Descendant’s joy at Bible find

Lesley Shedden has always known the story of her ancestors who travelled to Rockingham on a ship of the city’s name in 1830, but had no idea what was waiting for her when she visited last month.

Ms Shedden’s great, great, great, grandparents William and Hannah Leeder landed in WA almost 200 years ago, with Leederville and William Street named after them.

Soon after disembarking in Rockingham the couple purchased the Palace Hotel, shaping it into one of Perth’s most popular spots before it became known as the Leeder’s Hotel.

Ms Shedden was visiting Rockingham from Adelaide last month for a national conference with Bendigo Bank and decided to do a little more digging.

“I’ve been to Perth before and have looked up bits and pieces of my grandparents’ history — I knew they landed in Rockingham so I thought I’d see if there was anything in the Rockingham Museum,” she said.

The museum houses a model of the Rockingham ship, which was the last of Thomas Peel’s vessels to arrive in Cockburn in 1830 and is where the city got its name.

“The ladies at the museum said they didn’t know much about them because they didn’t stay in Rockingham — but they did have William’s bible,” Ms Shedden said.

“They asked if I wanted to look at it, I was shocked — they brought it out to me in a wooden box.”

The bible contained her great, great, great grandfather’s handwriting and stories of what happened on the ship including an uprising, which resulted in whippings for those involved.

“It was pretty amazing — I can’t explain how I felt when I was holding his bible,” Ms Shedden said.

“It was incredible and the rest of the family had no idea it existed.”