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8 CHAPTER 2. SECOND GENERATION 1814 - 1849 no indication as to who employed him at Bettystown. John and family come to Australia With the deteriorating economic situation in Ireland, John took steps in 1849 to emigrate, with his wife and two younger sisters. His choice of a new homeland was Australia but there is neither evidence nor family tradition to explain this strange choice, except the possibility that previous emigrants to Australia, the Joyce family from County Cork Ireland, may have influenced the choice of the Belcher family. Irish emigration other than to North America or Great Britain - for example to Australia - was negligible at that date. The passage was expensive, and no significant Irish community which would encourage friends and relations to come out, as yet existed in that colony, other than the convict exiles in New South Wales and Tasmania. Moreover, anti-Irish prejudice was strong among the Australian colonists. The only official emigration, of even minor importance, from Ireland to Australia during the famine years was that of female orphans from Irish workhouses, paid for by the British Government. Nevertheless, by the 1850s, passages from Dublin and Cork to Plymouth were provided by the British Government for intending emigrants. It is possible that this practice arose from the earlier availability of a supply of intending migrants. In any case, John Belcher with his wife Elizabeth and two sisters Eliza and Sarah crossed the Irish sea and embarked for Australia on the ship Courier. They had probablybeenrecruitedinIreland,whereEmigrationAgentswereseekingoutsuitable settlers for assisted passages to Australia, financed by the sale of Crown Land in this country. They left Liverpool on Monday May 28th 1849 calling at Plymouth on Thursday 7th June 1849 to pick up more emigrants. The ship was rather larger than most emigrant ships to Australia, having a displacement of 1061 tons, so the voyage should have been more comfortable than most. On this her first voyage to Australia under Captain Gustav O. Melling, she brought 384 immigrants to Australia - 382 embarked with 5 births and 3 deaths during the voyage. The immigrants were under the care of the Surgeon Superintendent, Dr Alfred Bowden. According to the notice of arrival of the vessel in Melbourne in the Melbourne newspaper The Argus, the voyage of 96 days appears to have been uneventful with no newsworthy incidents taking place. However, history tells a different tale, and it would appear that the two young girls, Sarah and Eliza were very lucky to have had protectors in the persons of their brother and sister-in-law on that voyage.
9 Trouble aboard The Courier The day after the Courier arrived in Melbourne, the 12th September 1849, John Patterson, the Immigration Agent, together with two other citizens of Victoria, constituted as the Immigration Board for Port Philip, came on board the ship, in accordance with the usual practice to receive a report of the Master and surgeon on the voyage, and to enquire into the conditions of the voyage and the general health of the passengers. They made an official report to the Superintendent of Immigration which was very favourable towards the ship’s management. This was important, since a gratuity was due to the Master, Surgeon Superintendent, Schoolmaster and Matron on the ship, if the report was satisfactory. The abstract of the report stated that the vessel was in a superior, state of cleanliness, the immigrants were healthy, the provisions and water appeared to have been of good quality, and in sufficient quantity, although there were a few complaints made about the ship’s biscuit. The ship had had a very favourable passage, being only 96 days from Plymouth to Melbourne, no infectious disease had occurred on board, ventilation and cleaning had been well attended to and the immigrants were reported as having been well conducted on the voyage. However some complaints were made by certain single women as to the want of attention by the matron, and by some young men that the Schoolmaster (husband of the Matron) had neglected his duties, whereby some young men who could neither read nor write, had no opportunities of attending school during the voyage. The Board stated that they had made an enquiry into the truth of the complaints, and statements were made to the Board by the Schoolmaster and Matron of “irregularities” during the voyage, which the board considered were not of a serious nature. They were more concerned that one of the single young women appeared to be mentally deficient, and another far advanced in pregnancy. In their