I was asked to post following by a poster who kept running into our naughty language filter
A few weeks ago I tripped over a two-post thread in the archives here dating from February 2001. It was originated by a Sue Smith, and was asking for details of Manxmen among passengers on two ships, the "Vixen" and the "Prince Arthur", sailing for Melbourne from Peel and Liverpool respectively in January, 1853. It attracted one response, regarding the "Vixen", from Frances Coakley, and I wanted to pass on the information that Inward Passenger Lists for Assisted and Unassisted Migrants to Melbourne (where I live) can be viewed on the Victorian Public Record Office website at www.prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-23
I found this thread while searching for information on the "Prince Arthur" (actually looking for a picture of the ship) in pursuit of a particular Irish migrant ... and finding myself pretty frustrated in the process. The ship arrived in Melbourne in May of 1853, and I came across an advertisement that was posted in the press here in June (I think) of that year by its Captain, Charles C Sutherland, advertising for £700 worth of work to be performed on the ship to make it seaworthy in time to sail for Calcutta (I think it was) in September of that year. Later I came across a press report from the Singapore Straits Times suggesting that it had foundered near there on that voyage, but with a tone suggesting that it had been recovered. Don't know what became of it from there, but the water becomes very muddied (to coin a phrase) by another vessel of the same name that was built soon afterwards, and which was probably the one that was wrecked on the Washington (state) coast of the western United States.
In case it helps at all, here is the Prince Arthur's arrival notice from the "Shipping Intelligence" column of the Melbourne "Argus" newspaper of 7th May, 1853, p 4
* ARRIVED*
May 6.
-- Prince Arthur, ship, 1200 tons, C. C. Sutherland, from Liverpool January 24th.
Passengers -- cabin: Mr. and Mrs. Greene and child, Mr. and Mrs. Halliday, Messrs. Coates, F. Coates, Thos. C. Coates, W. Atkinson, E. Weldon,
Sudlow, Derdin, Fletcher, Bateman, J. Bateman, Watkins, M Gregor, C. Coates, Esq., Surgeon and five hundred and twenty
in the intermediate and steerage.
H. A Smith and Co, agents.
My Irish immigrant was an early doctor in the old gold-mining township of Walhalla, about 100 miles east of Melbourne. In 1999 I created (and continue to maintain) a website for the town's Heritage and Development League, where I've been a member since 1996, at www.walhalla.org.au
Among other things, I built a database of people who lived in the town between 1862, when vast amounts of gold were discovered there (our sesquicentennial will be observed in December), and about 1915, when the last of the mines closed down. In that time, I feel that there were maybe 10,000 residents' names that I needed to know about, and one way or another, I've managed to collect some 8,250 of them so far. And entirely by accident, I just happened to be looking at one of them the night before last, ... and noticed that he was a Manxman: William Callow (born Isle of Man, 1823) was one of Walhalla's earliest storekeepers, one of its leading builders, and possibly the town's first undertaker. Here are the notes that I've managed to collect on him to date:
According to the Government Gazette, on 3rd July 1866, as William Callow of Stringer's Creek (the original name for Walhalla) he bought 100 x £5 shares in South Black Diamond Gold Mining Co. at Stringer's Creek (G/G 1559 p.1442), for a total investment in 2007 dollars of $46,870.00
He was prominent in early Walhalla's civic affairs, and was included (for example) in a meeting of householders objecting to the [premature] establishment of a municipality that was held in early October, 1870.
According to Yolanda Reynolds in "Walhalla Graveyard to Cemetery" (2007), p 112, "The cemetery archives show that in August 1879, Manx born William CALLOW was the first person to perform the task of se xton, his fee of 10/- paid for digging the grave of three year old William Henry NOCK." The year of his birth was originally thought to be 1821, based on her statement that he died in September, 1891, "at the age of 70 years" (p 113). However, in the 1888 directory, "Victoria and Its Metropolis", the following entry can be found: "Callow, William, Walhalla, was born in the Isle of Man, England, in 1823, and learned his trade of builder in that place and in Liverpool. After working at it for eight years, he came to Victoria in 1853, was employed at his trade two years, and then went to the diggings until 1863, when he proceeded to the Dunstan goldfield, New Zealand. After that he kept a store at Cowarrarra for three years, and returning to Victoria with £1000, went to Grant, and thence to Walhalla where he engaged in building and contracting. The Anglican and Wesleyan Churches, Oddfellows' hall, State School, Mechanics' Institute, and Empire and Star Hotels were erected by him, as were also seven shops and a dwelling-house, the destruction of which by fire entailed on him a loss of £1100. Mr Callow lives on his own property, which occupies 90 feet of frontage to the main street. He was married in 1870 to Miss Corkill, and has one child."
In 1866, on their arrival in Walhalla, William Callow is recorded as paying £350 for Lot 12, Crown Allotment 17. His only child, also named William, was born in 1844 [presumably also in the Isle of Man]. In 1874, William Jr's profession was listed as a watchmaker, of Walhalla, when he also bought a modest holding in a local gold-mine. He subsequently moved to Melbourne and worked as a Customs officer and night-watchman; he fell into a river and drowned at the age of 52 in August, 1896.
Again according to Yolanda Reynolds (p 112), "he is credited with the construction of an array of striking landmarks including the Oddfellows' Hall, Mechanics Institute, Star Hotel, Empire Hotel, Wesleyan Church, Anglican Church and the State School. By 1872, he held the honourable position of secretary to the Miners' Benefit Association." She says that he lived "on his freehold property that spanned 90 feet of prime frontage, along the south end of the Main Street. In 1884, when [his wife] Ellen was charged with stealing firewood valued at 3/- from the Long Tunnel Gold Mine Company yard, she was described as a laundress, an occupation and act that betrays their apparent social eminence. At the height of his affluence, he also owned one residential and seven commercial tenements, all of which were wiped out in the catastrophic fires of November, 1888, a staggering loss of £1100 (well over $100,000 in 2004 dollars).
Ill health added to his misfortune. Circa 1889, when incapacitated with paralysis, his infirmity was spent with his only son in Princes Street, Carlton. Left in rented accommodation at Walhalla, his elderly wife faced an undignified battle of her own when landlord William RUTTER procured an eviction notice in 1890, forcing her expulsion from his premises."
Hope this can help someone -- if, as stated, he "came to Victoria in 1853", then it seems quite likely to me that he could even have been one of the passengers on the Prince Arthur or the Vixen!
(Oh, and if by any chance anyone /does/ know of a picture anywhere of the "Prince Arthur", you'd earn my undying gratitude if I could have a copy ...).
regards,
Bernard Bolch