170 years since the ‘Black Thursday’ bushfires in Victoria

Today is the 170th anniversary of the 1851 bushfires, which devastated large parts of Victoria.

Fires covered a quarter of what is now Victoria (approximately 5 million hectares). Areas affected include Portland, Plenty Ranges, Westernport, the Wimmera and Dandenong districts. Approximately 12 human lives, one million sheep and thousands of cattle were lost.

Forest Fire Management Victoria – past bushfires

Black Thursday, February 6th. 1851, as depicted by William Strutt

In 1851 among our forebears these people were living in Victoria and would have experienced the frightening conditions that day:

Greg’s third great grandparents John Narroway Darby (1823 – ?) and his wife Matilda nee Moggridge (1825 – 1868) had separated and Matilda was living with David Hughes with whom she had a daughter Margaret born 1850 at Ashby, now west Geelong. In 1851 Matilda and her daughters Matilda (1845 – ?), Greg’s great great grandmother, and Margaret were probably living in Ashby. John Darby and their daughter Henrietta may have been living in Portland where John married for a second time in 1855.

Greg’s third great grandparents Thomas Edwards (1794 – 1871) and Mary Edwards nee Gilbart (1805 – 1867), were living near Geelong at the time of the death of their daughter in 1850. They later moved to Bungaree near Ballarat but at the time of the fires they were probably in the Geelong district with their children including their youngest son and Greg’s great great grandfather, Francis Gilbart Edwards (1848 – 1913).

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819 – 1867) and his wife Jeanie nee Hutcheson (1824 – 1864), my third great grandparents, were living in the Portland district. Their second daughter Penelope was born in July 1851 at Runnymede station near Sandford which had been settled by Jeanie’s brothers. Also at Runnymede was Isabella Hutcheson nee Taylor (1794 – 1876), Jeanie’s mother and my fourth great grandmother.

The fire did not reach Ashby or Geelong but a week later a report wrote about the conditions experienced that day in the Geelong district.

The peculiarity of the phenomena of Thursday, was the extraordinary violence of the hot blast by which the conflagration was kindled. Had the hurricane continued to blow during Thursday night with the same violence as during the day, the conflagration might have approached closer to the suburbs, and we might have been exposed to the fiery projectiles which were swept through the air, and which carried devastation to stations and homesteads that were thought to be secure. The violence of the wind, the intensity, breadth, and volume of the fire, the combustible condition of grass, trees, fences, train, huts, and houses, formed a combination that baffled both calculation and means of resistance; and had the fire reached Ashby, we could not have reckoned on the safety of Geelong.

FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 14. (1851, February 14). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 – 1851), p. 2 (DAILY and MORNING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91917049

An account of the bushfire from the Portland perspective:

BUSH FIRES.
(From the Portland Guardian.)
Yesterday forenoon was a period of extraordinary heat, and we are sorry to say, of calamity also. The heat from 11 o’clock, am, until afternoon was most oppressive ; a hot wind blowing from the N.N.W. in a most furious manner. At this time the thermometer stood for an hour by one glass at 112° while by two others it reached 116° in the sun. The dust in the streets was most suffocating, penetrating the smallest crevices, and filling the houses. In consequence of the excessive heat and bush fires, the last day of the races was postponed, until this day, when they duly came off. About 12 o’clock a bush fire in the vicinity of the town began to rage with the utmost fury. It sprang up near the racecourse, and through the violence of the hot wind, threatened to consume the booths, and to envelope the persons who had assembled there in the flames, before time could be afforded them to escape. By a slight change of wind, however, the racers escaped ; but the resistless element swept away in its course the newly erected cottage of Mr Howard the collector of Customs, leaving time only to hurry away Mrs Howard and the family out of the house, before their residence became a perfect cinder So sudden and rapid was the progress of the flames that the fowls and goats about the premises were all consumed. The fire swept along before the wind, carrying away the fences, and all that stood in its way, for about a mile and a half, when Mr Blair, with the whole body of the constabulary, and others from the racecourse arrived in time to save his own hay-stack and residence. The utmost concern was felt in town at the same time, at the approach of the fire from another quarter. Burnt particles were whirling down the streets and flying over the tops of the houses in profusion. But a constable was not to be seen in town. Those of the inhabitants in their houses were making the best preparations which they could for themselves respectively , water carts and concentrated effort was at a sad discount. Several gentlemen did their utmost to prepare against a highly probable casualty, but the utmost which they could do was to warn others of the danger. Fortunately the wind moderated about two o’clock, and the apprehension passed away.

While this fire was raging in the immediate vicinity of the town, Mount Clay and the farms in that locality were enveloped in one vast blaze. Mr Millard has again been a heavy sufferer in this latter fire, and has now lost the whole of his crops. Messrs Monogue, M’Lachlan and Dick, have partaken with him in his misfortunes. The work of years has been swept away from those industrious families and severe sufferers. Their fences, their crops, and their homes, have been annihilated at a stroke.

