Arrival of the William Stewart May 1848

My 3rd great-grandparents Andrew and Ellen FLEMING (nee FINDLAY) and their six children, originally from Scotland, arrived from Plymouth Sound into Port Phillip Bay on the 15th of May 1848.

SHIPPING AND COMMERCIAL GAZETTE. (1848, May 15).
Port Philip Gazette and Settler's Journal (Vic. : 1845 - 1850),
p. 2. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223152685

 Arrived

A large vessel, supposed to be the William Stewart with emigrants, was in the bay last night, but in consequence of the head wind she had not come up when our reporter left Liardet's this morning.

ENGLISH NEWS. (1848, May 17).
Port Philip Gazette and Settler's Journal (Vic. : 1845 - 1850),
p. 1. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223151527

English news.

The "William Stewart" brings news on the 22nd January, from England,

having left Plymouth Sound on the25th. The news is of little importance to us having had fully as late accounts by way of Singapore. By, private accounts we hear that business continued very bad, and Scotland was feeling the pressure. Mr Leadbetter, the chairman of the Glasgow, and Edinburgh railway having failed.in addition to many other merchants in Glasgow.

SHIPPING AND COMMERCIAL GAZETTE. (1848, May 17).
Port Philip Gazette and Settler's Journal (Vic. : 1845 - 1850),
p. 2. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223151526

 The William Stewart made a good passage of 110 days but experienced severe westerly winds since she left the Cape. On the passage, three infants died and there were seven births; the majority of the emigrants are from England, there are a few single women from Ireland and Scotland, the emigrants are in a very healthy condition. There are 47 single men and 54 single women.

Local Intelligence. (1848, May 17).
The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser (Vic. : 1845 - 1848), p. 2.
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226355017

 Boat Excursion Extraordinary. — Yesterday afternoon, two gentlemen came to the " Beach Hotel," requiring a boat to put off to the William Stewart, but could not be accommodated, as the boat used for that purpose was then in use, and alongside the vessel, they were desirous to reach. They expressed great disappointment at this and said they would, with Mr Liardet's permission, take the dingy which was at the jetty, and pull off without other assistance. Seeing their anxiety in the matter, Mr Liardet consented, when the youths, desiring to reach the vessel in quick sticks, jumped into the dingy and pulled out manfully. They had not, however, proceeded very far, when a stiff northerly breeze sprung up, and, despite the most energetic endeavours, the dingy and her cargo were carried out of sight. After struggling to make way against the wind, they both gave it up as a bad job and lay down in the bottom of the boat. It is not improbable that they will be stranded somewhere about Arthur's Seat. Mr Liardet has, we believe, sent a boat after them.

SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 20 (1848, May 20).
Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 - 1851), p. 2 (MORNING).
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91458443

EMIGRANTS.- Mr Commissioner Addis proceeded to Melbourne, shortly after the announcement of the arrival of the William Stewart, to adopt such measures as would be necessary to secure a share of the newly arrived emigrants, to residents and settlers in the Geelong District. Of the last shipment of emigrants, scarcely one was engaged for the Geelong side, the Melbournites having taken them up before any one could have time to engage them. It is to prevent, if possible, a repetition of this, that Mr Addis has undertaken this journey.

THE Moreton Bay Courier (1848, June 10).
The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861),
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3709926

On the 15th ultimo, the ship William Stewart arrived at Melbourne from England with 324 immigrants. This ship made rather a long passage, and of course, the news brought by her was anticipated. Loud, and apparently well grounded, complaints had been made by the public of the discourtesy shown by the officers of the ship to such of the inhabitants as had proceeded on board for the purpose of hiring the immigrants, and the obstructions thrown in the way of their doing so a course of conduct which we should think the local Immigration Board might very speedily put a stop to. It is no doubt very hard that the colonists, who virtually supply the funds to bring out the immigrants, should thus be bullied and defied by the masters, or, as they call themselves, captains and other officers of the ships to whom the conveyance of the immigrants is entrusted. A recent instance has been made public in which betrayal of trust the most base, and conduct the most flagitious, has been proved to have existed, and we hope that an adequate punishment may yet overtake the parties guilty of it. We know of nothing connected with the subject of immigration on which it appears more necessary to insist than that the duty of conveying the immigrants to these shores shall be executed with honour and good faith. This is a condition strenuously to be insisted on, and to connive at any breach of it is to become accessory to the introduction of vice and immorality into the colony.

Thank you for reading my Trove Tuesday post for this week.

Private William James FORSYTH

William James Forsyth was born on the 16th of August 1888 at Coutts Island, Canterbury, New Zealand.

He was my Great Grand Uncle, the second youngest son of my great great grandparents, Robert and Jessie Forsyth (nee Farquhar).

We are yet to find out when and where he died.

William enlisted in the Auckland Military Rifles NZEF on the 15th of June 1915.  He was single and 27 years of age.  Next of kin was his mother, Mrs Forsyth, widow, of  Waitoa.

