The early settlers..........

[Guest Guest75]

Does anyone ever think about the early European settlers here and how hard it was for them??

 

I find it quite amazing and humbling to think of how hard it was for them to settle here.

 

We've visited the Maritime Museum at Port Adelaide and seen the conditions on the ships.Also visited Prospect pioneer village Museum near Kuitpo

http://www.communitywebs.org/ProspectHi ... museum.htm.

Boy,did they have it tough in those days,some did come across with the promise of land but have you seen full bushland before it is cleared.Worth visiting both places.

 

I take my hat off to them.

 

Very humbling considering the forum chatter now about "will I have enough with $******" ,"My air conditioning is stuffed"or "can I get a job"

 

Don't get me wrong,I'm a fully paid up capitalist and enjoy all the pleasures /comforts and technology that today brings.

 

 

Thinking of the early settlers does bring things into perspective,what would they say to us now???

 

We have a lot to thank them for.

 

Just in a contemplative mood today. :notworthy:

[Guest Django]

Its beyond me how anyone got over there without forums like this. Or Google come to think of it.

 

Pete

[Guest Libby1971]

OOOOOHHHHHHHH Tyke, you really haven't had your Frosties this morning, have you?

 

I don't know if I am used to this kind of conversation but yes, you are right. We could learn a great deal if we took the time to find out more about the conditions of the early settlers.

 

I have to confess that I have done very little research into this area - YET - but it is my project for the next school hols with the kids. I sit here and look out over the reserve (my poor ducks are almost wading, not swimming across their pond) and I cannot imagine the hardship of having to build a home, find water, etc.

 

You are right, the whole thought is very humbling. Many of course had no choice in coming to Aus but others did. Here we are on an internet forum getting information and pictures about it and yet they had no way of knowing what they were coming to.

 

And when they got here they wore too many layers! My youngest said she is sick of being hot at school - and she wishes she could wear just her pants to go to school!

 

Immense gratitude to those early settlers.

 

Libby

[Guest Guest75]

OOOOOHHHHHHHH Tyke, you really haven't had your Frosties this morning, have you?

 

 

Hope you don't think I'm being grouchy - far from it.

 

It just might put some threads a little more in perspective.

 

Both Mrs Tyke and I often mention the early settlers and try and put ourselves back into that time.Can you imagine coping with the heat then??

 

Both of us are fairly interested in social history and how this country was made.:)

[Guest Libby1971]

Oh no, not being grouchy at all.

 

Just different from your usual threads but not in a bad way. So sorry if you thought that is what I was meaning.

 

History is a big topic of ours too but I don't know enough about Oz to say anything meaningful - honestly!

 

A contemplative, reflective, thought for the day is good to get the little grey cells moving in the sunshine. Thanks Tyke for giving us all something to really think about.

 

Libby

[Guest Guest75]

:D:notworthy:

 

See...............I can actually come across as intelligent at times

[Guest Libby1971]

I never doubted it for a second

 

Libby

[Guest soggy]

 

Both Mrs Tyke and I often mention the early settlers and try and put ourselves back into that time.Can you imagine coping with the heat then??.:)

 

It must have been even worse than coping with the heat in OAA.

 

Simon

[Guest happy-jools]

What a very interesting thought, as i read this at 5.14am (cant sleep).

 

Its amazing how lost we all think we would be without internet, mobile phones and other technology that people feel they cant live without.

 

I often wonder myself what life would have been like for those people coming over way before these things were invented, and such a positive thought for us thinking "I hope it all works out". Life is what we make it!

 

I moved to USA for a year in 1992, way before I had internet etc. I was an Au-pair living with a family I had never met, and had wrote to twice before moving. It was a big risk, or feels like it looking back. Yeah we had photos etc, but I couldnt chat to mam and dad on MSN or Skype or anything - good old fashioned letters or phone calls were our means of communication. I guess what im trying to say is the world is a smaller place, and live life to the full whatever life throws at you (not dismissing things may be hard at times, but it makes you a stronger person I believe).

 

[Rachiegarlo]

Emigration to Adelaide in the 70s......

 

We had an interview in Australia House in London where we had a chance to ask questions. We had a picture book showing touristy pics of Adelaide. My dad came out here first with 1 of my brothers and 1 of my sisters. They stayed in the migrant hostel out at Pennington. I came out with my mother by ship a 3 week journey through the suez canal and across the Indian ocean - 10 days with no land., the 3 other older kids stayed in England to finish up their A levels etc.

