The tragic little burial ground Moreton Bay never knew it had [PART II]

Sketch of ships anchored of Cape Moreton, ca. 1865

(Courtesy National Library of Australia)

So...St. Helena Island, & a forgotten little cemetery lost to history??

Two of five immigrant burials identified on St. Helena Island occurred in 1862, detailed in Belinda's blog "3 graves that can't be found," on The St. Helena Island Community - that of Margaret Killan, followed by Joseph Bradshaw.  To date, these burials seemingly represented two unassociated immigrants, from two unassociated vessels, supposedly buried a fortnight apart in unassociated graves, somewhere on the expanse of St. Helena Island.

So, let's examine Margaret Killian first, before digging a little deeper via Joseph Bradshaw...

1862 heralded a massive ramping-up of immigrant vessels plying their trade to Australia, with a specific focus on Queensland - with Moreton Bay's emancipation from New South Wales only three years previously in 1859, & land suitable for residential, commercial & agricultural purposes up for the taking, assisted immigration schemes were in full swing.  With unrest still prevailing in Ireland,  the Queensland Immigration Society was soon established, in the hopes of both driving interest in, & facilitating, assisted immigration to Brisbane.  Two bounty vessels arranged by the Queensland Immigration Society, to ply their human trade to Brisbane, were the Erin-go-Bragh & the Chatsworth.

The Erin-go-Bragh was, for all intensive purposes, a rickety old ship, on board which a bumper cargo of immigrants were bound for Australian shores.  According to historian A. G. Davies, in a reading to the Historical Society of Queensland in March 1935, "The vessel is said to have been formerly named the "Florida," and apparently her name was changed with a complimentary intention, as a tribute to the fact that she was carrying Irish immigrants."  Complimentary name aside, the ship certainly wasn't immune to the ravages of communicable disease, & within days of leaving port scarlatina & typhoid fever broke out amongst the immigrants housed below her decks. Over an incredibly protracted 174 day voyage to Brisbane, via a brief stop-over in Hobart, 54 men, women & children passed away, literally decimating whole families who'd boarded in the hopes of a better life south of the equator.  On arrival off Cape Moreton on the 31st of July 1862, the Health Officer Dr. Hobbs immediately placed the ship in quarantine at anchor, due to the large loss of life experienced during the voyage.  Within days, according to The Courier, the Governor declared:

"In order to facilitate measures to be adopted for the fumigation of the vessel, and the washing of linen and other clothing used during the voyage, as well as to afford to the passengers the means of necessary exercise and change, his Excellency has been pleased to establish a temporary Quarantine Station at the Island of St. Helena, in Moreton Bay.  During the detention of the vessel and her passengers under surveillance, the island in question will be appropriated to their sole use, and all persons are strictly cautioned not to attempt to land on such island, or in an way to establish communication with the people on shore or on board the vessel, unless with the sanction, in writing, of the Government, for which application must be made at this office."

It would herald the first official occasion St. Helena Island had been used as a quarantine ground for a questionable immigrant vessel - but it would not be the last.  By Wednesday the 6th of August 1862, The Courier reported that the Erin-go-Bragh's immigrants were, "availing themselves of the Government regulation, whereby they are permitted to exercise themselves and breathe the fresh air on the Island of St. Helena.  So far as we can gather, there does not appear at present to be any infectious disease on board the vessel, although a woman died on Monday, and was buried on the same day on the same island.  The complaint, however, was one of a pulmonary nature."  And, with this report, we have confirmation of an immigrant burial on St. Helena Island - that of Margaret Killian.  Despite the communicable diseases running rampant on board the Erin-go-Bragh, Margaret passed away due to "consumption" - an event specifically recorded in an electric telegraph from Lytton, to A. W. Manning, the Principal Colonial Under Secretary.  It was suspected the malady had resulted from the birth, & subsequent death a few weeks previously, of her 2 day old son aboard the ship whilst still at sea.

Interestingly, The Courier's report above mentioning Margaret's death & burial the same day, Monday the 4th August 1862, seems to contradict her previously accepted date of death - that of the 3rd August 1862, as listed on the Rootsweb website.  Unfortunately, Queensland's BDM historical scans covering the deaths on board the Erin-go-Bragh have been previously unavailable...however, after requests made to the Department by the Haunts of Brisbane early last week, the historical scans of the Erin-go-Bragh's deaths have now been very kindly scanned & added for online access, including that of Margaret Killian.  Unfortunately, however, there is no official date registered against her death:

Margaret Killian's record as per the Marine Register of Deaths held by Queensland's
BDM Registry, covering those who passed away on board the Erin-go-Bragh.

