6,297
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Add FIBIS Resource
Links between Australia and India were established from an early date. The first Anglican chaplains, appointed from 1788 at the time when the first shipment of convicts were sent from Britain, were British Government officials. Then from 1825 - 1836 the Australian Continent formed part of the Diocese of Calcutta. This appears to have been for administrative purposes only as Church records for this period do not appear in the [[India Office Records|India Office Series]]. It is probable that any original intention to make regular visitations of New South Wales (as it was then called) from [[Calcutta]] proved impractical bearing in mind the huge distances involved. This is reflected in [http://books.google.com/books?id=_7sHAAAAQAAJ ''The inefficiency of the ecclesiastical establishment of India''] by Henry Shepherd in 1829.
== FIBIS Resources==
*Article entitled ''Links with India: Records in the New South Wales State Archives relating to settlers and others.'' by Christine Yeats, Manager, Public Access, State Records Authority of New South Wales. This appeared in FIBIS journal no 16 – pages 28 to 39. For details of how this journal can be accessed online [http://www.fibis.org/membership.htm FIBIS members] or purchased (non members) see [[FIBIS Journals]]
==Historical background==
The following case study might help researchers.
Heather Hall has advised: I'd been searching for ages for a Caroline Sarah Chantry b. 1828, daughter of John and Mary Davey and stepdaughter of Sgt William Chantry of the 45th Regiment. We knew from research at the [[British Library ]] that she was orphaned in 1832 when there was an outbreak of cholera, but couldn't find how she came to Australia and was married at the Clarence settlement in 1846. To cut a very long story short, from FIBIS I discovered that she was admitted to the [http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/simplesearchsummarycat.php?mode=q&s_id=387 Madras Military Girls Orphan School] in 1834 as Caroline Davey and was still there in 1839 with her sister Ann Chantry. I found in an 1843 newspaper shipping list into Sydney were five orphan girls and their Matron from Madras and then three days later the only girls to be admitted to the Sydney NSW Orphanage were five girls aged 14 to 16, one of whom was my Caroline Davey. I found the shipping information on a film of the Sydney Morning Herald dated 4 January 1843 at the NLA as it is not yet part of the online newspaper project. The names of the girls and Matron were not listed, but I found the names on the NSW State records site. We then went to State Records at Kingswood and found information to confirm my online searching.
The ship was 'Duchess of Kent', Captain Brittan, which arrived in Sydney on 3rd Jan 1843 from Calcutta, Madras and Hobart Town, having left Calcutta on 24th September 1842, Madras 18th Oct and Hobart Town on 24th December. Passengers leaving the ship in Hobart Town were Dr Baikie and Mr Desaunt along with five prisoners (unnamed). Arriving Sydney were Captain Gunton of 50th Regt and Mrs Gunton, Dr Owen, B.C. and Mr White. I presume that Captain Gunton must have been in charge of the prisoners.
