The Baynie Family of Thornleigh

Details

Identifiernot specifiedPhotographernot specifiedDescriptionThe first Lebanese family to move to Thornleigh was the Baynie family. Anthony and Alma Baynie immigrated to Australia from Lebanon in April 1925. Anthony gave his age as 27 and occupation as a shoemaker although his occupation noted in the electoral rolls since then was as a gardener. With him were his wife Alma aged 26 and their children Emily aged seven and Adeabie (Deaby/Debbie) aged one. A room was found for them to rent in Wahroonga for a few months before they moved to Waitara about September 1925. Anthony and Alma had other children who were born in Australia: Peter Anthony (b. 1929), Mary (Brown), Margaret (Robinson), Jean (Meyer) and John Baynie.
It appears the Baynie family moved to Thornleigh about 1928. Anthony was paying rates on 25 Central Avenue although he did not yet have title to the property and was also paying rates on four market garden blocks on the eastern side of Central Avenue. He purchased the market garden blocks in July 1930 and a house, called Roebuck, eighteen months later.
Emily Baynie was called up for war work in 1940 and worked in the clothing trade for N Bookalil Ltd in a factory that was situated on the corner of Elizabeth and Foveaux Streets in the city. In 1943 Emily Baynie purchased a property at 247 Pennant Hills Road. After she moved to Pennant Hills Road, Emily and Deaby continued to work for Bookalil, but they eventually went out on their own. Their factory was probably established soon after the move to Pennant Hills Road. As time went by, they employed more Lebanese women and after 1961 they had the contract to supply the uniform’s for Thornleigh West Public School.
In April 1945 Anthony Baynie bought a 17-acre block of land on the southern side of Sefton Road, which commenced opposite Larool Crescent and stretched as far as Kooringal Avenue. Instead of farming he chose to continue with the dairy that was already established on the site. In 1951 many people including Anthony’s brother Raymond Peter Baynie, sponsored by Mary Brown (Baynie) left the village of Bann near Ehden in Northern Lebanon for Australia. The men repaid their sponsorship fees by working at Baynie’s dairy.
Over time Raymond’s family became well known locally as qualified builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers (Joe Baynie) and other tradesmen. By helping each other as family groups, they were able to prosper and assist other family groups to migrate from Lebanon to their new land. In 1993 there were more than 6,000 Australians of Lebanese descent in the Thornleigh and Pennant Hills area alone.
Anthony Peter Baynie died in 1991 and his brother Raymond Peter Baynie died in 1993. Anthony’s son Peter Anthony Baynie died in 2003 and was survived by his sisters Emily, Margaret and Jean and his brother John.
*Source: An A-Z of Thornleigh including Westleigh: Then and Now/ The Research Committee, Hornsby Shire Historical Society Inc. (2019) pp24-25.Physical FormatThornleigh

Location

Building NameBaynie familyimmigrantsThornleighLebanonStreet:StreetView:&enabled=1&fov=89&heading=13&pitch=14&zoom=19

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The Baynie Family of Thornleigh