Just at the same hour the Bush Tavern, which has stood scathless for many years in the midst of a dense forest, and proved so often a place of shelter to the forlorn traveller from the pitiless storm of winter and the scorching heat of summer, is now a heap of ashes. The fire reached the buildings without warning ; and the few articles which were saved from the wreck ignited afterwards with the excessive heat which the burning houses created. The bridge across the Fitzroy has shared a similar fate with the house;  a dray, and it is supposed a horse, have met a similar calamity.

At sea, the weather was even more fearful than on shore. Captain Reynolds reports that yesterday, when 20 miles from the Laurences, the heat was so intense, that every soul on board was struck almost powerless. A sort of whirlwind, on the afternoon, struck the vessel, and carried the topsail, lowered down on the cap, clean out of the bolt rope, and had he not been prepared for the shock, the vessel, he has no doubt, would have been capsized. Flakes of fire were, at the time, flying thick all around the vessel from the shore in the direction of Portland.

BUSH FIRES. (1851, February 12). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4776130

Black Thursday, February, 1851. Engraved F.A. Sleap. In the collection of the State Library of Victoria.

John Narroway Darby

One of my husband’s 3rd great-grandfathers was a compositor and printer named John Narroway Darby.

John Darby was born in 1823 in Exeter, Devon, son of a joiner and carpenter named Joseph Darby (abt 1780 – 1865) and his wife Sarah Darby née Narroway [sometimes spelled Narraway]. Joseph and Sarah were married in 1807. They had at least six children of whom John, baptised on 3 March 1823 at Saint Mary Major, Exeter, was the third.

At the time of the English census of 1841, John, then a printer’s apprentice, was living in Exeter with his parents and three siblings.

In July 1842 following the publication of banns, John married Matilda Priscilla Moggridge (1825 – 1868) at St Mary Arches, Exeter. The consent of Matilda’s parents had been given.

Five months later Matilda and John emigrated on the Westminster to New Zealand. The Westminster was the first planned emigrant ship from England to Auckland. It sailed from Plymouth on 4 December 1842 and arrived 31 March 1843.

On a February 1844 list of all men within the District and Town of Auckland in the Colony of New Zealand and liable to serve on juries, there is a John N. Derby, compositor, living in Queen Street, Auckland.

Queen Street Auckland in 1843 from page 53 of The Project Gutenberg EBook of The City of Auckland, by John Barr, first published 1922 and retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46925/46925-h/46925-h.htm#Page_53

In April 1844 John Darby wrote to the editor of the Auckland Chronicle with his views on the future of the Government Printing Office.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 37, 18 April 1844, Page 2

In December 1844 John Narroway Darby was in court over a forged promissory note, and in March 1845 he was indicted for issuing a shilling forged debenture. He was acquitted by the jury.

On 12 April 1845 Darby, with his wife and two children, left Auckland on the Sir John Franklin for Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land [Tasmania]. The Hobart Courier described the voyage as “a tedious passage of twenty five days.” The schooner carried 33 passengers, including 26 children, with a cargo of 12,000 feet of New Zealand timber and 12 parcels of printing apparatus. The ship brought news of the Maori Wars. The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review stated that the schooner was “laden with families flying from the Maories”

Matilda Frances Darby, the younger child of John Narroway Darby and Matilda Darby, was baptised in Hobart on 30 November 1845. She had been born on 14 March 1845.

from Tasmanian Lincs database https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1089444 Name: Darby, Matilda Frances Record Type: Births Gender: Female Father: Darby, John Harroway Mother: Matilda, Elizabeth Date of birth: 14 Mar 1845 Registered: Hobart Registration year: 1845 Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1089444 Resource: RGD32/1/3/ no 2603

Apart from a mention on the shipping record, I have found very little about the other child of John and Matilda Darby. He, or she, appears to have been born in New Zealand about 1844 and seems to have died in Australia before 1855.

Sometime before 1850 John and Matilda Darby separated. In 1850 Matilda had a child, Margaret Hughes, born at Ashby near Geelong, Victoria. The father’s name was David Hughes. Margaret died in 1858. Ten years later, on 4 May 1868, Matilda Darby, claiming to be a spinster, married David Hughes. She died one month later, on 5 June.

It seems to me likely that Matilda Darby, knowing a formal union with David Hughes would be bigamous, refused to marry him until she had news that her first husband John Darby was dead. It is also possible that Matilda Darby, very ill, with not long to live, sought to regularise her relationship with Hughes as best she could. They had lived together for nineteen years; a form of marriage was possibly a kind of consolation
for them both.

John Darby appears to have been less concerned than his wife Matilda about committing the crime of bigamy. When on 21 July 1855 in Portland, Victoria, he went through the form of marriage with a woman called Catherine Murphy he claimed he was a widower, the father of two children, one living and one dead.

Name John Darby Spouse Name Catherine Murphy Registration Place Victoria Registration Year 1855 Registration Number 2765

In August 1855 John Darby of the Portland Guardian advertised for a printer’s apprentice.

