Margaret Sinclair – A part of our heritage

Update: Two years and a pandemic have past since we last wrote about Margaret. On Monday 14 March 2022, she turned 108. Margaret’s advice to us all is drink lots of water and don’t worry. Our very best wishes to you Margaret.

Margaret Sinclair, a life member of the Marrickville Heritage Society, recently celebrated her 106^th birthday.

Having joined the Society in 1987, Margaret regularly attended meetings and events for many years and cut the anniversary cake celebrating our 30 years in the same month she turned 100.

For many years Margaret made ‘Heritage Marmalade’ produced from her 100-year-old orange tree in the backyard of her Oxford Street Petersham home. The marmalade quickly sold out on our stalls at the Newtown and Marrickville Festivals. 

Margaret was born in 1914 in the little village of Thurgoona, which today is an outer suburb of Albury. When her father returned from WW1 the family moved to the vineyard of the Frere brothers known as ‘St. Hilaire’ on Georges River. Interestingly, the concrete wine vats from this vineyard are now on the NSW Heritage Register.

After finishing school, Margaret worked as a clerical worker and school teacher before moving to Sydney. She married Ralph, and they lived in Glebe before moving, in 1948, with their four sons to Petersham. Ralph died in 1976 but Margaret remained in her Petersham home until she was 99. At that time, she moved to a nursing facility in Yennora where she celebrated her birthday on Saturday 14 March 2020.  

We all wish Margaret the very best and thank her for her years of commitment to the Marrickville Heritage Society.