Born in the depression in 1936, my father was born Ellis John Keene but was called Jack.   Jack was the youngest of seven children (all half brothers and half-sisters). His parents had met and got together in Nhill, Victoria, then moved to Horsham.  He grew up with his older brother, who was seven years his senior, and his biological parents, Ruby Keene (nee Sherwell) and Henry Roy Bonnell (aka "Harry Williams").  Apparently, when my father was a toddler they all lived in the hollow of a tree in a forest where my grandfather sought to get work during the depression. At age 6 my father moved from the bush to Fitzroy in the city, which was then a high-crime inner city slum.  My father was unmanageable, would run away from school, struggled with literacy and didn't complete education.  He may have fitted dyslexia, ADHD, language processing disorder and he was on uppers and downers which were the medication of the day for bipolar.  In short, he was a 'fruit salad'.

As my father's parents were not married, he carried the name of his mother's ex-husband - a man unrelated to him and whom he'd never met. So my birth name was Keene.  He'd been married under that name to a woman named Valda but caught her sleeping with his best friend a few months before then getting with my mother.

Before marrying my mother in 1965 (I was aged 2), and before my brothers and I went to school, my father changed his name by deed-poll to John Williams (called Jack or Jackie, though by late childhood - for up until then I generally didn't call my parents anything - I called him Jackie Paper, after the song which he used to sing). Now, with the name Williams, it matched that of his father (who had taken on the name Williams from the street sign in Horsham).  My father was, however, not one 'person', he was many: Jackie Paper, Johnny Bedrock, Jackie Williams, Sparkling Arkie, Wild Dog Dingo, The King, Poor Boy but the only one I really thought of as 'dad' was Jackie Paper.  

I was born Donna Keene and have the ticket from the crib with my name on it, my doctor, my nurse.  I lived, however, as Donna Williams.  When I was 17 I required my Birth Certificate and went to Births Deaths and Marriages to get it.  I was asked for my name, told them it was Donna Williams.  They asked if it was the name I was born with, I told them, no, that was Donna Keene.  They insisted that even if my father had changed my name by Deed Poll I'd still have a birth certificate under the name I was born with (my older brother's name was changed by Deed Poll and he still had a birth certificate under the name of Keene).  When they came back from the search empty handed they searched for one under the name of Williams and found one.  The name of my doctor and nurse were not those from my birth, my father's name was not that he'd had when I was born, my parents were listed as married in the name of Williams, which they had not been until I was 2, and it was all very strange.

I insisted on some answers.  I was taken into a little office and asked if my parents had told me anything.  They pointed out that my certificate was issued in 1970 (I was born in 1963) which was the year by which both my paternal grandparents had died.  It was suggested I check whether I'd been adopted. But instead of finding my parents weren't my birth parents, I found I'd been adopted by my own parents at the age of seven.

That may sound crazy, but it seemed I had acquired the name Williams after being in the custodianship of my paternal grandparents since infancy. As an adult, when I tried to ask about this I was told two stories. One told to me by my father, two aunts and an uncle was that I had needed new custodians and rather than me being put into a children's home I was adopted within the family - a common practice in some families. The other story I was told was that it was 'done for tax reasons', which of course never made sense. In any case, people are people, they make the decisions they do when they do, based on their lives at those times. When the last of my paternal grandparents had died by 1970 (when I was seven), I was effectively an orphan with living parents! Hence, instead of going up for adoption in the outside world, my custodianship now went to my own parents, for whom circumstances had changed enough for this to be a possibility. They were, by now, married under the name Williams. Hence, I became Williams.

My father, who was a strong supporter of my books and music, died from cancer in 1995, aged 59 when I was 32 years old. In the last two weeks he had to live, I called him Dad for the first time. He was a colorful, surreal and often manic autie-friendly character with limited reading and writing skills, who used characterization and gesture and spoke through story telling. Many of the techniques he used in interacting with me have informed what I call 'an indirectly confrontational approach' in my work with people with autism. Today's RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) approach used with people with autism has been informed by the indirectly confrontational approach my father used with me.

