Shiny brass buttons

In the early 90s, my mum's cousin Bob Spooner told me when he was a little boy, an important Spooner relative came to visit the family in Mildura, and he wore a dark blue jacket with shiny brass buttons and was called Captain. Couldn't remember when it was or his name. But he just loved the shiny buttons. Poor Bob now has Alzheimer's disease.
Three Spooner boys came to Australia from London in about 1885, but I have never found their immigration records. William Mason Spooner was the eldest, a boiler maker; Richard Mason Spooner, a sailor and my great grandfather Edward Mason Spooner, a box maker and carpenter. I first assumed Richard had progressed to wearing a uniform, and it was him! But no, he left Melbourne in a rush after an argument and went to the USA, where he was a steward on boats that travelled up and down the east coast. He died in San Francisco unmarried.

Bob was born in 1940, so the visit would have been the mid to late 40s. You have to love Trove! Although the Sunraysia Daily is still being digitalized, it has done so up to 1940; the relevant social pages will be revealed in the next few months so I can properly check the story.

Captain William Durrant Spooner, late of the English Merchant Navy, now Harbour Master Port Victoria in South Australia, was commissioned in 1932, according to the Government gazette.

William, Richard and Edward had an elder brother James Mason Spooner, a prosperous draper who stayed in London. His son William Durrant Spooner visited the family in Mildura when Bob was a little boy.

The only photo I have of the family; lots more to research in Adelaide and more Spooners to be found.

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