With the tens of thousands of refugees seeking safety in countries other than their own, we might reflect on the European settlers of NZ in the 1800s and their (comparatively) less traumatic but often torrid, journeys to this land of hope.

There are a number of books written on the subject. Some describe the voyage over of these immigrants and the lives they'd led in their lands of birth but also how they settled into this new country.

No Simple Passage : The journey of the London to New Zealand, 1849 – a ship of hope  describes the London’s journey to New Zealand in 1849. The author has created a diary of the trip her ancestor, Rebecca Remington, and fellow migrants made using, among other sources, the journals of the ship’s captain and that of a cabin passenger. She describes the England they escaped, the perils of the trip and follows the lives of the families on-board when they are in New Zealand.

Divided into different sections we have Dr Lancaster’s Daily Sick List:


with another section on particular case studies


and a nice extra;  brief family histories of those London immigrants.


The above resources are just tasters of what we have in our collections at Auckland Libraries. They tell the stories of these hardy travellers who sought refuge for whatever reason in an unknown country, millions of miles from their own.

Bridget

Family History involves a great deal of detective work which is both enjoyable and frustrating.

One tends to examine documents for the tiniest details and then put them to one side or, if you are really serious about your family research, file them away in the relevant family file.  Every so often they are pulled out to examine again and a real gem that hasn’t been noted previously may emerge.

Auckland Libraries have the most amazing Digital Library which includes library subscriptions to sites that I intend to personally subscribe to just as soon as I win lotto.  The websites that I use most often in the Digital Library are Ancestry and Findmypast but there are many others to be enjoyed.

In my search for Richard George Collins’ immigration to New Zealand circa 1880, several digital databases have provided the evidence I need to back up my hunches.

Long ago I downloaded a passenger list from Findmypast which I thought could possibly be “my” Richard:

Although the age was correct there were a couple of problems. Richard was never known as “Richard Collins” - from babyhood he had used his second name, George, as his given name.

The other problem was that the ship sailed a week after George’s wedding day and no wife was listed on the passenger list although it was clear from other records that she was in New Zealand at the end of that year.

So I filed away the passenger list because there was no conclusive proof that Richard Collins (with no second name recorded) travelling 3rd class from Plymouth England to Sydney Australia on the Chimborazo in January 1880 was my Richard George Collins.  Sigh.

Sometime later I thought it might be a good plan to see if there was anything about my man in Papers Past.  This website has digitised New Zealand newspapers covering the years 1839-1945.

My search turned up an article in the Auckland Star on 5 October 1897 with an interesting title – “Railway Disaster, the inquest”.  To my surprise Richard George Collins was a witness to a fatal accident between a train and a horse drawn bus. But it was the evidence of another witness which made my mind race:

Where had I seen the name “Maples” before?  Ah yes, that document that I had tucked away a few years back; the Chimborazo passenger list of 1880.  Just who was that person just above Richard Collins on the list?  It was Alfred Maples, the father of the bystander in the report above and also the uncle of Richard George Collins.  All of a sudden a document which had been a “maybe” suddenly became a “definite”.

Alfred William Maples senior, George’s companion on the Chimborazo was escaping England and deserting his wife in order to start a new life and a new family in Australia.  Young George was travelling with his uncle.

I was surprised to discover, when I went into another database in our Digital Library that the steamer Chimborazo’s voyage had been shorter than I thought it would be.  The British Newspaper Archive  is another site which is accessible free in the library, containing newspapers from 1603 to the present day.

The Chimborazo had a dreadful trip starting out on 08 February and striking a storm on 10 February.  Many newspapers in England, Australia and even New Zealand reported the tragedy that occurred – this account is from the Staffordshire Sentinel on 11 February:

After undergoing a refit she set off on her journey again on 16 February. One can only imagine how much courage it took for the passengers to re-board.



The following is a clip from the wonderfully named “Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate”:

Regardless of its false start, the steamer arrived in Sydney on 04 April having dropped passengers in Melbourne on the way – a total of just 47 days.  Not bad for 1880!

The Auckland Libraries Digital Library gives you lots of different options for “fleshing out” your ancestors without the need for expensive subscriptions.  Why not have a look?

Deborah

I have recently been revising my talk on how to locate passenger lists for those of our ancestors who have just appeared in records here in New Zealand.

During the course of this preparation I have been using a variety of material available here in the library (Auckland Central) and one in particular I feel is worth mentioning as for a small work it is so full of useful information.

The booklet covers the period 1840-1970 and covers a lot of ground in its 64 pages.

On the back of the booklet Christine explains its purpose:

I am often asked how to find when an ancestor came to New Zealand. This set me off on an exploratory path a number of years ago putting together the different schemes, periods and times to find out just who the people were coming at the different time periods and why.
This booklet is designed to make readers think beyond the square to see what else was happening in the world that may have led people to New Zealand.

So, what sort of things are included?  The usual suspects of NZ Company, gold rushes, Waikato and Taranaki military settlers (Land Wars), assisted immigrants etc.  However, it is the sections on the settlement of particular places in New Zealand and schemes that brought immigrants to this country that are invaluable.  For instance, those who arrived due to the cotton famine in the UK, Small Farmers with Capital, Brogden’s Navvies, Moravian Settlement, Sedgwick Boys just to name a few.

I was particularly interested to read about Brogden’s Navvies. I now think this may be how relatives of my 2x Great Grandfather arrived and this has given me food for thought about further possible records to explore.

The booklet is indexed with a bibliography of material additional to those mentioned in the text.

Anybody who is interested in immigration records into New Zealand should find something of interest in this short work.  Perhaps worth considering as a Christmas present for the family historian in your family?

Migration to New Zealand: a guide for family history researchers by Christine Clement (published by Unlock the past, 2014, Australia)

Marie