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The mystery of
Samuel Plimsoll
rock they are engraved or painted on, their
exact location, any iconography used, the
names of people and ships, even which way
an inscription is faced. Other data that will
be added include shipping, migration and
health records and cross-references to other
collections. Using NSW State Archives and
overseas records, the researchers will search
for personal stories and details about the
people named in the stone messages.
“Probably what we will do is drill down
deeply on some of the really important
inscriptions or if we are just starting to
catch wind of there being something
significant about a family or an individual,
or a particular story then we will follow
those leads,” says Bashford.
The project will also look at the
station in the context of other quarantine
institutions – specifically, Grosse Ile in
Quebec, Angel Island in San Francisco
Bay and Ellis Island in New York – so
it can be understood as part of a global
history of migration. Bashford and Clarke
say this project, for the first time, makes
explicit the international connections
that bind together diverse quarantine and
immigration stations.
“The station is on the National Heritage
list. I think down the track there is a case for
World Heritage nomination for quarantine
sites,” says Clarke, “not just in Australia but
internationally ... there are serial heritage
nominations and already some that go
across national boundaries.”
Who was John Howie and why did he
carve his name on two memorial
messages in the sandstone at the
Quarantine Station? Among the many
stories University of Sydney historians
and archaeologists hope to uncover at the
station is that of the crew and passengers
of the Samuel Plimsoll, who arrived in
Sydney from Plymouth on 11 June, 1879.
An inscription at the Station, on a rock
face about three metres above the ground,
commemorates the ship’s arrival. The rock
has been professionally dressed and hewn
to produce a plaque, on which a star and
the word ‘SHIP’ is deeply etched into the
stone, followed by ‘Samuel Plimsoll’ and in
descending order the name of the captain,
officers and the matron. It records 462
emigrants surviving the journey, and the
ship’s arrival date. At the bottom is the one
name spelt out in full – John Howie.
Nearby, a second inscription, plainer
and closer to the ground but of similar
engraving technique, also bears the name
John Howie, along with four other names,
including Mary Howie and A. Howie but
no other information.
It raises untold questions for Clarke
and Bashford to solve. Is this the Scottish
stone mason John Howie who sailed to
Sydney with his wife Agnes, and who lost
their infant son William on the journey?
Then there is the prospect that Mary
may have been John’s sister. And if it
is the same John Howie, why has he
not recorded his wife’s name in full or
memorialised his dead son? Another
puzzle relates to whether the two other
people were friends or fellow Scotsmen.
And why did John feel the need to create
one elaborate and formal inscription, and a
second much more personal one?
SAM mar 2013 17