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This website is primarily concerned with the early years of Australian, and in particular Tasmanian history, from the perspective of our ancestral families and their descendants. For the principle families see the Books page. There is more about the website and the site moderators on the About Us page. If you're looking for something specific use the search function, and if you wish to reproduce material from this website see the Copyright Guidelines page for further information.

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Family Life and Bushrangers

The year after their arrival Samuel and Jane celebrated the birth of another child and named him William Atkins. William was born on 22 January 1843 and baptized on 26 February 1843. For the baptism registration Samuel is listed as a labourer at Circular Head, employed by the V.D.L. Co.1

Samuel Atkins’ debit account with the V.D.L. Company for 1843 is available and from the ledger it can be seen that Samuel maintained various accounts to cover dairy produce, postage and general stores. The postage may have been applied by the company for the delivery of stores, or Samuel may have been maintaining some contact with his family in England. If the latter is true no letters have survived to confirm the fact. His pay was docked because he was off from work on one occasion. On the Credit side of the ledger Samuel Atkins was paid £2-1’8 every month for the same period amounting to £25.2

1. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1843/375 and AOT Baptism Registration NS 884/14 no. 28
2. AOT Van Diemen’s Land Company Records VDL XX

The VDL Company and the Emu

The Atkins family arrived in Van Diemen’s Land aboard the 'Emu' on 19 December 1841. Samuel Atkins was described as a servant of the Van Diemen's Land (V.D.L.) Company, and with his wife Jane Ayres, and their four children, had moved from their 'native place' of Kenninghall, Norfolk, England, to the new colonies. Accompanying them was James Gibson, the replacement of Edward Curr as the V.D.L. Company Agent or Manager.

In a V.D.L. Company document dated 22 July 1841, Samuel Atkins is described as an Agricultural Labourer whose yearly wages amounted to 25 pounds, 6 shillings, 5 pence. The cost of their journey to Tasmania was 6 pounds, 5 shillings, and was paid as an advance proportion of that yearly sum.1

1. AOT Passenger List "Emu" VDL 224, p. 47 (Online Transcription)

Sarah Bellinger and Robert Cooling

Sarah was born on 3 July 1815 and baptized the following Christmas day on 25 December 1815 under the surname of Thomson, the maiden name of her mother.1 Throughout the rest of her life Sarah used the surname Bellinger.

At the age of seven Sarah was recorded as the servant of Robert Jones in Jericho. This information came to light because Robert Jones was the subject of an attack by aborigines which has been documented in Plomley's "Jorgen Jorgenson and the Aborigines". The following account is a graphic retelling of the event by Robert Cox who has kindly provided permission to reproduce it here. It must be remembered of course that the Aborigines were responding to an occupying force that was robbing them of their traditional methods of survival so no moralisation of their actions is intended.

1. AOT Baptism Registration NS 282/10/1-5 and McKay, Thelma: Correspondence with Toni Addison, 19 May 1993

Jane Matilda Underwood and William Boucher

Jane Matilda Underwood was the daughter of Maria Goodwin and Richard Underwood. Jane was born on 1 March 1829, and baptised the following year on 3 May 1830 in St. David’s Cathedral in Hobart. William Bedford performed the baptism ceremony.1 At the age of twelve Jane was mentioned as the claimant of a property in Hobart, as advertised in the Courier newspaper:

1. AOT Baptism Registration NS282/8/1

Caroline Goodwin (Underwood) and Martin Caspar

Caroline Underwood was born on 20 July 1822 and christened on 26 August 1822 in Hobart Town, the second daughter of Maria Goodwin and an un-named father.1 Maria would later marry Richard Underwood on 25 September 1825 and Caroline took his surname from then on. Richard was almost certainly Caroline’s father, as his wedding certificate noted that he and Maria had lived together for some time prior to their marriage.2

1. AOT Baptism Registration RGD 1822/1253
2. Schaffer, Irene & McKay, Thelma: Exiled, Three Times Over citing AOT St. Matthews, New Norfolk Reg. NS 482/1

Early Years in Tasmania

Ann Hay must have been pregnant for the voyage to Van Diemen's Land as three months after they had arrived their next child, James Hay, was born on 11 January 1834 in Launceston.1 The child was either named after his father, or there was a lingering sentiment for the child they had lost.

In early 1835 a number of convicts were caught plotting to take over the settlement and commandeer the sailing ship Edward. James Hay, an indentured servant of the Van Diemen's Land Company, was called as a witness:

1. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1838/8900

Early Years in Van Diemen's Land

Not sure where you are? Use the trail of links above the title of this page (called breadcrumbs) or visit The Goodwin Family Book Outline.

Andrew and Lydia (Letitia) Goodwin arrived in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land on the Porpoise on 17 January 1808 with their seven children, one boy and six girls.1 The children ranged in ages from the 16 year old Sarah (the eldest daughter Mary having left Norfolk Island earlier) to the two year old Ann. Hobart Town was only four years old and was effectively a military outpost under martial law at this point. Ratio of women to men in VDL in 1808 to 1818? The colony was in the grip of a food shortage and supplies were rationed. Supplies were held in the Government store located on Hunter Island which was heavily guarded.

1. Schaffer and McKay: Exiled, Three Times Over! p. 75

Martha Argent and William James Penney

Martha was born on 12 February 1848 in the Brighton district, with the event registered by her brother in-law Simon Nunn on 11 March 1848, the same day he registered the birth of his own daughter Mary Ann Nunn. Martha was in fact only 22 days older than her niece! Martha was James Argent and Hannah Kearley's eighth child and fifth daughter. For the maiden surname of her mother the registrar had written Karley.1

As a minor variation Martha's St. Mark's Baptism certificate records her birth date as 11 February 1848, with the baptism occurring on 21 April 1848 (Mary Ann Nunn was baptised the day before). The witnesses were S. Nunn, N. A. Brown and James Argent, and her father's profession noted as farmer.2 Martha was the eighth child and fifth daughter born to James Argent and Hannah Kearley. Much of the following information about Martha and William was provided by Julie Booth.

1. AOT Birth Registration RGD 1848/477
2. AOT Baptism Registration NS 751/6

Elizabeth Bunker and Luke Cullen

Elizabeth Bunker was born 1 April 1821 in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land and christened on 1 May 1821, the daughter of Sarah Goodwin and Mark Ashby Bunker.1 This article about Elizabeth's life includes significant contributions from Marion Cartledge, a Cullen family descendant.

On 2 March 1839 Elizabeth Bunker and Luke Cullen sought permission to marry.2 The event was registered on 16 April 1839 in Hobart Town.3 Luke was born about 1817, if we calculate his birth year from the age stated at marriage (twenty-two in 1839), or 1819 if we calculate the birth year from his age stated at death (sixty-seven in 1886).

1. AOT Baptism Registration RGD 1821/999
2. AOT Convict Permission to Marry Record CON52/1 p29
3. AOT Marriage Registration RGD 1839/116

Sarah Goodwin and Benjamin Briscoe

Not sure where you are? Use the trail of links above the title of this page (called breadcrumbs) or visit The Goodwin Family Book Outline.

After the Goodwin family were deported from Norfolk Island, and arrived in Van Diemen's Land on the Porpoise with 180 or so others, all Collins could do was to billet the majority among the inhabitants,1 as no other accommodation was available for them. There the Goodwins stayed, a family of nine, living cheek by jowl with their host family, until they were eventually allocated their land at Droughty Point.

1. Walker, James B., in Early Tasmania - The Walker Memorial Volume, H. H. Pimlett Ed., Tasmania, 1950.