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Three Generations of Black Sheep in the Family!

By John Worcester

In Victoria (Australia), we've had a number of Worcester / Worster / Wooster families, mostly falling into three groups based on area of settlement: Melbourne (from 1839), Bendigo (from 1854) and Omeo (convict 1836), all spelt Worcester.

Thomas Wooster (born Wing, Bucks, 1808) was sent out as a convict in 1836 and married the daughter of an ex-convict grazier, settling on a property called "The Pelican" at Wahgunyah, near the River Murray. He was killed by a bull at the Newmarket saleyards in Melbourne, 1844. Thomas was spelled as Worster in his will and his widow was listed as Woster when she remarried but the three children were always listed as Worcester. The two boys later became pioneers in Gippsland in the High Country at Omeo, as graziers.

Royal Thomas (Ormond) Worcester (Tree) was the "black sheep" of the Omeo Worcester family! But not the only one.

On various trips to the small village of Benambra near Omeo, I got to know two of the Worcester family members quite well. I met up with George Worcester a couple of times: he was very elderly and died about 96 after driving home through his paddocks and the garage door caught him in a gust of wind. George lived in a smaller house behind the larger family home. He showed me a letter from 1906 by my grandfather, Thomas Worcester of Melbourne - written to him from Lakes Entrance in Gippsland and interested in making a visit. Unfortunately Grandfather was in declining health and he died in 1907.

I got to know George's daughter May very well (widowed, born Mary, had married to Allie Betts). She was the same age as my mother (bn 1903). May claimed there was "bad blood" in the family line after George's brother, Ormond, had married a woman from Dargo (Ivy Foster but May fastened blame on the McGuires of Dargo !!!) Ormond's son was named Royal Thomas (used the name Royal Ormond frequently) and in later life, RO Worcester was always listed as living in New Guinea (I think on the Sepik River?) but must have eventually moved to Cairns in Queensland as that's where he was buried.

Royal hit the newspapers during the Second World War, when, as a batman, he went off in (borrowed? stole?) his officer's jeep, was arrested and locked up. To make matters worse, apparently, he broke out of the lockup, escaped from Footscray Gaol and was on the run for 18 months before being recaptured in Adelaide.

Trove records (Australian National Library) indicate a life of crime including house-breaking and larceny.

Later on, his son, Donald Royal Worcester, who ran squash courts in Lilydale was caught in northern Thailand with an associate seeking drugs to bring back to Australia. He was apparently tricked by the drug dealers there into obtaining harder drugs than he was initially interested in at which point the Thai police swooped and arrested him. He was sentenced to 33 years in a Thai prison but the family in Melbourne (daughter, Diane, as I recall) sought an early release and he was pardoned in 1986. Back in Melbourne he turned to making amphetamine drugs (known as "ice").

I had met Donald in the 1960s. He lived in Lorne Street, Fawkner, almost opposite Fawkner Cemetery so I met him at his house and we drove across. I located the family grave (on that occasion!) and was able to show Donald his great-grandfather's grave (killed 1844 by the bull at Newmarket).

I thought there was a sort of "family resemblance" between us and May Betts was convinced I looked like her family members. Later, when I met three Worcester siblings at a party (Marian, Catherine and David), I'd have said that those three and I had such resemblance. Yet research over all those years has revealed no connection between the families even though they all assumed there "must have been". For example, my great-grandfather met one of the two Omeo Worcester brothers in Melbourne (1880s) and my grandma was visited by some in the 1930s!

As for "bad blood" introduced by Ormond's wife's family, I had contact with an elderly Bendigo Worcester (George, formerly a policeman). He recounted how he'd been called out to make an arrest of a man who had run amok with a rifle in Newport (Melbourne). This had turned out to be Ormond Worcester!

I think Royal had a brother called Harry, and his children were Donald, Brian and Judith.

Royal Ormand Worcester in a Police Gazette

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  Page last updated

  06 October 2023