Betty Blunden 1980

In Search of the Hyetts.

Introduction.

I visited Tasmania for the first time at Easter, 1963. During a tour of the island I saw the tombstone on the grave of my great-great-grandparents, William and Ann Hyett, in the cemetery in Sorell. I had been told of its existence by a cousin of my mother’s, Mabel Kennedy.

This tombstone sparked off a desire to find out what I could of my mother’s forbears, the Hyetts. I corresponded with the Archives Office in Hobart, the Tasmanian Lands Dept. and Registrar-General’s Dept. I made three more trips to Tasmania, at Easter ’64, December ’78 and September ’79. The last visit included a stay in Sorell with the family of Alan Newitt, the local historian. Through Alan I met sore old people whose memories included memories of my great-grandfather, Jacob Hyett; memories that are accepted now as oral history. I also met the present owners of land that used to belong to the Hyetts.

In tracing the movements and activities of the Hyetts in Victoria I have been given help by members of the family of my generation and of the previous generation. I have been helped by the staff of the Latrobe Library, and birth, death and marriage certificates have been an enormous source of material.

Betty Blunden, 1980.

In Search of the Hyetts.

1. This is an account of my search for the identity of my mother’s forbears, the Hyetts, and their movements over the last 150 years. The research has been done for my own pleasure, the writing down of the story has been done for my sons, sisters, brother, cousins, nieces and nephews, all the descendants of William and Ann Hyett who are interested in their own origins.

My mother’s name was Elizabeth Mary, her father was William Hyett, her mother was Annie Pearce, Unfortunately, I knew very little of the Hyetts and Pearces when Mother died. She did talk a little of her childhood when we were young, but if I had taken the opportunity to question her when I was an adult she could have told me so much more.

Four trips to Tasmania, talks with my family, with people in Sorell and Nugent, contacts with Government Departments and old family letters and documents have given me a wealth of information. Photographs of every member of the family, with the exception of the first arrival, old William. tell us what they looked like.

I knew that the first Hyetts who had lived in Australia had been farmers in Tasmania. William and Ann were their names. None of their great-grandchildren, my mother’s generation, knew the circumstances of their arrival in Van Diemen’s Land.

My first visit to Tasmania was during Easter, 1963. In preparation for the holiday I went to see Mabel. a cousin of Mother’s. She is the great-grandaughter of Ann and William. This meeting took place seven years after Mother’s death and meeting Mabel was like meeting Mother’s ghost. Mabel and Mother shared the “Hyett Looks”. I use capital letters because that was the way Mother had spoken those words. Different relatives had “the Hyett Looks”. They were all proud to be and look a Hyett.

Mabel has an excellent memory and was a very reliable source of information. She told me “Jacob Hyett was my grandfather. He was born in the English border town of Berwick, about 1829, and came to Australia with his parents about 1837”. This information proved to be incorrect, but I am sure that Mabel and the rest of the family believed it to be the truth.

Mabel went on:

“They were farming people and Jacob was the only child. They selected land in Tasmania near Hobart. The property was near Nugent, fourteen miles from the township of Sorell. It was a very big property. Mrs Gatehouse, an old family friend, told me when I visited Nugent in 1910 that it was Hyett land as far as the eye could see. Jacob went to a boarding school in Hobart. When he was in his twenties he went over to Victoria and courted Miss Elizabeth Warren. My mother, Alice, used to tell me the story of how Jacob would arrive on his chestnut, wearing a red coat, white pants and tan boots; and how proud my grandmother had been. They were married and returned to Nugent. Jacob’s father died later, but his mother lived to be a very old lady. They were both buried in the graveyard at Sorell. I visited Tasmania again in 1913 with my mother. I saw the grave but by then it was overgrown by the bush”.

I also showed Mabel the old family album that had originally belonged to Mary Pearce, my mother’s maternal grandmother. Mabel was able to identify the photo of “the house at Nugent” with her great-grandmother, Ann Hyett, and her grandparents, Jacob and Elizabeth. The other photos she recognized included a seated picture of Jacob with one of his daughters, her Aunt Ellen, her mother, Alice, her uncles William, Walter and young Jacob, and small pictures of William, Annie, the girl he married, and old Jacob. She had been familiar with all these photos since she was a child.

I was in Tasmania for four days during the Easter ’63 holiday. On our way to Port Arthur we stopped at Sorell hoping to find the grave. The old Church of England cemetery is in Forcett Street, a turn to the left just before entering the township. The cemetery is at the end of the street, and we found the Hyett grave at the far north west corner, near a stretch of water called Pittwater. The inscription on the slightly tilted headstone read:

To the memory of
William Hyett
Died 2nd. September, 1876
Aged 76 years.
And
Ann Hyett wife of the above
Died 24th. February, 1880
Aged 87 years.

From Sorell we drove the fourteen miles to Nugent to see if there was any trace left of the Hyett home. In 1963 Nugent was marked only by an old, dilapidated Post Office and store. A young woman there knew the name Hyett and knew the whereabouts of Redbank. That was the name of the property that old William had willed to his grandson, William Hyett. We were directed to Brown’s place where they would be able to tell us exactly where the Hyetts had lived. Mr Brown told us — “the third property past the Post Office, on the left”. He doubted if there was anything left of the old Hyett house.

No one was at home at the third house, so we knocked at the second house. Mr Ernie Wiggins lived there and he remembered old Jacob Hyett. This Wiggins was the son of the James Wiggins who had leased Redbank sixty years earlier and he had lived there as a child. He had been born in 1893.

“I can remember old Jake well. We leased Redbank, then Tuscan’s piece too, for £43 a year.”

I asked “Wasn’t it £44?’ I had read a copy of an old lease. “Yes, that’s right. I can remember old Jake on the road one day and he said to me he wanted to see my dad. So Dad saw him and it was only to be told that the rent was to be raised from £43 to £44. Dad never forgave me. A pound was a lot of money in those days. Worth £20 today. And money was always short. But somehow we managed to scrape it together every year. Old Jake gave Redbank to some woman...”

“Mrs Sanders, his daughter-in-law. It was actually her property.” “Yes, that’s right. We called her Mrs Saunders. But we didn’t see much of Jake. He only came round once a year to collect the rent.”

Mr Wiggins directed us to Redbank. “The first road on the right after you leave Nugent for Sorell. Redbank is the third property, the last on the road. But there is nothing left of the old house now.” We followed his directions, but there were more than three properties, and this road joined another, so we were not sure which place was Redbank. None of the farms had their names on their gates. There was a surprising number of barns and sheds with shingled roofs and, though the homesteads looked in good condition, the land everywhere looked neglected. It seemed to us that the countryside had probably altered very little over the last sixty years. That was in 1963.

I had been reading “For the Term of his Natural Life” during the Easter holidays and I was very conscious of Tasmania’s convict past. Sorell was not far from Port Arthur. William had been a very early settler. It did not seem too far fetched to wonder if he had been a convict.

After I returned home, I wrote to the Archives Office in Hobart and asked if William Hyett had appeared in their lists of convicts. A few weeks later I received an answer to my enquiry.

“William Hyatt, number 529, was tried at the Warwick Assizes on 30th March, 1822 for “stealing wearing apparel from a dwelling house” and sentenced to seven years transportation. He was by trade a groom and was twenty years of age, 5’ 41/2” in height, had grey eyes, brown hair and was a native of Stratford. His mother lived in Old Stratford, and he had last lived with one, Churden, at Tame in Oxfordshire, and was single. His hulk report was orderly and he had previously served twelve months at Warwick for house breaking. Hyatt arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on the ship Commadore Hayes on the 16th August, 1823. In December 1827, while assigned to Thomas Roadnight, Hyatt was committed for trial at the Supreme Court for stealing cedar planks, but he was found not guilty. He worked in the Austin’s Ferry Road party from this time until he received his pardon in 1829, where he committed several offences for which his usual punishment was to work at the treadmill for seven days. His offences included — making use of insolent language to his overseer, absent from his hut after hours, absent from his party, and neglect of duty in refusing to work.”

There was other information that was not about our William Hyatt, but there were two more paragraphs that were relevant.

In March 1854 William Hyatt had completed the purchase of a hundred acres of Crown Land in the Parish of Thanet. McPhaill’s Directory 1876-78 lists William and Jacob Hyatt, farmers, Ringarooma, Sorell District. In November 1869, Ann Hyatt of Sorell made enquiries in England, through the Colonial Secretary, respecting her children by her former husband, Patrick Carolan.”

Now my search was really on.

I had a genealogist in England who was doing work for me on the Blunden family, so I asked her if she could get any further details on William’s record. She sent me the following information.

“Warwick Assizes, March 30, 1822.

William Hyatt — stealing goods value 28 shillings of Samuel Pratt and goods value 31 shillings of William Jackson.
Puts not guilty.

William Hyatt — Breaking and entering dwelling house of Mr Newman (No proof of stealing his goods.)
Puts guilty.
Confesses 7 years.”

The genealogist sent me a photostat of the entry.

William arrived in Hobart in 1823, twenty years after it had been established as a convict settlement and he completed his sentence in 1829, a year before Port Arthur was built.

I visited Hobart again the following Easter, in 1964. I was able to get photo copies of William’s convict record and of the letter received in Hobart reporting the “unavailing search” that had been made for Ann’s children by her first marriage. I also obtained copies of William’s and Jacob’s wills from the Supreme Court.

I wrote for William’s marriage certificate. He had married the widow, Ann Carroll at Sorell. On the marriage certificate William’s surname is spelt Hyatt. Both William and Ann were illiterate, signing their names with a cross, so it is not surprising that there are subsequent variations in both the spelling of William’s and Ann’s surnames.

As illiteracy crops up a lot in the first two generations of the family I checked out on the official figures. In Victoria, in 1851 about a third of the population could neither read nor write, ten per cent could read but not write. (Victorian Government Census, 1851). Of all Mother’s family born in Australia I have come across only one who was illiterate. Mary Ann, Jacob’s eldest daughter, signed her name with a cross.

When they were married William was thirty-four years old and Ann was forty. (William’s convict record gives his date of birth as 1802. William himself puts it at 1800. For the sake of simplicity I use the date of 1800.) In 1834, when the marriage took place, the ratio of men convicts to women convicts in Van Diemen’s Land was 13,126 to 1,644 (Archives Office). The ratio of the whole population would have been much the same, so William was one of the fortunate ones to find himself a wife.

The reason for Ann Carroll’s presence in Van Diemen’s Land remained unknown until I paid another visit to Hobart in December, 1978, and was able to spend time at the Archives Office. By then the names of all the convicts had been indexed alphabetically. There were several women named Ann Carroll, but by the information given in their records it was possible to identify our Ann.

Ann Carroll had been brought before the Lancaster/Liverpool Quarter Sessions, 9 July, 1832. She was found guilty of “stealing 6 lbs of butter, 2 lbs of bacon and other articles”. “Gaol report unknown” which means she had no previous convictions. She was a “widow, 4 children”. Her sentence was 14 years transportation. Ann was Irish and it has been suggested to me that the severity of tier sentence may have been a reflection of a current wave of anti-Irish feeling.

She was transported on the ship Jane and arrived in Hobart on 30 June 1833. “Surgeon’s report good” which means that her behaviour on the trip out was satisfactory. On arrival in Hobart she stated her offence was “stealing butter and cheese” and that she was a widow with six children. She was assigned to one Giblin of Hobart. Two months later, on 22 August, 1833 she was brought before the magistrate and found guilty of “drunk and disorderly conduct”. Her punishment was “Wash tub, 1 month” at the Female Factory in Hobart, then to be “assigned to the Interior.”

Her vital statistics have been recorded in another book.

Her age, date of arrival, the fact that she was a widow with children, that she was tried in Liverpool, and that she was “assigned to the Interior” in August, 1833, all tie up with the widow, Ann Carroll, forty years old, who married William Hyatt at Sorell on 22 July, 1834, and had a son before the end of that year.

