Last time I wrote about Births, Deaths and Marriages in Australia. Today I am just adding in a little bit about Births, Deaths and Marriages in New Zealand. They can be found at https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Like with Australia the time period for NSW BDM’s is limited to-
Births that occurred at least 100 years ago
Stillbirths that occurred at least 50 years ago
Marriages that occurred 80 years ago
Deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago or the deceased’s date of birth was at least 80 years ago.
Stillbirths is an interesting one as they are not specifically mentioned in Australian registries but the demand for them from parents who have had a stillbirth and for acknowledgement that this was a child that should be recognised is on the increase and a lot of registries are now starting to keep this sort of record.
So it has been a while since I said I would put up some information on how to do research into a family tree, so it is time to put some more information up.
Once you have talked to your immediate family the next thing to do is to start researching vital records. Vital records are birth, death and marriage records. In earlier years it is baptism, marriage and burial records as births and deaths may not be recorded.
In Australia, most birth, death and marriage records are kept at the state or territory level. For Canberra the majority of available birth death and marriage registrations for historical searches are through the NSW registry not the ACT registry as Canberra is not very old. But some are available in Canberra.
Birth death and marriage records are only available for a certain number of years. Births usually need to be over 100 years ago, marriages over 50 years ago and deaths over 30 years ago. So sometimes you can only get some of the certificates that you require.
Details for where to search for certificates for each state are in the links.
All the registry indexes can be searched at these repositories but not all certificates can be bought at each one. Queensland and Victoria are the easiest to access, their entire certificates are available on line so once you have found the entry that you require you can just purchase a digital copy online and get your certificate straight away.
NSW is difficult. To get a full certificate is expensive but can be done online but to do so is very costly for a family historian who may need a number of different certificates. So the best thing to do is to use one of the transcribing services. For about half the price of a full certificate these services will transcribe all the details for the certificate you are after into a document and email it to you. This will take a couple of weeks. But it is a much cheaper option than paying for a full certificate. These places also have other services such as check and verify that this is the correct certificate, this can be done so that you don’t have to pay full price for a certificate that you are uncertain about.
The transcription services available in NSW include;
Other services have details on how to use them and what you need to do to get certificates on their pages. Some need you to pay for a search and some allow you to search and then send in for the certificate.
Follow the directions on the search putting in minimal details at first and if you get too many answers, like for the name ‘Smith’ try to narrow down by adding in additional search criteria as it can be more difficult than you think to find the correct family member as the databases are only as good as those doing the transcriptions to the database. S and F’s are often confused and spellings both change over time and in a time when many were not able to spell names can have a large variety of spellings. So my Russell ancestors can often be spelled as Russell, Russel, Rusell, Rusfell, Ruffell, Ruffel etc. So if I can’t find the person I am looking for I try variations to see what other options I can come up with.
Mary Russell age 52 died Athlone Street in the Parish of Camperdown in the County of Cumberland.
A newspaper article in 1852 from Bathurst may refer to our Mary Ann Russell and William Russell. The article is in the Bathurst Free press, it does not give any details of which Mary Ann Russell and William Russell it refers to but it is reasonable to thin that this may be our Mary Ann Russell. There are other Mary Russells in the area and other William Russells but to date I have not confirmed a coupled William Russell and Mary Ann Russell living in the Bathurst area other than our Mary and William Russell.
WHEREAS my wife, MARY ANN RUSSELL absconded from her home on Sunday the 27th June without just cause or provocation ; the public are hereby cautioned against trusting her, as after this notice I will not be responsible for any debts she may contract. Any person found harbouring her will be prosecuted to the utmost rigour of the law.
Given the possibility that our Mary Ann and William Russell were not living together at the time of Mary Ann’s death this opens up the searches for where Mary Ann may have lived in the last part of her life and where she may have died.
Athlone Place was a street in the Blackwattle Creek Slums of Sydney, now part of Ultimo. A description of Athlone place was written by a City Health Official in 1890.
