Bound for South Australia 1837
Letter from Theresa Chauncy about the voyage of the "John Renwick" and the arrival in South Australia
In October 1836, my third great grand aunt Theresa Chauncy (1807-1876), her sister Martha (1813-1899) and Martha’s husband Charles Berkeley (1794-1856) sailed from London in the “John Renwick”, arriving in South Australia four months later. Martha and Charles Berkeley were married a week before the voyage began.
Sydney Monitor (NSW), Wednesday 22 February 1837, page 4
English Extracts. EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA On Tuesday last, sailed from Gravesend, for Adelaide, in the new colony, the John Renwick, a fine ship of 500 tons burden. This vessel contains 131 emigrants of the following descriptions : 37 young married couples, having 32 young children; 9 young bachelors, and 7 young spinsters, some of whom are expected to marry on the passage ; 2 carpenters, of maturer age, engaged to superintend the erection of forty wooden houses, which constitute the principal cargo of the ship ; and lastly, cabin passengers. viz. Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt, late of Plymouth, Captain Berkely, late of the 50th. Regt., his lady, and her sister, Mr. Oakden, the nephew of Osmond Gilles, Esq., Colonial Treasurer of South Australia, and Mr. Field. This ship will be followed in about three weeks by the South Australia, now at Plymouth, the property of the South Australian Company, and is to remain in the colony. The main deck of the John Renwick is entirely fitted up with separate cabins, each containing two persons and the scale of provisions for the emigrants, with medical stores and attendance, is the same as in the Coromandel, another emigrant ship, chartered by the Colonization Commissioners for South-Australia, of which we gave a particular account some weeks ago. Intelligence has been received, from Rio and the Cape of Good Hope of the ships which sailed early in the year; and it is presumed that some of these, including the Rapid, commanded by Colonel Light, the Surveyor-General, have been some time in the colony. The John Renwick is the thirteenth ship that has been despatched since March, and will be followed by several others before the end of the year. Five of these vessels belong either to the Government or to the settlers in the colony, and will remain there for the purposes of nautical survey-ing, whale fishing, and trade.–Spectator, 22 Oct.
The new colony had been proclaimed on 28 December 1836, while they were still at sea, just six weeks before their arrival.
Theresa’s letter gives an encouraging picture of the voyage and the new settlement. She clearly hoped that more members of her family, including her brothers Philip and William, would also emigrate to the new colony, and in this she was successful. All three of Theresa’s brothers and one of her sisters followed her to South Australia. Her father also visited the colony.
In December 1897 the letter from Theresa to her father was transcribed and published by the Adelaide Advertiser on the 61st anniversary of Proclamation Day.
Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), Tuesday 28 December 1897, page 5
TWAS SIXTY YEARS AGO.
GLENELG IN 1837.
AN INTERESTING LETTER.
EXPERIENCES OF A PIONEER.
Everything dealing with the experiences of the very earliest settlers of South Australia is of interest to those who have now entered into the enjoyment of the fruits of their labors. More especially are descriptions written at the time when impressions were fresh and deep of value to the later generation. There has just come into our hands a most full and readable letter, which was dispatched from the colony in February, 1837 when the surveys of Adelaide had not been started, and when the now attractive town of Glenelg was but a cluster of tents and reed huts. Its author was a young lady who evidently had more than ordinary powers of observation, and therefore she has crammed a very large amount of information into the compass of her epistle which is contained on one sheet of foolscap. The calligraphy is very small, and the difficulty of deciphering it has been made all the greater because the red ink, which is neatly written across the first portion of the letter has faded so much that a magnifying glass was necessary to pick out the words, one or two of which have gone altogether. Blanks have been left in such instances. The smallness of the handwriting and the directions given for copying and circulating the diary are mute proofs of the infrequency of mails and the cost of postage in the far away days.
The author of the letter, which is subjoined, was Miss Theresa Chauncey, who came to South Australia in the John Renwick by which vessel Mr. Tucker, the father of the Mayor of Adelaide, was also a passenger. He still lives and is able to speak very clearly of the incidents immediately subsequent to the arrival of the vessel. Captain Berkeley, who married Miss Chauncey’s sister, was a military officer, and he joined the South Australian police. On August 15, 1849 he was appointed inspector under the late Captain Tolmer who had been temporarily made Commissioner of Police and Police Magistrate in succession to Captain Dashwood, R.N. Afterwards Captain Berkeley held office in the Victorian police, being stationed on the gold fields in that colony at the time Captain Tolmer established his famous gold escort. Miss Chauncey became the wife of Captain Walker, who was well known by early residents, and being left a widow she married Mr. Herbert Poole. Most of the names mentioned in the letter are those of men who have made their mark on the scroll of South Australian history. The letter runs thus :—
“South Australia, 15th (13th) February, 1837.