Women convicts were never assigned to unmarried men, so she would have been sent as a servant to a married couple living in the Interior, which in Ann’s case was the Sorell district. Here she met William Hyett and less than a year later became pregnant. The Archivist who was helping me told me that “the authorities liked respectability”, so, with “the consent of the Lieutenant Governor” (necessary because Ann was serving her sentence), she and William were married. She was automatically assigned to her husband. She would have had to appear regularly “at muster” — which was probably her church. Failure to do so would have meant a return to the Female Factory in Hobart. Also entered on Ann’s record — Ticket of Leave, 27.3.39 and Conditional Pardon, 3.11.41. By then Ann had served eight years of her fourteen year sentence. Neither she nor William ever applied for a Free Pardon. It would have been necessary only if either of them had wanted to visit the mainland or return to England. Ann’s pregnancy and subsequent marriage, whether by accident or design, were the only legal means that would release her from serving her full sentence. They did not bring her complete freedom but placed her in a much more desirable situation.

The Archives hold a copy of all Church of England marriage and baptismal records. Ann and William’s marriage is recorded there, but Jacob’s baptism is not. Ann was a Roman Catholic and Jacob may have been baptised in her church. But, as he was brought up in the Church of England, I think it was possible that he was not baptised. The actual date of his birth has not been recorded, but the year, 1834, is given on his own marriage certificate.

I was unable to confirm Mabel’s information that Jacob was educated in Hobart. The Archives hold very old records of some schools but Jacob’s name was not listed. There was a Government School built in Sorell in 1822, so possibly Jacob was educated there. At all events, he was educated and samples of his signature and the writing of his address in Sorell, show a strong, flowing hand.

It was not until 1869, when she was seventy-six years old, that Ann made an attempt to trace the children of her first marriage. She had not seen them for thirty-six years. The letter that was sent to the Colonial Secretary’s office would contain much interesting information. A handwritten copy of all letters sent to the Colonial Secretary by the Lieutenant Governor is held in the Archives. There is a large bound volume of the covering letters which listed the different item contained in each dispatch. It took me three hours to read the covering letters written in 1867, ’68, ’69 but I was unable to find a mention of Ann Hyett’s application. It was a tiring job and I probably missed it. Theoretically, I was told, it should be there. If the reference had been found it would then have been possible to locate Ann’s application, which would be on micro film.

The answer to the application reads:

C. S. Office
2nd November 1869

Madam,

I have to acquaint you that Lord Granville has communicated to H.E. The Governor the result of enquiries instituted in England to obtain information respecting your children by your former husband, Patrick Carolan.

I herewith enclose for your information copy of a letter from Mr Liddell to the Under Secretary of State dated Whitehall 25th August, 1869, and also extract from the Report Book of Liverpool Central Police Office dated 18th August last. These documents disclose the unavailing search made on your application.

I am,
Sgd. B.S. Solly

Mrs Anne Hyatt
Sorell

The search for the children was made unsuccessful before it started because of the mistaken spelling of Ann’s former name. It was spelt Carolan, instead of Carroll, almost certainly because of Ann’s illiteracy. The fact that the search was conducted in Liverpool, where Ann was originally sentenced, confirms the assumption that Ann Carroll was Ann Hyatt of Sorell.

From various records held in the Archives, I was able to follow some of William’s and Ann’s moves and activities during the years they lived in the Sorell district.

The first document was a census taken 1 January, 1942. It gave the following information:

William Hyett (the first time that spelling was used although both spellings continued to be used indiscriminately for the next thirty years) was occupying a farm at Wattle Hill in the Parish of Canning. (Wattle Hill is nine miles out of Sorell on the road to Nugent.) The owner of the land was Silas Gatehouse. The dwelling house was of wood and building had been completed. Five people lived there — William, Ann, Jacob and two “persons employed in agriculture”, men over the age of sixty. Both these men were single and, like William and Ann, were exconvicts, “other free persons”. All were Anglican except Ann, who was Roman Catholic.

There is one error in the census. A child “under the age of Two” was marked in, by mistake. But the mistake was rectified in the total of single people.

This census return was the first document concerning the Hyetts that included the name Gatehouse. As I knew there were three generations of Gatehouses involved in the lives of the Hyetts, I was interested to find out how they had come to Sorell. The Archives had a folder on the Gatehouse family and this, briefly, is what had happened.

George Gatehouse was in N.S.W. between 1804 and 1810. He returned to England, then migrated to Van Diemen’s Land as a Free Settler “under the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, with an order for land which he received.” He became “a man of substance”, was partner in a mercantile business and built a brewery. Three brothers followed him,

Silas, Clement and William. They all received grants of land. The Chief Archivist explained to me, that before 1830, land grants were made, provided the applicant had the means to develop the land. This applied to both free settlers and ex-convicts. One convict, who had capital, was able to obtain a grant of land before his sentence expired. The usual measure was £1 capital for one acre of land. After 1830 land grants were made only to ex-army officers or to people who had given outstanding service to the colony, as part payment of a pension.

An entry in the baptismal records of Sorell records the birth of Jonas, son of Silas and Harriet Gatehouse on 13 November, 1833. Another son, Silas Crocker Gatehouse, was barn 11 August, 1839. The Gatehouse brothers were contemporaries of Jacob, who was born in 1834, and they became the trustees of his will which was made in 1909.

2. In 1853 or ’54 when Jacob was about twenty years old, he left Tasmania and joined the gold rush to Victoria. There is Mabel’s colourful story of his courtship of Elizabeth Warren, and on 27 February, 1855 they were married in the Church of England Parsonage at Castlemaine. Jacob was twenty-one and Elizabeth twenty. They gave their usual address as Maryborough and Jacob gave his profession as Miner. There was some information on Elizabeth’s background on the marriage certificate. She had signed her name with a cross. She had been born in Camden, Cornwall and her father, Thomas Warren, was a miner. Her mother’s maiden name was Ivey. (Her mother’s first name, Christina, appears on Elizabeth’s death certificate.) Jacob spelt his name Hyett on the marriage certificate and he used that spelling from then on. [Ann Hyett’s maiden name, Magin, is to be found on the marriage certificate of her son, Jacob. – B.B. ]

Jacob and Elizabeth soon returned to Tasmania. My research in the Archives during my December ’78 visit uncovered a lot of information about the family’s doings during the next twenty years. Jacob and Elizabeth’s first child, Mary Ann, (named after Elizabeth’s eldest sister and Jacob’s mother) was born on 20 May, 1856 at “Ringarooma”, Parish of Canning, Sorell. The Electoral Roll for Sorell for that year, 1856, lists Jacob as owning land at Ringarooma, and William as owning house and land at Ringarooma. Jacob lived in William’s house and worked the 450 acre farm that William owned, for the next nineteen years.

During those years Jacob acquired children and William acquired land. then sometimes sold it, until at the time of his death he owned seven lots. His will identified these lots for me, all of them in Prosser Plains: four grants originally purchased by J. Birchall, one grant originally purchased by J. Norton and two grants purchased directly from the Crown, one of 99 acres and one of 509 acres. The Archives had a map of Prosser Plains showing the original purchasers of grants of Crown Land. I was able to find William’s seven lots, all adjacent to each other and adjacent to the grant of 305 acres taken out by Jacob in 1856. Mabel had said “It was Hyett land as far as the eye could see”. Between them, William and Jacob owned 1440 acres.

William had gone through a complicated process before he made his final selection. I found the following information in the Electoral Rolls for Sorell, two Hobart Town Gazettes all of which are held at the Archives, and in the records held by the Registrar-General.

In March 1854 he had “completed the purchase of 100 acres of Crown Land in the Parish of Thanet, lot 274”. In 1858 he owned 444 acres at Wattle Hill, in 1859 “he completed the purchase of 274 acres in the Parish of Thanet”, in 1868 he was living at Ringarooma on a lot of 44 acres. In 1872 he added 20 acres to his home lot. On the Ist September, 1873 he “purchased 509 acres in the Parish of Nugent, County of Pembroke”. This was lot 1756 and is shown on the map. The Hobart Town Gazette for 1875 gave the last relevant piece of information; William owned 64 acres at Ringarooma where he was living, and he owned the 450 acres at Ringarooma where Jacob had been living for the last nineteen years.

Ten more children were born to Jacob and Elizabeth in Tasmania. The Baptismal Records at the Archives gave the birth date of all of these children except Alice. Her birth date I obtained from the Registrar. The children born at Ringarooma, Sorell, were Christina, 3 July, 1857; William, 10 December, 1858; Thomas, 20 May, 1860; John, 14 October, 1861; Ellen, 16 October, 1863; Jacob, 19 August, 1865; Walter, 19 May, 1867; Alice, 13 April, 1869; Edwin, 21 August 1871 and Albert, 4 August, 1873. Edwin, when he was three years old, died, 27 July, 1874.

Christina was named after Elizabeth’s mother, William after Jacob’s father, Thomas, John and Alice after Elizabeth’s brothers and sister, Jacob after his father. The origin of the other names I do not know.

(A comment from Alan Newitt, historian from Sorell: “If you were Roman Catholic you had a child every year. If you were Anglican, you had a child every second year.”)

Young Jacob remembered his childhood at Sorell. He was nine years old when the family left. He told this story to his grandson, Jack Hyett. Jack is of my generation, a socialist, teacher, naturalist, author and this is the story that he passed on to me. On the farm at Sorell, escaped convicts used to come in and work for William and Ann. When troopers came looking for the escapees, the old lady would run up a flag on the flag pole, to “honour” their coming. At this signal the convicts took to the bush and the old man came up to the house.

In 1875, the year after little Edwin’s death and the year before old William’s death, Jacob, Elizabeth and their ten children moved to Victoria. Jacob certainly loved the property because he returned to it. But his children didn’t. Six of them were in their teens when they left Nugent. None of them returned to live there and none of the boys became farmers. I have not been able to find the reason for the move. Maybe it was pressure from the children. Elizabeth was able to live nearer her parents in Victoria but I doubt if that would have been considered a valid reason for the move. It could have been an attempt for the children to cut free of the convict connection. If this were the reason, they were successful. Mabel told me that the land was leased after the family left.

It is possible to date the photo of ‘the house at Nugent’ as some time before 1875, when Jacob and Elizabeth left. It is the only photo I have of Ann and it is a pity that old William was not included. He was still alive then, and I have no photo of him.

Jacob and Elizabeth’s movements in Victoria I have been able to reconstruct from birth and death certificates. They were living in Eureka Street, Ballarat, when Sarah was born on 2 November, 1875. Ten months later on 2 September, 1876, old William died of “catalysis” (a stroke?). He had made his will in February of that year. In it he left everything to his wife, Ann, for her lifetime. On Ann’s death five adjacent lots, 350 acres in all, were left to his eldest grandson, William. If William had not reached the age of twenty-one, this land was to be managed by the trustees of the will, John Murdoch of Hobart Town and Thomas Hayton of Sorell, until such time as William reached his majority. The map of Prosser Plains shows these five lots which cover an area of approximately two miles by half a mile. The Curryjong Rivulet marks the northern boundary for the full two miles except for a little twist it takes through Jacob’s land. (It also acts as the boundary between the Parish of Nugent to the north and the Parish of Canning to the south.) William’s remaining land, two lots making up 608 acres in all, was adjacent to Jacob’s lot of 305 acres, and it was left to Jacob.

One clause in William’s will caused difficulties. He had taken out a mortgage of £150 with Henry Boase Tonkin on the 350 acres he had willed to young William and the 509 lot that was part of Jacob’s inheritance. He “declared” that the mortgage should be paid by his grandson, William and son, Jacob, each paying £75.

Old William died in 1876 and probate was proved in 1897. This coincided with Jacob taking out a mortgage on the 99 acres, presumably to meet this old debt. Jacob did not call on his daughter-in-law, Annie, to pay her share of the debt. He paid off this mortgage on the 99 acre lot during his lifetime. (Deeds Office.)

His convict record gives a good idea of the young man that William had been. Near the end of his sentence he had become fed up and rebellious. His offences were not criminal but acts of rebellion; using insolent language to the overseer, absent from his hut at night, absent from his party and refusal to work. But he was a survivor. He survived his sentence and the bitter punishment of the tread mill. With Ann, he had made the most of the opportunities the new country provided. He was a hard worker and a planner. The buying and selling of his land illustrate an ambition to create a property that could support several farming families and be passed on to succeeding generations. With one son who shared his dream, and six healthy grandsons, he must have felt content.

