THE
FORTITUDE, LIMA AND CHASELEY
THE "FORTITUDE'S" UNWANTED
IMMIGRANTS
Arrival of Dr. Lang's Immigrant Ships in
1849.
No discussion of the history of the settlement of the Henzell's is complete without mentioning the Trundle family. All three brothers Thomas, John and later Frederick married into the family. Thomas was the first to marry on 30th April 1863. He married Clara Balfour Trundle. John was not to be left behind as he married Clara's sister Hanna Mary on 25th June 1863.
Clara and Hanna's elder sister, Fanny Elizabeth, married George Robinson and had a daughter, Fanny Maria, who was only nine years younger than her aunts were. Frederick Lumley Henzell arrived in Brisbane in 1866 and married Fanny on 29th May 1867.
As a result of these marriages all descendants of the three Henzell brothers are also descended from Charles Trundle and Fanny Moy Aldred who were married at Dovercourt Church, about two miles from Harwick, on 25th December, 1829.
Charles and Fanny Trundle together with their thirteen children (see following chart) migrated to Australia in the "Fortitude" arriving 21st January 1849. Charles Trundle records in his diary: ‑
"Left Harwick September 8th, 1848. Slept on board Fortitude same night. She was in the West India Dock London. On Thursday 14th September 1848, sailed from Gravesend. Anchored in Moreton Bay, Sunday 20th January 1849. We were detained three weeks in quarantine at Moreton Island. Arrived in Brisbane on 15th February, 1849."
The following article appeared in The Telegraph on 29th January 1984:
When the 680-ton sailing ship Fortitude dropped anchor at Moreton Bay on 21st January 1849, the immigrants on board could not have begun to imagine the hardships and setbacks they were still to confront. They had left reasonably comfortable lives in Great Britain to come as free settlers on Rev. Dr. John Dunmore Lang's promises ‑ and having purchased Land Orders which were of £16 value for every £20 these migrants had subscribed. Thus they arrived, full of hope on Queensland's second migrant ship, but their troubles had barely commenced.
First, Fortitude's immigrants were refused permission to land as two cases of typhus had been reported on board. (There had already been sickness during the long voyage and eight people had died.) The Fortitude then anchored off Moreton Island and she was quarantined by order of the Government Resident, Captain Wickham. The immigrants were forced to live in tents on the island for 14 days. Considering there were 97 children (sometimes 13 to a family) among the 256 immigrants who had already endured a 128-day sea voyage, this was hardly a pleasant beginning. Worse was still to come.
Dr. Lang, despite his good intentions, had, first, only obtained a verbal agreement with the Colonial Office undersecretary for the granting of land to these immigrants; and, second, he had failed to inform the authorities in Moreton Bay of their arrival and nobody was prepared to take responsibility for them. When the quarantine period was over, the migrants had to eventually make their way to Brisbane the best way they could ‑ by chartering a boat a further cost to them of £30. Upon arrival, the only accommodation available to these families was one building formerly used as a convict barracks and another, a former convict hospital. While they waited for the decision from Sydney concerning Dr. Lang's claim on the Government for land on their behalf, they built a temporary bark hut village among the hostile Aboriginal tribes at York's Hollow (near where Victoria Park now stands), and existed as best they could.
Eventually the land claim was decided ‑ the immigrants from the Fortitude were not to be allowed to occupy Crown Lands even temporarily. Their supply of government rations also ceased and the money they had paid for Dr. Lang's Land Orders was never returned.
Still undaunted, this self‑reliant band moved on yet again and built another village in the vicinity of Wickham Terrace. And as history records it: ‑
"Old hands taught them to make dampers in the ashes. As camp ovens were scarce, they used three‑legged pots which they turned upside down, and baked meat pied under them.
They boiled their meat and vegetables in the pots, and sometimes their clothes.
As time went on their little village began to expand. Houses mostly of two rooms, replaced some of the huts.
Today a city shopping centre stands as a memorial to the courage of those unwanted early migrants who named the area Fortitude Valley."