• a daughter named Williamina Bonnell (aka Williamina Mary Young, born 1916 in Malvern, Victoria and who married John William George Oxworth - aka Jackie Oxworth - in 1934) who Harry had to his ex wife Mary Douglas. Williamina had 6 children: Shirley Doyle, Alexander Young, Mavis Thornell, Joyce Warneckie, Alfred Muready, and (adopted) Sue Nott;
• my father, known by me as 'Jackie Paper' (after the character in the song) who was born to Ruby Sherwell in 1936, the last of her 7 children she'd gathered in her travels.

Henry Roy Bonnell was born in Kew, Victoria, Australia in 1894 to James Henry Bonnell (born 1856 in Victoria) and Emily Richards (who he seems to have married in South Australia where they had some children before migrating to Victoria).

My grandfather, Henry, had at least six sisters, my aunts:

• Eva Bonnell born 1889 in Victoria who married John Donaldson and had a son, Jack Bonnell Donaldson in 1917 and a daughter, Lorna Grace Donaldson in 1914 (who married Anthony Joseph Haddad in 1938).
• Mabel Grace Bonnell born 1891 in Victoria who married Norman Leslie Taylor in 1926.
• Annie Lillian Bonnell born in South Australia in 1886
• Nellie Selina Elizabeth Bonnell born in South Australia in 1883
• Elsie May Bonnell born in South Australia in 1881
• Charlotte Elizabeth Bonnell born in South Australia in 1879,

James Bonell (father of Henry Roy Bonnell 'Harry')

My great great grandfather James Bonell was christened on the 26th of December, 1802 and had a brother, Charles Bonell born on the 7th of December, 1806, both christened in St Michael's Church, Lichfield.  He was convicted in Staffordshire on August 21st, 1819, for stealing a brown mare valued at twenty guineas at Morville, which is just over the Shropshire border, hence his being tried in Shrewsbury. He was sentenced to death, reduced to transportation for fourteen years, and arrived in Sydney on the convict ship Mangles 1 in 1820. He had spent a period on a convict hulk, an old Napoleonic Wars battleship called the "Retribution", where he was punished for being difficult or "of bad character".

In New South Wales, James Bonell was assigned to William Guise on the Murrumbidgee.  In the convict-indent, James is described as quite slight, with dark hair, dark eyes, and a dark complexion. He was a farm hand.  In 1835 James married my great great grandmother, Charlotte Brown (born 1817 in the UK).

Charlotte Brown (mother of Henry Roy Bonnell 'Harry')

Charlotte Brown came to NSW as a Bonded Immigrant or Bounty Immigrant, a "free" woman, on the ship, the DAVID SCOTT, which left Gravesend, UK on Thursday 10 July arriving in Sydney, Australia on 30th October, 1834.  The ship's arrival was advertised to such an extent that some of the women had offers of marriage before they actually stepped ashore. Convicts on Tickets-of Leave, such as James Bonell, as well as free settlers, had a chance to find a bride.  Charlotte was living in Menangle, NSW. She and James Bonell married on the 4th of July, 1835. in St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. The children of my great great grandparents, James Bonell and Charlotte Bonell (nee Brown, alias Mowbray) include:

• John Francis Bonnell, born 29th April, 1836
• Charles Bonell, born 4th July, 1838 in Collingwood, Victoria.
• Charlotte Bonnell, born 16th April, 1840 in Collingwood
• Mary Bonnell, born 5th August 1842, in Collingwood
• Charlotte Elizabeth Bonnell, born 11th May, 1845, in Collingwood

Then James (now an ex-convict) and Charlotte returned to the UK for 1848-49 with four of their Australian born children. In the UK they had Joseph Bonnell in 1848 in Walsall.

They then returned with five children to Australia on the Childe Harold in 1849 to assume a 'respectable' life of 'free settlers'. They then appear in South Australia in 1850 where they have several more children.