3. By 1879, Jacob and the family had left Ballarat and were living in Bungaree, a tiny township a few miles along the road to Melbourne. Here, on 16 July, 1879 Elizabeth had her last child, Rosena Maud. After thirteen children, her health had broken and after a three months illness she died of “pneumonia and heart disease” on 22 October, 1879.

Victorian birth certificates give a fair amount of information. No “accoucheur”, that is doctor or midwife, was present at the birth of Elizabeth’s last two children, Sarah and Rosena. In both cases a woman was “witness” a Mrs Wilson at Sarah’s birth and a Mrs Nicholls at Rosena’s. Elizabeth herself took the babies to the Registrar to have the births registered, signing the certificates with “her mark”, a cross. Rosena was two months old when she was registered, and Elizabeth died a month later.

From her photographs, Elizabeth was a strong, good looking woman. The way she stands in the two full length photos, leaning slightly forward, indicates a certain eagerness in her temperament. Some of her descendants, grand-daughters and great grand-daughters, are very like her in appearance, the “Hyett looks”.

Mabel takes up the story.

“When Elizabeth died Jacob was distracted, resorting to drink until the local hotel keeper told him he must pull himself together and think of his family, which he did. Christina had been housekeeping for her father and the younger children.”

Jacob did not return immediately to Sorell. He stayed on in the Ballarat district at least until 1884, when he is recorded in the Victorian Directory as living in Barry’s Reef. This was a gold mining township 35 miles from Ballarat on the road to Kilmore. On the birth certificates of both Sarah and Rosena, Jacob’s occupation is given as labourer, and on his son, William’s marriage certificate of 1881, it is given as horse driver. Whether Jacob was able to provide a home for the younger children, with Christina as his housekeeper, I do not know. When he did return to Sorell the children refused to go. My mother, Mabel, and Jack have all told me that Jacob very much wanted one of his sons to work the Hyett land with him. But they never returned to Tasmania to live.

On 24 February 1880, while he was still working in the gold fields, Jacob’s mother, Ann, died. She was eighty-seven years old and died of debilitas, “old age”. On his return to Sorell, Jacob had the headstone put over his parent’s grave.

Ann’s appearance when she arrived in Hobart is recorded in detail in her convict record. She was an old woman when photographed in front of the house at Nugent, but her features are still finely drawn and feminine. Her hands, folded at her waist, are pretty hands, the shape not disfigured by a lifetime of desperately hard work. It would seem that she would have been an attractive young woman.

She had endured the tragedy of being parted from the six children of her first marriage and she had made the most of what life did offer her. The one personal story of Ann that has survived was told me by Jack Hyett. “The old lady smoked a pipe.”

The wall of the Female Factory is all that is left of the notorious prison. Next to the main entrance is a brass plate with the inscription:

Female Factory Site
Established Circa 1827
To the Convict Women of Australia.
This site of which the wall is an original part was acquired by the National Estate to commemorate International Women’s Year 1975.

When I was in Hobart in December, 1978 my host for a day was Professor Firth, now living in retirement. On a trip to Richmond we detoured to Sorell so I could visit the cemetery there again. Professor Firth walked with me to look at the headstone. It had fallen and was now lying, broken, on the ground. Professor Firth read the inscription. “Hyett. I knew a Hyett. Frank Hyett. I was in College with him. Used to lend him my tin Lizzie when he was taking out a girl.” “That was my cousin. He died ten years ago.”

4. That was as far as my December, ’78 research took me. I came home elated. Then I found that this new information made me more curious than ever.

Where was “Ringarooma, Parish of Canning, Sorell"? Was it a district or the name of a farm? When had William purchased the land that was eventually to be known as “Redbanks"? Who bought William’s two other grants and Jacob’s grant after Jacob died?

I wrote to the Registrar-General’s Department asking these questions and enclosing photo copies of my maps for reference. The Department answered saying it could not help me with “Ringarooma” nor with my other questions, but told me that Jacob had taken out a mortgage on his original grant of 509 acres for £120 with S.C. Gatehouse and J.B. Gatehouse in 1904. They suggested I write to the Lands Department for further information. I asked the same questions again of the Lands Department. They could not help me to identify “Ringarooma” but gave me the following information.

William had purchased the 99a. 1r. 25p. grant in 1851; that Jacob had never completed the purchase of the 509 acre grant and that that land was granted to the Gatehouse brothers in 1918 after Jacob’s death.

The Acting Director-General of Lands suggested that Mr A. Newitt of Sorell, an historian, interested in this area, might be able to help me.

I wrote to Alan Newitt explaining my particular interest. He answered, offering help and suggesting that we meet when he visited Melbourne later in the year. He stayed with friends in Sunshine and I drove over to pick him up. I found the house and drove a little way to turn the car. To my astonishment I had turned the car into Hyett Court. Later I contacted Jack Hyett and asked if there were any connection with the family. The answer was “Yes. Not many years ago that subdivision was made and all the streets were named after early residents of Sunshine. Hyett Court was named after my grand-father Jacob.”

My meeting with Alan Newitt ended with an invitation to stay with him and his wife in Sorell. I gave Alan copies of my maps and took up the invitation in September, ’79.

The four days I spent as guest of the Newitts were enormously productive. Alan had already contacted people he thought could help me. He drove me first to Nugent, passing the Wattle Hill school on the way. It is a charming two-storey red brick building, now a private residence. The inscription on the original foundation stone dated the building November, 1868. The school had been built when Jacob was thirty-four, many years too late for his education, though he had lived in Wattle Hill as a child. William, Jacob’s eldest boy, was ten when the Wattle Hill School opened. He and others in the family probably learnt their three R’s there. The school at Nugent opened in 1882 (Archives), well after the family had left the district.

Wattle Hill is nine miles from Sorell, Nugent is five miles further on, along an unsealed, very windy road. If the children had attended the school at Wattle Hill, I think they would have cut across country or boarded with a family nearby. The country between Sorell and Nugent is very hilly and still largely uncleared. I was there in Spring and the paddocks were a brilliant green. The water in the rivulets was deep. The last of the Silver Wattle blossom was bright in the forest, and the Prickly Moses was in full bloom. Beside the road we saw swathes of white clematis and great clumps of pink and white heath. In cleared land, daffodils that had escaped from farm gardens were running wild.

Our first call was at the old Nugent Post Office and Store. These I remembered from my ’64 visit. They were no longer performing their original functions, and Jimmy Wiggins was living there. Alan spoke briefly to him, but he did not give any information that was new to me.

We then visited Mrs Jean Mason and her daughter Kay. They lived not far away on a property called Fernbanks. Kay grows flowers for the market and her hobby is local history. I asked my usual question, “Do you know where Ringarooma is?” She produced the answer from a scrap book of cuttings about the district. The article had appeared in The Mercury, 1960.

“Naming of Nugent” by W.J. Rowlands. “How and when did Nugent ... receive its name? In Middleton and Manning’s Tasmanian Directory and Gazetteer of 1887, the names of twenty settlers were given as residents in what is now embraced in the Nugent district, which was formerly variously known as Ringarooma and Weedy Hills. Of these twenty, five were given as living in Nugent, seven in Ringarooma, and eight in Weedy Hills.”

Did they know anything about Jacob Hyett? Jean was very young when Jacob had left the district so she didn’t remember him, but she remembered a story that he'd been sweet on the local school teacher, Effie Dodge. Jean suggested we see her sister Myra, who was twelve years older and would remember Jacob. And Kay said she knew where Hyett’s Hut was. It was a few miles away on “Bill” Montgomery’s land. She rang Bill and he offered to show the way. More of that later.

Through Alan Newitt I met three other people, all important to my research, Mrs Hannah Kent, Mrs Myra Mundy and Mrs Barbara Schofield. Both Mrs Kent and Mrs Mundy remembered Jacob and I shall fit their memories into my story chronologically. Mrs Schofield is the current owner of Redbanks which now consists of four of the original five grants that old William left his grandson, William. The fifth lot, Nortons, is owned now by Mr Stokes. He lives in the district but I did not meet him.

I talked to Mrs Schofield in the kitchen of her home in Sorell. There was a great bowl of daffodils on the mantle shelf. She said “The boys were out at Redbanks yesterday and they picked them for me. The daffodils are everywhere, apparently the cattle don’t like them.” While I was there Mrs Schofield rang her solicitor and asked that I be allowed to see the Redbanks documents when I was in Hobart later in the week. This I did and I was able to plot William’s land purchases. I already knew the date of one purchase from the Lands Department —

I could now see that the 99 acre lot with the 350 acres of Redbanks made up William’s farm of 450 acres. He had probably lived there when, in 1852 he had built “the house at Nugent”. I think this timber farm house looks charming with its wooden trellis and creepers across the front of the original cottage. The wing on the left with its wooden shingles looks an addition, and as Jacob and Elizabeth lived there and farmed this property for twenty years, it was probably built to house the growing family.

By 1858 William and Ann were living at Wattle Hill (Electoral Roll). Without the names of the original purchasers of the Crown grants, or the names of the present owners, it was impossible to check on William’s ownership of the land at Wattle Hill, in the Parish of Thanet, or the 64 acre property that he was living on in 1875. We know only that he bought these properties after 1854 and sold them at some time before making his will in February, 1876.

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Before leaving Sorell, Alan drove me to the little cemetery. He pointed out a footstone that I had not noticed before. It was a small Gothic shaped slab, with the initials W H and A H. The headstone had not deteriorated any further and Alan agreed that it could probably be repaired with dowels and put in place again. This I organized in Hobart. I also visited Mrs Schofield’s solicitor, the Lands Department, the Deeds Office and the Registrar-General’s Department. I received answers to all my questions and I shall write of them later.

5. To return to the family in Victoria, Elizabeth’s death certificate included the information that she had been buried in the cemetery in Ballarat. As I knew that some of the Pearces, my mother’s mother’s family, had also been buried in Ballarat, Le and I spent a day there in July, 1978. We went first to the “new” cemetery where I handed to the girl in the office a list of the dates of the death of Elizabeth and of her son, William; and the dates of death of four Pearces. Three hours later I was given the position of all those graves as well as that of Thomas Warren who had been buried in the same grave as his daughter, Elizabeth Hyett and his grandson, William. The Hyett/Warren grave was in the Church of England section of the “new” cemetery, Section 3B, No. 33. The Pearces were buried in the “old” cemetery. Thomas Warren had been buried on 8 January, 1892. As our time was running out, we decided to look for the Hyett/Warren grave.

We were given directions and the section was easy to find. We followed the main drive up from the main gates and turned into the third path on the right next to the section marked C of E B. We had been told that the grave was in the third little path on the left and was No. 33. But it was not easy to find. We walked along, reading the tombstones and counting the grassy plots as well as we could. They were not easily distinguishable. And many headstones faced different directions. So we were moving over the graves from one path to the next. There was a sudden shriek from Le and as I turned around she was leaping over the grass with a look of terror on her face. She had stood on a flat tombstone, it had given away and she had felt herself falling. The terror, she said, was because she didn’t know how far she would fall, not because she was falling into a grave. Another fear was for a sprained ankle but that didn’t happen. We went on to the end of the little path but plot 33, which was the one we were looking for, was just grass. Walking back, we read all the headstones. Suddenly Le called out, “Listen. Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Hyett. Here it is. It is the grave I fell into!” We had miscalculated the grassy plots in our counting.

The grave (it is the ninth tombstone on the left) was marked by four flat grey stones with a marble tablet set near the head. It had been white marble but was now very discoloured. The inscription on the tablet read:

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Before leaving Sorell, Alan drove me to the little cemetery. He pointed out a footstone that I had not noticed before. It was a small Gothic shaped slab, with the initials W H and A H. The headstone had not deteriorated any further and Alan agreed that it could probably be repaired with dowels and put in place again. This I organized in Hobart. I also visited Mrs Schofield’s solicitor, the Lands Department, the Deeds Office and the Registrar-General’s Department. I received answers to all my questions and I shall write of them later.