To further illustrate the difficulties Charles Trundle, his wife and thirteen children had, the following extract from his diary is of interest: ‑
"I and my family sailed from Gravesend in the ship Fortitude, John Christmas, Captain, on the 4th September, 1848 and were landed in Brisbane on 15th February, 1849.
After being six weeks in the Barracks at Brisbane, I hired an acre of land off Mr. Duncan ‑ the same as he has now under cultivation ‑ I built a house, if such it could be called. It cost about £10. It had no windows and contrasted with the comforts we had just left, it was a great trial and needed far more patience, and submission than I thought I should ever require to bow to my circumstances, and although I always strove to have a cheerful countenance, yet my heart was sorrowing heavily to see my dear wife and children cut off from civilization and comfort, nor could I forbear "Lord help me or I perish", so difficult did my trials appear.
I commenced business as a butcher, but did not succeed. I then worked a horse and dray and to the expiration of two years built a brick cottage in Fortitude Valley in which I lived about 18 months. I then removed to the Settlement (Brisbane) and opened a general store at the corner of Queen and Albert Streets, where I am now conducting business (1856)."
The following article by "Nut Quad" detailing the arrival of immigrants on the "Fortitude" is interesting to relate.
A week or two ago a correspondent asked for some particulars in respect to the immigrant ship Chaseley, the second vessel chartered by the late Dr. Lang in 1849 to convey immigrants to Moreton Bay.
Towards the end of the forties and throughout the fifties of last century there was in Brisbane a small band of indefatigable fighters who were unending in their efforts to prevent the further introduction of convicts from Great Britain and to obtain separation from New South Wales. Democratic agitation had compelled the abandonment of transportation to the southern towns some years previously, and a few years later the Imperial Government was looking for a place to which to dump convicted felons, and it was thought that Moreton Bay was admirably suited for the purpose. It was so far removed from the centres of population in the south and was so sparsely populated that no great objection to the renewal of the system was anticipated by the British authorities. It had been estimated by some of the old residents that in 1849 there were between 400 and 500 convicts in Brisbane and neighbourhood ‑ probably about a fourth of the whole population. Forty had arrived in the Hashemy about the middle of the year 1849, and a number of others by the Rudoph. Later in the same year the Mount Stuart Elphinstone bought 225 while the Bangalore arrived in Moreton Bay on April 30, 1851, with nearly 300 felons.
Almost coincident with the arrival of these convict ships these three vessels chartered in England by the late Dr. Lang ‑ the Fortitude, Chaseley and Lima ‑ arrived in Brisbane with about 600 immigrants, and the new arrivals soon began to make their influence felt in the city. They entered the contest freemen versus bondmen ‑ with enthusiasm and determination. The passengers by these immigrant ships had been personally selected by Rev. Dr. Lang himself. They belonged to the cream of British artisan classes and were endowed with more than the average intellectual equipment; and possessed courage, endurance and self‑reliance. They had come to Australia to raise the level of their lives (said the late Mr. William Clark, who was a passenger on the Lima, to the present writer a few years ago), and they were not likely to willingly submit to the degradation of sharing the country with convicted felons; while passengers by the Fortitude emphatically declared, "We do not intent to let our children hear the swish of the lash or the clank of the chain." Their eyes were focused on a State whose institutions should be absolutely free, and every part of which may be occupied by freemen of their own race and colour. A splendid optimism dominated them, and they had a high conception of citizenship. These pioneers neither have nor accepted quarter and did not cease to fight until they were assured of a successful consummation of their efforts. Perhaps it is not too much to say that the work done by these fine old pioneers had a more important influence on the industrial development of Queensland than anything that has since been done by State Parliament. Their love of liberty has been strengthened by a long sea voyage, and the blue skies and wider horizons of this new land, had given a larger meaning to the word "patriotism". Besides deep down in their hearts they felt what Lord Curzon had once described as the "ineradicable pride of race." Anything therefore inimical to the welfare of the community was condemned by them and in this matter they allowed neither profession nor creed to divide them. They were bound together by the strongest ties and sympathies and permitted no jealousies to separate them from their efforts to secure the general good. They felt that they were laying the foundations of a great State, and they could not allow inferior material to be used in the cement.
