Most Australians are of immigrant stock.  There is hardly an Australian who has not an immigrant ancestor somewhere. Tracing the history of these immigrant families is a fascinating and at times difficult task, very much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  Finding the pieces involves long hours spent in libraries and archives offices, afternoons spent running from tombstone to tombstone in old graveyards and hours of painstakingly searching microfiche and computer records of hatches, matches and despatches.  Inevitably we all eventually meet a brick wall and it may be years before we find a way around it, over it or through it.  Yet, for all that, it is a labour of love, a gift to our children.   Without our past we have no future.  To understand where we have come from is to know where we are going.

Within these pages is our family history.  Some of our ancestors are early immigrants and others, including myself, are 20th century new arrivals.   The first recorded arrival in Australia of an ancestor of those folk in our family who now bear the surnames of Ambler or Sutton was in 1843, when John and Janet Smeal arrived by ship from Edinburgh, Scotland. The latest arrival was myself, in June, 1958.They have come from strong stock, - from Scotland, England, Ireland and France.This is our story... from first arrival to fourth generation Aussie. It spans the length of Australian history from the mid 1840's to the present.  It is a living history to which we add, day by day, as we live in the lucky country.

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If you find that you can add to this story with your own research into a branch of this family,

contact chris@ambler-sutton.aust.com