5. To return to the family in Victoria, Elizabeth’s death certificate included the information that she had been buried in the cemetery in Ballarat. As I knew that some of the Pearces, my mother’s mother’s family, had also been buried in Ballarat, Le and I spent a day there in July, 1978. We went first to the “new” cemetery where I handed to the girl in the office a list of the dates of the death of Elizabeth and of her son, William; and the dates of death of four Pearces. Three hours later I was given the position of all those graves as well as that of Thomas Warren who had been buried in the same grave as his daughter, Elizabeth Hyett and his grandson, William. The Hyett/Warren grave was in the Church of England section of the “new” cemetery, Section 3B, No. 33. The Pearces were buried in the “old” cemetery. Thomas Warren had been buried on 8 January, 1892. As our time was running out, we decided to look for the Hyett/Warren grave.

We were given directions and the section was easy to find. We followed the main drive up from the main gates and turned into the third path on the right next to the section marked C of E B. We had been told that the grave was in the third little path on the left and was No. 33. But it was not easy to find. We walked along, reading the tombstones and counting the grassy plots as well as we could. They were not easily distinguishable. And many headstones faced different directions. So we were moving over the graves from one path to the next. There was a sudden shriek from Le and as I turned around she was leaping over the grass with a look of terror on her face. She had stood on a flat tombstone, it had given away and she had felt herself falling. The terror, she said, was because she didn’t know how far she would fall, not because she was falling into a grave. Another fear was for a sprained ankle but that didn’t happen. We went on to the end of the little path but plot 33, which was the one we were looking for, was just grass. Walking back, we read all the headstones. Suddenly Le called out, “Listen. Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Hyett. Here it is. It is the grave I fell into!” We had miscalculated the grassy plots in our counting.

The grave (it is the ninth tombstone on the left) was marked by four flat grey stones with a marble tablet set near the head. It had been white marble but was now very discoloured. The inscription on the tablet read:

Sacred to the Memory of
ELIZABETH HYETT
Died 22nd Oct. 1877. Aged 42 years.
Her son
WILLIAM
Died 1st March 1883. Aged 24 years.
“Not lost but gone before.”

Thomas Warren had been buried in the same grave nine years later but his name was not included on the tombstone. But I now had the date of his death and was able to get his death certificate.

The information on the certificate was given by Thomas’ son John. He also was illiterate and although the dates do not tally with other firm dates I have, there is some reliable information. Thomas was eighty-one when he died, he had four children, Mary, John, Elizabeth and Alice. He was living at Allandale at the time of his death, he died of heart disease and his profession was miner. He had been born in Cornwall and had spent some time in South Australia before moving to Victoria. He was Wesleyan like so many Cornishmen. A paragraph on “Cornish in Australia” in the Australian Encyclopaedia could be taken broadly as Thomas’ own experiences.

“A considerable Cornish community was established in South Australia soon after the discovery in 1845 of the rich Burra Burra outcrops and the founding of a mining company. Mining was carried out by open cut methods, with marked success. Between 1851 and 1855 mining was virtually suspended because of the rush of miners to the goldfields of Victoria, but after their return the mine enjoyed more than ten years of prosperity. Many of the men, however, remained on the Victorian fields.” Thomas was one of the miners who stayed in Victoria. There is a photograph of Elizabeth taken with her parents, Thomas and Christina Warren, and one of her daughters. This photo would have been taken between 1875, when Elizabeth returned to Victoria with her family, and 1879 when she died. The top hat worn by Thomas was the traditional headgear worn by a Cornishman to the Methodist Church on Sunday.

What became of Jacob and Elizabeth’s sons and daughters? Jack Hyett, Mabel Kennedy and Per, all of whom knew some of them, gave me little bits of information.

Mary Ann, the eldest, married Ephraim Pearce junior in Bolwarra on 28 October, 1880. Ephraim was a sawyer and Bolwarra was the usual address of both. They were married by a Methodist minister and Annie, Ephraim’s sister was one of the witnesses. On the marriage certificate Mary Ann signed her name with a cross. Why Mary Ann was not taught to read and write is a mystery. Was the school too far away or was her help needed in the house? By the time Mary Ann was six there were four younger children. All of Jacob’s sons could read and write but I do not know about the other daughters.

When it was planned to flood the original township of Bolwarra to construct the Moorabool Reservoir, Mary Ann and Ephraim moved to Melbourne with the rest of the Pearce family. They did not have any children of their own, but they adopted a daughter, Annie Bull.

There is little known of Christina. Presumably she continued to look after the younger members of the family after Elizabeth’s death, probably in the Ballarat district. I do not know if she married but Jack remembers Christina and Sarah coming down from Ballarat to visit them at Sunshine when he was a small boy. They came for the funeral of their brother Jacob, who was Jack’s grandfather.

William married Annie Pearce, his sister Mary Ann’s sister-in-law. They stayed on in Bolwarra, William working as a sawyer. As William and Annie are my grand-parents, their story will be told more fully later.

Thomas was a saw-miller and he married Tillie Whitneth. They had two children, James and Ellen. In 1888 they were living in Ballan when Thomas had an accident in a saw-mill on 19 October. He was taken to the Daylesford Hospital, where he died six days later. There was an enquiry into the cause of his death and the finding was: “Fractured skull from injuries accidentally received.” He was thirty-two years old when he died, as was Tillie. James was two and Ellen one.

Elizabeth Mary, my mother, had a favourite cousin, Lil Hyett. Though I am not able to confirm it, I think she must have been Thomas’ daughter, Ellen. Lil’s mother had re-married and their name was then Whitford. Lil was the only cousin of Mother’s that I can remember visiting us after we moved to Balwyn. She was a beautiful and charming woman and very like our mother to look at — the same smiling mouth and pretty teeth, the “Hyett Looks”. Cousin Lil had great poise and though she spoke quietly, the conversation around our dining table always centred around her. Before she married, she was an inspector of factories for the clothing trade union. She married a Mallee farmer and brought us terrifying stories of the dust storms there. And a horrible story of how she was driving a buggy when the horse bolted and the rein took off the top of her thumb. It was an unsuccessful marriage and did not last long. Per visited Lil in hospital when she was dying from cancer and that was a long time ago.

John and Walter went to Western Australia and eventually worked as gold miners. Per remembers Walter coming back from the West when he was a small boy. He visited them at 8 Bishop Street and gave Per a shilling. “In those days it was a lot of money.” Walter married Myrtle Lynch, the daughter of a drover. This man, Lynch, had brought 11/2 million sheep into the sale-yards at Flemington. He drove them in from Bacchus Marsh and Geelong way. (Jack Hyett)

Ellen married John Nicholls and they lived in Allandale. John worked cutting and carting timber for the mines in Creswick and Clunes. Per remembers his mother, Annie, saying that John worked harder than any man she ever knew. “He was a nice old bloke too.” Ellen was a wonderful support to Annie. Annie suffered from chronic bronchitis and was often ill in bed for long periods. Ellen would come down from Allandale and look after the children. Per said he came home from school one day and heard Aunt Ellen swearing in the kitchen. He went into his mother’s bedroom and told her. “Mother said, ‘Pretend you haven’t heard. Aunt Ellen probably hears the men swearing at the horses.’ Mother always smoothed things over. The aunts often used to have fights. They'd come to Mother. She was the peacemaker. The Hyetts were a fiery lot.”

Ellen was the only one of Mother’s aunts whom I met. Aunt Ellen was dying of cancer in a hospital in Melbourne. Mother visited her and took me with her. I was only four or five years old. Aunt Ellen was quite lively, though she seemed very old to me. And she was whiskery .when I gave her a kiss.

Young Jacob, who was known as Jack, married Agnes Wright and they had four sons — William John, who was called ‘young Jack’, Edward, Samuel and Walter Donald, who was always known as Joe. The contemporary Jack Hyett, a son of ‘young Jack’ told me about his family.

“The first children were born at Bolwarra and then they moved to Allandale. Jacob had a team of horses and carted pit timber to the mines at Creswick and Clunes. About 1900, old Jacob came over to Victoria and visited them. He tried to get ‘young Jack’, the eldest son, to return with him to Nugent. The boy was keen to go, but his mother refused to let him.

“The McKay Harvester company was first set up in Ballarat. They moved down to Sunshine after the turn of the century and brought a lot of workers down with them. Whether Jacob worked for them in Ballarat I do not know but he and Jack, my father, came down to Ballarat to work for them. They first stayed in the boarding house, Blair Athol, and it was there that Jack met my mother, Ellen Rose Roberts. In the 1910 depression Jack and Sam went to New Zealand looking for work, Ted went to Tasmania. Jack got work timbering up mines, but he became ill and returned home broke. He and Ellen were married in North Melbourne without telling the family, I don’t know why. They had four children, Jack, that’s me, David, Heather and Donald. Things got very confusing in Sunshine. There was Grandfather, ‘old Jack’, Father who was ‘young Jack’, and me, Jack. Sam stayed on in New Zealand and he married a girl from Blenheim in the South Island. Her name was Agnes Elvira Sullivan. Sam served in the Great War with the New Zealand forces and returned to Australia in the late twenties. He brought his wife, Agnes Elvira, to Sunshine. She was a prominent member of Catholic Action and she continually wrote letters to the paper signed Agnes Elvira Hyett. Grandfather and Gran were staunch Labor supporters. Gran’s name was also Agnes, so people were ascribing the letters to her. She objected bitterly to this and things were not too friendly.

“Grandfather, Jacob or ‘old Jack’ worked with McKay’s until his blood pressure put a stop to it. He had been in the foundry, a moulder. He died on 1 September, 1936. He was seventy-one.”

Alice married Frank Robins. He was a railway man and became head shunter at North Melbourne. Alice’s nephew, Frank Hyett, was General Secretary of the Victorian Railways Union. When he died in 1919, Frank Robins, representing the Union men, was one of the pall bearers. Twice Alice went to visit her father, old Jacob, at Nugent, taking her only child, Mabel, with her. First in 1910 and then in 1913.

Albert married, had no children, and was a timber worker at Big Pat’s Creek, beyond Warburton. Jack remembers him well. “He WAS a wild. one. He used to come down to visit Grandpa, who was his brother, frequently. He was a fairly hard drinker and he was always under the weather when he arrived. Gran would tear strips off him but we kids loved him. He would always arrive with an enormous bag of lollies for us.

“When I was about fourteen or fifteen I went camping with a mate. We made a tent out of three-bushel flour bags that we'd got from the baker. It was very heavy but we managed by putting it onto a bike and wheeling it while we walked. We went by train to Melton then walked to Toolern Vale where we camped. Coming home we were a couple of hours early at the station. There was a man waiting too and we got talking. When he heard my name was Hyett he asked if I was related to Buck Hyett. That was Uncle Bert. They'd been on great drinking sprees together up at Big Pat’s Creek. Going home they had to cross the creek on a wooden trestle bridge, and that meant walking on the sleepers. They were in no fit state to do that so they would cross on their hands and knees.

“Uncle Bert’s wife had mental problems. My mother thought very highly of him because he was so devoted to her. Bert would have her out of hospital whenever it was possible.

“He was a returned serviceman from World War 1. He would have been forty-one in 1914, so he was rather old to have joined up.”

Sarah married and lived in Ballarat. Jack remembers visiting them and Mabel remembers her coming down to Melbourne when her sister Alice died.

Rosina Maud was only three months old when her mother, Elizabeth, died. Christina continued to look after her and there is no record of her ever going to Sorell. When she was about eighteen years old Maud went to live with Alice. Mabel remembers her young aunt. She had many beaus but she died in her early twenties.

Mabel told me that Walter lived until he was seventy-four, Jacob to seventy-one. Alice to seventy-two, Sarah to seventy-two and they all “died in their sleep”.

Both Jack Hyett and Uncle Per said the Hyett boys were “a wild lot”. Jack quoted one of old William’s early misdemeanours: “Insolence to the overseer. That goes for us all. For my grandfather, for Uncle Bert, for my father, myself and my son. Insolence to the overseer is a Hyett characteristic!'? And it made him very happy to talk about it.

