Kirjahaku

John Moore and his wife, Margaret Moore (n e Considine), were early European pioneers who settled in around 1843 in the North East of what was then known as the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales and is now the State of Victoria. Like the great majority of their fellow settlers, neither John nor Margaret was born in Australia.John Moore was born in Woodchurch, Kent in 1816. He emigrated from England to New South Wales in 1838 when 22 years of age. In contrast, Margaret Considine was born at Sixmilebridge, County Clare in about 1818. She first arrived from Ireland in New South Wales in 1836 aged 18 years old.Both John and Margaret came from poor rural stock. The prospect of a better life in Australia was no doubt the prime motivation for each to independently migrate across the world to New South Wales.

Grasping the Horizon traces the amazing lives of three generations of a single family of squatters. Having left poverty and social disgrace in England in the early 1820s, they seized the opportunity to re-make themselves in Australia. Through ruthlessness, courage and enterprise they fought the original inhabitants of south-eastern Australia for their land, and established vast pastoral empires in south-eastern Australia. They then fought colonial governments to maintain these properties against the growing demand from the less fortunate newcomers for the 'unlocking' of the lands. Garry Moore's deep research into his family's origins has uncovered a colourful, if at times disturbing, story that provides new insights into this turbulent period of Australian history.- Geraldine Moore, Author of George Higinbotham and Eureka: The Struggle for Democracy in Colonial Victoria.

"The convict's plea in mitigation was one of misfortune, abandonment, abuse, neglect and destitution: human flotsam and jetsam caught in the massive transformation of the industrial and agricultural revolutions, the pursuit of empire and the insatiable hunger for land."Janet McCalman"Jonathan Harris' life as a convict and transportee was remarkable in its own right. Equally remarkable is the fact that he contracted three marriages over the course of his lifetime and sired a total of 17 children. In the main, the life led by each of these children was quite different from that led by his or her siblings and by Jonathan. Many went on to have large families in their own right, and there are no doubt very many Australians alive today who can trace their ancestry back to Jonathan Harris. Time has rendered him the patriarch of a very large Australian family.My object in this work is not only to trace Jonathan's life, but also to provide brief sketches of the lives of all 17 of his sons and daughters."Garry Moore

"This trio of brothers, whose names are almost unknown to the present generation, are deserving of a monument to their memory in each of the respective towns in which they resided, and so liberally assisted to establish as centres in the north-eastern part of Victoria."North Eastern Ensign, Friday, 30 June 1893, p. 3.