‘ Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19170823-41-34 ‘

His regiment embarked for Suez, Egypt on the 14th of August 1915 from Wellington onboard HMNZT 28 vessel Tofua.  They arrived on the 19th of September 1915.

On the 3rd of October 1915 William was posted as a trooper to the Auckland Mounted Rifles at Mudros and in early November he was admitted to hospital with Typhoid.  This must have affected his health as from that time he spent many of the coming months in various hospitals.  They embarked to Alexandria on the H.S. Delta on the 27th of December where William was admitted to hospital again on the 28th with enteritis and transferred to the NZ general hospital at Cairo on the 24th of January.  From there he went on to a convalescent camp in February then back to the hospital at Cairo.  On the 15th of March, he was admitted to a convalescent home at Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo and was finally discharged to duty on the 29th of March 1916.

On the 16th of April 1916, he was posted to the Mounted Rifles Training Regiment and then on to the second infantry brigade at Tel-el-Kebir on the 2nd of May.  From there he proceeded to France where some time was spent at Ètaples training depot before joining the 2nd Battalion, 4th Coy of the Otago Regiment on the 27th of June 1916 at Houplines.

At the end of July William had to forfeit 7 days full pay for falling out from a parade without permission!

Nothing further was written on his record for ten months.

In France he was wounded in action, suffering a gunshot wound to the left shoulder on the 26th of May 1917.  He was evacuated to hospital on the 28th.  The 10th of June that year saw him sent to England and various convalescent hospitals over the next 5 months.  During that period he apparently overstayed leave.  One record says he had to forfeit ten days pay,  another says one days pay.

On the 30th of November 1917, he was attached to the NZ command depot at Codford.

It is mentioned that he took a railway journey from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh.  William had relatives there, had he gone to visit them?

Again from January to June 1918, he was in and out of the hospital.  June 1918 found him at Sling and then by the end of that year he was back at Codford.

In January 1919 William went A.W.L (absent without leave) and had to forfeit 28 days pay, did 28 days detention and another 48 days pay RW, whatever that means.

On the 18th of March 1919, he embarked for New Zealand per Tainui.  William was discharged on the 28th of May 1919.

In January 1920 William was employed in the medal engraving section and promoted to Corporal.

On the 14th of July 1921, he was discharged.  We have yet to find further information on William Forsyth.

sources – Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database

Tribute page for our Servicemen

Hart and Mason family shared DNA

Over the last few days, FamilyTreeDNA has been showing a few new matches in my results.
Many of those are quite small matches, so would be very distant cousins but one, in particular, showed a range of 2nd - 4th cousin with 87 shared centimorgans, the longest block being 29.
This was amongst my highest matches so I felt it would be fairly significant.
I sent an email and received a reply from Jen who said she had done the test mainly out of curiosity about her ethnic origins and that she knew very little about family history research, so didn't feel she could offer much help as to where we connected.

I explained we could be 3rd cousins and asked if she could let me know any of her family surnames.

She replied with 5 surnames, 2 of them being JACKSON and BELL.
I went to my family tree program and Bingo!
I found that a maternal great-grand-aunt, Rose May HART had married John Thomas BELL in 1913.

Rose May HART, born in 1889 at Echuca, Victoria, was a younger sister of my great grandmother, Margaret FLEMING nee HART.  They were daughters of Agnes nee MASON and Peter HART.

John, known as Jack, and Rose had 2 children.  Amelia Agnes BELL born 1914 at Wangaratta and John Desmond BELL born in 1921 at Wangaratta.

Amelia Agnes BELL had married Charles JACKSON and they were Jen's paternal grandparents!
Sadly Amelia had died in childbirth so her son never knew her but Jen says he remembers the HART surname.

I look forward to meeting Jen and her Dad sometime later this year.

FTDNA's "In common with" tool and chromosome browser produced 2 other matches on the same chromosome as Jen although probably further back. (I have privatised the results in the screenshot below)

The 2 other matches are American and on contact with their kit administrator, I was told their ancestors had all been in the United States since the 1800s.

A bit of a mystery somewhere it seems.

Allan FLEMING interviews Felix VON LUCKNER

Trove Tuesday

Von Luckner Tells His Story (1938, June 22). The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40982719

Jack-of-all-trades (from Wikipedia)

Arriving at Fremantle, Western Australia, Luckner jumped ship and for seven years worked in a bewildering array of occupations: he was a seller of the Salvation Army's The War Cry; an assistant lighthouse keeper at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in Augusta, Western Australia, a job he abandoned when he was discovered with his hotelkeeper's daughter by her father; a kangaroo hunter; a circus worker; a professional boxer (due to his exceptional strength); a fisherman......... read more at Wikipedia

Allan Fleming, a first cousin of my mother, was, amongst other occupations, a journalist for the Brisbane Courier Mail.