“My dear Father—On the 9th this month we anchored safely on these shores after the most favorable passage ever known.
I should certainly have written to you during our voyage if we had spoken any ship near enough to take a letter on board, but we only spoke to four, I think, and but one of them bound for London. So few incidents occurred on board and none of any interest that I did not commence my journal till we were in sight of Kangaroo Island on the 5th. What observations I have made during that time I now send you and shall continue a journal for you. I must certainly continue that here. I feel certain from what I have seen it is the climate and place you would like. I suffered with sickness very much for the first month, but soon after that and ever since I have been better than ever I was. The warmth agrees with me, and I have never yet found it too warm, even crossing the line. We had not above a day or two of calme—at a time—and I think never quite stationary more than a few hours altogether. We did not put in anywhere. Saw St. Antonia [possibly Santo Antão, Cape Verde] at a distance and also Trinidad. We had fresh meat on the table every day with the exception only of one or two days, and fresh soup, either mock turtle, gravy, or beef every day, with made dishes, curries, &c, and fruit tarts. We have plenty of currants and gooseberries now, and dried apples, Normandy pippins, potatoes, also, twice within a fortnight. Our filter has been of great value to us. I should recommend everyone to bring a filter with them.
“It was exactly three months to a day when we saw the land at King George’s Sound (93 days). We had then a contrary wind which detained us a week, but on February 5 we saw Kangaroo Island. It was a lovely morning and the sun rose over it as it appeared in sight, a most welcome sight to us all. We saw Althorpe’s Island and the mainland on the other side as we entered Investigator’s Straits, sailing beautifully but at five knots an hour only. When we had proceeded about 30 miles along the coast we saw smoke rising, which was supposed to be a signal from someone who had seen us. It was answered by one of the guns being fired. The cliffs appeared about 300 ft in height and covered with wood very dark. In the evening the ship lay to near land about two miles from the shore as we could not get round into Nepean Bay on account of an extensive shoal. Early on the morning of the 6th we continued our course, but the wind being contrary were obliged to tack all day between Cape Jervis and the island. Could not get round the shoal that night, but cast anchor. About 10 o’clock next morning we saw a boat from shore to meet us, which afforded us all much pleasure. It contained five sailors. They came from the settlement, and one of them acted as pilot and took us safely round the shoal early on the morning of the 7th when we again anchored as near to the land as possible about a mile and a half off. They informed us the William Hutt had struck on the shoal but sustained no injury. The Tam O’ Shanter had struck previously on going into the harbor on the main land by an accident and is condemned in consequence of being much damaged. It is now used as a store ship in Port Adelaide.
Soon after breakfast Captain Berkeley, with J. Oakden, went ashore in the whaleboat the sailors came in. They took provisions and their guns and we the three ladies were to follow with Captain Lamington [Linnington] as soon as they had made a signal that the landing was good. We soon saw the flag hoisted and descended the ship’s side with delight into our little boat, anticipating the pleasure of a walk. The day was very fine and warm, but we had not proceeded far when the captain thought it not safe to go on as there was such a heavy swell in the sea and our boat was small and leaking a good deal so we returned to the ship much disappointed and quite wet. The captain went afterwards by himself in another boat to see what sort of landing it was first. We went on shore next morning with 13 Cashmere goats and a settler and also two gentlemen who had come on board from the Company. We were received by Mr. Bears [perhaps Thomas Hudson Beare who had arrived on the Duke of York and was the colony’s first storekeeper] and Mr. Stevens [perhaps Edward Stephens who had arrived on the Coromandel]. They had prepared a dinner for us the day before. The land rises gradually from the beach, which is of sand with shells, and which is thickly covered, to the water’s edge almost, with the most beautiful evergreen shrubs, some growing out of the sand. I gathered 13 different specimens of the shrubs, nearly all of which had a fine aromatic smell and taste. The teatree and gum are the largest. The distant park woods on