- Time of past OR future Camino
- VdlP(2012) Madrid(2014)Frances(2015) VdlP(2016)
VdlP(2017)Madrid/Sanabres/Frances reverse(2018)
I live in an isolated small town of about 7000 people on the coast of Western Australia. One of my friends here is called Paquita, but she is not Spanish, she is very Australian, but her grandmother and namesake was certainly Spanish.
Grandmother Paquita, was born in Andalusia, the daughter of a young mining engineer working in the pyrite belt west of Seville. He was a Dutchman, named Guillaume Delprat, who made a name for himself managing mines around Tharsis, near Rio Tinto. In the 1890’s he was invited to come to Australia to manage a fledgling company called Broken Hill, now BHP. He was responsible for turning that company into a mega giant, moving its operations into iron and steel in Newcastle and Port Pirie.
Paquita’s Spanish connection fascinated me and before one of my VdlPs from Seville, I detoured into that area north of Huelva, visited the old mine sites and even found the house in which grandmother Paquita was born in Tharsis. It was quite magical to be able to document photographically Paquita’s family heritage in Spain.
As a footnote, Paquita 1 after coming to Australia as a child, met and married a young geologist and Antarctic explorer called Douglas Mawson. His story is an epic one, in the same league as Amundsen and Capt Scott, (with the difference that he lived to tell the tale).
Grandmother Paquita, was born in Andalusia, the daughter of a young mining engineer working in the pyrite belt west of Seville. He was a Dutchman, named Guillaume Delprat, who made a name for himself managing mines around Tharsis, near Rio Tinto. In the 1890’s he was invited to come to Australia to manage a fledgling company called Broken Hill, now BHP. He was responsible for turning that company into a mega giant, moving its operations into iron and steel in Newcastle and Port Pirie.
Paquita’s Spanish connection fascinated me and before one of my VdlPs from Seville, I detoured into that area north of Huelva, visited the old mine sites and even found the house in which grandmother Paquita was born in Tharsis. It was quite magical to be able to document photographically Paquita’s family heritage in Spain.
As a footnote, Paquita 1 after coming to Australia as a child, met and married a young geologist and Antarctic explorer called Douglas Mawson. His story is an epic one, in the same league as Amundsen and Capt Scott, (with the difference that he lived to tell the tale).
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