It is 1832, Sydney Cove. Our very good turner John Daines and his two Highway Robbery accomplices are awaiting their fate in their new homeland. What will it be gentlemen? Conform or rebel? Let’s start with the weaver, William Miller. Conform? Rebel? Fight back or go quietly into this good night? William Miller will first…
Category: Life and times
John ‘Daines’ – Part 2: Highway Robbery
Highway Robbery! I know what you’re thinking. A well-dressed guy on a rearing shiny black horse. He has a menacing-looking scarf covering half of his face. He’s brandishing a pistol and saying to an unsuspecting coachload of terror-stricken ladies – “Stand and deliver! Your money or your life!” Am I right? It turns out that…
John ‘Daines’ – Part 1: the surgeon’s diagnosis
The three-year-old convict ship Planter slipped quietly out of Portsmouth on 15 June 1832, headed for Port Jackson in the far-flung colony of New South Wales. On board (aside from the necessary crew and military guard), were 2 passengers, 3 women, 1 child, a Royal Navy Surgeon and 200 male convicts. One of those convicts…
In the service of Dr Gaunt
For about 190 years, the little village of Windermere has stood on the banks of what we now call the Tamar River, just north of Launceston in Tasmania. The area is the deep time traditional land of the Leterrermairrener Clan who for over 10 000 years knew the area as Kanamuluka. Windermere village has its origins as a…
Woolwich to Norfolk Island in 92 days
In March 1844, the convict ship Blundell departed for Norfolk Island. She was the first convict ship to sail directly, rather than via Sydney. The Blundell was fitted out with a humane experiment; sufficient sleeping room for every convict to allow them to leave their bed without disturbing others. On board for the voyage was…
A Collman Extra – Tom Collman, Hurstville to Casino… via Mungindi?
I can’t believe my luck; I’ve finally met someone who can tell me a little about my mystery great grandfather’s family – the Collmans! Thanks to my new friend’s help and her fabulous research I’ve come across some new information about Tom Collman, the man I told you about in Part 2 of my Collman…
On “Tasmania” to… Tasmania!
When my 4x great grandmother Mary Ann Goodson departed from her homeland on the convict ship Tasmania in September 1844, I wonder, did she have any idea about what lay ahead? Was she frightened? Nervous? She had every reason to be worried; aged 42 she was not like the young girls that she’d stood next…
Not for all the tea in China
It was late May 1831, and the ship Larkins was at Deptford preparing for departure. She was to deliver a cargo to Van Diemen’s Land and then bring back tea from China. On board, William Evans (the Royal Navy’s Surgeon), began to write in his journal while Captain William Campbell, Lieutenant Espinasse, Ensign Fortescue, Assistant…
The King’s Own James Neale
When James Neale, a Private in the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot boarded the copper-fastened teak convict ship Jane in Deptford, he was bound for New South Wales. Family lore says he was making a quick escape from the stormy seas of his second marriage. Little could he know that even more troubled waters…
Coming of Age
I’m a teenager, lifting the lid of a shoe box. I’m opening a small treasure chest of memories that my grandmother’s sister has given to me. For keeps. The milky eyes in this photograph of my grandmother’s father – my great grandfather – are looking at me, examining me in the same way that I’m…
KINdling 