Our ancestors’ voyages to ‘Somewhere Down South’

“Until the 1850s, only sailing ships came to Australia. …In the early days, no ship could carry enough fuel to steam all the way to Australia, but later engines got better and ships got bigger. Sailing ships could not go anywhere without wind and, if the wind blew in the wrong direction, they had trouble going against it. In open water, a ship could tack, zigzagging its way against the wind. This was a slow way to get to where you wanted to go.”

The Big Book of Australian History by Peter Macinnis p. 102

The traditional clipper route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, in order to make use of the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along the route, particularly at Cape Horn, which the clippers had to round on their return to Europe. The clipper route fell into commercial disuse with the introduction of steam ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_route

From Wikimedia Commons

Image by Swathiha97 via Wikimedia Commons

…”From some British points of view, the settlement of Australia is the story of an adventurous voyage to a mysterious part of the world, and the heroic struggle to overcome the difficulties of surviving in a new and sometimes hostile environment. Although Australia was originally a penal colony, free settlers soon began to make it home. From the Aboriginal point of view, the arrival of European settlers is viewed as an invasion. By 1800 about 1100 free settlers were in Australia. Around 1815, the colony began to grow rapidly as emigrants arrived from Britain and Ireland. By 1830 about 43500 free settlers were in Australia, and by 1860, just over 600000. The length of a voyage to Australia depended on wind conditions and the weather. A trip could be three months of smooth sailing but, more often than not, it was dangerous. The loss of life on some of these journeys was very high; in particular, among women and children. At times, the death rate was as high as 10 per cent.” p. 109

http://cdn-media.macmillan.com.au/mea/downloadpdfs/9781420232196.pdf

SEE MORE: The Maritime Museum of Tasmania - The Journey - by Sailing Ship and LINC Tasmania - Before Transportation

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser

(NSW : 1803 - 1842) Tue 14 Jul 1829 Page 2

My grandparents’ family trees, showing who arrived by Ship. (Pedigree View prepared on Ancestry)