Maurice-Robinson Family

The ancestors of Daniel Jadran Maurice are all from modern day Slovenia.  While many relatives still live in Kozana, the family has also spread around the world

Kozana, a tiny village in the district of Brda on the present Slovenia-Italy border, was the home of both Ivan Mavrič and Danila Jakin.  Indeed almost all of their ancestors for at least the last two hundred years were born, baptised, married and died in this village.  The story of Kozana and the families who lived there helps explain why so many people from this region looked to a better life abroad.

To this day the Mavrič family has an ongoing Austrian connection through the Schumnik family and to the city of Klagenfurt, where the Schumnik family still lives.

World War One involved bloody conflict around Gorizia, with a huge impact on the families of Brda.  Both the Reja and Mavrič family were expelled to southern Italy, returning after the War to a Kozana which was now part of Italy.

Argentina is a key part of the history of the Daniel's maternal family, Jakin.   Daniel's maternal grandfather, Rudolf, worked in Argentina for a number of years in the 1920s and 1930s and if things had gone the way that he wanted his family would have moved there permanently.  Three of Rudolf's brothers, who also went to Argentina, did stay on.  So an Argentine connection to the Maurice remains to this day.

Ivan Maurič was conscripted into the Italian army in January 1941 Over the next four years Ivan became a prisoner of war, switched sides in the conflict, serving in three different branches of the armed forces, and still never fired a shot in anger.

Ivan Maurič and Danila Jakin escaped from Yugoslavia in October 1949. Their subsequent journey to Australia in search of a better life echoed the story of thousands of other people displaced by World War and political changes in Eastern Europe.

From Bonegilla and their first fish and chips shop to a career as a successful builder Ivan Mauric could be rightly proud of what he and Danila had achieved for themselves and their boys in their 47-year life in Australia.

From his earliest days until his last Ivan enjoyed his music.  It really did define the man and show a different side to his character.

Today Sleepy and peaceful Kozana is a beautiful place to visit.  Of course it has a very special significance to the Maurice family.

1968 was a great year for schoolboy revolutionaries and wannabee musicians.  With a remarkable lack of imagination when it came to band names a group of his school friends created the Albert Hall Liberal Skiffle Group (AHLSG).  They recorded their own concept album and several short movies for which they roped in many of their wider circle of friends.

There was just one small problem: musical talent was in short supply, with Danny the least talented of all.  But what a lot of fun.

Daniel Maurice's version of how he and future wife, Margie, met in 1971

A career where so many times luck and past contacts came from nowhere to point me in a new direction.