the higher hills added great beauty to the landscape, but the bush is so thick as to be almost impenetrable, and extends no one knows how far inland. None of the settlers have yet passed it, though one said the open plains were within four miles, but Captain Berkeley and some other gentlemen of our party after scrambling over trunks of trees and through thick bush for seven or eight miles saw no end to it. Another person said the plains were 40 miles off, and another that there were no plains at all, which I think is as probable as not, or if they do exist they are as such distance as not to be of any use for many years to come. We went into several of the huts and tents. They are mostly thatched with teatree (why so called I cannot tell). They have commenced building, and the site of Mr. Stevens’s house is beautiful. It is on a gentle slope, with evergreen shrubs for about half a mile, and then the whole extent of the bank shoals and Nepean Bay in the distance. We took refreshments in Mr. Stevens’s tent and had some cold ham, pickles, porter, wine, cheese, and raspberry tart. We took a little walk through the shrubs with Mr. Stevens, Mr. Beare, and a German gentleman, and Mr. Hare. We soon came to a little open spot they had cleared, which could not but excite a melancholy feeling amidst the life and beauty which surrounds us. It was a graveyard, for death had already been among them. There were but two graves, one a man who had been drowned; the other has a well cut stone placed at the head and foot with his name, W. Howlett, of Acton, painted on it. We saw no snakes and they are not numerous. We then walked along the beach to meet our boat; collected shells and sponge, of which there is plenty on this coast by diving about two fathoms. None is good that is washed up. They have goats, rabbits, turkeys, geese. &c, but no cattle. I saw parrots, ducks, pelicans, and other birds. There are no kangaroos on the island. There is no water nearer to this station the company have chosen than nine miles, and they are obliged to fetch it in boats, but the German having just found good water within a mile they will soon have a supply from thence. We were so delighted with our ramble that we had prolonged the time allowed us to four hours instead of one, and on arriving on the ship found the captain in no very good humor at having been obliged to wait so long for us.
“The ship was under weigh and we immediately proceeded towards St. Vincent’s Gulf, which we entered before night. Towards morning the wind died away. We sailed slowly at no great distance from the shore, and by 10 o’clock we descried four ships at anchor in the bay. They were the Buffalo, Coromandel, Rapid, and Cygnet. We anchored near them, and immediately a boat was sent from the Buffalo with the Governor’s secretary and Captain Hindmarsh’s son. They remained about two hours, and gave us the most pleasing accounts of the country, but said we should so soon see it and judge for our selves that they would leave us to do so. The weather is most salubrious and delightful, and the sunset this evening (9th) in the greatest splendor. I never saw (not even in the tropics) such rich colors of orange, crimson, and blue as the clouds assumed, and the sunset in all sorts of shapes, one square another a pyramid caused by the refraction from below the horizon. The twilight is short and as it grew dark we perceived immense fires on the shore as we lay about two miles off. They increased and soon the whole country for several miles in extent was on fire, forming circles and semicircles from the plains to the top of the hills. It looked very beautiful, and we could feel the warmth and smell the fragrance of the aromatic shrubs and gum trees. It was the first quarter of the moon, and we are informed the natives always light these fires at the new moon. Captain Berkeley went on shore to see Mr. Brown [possibly William Voules Brown who arrived on the Coromondel]. There was a party of natives under a tree close to Mr. Brown’s tent, about 40 with their wives and children. They are perfectly harmless. They had been staying there for some days. Mrs. B [presumably Harriet (Perkins) Brown who also arrived on the Coromandel] says they will come into the tent, look at everything, but do not attempt to steal. They seem much pleased with us and very friendly, and have learned many English words. They do not annoy the settlers in the least, one of them fearlessly went on board the Buffalo and they dressed him from head to foot, and as the sailors say ‘rigged him out in fine style.’ They have very small countenances, are small, and look half starved. A woman came on board to us, but she was the wife of an English sailor who had lived on Kangaroo Island.
