AQueensland woman is appealing for information about several well-known Mount Gambier families for a book she is writing with her cousin about their shared family history.


Ruth Lewis is researching the history of the Dunn family in South Australia which includes the Paltridge and Livingston families of Mount Gambier.


The history buff is looking for descendants of the family in particular former UK International Racehorse Transport head of operations Jim Paltridge who retired in 2020 to his family farm in Mount Gambier.


Mrs Lewis is researching Charles and William Dunn, Mary Paltridge and Mount Barker’s greatest benefactor John Dunn for the book.


“I am a descendant of Charles Dunn of Mount Charles in South Australia and I have been doing family history for nearly 50 years,” she said.


“I have got quite a lot of information and I am in touch with a lady who was a descendant of the Paltridges from Mount Gambier, she lives here in Toowoomba.


“It is a very interesting family and it is very, very widespread and I am very interested to find out as much as I can about them.


“The Paltridges are a very interesting family because they are either very pastoral … or very academic.”


The academic and agricultural sides of the Paltridge family notably overlap with Dr Garth William Paltridge who is famous for his work in atmospheric physics and radiation physics, his contributions to agriculture and his development of the theory of maximum entropy production.


Anyone with information on the Paltridge and Livingston families from Mount Gambier can contact Mrs Lewis on formtech10@ymail.com.