Chapter 9.3

Dorothea Jane Mosman 1852-1932 
William Fisher 1845-1908

Dorothea was born at Burrowel in 1852.  She married William Fisher in 1874 when she was 21 and William was 26. It was almost like marrying the boy next door as William was living at the time with his grand uncle Alexander Warren at Brandon just across the river from Burrowel.
Dorothea Mosman early years 
Like Dorothea, William was a second generation settler. His father, William senior, arrived in Sydney from Scotland in October 1825. at age 21 as a free settler, three years before the Mosman twins arrived. By 1831 he was looking after the management of his Uncle Alexander Warren’s sheep at his Williams River property while Alexander was recuperating from bad health at Archibald Mosman’s house in Sydney. The property was called Brandon. 

William junior was well educated and he trained as a printer. After four years working with chemicals as a printer his health deteriorated. In 1862 at age 17 for health reasons he moved to Seaham to live with his great uncle Alexander Warren and work on his property. In 1876 Alexander died leaving Brandon to his recently married grand nephew William Fisher. 
William Fisher 
While Alexander had experimented with growing tobacco, cotton and wine gapes, William’s passion was livestock, especially horses. He ran a stud at Brandon to breed and rear racehorses and coach horses.

In 1882 William “Willie” decided to build an impressive house on Brandon for his rapidly expanding family. William and Dorethea lived at Burrowel while their first four children were born and moved to Brandon House when it was completed. 
Brandon House, 2024
Brandon House was designed by John Wilshire Pender a Scottish architect who designed several substantial homes for families in the Hunter. It remains today as a large Victorian two-storied balconied house , built with locally made bricks rendered over, with a roof of Bangor slates. It is trimmed with cast-iron lace infills in the balcony and cornice drops. It has remarkably fine local cedar joinery, and the rooms are large with high ceilings.  It includes an office and a schoolroom off the back of the house, a separate kitchen building with covered walkway to the house and freestanding stables. 

The overall cost of the substantial two storey house and outbuildings complex was £2,500, a very considerable amount in those days when average wages for a farm worker were around £50 per annum. 

Dorothea Fisher/née Mosman
While Willie had built a wonderful family house for Doretha “Dolly” their family life was having problems. They had lost baby William and George either in childbirth or under a year. Then in October 1901 within three weeks they lost both their eldest daughter Cissy, 26, and Ruby, 13,  to pneumonia from influenza. Vera their youngest was only ten and her two remaining brothers, Claude and Leslie were much older at 20 and 17.

Vera was so lonely that Dolly asked her brother George Burnett if their daughter Phyllis who was about Vera’s age could come and live with them and keep Vera company. Phyllis stayed with them for at least two years and they had a good governess for their schooling until they both went to boarding school at the Girls’ Grammar School in Newcastle. 

Family memories are of Uncle Willie Fisher driving a three in hand hooded coach with his favourite carriage horses with his brother in law “Willie” Mosman following behind in a single horse open “Sociable” with the luggage. 

Brandon is still owned by descendants of the Mosman/Fisher family. 

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