” By 7 o’clock in the morning Mr. Brown and Mr. Morphett [probably John Morphett who arrived on the Cygnet] came on board on business. I went on shore soon after with my sister, Mr. Wyatt [either William Wyatt or Adolphus Valentine Wyatt], Oakden [John Jackson Oakden], and Field [probably Henry Field]. The beach is a very fine white sand, hard close to the water, and then rises to hillocks of deep loose sand with shrubs growing in it. It would be excellent for making glass. When we had passed these little banks of sand which do not extend above a quarter of a mile, we entered a fine open plain, with beautiful trees scattered over it looking very green, also some shrubs, although at the end of a hot summer. The stores and a few huts and tents are erected at the entrance of the plain, and we walked on about three quarters of a mile to where many of the settlers had pitched their tents. It appeared like a beautiful park. Some of the trees were large and old. They were chiefly the sheoak and teatree and gum and several others we do not know. There went wild strawberries. raspberries, and a sort of cranberry. Mrs. B. has made tarts with them all. The kangaroos are scarce, and some has been sold at 1s. a pound. We saw flocks of green and crimson parrots. They are plentiful and very good eating; also the bronze-winged pigeon, cockatoos blackand-crimson and white-and-yellow. The natives eat rats, snakes, or anything they can find. They will come to shake hands very friendly, and one nursed Mrs. Cotter’s child. They ask for biscuit, and say good-night, which they know to be a sort of salutation, so say it at any time. There was a woman buried last night who came in the Coromandel. A party of natives attended and seemed very much affected, putting up their hands, and an old man whom they call Ginykin (?Grinykin) —their chief we think— wept. Mrs. B. supposed by their sudden departure during the night that they were afraid of the evil spirit that might come to take the dead. They are very superstitious and very idle, lying under a tree all day, but in the evening they have a dance or merry-making they call corobory. The men only dance while the women sat on the ground beating with sticks. One of the first things we noticed on entering the settlement was that truly English custom ; I mean several printed bills, one a caution and the other a reward. The caution was a high fine on any person found giving spirits or wine to the natives. The reward was £5 for the discovery of a person who had already transgressed the orders and done so, and there were several others pasted about on the gum trees.
We happened to land on the day of the first public meeting that was held, and that was to decide finally on the site of Adelaide, whether it should be at the Port or six miles inland on account of the superiority of the land. The latter resolution was carried, and the town is to be built on the banks of the river, about six miles from Port Adelaide, where there will also be some buildings, store houses, docks, &c, and a canal or railroad (the latter, I believe) was proposed to run between. The water is good at Adelaide and plentiful, and the site, I am told, is most beautiful, being a gentle slope at no great distance from Mount Lofty. The harbor is good and will admit ships of 500 tons. There are no stones to be found on the land anywhere. Mr. Brown, Mr. Gillies [perhaps Osmond Gilles who arrived on the Buffalo], and most of the people here will remove to Adelaide immediately before the winter sets in, for they are too low to remain in tents or rough huts in winter. Many are already there. Snakes are not numerous, as Mrs. B, who has been here three months, has seen but one, and that the natives were eating having baked it. We walked about the park and saw a flock of sheep. There are a great many sheep already brought. We returned to the ship at sunset, and were invited to spend next day with Mrs. Cotter [presumably the wife of Thomas Young Cotter who arrived on the Coromandel] and take a walk to the fresh-water lagoon. The steward of the Africaine lost himself in the woods. His skeleton has since been found. There are numbers of hawks, so that a bird can scarcely be picked up if at any distance after being shot without their being down upon it. Therefore it is the interest of everyone to shoot them as fast as they can.
“February 11th.—We dined with Mrs. Cotter and had some excellent fish, a sort of garfish. They are in great quantity here, (and are better than whiting—l think) also a leg of mutton. There was a dance in the evening under a large tent, or rather made of one of the sails of the ship which Captain Chesser put up for the purpose of inviting Coromandel emigrants from “Coromandel village’, as they call the assemblage of . . . . they are in till the wooden ones are built in Adelaide. We walked round with him. Then the ladies and gentlemen joined in the dancing and we spent a very pleasant evening. It. was a beautiful moonlight night, and between the dances we walked out without the least fear of taking cold. The air is so dry and pure. I danced all the evening. Among the gentlemen were the Hon. Charles Mann, Mr. Powis, Lieutenant Field, and his brother, Mr. Morphett Duthe, and a Mr. Kingston, who dresses himself like a brigand of the woods (I suppose he knows the dress suits his person), but most of the gentlemen were gone to Adelaide. We had refreshments in Mrs. Cotter’s tent, and intended returning to the ship for the night, but after waiting for the boat till 12 o’clock (which could not come) it was agreed we should stay all night. Mr. Mann gave up his tent to Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt, and my sister and myself (for Captain Berkeley and Mr. Brown were gone to Adelaide) crept into Mrs. Brown’s tent without awakening them, for she and Miss B. had been gone to bed some time. Mr. Morphett conducted us to the tent, and we very quietly