Harriet and Julia Swan were daughters of John Swan (1796–1858), a tradesman and merchant who came to Van Diemen's Land in the early 1820s. Around 1826, he established Swan's Stores, which became one of Hobart's best shops, trading in clothing, millinery, fabrics and also 'household furniture and upholstery of the best description'. Swan and his wife Mary Anne had fourteen children. Harriet (1826–1853) and Julia (1834–1853) were the fifth and eighth respectively of their nine daughters. Harriet married an army officer named Edmund Isdell in Hobart in December 1850. Her first child, a daughter, was born at the Swan family home, Beaulieu, in present-day North Hobart, in December the following year. In July 1853, Harriet gave birth to a son but died a fortnight later, presumably of complications arising from childbirth. Julia died of scarlet fever, aged nineteen, at Beaulieu on 6 August 1853, a week after the death of her sister.
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC 2013
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