Very little is known of Rachel. It is believed she was well educated and enjoyed writing poetry.
The information concerning Rachel is quite confusing. Birth registration records state a female child was born to Henry Collier and Elizabeth Smith at Hobart on the 25 August 1850. This can only be Rachel.
Tasmanian Pioneers data Base has Rachael Collier Smith as a child of Henry Smith and Elizabeth, (Unknown surname).
If Elizabeth (Unknown surname) took up with Collier after Henry Smith then how is it that Rachel is recorded as Rachel Collier Smith. Could this be because Collier and Smith (Unknown surname) never married.
Baptismal records show that Rachel Elizabeth Smith (Collier) was born on 25 August 1850 at Town Huon and baptized at Hobart Town on 16 October 1850. Her parents were described as Henry Smith, Mariner,and Elizabeth (Unknown surname).
There are no archival records of her marriage to George James Price.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Independent Indigenous Advisory Committee findings 18 October 2002.
The Tribunal is satisfied that the oral histories which have come from three separate sources in this case, namely, Mr. Priest, Mr. Brown and Mr. Patmore, each of whom identify a different granddaughter of Rachel Collier as being aboriginal, is so persuasive that it would be difficult not to find that Rachel Collier was an aboriginal. When it is also considered that Rachel Collier was baptized with a surname different to her parents it is possible to deduce that under the circumstances which existed in Tasmania in 1850, Rachel was an aboriginal baby who was "adopted" by Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
However:
Rachel Collier: From the book "Our Heritage in History" by R. Drysdale While many families have confused Aboriginal ancestry with "black" or "coloured people from elsewhere, others have claimed links to the Tasmanian Aborigines simply because they were unable to establish a connection with one or more European ancestors. Some examples are Listed Below: (a) Maria MAISE (alias Maria BADMAN, Sarah LINTON and Sarah MACE) arrived in Tasmania as a convict from England on the "America" on the 9th May 1831, travelling with Maria was another woman convict Mary BLEEZE (Con 40, Con 18/23), who later married Thomas Wilken COWEN and settled at Port Cygnet. Sometime after her full pardon on the 24th May 1842 Maria settled in the Huon at Deep Bay where she raised four children with her husband William CHALLIS. The two families kept in touch and in time four of their children married each other. William CHALLIS married Matilda Ann COWEN and Richard COWEN married Emma CHALLIS. The difficulty in locating details on Maria MAISE has led some member of these families to consider Aboriginal connections, it should be noted that one branch of the COWEN family is of Aboriginal descent "Fanny" Cochane, SMITH'S daughter Lillv ene Sarah 'Lilly" married Joseph Edward COWEN a grandson of Thomas and Mary COWEN (nee BLEEZE). (b) Difficulty in locating information has also led other families connected to Rachel COLLIER to confuse their ancestry with that of the traditional Tasmanians. Rachel's birth does not appear in the "Index of Births, Deaths and Marriages: however her birth was recorded and is in the records as the 25th August 1850 in Hobart (No 2637) to Henry William COLLIER, Master Mariner and Elizabeth nee SMITH.
According to a descendant Violet LEARY (aged 91 in November 1990) of Hobart Henry COLLIER'S wife was not Aboriginal. She stated that "He brought her with him to Tasmania" no record of an Aboriginal named Elizabeth SMITH covering that period can be traced nor do the records show a marriage for COLLIER-SMITH. These factors support Violet's statement that they immigrated to Tasmania from the UK. As article in the Illustrated Tasmanian mail of the 5th of May 1926 describing the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of George and Rachel PRICE has a clear photograph of both parties.
Rachel does not appear to have features which might link her ancestry to that of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people a comparison with all known photographs of such people has failed to show a resemblance. Dark features in families related to Rachel COLLIER'S son George James PRICE can be attributed to his wife Ida Elizabeth DAVIS who was the granddaughter of Margeret VASS and Stephen WHITE, Margeret was a half caste Portuguese from Bombay. NOTE: Since this article it has been proven that Henry William COLLIER was born at Burton upon Trent in England and Elizabeth SMITH was born at Norwich in England