In 1856 John Darby was listed on the electoral roll in Portland, living at Gawler Street, printer, entitled to vote as receiving a salary of £100 from T.E. Richardson.

I have found no further mentions of John Darby or  Catherine in Australian birth, death or marriage indexes, nor in other records.

In the Tumut and Adelong Times of 22 October 1866 a John Darby is recorded as having successfully sued the printer of the Braidwood News for £6 3s. wages. It is possible that this is our John Darby but I have found no further records of John or Catherine Darby in New South Wales.

DNA evidence links Greg and his cousins to Matilda Frances Sullivan née Darby but as yet no further back on the Darby line.

Related posts

• Poor little chap
• Triangulating Matilda’s DNA

Sources

• FindMyPast  
  • Record set Devon Baptisms  First name(s) John Narroway  Last name Derby Birth year 1823  Baptism year 1823 Denomination Anglican  County Devon Baptism place Exeter, St Mary Major  Mother’s first name(s) Sarah Father’s first name(s) Joseph
  • Matilda  Last name Mogridge  Banns year 1842 Banns date 03 Jul 1842  Parish Exeter, St Mary Arches Spouse’s first name John  Spouse’s last name Darby Residence Exeter St Mary Steps Spouse’s residence Exeter St Mary Steps  Denomination Anglican County Devon Country England Archive reference 332A/PR/1/13 Archive South West Heritage Trust  Record set Devon Banns Category Life Events (BDMs)
• Ancestry.com
  • English 1841 census Class: HO107; Piece: 267; Book: 4; Civil Parish: St Mary Major; County: Devon; Enumeration District: 14; Folio: 25; Page: 45; Line: 23; GSU roll: 241331
  • Jury Lists: Auckland 1842-1853
  • Tasmania, Australia, Passenger Arrivals, 1829-1957 Reports of ships arrivals with lists of passengers; Film Number: SLTX/AO/MB/3; Series Number: MB2/39/1/8
  • 1856 electoral roll for Portland, Victoria, Australia
• Whyte, Carol. “Passenger List of Westminster, Cork, 4 December 1842 to Auckland.” New ZealandGenWeb Project, Carol Whyte, 2014, www.newzealandgenweb.org/index.php/regions/auckland/44-source-records-auckland/60-passenger-list-of-westminster-cork-4-december-1842-to-auckland.
• PapersPast – an online collection of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals
  • Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 37, 18 April 1844, Page 2 retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ACNZC18440418.2.9 
  • Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 72, 19 December 1844, Page 2 retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ACNZC18441219.2.7 
  • Auckland Times, Volume 3, Issue 112, 4 March 1845, Page 3 retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AKTIM18450304.2.13 
  • Daily Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 99, 8 March 1845, Page 2 retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18450308.2.10 
• Trove – online Australian digital reproductions of newspapers, journals, books, maps, personal papers, as well as archived websites and other born-digital content compiled by the National Library of Australia
  • THE COURIER. (1845, May 8). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 – 1859), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2948660 
  • SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1845, May 10). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 – 1859), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2948650 
  • To the Editor of the Review. (1845, May 8). The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1844 – 1845), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233612148 
  • Family Notices (1855, July 23). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1843; 1854 – 1876), p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71572567 
  • Advertising (1855, August 9). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1843; 1854 – 1876), p. 1 (EVENING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71572645 
  • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20TH. (1866, October 22). The Tumut and Adelong Times (NSW : 1864 – 1867; 1899 – 1950), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144775228 
• from Tasmanian Lincs database https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1089444   Name:  Darby, Matilda Frances  Record Type: Births Gender:  Female Father: Darby, John Harroway  Mother: Matilda, Elizabeth Date of birth:  14 Mar 1845 Registered: Hobart Registration year:  1845 Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1089444 Resource: RGD32/1/3/ no 2603
• Victorian births, deaths and marriages
  • • Name Margaret Hughes Birth Date Abt 1850 Birth Place Ashby, Victoria Registration Year 1850 Registration Place Victoria, Australia Father David Hughes Mother Matilda Registration Number 22395
    • Name Matilda Priscilla Craddock Spouse Name David Hughes Marriage Place Victoria Registration Place Victoria Registration Year 1868 Registration Number 1485
    • Name Matilda Hughes Birth Year abt 1825 Age 43 Death Place Victoria Father’s Name Mogridge John Registration Year 1868 Registration Place Victoria Registration Number 3957
    • Name John Darby Spouse Name Catherine Murphy Marriage Place Victoria Registration Place Victoria Registration Year 1855 Registration Number 2765

Y is for Yannasch

None of my forebears has a first name starting with Y, so the third personal name of Jacob Robert Yannasch Goldstein (1841-1910), the husband of my third great aunt, will have to do.

His name ‘Yannasch’, probably a variant of John, means “Jehovah has been gracious”.

