Passengers stories 
by their descendants.

The Barnett
Family
The story of:  William Barnett, wife Eleonore (Ellen) (nee Kerslake), and children 
Mary Ann 4 yrs and William H 1 yr.
Contribution by Natalie Wilson, 2017.

I am a descendant (Great great granddaughter) of Mary Ann Barnett, who was age 4 at the time of the Netherby wreck. 
She was travelling with her father William, mother Eleanor (Ellen to her family) and brother William age 1.
Unfortunately young William jnr died in 1868 in Victoria aged 2 years.
William and Ellen had 3 more children in Chiltern, Victoria, Australia. 
- Henry Barnett born 1867 (I have found a Henry James Barnett who died in Gore, New Zealand in 1946 aged 89 years who may be a match).
- Frederick Barnett born 1870, died 1925.
- Alfred Charles Barnett born 1876, died 1951 Dunedin, New Zealand.
The Barnett family then migrated to Dunedin, New Zealand around 1880. 
- Frank William Alexander Barnett, the youngest child of the family was born in Dunedin in 1881, and died in 1942.

William Barnett senior died in Dunedin in 1918, aged 83. Ellen Barnett died in 1904 aged 62.

My g-g-grandmother Mary Ann Barnett married Charles Robert Hicks in Dunedin on 10/12/1881.
Charles Hicks was born in Hampshire in 1839 and like the Barnetts, his family came to NZ via Australia. They settled in Canterbury.
Mary Ann and Charles had 6 children;
- Mary Elizabeth Hicks 1882-1965
- Florence Charlotte Hicks 1884-1963
- May Eleanor Hicks 1885-1967
- Olive Victoria Hicks 1887-1965
- Charles William Kingston Hicks 1888-1918 (He was killed as a result of a bomb dropped on a German prisoner-of-war camp)
- Alfred Henry Hicks 1890-1948

Olive Victoria Hicks was my great-grandmother. She married Henry Sinclair McKay in 1909.
The youngest of their 4 children was Rona Florence McKay, my grandmother. She married John Mitchell Davis and they had 4 children including my mother Johan.
I am the eldest of 4 girls and I have 4 children of my own aged 21-26.
Most of the family still live in the Dunedin NZ area.

Photo 1 of the Barnett family grave in Dunedin's Southern Cemetery.
It contains: 
- Eleanor (Ellen) Barnett ( nee Kerslake), 
- William Barnett, husband. 
- Frank William Alexander Barnett, son. 
- (Gladys) Annie Barnett (nee Warnock) wife of Frank W A Barnettt. 
- Gladys Barnett, daughter of Frank W A and Annie. 
- Alfred Barnett, infant son of Alfred Barnett and Annie (nee Krause), grandson of William and Ellen Barnett.

In the same cemetery is the grave of Mary Ann Barnett (Hicks) and her husband Charles Hicks – see photo.