The ship they sailed on was the Star of India, a full rigged sailing ship which left Plymouth for the hundred day trip with a complement of three hundred and fifty eight passengers under the command of Captain Holloway. The Star of India was an iron hulled vessel of 1318 tonnes (gross) with a length of 181 feet and a beam of 50 feet, built by MacDonald and Arnold at Ramsay on the Isle of Man in 1863. Earlier owners had named the vessel Euterpe, and it had been used to carry passengers and cargo between Great Britain and New Zealand Later it sailed under the American flag supporting salmon canneries in Alaska, and is still afloat in San Diego where it has been preserved as a maritime museum. An examination of the ship's manifest shows that she left England on 18 March 1871. She carried two cabin passengers - 355 adults steerage and 10 infants. English migrants on this voyage included 56 males and 67 females; Scottish migrants numbered 21 males and 12 females; while the Irish numbered 65 males and 104 females. It should be noted that the surname Lynas was spelt Lynass in the passenger manifest. Of interest is the fact that the captain had to guarantee that there were sufficient provisions on board to last 358 passengers 140 days. James' occupation on the ship's manifest was shown as mechanic. Their New Home In 1871 James and his family would have seen a remarkable mix of buildings in the city of Melbourne. There were many one and two storeyed buildings and a smattering of those with three or more floors. Gas lamps illuminated the streets at night, though very poorly by today's standards. Footpaths were paved, some with Scottish flagstones brought out as ballast, others with Bluestone or even Castlemaine slate. Road surfaces were covered with crushed bluestone spread over well packed stones and gravel. Horse drawn cabs and omnibuses (some of which carried fifteen passengers at a time) were the main form of public transport, as cable trams were still a decade into the future. The 'bone shaker' bicycle and its successor, the penny farthing, were both to be seen on the streets, with riders having to warn the public of their approach by blowing a bugle (bicycle bells not yet having been invented). And of course there was a remarkable array of private carriages, together with horse drawn vehicles for the carriage of goods. Earlier and less spectacular forms of both St Paul's and Flinders Street Station were in position as was Mooney's Princes Bridge Hotel (later to become Young and Jackson's). The Princes Bridge built in 1850 was still in use pending its demolition in 1884 to make way for a new bridge. The GPO had been built but with only two storeys, the third being added ten years later. The Royal Arcade connected Little Collins and Bourke streets even then being adorned by the still extant giants, Gog and Magog. The Block Arcade was a popular meeting place and the old St James Cathedral, now opposite Flagstaff Gardens, was still in its original location at the corner of Little Collins and William Streets. Tennis was just about on its way to becoming a popular pastime while the first Australian cricket team (all aboriginals, incidentally) to visit England had returned home. Australian Rules Football had not yet developed, the football then being played described as a mixture of rugby, soccer, gaelic football and rafferty's rules with umpires using knuckle dusters to enforce their decisions. Notable visitors to Melbourne were not uncommon and in 1871 Anthony Trollope at the conclusion of his visit said of Melbourne that it was 'the undoubted capital city, not only of Victoria, Australia but of all Australia'. No doubt James and his family would have been impressed and somewhat reassured by the signs of civilisation that confronted them particularly as it as a city with a population soon to approach half a million. Reassured or not they took up residence in Emerald Hill, the present day South Melbourne. Emerald Hill At that time Emerald Hill seems to have been a large raised piece of land separated from Melbourne itself by swamps but giving an impression, when viewed from a distance, of brilliant green vegetation, hence the name Emerald Hill. It was created a borough in 1855, a town in 1872 and a city in 1883 - at which point it changed its name to South Melbourne and included Albert Park and Middle Park. In those days it was much favoured as a residential area and had grids of streets lined with weatherboard houses and connected to the city by rail. It too had gaslights in the streets and was on its way to becoming the most populous of the suburbs housing some ten per cent of Melbourne's male factory workers. Employment was provided by bonded stores, timber yards, sawmills and joineries, ropeworks, brass and iron foundries, engineering works and the largest gasometer in the world. No doubt James found employment in one or other of these enterprises. Other features included the First National School (1854), the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage established by the Sisters of Mercy, four primary schools and the South Melbourne market which opened in 1867. It would seem that James had arrived at the right time. The colony was growing apace. Jobs would have been fairly easy to obtain. Precisely where James worked at what we do not know but we do know were he lived much of the time. Into the 1880's good times continued and even when the rest of Australia was beset by recession, Victoria, Australia continued to prosper. 1887 and 1888 were boom years and perhaps it was this economic buoyancy that led James to go into a grocer's shop in Balaclava Road, Caulfield. The shop was on the north side of Balaclava Road at the T junction formed by Kambrook Road and would have been on the North West corner. By the time the economic bubble burst in Victoria, Australia, James was dead. Economic Climate How Ann Jane managed with her young family is not yet know. Of course the older children - including «i»Sara about twenty, William eighteen, and Charles sixteen - would all have been working at this stage and, if living at home, contributing significantly to the household income. It is most likely, however, that the three eldest had already left home and were looking after themselves. Nonetheless, the dependent children included Martha eleven, John Arthur ten, Abina eight and Frederick two. What happened to the grocer's shop in 1889 and where did Ann Jane live from 1890 onwards? The economic climate between 1890 and 1894 was marked by the Marine Officer's Association strike followed by the Shearer's strike and a major depression. Hogan describes the period as one of 'stagnation, depression and despair'. Many residents of Melbourne left, twelve banking houses closed their doors, overseas loans were called in, insolvencies were running at over a thousand a year, soup kitchens had to be organised and the poor were in desperate straits. Perhaps it was these economic conditions that took Sara to Hamilton and William to Broken Hill. Charles, it would seem was around for much longer before eventually going to South Africa. Towards the end of this period of economic distress Edith and John Arthur would no doubt have left school and obtained whatever employment was available. John Arthur at least would most likely have had to move to country areas to find work. Did Ann Jane's brother George come to the help of the family? Did Ann Jane share houses with other people thus accounting for her not always being in the Sands and Macs directories? Is there anyone in the family who has any recollections of these times through talking with Ann Jane who lived until 1933?