Jacob Goldstein was born about 1841 in Cork, Ireland, only child of Isaac Goldstein (c. 1811-1887) and Mary Goldstein née Pulvertaft (c. 1811-1890). Jacob grew up in Belfast, where his father was a general dealer, that is a shopkeeper, and his mother was a dressmaker. In 1852 the Goldstein family lived at 12 King Street, Belfast. Isaac Goldstein was still living at King Street at the time of his death in 1887.

In 1858 Jacob Goldstein, then 17, emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on 29 April 1858. He could read and write, was a native of county Armagh, and his religion was Presbyterian. He had sailed on the Arabian, which left Liverpool on 27 January with 365 government immigrants. The Argus reported that she had experienced fine weather during the passage, that she was very clean, and that the passengers were in good health. When he disembarked Jacob stated he intended to be employed on his own account.

From the early 1860s Jacob ran a general store in Portland, a Victorian coastal town. We catch a few glimpses of him there over the next decade: in 1863 racing a horse; in 1864 playing cricket with the Portland cricket club; in 1867 a lieutenant with the Western Artillery, part of the Victorian volunteer artillery (he served for 30 years without seeing any active service, achieving the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel); in 1868 writing about birds and ornithology to the local paper.

On 3 June 1868, ‘at the residence of the bride’, Jacob Goldstein married Isabella Hawkins (1849-1916), eldest daughter of the pastoralist Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867).

Jacob and Isabella had five children:

• Vida (1869-1949)
• Elsie (1870-1953)
• Lina (1872-1943)
• Selwyn (1873-1917)
• Aileen (1877-1960)

His marriage and the births of his children were announced in The Belfast Newsletter, an Irish newspaper.

Much of the Goldstein family history has been documented in The Goldstein Story, by Jacob’s grand daughter, Lina’s daughter Leslie Henderson (1896-1982).

Jacob Goldstein: photographs in The Goldstein Story by his grand daughter Leslie Henderson.

 

Leslie argues that Jacob was not close to his father nor to his own children.

Both Jacob and his wife Isabella were interested in social service, devoting much time and effort to work among the poor.

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, ‘Jacob Goldstein encouraged his daughters to be economically and intellectually independent’. With her more famous daughter Vida, Isabella was a keen proponent of women’s suffrage;  Leslie Henderson believes that Jacob  was less enthusiastic. [The ADB calls Jacob an ‘an anti-suffragist’.]

In Melbourne, the Goldsteins attended the Scots’ (Presbyterian) Church, whose minister the Reverend Charles Strong was forced to resign over heresy charges in 1883. When Strong later set up his own ‘Australian Church’ the Goldstein’s became members. In the late 1890s Isabella and her daughters, though not Jacob, became Christian Scientists, followers of the spiritual healer Mary Baker Eddy.

Jacob died in 1910 at the age of 71.

 

LIEUT. COLONEL GOLDSTEIN. (1910, September 22). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10462993

 

Sources

• Henderson, Leslie M. (Leslie Moira) (1973). The Goldstein story. Stockland Press, Melbourne
• “1852 Belfast / Ulster Street Directory.” 1852 BSD Streets 1, www.lennonwylie.co.uk/1852streetsatol.htm.
• SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1858, April 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7293675
• Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. Microfiche VPRS 14. Public Record Office Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria. Image retrieved through ancestry.com.
• NEW YEARS DAY SPORTS. (1863, January 20). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1843; 1854 – 1876), p. 4 (EVENING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64627939
• Table Talk. (1864, March 10). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1843; 1854 – 1876), p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64630873
• THE GAZETTE. (1867, December 18). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5786204
• RARA AVIS. (1868, December 16). Hamilton Spectator and Grange District Advertiser (South Melbourne, Vic. : 1860 – 1870), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194473216
• Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 28 April 2018.

 

B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854

My husband’s great great grandmother Caroline Ralph (1850-1896) came to Australia at the age of four with her parents, Francis Ralph (1823-1915) and Caroline née Rodgers (1825-1893), and her brother, John Ralph (1848-1882).

The Ralph family arrived in Portland, Victoria on 21 November 1854 on the Bloomer after a voyage of 124 days. They had left Liverpool on 20 July.

Portland looking South by S T Gill March 14th 1856 from the State Library of Victoria Image H12920

The Portland Guardian reported the arrival on 23 November 1854:

This ship Captain Hunt from Liverpool July 20th arrived last Tues 21st inst. bringing 182 government immigrants, under the charge of Surgeon Superintendent Dr. Turner. There were 11 births on the passage and 3 deaths of infants. When the “Bloomer” left Cholera was at Birkenhead, the immigrants in consequence were embarked at Liverpool. The immigrants are almost all from the Southern Countries of Scotland, a large proportion of them are represented as being a superior class of mechanics.