There had been a heavy storm the evening before my visit to this street, and the water marks were plainly visible. The water was six inches above the floor in a few of the houses on the north side … From No. 11 to 27 there were the most offensive cesspits it has ever been my lot to come across. The yards were ill-drained and very damp, the open drain from one house running through the yard of the next, and so on … At No. 33 there is a cellar, which had 2 feet of stinking water in it. The tenants in this case have had constant ill-health, but have continued living here for ten years. There has been sickness in almost every house, typhoid fever and diarrhoea have been very prevalent (Clay 1890:4).
ca. 1885-90 map showing Athlone & Ultimo Streets in Ultimo and Banks Street (now Meagher) and Dale (now Balfour) in Chippendale http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jray/raymond/map.htm
If Mary Russell moved back to Sydney when she left her husband then it is possible that she would have lived in a slum area like this. People in these areas were working class people struggling day by day to live. Mary had an educated mother who had been able to teach when she left her husband but Mary may not have had these same opportunities and even if she did teaching would not have enabled her to live a life of much comfort.
Athlone Place, Ultimo, c.1900. Athlone Place was resumed by Council in 1906, when some 400 dwellings and a maze of tiny lanes were removed. The area was subject to flooding and it was considered a deplorable slum. This photo shows two groups of semi-detached, single-storey buildings, with neighbours and children standing in their doorways chatting. (image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/6) http://history.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/sydneystreets/Lost_Streets/Laneways/51_1_6.html
The Mary Russell who lived in Athlone Place in Sydney died in 1864. On the death certificate she is noted as being 52 years of age. This would give her a birth date of 1812 or there abouts. This fits in with the known details of Mary Ann Russell nee Gransden. The only other details that the death certificate for this Mary Russell gives is that she was buried at Camperdown. NSW BDM, Russell, Mary. Death Cert. Vol 122C No 12256. A further search of the Camperdown Burial Butts elicits two further pieces of information, Mary Russell died of Natural causes and she was buried in a paupers grave with no headstone.
Camperdown Cemetery – burial butts St. Stephen’s Church of England, Newtown, N.S.W.. [microform] : Microfilm – Utah, U.S.A. : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1981. Call Number: 3233 butts no 10,519, 3 Oct. 1862 – no 13,366, 17 Oct. 1865. [G.S.U. 1238784]
If this is our Mary Ann Russell nee Gransden there is still not enough information to confirm so at this stage.
I am still searching for the death of Mary Ann. One lead that myself and Sylvia Murray had been looking at was a death in Mandurama of a Mary Ann Russell.
Sudden Death.
A poor woman named Mary Ann Russell died very suddenly at Mandurama at 11 o’clock on Thursday night, 9th inst. A wire was sent on Friday morning by Constable Grenenger to Senior-Constable George Brayne, to inform the Coroner, who held an inquest, with a jury of 12, on Friday afternoon, at the School of Arts, Mandurama. Mr James Bembrick was chosen foreman of the jury. From the evidence adduced it appeared that the deceased seemed perfectly well at 9.15 that (Thursday) evening, when Mrs William Flynn walked part of the way home with her. At 11 o’clock deceased got up out of her bed, and ran to Mrs Flynn’s cottage, and called up Mrs Flynn, crying out ‘ I am very bad, and dying.’ Deceased died in a quarter of an hour. Dr Hawthorne, after holding a post-mortem examination, gave evidence at the Court, and pronounced that, in his opinion, deceased’s death resulted from syncope, consequent upon disease of the heart. The jury gave a verdict that ‘Mary Ann Russell met her death on Thursday, 9th Sept, 1897, Mandurama, from natural causes, to wit, decease of the heart. Deceased leaves three sons and one daughter. — [We are indebted to J. Lithgow Cobb, Esq., J.P. District Coroner, for the above information.]
On researching through inquest details it was found that this Mary Ann Russell was 50 years old in 1897. So much though it was a disappointment this Mary Ann had to be discarded.
