 12

AUSTRALIAN PIONEER.

THE GARLING FAMILY.

112 YEARS IN COMMONWEALTH

GATHERING OF DESCENDANTS

A gathering unique among the pioneer families of Australia took place at Sydney on August 6, when Mr. Percival S. Garling and Mrs. Garling entertained about 120 descendants of Frederick and Elizabeth Garling. who arrived in Sydney on August 8, 1815. There were present grandchildren, and, in some instances great-great-great-grandchildren, of the original members of the family to come to Australia. It was remarked during the afternoon that very few indeed of the descendants of Frederick and Elizabeth Oarling had left Australia. Frederick Garling was born in London in 1775, and was appointed the first Crown Solicitor of New South Wales. He died in Sydney, on May 2, 1848, at the age of 73 years At the gathering many members ot the family renewed acquaintance after many years, while others had not met before. The reunion was a happy one in every respect, and a feature of the gathering was the appearance of some of the members of the family in the dress of the period of their ancestor.

At luncheon, Mr H. C. M. Garling proposed the toast of "The Day we Celebrate." He said that Mr. W. M. N Garling, who was 86 years of age, and was unable to be present, was the only surviving grandson of their common ancestor. He, in his early childhood, saw and knew Frederick Garling. Governor Macquane had permitted solicitors sentenced for such crimes as forgeries, perjury, and the like to practice their profession as solicitors among the civil population, and even to appear before the Courts of the day. On the establishment of the firs; Supreme Court the first Judge, Jeffery Hart Bent, objected to such men appearing before the Courts, and ultimately the Home Government agreed to two attorneys being sent from England. Frederick Garling was the first of these, and the other was a Mr. Moore. Frederick Garling was the senior, and was, therefore, the first Crown Solicitor. "We may honour our ancestor as pioneer of an important and honourable profession," .--aid Mr. Garling, "and if there is wanted •. monument to Frederick Garling it is only necessary to look at the gathering today." Mr. Percival Garling, responding to the toast, said that they should keep alive the best traditions of those who had gone before them. Time and circumstances had resulted in many of the family drifting apart, but he hoped that the reunion would serve the friendship of the various branches of the family Frederick Garling had had a dispute with Judge Bent, but the best commentary on that dispute was the fact that their ancestor had remained in New South Wales, while Judge Bent was recalled.