 

My mum and I got off the ship at Melbourne and were taken with the other migrants to a hostel there, fed and those of us who were going on to Adelaide were taken to the train station where we caught the then overnight train to Adelaide ( The Overland) we were given a snack box with food and drink for the journey and we had to wear these pink badges to show we were migrants heading to Adelaide. Ours were only half pink cos my dad was meeting us and we werent going to the hostel.

 

On the ship I went to the school classes they held while we crossed the Indian ocean. here we learnt some good aussie songs, learnt the money, the native animals etc. There were a lot of dutch kids who couldn't speak much English. I won a colouring competition which gave me a bank account with Westpac,(called Bank of NSW then) with $2 in it. ...quite a bit of money in those days.... the banks like to get their customers young even now with school banking offered by a couple of the banks.

 

On saturday the shops and petrol stations closed at 12 and didn't open until Monday. Post offices closed at 3. Phone calls back to England were incredibly expensive and you had to apply to have international dialling. My parents would allow us each 5 mins on the phone, timed, when we called England. Letters were the only way and they took about 2 weeks to get there. Then again local calls were and still are the 1 flat rate for however long you talked.

 

My mother rang up the Education dept to ask about schools for me and of course was told that all the schools were good. It took a long time to network and find out where people sent their kids, other than the local schools.

 

Summers were hot and long. School didn't start until Feb and finished mid Dec. You got 8 weeks, 9 if you went to privates. When it rained the roads would steam after. A lot of people didn't have aircon. Most cars didn't have it either and the seats were vinyl.

 

School was dead easy, I ended up skipping yr 7 and going from yr 6 into High school.

Meat was so cheap and so we ate lots, same with exotic fruits.

 

Anyways we didn't have to be real pioneers....

[Guest Libby1971]

What a wonderful post!

 

I am so touched that you shared that... Thank you

 

Libby

[Guest caoimhe]

Really lovely to read Rachiegarlo, thank you. Makes me feel very humble and puts a lot of my worries into perspective. We do have a lot to be thankful for, with technology today it makes the move that bit easier

[Guest Martin and Val]

Henry Darling 1825-1909

Henry Darling was born the second child and eldest son of Benjamin and Sarah Darling. He was born in Worcester, England on 7th December 1825. Little is known of Henry’s early life other than he was one of 12 children and his father was a cordwainer (shoemaker).

In the 1841 census, Henry aged 15 was recorded as an apprentice tailor and lived with his parents in Diglis Street, Worcester.

In 1843 Henry married Rosina Orsmond in the parish Church of St George, Hanover Square, London, England.

Four and a half years after their marriage Henry and Rosina together with their two young daughters Grace aged 3 ½ and Ida aged 1 ¾ set sail for Australia on the SS Sibella departing London on the 6th April 1848 and arriving in Port Adelaide, south Australia on the 16th July 1848.

Their first child born in Australia was a son George born 6 months after their arrival. Henry and rosina had eight children, the last pregnancy being twins.

In 1856 the Pauperism List of Wives on Relief – due to husbands at the Gold Diggings, has record number 304 as Rosina Darling, so Henry must have tried his hand at Gold prospecting. It would seem he may have been successful judging by the amount of land he purchased in later years.

Henry purchased a parcel of land number 31 at Medindie in 1873 for the sum of £250, the land fronted Main North Road and was approximately five acres in area. The memorial for the mortgage of the land states a sum of £50 was to be expended on a dwelling within six months of the purchase date. This could have been the house Henry and Rosina lived in on Main North Road. The Walkerville rate assessment records 1876-1877 for Main North Road, Medindie has record number 249 as Henry Darling owning a four room cottage and sheds on ½ acres with rate value of £12, the next assessment record 250 as Benjamin Darling 2 ½ acres of fenced land rate value £2, record 248 as Three room cottage owned by Henry Darling and occupied by George Darling rate value £8.

The land was re-mortgaged in 1877 for the sum of £260 with the proviso it was to be repaid by 19th January 1881. The money received for this mortgage was probably used to subdivide the land and build the four houses in "Darling Street" which were named Grace, Ida, Dalia and Rose. Three houses are still standing today (2008).

 

I Hope you found this story of early migrants interesting, Henry migrated to Adelaide not knowing what the future held for him and his family. This year 160 years later a family get together will be held in Adelaide by many of Henry's descendants. Last year we were lucky enough to attend the 2007 gathering along with over 60 others.

This shows that if he made it all those years ago I'm certain we can, although we may not be lucky enough to have a street named after us. We do have the name, so can always pretend.

Martin and Val