Betty Whiting

Betty’s maternal grandfather, George James Gregory, travelled from England to Australia in 1887. He came to Mildura in 1889. George moved to Australia for the dry climate as he had a weak chest. He journeyed from Echuca to Mildura by paddle-steamer to take up land advertised in the Chaffey “Red Book”. As the land was not ready, he initially worked as a carpenter for the Chaffey brothers, helping with the construction of the Rio Vista homestead and the Mildura Central School. Betty’s maternal grandmother, Eliza Sarahann Hallett, followed George out from England in 1889, travelling from Adelaide to Mildura on the paddle-steamer Gem. Eliza was a schoolteacher. George and Eliza married in 1890, and had two children: Annie Eliza born 1891, and Grace Emily born 1894. Betty’s mother Annie was among the first European settlers’ children to be born in Mildura.