The Bloomer‘s voyage of 124 days was relatively slow. In the Tyranny of Distance, Geoffrey Blainey writes that although the First Fleet took 250 days to reach Australia in 1788, by 1816-20 the average passage was only 140 to 150 days and by 1849 had fallen to about 120 days. However, the coming of the American clippers in the 1850s meant the duration of the average passage continued to fall. In 1852, for example, the Marco Polo completed the voyage in 74 days.

The Liverpool Albion on 24 July1854 (quoted in the Maitland Mercury of 25 October 1854) reported that four ships had sailed in the previous week for Australia:

• the Bee, of the Eagle line sailed for Melbourne with upwards of 390 passengers
•  the Bloomer, of Messrs James Baines & Co’s Black Ball line left with 160 emigrants for Portland Bay
• the Phoenix, of Walthew’s Liverpool line sailed for Melbourne with 370 passengers
• the Marco Polo, also of the Black Ball line left with 616 passengers and 400 tons of fine goods.

The Marco Polo arrived 23 October after a journey of 93 days. The Bee arrived from Liverpool on 24 October after a voyage of 98 days. The Phoenix arrived on 30 October after a journey of 100 days. In 1852 the Marco Polo had completed the journey in 74 days; this 1854 voyage of the Marco Polo was slow apparently because of light and variable winds.

The passenger list of the Bloomer records the Ralph family as coming from Lancaster, though in fact the Ralphs were from Cornwall. Francis was a mason; his religion was Methodist; and both he and his wife could read and write. Francis was 31 and his wife Caroline 28 years old. The children were 6 and 4. In the columns “by whom engaged” and “address” the Ralphs are recorded as “on own account” and “Melbourne”.

Public Record Office Victoria Series: VPRS 14; Series Title: Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kindom (refer to microform copy, VPRS 3502) (click image to enlarge)

In addition to John and Caroline born in England, the Ralphs had a further six children in Australia. Elizabeth was born in Collingwood, Melbourne, in 1855. William was also born in Collingwood in 1857. The family moved to Ballarat and Eliza was born there in 1860 as were Christina (who died in 1870) and Francis; the youngest child, also called Christina, was born in Ballarat in 1871.

Their daughter Caroline married Francis Gilbart Edwards in Ballarat in 1870. She died in Brighton, Victoria in 1896.

Francis and Caroline moved with some of the family to South Australia. Their son John died there in 1882. The following children married in South Australia: Eliza in 1883, William in 1885, Elizabeth in 1886, Francis in 1888. Caroline died in South Australia in 1893 and Francis died in 1915.

Further reading

• Russell, Roslyn and National Library of Australia (issuing body.) High seas & high teas : voyaging to Australia. Canberra, ACT NLA Publishing, 2016.  
• This is a very new book on immigration – beautifully illustrated which gives a terrific sense of what it must have been like to travel to Australia. The book includes extracts from diaries of travellers and shipboard newspapers.
• Charlwood, D. E. (Donald Ernest) The long farewell (New ed). Penguin, Ringwood, Vic, 1993. 
• Another book on the experiences of the voyage to Australia.
• Blainey, Geoffrey The tyranny of distance : how distance shaped Australia’s history. Sun Books, Macmillan, 1968. 
• Trace, Keith. “Shipping.” EMelbourne the City past and Present. School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, July 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2016. <http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01366b.htm>. 

Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849

My husband’s great great great grandparents were Thomas Edwards (1794-1871) and Mary née Gilbart (1805-1867) from St Erth in Cornwall.

They were married on 14 March 1826 in the parish church St Erth.

St Erth Church dates from the 14th century. St Erth was an Irish saint, said to have been an acquaintance of St Patrick. His remains are supposedly buried under this church, seen here from across the River Hayle. Picture retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, taken by Stephen McKay and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license

Thomas and Mary’s oldest son Thomas was baptised at St Erth on 27 August 1826.

On the 1841 census Thomas was a carpenter living with his wife Mary and  five children at Bridge Terrace St Erth.

The youngest of the nine children of Thomas and Mary, Francis Gilbart Edwards, was born 21 January 1848 at St Erth, he was christened at the parish church.

Shortly after the birth of Francis, the family emigrated to Victoria, sailing on the Lysander from Plymouth on 21 September 1848 and arriving at Port Phillip on 13 January 1849.

PORT PHILLIP. (1849, January 24). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28646624

In 1837 Mary’s sister Sarah (1808-1854) had married Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865) who was a Methodist missionary to the Aborigines at Buntingdale near Geelong. The Tuckfields had been in the colony since 1838.

The passenger list of the Lysander shows the Edwards family were Wesleyan and their native place was given as St Ives. Thomas was 53 and his occupation was wheelwright. Mary was 43. The passenger list records that they were accompanied by:

• Thomas, age 22, farm labourer
• John, age 19, mason
• Elisabeth, age 17, nursemaid
• James, age 13
• Mary, age 11
• William, age 9
• Benjamin, age 5
• Francis, infant

The older children could both read and write, William and Benjamin could read. One child, Francis, had died at the age of 3 in St Erth in 1844.