• William Bonnell 1850 born Brompton, South Australia
• Anna Bonnell 1852 born South Australia
• Martha Lucy Bonnell 1853 born Balhannah, South Australia
• James Henry Bonnell 1856 born nr Balhannah, South Australia - my great grandfather
• Emma Bonnell 1860 married in South Australia but not seeming to have been born there

Back in Australia, Charlotte Bonell also used the name Charlotte Mowbray. However, although she appears to have traveled using this name, she was, nevertheless buried as Charlotte Bonnell listed as having died in Walkerville, South Australia, 24th April 1912 aged 95, and her gravestone is intact and she is buried with her daughter Charlotte Reed (nee Bonnell). The date of death for Charlotte Mowbray the 'free settler' is the same date and there seems to be no gravestone for Charlotte Mowbray.

John Bonell and Mary Smith (parents of James Bonell)

My great great great grandfather, John Bonell was possibly a church-carpenter. Other than their convict sons, James and Charles, John Bonell had another child in Birmingham, yet another in Wolverhampton, but finally settled down for good on the eastern edge of the parish of St Matthew's, Walsall. One of his other sons was Joseph Bonell from Wolverhampton.  John Bonell and Mary Smith married at the parish church of St Mary's on the Market Square.  In a Wolverhampton churchyard is a memorial stone erected by James Bonell when he returned to England in 1848/9. It has lettering, "In Affectionate Memory ...", and gives the names of both his parents as well as his own as the one who erected it.

William Brown and Margaret Mowbray (parents of Charlotte Brown)

There is a Margaret Mowbray who married a William Brown in 1777 at St Botolph's, Bishopsgate, UK, who may be the parents of Charlotte Brown (Mowbray).

Haemachromatosis runs on the Bonell side of the family. This disease involves excess accumulation of iron in the blood and causes immune dysfunction, liver and pancreas stress, type 2 diabetes, gut disorders, bowel/liver/pancreas cancers, some forms of epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, food allergies, arthritic conditions, mood and psychological disorders and recent studies have linked it to to 1/3rd of cases of autism.  Some people are carriers, others get the disease. Hence it can appear to skip a generation. It effects gene C282Y. Without treatment, men with this condition begin to deteriorate from age 40. Because of blood loss from puberty through to menopause, the severity of the condition for untreated women with this condition worsens around age 50. It is treatable via chelation (things like zinc, selenium, magnesium) and a diet low in red meats and alcohol (which raise iron levels) and avoiding excess vitamin C (which causes higher iron uptake). Regularly donating blood several times a year also reduces the iron accumulation.  I have now learned of others diagnosed on the autism spectrum in the Bonnell side of the family.

Stephen Sherwell Jnr and Ann Graves Taylor (parents of Emily Sherwell)

Stephen Sherwell Jnr (b. circa 1838 d. 1882) and Ann Graves Taylor (b. 1855-03-09 d. 1933-12-28) married in in Victoria (1879-04-19).  Stephen Sherwell Jnr and Ann had several children in Rupanyup, Vic including Ruby's mother, Emily. Stephen died in 1882 and is buried in Rupanyup cemetery. Vic. 

Ann Graves Taylor was born in 1855 in Prospect, North Adelaide.  She was born to Eliza Taylor, 9 months from when the ship Eliza arrived on set sail and five months after it arrived.  On her first marriage, to Stephen Sherwell, Ann listed Eliza Taylor as her mother and John Graves (Jnr) as her father.  Mention was in the certificate that Ann was illegitimate.  Ann signed the  certificate with an 'x', indicating she was probably illiterate.  On 1904-11-03, aged 51, Ann married Edward Lawson.  She now listed as John Graves (Snr) and Lydia Graves, who were actually her paternal grandparents.  Again, she signed with an 'x'.  Ann died in Horsham and is buried in Murtoa cemetery, Vic.  

William Sherwell Jnr and Eliza Taylor (parents of Joseph Sherwell)

William Sherwell (b. 1832 d. 1906) and Eliza Taylor (b. circa 1837 d. 1916) were married in North Adelaide (1856-02-20) when Eliza was 19 and William was 24.  William and Eliza moved from South Australia to Victoria around 1880.  William and Eliza both died in Nhill, Vic. 

