Lynas Migration to Australia

James Lynas

In 1871 Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 34 years and widowed for ten while Gladstone, whom she apparently detested, was Prime Minister during the first of the four occasions he was to hold that office. Ireland was still an integral part of the United Kingdom; the Irish potato famine in which a million people died of starvation was only twenty years in the past (although its consequences were still very much present); and the Irish Home Rule Movement was in its infancy. This also was the year in which my great grandfather, James Lynas, left his home in Ireland, together with his wife Ann Jane, their two children Sara Elizabeth and William James, as emigrants seeding a new life in Australia. They were never to see Ireland again.

I have a particular interest in James as no one in the family to whom I have so far spoken had any knowledge of him, or even knew that he had come to Australia.

The Voyage

Star of India

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.

Collins Street, looking west from Spring Street in 1871. Stately homes can still be found in the east end.

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 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 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, James was dead.

Economic Climate

How Ann Jane managed with her young family is not yet know. Of course the older children - including 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?

James’ Background

James was born in Lisburn which from the map looks about ten or twelve miles from Belfast in the year 1842. The year of his birth was somewhat difficult to establish because Ann Jane reported his age quite erroneously on some of the birth certificates of her children. She was out by as much as seven years on some of them, so that for some time it was believed that James was born in 1849. His death certificate however confirms an earlier birth year of 1842. His parents were Charles, an engineer, and Sarah whose maiden name was Ireland. He married Ann Jane Smith in Ballinsayyart on 2 August 1868. Ballinsayyart, as far as I can see, is in the deep south of Ireland. Other records suggest that Ann Smith came from Tyrone and that the marriage was celebrated in that county. This clearly is a discrepancy that needs further research.

Little is known about James other than his living in Hanover Street, Fitzroy briefly, in Hanna Street, Emerald Hill for a number of years and in Caulfield around 1887 - 1889. The move to Caulfield was occasioned by him opening or taking over a grocer’s shop in Balaclava Road. What then happened is not clear, but by the middle of 1889 he was in Foster, Victoria without the family - and it was in Foster that he died on 28 July 1889, aged forty seven. The cause of death was dysentery and exhaustion and he was buried at Foster Cemetery on 29 July. So there is the question as to how he came to be in Foster without any other member of the family? Indeed, had he ‘left’ the family? There is also a further ‘mystery’ and that concerns the identity of the informant Ewen McMillan who is described as ‘friend, present at death’.

The particular issue that makes the informant interesting is the extent and accuracy of the information he provided on the very day or, at most, the day after James died. He gave accurate information about the names and ages of all nine children including those who died in infancy or childhood. He provided information about James’ parents that I have not seen on any other documents. He knew how long James had been in Australia, his correct age and details about his marriage. Only the closest of close friends would have such information. The more likely alternative is that James knew he was dying and provided that information in anticipation of his death.

One might also wonder how the news got back to Ann Jane and the rest of the family. No doubt there was no possibility of his body being brought back to Melbourne and equally little chance of anyone going to be with him in his last illness. The officiating minister was the Wesleyan Reverend T Collins and the attending Doctor J. Augustus Hayden.

Ann Jane Lynas

Ann Jane, Wife and Mother

Much more must be known about Ann Jane, who was born in Tyrone in 1848 (although I have no documentary evidence to substantiate that fact) and who died in 1933 at the age of eighty six. She died on 4 April, at 59 Martin Street Northcote and her usual place of residence was shown as 153 Beaconsfield Parade Northcote which suggests she lived there with her youngest son Frederick. She had suffered a cerebral haemorrhage for three weeks and then paralysis glottis in the final days. No information is given about her parents except that their family name was Smith. Seven of her children are listed, their names presumably having been provided by her son Frederick; the names of the deceased children do not appear. Dr TC Reeves signed the death certificate and she was buried in the Strathallan Cemetery coincidentally on my fifth birthday.

Children of Ann and James

With James she had nine children. Sara Elizabeth, born in 1869, and William James, born in 1871. Sara and William were both born in Ireland. The rest, born at Hanna Street in Emerald Hill are Charles George, born in 1872, Edith Martha, born in 1878, John Arthur, born in 1879, and Abina Maude, born in 1882. Two other children were also born at Emerald Hill, but they died. They are Anne Jane Smith, born 1875, died 1878; Samuel Robert, born and died in 1885. A final child was born at Caulfield in 1887 - Frederick Victor.