On arrival it seems there was some difficulty with the immigration of passengers from the Lysander. At the time of the arrival the Lysander, La Trobe was meeting with the people of the Portland district.

Domestic Intelligence. (1849, February 6). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 2. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4772171

The Launceston Examiner on the 14th of February gives us a little more information. The Superintendant of the Port Phillip District, Charles La Trobe, wanted the immigrants to proceed to Portland but they were refusing to do so.

PORT PHILLIP. (1849, February 14). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 – 1899), p. 4 Edition: AFTERNOON. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36256707

An article in The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 – 1880), Saturday 17 February 1849, page 377 goes into further detail.

However, on 26 January, the Argus had reported that

The project of sending a shipment of the recently arrived immigrants to Portland has been abandoned, the number willing to proceed to that port being found insufficient to warrant the chartering of a vessel for the purpose.

As Superintendent of the Port Phillip district, Charles la Trobe was

responsible for administering immigration in conjunction with the British Emigration Agent in London who supervised the selection of applicants and arranged for their passage. The Superintendent’s responsibilities included local administration of Government funded assisted immigration schemes, reception and initial settlement of immigrants as well as monitoring immigrant arrivals, including inspection of ships, certification of passenger lists, and regulating alien immigration. Locally appointed Immigration Agents assisted the Superintendent with many of these responsibilities.

I assume the Edwards family may not have been caught up in this immigration delay as they already had connections in the colony.

Trove Tuesday: Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins

TABLE TALK. (1867, April 29). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637763 TABLE TALK. (1867, May 6). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved October 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637812

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819–1867), born on 30 April 1819 at Dumfries, Scotland to Robert Hawkins (1770–1841) and Penelope Hawkins née Carruthers (1765–1845), was my great great great grandfather.

In 1839, when he was only twenty, Samuel Hawkins, ‘occupation storekeeper’, sailed from Edinburgh to Port Phillip on the David Clark, the first ship to sail there directly with immigrants from the United Kingdom.   He travelled without any immediate relatives. His eldest brother, Robert, and cousin, Thomas, had previously settled in New South Wales. (Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985. p. 38) (Janson, Elizabeth. “They Came by the David Clark in 1839.” In Victoria before 1848. OoCities.org, 1999. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html>.)

In 1841, within three years of Samuel’s arrival, an S.P. Hawkins is listed as a land surveyor, with offices in Lonsdale Street, in Kerr’s Melbourne Almanac and Port Phillip Directory. (http://members.optushome.com.au/lenorefrost/kerr.html )  He appears to have begun his land surveying career working for Robert Russell, the first surveyor of Melbourne.

From Melbourne Samuel moved to the Western District, first to Portland and then to Melville Forest, near Coleraine. (pdf of Victorian Heritage database listing for Melville Forest homestead complex  vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/23456 )
In 1849, at the age of thirty, Samuel married Jeanie Hutcheson (1824 – 1864).  Jeanie’s three brothers had also settled in the Portland district.

Cherry stones p. 44  “Probably an engagement photograph, but certainly of Jeanie and Samuel Hawkins taken about 1849.”

 Samuel wrote to his brother James in 1849

I know not whether in my last letter I acquainted you with my changed condition of life from the single to the married. To describe who and what She is is impossible to be intelligibble. Her name is Jeanie Hutcheson, the sister of 3 respectable settlers on the Glenelg River and with this introduction, seasoned by my love and esteem, I beg to introduce her to your notice and remembrance (Cherry Stones p. 43.)

They had eight children.  In 1864, after an illness of seventeen days, Jeanie died “disease of stomach and liver” and the complications of a miscarriage.  She was 40 years old. Their children were aged from two to fifteen years.

• Isabella Hawkins (1849 – 1916)
• Penelope Bell Hawkins (1851 – 1898)
• Robert James Hawkins (1853 – 1854) 
• Robert James Hawkins (1854 – 1893) 
• Georgina Hawkins (1856 – 1944) 
• David Hawkins (1858 – 1922) 
• Janet “Jessie” Hawkins (1860 – 1944)
• Jeanie Hawkins (1862 – 1941) (my great great grandmother)

Cherry Stones p. 46.

In 1865 Samuel married Mary Adamson (1843 – 1908), governess of his children. They had two children. The first died in infancy and the second was born on 23 July 1867, just over three months after Samuel’s death on 22 April 1867.

• Mary Hawkins (1866 – 1866) 
• Samuel Melville Hawkins (1867 – 1947)

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins’s death certificate states he died of delerium tremens and exhaustion after an illness of one week. He was 47 years old. (Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages; death certificate 5050/1867)

Delirium tremens can occur when you stop drinking alcohol after a period of heavy drinking, especially if you do not eat enough food. Delirium tremens may also be caused by head injury, infection, or illness in people with a history of heavy alcohol use. It is most common in people who have a history of alcohol withdrawal. It is especially common in those who drink 4 – 5 pints of wine or 7 – 8 pints of beer (or 1 pint of “hard” alcohol) every day for several months. Delirium tremens also commonly affects people who have had an alcohol habit or alcoholism for more than 10 years. (Dugdale, David C., III MD. “Delirium Tremens.” MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 20 Mar. 2011. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000766.htm>.)

