JUDITH​ HOLMAN-CROOK

THOMAS HOLMAN and ESTHER ANNE TREGONING

 

Summary of Thomas Holman who is  my 2nd Grandfather born on the 4th Feb 1827 in Crowan, Cornwall, England, his parents were Francis and Elizabeth Sleeman. Thomas married Esther Ann Tregoning in Gwennap, Crowan on the 3rd Jul 1848 and died on the 25th Jun 1861 in Castlemaine, Victoria.

 

Summary of Esther Ann Tregoning who is my 2nd great Grandmother born 1828, Gwennap, baptised 1st Aug 1928, Gwennap, Cornwall, died 10th Jan 1883 Moonlight Flat, Castlemaine, Victoria, her parents were John & Elizabeth Chegwin.

 

Thomas and Esther sailed  on the barque Rajah in 1849 and landed in Adelaide full of hopes and dreams. During the sailing their first child Elizabeth Ann was born. Thomas was 27 and Esther was 20 and there was before them.  The barque Rajah, 332 tons, sailed by Captain Charles Ferguson, left London 30 August then Plymouth on the 9 September 1848 and landed at Port Adelaide on the 6th January 1849 in the heat of our summer.

 

[The London Times July 18, 1848

FOR PORT ADELAIDE,(South Australia), a regular trader, will meet with great dispatch, the fine, fast sailing British-built ship RAJAH, A1, burden 500 tons, CHARLES FERGUSON, Commander; lying in the London Docks. This ship has a full poop with great height between decks, and affords superior accommodation for cabin, intermediate, and steerage passengers. the dietaries will be upon the more liberal scale, and every attention paid to ensure comfort. For freight or passage apply to Messrs. E. I. Wheeler and Co. colonial agents, Winchester House, Old Broad-street; or to Devitt and Moore, 9 Butter-street.]

 

[South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Wednesday 10 January 1849

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. ARRIVED.

Saturday, January 6—The barque Rajah, 332 tons, Ferguson, master, from London and Plymouth. Passengers — Rev. John M. Strongman and Mrs Strongman, Wm, Rayne, Esq., Mrs Rayne, and two children: John Shrewdwick, Esq , and John Day, Esq , Surgeon Superintendent in the cabin. In the steerage — Robt Samuel Baxter, Charlotte Bowles, Stephen Brooks, Thomas Burgan wife and three children, John Bickley wife and child, Matilda   Bates, John Button wife and five children. Elizabeth Ben   nets, Daniel Custion, John Collins, Elizabeth Crispin, Thomas Ellis wife and infant, Martha Fickess, Edward Fickess, Mary Fickess, Wm. Fitzgerald, Amos Foster, Sarah Foster, Caroline Fox, John George wife and two children. R. Griffin wife and two children, Samuel Hoskyn and wife, Richard Hawke and wife, Thomas Holman wife and infant, Stephen Harvey and wife.]

 

While Thomas and Esther settled in Burra Burra, Thomas's younger brother Francis Henry and wife Eliza settled in NSW.

 

The life in Burra Burra was at first very strange for the small family. There was a shortage of housing and a lot of the Cornish miners had no choice than to dig a home in the side of the river. They had dirt floors and walls and had cloth for their doors.