Thread by @stampden

In my collection; 1843 #letter from #Australia to #Adare, #Ireland

"Dear Henry ... I sailed from Cork on the 11th of November 1839 and landed in Sidney 13th February 1840. We had a very pleasant voyage nothing particular occurred on the way but the death of 3 children."
#history

The "pleasant voyage" was aboard the 567-ton 'Adam Lodge', built and launched in 1833. The author of the letter, writing 3 years after the event, makes two small errors in his recollection. The ship arrived 14 Feb (not 13th) with only 2 infant deaths on board (not 3).

A regular feature in the colonial Australian newspapers, was Shipping Intelligence, detailing the arrival and departure of ships; Australia's only link to the rest of the world. Here (17 Feb 1840) is reported the arrival of the Adam Lodge, with 272 government emigrants aboard.

The author of this letter was James Piper (28). He and his wife, Margaret (22), are listed in the passenger list, as Farmer and Farmer's Servant respectively, both of County Limerick. Also detailed are who employed the emigrants, their salary, and deaths & births on the voyage.

A record of James & Margaret Piper from the "Index to bounty immigrants arriving in N.S.W., 1828-1842". Margaret was accompanied by a large number of her own family on the voyage, including her widowed mother, Grace (56), who was living with the Pipers when he wrote this letter.

On arrival in Australia, Piper writes that they were sent to Government barracks and supported until engaged by a settler. Between 1837 & the mid-1840s, the barracks were timber huts on Bent Street opposite Phillip Street.

After 6 weeks in Government barracks, Piper was finally engaged by fellow Irishman, John McKinlay, as a store keeper at £60 a year and rations, going "against my people inlaws consent as the blacks were so troublesome up the country they did not wish that I should go".

Piper wrote..

"We were here 12 months before we saw the face of a white woman but they are getting people here now. We live on a township which is called Cassilis, there is not another store within 50 miles of us."

He had to take his children 180 miles to have them christened.

Cassilis was originally a depot of mounted police with a lock up & court house erected in 1835, and HQ of the border police from 1836 to 1839. It took its name from the property “Cassilis” on which it was situated. The township was developed on the bordering property, Dalkeith.

When Piper arrived at Cassilis, his employer, John McKinlay, was postmaster, but was often away leaving Piper in charge.

"We keep the Post Office here. I dispatch and receive the post from Sydney four times a week for which he allows me £20 a year extra besides my salary."

The Post Office at Cassilis was likely part of the court building. McKinlay, & his successor, were both appointed clerks of the local bench. Piper wrote:

"...we have court held here once in the week and we see from 8 to 10 men tied up and flogged, they get from 50 to 70 lashes."

Trivia: Prior to his appointment as postmaster, McKinlay's immediate predecessor, Mary Ann Rutledge, is notable as being Australia’s first paid postmistress.

McKinlay died 19 Dec 1847, in Cassilis, in the arms of his nephew, John O'Regan, after contracting influenza. He was 42 years of age. O'Regan thereafter took the role of postmaster at Cassilis.

"...there was a man here from Port Philip who told me there was a Brother of mine there."

In 1841, James Piper's brother, William, emigrated and joined James in Cassilis, marrying Margaret's sister, Anne. In 1862, James converted William's store into the Cassilis Hotel.

Before this thread gets too long... James died at Cassilis, 28 Dec 1865, aged 53. His wife, Margaret, died 18 Aug 1866, aged 54. Her mother, Grace, died 16 Oct 1866. James & Margaret had 3 children, John Francis, Elizabeth, & George. Henry Ball was James' brother-in-law.

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