Today delirium tremens, which is sometimes fatal, is usually treated in hospital. Symptoms include body tremors, changes in mental function such as hallucinations, confusion and restlessness, and seizures. (MedlinePlus)

Samuel’s grave is in Portland North Cemetery, where he is buried with his first wife and their infant son  Robert James Hawkins (1853-1854).  His second wife died at Kyneton in 1908.

Probate was granted on the estate of Samuel Hawkins, Esquire of Melville Forest Station on 4 July 1867.  His estate was estimated to be valued at £14,000.  (Probate files held by Public Record Office of Victoria reference 6/328)  Today the value of his estate is in the order of $2 million up to nearly $13 million; the lower value is based on the changes in the retail price index and the higher value on the changes in average earnings. (Using the conversion calculator at http://www.measuringworth.com which is based on shifts in purchasing power of British pounds).

Sepia Saturday 195 : International Day of Peace

This week’s Sepia Saturday blogging theme is on Peace as 21 September is International Day of Peace.

Just the other day I posted a piece about my 1st cousin, three times removed, Vida Goldstein (1869 – 1949), a noted suffragette and campaigner for Peace.  She was the first woman in Australia to stand for Federal Parliament.

I haven’t found a picture of Vida campaigning for peace or political purposes.  The photograph below is in the collection of the National Library of Australia.

Portrait of Vida Goldstein sometime after 1900.  From the collection of the National Library of Australia retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23371660 20 September 2013

As a suffragette Vida travelled the world.

She met President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 at the time of the first International Women’s Suffrage Alliance conference convened in Washington.  She also addressed committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives on the suffrage question. She was elected secretary of the Conference.

“PERSONAL ITEMS.” The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 9 Aug 1902: 18. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14495403>.

 In 1911 Vida was in London for the Great suffragette demonstration.

“11.950 Great suffragette demonstration in London, Mrs Fisher, Mrs McGowan and Miss Vida Goldstein from Australia, copyright 1911 by Geo. Rose” –Caption below stereograph. “The Rose Stereographs, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington & London” (No longer in copyright according to Australian law). Retrieved from “Great Suffragette Demonstration in London.” Culture Victoria – Women’s Suffrage. Arts Victoria (State Government of Victoria), 2010. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/victorian-women-vote-1908-2008/8844/great-suffragette-demonstration-in-london/>. Vida is on the right in the white dress.

The Women’s Peace Army was formed in Melbourne in July 1915 with Vida Goldstein presiding.

“WOMEN’S PEACE ARMY FORMED.” Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1914 – 1918) 10 Jul 1915: 49 Edition: WEEKLY. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90191264>.

Vida Goldstein never married. This gave the Mirror of Australia an opportunity for a cheap jibe when reporting meetings of the peace movement.

“MELBOURNE IN THE MIRROR.” The Mirror of Australia (Sydney, NSW : 1915 – 1917) 18 Dec 1915: 6. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104646536>.

Peace was generally not a popular subject in 1917 when Vida was seeking election to Federal Parliament.

“IDEALISM AND REALITY.” Maryborough & Dunolly Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 – 1918) 30 Apr 1917: 4. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90586318>. This article was widely syndicated, the Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser just one of many carrying it..

Apart from the arguments in the above article it was suggested that there could be peace tomorrow if we surrendered. This was not a position viewed favourably by Mr Rodgers, the retiring member for Wannon in the House of Representatives. (“National Politics.” Koroit Sentinel and Tower Hill Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918) 28 Apr 1917: 3. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120951135>.)

There was opposition to her standing as a candidate for election

“DETERMINED WOMAN CANDIDATE.” The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929) 10 Apr 1917: 4. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59967891>.

Vida polled extremely poorly attracting only 4,446 votes and all other candidates polled significantly better.  In 1903 her Senate candidature attracted more than 51,000 votes.  Vida had also stood in 1910, 1913,  and 1914. She stood for the last time in 1917.

“AUSTRALIA’S ANSWER.” The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931) 7 May 1917: 5. Web. 20 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5584427>.

In 1919 Vida accepted an invitation to represent Australian women at a Women’s Peace Conference in Zurich. She was away from Australia for three years and this period was the end of her involvement in Australia politics. (Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975, accessed 20 September 2013.)

She is remembered and honoured by the Division of Goldstein in Victoria being named after her in 1984. The electorate is in the south-east of Melbourne. (“Goldstein Results.” Federal Election 2013 – Live Results. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2013/guide/gold/>.)  

Vida’s birthplace of Portland in Victoria has erected a bench in her honour which has, among other words, the word PEACE incorporated into the design. (Gervasoni, Lisa. “Vida Goldstein Chair_5268.” Flickr. Yahoo!, 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/gervo1865/6270664349/>.)

