Around 24,000 women convicts were transported to Australia, with some 12,500 sent to Van Diemen’s Land of which 78 have been identified as coming from Cornwall, England. General details for Cornish convicts are attached. Transportation ceased to Van Diemen’s Land in 1853. A brief profile on each Cornish V.D.L. convict, including their lives after arrival, […]
Tag: History
Newman Williatt (1797-1832) & family
Amongst Longford’s early residents were Newman Williatt and his wife Eliza and one child, they moved there from Launceston, Tasmania around 1829. Newman Williatt and Eliza Towers married in Launceston on 29 July 1824. While living in Launceston, the birth of two children have been located, a girl, Janet Elizabeth, born on 1 October 1825 […]
Fires in the Bishopsbourne Area (1839 – 1982)
1839 – Minette, Liffey River – Colonial Times, 13 August 1839 House and out-buildings burnt to the ground. Cause unknown. Loss near £500. 1852 – Ross ……. Little Hampton – Colonial Times, Fri. 7 May 1852 Burnt, a stack of hay containing 80 tons. The fire occurred on Sunday morning last between two and three […]
PAGE: John Thomas & Rose Alice Rebecca (nee McGiveron)
John Thomas Page (9/7/1872 – 20/6/1961) Our grandfather, John Thomas Page, was born in the Bracknell area on 9 July 1872, the second child and son in an eventual family of fourteen children born to Robert and Ellen Page. Of the 14 children, there were 11 boys and three girls. The first child, William was […]
William Pritchard Weston (1804-1888)
Settler Farmer, Churchman, Artist, Justice of the Peace, Anti-transportationist, Municipal Councillor and Tasmanian Premier. When William Pritchard Weston, the son of John Weston a surgeon of London, left England in 1823 aboard the “Adrian”, he was 19 years of age and was carrying a letter of recommendation from a friend at the Colonial Office, London […]
Lieutenant George Briscoe Skardon RN (1786-1850)
Ship’s Officer RN, Settler Farmer, Magistrate, Justice of the Peace and Churchman. On the 10 April 1826, George Briscoe Skardon, at the age of 40 years, received a location of 2,000 acres at Norfolk Plains about five miles west from Longford, Tasmania and three miles east from the later township of Bishopsbourne, with the area […]
Melvyn George & Evelyn Badcock (nee Richardson)
Grandfather, or Dad Dad as he was sometimes known by the grandchildren, was born at “Pleasant Hills”, Glenore, Tasmania on the 18 July 1879, the eighth child of an eventual family of 12 children born to William and Susan Badcock. His parents were mixed farmers and they, William and Susan, were to remain at the […]
Longford Methodist Circuit(s)
For 42 years there were two Methodist Circuits centred on Longford. The first was established by the Wesleyan Society in 1848 with the second by the Primitive Methodist Connextion, commencing in 1860. They would operate separately till joining together in 1902 forming the Methodist Church of Australasia. A further change occurred in 1976 with the […]
William Gwillim WALKER Family & Vron Property
William Gwillim Walker and family became associated with what is now known as Bishopsbourne, when on 7 February 1825 he received a Grant of 2 000 acres in the area and which property he named “Vron” after a family farm in Wales. The locality here at the time was identified as Liffey River, Norfolk Plains, […]
Bishopsbourne: William Webb & Family
The family had a strong connection with Bishopsbourne and were involved with erecting buildings, the establishment and operating the Bush Inn hotel, farming and the postal service. The patriarch of the family was William Webb who was born on 20 December 1792 at Nether-Stowey, Somerset, England. He married Ann Maria Webber (1789-1860) on 30 June […]