April lecture: Minnie and Sandy Archer – A love story

In 1871, Alexander Archer, banker, and seventh son of the Archer family of Norway and Gracemere in Queensland, set out on a long and perilous voyage halfway around the world to bring his sweetheart Minnie MacKenzie back to Brisbane.

Miegunyah holds poignant memorabilia of the Archer family, some old, some newly discovered. Their deep family connections forged across generations lay scattered through our collection. Photographs, paintings and letters have left glimpses of their lives and tragic deaths in the wreck of the Quetta. Theirs was a story of love and devotion to the very end.  

Join Sharyn as she tells their story at Miegunyah.

Date: 14 April 2024

Time: 1.40 pm for 2 pm start 

Cost: $10 members and $15 non-members (includes afternoon tea)

About the speaker

Sharyn Merkley

A Brisbane resident from birth, Sharyn is a family historian with a life-long passion for history. As well as being involved in the archives at Miegunyah, Sharyn has done extensive research for the Genealogical Society of Queensland, including undertaking specialist research projects focused on early Queensland settlers.

She has worked on the Annie Wheeler Project looking at the lives of over 2500 World War I soldiers and is currently working on an index of Battle of Waterloo veterans who settled in Australia after the conflict. Her book, Brisbane Burns: How the Great Fires of 1864 Shaped a City and its People (2017) traced the impact of the devastating fires on both the ordinary and well-known citizens of the early settlement city.

Sharyn volunteers at Miegunyah in the archives and is one of the team who runs Archive Discovery Day, where members can find out more about the archive’s hidden stories. She also regularly volunteers as a library research assistant and is currently completing further studies on family history through the University of Tasmania.

Photo credit: Alexander Archer and his wife seated in the garden at the back of the Bank of New South Wales, Brisbane, ca. 1870. Courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.