James Dalton Senior’s descendant Jim Dalton was among the crowd at yesterday’s  civic reception which started  off a week long celebration of his family’s heritage.

The name Dalton has long been associated with Orange and this week’s exhibition and open houses give a glimpse into their history.

Their history started with Irish born James Dalton Senior, born in 1801, who was sentenced in 1835 to seven years’ transportation to New South Wales.

From there they left their mark on Orange with stunning mansions, business and investment.

Jim Dalton travelled from Brisbane to attend yesterday’s event and said he felt lucky to be able to trace his family’s roots back to 1835.

“It’s a huge family and they have such history,” he said.

“It gives you a sense of where you are in the world if you know where you’ve come from.”

Also at the civic reception was Irish consul-general in Sydney Caitri­ona Ingoldsby who spoke of the link between Irish and Australian people.

She said the Daltons’ Irish heritage was not forgotten at their new home in Orange.

“Their houses were deliberately named after places in Limerick because they wanted to remember where they had come from,” she said.

Orange and District Historical Society was behind the Dalton heritage week and publicity officer Liz Edwards said she had been overwhelmed by the community’s response.

Yesterday was the first of 15 open events  at five of the Dalton family homes in Orange.

Among them were Ammerdown, Knocklong, Mena, Emly and Galbally and late yesterday all but two sessions were fully booked.

“The success of it shows people are interested in this type of thing and they’re passionately interested,” Mrs Edwards said.