Owing to some difference which had arisen between Dr. Lang and the Colonial Office in London, Captain Wickham ‑ the representative in Brisbane of the Sydney Government ‑ was instructed that "the immigrants should not be allowed, even temporarily to occupy Crown lands, nor yet be supplied with Government rations." As Captain Wickham would have nothing to do with them, they had themselves to pay for their conveyance to Brisbane. No accommodation was provided for them in town, but they had permission to camp out of sight beyond the ridge, and from this encampment Fortitude Valley derived its name.
When the next ship ‑ the Chaseley arrived a few months later Captain Wickham informed the passengers that he had received instructions from the authorities in Sydney that he was not to render them any assistance. There was however, the old convict barracks in Queen Street; but a shipload of convicts was expected in a few days and he would give them accommodation in this building if they would promise to vacate it when the felons arrived. This they readily agreed to do and bark huts were erected by sympathetic residents for their accommodation on the slope where now stands Central Railway Station and the Normal School.
The last ship - the Lima - arrived in Moreton Bay on November 3, 1849. She had previously put into Sydney Harbour, and found lying there the Mount Stuart Elphinstone, with convicts on board. The Sydney people however, had refused to allow them to land, and the ship was ordered to take her cargo of felons to Moreton Bay, where she arrived two days in advance of the Lima. This action on behalf of the New South Wales authorities intensified the dissatisfaction in Brisbane, and strengthened the movement in favour of separation. As with the two previous ships, no arrangements had been made to convey the passengers and their luggage to town. A meeting was held on board the ship, and a committee was appointed to proceed to Brisbane to make the best possible arrangements for their conveyance to the town wharves. The delegates interviewed the late Mr. Henry Buckley who was then Brisbane agent for the Hunter River S.N. Company, from whom they chartered, at a cost of £30, the steamer Tamar, which bought the passengers and their belongings to Brisbane. But the people of Brisbane were determined to put a stop to the further importation of transported felons. In November 1849, a few days after the arrival of the Lima with free men, and the Mount Stuart Elphinstone with convicts, a great anti-transportation meeting was help in Brisbane. At this meeting Dr. Lang's immigrants rolled up in great force. One of the passengers by the Fortitude declared that "he and others had given up such prospects as they had in the Old Country, and removed themselves and their families to this one in the hope and expectation that they would not be contaminated by association with convicts, and he objected to being placed in disadvantageous competition in this new country with the convicted felons of England. Let England keep her convicts," he concluded, "and let us have free, poor, but honest artisans."
(We are pleased to have permission to publish the result of the research of Mr. E V Stevens into the list of passengers of the "Fortitude" which arrived in 1849 for which there is no known official roll of names in existence.)
Mr. E V Stevens' report to the Historical Society of Queensland, Inc., is as follows-
"FORTITUDE"
IMMIGRANTS”
January
1849
By E V Stevens
From original documents made available by the Public and Mitchell Libraries of Sydney, to whom acknowledgment is pleasurably extended, an attempt has been made to record the names of immigrants who arrived by the sailing vessel "Fortitude" in January 1849, under the scheme fostered by Rev. Dr. J D Lang. This has been an unsatisfactory task as it has not been possible to correlate the unofficial newspaper list published in the Brisbane Queenslander of 7/8/09 with that of the Mitchell Library. It has been further complicated by the fact that the Mitchell Library list cannot be regarded as truly official. Ironically, passenger lists of other vessels, "Chasely", "Larpent" and so on, were carefully compiled in copper plate writing whilst that of the "Fortitude" is a collection of badly written scraps with, in many cases, a duplication of names; actually it appears to be a rough memorandum and not the official list which, if not lost, is probably in London. Some historically useful information has, however been gained from it and the "Moreton Bay Courier" files of 1849 and 1850, from which all-incidental remarks, other than the Trundle marriages, have been compiled.