Another Mary Russell was in the inquests
Name:
Mary Russell
Death Year:
Abt 1870
Inquest Date:
17 Jan 1870
Inquest Place:
Wallbrook In Rockley
Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Coroners’ Inquests, 1821-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
At Rockley the wife of a farmer named Russell died from fever induced by the late excessive heat.1870 ‘GENERAL NEWS.’, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), 27 January, p. 2. , viewed 31 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18742971
At first this Mary Ann looked very promising as our Mary Ann Russell nee Gransden had been known to live in the Rockley area as some of her children were born in this area.
However, further searching through the newspapers gave the details of this Mary Russell as married to Daniel Russell of Rockley. So this is also not our Mary Russell.
On further investigation two possible death certificates for a Mary Russell have also been found that may or may not fit. Both of these Mary Russell’s are living in the Sydney area at the time of their deaths. One of these was Mary Russells died in the Newington Asylum age 70 in 1890 and one died at Athlone Place in Sydney, a slum area in the city, at the age of 52 in 1864. Both of these Mary Russells are possible.
Each of these deaths will be explored in greater depth over the next two blog posts.
This is based upon a Facebook Post I have done as I keep getting asked by my friends how I started my research and what they can do to start theirs.
I keep getting regular requests from people who want to know how to do their own research for their family tree. So I thought I would go through the basics over time on FB. If anyone wants to ask questions please do. Otherwise the goal will be to write up something once or twice a week which anyone following along will be able to use to trace their family tree in Australia. If things are going well and we get beyond Australia so be it, but for now this is just going to be about Australia.
So the first and most important thing that everyone who does any Family History tells you is to start with yourself. So the idea is to write down what you know about yourself and then work backwards.
For example- before I did my family tree I knew where I was born, when I was born, who were my parents and a few other little bits and pieces. I then dug out my birth certificate and found a couple of interesting bits and pieces. The first of those was that my parents lived around the corner from where I now live at the time I was born and it was also really interesting to find out what my fathers occupation was at the time I was born.
From here I wrote up just a summary, sort of like a CV of my life. One day I will write that up but for now just bare bones is a good start. The thing is that things we think of as boring and not very important now are things that your children will one day want to know. Like which schools you went to. These things are actually really hard to find when you are researching families at a later date. What about all of those jobs you have had over the years? Most people have had quite a number but records will only ever show one or two. What about some of the things that you did as a child?
Once you have finished with yourself if you have any parents or grandparents around ask them about themselves. Video them if you can or record their voices. I have recordings of the voices of three of my Grandparents. This is one of the most amazing things that I have from them. Each time I hear their voices I learn things that I had not heard or remembered before.
So, for anyone playing along at home- what did you discover about yourself or your family when you asked them a couple of questions? Don’t give me anything that is really personal but I would love to hear what things people learn from their families.
Where did you go to school, have you written that down somewhere for someone? Did you go to just one school or a number of different schools? What did you do over the holidays? What was your first job? What other jobs have you had since? What are your favourite things to do for recreation and relaxation- keep it clean. 😉
Did you study at University, or TAFE or both? If so what did you study.
Then tell me something about your parents. The best thing about family trees is not just knowing your ancestors, they are just names. The best thing is knowing something about your family members, finding the stories, finding out what life was like for them. Start with you and your parents then we work backwards starting with the documents.
The Victoria Automatic Improved Knitting Machine was developed and sold by W & J Foster, of Preston, between the years 1900-1925 . W & J Fosters is known to have manufactured knitting machines in Preston from the year’s 1862 right up to the 1960’s . Though precisely when the Victoria Knitting Machine was manufactured is not known. The early circular knitting machines became available around the 1860’s with them achieving some degree of popularity during the American Civil War.
The Victoria Automatic Improved Knitting Machine is a black metal, hand cranked circular knitting machine using latch needles to catch the yarn and pull it under the previous stitch . Thus a tube is knitted which can then be either hand stitched into socks, or with some careful manipulation a heel and toe can be constructed during manufacture of the tube.