walked in and went to bed on two sofas she made up. Some noise we made woke up Mrs. Brown. She had asked us, but thought as it was so late we had gone on board. We all rose early, with parrots chirping over our heads, and breakfasted with Mrs. Brown. The coffee mill is nailed to a tree outside the tent, and the roaster stands close by the side. The fire for cooking is on the ground close by. The fresh branches of gum trees burn like dry wood; firing at all will cost us nothing for many years. Each family has erected their tent under a tree and dug a well by the side of it. There must be at least a dozen wells among them, for water can be had for digging about 6 ft. all over the plains called Glenelg. The distance from the town to the great River Murray is about 30 miles. It is two miles wide at the mouth and falls into Lake Alexandrina, which is otherwise a saltmarsh or little better. The ground does not appear cracked or parched. The trees are generally from fifty to a few hundred feet apart and mostly without any bush between. There are plenty of stores of every description here already, the price of beef and pork at the stores now is 6d. a lb, sugar 4d., rum 7d. a bottle ; tea has been sold at 1s 6d., but good is about 2s 6d, flour £(?) 1s. a barrel. As yet there is no stated price for fresh meat, as several persons kill a sheep as it is wanted and send round. The Isabella arrived last night with a large quantity of stock on board (oxen, sheep, &c) from Launceston, and (??) will return on Monday for more. Mr. Hack [John Barton Hack] and family was on board. He is a rich Quaker. They left London about five weeks before we did.
“February 12, 1837.—A cutter has arrived belonging to the company, with provisions and stock, also another vessel, the John Pirie. There are at present ten vessels lying here and two more are expected shortly. As we have wine without any duty on it there is no scarcity of sherry or port. The average height of the thermometer is from 90 to 100″, but the atmosphere is so light and clear that the surveyors who are at work on the woods say they do not feel it oppressive as at much lower in England and ….but bright. The evenings are very cool with a fine sea breeze. It is only when the wind is from the north that the heat is oppressive and disagreeable. The prevailing wind is south-west, and many of the trees are bent in the opposite direction. Two or three persons have commenced making a collection of insects, birds, &c, for a museum which is to belong to the colony. They are in great variety and some unknown in England. I have seen some beautiful moths. Mr. Cotter has brought from the Cape the sugar cane,pine apple, banana, orange, vine, and several other very valuable plants and shrubs, which are all flourishing. I saw them yesterday. The pineapple potato we also have. It is a valuable plant, the root and fruit are both good. Almost everyone who has come out has brought a quantity of seeds of every description. I suppose there is not a vegetable we have in England but what the seed or root is here. Some have been sown and came up very quickly. Captain Berkeley and we all ate some potatoes planted only nine weeks ago at Rapid Bay, where Colonel Light is stationed.
“The town acres it is supposed will sell at about £20. Such is the spirit and energy manifested for the rapid improvement that Mr. Stevens, the Company’s banking agent, has offered to advance £400,000 if the Commissioners will furnish laborers. This is the country that many of our friends in England are kind enough to think we are half starved in and undergoing great hardships. Let them try it, that is all. Never was a colony founded under such auspicious circumstances—a colony where so many pioneers have settled with their families around them ; the proportion is two to three on the whole. We would recommend every person coming out to bring with them plenty of green gauze. It is useful for the flies, and gentlemen wear veils out in the sun. I think anyone who would bring an omnibus (with horses from the Cape) to run between the Port and Adelaide would soon make a little fortune. We have nothing yet but wagons and oxen and a few horses. Last Wednesday we were invited by Captain Chesser to dine on board the Coromandel with a party of ladies and gentlemen. There were present Captain and Mrs. Berkeley, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt, and Mr. and Mrs Cotter, Mrs. and Miss Brown, Miss Malpas, myself, Lieutenant Phillips of the Buffalo and Mrs. French. Captain Chesser provided. We had some excellent ox-tail soup, fresh salmon (preserved); fine London fresh carrots, as good as if they had just been dug up, also preserved tongue, beef pie, boiled beef, and plum pudding, with some made dishes, raisins from the Cape, and some fine Constantia. Fish are so plentiful that they have caught five dozen in a morning on board the Rapid. If we like to leave the ship and stay at Glenelg till our house is erected at Adelaide Captain Chesser has offered us the use of the tent he put up for the dance, which will be very comfortable. Captain Berkeley has bought the wood of the emigrants cabins between deck to make our house with, as it is well seasoned and plenty of it. We had about 130 on board. We have had two very sudden deaths—one during the passage of a man named Shand who was a drunkard and dropt down in his cabin, and before the doctor could be called he was dead; another since our arrival named Emery, who had a wife and six children wholly dependent on him. He went on shore on Saturday in defiance of orders which had not yet arrived from the Commissioner to land him and next morning he was found quite dead between Glenelg and Port Adelaide. He also drank too much and had on leaving the ship come up to the cuddy door and defied Mr. Wyatt’s authority to detain him on board. Mr. Wyatt said ‘Recollect you go without my leave.’ His poor wife is greatly to be pitied.