Trove Tuesday: Vida Mary Jane Goldstein (1869 – 1949)

Vida Goldstein (1869 – 1949) was my first cousin three times removed and stood for the Senate in 1903, 110 years ago. Although she was not elected, she was the first woman in Australia to stand for election to the Federal parliament and one of four women who were the first in the British Empire to be nominated and to stand for election to a national parliament. She was also a key campaigner for the vote for women in Victoria.  She has an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and also on Trove. (Janice N. Brownfoot, ‘Goldstein, Vida Jane (1869–1949)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.  Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-vida-jane-6418/text10975) (Goldstein, Vida (1869-1949). (2008). In Trove. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-599050)

Vida was a relative from my Hughes branch and I first learned of the family connection through Helen Hudson née Hughes (1915 – 2005) who enjoyed researching the family history and wrote a book, Cherry Stones, which I have found tremendously useful in following up on her research. ( Hudson, Helen Lesley (1985). Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic )

 

Vida was the daughter of Isabella née Hawkins (1849 – 1916) and Jacob Goldstein (1839 – 1910). Isabella was the sister of my great great grandmother Jeanie (1862 – 1941) who married Edward Walter Hughes.

 

Last weekend’s election prompted me to search for mentions of Vida’s political career.  She has been the subject of several books and I have come across a memorial mentioning her name at Parliament House in Canberra.  When researching Avoca at the time of World War 1, I noted that as a candidate at that time only four people voted for her from Avoca; but then again she had not visited the town to campaign.

In 1903 her campaign for the senate received wide coverage.  Trove newspaper search has 353 items in its newspaper database for 1903.  The coverage is across Australia, not only in Victoria; newspapers as far afield as Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Broken Hill, New South Wales, and Brisbane, Queensland reporting on her campaign.

Meetings were well attended and usually reported on at length with details of the speeches and questions to the candidate.  Here is a short report of a meeting at Echuca in northern Victoria.  It is a small town but she had an audience estimated at 600 to 700.

THE SENATE. (1903, December 11). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89494011

Vida gained more than 50,000 votes and ranked 15th out of 18 candidates for the four senate seats.

THE SENATE. (1903, December 22). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10589115

Vida spoke about the aftermath of the election:
 

A LADY CANDIDATE’S OPINION. (1903, December 24). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), p. 5. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5025504

 

My search on Trove found a picture of her I had not seen before.

 

The image is from the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Their catalogue entry: 

• Title: Miles Franklin [and] Vida Goldstein [picture]
• Publisher: ca. 1900-ca. 1920 
• Date(s): 1900 
• Description: photograph : gelatin silver ; oval image 6 x 4 cm., on double mount 18 x 14 cm. 
• Copyright status: This work is out of copyright 
• Terms of use: No copyright restrictions apply. 
• Identifier(s): Accession no(s) H42756; H42756a 
• Subjects: Goldstein, Vida, 1869-1949 ; Franklin, Stella Maria Sarah Miles, 1879-1954 ; Feminists — Australia ; Gelatin silver prints ; Group portraits
• Index terms: Australia; women’s movement; suffragettes; feminists; authors; Miles Franklin; Viva Goldstein [sic]
• Notes: Title inscribed on mount l.l. and l.r. 
  Detailed view digitised. 
  Miles Franklin was born in Tumut, N.S.W.; published My Brilliant Career 1901; involved with feminist movement; left for the U.S.A. 1906; returned to Australia 1927; died 1954. 
  Vida Goldstein was born in Portland, Victoria 1869; became involved with suffragette movement; ran for the Australian Senate 1903; addressed the United States Congress in 1902; died 1949. 
• Contents/Summary: Miles Franklin is half-length, to right, Vida Goldstein standing behind her. 
• Source/Donor: Donated by Miss Jean Robinson, 1980. 
• Link to digitised item: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/136880 
• Link to this record: http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1787491 

I did not previously know of any connection with Miles Franklin, an author whose works I enjoy very much and who came from areas around Canberra which I used to visit often (Brindabella, Tumut, Goulburn, Talbingo). I also wonder of the connection with Jean Robinson, I am not sure who she is, a puzzle for another day.

 

Exploring further in the State Library’s collection I found more items which I must research further to explore this branch of my family. Included were these photos:

Group of people at river, including Vida Goldstein 1885 – 1892. Vida Goldstein – left foreground, holding stick. Col. Goldstein [Vida’s father] – seated in centre with a little girl on his knee. I [presumably Leslie Henderson, donor of the photograph] do not know who she is. George Reid – extreme right, standing. From the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/242093

Vida Goldstein at a picnic, probably at Lorne. Vida is second from right in front row holding a paper & with a billy in front of her. The donor of the photograph, Vida’s niece, Leslie Henderson (1896 – 1982) did not know any of the other people in the photograph. From the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/242166

There are many more items for me to follow up in the State Library’s collections when I get a chance.