As we are probably all now aware, the Brabazon Clan is not homogenous but rather a mosaic of smaller genetic groupings, sometimes explicable by descent via a Brabazon female line, sometimes due to the adoption of the Brabazon name for various known or unknown reasons. By casting the discussion network as wide as possible perhaps we can begin to shed more light on each of the sub-lineages of the Clan - worldwide brainstorming, so to speak!

The Earl and Countess of Meath remain the standard bearers of the Brabazon name, and I think we would all agree that we have an excellent family at the very heart of the Brabazon Clan. Across the spectrum of our Family we are a good microcosm of Irishness in all its cultural forms and our cohesiveness in diversity is perhaps the best testimony to the greatness of our ancestors. So start blogging and let's see where it goes!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Brabazon Landmarks - Tasmania & Antarctica

Brabazon Point  Tasmania

Brabazon Point, also known as One Tree Point  is a point on the Huon River in Tasmania. Brabazon Park is nearby. There was a township called Brabazon at the Huon River in the 1850s. Sections were advertised by the Crown for sale in 1856, 1857 and 1858.
 





Brabazon Point: Antarctica - 64°24'00.0"S 61°16'00.1"W



A  headland forming the east side of the entrance to Salvesen Cove, on the west coast of Graham Land. It was charted by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Gerlache, 1897–99, and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960 for John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, pioneer British aviator, the first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than-air machine under power in England (described in his Times obituary as the "first flight accomplished by any Briton in Great Britain"), in April 1909, and responsible for the R.F.C. Photographic Section during World War I and for the development of aerial photography.



Arial photographs courtesy of Google Earth.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Brabazon Landmarks - Brabazon Range: New Zealand



The Brabazon Range is located by the Rangitata River in Canterbury, in the middle of the South Island and is now part of the Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park. Brabazon Downs, Brabazon Saddle, Brabazon Stream and Mount Brabazon are all in the same area. They were named after John Brabazon from Co Westmeath, Ireland who was in partnership with Samuel Butler at Mesopotamia Station between 1862 and 1864. The Brabazon Range is mostly just past the north-west boundary of the property.

John Brabazon, eldest son of James Brabazon of Jamestown House near Mullingar, left Ireland in 1859 when he was about 18 years old and travelled to New Zealand via Australia. Early in 1861 he was at Mesopotamia Station as a cadet, to learn sheep farming. About March 1862 he bought a quarter share in the business, then looked after the property while Butler overwintered in Christchurch. By 1864 Samuel Butler had made his fortune and wished to return to England. The partnership was dissolved in March and the station was sold.
Brabazon Range from Crooked Spur Hut in summer, photograph by Hilary Iles. Crown Copyright: Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai.

Brabazon Landmarks - Brabazon Range: Alaska






The Brabazon Range, twenty-eight miles long, is situated in Tongass National Forest near Ketchikan, Alaska, close to the border with British Columbia, Canada. It was named in 1907 by Eliot Blackwelder for  A J (Jack) Brabazon of the Canadian Boundary Survey, who made a photographic survey of the Yakutat Bay region in 1895, and with the help of those pictures compiled the first topographic map of the area.



From the journal of Eliot Blackwelder of the University of Wisconsin 1907 https://archive.org/stream/jstor-30067852/30067852#page/n1/mode/2up
The Brabazon Range is low as compared with the lofty peaks west of it; but nevertheless it is a notable feature of the coast. It has a steep seaward front, which, although somewhat irregular in outline, plunges abruptly beneath the alluvial flat without extensive foot-hills or projecting spurs. One depression interrupts the continuity of the ridge in the area discussed — the open channel of the Yakutat Glacier. The photograph, below shows the Alsek River and the inner slope of the Brabazon Range with four small glaciers.



Alfred James Brabazon, son of Samuel Levinge Brabazon and Margaret Clarke was born 26 December 1859 in Quebec Canada and died 28 December 1939 in Portage du Fort Quebec. He played an important part in the surveys to decide the border between Canada and Alaska in 1890.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

JM BRABAZON CAR OF THE FUTURE


The JM Brabazon will be Minerva Automobiles' first new car in 76 years and, if it can get beyond the pre-concept stage, it could give supercar companies a serious challenge in terms of luxury, exclusivity and performance.

Named after Lord John Moore‐Brabazon of Tara, Britain's first aviator and an all-round 19th-century polymorph, the car will be capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 2.1 seconds and onto a top speed of over 400km/h. But, because it will be using a hybrid petrol-electric powertrain, it will also be able to offer 100km of emissions-free motoring just on the battery.

http://motoring.iafrica.com/newmodels/964548.html
photo credit by Credit: AFP-Relaxnews