“February 16.—The harbormaster, Captain Lipson [Thomas Hardy Lipson], came on board to take the ship up the creek into the harbor. He thought the ship was not too large to pass the bar but, however, at about 5 o clock she went aground and we lay hard and fast in the sand. Fortunately the weather was so calm that she lay quite still. They had seen us from the Buffalo and by 9 o’clock Lieutenant Phillips arrived to offer the assistance of the Rapid if required to get her of. The captain thought it would be better to let the Rapid come up in case of bad weather, so three guns were fired. They answered with a blue light and Lieutenant Phillips stayed on board all night and we lay very still. In the morning the Rapid with Lieutenant Field lightened our cargo considerably, and we hope to get off with the next high tide, when I shall continue my journal on the subject. One of our men has just caught 23 fish in half an hour. They are quite thick in the water, and there are plenty of sharks too. The water is so beautifully clear that the bottom can be seen at fathoms so clearly that I could see the shapes of the bright green weed which covered it like a carpet at three fathoms or more. I have bathed on the coast but was afraid of going out far on account of the sharks. We have no fishermen here yet, and one would make a good thing of it who would establish a fishery for oysters &c, and bring out plenty of nets. One of them can obtain the fish. Whoever comes out should bring plenty of cord and string and nails, we have very little, also pewter articles and jugs would be very useful. We have for ourselves secured a good supply of preserved meat, soup, and gooseberries, raspberries, and currants, apples, &c, from the ship, also lime juice and a cask of beef and pork, which is the best certainly that can be. Everyone says they never ate such fine beef and pork as has been put on board this ship ; we have wine also and almonds and raisins, which latter we pay nothing for. The captain gave them. There was a large sack of ….. Our apples are dried Normandy pippins in packets. Pigs are wanted and donkeys would be useful.
“Mrs. Hindmarsh and three daughters are living on board the Buffalo till their house is built at Adelaide, and three other ladies are also on board. There are several individuals of wealth and family here, I don’t know how many Honorables. Captain Berkeley has had a little appointment offered him, but as it is chiefly out on surveys, he will not accept it. He is sure there are not above one or two really good surveyors who understand their business. I think Philip would do well in it and William also. I have no doubt of it. I hope they will come. We have cockatoo soup and parrot pie.
“I have now, though most irregularly, given you and my dear mother all the information I can of the present state of things in our colony. I shall probably write again, or Martha will by this ship. As she can say nothing more than I have now it would be useless for her to write. I would wish very much if you would get several copies written of this journal, which I would request you to set in a little order for me, as I have written in such a hurry, deducting any tautology, &c, and send it to the following persons:—To save trouble this letter might be sent to dear Philip, and then I should like it to be forwarded to Lieutenant Pullen, Coastguard Station, Dunlist, for I have not time to copy it by this conveyance, which is the lsabella to Hobart Town. If he were here I have no doubt he would immediately obtain some appointment, for no expense is spared to make the settlement a well-ordered and prosperous one. A small trading boat between this and Launceston (which is only six days’ sail) is much wanted. A watchmaker is wanted. Mr. William Pullen is out on a survey near Adelaide, and I have not yet seen him to deliver the letter I have for him. There was another letter for him which Captain Berkeley found in a packet committed to his care. I wish a copy of it to be sent to Western Slade particularly (it may be of use), Mr. Solly, 48. Great Ormond-street. requesting him to forward it to Mrs. Sykes and Miss Wheat, Norwood, near Sheffield, Yorkshire. The Rev. F Layton, Duncan-street, Islington, requesting him to forward it to Captain Robert Gambier. Dr. Thompson, Colonel Newberry, Mr. Heath, Miss Gye, and any others he may like—the more the better. To Captain Potter for Miss Potter, York-street, Gosport; Mr. Thornley, 4, Bath-place, Newroad; Mrs. Austin, 6, Bloomsbury-square; Mrs. Luequet, 45, Charlotte-street. Portland-place; Miss Landham, 17, Carlton-place, Southampton; Mr. Greene, care of Mr. J. McCormack, 147, Strand ; Mr. Snell if you think proper, and the Isle of Man. I do not know if it is worth printing, but the more who hear of us the better, if you would arrange properly, omitting what is not necessary for strangers.