Stevens then lists differences in the Queensland and Mitchell lists. The Trundle family is on both lists. A copy of the Charter Note is then given.
London 13th September 1948 (1848?)
As per Charter Party
Rev. Dr. Lang per ship "fortitude" J. Christmas (Master) for Moreton Bay.
On 211.5 adults at £15 each £3,172 10 0
By Cash 1,730 0 0
-----------
£1,442 10 0
2/3 freight £2,115
£1,730 received of Dr. Lang
------
£385 due from Dr. Lang
£1,057/10/- due 3/m from 13th September, say 16th December.
J H Arnold
3 Clements Lane,
Lombard Street.
A passenger list is then given and includes:
Trundle, Chas., 42, watchmaker. Wife: Frances, 42. Children: Chas. Joseph, 18, Frances Elizabeth, 17, Anne Thompson, 15, Frederick, 14, Auldred, 13, Ellen, 12, Elizabeth Aldred, 10, John, 9, Chas. James, 7, Hannah Mary, 6, Clara Balfour, 4, Edward Thomas, 3, Henry Bush, 1. Chas. Trundle in business 9/8/49, at Fortitude Valley as auctioneer, appraiser and house agent, also a store advertising for sale, "Banana plants 12/- to 24/- per doz., tea, sugar, candles, etc. (20/9/49). Will sell by auction at St. Patrick's bricks etc." St. Patrick's Tavern appears to have been in Queen St. near T & G Building, between Albert and Edward Streets. Of his family: Chas. Joseph married Grace Maidment, Frances Elizabeth married G Robinson of Gympie, Anne Thompson married T G Pugh, Frederick unmarried, Aldred married Mary J Smith, Ellen married John Franz Rode, Elizabeth Aldred married Alexander McLean, and John married Emily Rode, Chas. James no history, Hannah Mary married Harrop Henzell, Clara Balfour married Thos. S Henzell, Edward Thomas married Charlotte Ball, Henry Bush killed by fall of horse at Nebo. Born after their arrival in Brisbane, Sarah Salmon Finer (born 1850) married Chas. Stevens.
CHARLES TRUNDLE = FANNY MOY ALDRED
Born: Hingham, Norfolk - 22.6.1807
Married: Dovercourt, Harwick - 25.12.1829.
Died: Brisbane - 6.4.1876.
CHARLES JOSEPH TRUNDLE = GRACE MAIDMENT
12.12.1830 - 3.1.1899
FANNY ELIZABETH TRUNDLE = GEORGE ROBINSON
19.12.1831 - 10.1.1905
FANNY MARIA ROBINSON = FREDERICK
LUMLEY HENZELL
16.3.1852 - 20.3.1938
ANNE THOMPSON TRUNDLE = T P PUGH
29.1.1833 - 4.3.1866
FREDERICK TRUNDLE (UNMARRIED)
25.5.1834 - 28.11.1906
ALDRED TRUNDLE = MARY JANE SMITH
20.7.1835 - ?
ELLEN TRUNDLE = JOHN FRANZ RODE
2.9.1836 - 22.2.1873
ELIZABETH ALDRED TRUNDLE = ALEXANDER MCLEAN
10.7.1838 - 10.10.1918
JOHN TRUNDLE = EMILY RODE
1.11.1839 - 18.8.1909
CHARLES JAMES TRUNDLE
26.1.1841 - 2.3.1919
HANNAH MARY TRUNDLE = JOHN HARROP HENZELL
15.8.1842 - 20.5.1926
CLARA BALFOUR TRUNDLE = THOMAS SMITH HENZELL
7.2.1844 - 13.11.1900
EDWARD THOMAS TRUNDLE = CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH BALL
15.4.1845 - 28.8.?
HENRY BUSH TRUNDLE
25.2.1847 - 4.5.1871
SARAH SALMON FINER TRUNDLE = CHARLES STEVENS
26.3.1850 - 21.8.1915
All were born at Harwich, Essex, England except Sarah who was born in North Brisbane.
Queensland Historical Journal, v. 4, No.1 p.20-26 (1948)