Within days of Margaret's burial on St. Helena Island, the Erin-go-Bragh's sister Queensland Immigration Society ship, the Chatsworth, maneuvered into position off Cape Moreton, awaiting a pilot on the evening of the 6th of August 1862.  And, it is with the Chatsworth's arrival at Moreton Bay, that St. Helena Island's non-prison burial record cracks wide open!

On arrival off Cape Moreton from the Ports of Liverpool & Cork, the Chatsworth had also experienced a tragic run to Australia, albeit with a death toll far less than that of the Erin-go-Bragh.   Once out on the open ocean, measles broke out predominantly amongst the young children on board, accounting for a dozen deaths at sea.  On arrival in Moreton Bay, the ship was inspected by Dr. Hobbs, as had the Erin-go-Bragh a week earlier, & just like the Erin-go-Bragh, the Chatsworth was placed into immediate quarantine at anchor due to cases of measles still being present amongst the remaining children.  And, it's at this point, that we need to refer specifically to the following excerpt, taken directly from the British Register of Births, Deaths & Marriages at Sea, specifically documenting deaths that occurred on board the Chatsworth.  As you'll see, the excerpt below contains eight names & dates of death, keeping in mind that the Chatsworth arrived in Moreton Bay on the evening of the 6th of August 1862: 

An anecdotal account, printed in The Courier's Shipping Intelligence on Friday the 8th of August & supposedly taken from an Officer aboard the steamer Samson, reported that a child from the Chatsworth had been buried on Moreton Island on Wednesday the 6th of August - this was likely 4 year old Ellen Tracey, who'd died from dysentery on the 5th of August as the ship approached Cape Moreton (not in the above list).  However, Mathew Mathewson, a 2 year old boy who died on the 9th of August from measles whilst the vessel was still in quarantine at anchor off Cape Moreton, was likely also interred somewhere on Moreton.  On the same day, The Courier noted that:

What we do know, however, is that by the 12th of August at the very latest, the Chatsworth had been moved on to St. Helena Island for quarantine, just as the Erin-go-Bragh had been just over a week earlier.  We know this due to a letter that was penned to Dr. Hobbs from the ship's surgeon, Charles J. Moran, dated the 12th of August.  In his correspondence, the surgeon stated that, "I beg leave to forward you my report of the present state of health of this ship.  There are only two cases of measles & in these the rash is disappearing.  The health of the ship in all other respects is good.  The greater number of the passengers have been landed on St. Helena Island & their clothes been washed.  The ship has also been fumigated."  Despite continued public assurances printed in The Courier that all traces of contagious disease had been purged from the Chatsworth's passengers, & the ship would likely be released from quarantine at any moment, the reality on board & amongst those camped on St. Helena was anything but assured - likely resulting from clothing & possessions being unpacked from trunks that had remained sealed since Liverpool, typhoid fever had broken out amongst some adult passengers.

On the 18th August, a letter was forwarded to the mainland from the Chatsworth, penned by James Jeffrey, an Admiralty Surveyor in the Royal Navy, & one of the many detained passengers.  In his correspondence, he noted, "About 50 of the passengers are landed on the Island of St. Helena, two children and one man died on the island last week, and one woman has been landed this morning, some of the passengers refuse to land."   Referring back to our excerpt of deaths aboard the Chatsworth by date, we can deduce these deaths correlate to Daniel Drew, a 2½ year old boy who died from convulsions on the 14th of August, Ellen Scotland, a 2 year old girl who died from measles on the 16th of August, & Joseph Bradshaw, a man who died from typhoid fever on the 17th of August (Joseph had previously been identified by Belinda on The St. Helena Island Community in her article "3 graves that can't be found").  The author of the above letter seemingly failed to realise, in amidst the confusion that was no doubt raging on the Island, that Joseph Bradshaw's 2 year old son Edwin had also passed away on the 17th of August from dysentery - we can only surmise that his little body was buried with that of his father, & was hence mistaken as a single grave by the concerned passenger.