6. Young William Hyett married Annie Kingston Pearce in Ballarat on 11 November, 1881. They both gave Bolwarra as their address, Annie was twenty-two, William was twenty-three and gave his profession as sawyer. (On the marriage certificate old Jacob’s profession is horse-driver.) Annie’s parents were Ephraim and Mary Kingston Pearce. Ephraim was born on 2 August, 1829 in Little Kingshill, Buckinghamshire, son of Ruben Pearce, a carpenter and builder, and his wife Sarah. Ephraim told his young grandson Per, that he ran away to sea when he was nine and that he had been shipwrecked twice. On 22 October, 1850, when he was twenty-one years old, he married Mary Kingston Young at St Mary’s Church, Parish of Paddington, County of Middlesex. He gave his profession as carpenter. Mary was twenty-nine or thirty years old, the daughter of Henry Young, a schoolmaster. Ephraim was illiterate. When he recorded the birth of his daughter, Annie, nine years later he signed his name with a cross. But during the course of his life he learned to read and write and when he was registering the death of his wife forty years later he was able to sign his name.

Mary was well educated. Possessions of hers still in the family indicate a woman of elegance. When she came to Australia she brought with her, in a tin trunk, her wedding dress and a collection of beautiful shawls. The wedding dress is now in the costume collection of the National Gallery of Victoria and is catalogued as: “Wedding dress of pale tourquoise taffeta, self woven pattern of flowers. The bodice has long pointed angles directed to the waist, trimmed with toning coloured silk buttons centre front. The small pagoda shaped sleeves are edged with ruching. Pleated skirt trimmed at hem with matching braid. The entire dress is lined with cotton.”

Two of Mary’s shawls are also in the Gallery costume collection. One of these is of fine wool, printed with a black and white houndstooth design and border of red and green paisley pattern. The other is of sheer black pure silk, embroidered with an Oriental design. Mary also had some fine jewellery, sore of which is still in the family. One piece, a mourning brooch, is in the National Gallery collection. The design includes a spray of flowers made from hair — possibly that of Mary’s first child.

Even when she was no longer a young woman, Mary enjoyed fashionable clothes. There is a dress of the mid-seventies of beige silk with a finely pleated trim edged with purple. The dress has a bustle and was worn with a sheer black silk shawl with a purple border and purple hand embroidery. Mary would have worn this dress when she was in her fifties. The size of the dress indicates that she was still very slim. Another possession of Mary’s that I now have in my bookcase is an exercise book in which she copied poems, some of them her own composition, and items that interested her.

Ephraim and Mary’s first child, Mary Agnes, was born in August, 1851, the same month that gold was discovered in Australia. A little over a year later, they joined the gold rush and boarded the Confiance as assisted migrants to Australia. William Martin, also bound for the gold fields, was seated at the same table as the Pearces. Martin was thirty-eight, a carpenter and was travelling with his wife and daughter. This information I got from the Ship’s Manifest which is on microfilm in the Shipping Records at the Public Records Department. Martin kept a diary of the voyage and as his descendants kept in touch with the Pearce descendants for over a hundred years, the diary was lent to me and I was able to have it copied. At the end of his diary, Martin listed the essentials for a trip to the goldfields and their cost. Unfortunately, the typist overlooked this list.

The voyage was typical of the times-delays, bad food, primitive conditions, babies being born, women and children dying. The entry in the diary for 6 January includes: “Our little messmate (Mrs Pearce’s daughter), who had been suffering from inflammation of the chest and diarrhoea for the past three weeks, died about 2 p.m. and was committed to the deep in the evening. It makes the sixth child that has died since our departure.” They had been aboard for forty-one days.

[The Pearces
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DIARY OF A VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA
In the Ship “CONFIANCE” (Capt. Price)

Under the direction of Her Majesty’s Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners.

By William Martin

Birkenhead
MDCCCLII

Saturday, November 27th, 1852

The Confiance, 1200 Tons Register with 388 emigrants on board, left the depot, Birkenhead, bound for Geelong, Australia. She was taken in tow by the Uncle Sam Tug and brought to anchor in the River Mersey at 12 o'clock a.m. We have been called alphabetically to answer to our names and expect to sail tomorrow.

Sunday, November 28th

All the males turned out at 6 o'clock to scrape the between decks. After breakfast we had reading and singing till dinnertime; in the afternoon the Church service was read by the Doctor, and in the evening we had singing and reading again till bedtime. We were very much annoyed by a party of primitive Methodists who were holding a meeting close to our elbows. Their ranting and roaring was dreadful; one man in particular was behaving more like a person insane than anything else.

Monday, November 29th

Still at anchor in the Mersey — most of the passengers suffering from severe colds. A single young woman sent on shore ill, and the rest of the family obliged to accompany her by the order of the Doctor, who keeps a sharp lookout after our health and is very cautious about infectious disorders, the between decks sprinkled with chloride of lime. Two children born.

Tuesday, November 30th

A great deal of discontent amongst the passengers about the shortness of the provisions, almost ending in a riot, the change of air making them very hungry. Another family sent on shore on account of one of the children having some disorder in the face. The father was the very man that made such a dreadful noise on Sunday. Promise of more provisions tomorrow. The pilot has just come on board (9 o'clock p.m.). We expect to sail in the morning.

Wednesday, December 1st

Rose at 3 o'clock to take watch and went to bed again at 6. After breakfast scraped decks again. Provisions much more plentiful but still much dissatisfaction among the emigrants. Another family sent on shore. A child seven years of age fell down the main hatch and received a dreadful wound on the forehead. Her life is despaired of. Still at anchor in the Mersey and likely to be, as we cannot sail while there are any invalids on board. The floors again sprinkled with chloride of lime.

Thursday, December 2nd

Still at anchor in the Mersey with no prospect of sailing. The usual routine of deck scraping etc. Another single woman sent on shore. I had the dreadful misfortune to lose all my brandy, by the cork coming out of the bottle. Most of the passengers suffering with coughs and colds. The Government Agent Capt. Patey, R.N. came off and received our orders for the shore for any little comforts that we might wish for. We have sent for some cheese, tobacco, and several other little things.

Friday, December 3rd

At anchor still in the same spot, cleaning decks as usual. Two single women sent on shore; one of them ill, the other her companion who would not be separated. A woman slipped down and put her thumb out of place. We are all very impatient and anxious to sail. Our meat was very bad again today.

Saturday, December 4th

Deck scraping, as usual. More chloride of lime. Today we were put on sea allowance; viz. Salt Beef etc. We find it far from palatable, especially the beef which is already very salt, and we have nothing to eat with it but flour and water mixed into a very hard dumpling. Our ration cards give suet and raisins, but we have not got them yet. We are still at anchor with no prospect of sailing.

Sunday, December 5th

The whole ship in uproar and confusion the whole of the morning through the provisions, over which there is always plenty of wrangling, being served out for the week; viz. tea, sugar, oatmeal, flour and beef for the day. They strictly prohibited shaving on Sunday mornings but find no fault with blacking boots etc. After dinner, order was a little more restored, and divine service was performed by a dissenting Minister. His address was of the usual character in cases like the present. His text was Luke xix, 105, during the time the Captain was called away, as they were afraid that the ship was on fire in the lower hold. Happily, it was a false alarm, for after a minute inspection, none could be discovered. This was known to but few on board besides myself, for we thought if the women knew it, they would not sleep much tonight.

After service another hubbub with serving out provisions for the morrow. In the evening a prayer meeting was held by some Noncomformists on board. So much for Sunday in an Emigrant Ship. It is the most miserable day in the whole week. After our quiet way of spending it at home, Mrs. M. was very bad all night and today with the toothache. A little boy in the next mess to us fell down the after hatch but did not injure himself much. (Emigrants — if your means will allow — a small quantity of tea, coffee and sugar will be found of much service in ekeing out the allowance of the ship which is very scanty.)

Monday, December 6th

Still lying in the Mersey; colds, sore throats etc. are very prevalent, a most excellent dinner today of pork and pea soup. We have now some prospect of sailing, as they have been filling all up with water. A most amusing scene took place after dusk — four Bailiffs came on board to arrest one of the sailors, but they could not find him. They received rather a warm reception from the rest of the crew who together with some of the passengers tore their coats and pelted them with all sorts of missiles, so that they were glad to escape to their boat without effecting their object. They threatened to return in the morning with police etc.

Tuesday, December 7th

The Bailiffs came on board this morning, according to promise. They were eight strong but failed in capturing their man as all the sailors and passengers do all they can to thwart them. Our goods that were ordered on the 2nd came this morning. A small keeler will be found of great service for washing small articles in, also 5 or 6 small bags, as no boxes are allowed in the boat on any account.

Eleven days in River.

Wednesday, December 8th

We received on board about 17,000 bricks and at half past 3 o'clock we weighed anchor and were taken in tow by the Independence Steam Tug for 15 miles when she left us to pursue our journey. Many of the passengers feel very queer, but very few will own that they feel seasick. The sailor who was worried by the bailiffs came out of his hiding place today. The wind has now dropped away to a calm and the ship makes but little headway.

Thursday, December 9th

We passed a most dismal night as the wind freshened in the night and caused a motion of the ship which made most of the passengers reach and vomit most fearfully. C.F. and myself are all who have escaped in our mess so far. About 10 o'clock we were close in with the Welsh land and could distinctly see the snow on the tops of the mountains. About noon the weather moderated and we were able to enjoy the fresh air on deck. Our women have been in bed the whole of the day.

Friday, December 10th

The ship has been pitching and rolling most distressingly all night and the pots, pans, waterkegs etc. have been dancing a reel all over the between decks, and with the people vomiting, the sailors on deck shouting, the women and children crying and screaming, creates such a scene as I never witnessed before, and which it is impossible to describe. We are now (11 o'clock) sailing under close reefed topsails with the wind right in our teeth and we are further astern than we were at 6 o'clock last night. Many wish themselves on shore again, but it is too late. The stench is very bad below.

Saturday, December 11th

A most dismal night, the ship rolling and pitching most distressingly all night, and to add to our discomfort, about 12.30 p.m. the lamps went out and we were in total darkness. We are sailing under close reefed topsails with the wind still dead ahead, and we have not made any headway at all. The Captain talks of putting back again. The sea is rolling very high. A woman was taken in labour early this morning and carried to the Hospital by the sailors. Our women passed a much better night but they still keep to their beds. The wind has increased to a perfect gale and the ship rolls very much.

Sunday, December 12th

We have passed a miserable night, the wind continuing to blow with great fury. Towards morning it moderated and it is now a perfect calm. The females are rather better now and are able to sit up. A most excellent dinner today of preserved meat and preserved potatoes and a plum pudding as we have our suet and raisins today for the first time. A meeting of Noncomformists at which our messmate Whitfield delivered a very good discourse. No church service today although it has been very fine.

Monday, December 13th

About 3 o'clock this morning the wind changed in our favour. We are now scudding along with our studding sails set. We are very busy scraping decks and cleaning up, which is very necessary after the late bad weather. The wind has now (10 p.m.) returned to the old quarter (SW). They have shortened sail for the night which bids fair to be a rough one.

Tuesday, December 14th

The ship has rolled considerably all night and some of the passengers have been very sick again. It is a beautiful morning but the wind is still against us. About 11 o'clock a Brigantine bore down to us and enquired how the Tucker light bore. Still blowing hard in the old quarter, with no signs of alteration.

Wednesday, December 15th

The wind as usual dead against us, we have been out a week and are not one good day’s sail from Liverpool; sickness still very prevalent, nothing of interest occurred today.

To Emigrants — a Carpet Bag will be found invaluable, as you have then a place where you can lock up different articles and there are plenty of places to hang it.

Thursday, December 16th

A wet and miserable morning, the wind still blowing hard against us, we are making very little progress, the sailors tell us we are off Waterford. The ship is pitching violently and the sea running very high to the astonishment of those who never saw it before. A man fell down on the deck and gave himself a fearful black eye.