Figure 1. Victoria Knitting Machine. Bean, Christina (Authors Collection) 2016
In early days tubular knitting machines knitted plain tubes that were then cut off so that the toes and heels could be knitted by hand. It was so simple to knit these tubes using a sock knitting machine that English Workhouses had children as young as four producing tubes that could then be cut off and completed by older workers.
During World War 1 the allied countries had a huge demand for socks as these were needed by the men at the front. Thousands of women would get together in communities around Australia and other countries and knit socks . When knitting socks by hand, a hand knitter can produce a pair of socks in around one week. Socks could be produced on a sock knitting machine in around 40 minutes per pair . Families and individuals who owned sock machines put them to work producing socks for the war effort.
Figure 2. Victoria Knitting Machine- original instruction booklets. Bean, C. Authors Collection 2016
This Victoria Automatic Improved Knitting Machine was originally purchased by Alfred Smith sometime around the turn of the century. Exactly when the family came into possession of the sock machine is not known. It is known that it was Alfred Smith and not his wife Helen, who bought and used the sock machine .
According to Norma Warnecke the Victoria Sock knitting machine was bought new for the family prior to World War 1. Alfred used the knitting machine to make socks for himself and members of the family, he also used this machine to contribute to the War effort in World War 1. With the knitting machine there are still some scraps of barely legible paper that have notations on them attributed to Alfred Smith . More comprehensive notes were written by Alfred William Smith, son of Alfred Smith, who inherited the sock knitting machine. Alfred William Smiths notes include instructions for making socks for his wife Grace and their three children Norma, Jenny and Robert . Norma recalls her father using the knitting machine to knit socks for the family, she also recalls her father knitting socks for soldiers at the front during World War 2 .
Included in the tins of yarn and spare parts that were passed to Norma along with the knitting machine are remnants of socks that her father had knitted when the family were young. There are also a number of skeins of wool of a variety of different colours. One particular skein is of grey, it is the left over wool from Alfred Smiths contribution to the war effort in World War 1 . Additionally there are some skeins left over from Alfred William Smith, who also made socks, this time during World War 2 .
Both Alfred Smith and Alfred William Smith were in professions that were considered to be essential services during World War 1 and 2. Thus they were expected to contribute to the war effort in ways other than fighting at the front. Both Smith family members used the sock machine as one of the ways that they contributed to the health and comfort of those at the front .
Norma Warnecke used the sock machine when her own family was young, in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Among the hand written notes is a page in her handwriting that also gives details for socks for her children . On expressing my interest in a sock knitting machine in 2015, Norma Warnecke turned up the next day with the Victoria Knitting machine. It had been in her garage for decades and she had not thought that anyone would be interested in it. So when she found out that a family member was interested Norma decided that it was time to pass on the knitting machine to another family member. The Victoria knitting machine has now passed down four generations of the same family with each family member using it to create socks for themselves and other family members.
When I receive the sock knitting machine it came packaged with all the accessories including two original instruction manuals. Alfred William Smith had also stored wool from his father and from his own efforts in two Farex tins from when his daughter Jenny had been a baby along with details on the sizing needed for his family members. Today I am gradually learning more about how to use the machine so that I can make socks for my family members.
Figures
Figure 1. Victoria Knitting Machine. Bean, Christina (Authors Collection) 2016 1
Figure 2. Victoria Knitting Machine- original instruction booklets. Bean, C. Authors Collection 2016 2
Bibliography
Becker, P. (2004, August 17). Sock machine history. Retrieved August 5th, 2016, from The Marvelous Sock: https://sockmachine.wordpress.com/sock-machine-history/
Hawkins, M. (2015). A Short History of Machine Knitting. Retrieved August 5th, 2016, from The Guild of Machine Knitters: http://www.guild-mach-knit.org.uk/forms/history_part1.pdf
Instruction Book for the Victoria Automatic Improved Knitting Machine (Vol. 2). (n.a.). Market Street, Preston, United Kingdom: W & J Foster.