On the day after the above letter was penned, on the 19th of August, little John Drew (younger brother of Daniel, who'd died on the 14th of August), passed away from measles.  And, by the 22nd of August, a further two deaths would occur - that of Eliza Blake from typhoid fever, as well as her infant son George, from measles.  These would be the final two deaths linked to St. Helena Island, as the Chatsworth with passengers was finally relocated to the new quarantine grounds at "Dunage" (present-day Dunwich, on Stradbroke Island) on the 23rd of August.  The Courier would report the same on that day, in addition to a veiled clue at the death toll incurred whilst the vessel had lay at anchor off St. Helena - "[W]e understand an arrangement has been made for towing over the Chatsworth from St. Helena to the permanent quarantine ground at Dunage.  Whilst on this subject, we may remark that it has been considered a matter of surprise that no proclamation has been issued by the Government."  And, with that, the Chatsworth's link to St. Helena was severed - one last death would occur amongst the ship's passengers prior to release from quarantine, that of William Williamson from typhoid fever on the 3rd of September, however this burial would become a part of Stradbroke Island's history as a quarantine ground.

So, up until last week, the above had been purely deduced from the British Register of Births, Deaths & Marriages at Sea, as the historical images of these seven deaths whilst the Chatsworth was anchored at St. Helena were not available through the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages (similar to Margaret Killian's).  However, on request from the Haunts of Brisbane, the Department was again kind enough to scan the pages referring to to Chatsworth's deaths, which are now readily available via their online search platform...& it's through these documents that we can undeniably confirm that at least one death resulted in a burial on St. Helena Island - that of Elizabeth Blake, on the 23rd of August just as the Chatsworth was preparing to tow across to Dunwich:

For clarity's sake, the full historical record of all seven deaths, courtesy of Queensland Births, Deaths & Marriages, is as follows:

The official record above clarifies & confirms the following names:

Daniel Drew - 14th of August 1862 - 2 years, 6 months, from convulsions & measles
Mary Isabella Scotland - 16th of August 1862 - 1 year, 10 months, from measles
Edwin Bradshaw - 17th of August 1862 - 2 years, from dysentery & general debility
Joseph Bradshaw - 17th of August 1862 - 29 years, from typhoid fever
John Charles Drew - 19th of August 1862 - 10 months, from measles
Elizabeth Blake - 22nd of August 1862 - 33 years, from typhoid fever
George Blake - 22nd August 1862 - 2 years, 8 months, from measles

So, we now know that the Chatsworth arrived in Moreton Bay on the 6th of August, was placed in quarantine on St. Helena Island by the 12th of August, & was finally towed to the permanent quarantine ground at Dunwich on the 23rd of August.  During this time, eight passengers died - one prior to the ship moving to St. Helena, with likely burial occurring on Moreton Island, & a further seven whilst the ship was quarantined at St. Helena.  Of these seven, we can confirm that one adult female was buried on St. Helena due to the BDM records, & a further two children & one adult male were interred according to correspondence penned by a passenger whilst also in quarantine on the Island.  However, I think it's very safe to say that all seven passengers who died whilst in quarantine on St. Helena Island, are buried on St. Helena Island.  Which, taking into account one previous burial from the Erin-go-Bragh less than a week before the Chatsworth's passengers' arrival on the Island, raises one massive historical conundrum!

Humans are creatures of absolute habit, especially when it comes to matters of faith & the way in which we commemorate the departed.  With two ships offloading into the same quarantine ground, & a steady string of eight deaths & subsequent burials over the space of a little more than two weeks, it's highly probable that all interments took place one after another, alongside one another, in an area of the island not too distant from the quarantine camp - keeping in mind that most deaths were children, & all those who died had remaining family still in quarantine, the graves would likely have been within short walking distance to the camp and were likely marked, even if crudely.  So, now the real research work begins, in trying to narrow down the area used for quarantine, & in turn the most likely surrounding areas that would best accommodate a small immigrant cemetery of seven to eight interments.  The next steps in potentially physically locating these previously-forgotten souls will not be an easy one, but where there's a will there's definitely a way.  And, at the very least, we've succeeded in identifying five lost little children, & a mother, after almost 160 years.

The tragic little burial ground Moreton Bay never knew it had... [PART I]

"Entrance to Moreton Bay" - sketch, circa 1860.

(Courtesy National Library of Australia)

It's sometimes funny how the mind of an historical archaeologist works...forever on the lookout for the frustratingly missing fragment of historical information, that will finally provide closure on a previously incomplete body of work...or that perpetual drive - deep down - to provide a voice to those who have passed before us, or have slipped below the historical record's radar due to a perceived lack of fame or fortune, or who've ultimately been lost or completely erased from history due to the ravages of time.  But...every so often, the stars align & a welcome series of current events (in contrast to those frustrating historical ones frequently puzzled over by researchers) transpire to provide the necessary kick-in-the-backside for tackling something truly monumental.

