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STRANGERS TO THE SEA 3

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  HANG THE HOUSE IN BLACK: The Catastrophes "On the re-assembling of parliament the case will no doubt undergo a searching investigation, and we would recommend to the assembled wisdom of the nation that in common respect for the feelings of the relatives of the dead in England, the House of Commons should during that investigation, be hung with black." ( From the Australia and New Zealand Gazette , TROVE, nla.news-article3715257, Aug 1853) The Fever Ship TICONDEROGA  ― 1852 'The Ticonderoga, from Liverpool, with 811 souls on board, entered Port Phillip Heads on November 4, 1852, after a voyage of 91 days. She reported 96 deaths from typhus fever. Nearly every person on board was sick. She anchored off the black buoy at Williamstown, but was sent back to the then newly established quarantine ground at Point Nepean, and during the six weeks of her quarantine 82 more deaths were incurred.' ( From the Melbourne Age , TROVE, nla.news-article205621967, Sat 13 May 1939) The...
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STRANGERS TO THE SEA 2

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THE  ACCOMMODATION      "When the stress of farewells was over the emigrants gradually became aware of their surroundings ― of the billowing sails; the purposeful, agile crew, so unmoved by the departure; the cramped accommodation. The accommodation above all. Between bouts of seasickness it dawned on them that these few square feet of space were to be their home for months of travel, a home that would seldom be still.       Products of their time as they were, it probably did not surprise the emigrants that life on board ship mirrored the class structure of Britain. The masses below deck represented the masses at home." (Don Charlwood, 1999, The Long Farewell , AD Reid, Kialla Vic, p.91) 5.  Excerpts from Henry Mundy's Diary, England to Australia, Abberton , 1844 The Diary was written between 1909 and 1912, a lifetime after 13 yo emigrant Henry Mundy crossed oceans in steerage to reach Port Phillip in 1844. He writes, "I am now in my eightieth ye...
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