Eliza Taylor was born in 1837.  She came to Adelaide in 1854, aged 18, on a ship called the Prestonjee Bomanjee.  It left Southampton, UK on June 18th 1854 and arrived in Port Adelaide, Oct 7th 1854.  Eliza was a single passenger, a servant from Cambridge, UK. It was common that female orphans of marriageable age were given free passage to Australia. For both her marriage to William Sherwell and her death, Eliza's parentage was listed as 'unknown', indicating that she was probably a foundling.

Eliza arrived on the same ship as John Graves Snr, his wife, Lydia and six of their children including John Jnr (17).  John Graves Jnr  fathered Eliza's first child, Ann Graves Taylor.  Eliza married William Sherwell a year after she had Ann.

Stephen Sherwell Snr and Mary Challon (parents of Stephen Sherwell Jnr and William Sherwell jnr)

Stephen and William Sherwell migrated to Australia from Chichester (Sussex), UK and were two of the four children of Stephen Sherwell (Snr) (b. circa 1807 d. 1876) and Mary Challon: Fanny, William, George and Stephen (Jnr).  They travelled on the Orleana, leaving London via The Downs  on 29-2-1840 and sailed to Port adelaide Australia arriving on the 10-6-1840.  Stephen Snr died in 1876 and is buried in Rupanyup.  Mary Challon died in 1894 and is buried in Warracknabeal.

John Graves Jnr and Eliza Taylor (parents of Ann Graves Taylor)

John Graves Jnr (b. circa 1837 d. circa 1854-10-12) came from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire.  He traveled, aged 17, with his parents and 5 of his 6 siblings to Australia on the Pestonjee Bomanjee arriving Oct 7th 1854.  With Eliza (18 at the time) now 4 months pregnant with his child conceived on the journey, John Graves Jnr died 8 days after the ship arrived in Adelaide.  A year after John Graves Jnr died, Eliza Taylor (b. circa 1837 d. 1916), by then 19 years old, married William Sherwell Jnr, the son of Stephen Sherwell Snr.

William Sherwell and Anne Levett (parents of Stephen Sherwell Snr)

William Sherwell and Anne Levett were from Sussex, UK and probably did not come to Australia.

John Graves Snr and Lydia Woods (parents of John Graves Taylor Jnr)

John Graves Snr and Lydia Woods were married in the UK.  They came to Adelaide from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire on the Pestonjee Bomanjee in 1854 with 6 of their children - John Jnr (17), Elizabeth (14), Harriet (10), Caroline (7), Edward (3) and William (1).  Both John Snr and John Jnr were listed as agricultural labourers (farmers).  Their eldest child James, who was already married, stayed behind in the UK.

Taylor (parents of Eliza Taylor)

Eliza Taylor (b. 1837 d. 1916) came from Cambridge and has no listed parents.

If you are directly related to either of my paternal grandparents on the Bonnell or Sherwell sides then please email me

Although I'm known as Donna Williams and use that as my 'professional name', I'm now actually Donna Samuel since marrying Chris Samuel. Chris is a Systems Manager (I.T) from Cardiff, Wales, and like many people born in Cardiff, is from a mixed background - Welsh, English, Irish and Italian. Although we'd both lived in Wales, we'd lived in different parts of Wales, and after 12 years in the UK, I returned to Australia, bringing Chris back with me in 2002. The story of how I met, proposed to (it was a leap year) and married Chris and our migration to Australia is in the book Everyday Heaven.

Thanks so much to Val Milgate, a descendant of James Bonell's brother, Charles Bonell, for her wonderful information in solving the mysteries about this family, to Gwen Street for the information about Charlotte Brown and to Sam Doyle for her info on Williamina Bonnell (Young) and her descendants..  Thank you to Ronda and Charmaine Keene for their help and pointers with the Sherwell family history.  Thank you to Chris Samuel for his insatiable appetite for geneology and determination to solve so many geneological mysteries.