Friday, December 17th

The wind has been blowing very hard all night, and the sea running mountains high. Last night the lightning flashed vividly and the ship rolled at a most fearful rate; altogether it was one of the most wildest of nights I ever saw. This morning our females are all in bed. I have just made a plum pudding which is all our dinner will consist of, as we had the misfortune to lose our pork which slipped off the shelf in the night and rolled under a berth opposite where people were lying ill, so that we were unable to recover it.

The weather has not moderated in the least; it is no easy matter for us landsmen to get our meals ready or get hot water for breakfast; we were almost obliged to go on our hands and knees to the coppers and when we got it we had to hold on to the teapot in one hand and drinking mug in the other, and then a great deal of it was spilt.

The sailors have been obliged to sweep up our decks this morning, as none of us could keep our legs, and they were troubled to do it. (To Emigrants — Take with you some stout cord, also plenty of twine as everything requires lashing when the ship rolls, also 3 or 4 cabbage nets, some nails of various sizes, a hammer, chisel, gimlet, and if possible a small saw, for they will be found very useful.)

11 a.m. A child 15 months old died and was buried at 7 p.m. This is the first funeral I ever saw at sea. The wind was blowing hard at the time, the ship rolling a good deal, and the sea running mountains high. The burial service of the church was read by Capt. Price.

Saturday, December 18th

The wind is rather more favourable this morning and is not blowing so hard as yesterday but there is still plenty of wind and sea.

Sunday, December 19th

We are at last fairly out in the ocean, the water is of a deeper blue and they can not get any soundings. This morning a child 11 months old died of inflammation of the chest, and was buried with the same form as the other, the Doctor officiating.

A homeward-bound Barque passed us this morning, with part of the bulwark carried away. We showed them our numbers but they took not the least notice. Divine Service was performed between deck by the Doctor.

Monday, December 20th

The wind still contrary but much more moderate. We are all very busy scraping and cleaning, which is all to be done before we have any dinner, by the Doctor’s Orders. The decks and riggings are covered with beds, bedding and other articles spread out to dry, as the water has found its way into several of our berths which is far from being pleasant. A beautiful evening — the first since we left, the moon shines bright, and the sailors have been entertaining us with a song.

Tuesday, December 21st

The old sort of weather, the wind still against us, accompanied with rain (11 p.m.). We have passed a wet and miserable day; we are now sailing under close reefed topsails, and it bids fair to be a rough night.

Wednesday, December 22nd

The ship has rolled and pitched considerably during the night. Another wet and miserable morning; time now begins to hang heavily on our hands. We have not seen a ship of any sort since Sunday, nothing but vast fields of water. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Thursday, December 23rd

Plenty of wind and rain, the former dead ahead as usual. Several porpoises were seen this morning playing round the ship, to the great amusement of several of the passengers who gave them various names, such as sea horses, sea cows, etc. etc.

Friday, December 24th

Several vessels have been seen today, one a Barque passed so close as to enable the Captain to speak to them. He also exchanged numbers with a ship (10 p.m.). The wind has now increased to a gale. and the sea runs very high. We are sailing under close reefed topsails in. close company with a Barque, with the wind right ahead.

Saturday, December 25th

A wet and miserable morning, the wind has nearly all died away, the little there is being more favourable. The sailors were treated to a plum pudding today being Christmas. Our fare consisted of Salt Beef and a plum pudding with water instead of Brandy. We have had prayers twice today, morning and evening, which were read by the Doctor who intends to continue them every day throughout the voyage (8 p.m.). The wind has now returned to the old quarter, the moon is shining bright, and there are a great many enjoying the fresh air on deck. My wife has been nearly mad all day with a dreadful toothache, and altogether it is the most wretched Christmas that I ever spent.

Sunday. December 26th

Another wet and miserable morning, the wind still right against us. The Church Service was read in the morning by the Doctor. After dinner the wind, which had been blowing hard since daylight. increased to a gale, which lasted till near daybreak the next morning. The sea running mountains high, which caused the ship to roll and pitch most fearfully. We were hove to all night under a close reefed main topsail. with the helm lashed. I had the first watch between decks from nine till twelve when the motion of the ship was that violent that you could scarcely sit. stand or even lie in your berth without holding with both hands.

Monday, December 27th

We have passed a most wretched night, scarcely closing our eyes the whole time. The sailors tell us we are in the Bay of Biscay which, if it be true, we have seen to perfection. The wind is a little abated, but it still blows hard, the sea running as high as ever. Two children died today. Inflammation of the lungs and Diarrhoea are very prevalent amongst them.

Tuesday, December 28th

The wind still against us, but much more moderate than it has been. The Captain says we have all committed ourselves by starting at this time of the year. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Wednesday, December 29th

The wind is still against us. A child 3 years of age died today and was buried at 10 p.m.

Thursday, December 30th

Much finer today, the wind is favourable but there is not enough of it to do us any good.

Friday, December 31st

A beautiful day — the sea is quite calm, and there is scarcely a breath of wind, but what little there is is favourable. Today is washing day, and the women are all busy on deck. A child born this morning, and another taken to the Hospital ill with a fever. The weather gets considerably warmer. Tonight there was a penny subscription raised for the ocean born.

Saturday, January 1st

This morning we are all bustle and confusion through getting up the boxes, several people have their boxes and clothes much injured, but ours have escaped. lt is a beautiful day and the wind is inclined to be in our favour.

Sunday, January 2nd

A most beautiful morning, the sun being out with a fine breeze in our favour. About 10 o'clock we exchanged signals with an homeward bound Barque, and spoke to a Brigantine named The Magic of Penzance, bound to Liverpool from the Mediterranean. Divine Service between decks by the Surgeon, in the evening a prayer meeting by the Nonconformists; our friend of November 28th gave us another specimen of his abilities. This has seemed something like Sunday for the first time, as everything has been more quiet than usual.

Monday, January 3rd

A beautiful morning with a fresh breeze in our favour. We have been going at times during the night at the rate of 10 knots. We have this morning been hard at work holy stoneing our deck and airing our bedding. Shoals of porpoises round about us. The sunset here is very beautiful, the sky is of the most beautiful colours. Several vessels in sight but none very near.

Tuesday, January 4th

A beautiful morning with the wind favourable. Today is washing day and we are all bustle and confusion. A child was born this morning.

Wednesday, January 5th

Another beautiful morning — the wind still favourable. A child born this morning. The weather now gets much warmer, and the days much longer, it being quite light at 6 o'clock. We are now making good progress to the southward. Our Captain is determined to take every advantage possible by making all sail he can.

Thursday, January 6th

The weather fine and the wind favourable. About 10 o'clock we sighted the Salvages, a small cluster of rocks and by 3 o'clock we were up alongside of them. They have a very rugged appearance, but for all that they were a welcome sight to most of us, after seeing nothing but the bare ocean for the last three weeks past. The decks were crowded during the whole afternoon till darkness hid it from view. Our little messmate (Mrs. Pearce’s daughter) who has been suffering from inflammation of the chest and diarrhoea for three weeks past died about 2 p.m. and was committed to the deep in the evening. lt makes the sixth child that has died since our departure. 30 days to Teneriffe.

Friday, January 7th

The wind has dropped away to a calm, and it has been pouring with rain since 4 o'clock, it being washing day, we are busy trying to catch a little rainwater to wash with, it being the greatest luxury we can enjoy. (To those about to emmigrate, a small keg to hold about 4 or 5 gallons, with a small washtub or pail will be found invaluable. We often have the chance to get some water, but are obliged to see it run away, not having anything to put it in.)

10 a.m. It has now cleared away; the wind has freshened and the sun shines beautifully, resembling a summer morning in England. We can just see through the clouds the peak of Teneriffe, and by the course we are steering, it is doubtful whether we shall see it any plainer.

3 p.m. Contrary to our expectation, the clouds have now cleared away from the peak enough to give us a good view of the top of it. It was a splendid sight, such as is rarely seen. The Captain tells us that he has passed it a great many times but never seen it so plain before. It bore S.E. by S., distance about 45 miles, just before dark we were close in to another of the Canary Islands called Palma and when dark set in we could distinguish the lights on shore. The Captain burnt a blue light but no notice was taken of it. It is a lovely night — the sea calm and the decks covered with passengers enjoying the evening breeze, which is very pleasant in these latitudes.

Saturday, January 8th

A fine bright morning with a fair wind. Still in sight of Palma, there not being much wind all night. It was my watch from 12 till 3 o'clock.

10 a.m. The wind has now freshened and we are skudding, sails set below and aloft, the Captain being determined to make all haste possible. We now begin to feel the weather very warm and the use of light clothing which, unluckily, we have but little of. I would recommend anyone coming this road to bring a good supply of duck trousers and jackets with a good straw hat with broad brim which will be found to add much to your comfort.

Sunday, January 9th

A fine delightful morning — the wind still favourable. The Church prayers were read by the Surgeon in the morning, after which we were all mustered on deck and inspected as to the cleanliness of our linen. A child died in the evening and was buried at midnight. This is the seventh child that has died since we have been out.

Monday, January 10th

The weather still fine and the wind favourable. We have had lime juice served out to us today for the first time, which is to be continued every other day. Another child born today — the fourth since we left.

Tuesday, January 11th

Another delightful morning with a fine breeze in our favour. We are now making good progress to the southward, averaging 10 knots for this last day or two. A child died today and was buried in the evening. We are now in the latitude of the Cape de Verde Islands, but we are too far to the eastward to see them.

Wednesday, January 12th

A fine morning, the wind still favourable. A great many flying fish have made their appearance today. This evening we had dancing on the main deck by the married passengers and on the poop by the single women, C.F. playing the fiddle. It was kept up till 8 o'clock when all the females go below, the men being allowed to stay as long as they may think proper, which is till nearly 12 o'clock.

Thursday, January 13th

A fine delightful morning, the wind still favourable. We have been surrounded with flying fish for two or three days past, and last night one settled on the deck and was caught by one of the sailors. A fish called a Boneta, resembling a mackerel but much larger was also caught by the same party. We are all very busy this morning hanging up our beds in the rigging where they have to remain till tea-time.

Friday, January 14th

A beautiful morning, the wind favourable but very light. Today is washing day and the decks present one continual scene of bustle and confusion from daylight till 12 o'clock when we are all obliged to leave off, done or not done. We have seen several dolphin today but could not succeed in taking any of them.

Saturday, January 15th

A beautiful morning but very little wind. This morning I had a nice shower bath by getting over the bows and standing whilst C.F. threw buckets of water over me. We should like to go over the side for a bath but the sharks are very numerous in this quarter, which make us afraid to venture. This morning all the bedding was taken on deck and kept there till 4 p.m. All of us are obliged to remain on deck twice a week from 9 till 1 o'clock and during the time we are there the doctor has fires below and burns sulphur and sometimes vinegar. He seems to leave no means untried to keep the ship and ourselves in as good conditions as possible. He won’t allow scarcely anything to be served out without his seeing it. A child was born this morning and another died.

Sunday January 16th

A child died during the night and was buried at 4 o'clock this morning. There is scarcely a breath of wind and it is very warm. Divine Service on the poop this morning where the awning was spread to keep the sun from us. Just before dinner we saw several grampuses pass the ship; they have a large fin on the top of the back and a round nose like a bottle. In the afternoon we saw several dolphins. The sailors tried to catch them but could not succeed.

Monday, January 17th

Quite a calm and very hot day. Last night the glass stood at 98 below all the bedding on deck, and we are obliged to remain there ourselves. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Tuesday, January 18th

Washing day. This morning at 5 o'clock there was a fight between 3 of the passengers for the possession of a washing tub of which there are a limited number, which was ended by the second mate taking it away. A child died this morning. We are now in latitude 5.53 north and it is excessively hot. A number of grampuses have been rolling about us today; they appear to be very large creatures, for though we were going very slow at the time they did not keep up with us.

Wednesday, January 19th

This morning opened with very heavy showers of rain which continued at intervals during the whole day. Some of the passengers caught some rainwater and had a good wash up. It is very hot; we are troubled to bear it of a night. We have made but little progress since yesterday.