Allan FLEMING - V.I.P. Security

Before his retirement, Allan FLEMING was appointed to take care of V.I.P security.

Transcription:
Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Tuesday 28 September 1976, page 3

The Government has appointed a former intelligence officer to mastermind security for VIPs, Government sources in Canberra said yesterday.
Mr Allan Fleming, a former Member of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and Chief Parliamentary Librarian before his new appointment last week, will be responsible for co-ordinating security
arrangements for the protection of VIPs.
He will play a major role in ensuring the safety of the Queen when she visits Australia next year.

Security cars (1978, January 19). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 7.

Retrieved from

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131710573

Ossie Maxwell Joffre GRANT - WW2 war service

Continuing on from my earlier post on the 6 March 2017 about 

Ossie Maxwell Joffre GRANT (1915 - 2000)

Ossie's mother Jessie Anna HULME died when he was 3 years old.

His paternal Aunt, Ethel Grace GRANT helped his father Walter raise him. She died in 1939.

Ossie joined the Citizen Air Force in March 1941 at the age of 26 years.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force at Armadale, Melbourne on 17 September 1942 as a trainee radio operator.  

On enlistment, his employment was given as a factory manager for R. B. Shankey Pty Ltd of Bourke Street for whom he had worked for 8 years.

National Archives Australia - NAA: series no. A9301 control symbol 118601

Next of kin was his father Walter, address 11 Moodie Street, Carnegie.

Ossie used a reference given by P. Langford, Headmaster of Dandenong High School dated 16 December 1932.

He was first posted to No. 1 Recruit Depot at Shepparton, Victoria where he passed the radio operators course.  

His next postings were to:
No. 1 radio school at Richmond 2 October 1942
No. 1 Embarkation Depot at Ascot Vale 7 November 1942
No. 55 Operational Base Unit at Birdum NT 14 December 1942 

On the 25 January Ossie was promoted to Radar Operator.

He was then posted to:
No. 39 Radar Station at Port Keats NT 30 January 1943
No. 44 Radar Wing at Adelaide River NT 20 March 1943

Ossie was promoted to Leading Aircraftman (LAC) on 25 April 1943.

later postings were:
No. 1 Personnel Depot at Ransford 31 July 1944
No. 14 Radar Station at Wilson's Promontory 11 September 1944
No. 1 SD at Port Melbourne 12 October 1944
No. 1 Personnel Depot at Ransford 6 January 1945
No. 1 Reserve Personnel Pool at Townsville 30 January 1945
No. 331 Radar Station Tami Island New Guinea 28 March 1945
ADHQ at Madang 29 November 1945
No. 1 Reserve Personnel Pool at Townsville 6 January 1946
No. 1 Personnel Depot at Ransford 7 January 1946

No. 1 Reserve Personnel Pool was disbanded on 15 April 1946. Over the life of the unit a total of 133,606 personnel were moved though the unit, 66,804 personnel coming into the unit and the same number leaving the unit. - ozatwar.com

Ossie became ill several times during his service but the nature of his ailments wasn't recorded in his file.

He was in the 52 Operational Base Unit SSQ in Darwin from the 17th to the 24th of October 1943.
Then at the Fighter Sector Headquarters SSQ in Darwin from the 6th to the 20th of December 1943.
Final sick days were at 119 hospital Madang area from 29 May 1945 to 8 June 1945

Ossie was discharged on demobilisation on the 9th of February 1946.
His father Walter died in 1947.

From 1954 until his death in 2000 Ossie lived at 8 Haslemere Avenue, Mitcham.
He was more generally known as Max and devoted many years of service to the Mitcham Repertory Company.

A story of Anzac by Allan FLEMING

THE LIFT-OUT SATURDAY SECTION (1953, April 25). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 7.  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23240875

Many writers and orators have tried to express what is meant by "the Anzac spirit" but few have succeeded.

"The Argus" believes this simple and unpretentious short story, written by an Australian soldier fresh from the Battle of Greece in 1941, does express the meaning of the term.

The story appeared in "Active Service," published in 1941, the first of the series of 20 Services books published by the Australian War Memorial.
It is reprinted by permission of the Memorial Trustees.

Originally, it was published above the initials "A.P.F."

Its author is now revealed as Mr. Allan P. Fleming, an Assistant Secretary of the Defence Department.

WITH HILLS LIKE

HOME

By ALLAN

FLEMING

HE wasn't a fast thinker.

When he was home, in the hills of Victoria's Great Divide, milking cows and mending fences earned

him enough to live on.

So there was no cause to think too hard. Not about -those things, anyhow.

Perhaps he thought about other things. He never

mentioned them. He didn't think too much about the war.

He'd done that before he enlisted ......

Photo captions:

Left:  THAT mountain in Greece . . . saved you from thinking. It expressed itself . . .

Right:  THE HILL he'd tackled with his pony . . . back home.