Instruction Book for the Victoria Automatic Improved Knitting Machine. (Vol. 1). (n.a). Market Street, Preston, United Kingdom: W & J Foster.
Lancashire Evening Post. (2011, June 2nd). Retrieved August 2016, 5th, from A century of proud history if back in the family: http://www.lep.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/a-century-of-proud-history-is-back-in-the-family-1-3438253
One million pairs of socks: knitting for victory in the first world war. (2014, August 11). Retrieved August 5th, 2016, from The Conversation: http://theconversation.com/one-million-pairs-of-socks-knitting-for-victory-in-the-first-world-war-30149
Smith, A. (Unknown). Knitting notations.
Smith, A. W. (Unknown). Alfred William Smith Knitting Notations.
The Powerhouse Museum- Hand operated sock knitting machine, 1900-1925. (2016, August). Retrieved August 5th, 2016, from Powerhouse Museum: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=259421&search=sock+knitting+machine&images=&c=1&s=
Warnecke, N. (2016, July 18). Interview with Norma Warnecke- re Victoria Sock Knitting Machine. (C. Bean, Interviewer)
Warnecke, N. (Unknown). Knitting Notations.
I met another person, Sylvia Murray, researching the Gransden/ Russell family tree through my website. She had found a number of different news articles that may relate to Mary Ann Russell nee Gransden. However, we have been unable to locate a death certificate that goes along with the articles. Today I have sent off a request to see if I can get someone to actually have a look at the original birth death and marriage certificates at NSW BDM to determine if one for Mary Ann Russell died September 1879 may not have been miss transcribed in the indexes and thus un-searchable for those who do not have access to the original data.
The two Newspaper articles that have sparked the search are below.
Sudden Death
A poor woman named Mary Ann Russell died very suddenly at Mandurama at 11 o’clock on Thursday night, 9th inst. A wire was sent on Friday morning by Constable Grenenger to Senior-Constable George Brayne, to inform the Coroner, who held an inquest, with a jury of 12, on Friday afternoon, at the School of Arts, Mandurama. Mr James Bembrick was chosen foreman of the jury.
From the evidence adduced it appeared that the deceased seemed perfectly well at 9.15 that (Thursday) evening, when Mrs William Flynn walked part of the way home with her. At 11 o’clock deceased got up out of her bed, and ran to Mrs Flynn’s cottage, and called up Mrs Flynn, crying out ‘ I am very bad, and dying.’ Deceased died in a quarter of an hour. Dr Hawthorne, after holding a post-mortem examination, gave evidence at the Court, and pronounced that, in his opinion, deceased’s death resulted from syncope, consequent upon disease of the heart.
The jury gave a verdict that ‘Mary Ann Russell met her death on Thursday, 9th Sept, 1897, at Mandurama, from natural causes, to wit, decease of the heart.’ Deceased leaves three sons
and one daughter. — [We are indebted to J. Lithgow Cobb, Esq., J.P. District Coroner, for the above information.]
1897 ‘Sudden Death.’, The Carcoar Chronicle (NSW : 1878 – 1943), 17 September, p. 2. , viewed 05 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112523919
1897 ‘Sudden Death.’, The Carcoar Chronicle (NSW : 1878 – 1943), 17 September, p. 2. , viewed 05 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112523919
CARCOAR, Saturday.
A woman named Mary. Ann Russell died very suddenly at Mandurama last Thursday night, Mr.
Lithgow Cobb, district coroner, held an inquest yesterday afternoon. Dr. Hawthorne, after having
held a post-mortem. -examination, gave evidence and said his opinion was that deceased died from disease of the heart. A verdict of death from natural causes was returned.
1897 ‘Telegrams.’, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 – 1912), 18 September, p. 630. , viewed 05 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163795574
1897 ‘Telegrams.’, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 – 1912), 18 September, p. 630. , viewed 05 Oct 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163795574
In the most recent subject I am doing for the Diploma of Family History at UTAS the focus is on Place, Image, Object. The idea is to look at places, images and objects to provide context for family history.
