2 January 1875 205 Wellington Street, Launceston Tasmania Australia Ruth Dodgshun Eric George & Charles Hewlett

George Newton Sargent was born on 2 Jan 1875 at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, to George Hewlett Sargent (1844-1914), brewer's clerk and his wife Bessie Dodd (1849-1924). Known by his second name, Newton had two younger sisters, Amy and Myra. Newton was 11 when the Sargent family emigrated to Australia on the Sorata, arriving in Jun 1886. They lived at Glengarry, Rosevears, Launceston, Flowerdale and finally Wynyard. Newton was apprenticed to J & T Gunn as a joiner and attended the Launceston Technical School. He received a medal for a blackwood mantelpiece at the Tasmanian Exhibition of 1891-92. He was a timber merchant and builder, had planing and moulding mills at 27 Esplanade, Launceston and a sawmill at Tunnel.

The family moved to Flowerdale in 1911, then to Wynyard. Newton was a builder and contractor in Wynyard, undertaking work all along the North-West coast. He was a lay preacher at the Baptist and Methodist Churches, organist and secretary of the Wynyard Baptist Church for 30 years and a life member of Poulett Lodge. He also played bowls. He married Ruth Dodgshun on 14 May 1924 at the Presbyterian Church, Surrey Hills, Victoria. He built his home 'Nareen' at East Wynyard. Their two sons were born in Wynyard: Eric George in 1928 and Charles Hewlett in 1931. Newton died on 15 Jul 1955 aged 80. Ruth died on 30 Oct 1986 aged 95. They are buried together at the Wynyard Cemetery. See The Examiner 17 Dec 2005, p. 35.

Marion Sargent Sep 2005