Thursday, January 20th

A dead calm with showers of rain. We are all obliged to keep on deck between the showers to keep the place as cool as possible. After dinner a number of grampuses came so close to the ship that they might have harpooned them with ease. Our Captain was out in a small boat trying to ascertain the direction of the current and one of the crew struck at one of them with a boathook which soon made him beat a retreat. Some of them were as much as 20 feet long. They have a large hole on the top of their heads and when they come up to blow they throw the water some feet in the air. They appear to be playful after their own fashion for, at times, they leapt several feet out of the water and came down again with a tremendous crash which turned the surrounding water into a foam. The nights are very beautiful here; the moon being now nearly full. We cannot have any music or dancing on account of the invalids in the Hospital. One of the poor women lately confined between decks is very bad; tonight she is quite delirious and little hope is entertained for her recovery.

Friday, January 21st

Quite a calm and intensely hot. Some of the passengers lay about between decks rather than go to bed. The Doctor has warned us not to sleep on deck on account of the dews which are very heavy. Shoals of porpoises passed us this morning and after dinner one of the sailors harpooned a young shark — it was very much like a dogfish. Tonight the thermometer is 90 degrees between decks.

Saturday, January 22nd

One of the women confined about ten days ago died this morning at half past one o'clock and was committed to the deep at 2. She has left six children. Another woman who was confined about the same time died at 3 p.m. and was buried at 4 p.m. She has left 3 children. This afternoon, I had a touch at sawing for the Captain along with one of my messmates named Pearce. We found it rather a difficult job to fix our stuff but with a little trouble we were able to finish our job.

Sunday, January 23rd

Not a breath of wind and intensely hot. Divine Service on the poop and a prayer meeting in the afternoon by the Methodists. We spoke to a Dutch barque 66 days from Batavia bound to Rotterdam. Our Captain asked him to report us and he promised to do so.

Monday, January 24th

A fresh breeze but not very favourable. About 5 o'clock p.m. we came up with a barque; her Captain came on board of us. She proved to be the Athenian 65 days from Batavia bound to Rotterdam. The name of the Captain was Barclay. It caused no little excitement when they came on board. There was a general rush for letters and some were hardly begun. All our party were quite prepared; they stayed on board half an hour and departed taking our letters with them.

Tuesday, January 25th

Washing day — a fresh breeze, but not very favourable. Some grampuses were seen this morning. There being no-one dangerously ill we were allowed to have a dance on the main deck which a good many were glad to join in. Our musicians were C.F. with the fiddle and a Mr Martin with the fife which together were far from being disagreeable.

Wednesday, January 26th

A nice breeze but not very favourable. The clouds look heavy and have the appearance of rain and the Doctor has ordered the bedding to be kept below till after dinner. Several sharks were seen today, but all efforts to catch them proved unsuccessful. A child died — five years of age and was buried directly, the Captain reading the burial service. It is a beautiful evening, the moon being now at its full, shines with great brightness, which adds much to the enjoyment of our various amusements such as dancing etc. etc...

Thursday, January 27th

A fine morning with a fresh breeze which is still unfavourable. We are now about two degrees to the north of the equator, and have been for several days past, the wind being nearly dead against us. We are now expecting to fall in with the south east trades, when we hope to make more progress than we have done of late. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Friday, January 28th

A beautiful morning, the wind still against us. A child died during the night. Today is washing day, which as usual there is plenty of. This afternoon a man was tried on the poop for striking his wife and was sentenced to do the pumping and sweeping three days and watch three nights. Tonight we had another dance which we kept up till nine o'clock when the females are obliged to go below.

Saturday, January 29th

It rained nearly the whole of the night, and still continues to do so.

The wind is more favourable, and we are now sailing along with our studding sails set below and aloft. Another child born this morning and the mother is doing remarkably well. 6 p.m. It still continues to rain, which keeps us all below, which is far from agreeable after being there most of the day.

Sunday, January 30th

A delightful morning after the rain, the wind still favourable. Service on the poop in the morning and again in the afternoon, the schoolmaster officiating instead of the Doctor. At noon when the Captain took his observation, we were in latitude 1.35 south and 29 west and he allows that we crossed the line yesterday about noon. Another child born this evening and the mother is doing well.

Monday, January 31st

A fine morning with occasional showers. We are now enjoying the long looked for south east winds and are making good progress. My wife fell down the after hatch through (her carelessness) the slippery state of the steps and hurt her back severely. The baby which lost its mother a few days since died today, and was buried directly. Tonight we commenced dancing as usual, but in consequence of there being two or three on the sick list we were obliged to desist, which did not go far to please most of us.

Tuesday, February 1st

A splendid morning with a fine breeze in our favour, today is washing day but we are obliged to leave off at 8 o'clock in consequence of the boxes coming up. After breakfast, according to promise we got them up. A great many found their clothes in a dreadful state from the damp and are able to see the necessity of lining their boxes with zinc or some other metal, without which there is a great risk of spoiling your things.

Wednesday, February 2nd

A lovely morning, with a beautiful cool breeze from the south east. Today we are in the latitude of St. Helena, but a long way to the westward of it. This evening we were amused by two boys who were engaged in fighting for above half an hour; one of them belonged to the ship and the other to one of the emigrants. They fought hard but no bones were broken. This was the first battle we have seen since we left.

Thursday, February 3rd

A beautiful morning with a fresh breeze. A child born at 4 o'clock a.m. which with the mother is doing well.

Friday, February 4th

A fine morning with occasional squalls of wind and rain. Today is washing day and it being the only one this week there are plenty embracing the opportunity. Dancing was resumed again this evening as usual.

Saturday, February 5th

A delightful morning with a fresh breeze, which is still favourable. Nothing of any interest has occurred today.

Sunday, February 6th

A beautiful morning with a fine breeze in our favour. Divine Service on the poop in the morning and again in the afternoon.

Monday, February 7th

The weather still fine and the wind favourable. We are now making good progress to the southward and expect to be out of the tropics by tomorrow. Dancing as usual this evening.

Tuesday, February 8th

Another fine morning. About 1 o'clock a.m. we were all much alarmed by the cry of fire which came from the poop. It appeared that the Captain had been washing his berth with turpentine to kill the bugs which it was infested with and incautiously put the candle too close to it, and in less than a minute it was in flames but, happily, it was as soon extinguished, or what the consequences might have been no-one could tell.

Wednesday, February 9th

A fine morning with a fair wind. A child died about 9 a.m. and was buried at 12 o'clock. It is very hot today and the sun being nearly overhead we are troubled to find any shelter from it. In the afternoon we were boarded by a boat belonging to an American whaler, the Ann of New York, 28 months out with 1000 barrels of oil. They had been fishing on the NEW. Coast of America and had lost half her crew at California, which were made up by some men of colour, natives of one of the Friendly Islands. They came to try to get some medicine for the mate who was ill, but our doctor being very short he could not spare them any. They left an harpoon for the Captain who gave them some tobacco in exchange.

Thursday, February 10th

A fine morning with a fresh breeze in our favour till 10 o'clock a.m. when it came on to blow, the wind dead against us accompanied with a heavy rain which lasted till the evening when it cleared away much finer.

Friday, February 11th

A fine morning — the wind more favourable. Towards evening squally with showers of rain. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Saturday, February 12th

Weather fine, with a strong breeze in our favour which freshened as the day advanced and by 6 o'clock p.m. they were obliged to stow the royals and take one reef in the topsails.

Sunday, February 13th

The ship has been rolling fearfully during the night. It is now blowing half a gale of wind. We are running under double reefed topsails and fore topmast staysail. No church today, bed being the favourite place of rest. A child died this evening.

Monday, February 14th

The ship has been rolling at a tremendous rate during the whole night. This morning the wind being a little more moderate we are able to carry our topgallant sails but the sea still runs very high.

Tuesday, February 15th

Fine morning, the wind and sea having abated much and our ship once more in full sail. Today our carpenter is busy (assisted by the Captain) in caulking the waterways, the ship’s heavy rolling of late having caused them to leak.

Wednesday, February 16th

A fine morning with a favourable breeze. The weather now gets much cooler and we begin to put on one by one the things which only a few weeks since we so readily left off. Today the sailors are busy taking down the ship’s old sails and putting up new ones in their place. A child died this afternoon. Several porpoises have been seen today, one of them was harpooned by the sailors but the harpoon slipping out, they lost it.

Thursday, February 17th

The weather fine with a fresh breeze against us. Instead of making south we now make a little north latitude. A desperate quarrel took place this morning between two of the passengers which arose out of a dispute about a tea chest and ended in the defeat of one party who was well scratched by the wife of the other who came in at the death. They were tried on the poop, the doctor acting as judge and the poor fellow who was well scratched was sentenced in addition to 7 days hard labour.

Friday, February 18th

A dull morning, the wind still unfavourable. A great number of birds have been flying about the ship for several days past, amongst which are the albatross which is a large bird, their wings spreading between three and four feet. Nothing of interest occurred today.

Saturday, February 19th

A fine morning, the wind light and unfavourable — beds on deck the whole day. It was my watch from 12 till 3 o'clock.

Sunday, February 20th

It is a splendid morning, the sun shining beautifully, but the wind is still contrary. Divine Service was performed tween decks in the morning. About 8 o'clock a.m. a barque hove in sight and by 2 p.m. she came up to us. She proved to be the Flying Childers of Liverpool bound to China. She left on the 28th of November and was forced by the bad weather to put into Cork for shelter for a week. They crossed the line 3 days before us. We kept — in company till nearly dusk when the wind which had been blowing stiff during the day dropped away to nearly a calm, when she speedily bid us good night. Another child born this evening. It is a beautiful evening, the moon being nearly at its full. A great number of porpoises playing round the ship but the sailors who have been trying could not succeed in taking any. Just before sunset this evening we came in sight of a small island called Tristan Dacuna.

Monday, February 21st

A fine morning with very little wind, what there is being against us. We have made but little progress for two or three days past; colds and sore throats are now very prevalent owing to the sudden change in the weather. The whooping cough is also very bad amongst the children. Dancing was resumed again this evening which is a very fine one, the moon shining brightly.

Tuesday, February 22nd

A beautiful morning with a fair wind. We are now running with our studding sails set below and aloft, and as the sun sets the breeze freshens. Today is washing day and it being fine there are a great many at it.

Wednesday, February 23rd

A fine morning, with a fresh breeze in our favour. Today is washing day and the rigging presents a curious appearance, being hung full of things, looking more like rag fair than anything else.

Saturday, February 26th

A damp foggy morning, the wind still fresh and in our favour. Several porpoises were seen today of quite a different colour to what we have seen before, they being of a beautiful black and white. One of the passengers was sentenced to a week’s hard labour for striking his wife.

39.51 S.L. 1.1 E Long.

Sunday, February 27th

This morning opened with rain which cleared away by 10 a.m. when the wind freshened and made it quite cold. Divine Service tween decks in the morning and a prayer meeting in the afternoon, which took place opposite my berth.

Monday, February 28th

A fine morning with a fresh breeze in our favour which being from the south west blows very cold. Our beds were taken on deck this morning, but we were soon obliged to fetch them down again out of the rain.

Tuesday, March 1st

A fine morning with a good breeze in our favour. Today is washing day which we find rather a cold job now.

Wednesday, March 2nd

A fine, healthy morning, the wind still favourable. We are now making good progress to the eastward, making 5 degrees per day for several days past. Today we are in the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope, but several degrees to the south of it.

Thursday, March 3rd

A damp morning, with occasional showers throughout the day, the wind continues fresh and favourable. A child three years and a half old died today.

Friday, March 4th

A fine morning, the wind not so favourable, it being from the south which makes it much more cold.

Saturday, March 5th

A fine dry morning, the wind contrary, and towards evening very fresh. My watch tween decks from 12 o'clock till three. Nothing of any interest occurred today.

Sunday, March 6th.

A wet and miserable morning, the wind more favourable. Divine Service tween decks in the morning as usual, and a prayer meeting in the afternoon, which was held in the same place as last Sunday. We have not been able to go on deck the whole day on account of the wet.

Monday, March 7th.

A dry morning and very cold, the wind being from the southward. A child born this morning.

