Of Scots-Irish origin, my mother’s family the Wilsons, had left their birthplace in Fermanagh in the late 1860s and moved to the Paisley area of Renfrewshire, just south-west of Glasgow. Their migration to Scotland was understandable, as within the area where they settled in Linwood, there was a cotton mill close by, where the girls of the family worked, and an iron mine where the sons found employment.
The community around Paisley contained others who had originated from their parish, or those of neighbouring parishes who mixed amongst these former ‘neighbours’. My mother’s grandfather James Wilson had married Margaret Virtue on 29 December 1871 in the Scottish Episcopal Church in Paisley. Margaret was from the Colaghty church in the parish of Magheraculmoney abutting James’ parish of Drumkeeran in Fermanagh.
The Wilsons and others boarded the Duntrune in Dundee, bound for Brisbane in far off Queensland on 31 August 1883. The Duntrune was an iron, full rig vessel of 1488 tons and only eight years old. Her master for this voyage of primarily Bounty Passengers was Captain J. Rollo, the Ships Surgeon was M.H. Long and Mrs Jane Spink was the Matron, in all the crew numbered 49 with 448 passengers.[1]&.[2] Amongst the passengers were three ladies who were pregnant and likely to give birth during the voyage. A passenger onboard was James Hogg who recorded a diary which is available online through the Central Queensland Family History Association in Rockhampton.[3]
On a bright sunny day, the vessel sailed out of the Firth of Tay, with the passengers all settled into their berths, having been issued with their mess utensils the day before, as their basic meals were provided for them.[4] In the following days at sea the weather was not so kind with rain and very rough seas resulting in many of the emigrants being sea-sick and unable to consider food. While sailing south down the west coast of Scotland they were becalmed for several days, although quite a swell on some days made life very difficult for the ships cook. On 10 September the condenser broke down and two days later the ships engineer assisted by some passengers repaired it.
Some 20 days after setting sail they were still just 200 miles off Lizard Point in Devon! However, things changed as they neared the Bay of Biscay off France and Spain when the weather once again got very rough for a few days. To top matters off, the old dunkey (sic) engine broke down again. I did wonder if the use of the word dunkey was a spelling error, so researched it and found that it is meant to read ‘donkey engine’. For centuries, the crews of seafaring vessels did all the manual work, until donkey engines and donkey boilers were introduced on board sailing ships and steamships. ‘The donkey engine was driven by the pressure of steam produced by heating water in a small donkey boiler’.[5]
Continuing from the diary of James Hogg on Thursday 27 September 1883, this is the day of most interest to me:
‘At breakfast time we were served with very bad water which caused a great deal of talk during the day & at night we were supplied with hot water for tea which seemed to be worse. It had a bad smell & no one would use it. Part of it was taken & shown to the doctor who ordered it to be emptied out as it was utterly unfit for use. The coppers were then all emptied & water taken from the main tank to boil for tea.’ ‘Meanwhile a deputation waited on the captain asking him to put into Madeira to get fresh water & the condenser repaired. The result was that at 6.30 we changed our course & are steering straight for Madeira Island which we hope to sight to-morrow afternoon. Our position at noon was Lat 36 20 N Long 15 15 W.’
Right: Correct birth location as verified by two separate diaries notating ships location throughout the voyage. Both images from Google Maps.
This position is due west-northwest of the coast of Morocco, Africa and equal distance south-east of Lagos in Portugal.
During this eventful day, Margaret Wilson was in labour and gave birth to her son named Robert with the marine birth being registered in England as taking place at Lat. 36 15 N Long 15 27 E. Subsequently, his Queensland Marine birth record also recorded that marine location, which is just off the south-east tip of Sicily. For 20 years I had believed this was the correct point of his birth and assumed the vessel had continued through the Suez Canal on its route to Queensland. It was not until researching further to write this blog that I found the diary of James Hogg which transcribes points from the ships announcements confirming they travelled via the Cape of Good Hope route. A further diary by George Philip is also available at the State Library of New South Wales.[6]
It took the Duntune two more days before they could drop anchor in Madeira on Saturday 29 September. The vessel hoisted the yellow quarantine flag to signal that no-one could come on board. Local native boys came out in small boats and shouted, ‘Throw sixpence me dive’ and some passengers obliged by doing so. The following day around noon the yellow flag was lowered, and the boys were allowed onboard with their fruit and wines. Whilst at the island, part of the donkey engine was taken ashore to get repaired & some of the engines went along with it. The water tanks were cleaned out & refilled with fresh water from the island. As the repairs took some time, some of the passengers were eventually allowed to leave the vessel.
On Friday 5 October, the Duntrune once again began its long journey to Brisbane. Days at sea continued with some bad squalls followed on some days with little to no breeze. After the heat of many weeks, the weather became cold again and the seas became very rough with no other ships observed. They passed the Crozet Islands on 27 November and by a fortnight later were becalmed once more, before the wind come up.[7] They eventually passed Tasmania on 18 December and then steered NE for Moreton Bay. After a rough passage by Bass Strait, they continued north and sighted Cape Byron on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day, they signalled for a pilot and spent some time in Moreton Bay waiting to be escorted up the Brisbane River. The passengers of the Duntrune disembarked in Brisbane on 29th December 1883 and those who did not have specific employment waiting for them, were transported to the Immigration Depot, where they were taken care of, for a short time.
My family settled in West End and James Wilson found employment as a labourer. A re-union dinner of the 1883 Duntrune passengers was held on Saturday 27 Jan 1934 in the Cafe Majestic in Queen Street, Brisbane. The dinner was reported in the Courier-Mail on Monday 29 Jan 1934 and highlighted how Robert Wilson, as the first of several babies born onboard was invited to stand “that we may see how you have grown”. As it happens, Robert was the second baby, but he was the first male baby born onboard the vessel during that journey. I have a copy of the Reunion Dinner Menu brochure prepared for that event passed down by my mother.
[1] https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/duntrune.242959/
[2] Bounty immigrants who were brought out as labourers or servants by an employer who was paid a bounty for each immigrant he sponsored.
[3] https://sites.rootsweb.com/~auscqfha/shipping_duntrune_log.html
[4] ibid
[5] The origin of the curious names ‘donkey boiler’ and ‘donkey engine’ goes back to when donkeys on land were a source of power and traction https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/whats-on/stories/the-fascinating-history-and-hazards-of-donkey-engines-and-boilers
[6] Title: George Philp – notebook, 1881-1883, including diary of voyage from Dundee to Brisbane on the ship Duntrune, 31 Aug. – 29 Dec. 1883, with typescript extracts. State Library of New South Wales – transcript of diary.
[7] Crozet Islands are in the Southern area of the Indian Ocean, SE of South Africa
Leave a Reply