The Veness Family History

Henry William Veness (Written by his son, Frank William Veness) Henry William Veness was born 10 March 1892, in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales, the second son and 5th child of Charles Veness and Agnes Amelia Woodward. He married Lilian Alice Keen on 18 September 1915, and had four children, Kenneth Charles, Frank William, Russell Frederick, and Norman Henry. (Below: William Henry aged about 6 months.) I cannot remember much about my Dad in his early days. We never seemed to talk about his family or such things. My Dad was employed as an Assistant Supervisor and Plumbers’ Foreman with the Education Dept School Maintenance section, and much of his spare time was spent helping someone out of their plumbing problems. He was well-liked and respected by all his work-mates and friends, but at the same time he was a hard father on both us boys and our mother. I remember coming home late one night from tennis and promptly had the tennis racquet taken and was whacked by it on the backside. I had the squares of the strings showing on my bottom for a week. Although he was quick to help anyone who needed it, he was a man who never realised that we, to, at times needed help. We grew up never taking our troubles to him, it was always Mum to whom we turned. Likewise, all the boys went on outings with Mum, enjoying walks, trips to the picture theatre, etc, together; Dad came only to a few beach picnics. I remember going to a Sunday School picnic in the National Park where we hired a rowing boat. Dad came in the boat with us, but while Russ and Norm were rowing, Dad got splashed a couple of times, and promptly got peeved and asked to be put ashore so he could walk back. We had a terrific time, as this was the first time we had had a boat by ourselves! He was a keen gardener and would spend all day Saturday mowing lawns, cutting along edges with a large carving knife, and trimming the edges of the gardens using a straight edge and shears. After a long battle with Bright’s Disease, my Dad died 23 August 1951. He was cremated at Rookwood Cemetery on 25 August 1951. 22 | P a g e