One of the assessment pieces in this unit is an annotated map. The map has to have both a subjective and objective element to it. I decided to do a map of Sydney based on a map from 1836.
Annotated Gransden Family Map of Sydney
I based this on an early map of Sydney from when the first of the Gransdens, focused on in this map, arrived in Australia. I then used the boats to represent all of their trips. Each of the buildings has a connection to the lives the Gransdens lived.
All the male Gransdens who arrived in Sydney were sailors so the light house was the first thing they had to look out for when they arrived in Sydney. The Churches are where some of them were married, the places with notation were things like, the lumber yard where Mary was employed from. She went to work at the Kings Head. Unfortunately we don’t know what that looked like when she worked there but the picture I painted is of the hotel during the life time of the family.
The the road to Parramatta is present because one of the Gransdens owned property further along that road and most of them at some stage had to travel that road to get to Bathurst where both Robert Gransden and Mary Ann Gransden and their families lived at some stage.
I pulled in elements to create something that was representative of the family. I drew the pictures and used the paintings to give a larger sense of space than they have in modern day Sydney. This was to give more of the sense of space that the original buildings would have had during this families time in Sydney.
The colours are also representative of two things. The reds around the advewrtisement show the initial fear, excitement and uncertainty of the trip and resettlement. The blues and greens around Sydney are more representative of the ideal, the dream, than they are of reality. Reality would have been much dustier and dirtier than that.
This project helped to give me a more cohesive overview of the Gransden families lives. It helped me to put them together as a unit, rather than to have them as individuals with their life events isolated from each other.
My computer is dying so I have not been able to put anything up on my blog for a while. More is coming but I need to get a new computer first.
I have been creating an annotated map for the latest unit from the Family History Diploma at UTAs. Hopefully I will have photos of that available soon. It is a fund project.
For the next couple of years the Washington Irving with Durant as Captain did a number of runs between London and Sydney. In 1856 the ship arrived in Sydney in March. This time the Washington Irving had been used to drop supplies off at Booby Island, including onions, potatoes and pumpkins.[1] Booby Island is located about 50km off the Cape of York. So many ships were wrecked in the local area in the nineteenth century that provisions were kept there, including those grown on the island, for ship wrecked sailors. Two log books were also kept there, one was placed there in 1835 and another just after the Washington Irving dropped off supplies in 1856. Unfortunately it is not known where either book is now or if they still survive. Mail was also dropped at the island for exchange with ships going in different directions.[2]
On the 1856 trip, yet again the Washington Irving had trouble getting a Pilot to come and pilot his ship into a berth. The Washington Irving was anchored above Pinchgut, Fort Denison, without a pilot. The Ship arrived at about a quarter to 10 on the first of March. By seven o’clock they had fired thirteen rockets, burned blue lights at the mast head and burned a turpentine light but failed to attract a pilot. Eventually a pilot did come out but Captain Durant refused to pay due to the length of time that he had been waiting.[3] Again the Pilot that came out to the Washington Irving went by the name of Hawkes.[4]
The next time Captain Durant arrived in Sydney was to be even more eventful than his 1855 trip. The Ship had sailed on the 19th of June with 308 Government Immigrants on board.[5] The Pilot John Waters, took charge of the Washington Irving as it left Portsmouth. At about 7pm off Lepe near Hampshire, a violent squall struck the Washington Irving carrying away the jib-boom and the foretop gallant-mast. When clearing away the wreck a crew member fell overboard. At once a life buoy was thrown to him. However, on this case the Washington Irving was fitted with the new Clifford’s Lowering Gear. This enabled the crew to lower a life boat and save the life of the sailor who had fallen overboard.[6] Clifford’s Lowering Gear was a new and speedy way of enabling sailors to lower a smaller boat from their ship. It was instrumental in saving a number lives within months of it first being fitted to ships in the 1850’s.[7]
This time there were no problems with a Pilot not arriving on time to berth the Washington Irving. This time a Mr. Robson arrived and piloted the ship in. Robson had arrived whilst the Washington Irving was still outside the Heads and as far as Captain Durant was concerned “gave every satisfaction”.[8] However, the troubles with the Pilots not arriving on time were a continual issue for many Captains and for the Sydney Ports. As a result of continual complaints by those trying to berth ships and two fatalities, the Dunbar[9] and the Catherine Adamson[10] due to poor responses from Pilots, poor management by the Pilots and the difficulties associated with navigating into the Harbour, a report of the Light, Pilot and Navigation Board was prepared and submitted to Parliament. Captain Isaac Durant of the Washington Irving was one of fourteen witnesses bought before the Board to contribute to the Report.
