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| Unley SA |
Unley is a suburb of Adelaide located just south of the CBD.
It is here that the first of the Angells to arrive in Australia from England on the "Duke of Wellington" which arrived at Port Adelaide on 7th November 1849, took up residence. The family left England on the 18th July 1849.
It is also here that four members of the family were born.
Little is known about the family during this period in time and I am still researching this aspect in the hope that I can find some information that can be posted here that will give some insight into who the family was in the 1850's.
I believe that John and Mary came to Australia as free settlers* under the British Governments assisted passage scheme.
We know that our Great Grandfather John was born in Unley as were his brothers and sisters.
When and why John left Unley remains a mystery and how he came to be in the Menindie/Wilcannia district also remains a mystery. It may be he was in search of riches with the discovery of Gold in NSW at around that time. Did he travel alone or did any other member of the family travel with him? If not did he travel with a friend? The challenge to me is to solve these mysteries.
John and Mary Angell
A John Angell and his wife Mary (nee Hawkins) were married 21.11.1845. Whilst in England they had one child named William who was christened on 1.4.1849 but died and was buried on 23.6.1849. They left England on 18.7.1849 and arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 7.11.1849. With them they had a child named Henry Angell who was aged 3 and it seems that Mary gave birth to John William just days after arriving in Australia, possibly on or about 9.11.1849
Henry was not their child but I believe he was the son of a William Angell and his wife Rachel (nee Hawkins) - Mary's sister. They had two children, a Ruth and a Henry, who was christened 8.9.1846. Although I have no details of their possible deaths, I think it most likely that William, Rachel and Ruth died leaving Henry an orphan and that he was taken to Australia by John and Mary who would have been his aunt and uncle as well as being John's half brother.
Immigrants - *THE FREE SETTLERS
Not too many people wanted to come to Australia in the early days because life was very hard. The sort of people who were needed (farmers, carpenters, builders, etc) didn't want to leave the comforts of home for the hardships of this new land. During the early 1800's as poverty and unemployment increased in Britain the British government tried to encourage people to come to Australia by agreeing to pay for their passage (this was called "assisted passage"). These settlers were called "Free Settlers". Life on board these ships was squalid. Disease in these cramped surroundings was always a problem.
Some of these new settlers laid claim to vast tracts of land on which they started grazing cattle and sheep. They came to be called "Squatters". Over time some of these families became very wealthy and respectable. Their land holdings called "stations" in some cases are bigger than some countries.
The journey of John William Angell began in Unley and I am trying to determine his exact movements from when he left and headed to NSW and via what route and method of transport he used.
A lot of townships that we know of today did not exist at the time of his travels so working out the route is not that easy.
I have mapped a possible route from Adelaide through the Barossa Valley to Bendigo in Victoria and later onto Wentworth in NSW and then upstream following the Darling River either by horse back or River Boat to Menindie where first mention of any records of him since leaving his home in Unley come to light.
For more information on the City of Unley visit www.unley.sa.gov.au
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