Tuesday, March 8th

A fine morning, the wind light but more favourable than it was yesterday. Several large fish were seen this morning, called by the sailors finners, from the large fin they have on their back. Several porpoises were also seen but they did not come near enough to get a strike at them.

Wednesday, March 9th

Weather fine, wind strong and favourable. Ship going through the day at

the rate of ten knots. 42:16.6

Thursday, March 10th

Fine day with the wind fresh and contrary. A child died today.

Friday, March 11th

A fine morning, the wind light and contrary. Today is washing day and there are many taking advantage of this warm morning, it having been very cold of late.

Saturday, March 12th

A beautiful morning, the wind being more favourable and blowing a moderate breeze. Bedding on deck the whole day.

Sunday, March 13th

This morning opened with showers of rain, which continued at intervals

during the day, the wind against us and blowing fresh. Divine Service between decks in the morning and a prayer meeting in the afternoon as usual. Towards evening a great number of porpoises surrounded the ship, but it being Sunday, none of them were caught.

Monday, March 14th

A damp morning, the wind has been gradually dropping away and is now quite a calm. Three albatrosses were caught this morning by means of a line with a hook at the end, baited with a small piece of beef. They are a very large bird; their wings spreading nearly ten feet. One of them had been caught before, it having a small piece of red ribbon tied around its neck. 12 o'clock a.m. the rain has now cleared up and the wind freshened from a favourable quarter. 39.55 S.L. 58.51 E.L.

Tuesday, March 15th

Fine weather, the wind light and variable. A child was born and died this morning; the mother is not expected to live. 39.19 S.L. 63.18 E.L.

Wednesday, March 16th

A fine morning, the wind fresh and fair. A great number of porpoises have been seen about the ship today. 39.7 S.L. 68.3 E.L.

Thursday, March 17th

Dull weather, the wind still fair. The baby which lost its mother on the 22nd of January died today. 38.54: 72.5

Friday, March 18th

Weather dull, wind light and fair. During the night a child which had got the whooping cough was taken much worse. The Doctor soon came and did what he could, but it was of no avail and the child died soon after. Whooping cough and inflammation of the lungs is still very prevalent amongst the children.

Saturday, March 19th

During the night a child was born and a woman who has been ill the whole passage died and was committed to the deep before morning. At 5 o'clock a.m. we passed the island of St. Pauls, it bore N. by E. of us, distance about 16 miles. The weather is squally, the wind fair and strong. The woman confined on the 16th died this afternoon.

Sunday, March 20th

Fine morning, the wind fresh and fair. Divine Service between decks as usual.

Monday, March 21st

Strong winds and fair weather. We are now making good progress to the eastward and look forward to a speedy termination of our voyage, if the breeze lasts.

Tuesday, March 22nd

A wet and miserable day, the wind still in our favour and blowing hard. Today is washing day, but the weather is too rough to do much.

Wednesday, March 23rd

A beautiful morning, the wind still fair and fresh. Beds on deck the whole day.

Thursday, March 24th

Fine weather, and the wind fair. Two children were born today, one of them was a cripple and lived only a few hours.

Friday, March 25th

Today is Good Friday and a beautiful day it is, the wind still fair. No work allowed to be done of any sort today. Divine Service tween decks the same as Sunday.

Saturday, March 26th

A very wet and miserable day — wind very light and variable.

Sunday, March 27th

It has been raining hard the whole night. It has now cleared away and the sun shines out beautifully and the breeze blows fresh in our favour. Service tween decks in morning and a prayer meeting in the afternoon as usual.

Monday, March 28th

The wind has been blowing hard during the night, accompanied by heavy rain. About 4 o'clock this morning the fore topmast studding sail boom was carried away. It still blows a strong wind. Right aft the ship running under double reefed topsails.

Tuesday, March 29th

Squally weather, the wind fair and strong. Scurvy begins to show itself

amongst the passengers. Those attacked with it have extra lime juice and preserved potatoes served out to them; vinegar is also served out in addition to pickles as a preventative.

Wednesday, March 30th

A fine morning with a fresh breeze in our favour. We are all busy tween decks this morning, scraping and cleaning our tables, seats and berths to give them as clean an appearance as possible when we go into port. Our flour now gets very bad. 19 barrels were opened today and not one of them fit for use. The Doctor advises not to eat it and offers to give us the same amount of biscuits or oatmeal instead.

Thursday, March 31st

Fine weather — fresh breeze, rather unfavourable.

Friday, April 1st

Fine weather, the wind fresh and more favourable. About 11 o'clock a.m. we were much alarmed by the cry of fire which proceeded from the poop. It appears that one of the fires that are hung there 2 or 3 times a week to dry the place, capsized, and the burning coals fell through an airhole cut in the deck into the lower hold, but happily they were soon extinguished.

Saturday, April 2nd

Fine weather, the wind fresh and fair. Today we are all bustle and confusion, scraping and cleaning every corner of tween decks. In the afternoon the chain cables were got up from below, much to the satisfaction of most of the passengers.

Sunday, April 3rd

A beautiful morning, the wind not quite so favourable. About 2 o'clock p.m. land was discovered right ahead. It was part of Australia, just to the westward of Cape Otway. The decks were soon covered with the passengers, all eager to look at their new home. Towards evening the wind dropped away to a calm, and continued so during the whole night.

Monday, April 4th

A fine morning, with a very light breeze dead against us.’ This afternoon we approached nearer to the shore and had a beautiful view of it. It has a very bald appearance, the land being very high at places.

Tuesday, April 5th

During the night we have drifted a considerable distance from the land. We are lying becalmed about 35 miles off Cape Otway. Two sharks were caught by the sailors this morning, which being young ones made a delicious meal for them. A baby born on board died in the evening. It is a beautiful starlight evening. The sun has just set — glorious, such as is seldom seen in England.

Wednesday, April 6th

A beautiful morning, with a light breeze in our favour. This morning at daylight we were right abreast of Cape Otway. It has a lighthouse on the point of it, which shows a revolving light and gives it quite an English appearance. As the day advances the breeze seems to freshen and we expect to be up to the Heads of Port Phillip tonight. As we advance the land has a wild and rugged appearance, all that we can see being hills and valleys with a great number of trees in the background. About 6 p.m. we saw the light on Point Shank, and by 8 we were up with it. Our Captain burnt several blue lights to try to get a pilot off but received no answer, so we were obliged to come to an anchor, which we did about 9 o'clock, close in with the shore.

Thursday, April 7th

This morning at daylight we were all up, anxious to see what sort of a place it was. We found we were just within the Heads, round the starboard corner (right hand) in the quarantine ground. The Doctor from the shore came on board before breakfast to examine us. He ordered all the doubtful cases of whooping cough and scurvy to be sent on shore and we are to remain here till that is completed which may be for several days. This afternoon, families with their luggage went on shore, where they will have to remain till they are quite well. They live in tents, close to the water’s edge, and are not allowed to go but so far, the distance being marked off by yellow flags.

Friday, April 8th

During the night 11 of the sailors left the ship in one of the best boats, having first fastened the cabin door. The Captain heard them but before they could get on deck they were gone. He followed them in another boat but could not overtake them. After breakfast I went with 4 others in the Captain’s gig all round the bay for miles, to look for the lost boat, but could not gain any intelligence of it. It is a beautiful piece of water, the scenery round it is splendid. A bullock came off from the shore today and we have had fresh meat for the first time. Still in quarantine and expect to be cleared tonight or tomorrow morning.

Saturday, April 9th

Still detained in quarantine. The Captain has heard of his boat. This morning after breakfast we started again and took with us 4 muskets in case we should meet with any resistance, but the wind freshened and we were obliged to give it up. After dinner we made another start, but with no better success, — we being obliged to put back again.

Sunday, April 10th

This morning at daylight we were called out to go with the Captain to try once more to get the lost boat. We found it about twelve miles from the ship in possession of a bushman who had found it some days before. We had a hard pull back and did not reach the ship till teatime.

Monday, April 11th

We got under way this morning about 7 o'clock and worked up towards Geelong, the wind being dead against us and blowing strong. About 3 p.m. we were obliged to come to an anchor again, the tide having come strong against us.

Tuesday, April 12th

A miserable wet morning. After breakfast we got underway again and in about an hour we got to the proper anchorage off Port Henry, which is about 7 miles from the town. After dinner I went on shore with Charley and two or three others. to get some sand. We had a good stroll round and returned back to the ship at dusk. The Commissioners came on board in the afternoon and examined us the same as they did at Liverpool.

Wednesday, April 13th

At daylight the boat started to Geelong to fetch fresh meat and bread, Charley and myself forming part of crew. The wind blew strong against us and we were nearly four hours reaching there. We just had time to go up to the Post Office when we were obliged to start for the ship again which we reached about 2 o'clock, all wet through and tired out.

Thursday, April 14th

The steamboat called the Melbourne came alongside this morning at 6 o'clock and commenced taking on board our luggage etc. About 10 o'clock we left the ship and arrived at Geelong about an hour afterwards where we found several carts all ready to take our things up to the Depot, which is about a quarter of an hour’s walk from the wharf.

FINIS.

C. Martin

7. Some of the agony experienced by Mary Pearce after the death of her little daughter at sea is expressed in a poem. The copy of the poem shown here is in Mary’s hand writing. It was slipped into her exercise book. It is also copied into the exercise book, where it is titled “Upon the Death of my Child, Buryed at Sea” and dated 1853.

Upon the Death of an Infant

They committed her unto the waves
The fond one I've pressed to my breast.
I am left to deplore her sad loss,
Oh when, when shall I find rest.

She was all my fond heart could desire,
So loving, so sweet and so mild.
Oh pity if you oft see a tear
She was a fond Mother’s only child.

The keenest the bitterest pang,
Was to see her thrown into the waves,
Could she have died in her own native land
And been quietly laid in the grave.

With a tablet to have marked the dear spot
Of one so loving and mild.
The stranger might see it was the grave
Of a fond Mother’s only child.

She has gone from a world full of care
Of sorrow of grief and of pain.
This consoles me amidst the sad trial
That my loss is my darling pet’s gain.

Who can tell what a fond Mother feels
When her first one lisps her name.
Then so soon to be snatched from her side
But she has gone with her Jesus to reign.

God grant I may meet her above.
Oh cleanse me from every sin.
May my darling be first at the gate
To welcome her fond Mother in.

Mary Pearce

The child, Mary Agnes Kingston Pearce, was a year and four months old when she died, and her mother drew by hand a card commemorating her death and burial at sea “Off the Salvages of Madiera”.

The passengers, and probably most of the crew, left the ship on 14 April, 1853, at Geelong. Ephraim and Mary proceeded to the diggings at Ballarat. Life on the gold fields has been well documented. The experiences of Mrs Charles Clancy recorded in “A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53” would be parallel to those of Ephraim and Mary. I have no evidence of how long Ephraim mined, but he told Per that he went to the Eureka Stockade (that was on 3 December, 1854), but it was all over by the time he arrived. Ephraim did not do well at mining. His older brother, Ruben, who also came out during the Gold Rush, did very well. But, Per told me, he lost it all gambling on gold mines. “A lot of diggers were caught the same way.”

Mary had a son, Ephraim, on 16 March, 1854 and he was probably born in a tent, the universal dwelling on the gold fields at the time. Another daughter, christened Mary Kingston Pearce, was born in 1857. It is very likely that by then Ephraim senior had abandoned mining in favour of carpentry and timber cutting. (Later in life Ephraim senior was known as Dommy and to avoid confusion I will now use that name.) He was perfectly equipped to provide a good living for his family in the gold field districts. To quote Mrs Clancy: “Carpenters are in high demand and among other tradesmen earn between 20/- and 30/- a day. Firewood is sold at 50/a good-sized barrow-load.” By 1859 he was well involved in his occupation of timber cutting. Twins, Francis and Annie Kingston, were born at Bullarook Forest on 14 May of that year. Francis died on 4 November, 1862, of diptheria. He was three years old and was buried in the “old” cemetery at Ballarat. Twelve years later, his sister, Mary Kingston, also died of diptheria and was buried in the same grave. She was seventeen years old.

Many fabulously rich gold fields and the great forests that serviced them were found within a twenty mile radius of Ballarat.