#52 Ancestors 2020
Week 5 So Far Away
When the Crusader arrived in Sydney in January 1840,
there were 283 passengers. 191 of them
were Catholics from the Parish of Elphin, Roscommon, Ireland.
It is heart wrenching to imagine the loss that those who were left
behind must have felt when they went to Mass the Sunday after the ship sailed;
the grief and sadness that the parents and grandparents left behind must have
felt, knowing that they would never see their children and grandchildren again.
Several of those who sailed were members of one family – my
family. Anthony and Eleanor Power and
Bernard and Catherine Murphy, all my 4 x great grandparents, said goodbye to 25
members of their extended family.
Ø
Peter and Mary Power (nee Murphy) and their
children, Patrick 12, Catherine 10, Ann 9, Bridget 7 (my 2x great grandmother),
Maria 6 and Anthony 4.
Ø
Mary Power’s sister, Bridget, widow of Peter’s
brother, John, who had died in 1838 aged only 37 leaving her with 4 children - Peter
13, Patrick 11, Elizabeth 7 and John 3.
Ø
Peter Power’s brother Theophilus (known as
Offey) and his wife Winifred. He was
coming to employment as a shoemaker for Mr Smith, of George St, Sydney.
Ø
Michael Power, aged 21, a clerk
Ø
Eleanor Power and her husband Kelly McKeone,
who had a job as a carpenter in Sydney at 2pounds 8 shillings per week. Their children were Eliza 12, Bridget 10,
James 7, John 5 and Francis 3. Their
baby Ellen, aged 2, was the first of 13 people to die on the Crusader.*1
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| Bridget Mary Morgan (nee Power) |
Bounties were paid to the ships’ masters for the safe delivery of their passengers – a typical bounty for an adult was 19 pounds, and 5 pounds for a child.
Most in demand were shepherds, ploughmen and agricultural labourers, but also desirable were tradesmen like carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors and needlewomen. Single people, or newly married (and childless) adults were preferred and large families generally not encouraged. Migrants had to bring their own clothing, bedding, personal articles and, in some cases, tools.
,
Conditions in Ireland in 1839 were dire. Although the potato famine was not to wreak its havoc on the community until the early 1840s, farm labourers and dairy women, as most of this family were, lived in generally poor and crowded circumstances. Infant mortality was high as was early death, such as that of John Power. The Irish writer Skeffington Gibbon wrote in 1829 of Roscommon, “there is not in Europe a more poor and wretched peasantry.”
The Murphy and Power families were not as
badly off as some, (for example, the adults could all read and write) but they
were still very attracted to the offers being made by the new colony of
NSW. Farm labourers and dairy women were
much in demand. The colony needed
shepherds, herdsmen and their wives to support the fledgling sheep and wool
industries
It is likely that
this group was also influenced in their decision to emigrate by their cousin
who had gone before them.
Bridget and Mary
Power’s mother was Catherine Plunkett, connected to John Hubert Plunkett, who
had grown up on his father’s land in moderate comfort, been educated at Trinity
College, Dublin and become a lawyer. In
1831 he was appointed to the position of Solicitor General of NSW, and he
arrived with his wife,*2 his sister, and a female servant in June 1832. He also managed to obtain a berth for Father
John McEncroe who became the second Catholic priest in the Colony and a
lifelong friend of Plunkett.
By 1836, John
Plunkett had been appointed Attorney General and working with the Governor,
Richard Bourke in the execution of a new church and schools act. As an Irish Catholic who had faced
discrimination, he was determined to establish equality before the law – he
extended jury rights to emancipists, and then legal protections to convicts and
assigned servants. He also attempted to protect aboriginals and twice charged
the perpetrators of the Myall Creek massacre with murder. The first trial resulted in an acquittal on a
technical point but the second resulted in a conviction.*3
Plunkett’s
achievements in the early Colony are enormous, and not the subject of this
piece, but it is important to also mention that he was one of the strongest
voices in the debate which resulted in the end of convict transportation to
NSW.
 |
| John Hubert Plunkett |
Far from home, some
of the Power family flourished in Australia.
Bridget’s eldest son, Peter, became a Councillor and Mayor of
Williamstown in Victoria. Michael
married and became a successful Auctioneer and General Commission Agent. Although he died young (at 37) he left his
family able to afford to educate his three sons in Ireland. All returned to Australia – Virgil became
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Queensland, John was a successful and
much – loved doctor in Gympie, Queensland, and Frank (who married another Plunkett
cousin) was an MLC and Minister for Justice in Queensland. These brothers sired a large number of lawyers
and doctors. One of Frank’s grandsons
was Sir Noel Plunkett Power, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in
the years immediately preceding the handover to China.
My direct ancestors,
Bridget and her parents Peter and Mary, had less distinguished lives. Peter and Mary lived in Paddington, in
Sydney. These days it’s a pricey
address, but in the late 19th century it was a very poor part of
town. They had two more children, James
and Ellen in the years following their arrival. When Mary died at the age of
55, “after a long and painful illness, which she bore with Christian fortitude”*4,
she was living with her daughter, Bridget and her husband, George Morgan. Peter seems then to have moved in with their
daughter Annie – he was there when he died of “apoplexy” in 1868.
There are thousands of
Power and McKeone descendants in Australia, and I have found several cousins during
the course of my research. We are
scattered across the country and are able to share our stories through the
internet. Some of us – not me, sadly –
have been back to Elphin, where it all began.
*1The Commander of
the Crusader was Captain Inglas, an experienced seaman. The Surgeon was Dr
Birdcastle. There were 42 crew members and 283 immigrants. On the voyage there
were 13 deaths, including 3 from smallpox. The Crusader arrived in Sydney on
15th January, 1840.
*2 Maria Charlotte
McDonough was also a Plunkett cousin
*3 For a full
account of this, I highly recommend “Murder at Myall Creek” by Mark Tedeschi
QC. Tedeschi is a huge admirer of
Plunkett’s contribution to Australian life.
*4 Death notice SMH
27 Feb 1863
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