Welcome all to the Haunts of Brisbane, & the very first article to grace the blog site in six long years - virtually to the day!

For those who've followed the Haunts of Brisbane over the years, you're likely aware of the many projects upon which we've already embarked (via the blogsite, the facebook page & the YouTube channel), in the hope of not only promoting a wider understanding of Brisbane's lesser-known history, but also via platforms that are publicly available for all & completely free to access (despite the sometimes considerable behind-the-scenes expenses incurred to research & produce content).  With the advent of 2019, the Haunts of Brisbane has also been lucky enough to partner with the Friends of South Brisbane Cemetery & the Boggo Road Gaol Historical Society to launch a schedule of special tours through both Toowong & South Brisbane Cemeteries - from which every cent of tour ticketing is rolled back into cemetery projects.  2019 is fast becoming a definitive year for the Haunts of Brisbane, with a ramping-up of activity & an opportunity to hand back to the residents of the wider Brisbane region, in the form of our shared & forgotten history.  The following article (in two parts), details a component of a much wider current project (personally funded, to date), which not only furthers our interpretation of a well-known historical asset located in Moreton Bay, but additionally fulfills the tenets of historical archaeology - "Providing voice to the voiceless."

So, let's digress back to the 1980's...

One of my fondest childhood memories, given my overwhelming desire to become an archaeologist "when I grew up," was a pending primary school trip across Moreton Bay to the mystical isle of St. Helena.  Classroom talk at school centered around the island's history, in-so-much as there'd been some "convicts" there, & it was a terrible place...complete with a fleet of man-eating sharks trained to attack anyone who tried to escape, & a massive cannon (presumably to ward off a pending pirate attack, we kids surmised!).   However, in the immediate lead-up to the excursion, my mother imparted a genealogical clanger - my great-great-great grandmother & her newborn child were buried somewhere on the man-eating-shark pirate convict island, & I should question the tour guide as to whether their whereabouts were known.  Irish immigrants, who'd boarded a ship in search of a better life in the southern hemisphere, they'd both passed away at sea & had been (I'd interpreted) unscrupulously dumped on the island in an attempt to cover up their deaths.  Their immigrant ship was apparently on the $5 note, & the burial site had alluded any genealogical research to date.  I still distinctly remember dropping my St. Helena grenade in front of the tour guide on the fateful day, complete with the stunned look I received in reply - my g-g-g grandmother's location would remain a mystery!

The ship depicted in the top right corner of the 1967

 Coombs/Randall $5 note is, in fact, the Waverley, not

my great-great-great grandparent's vessel.

Jump forward almost a decade to 1993.  Now in high school, school-endorsed work experience reared its opportunistic head - as friends approached the local fast food outlets, I submitted an application with Queensland Parks & Wildlife, due to a very timely media segment detailing archaeological work taking place on the island at the time.   To my actual shock, I was accepted, & traveled to St. Helena to live on-island for a week - whilst it transpired that all archaeological works had ended just prior to my arrival, the week was spent working away on constructing cattle fences, mixing & applying sacrificial render to the remaining building facades, wrestling with kevlar chaps whilst maneuvering whipper-snippers in the long grass, & generally exploring every accessible inch of the island in search of my ancestors' graves...to no avail.  During my university studies, two additional opportunities arose in the late 1990's to spend a further two week-long stints on the island, whilst undertaking archaeological assemblages analyses...however, any further attempt to shed any amount of light on my g-g-g grandmother's final resting place still alluded me.

With the eventual advent of the Haunts of Brisbane blog, & a renewed interest in producing historical content, I delved a little further into my g-g-g grandmother's story in August 2012, as a part of a wider article on a murder at Downfall Creek (current day Lutwyche).  The foul deed, committed in the stables area of the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in 1889, indirectly involved my great great grandparents - one of whom was Michael Goodwin, the son of my mystery g-g-g grandmother, buried on St. Helena Island.  As a child, he'd boarded an immigrant vessel at Gravesend in England on the 18th of February 1852, with his father, pregnant mother & nine siblings.  Hailing from the port village of Foynes, within Ireland's County of Limerick, the family was likely rattled by the well-documented "Great Famine," which had run roughshod over swathes of western Ireland in the years leading up to 1849-1850.   As word spread that English agents were advertising "bounty" schemes (assisted immigration), ofttimes with a promise of land in the new colonies, the family apparently heeded the call alongside a number of their fellow countrymen, & made their way to England & a new life in the southern colonies - boarding a ship by the name of the Maria Somes (Maria Soames), a vessel that had cut her teeth many times over on the Australia run, as a notorious convict transport.

