Thomas Edward Hester was born at Woodend, Victoria, Australia on 2nd April 1861, the eldest son of Thomas Everett Hester and Anne Hester, née Davlin. Ellen Mary O'Hanlon was born 11 July 1866 at Rochestown, Co. Wexford, Ireland, the eighth child of Martin O'Hanlon and Ellen O'Hanlon (née O'Byrne). Thomas Hester and his brother, James, selected land at Tatong, south of Benalla, Victoria, Australia. On 3 February, 1892, Thomas Hester married Ellen O'Hanlon at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Benalla, Victoria, Australia. In 1896 Thomas Hester purchased a property at Boweya North, Victoria, between Yarrawonga, Benalla and Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia. The Hester family lived on this farm until around 1918 when Tom & Ellen retired to Yarrawonga.
James Oscar/O’Malley Walshe and Emily Mary Weidman - grandparents James Oscar/O’Malley Walshe was born about 1860 at Colac, Victoria, the only son of William Walshe and Mary Jane Walshe, née O’Connor. Emily Mary Weidman was born about 1860 at Dover, County Kent, England, the daughter of John Ulrich Weidman and Elizabeth Weidman, née Marsh. James Oscar/O’Malley Walshe and Emily Mary Weidman were married on the 3 November 1885 at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand. James Walshe, a woolclasser, and his wife, Emily settled at “Kinross”, Winchelsea, Victoria, Australia. Veronica Elizabeth Hester and James O’Malley Walshe - my parents Elizabeth Veronica Hester, known as Vera, was born at Lake Rowan, Victoria, Australia, 2 July 1902, the fifth child of Thomas and Ellen Hester. James O'Malley Walshe was born at "Kinross", Victoria, Australia, 28 January, 1893, the fourth child of James and Emily Walshe. James O’Malley Walshe and Elizabeth Veronica Hester were married on 3 March 1929 at the Sacred Heart Church, Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia and continued to live in Yarrawonga for the remainder of their lives. James, known as Jim, continued his woolclassing business until his late sixties whilst Vera managed the family home and their nine children.