8 November 1873 3 Sussex Terrace Cameron Street Launceston Tasmania Australia 1. Amelia Baker; 2. Emily Fryda Salmon Jack Maxwell, Trevor Lyle, William Lance, Thomas McKenzie & Winifred Meg

William Oscar Curtis was born on 8 Nov 1873 to John Rowe Curtis, miner, of Nine Mile Springs (Lefroy) and his wife Margaret Jane McKenzie. John was one of a party, led by Samuel Richards, who were the first to find payable gold at Specimen Hill near Lefroy in 1870, for which they received a reward of 3,000 pounds. William was christened at St Mary Magdalene's Anglican Church, George Town, on 5 Oct 1874. He had a younger sister Winifred, born 1876 and a brother Adzie, 1877. Their mother died aged 24 on 5 Jan 1878 when William was four years old. His father married Eugenie Shenstone Gardiner on 12 Feb 1879. They had one daughter and three sons.

On 1 Jul 1887, at the age of 13, William was appointed by the Telegraph Office as a messenger boy delivering messages on his bicycle in the Beaconsfield area. In the following year, on 19 May 1888, he joined the Railway Department as a booking clerk. He became the chief clerk in the Rolling Stock Branch, retiring in 1938 after serving for 50 years and 174 days.

William married Amelia Baker on 15 Nov 1898 at the residence of her parents in Garfield Street, Launceston. Amelia (Emmie) is also pictured in the Family Album. They had four sons and one daughter between 1899 and 1911. William was keen on microscopes and glass specimen slides. The family enjoyed holidays at Low Head, staying at the Pilot Station or camping on the 'tennis courts' at Lagoon Bay. After Amelia died in 1937, William married Emily Fryda Salmon. William died aged 77 on 24 Apr 1951 and his remains were interred at Carr Villa in the rose garden B 12 B2. His widow Emily died in 1988 aged 96.

Tina Curtis & Marion Sargent Jun 2009