After 116 days at sea, the Maria Somes finally came in sight of Mt. Warning & the promise of a new start in the Colony of New South Wales (Queensland's separation would not occur for another seven years, in 1859).  On sailing a further three days in search of the entrance to Moreton Bay around Cape Moreton, the ship's Captain realised they'd horribly overshot their mark, & were now sailing past Sandy Cape on Frazer Island.  In a panic at the oversight, & the fear of falling foul on reefs in the region, the Maria Somes went about in the hope of a quick return to Moreton Bay...unfortunately, the weather would dictate otherwise.  No sooner had a reverse tack been made, than the ship was hit with a downward blast, "strong enough to blow the masts out of the ship."  After days of stormy weather & high seas, the Maria Somes finally anchored off Moreton Island....& it was here, after almost a week in delays & just short of landfall, that my heavily pregnant great-great-great grandmother Johanna went into labour.

Despite the best efforts of the ship's skilled surgeon, both Johanna & her baby died on board the Maria Somes, within sight of the Glasshouse Mountains & the mouth of the Brisbane River.  Before the ship was boarded & inspected by the necessary authorities for granting pratique, Johanna & her newborn child were hastily buried on the shores of St. Helena Island - then nothing more than a wooded island on the approach to the free settlement of Moreton Bay, pre-dating the St. Helena Penal Settlement by fifteen years.  The whole sad event, culminating at St. Helena Island & documented by the Reverend Henry Berkeley Jones, was published in the book, Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853:

"There we interred a poor emigrant and her infant child, who died just as she had completed her voyage, leaving her husband the guardian of ten surviving children - a heavy charge and drawback to this poor man, who was a peaceable, well conducted Irishman."

"St. Helena, Moreton Bay, 20th July 1853"

(Courtesy National Library of Australia)

And thus, the earliest identifiable European burial on St. Helena took place...an event that, short of a few vague 1852 newspaper articles & a brief mention in the above book, may well have slipped by unnoticed & unrecorded.  Johanna's death & that of her child, occurring prior to landing on terra firma, went unrecorded in the official death registry.  But for the space of two short years, their tragic passing may have at least rated a mention - from 1854 onwards, all births, death & marriages at sea were required to be recorded in ships' logs, with a further requirement that collected records would then be passed on to the Registrar General of Shipping & Seamen on reaching the next British Port, after which records were then to be forwarded to the General Register Office in England.  Johanna & her child were not so lucky in 1852 - their deaths went virtually unnoticed beyond the living memories of the family they left behind to settle at Moreton Bay.   

A few years after the Haunts of Brisbane article briefly touching on Johanna's story was uploaded, another fantastic historically-focused blog took form in late 2017.  Published by Belinda, a very skilled fellow historian & storyteller, The St. Helena Island Community (& associated facebook page) published another great article identifying three immigrant burials on St. Helena Island, in April 2018.  Entitled "3 graves that can't be found,"  Belinda identified three individuals buried on St. Helena Island prior to the opening of the Penal Settlement, two being immigrants from immigrant vessels entering Moreton Bay in 1862, and a third being the wife of the Settlement's early building supervisor in 1865, prior to landing of prisoners on the island.  On reaching out to add my g-g-g grandmother & her child to the list, Belinda followed up with an additional article entitled, "5 graves that can't be found."  With that article, the total number of burials pre-dating St. Helena Island's conversion to a Prison Settlement has rested.  Furthermore, given the sporadic unofficial record of burials - a double burial in 1852, 2 somewhat unassociated burials in 1862, & a further burial in 1865 - one could imagine that these individuals were interred in a hap-hazard manner, in isolation, at various unknown locations around the island's perimeter.

However...what if St. Helena Island's shores hold more than just five immigrant burials??  And...what if those burials likely rest within a forgotten little cemetery that has been completely lost to history, totally unrecorded, still to be located below the Island's sandy surface??  The Haunts of Brisbane's recent research cracks wide the above two questions, & markedly expands the interpretation of St. Helena Island's history!

[Click for Part II here]