This article touches on interesting people with the Hiah surname encountered during my research. They may or may not be related to our family.

There is a Mrs A Hiah who sailed on the Grantala as a 2nd Class Passenger, departing from Fremantle for Melbourne on 11 February 1907. She travelled alone, was married, and was 42 (therefore born c1865).

A Mrs Hiah sailed from Sydney to Melbourne on the Katoomba, departing on 1 May 1916. She travelled alone, was married, and was 49 (therefore born c1867). She was described as a tourist and British – but then pretty much everyone on the passenger list was as well.

I have no idea who this Mrs Hiah is.

The Sands Street Directory of 1918 for Sydney lists two Edward Hiahs. One is at 8 Calder Street, Darlington, the other is at 28 Douglas Street, Darlington. The 1919 edition lists three Edward Hiahs – the previous two addresses plus 483 Crown Street, Sydney (Surry Hills). The Surry Hills address was where our Edward Hiah was living when he died in 1919. I think it is safe to assume at least one of the Darlington addresses was where Edward was living before moving to Surry Hills and ended up being a duplicate entry. I have no other evidence of more than one Edward Hiah, so both of the Darlington addresses in the 1919 directory could be just old addresses that had not been deleted from Sands’ “database”.

It is unlikely that one of these Edwards was a son of Edward James Hiah as the latter’s death certificate notes that there were no children from his marriage to Sarah (Sadie) Whittham and such a child would probably have been too young to be listed in a directory anyway.

There is a Sarah Hiah who married William G Davies in Perth in 1923. [01] The most likely possibility is that this is Edward James Hiah’s widow, Sarah (Sadie) Hiah, nee Whittham. Sadie was originally from Western Australia. Even though I have no direct evidence of her moving to Sydney with Edward, the information on his death certificate in 1919 most likely came from her. I need to see the wedding certificate to make sure that “Hiah” is not just an index error.

Other possibilities: She is not one Victor Henry (Harry) Hiah’s children. He was living in Perth from about 1903 to 1926. She is unlikely to be a daughter of Edward James Hiah as the latter’s death certificate notes that there were no children from his marriage to Sarah (Sadie) Whittham and such a child would probably have been too young to be listed in a directory anyway.