The Dunbar had been lost with only one survivor. The Catherine Adamson lost 21 people including the Pilot Hawkes, whose body had washed up some days after the Catherine Adamson went down.[11] Many things contributed to the wreck of the Catherine Adamson including weather, difficulty accessing the ship as it was breaking up and trouble getting boats close enough to get those in trouble off the boat. It was also concluded that the Pilot Hawkes was in “no fit condition” to be Piloting the Ship.[12] The fault can certainly not all be laid at Pilot Hawkes door, but it seems probable that he contributed to the issues experienced by the Catherine Adamson and that eventually lead to her being wrecked. Isaac Durants experiences with the Pilots of Sydney Harbour and in particular the Pilot Hawkes were certainly not isolated incidents. These two wrecks resulted in an investigation into the Pilots of Sydney Harbour and the building of the Hornby Light on the tip of Inner South Head to help increase safety for ships negotiating such a difficult entry to the Harbour.[13]
The Dunbar was one of the two wrecks that led to the establishment of the Hornby Lighthouse. Image : From Dusk Till Dawn. http://www.lighthouses.org.au/lights/NSW/Hornby/Hornby%20Lighthouse.htm
Hornby Lighthouse, Watsons Bay, South Head. Authors Collection.
More records are coming out about Merchant Sailors all the time. Tony Robinson has a short clip of some of the new records coming out that I would like to use more.
[1] 1856 ‘Ship News.’, The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 – 1880), 13 September, p. 4. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65726324
[3] 1857 ‘The Sydney Morning Herald.’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 14 November, p. 4. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13002975
[4] 1857 ‘SHIP WASHINGTON IRVING.’,Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), 23 November, p. 5. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60260775
[5] 1857 ‘THE FOLLOWING SHIPS HAVE BEEN DESPATCHED FOR AUSTRALIA BY THE EMIGRATION COMMISSIONERS SINCE OUR LAST:—’, Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), 7 September, p. 5. , viewed 19 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64986888
[7] 1859 ‘CLIFFORD’S APPARATUS FOR LOWERING BOATS.’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 28 June, p. 4. , viewed 19 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13026923
[8] 1857 ‘SHIP WASHINGTON IRVING.’,Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), 23 November, p. 5. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60260775
[9] 1907 ‘The Dunbar Wreck.’, The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate (Parramatta, NSW : 1888 – 1950), 18 May, p. 7. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article86153668
[10] 1857 ‘WRECK OF THE CATHERINE ADAMSON.’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 27 October, p. 4. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13002160
[11] 1857 ‘WRECK OF THE CATHERINE ADAMSON, AT SYDNEY HEADS.’, The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 – 1864), 2 November, p. 2. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66044967
[12] 1857 ‘SYDNEY.’, The North Australian, Ipswich and General Advertiser (Ipswich, Qld. : 1856 – 1862), 3 November, p. 3. , viewed 20 Jun 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78850396
![Camperdown Cemetery - burial butts St. Stephen's Church of England, Newtown, N.S.W.. [microform] : Microfilm - Utah, U.S.A. : Genealogical Society of Utah, 1981. Call Number: 3233 butts no 10,519, 3 Oct. 1862 - no 13,366, 17 Oct. 1865. [G.S.U. 1238784]](https://gransdenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Mary-Russell-burial-1897.jpg)