“February 17. 1837-—The ship has now got off the shoal, but in half an hour was stuck fast again at low water closer to the shore, where mangroves are growing out of the water.
” February 18, 1837.—This morning we went on shore with Lieutenant Phillips and Captain Berkeley and Mr. Wyatt to see some wells that had been dug in the sand between Glenelg and Port Adelaide; took some wine and biscuits; sat under a sheaoak; lit a fire, which burned all down a glen of sand covered with bushes and grass, close to the seaside, and spent a very pleasant morning; found the water very good. Lieutenant Phillips wished to ascertain if there were water enough in the well for the Buffalo. It comes in but slowly, but in the space of two or three days a great quantity could be obtained. It was excellent water about 5 ft. from the surface. We were the first ladies who had set foot in these woods for a picnic party. Captain Berkeley had his gun, and shot a beautiful bird on the beach. It was brown-and-white with a small, slender, long bill and webbed feet. He shot a pelican also, but it got off. We returned to the ship to dinner, and passed the Africaine sailing out of the harbor. Our anchors and cables and planks for houses had been thrown overboard to lighten the ship and all hands were employed collecting them to take on shore. I can scarcely describe this place to you but the spot we are is marked in the charts Sturt’s River. No sketch has ever-been made of it. Lieutenant Phillips commenced one the other day. It is not a river, but a sort of creek, which runs up for 15 ft. of water, so that she is too large to come up so far, but Captain Lipson, the harbormaster, who is there on board, says she is not, but that there is plenty of water for ships if brought through the right place, but he has not yet had time to place the buoys properly. We can go up, he says, to the end of the creek. There is an excellent harbor. He believes the Buffalo intends coming up, which is a much larger ship than ours. The William Hutt is now quite at the end of the creek. Several fine schnapper were caught to-day about the size of large cod fish (I think they are better than cod), also plenty of mullet and two small sharks. During the voyage we saw two whales, and caught two albatrosses, one brown and one white, which measured 9 ft. from wing to wing. Flying fish also came on board. They are very fine eating, and we had bonita and albacore. The albatrosses were so numerous that we saw some dozens at a time about the ship. They float in the air most beautifully without moving their wings except to turn or rise from the water. The phosphorescent light in the Indian Ocean is more splendid than I can describe. Sometimes at night the whole extent as far as the horizon seemed like waves of fire that we were floating through. The flying fish fly in shoals and are the size of a herring, their wings are like gauze. Dolphins were also caught, which change to such beautiful colors as they die. We saw great numbers of stormy petrels and Cape pigeons. I have now neither room nor time to write more. The Isabella sails tomorrow. I wish Mr. Layton would send us out a couple of good servant girls; ask him and his wife. We have two very useful men, but shall want a woman, for the girl we brought has proved a thief. I hope Mr. Weston will do his best to procure us money for that reversion, and send it as soon as possible. We beg to be kindly remembered to him and all friends who may enquire of us also.
I am, my dear father,
Your affectionate daughter,
THERESA S. C(hauncey).”
Related posts and further reading
Martha Berkeley : The first dinner given to the Aborigines 1838 (Adelaide)
Philip Chauncy’s memoir: 1835 and 1836 (in which he farewells his sisters)
TWAS SIXTY YEARS AGO. (1897, December 28). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), p. 5. Retrieved January 26, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35101015
JOHN Renwick 1837. (n.d.). BOUND FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA – PASSENGERS 1836-1888 by Diane Cummings. https://bound-for-south-australia.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/1837JohnRenwick.htm
1837 John Renwick. (n.d.). OLD COLONISTS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. https://oldcolonists.weebly.com/1837-john-renwick.html
John Renwick 1826. (n.d.). Tyne Built Ships & Shipbuilders. https://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/J-Ships/johnrenwick1826.html
Post first published at https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/2025/01/27/bound-for-south-australia-1837/
What a comprehensive description of the early colonial settlement in South Australia. Thanks for publishing it.