full report, they added that the Surgeon Superintendent had claimed that the failure of the Schoolmaster and Matron to effectively carry out their duties, was partlyduetothatfactthattheyhadbeenseparatelyappointedbytheCommissioners for Immigration and were not under his immediate orders, but he admitted that he had not read their letters of appointment, nor had he read “the printed instructions”, always issued by the Commissioners to Surgeon Superintendents when joining an emigrant vessel in the United Kingdom, only becoming aware of them on arrival at Hobson’s Bay. A late complaint had been received from five single female immigrants, who may have been diseased or pregnant, that they had been seduced by certain parties on board the ship, and the Board agreed that some sailors had been involved
Page 1 and 2: THE FAMILY OF JAMES BELCHER OF WATE
Page 3 and 4: Preface Neither a Genealogy nor a F
Page 5 and 6: A Belcher Time Line First Generatio
Page 7 and 8: Contents Preface A Belcher Time Lin
Page 9 and 10: Chapter 1 First generation 1792 - 1
Page 11 and 12: Figure 1.2: Map of Ireland in the 1
Page 13 and 14: 5 family of Belcher’s in Waterfor
Page 15: Chapter 2 Second generation 1814 -
Page 19 and 20: 11 confine themselves for significa
Page 21 and 22: 13 At half past seven next morning,
Page 23 and 24: 15 Figure 2.2: Mary Anne’s daught
Page 25 and 26: 17 Figure 2.4: Eliza Joyce 160 John
Page 27 and 28: 19 respectively. John Joyce died on
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 3 Third generation 1850 - 1
Page 31 and 32: John Furlong is recorded on the Rat
Page 33 and 34: Figure 3.3: Mount Alexander, Vaugha
Page 35 and 36: 27 Figure 3.5: William Belcher and
Page 37 and 38: was then currently on a three year
Page 39 and 40: 31 Figure 3.6: “Rothesay”, the
Page 41 and 42: 33 Figure 3.8: Mary Wheatley née B
Page 43 and 44: Chapter 4 Fourth generation 1869 -
Page 45 and 46: 37 Figure 4.2: Fox family at North
Page 47 and 48: 39 brothers and sister Ada. He farm
Page 49 and 50: 41 Figure 4.5: Ada Clarice Belcher,
Page 51 and 52: Figure 4.6: Mary Alice “Allie”
Page 53 and 54: 45 England Catechism and attending
Page 55 and 56: 47 for him and his brother Jack who
Page 57 and 58: 49 Figure 4.8: William Fleming Belc
Page 59 and 60: 51 rooms of weatherboard constructi
Page 61 and 62: 53 Figure 4.9: John “Jack” Belc
Page 63 and 64: 55 Figure 4.10: Lucy Wheatley, daug
Page 65 and 66: Appendix A Search for a family The
Page 67 and 68:
59 So this collection of informatio
Page 69 and 70:
61 William Samuel Belcher/Jane MC 1
Page 71 and 72:
Appendix B Registrar certificates D
Page 73 and 74:
65 Death certificate of John Belche
Page 75 and 76:
Marriage certificate of John Belche
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69 This Marriage was solemnized bet
Page 79 and 80:
Appendix C The story of the flood T
Page 81 and 82:
73 the river. It was probably Belch
Page 83 and 84:
Appendix D The coroner’s inquest
Page 85 and 86:
77 The Deponent on his oath said as
Page 87 and 88:
Appendix E The Courier Passenger li
Page 89 and 90:
Appendix F Obituaries Mrs. Ellen Be
Page 91 and 92:
Appendix G Family Trees Figure G.1:
Page 93 and 94:
Figure G.3: James Belcher and Mary
Page 95 and 96:
Figure G.5: Thomas Floyd and Mary M
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Figure G.11: Thomas Floyd and Mary
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Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Figure G.17: James Warner and Anna
Page 109 and 110:
Figure G.19: James Warner and Anna
Page 111 and 112:
Figure G.21: John Ambrose and Sarah
Page 113 and 114:
Figure G.23: Henry Floyd and Margar
Page 115 and 116:
Figure G.25: John Furlong and Sarah
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Figure G.27: John Furlong and Sarah
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Figure G.29: William Belcher and El
Page 121 and 122:
Figure G.31: William Belcher and El
Page 123 and 124:
Figure G.33: Richard Wheatley and M
Page 125 and 126:
Figure G.35: William Joyce and Ann
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Figure G.41: John Porta and Anne Jo
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Figure G.51: John Joyce and Emily W
Page 143 and 144:
Figure G.53: Brian O’Reilly and M
Page 145 and 146:
Figure G.55: George West and Mary J
Page 147 and 148:
139 Figure G.57: George West and Ma
Page 149 and 150:
Figure G.60: George Cupit and Alice
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143 Figure G.62: Charles Cupit and
Page 153 and 154:
Appendix H Acknowledgements Many de
Page 155:
Bibliography [1] Cannon, Michael,
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