South Australia was proclaimed as a British Colony in December 1836. Thereafter British and colonists from other countries arrived who gradually displaced the native population.
My first emigrant ancestor to arrive was William Remnant Townsend (1805-1878), who arrived with his wife and children on the Hooghly, at Adelaide on 17 June 1839. He was a boot maker and he settled at Mitcham, which is now an Adelaide suburb. More about him and his family can be found in the family history I wrote, The Family History of William Remnant Townsend, (Adelaide, 1971). I am descended from his youngest son, George Seymour Townsend (1842-1886), who was a blacksmith at Penola, in the south-east of South Australia.
George Townsend married Euphemia Law Wilson (1848-1940). Euphemia was born in Cupar, Fifeshire, Scotland, and emigrated with her parents William Wilson (1816-1891) and Agnes Barclay (1812-1888) on the ship, Agincourt , in 1850. The Wilson's settled at Penola. The story of William Wilson can be read in the Volume VI of Penola Historical Selections (Penola, 2003) and my published family history, Gardens, Orchards and Vines: The Histories of the Wilson, Neilson and Townsend families of Penola, South Australia, (Adelaide, 2014).
The first Peake of my family to arrive in Australia, were Robert Peake (1815-1889), his wife Mary nee Hunt (1820-1882) and their family who arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, on the Surrey on 11 July 1862. Although Robert had been variously a coachbuilder and trimmer and tobacconist in England, shortly after arriving in Australia he became a school teacher. He settled at Naracoorte, in the south-east of South Australia. More about this family can be found in, Let Fortune Frown or Smile: The Family History of Robert George & Maude Peake, by Helen Mary Crone (Melbourne, 2019). I also have a family history on the drawing board. On the ship with them was their son, Leonard William Peake (1849-1915), my great-grandfather. He married Ann Guthrie Peters (1853-1929). She had emigrated as a child with her parents, William Forbes Peters (1827-1893) and Maria formerly Young nee McGregor (1832-1880) on the ship Black Eagle, which arrived at Melbourne, Victoria on 6 June 1857.
The last emigrant to arrive was my mother, Joan Hannah Ellen Peake nee Botting (1911-2011) who arrived, this time on a steam rather than sailing ship, the Stratheden at Adelaide on 16 May, 1948, to join her husband, my father, Leonard George Peake (1914-1990). More about her can be found in an essay I prepared, copies of which are in the Imperial War Museum , London, titled, Nursing in Peace and War, Joan Botting's Story (unpublished, Adelaide, 1994). Material from this essay was used in the publication, Sky Wards, mentioned above. |