GENEALOGY SA BIRTHS DEATHS MARRIAGES NOW ONLINE

Genealogy South Australia has just placed its Births Deaths and Marriages information online.There are no 'Mawbey' spellings, but lots of 'Mawby'.
The earliest birth is 1883, Frank to William and Emma Mawby (nee Curtis).
The earliest death is 1886, Mary M daughter of William.
The earliest recorded marriage is 1890, William Mawby to Agnes Balmain.
This site can be accessed by clicking on 'Genealogy SA' in the sidebar of this blog.

MAWBEYS NOT IN INDEX OF EARLY SOUTH AUSTRALIANS

Yesterday I looked at the Biographical Index of South Australians - 1836-1885, Book 2 M-Z, published by the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc in May 1990.
George and Ann Mawbey are not included in it, despite them living in Adelaide from 1839-1840.
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I will let them know and give them the information I have found.
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The 13th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry will be held in Adelaide from 28-31 March 2012.
The topic will be Your Ancestors in their Social Context.
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I'd love to go but being on a pension, I can't afford it.

THE VOYAGE TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Yesterday in the NSW State Library I found a book written by George French Angus in 1847 about his voyage from England to South Australia.
It gives a wonderful insight into what the trip must have been like, both for him and for any free man, woman or child who made the three month sea journey to the other side of the world.
Here are some excerpts from this book, Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand:

It was in the month of September that I left England, when the golden tints of autumn had overspread the landscape with their mellow touch ... the summer flowers still filled the gardens, and the apples and mulberries lay scattered over the dewy grass-plats ... the air was balmy and fresh, and the blackbird sang melodiously; it seemed as if everything was more beautiful than usual, - perhaps it was because I was going to leave it all so soon... The last parting sounds from the shore were the gentle and distant tollings of the Sabbath bells ... 
The next Sabbath dawn rose upon the sunny latitudes of Portugal, nine hundred miles from our native land.  

Lat.33*N... The albatross has long since joined us ... taking his nocturnal flight over the moonlit waters ... in bold relief against the unclouded moon...

The moon off the New Holland coast is exquisitely clear, and the mackerel sky most beautiful ... the stars are twinkling out at every break in the spotted clouds ....

At two p.m. on Friday the 29th December, the joyful cry of "Land ahead!" was echoed along the deck ... It proved to be the westernmost coast of Kangaroo Island...

Next morning as we lay becalmed in Investigator's Straits, numerous brown sharks came round the vessel. One was caught measuring nine feet long ... a piece of the liver was cut up for young "Tim", the kitten ...

At daybreak we saw the red sun come up from behind the darkly-purple hills ... We gazed on South Australia; that high jagged ridge was Mount Lofty; yonder the mouth of the Onkaparinga river; and before us was Holdfast Bay. At last the buildings of the City of Adelaide were descried glittering in the sunshine, and a shout of joy rose from the vessel's deck.
                                              [Published by Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1847]

This was written seven years after George Mawbey left South Australia, and 15 years after he arrived in the colony of New South Wales from England.

REFRESHMENT ROOMS A PIE IN THE SKY?

When George Mawbey embarked on his Refreshment Rooms business in Adelaide in early 1839, there would have been no electricity and no refrigeration.
Meals would have been cooked on a fuel (wood-burning) stove with light provided by candles or oil lamps.
There were no proper roads, the first one, between the town and its harbour, having been built in October 1839.
His home delivery of meals would have had to be done on horseback, not the steadiest means of transport.
The difficulties associated with operating this type of business, better suited to a much more sophisticated part of the world like London, or where labour was cheaper like Calcutta, may have been why his cook left.
And why he possibly could not find a replacement.

GEORGE MAWBEY UNPOPULAR?

On 15 November 1839, George Mawbey made a public announcement in a newspaper that he had sub-let the premises of his Refreshment Rooms in Rundle Street, Adelaide.
A new business was opening there, the Grieve & Campbell General Store.
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On Wednesday 27 November 1839, the new proprietors ran a newspaper advertisement for an opening special - cheap bread.
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On Saturday 30 November 1839, the local newspaper published a long list of people invited to a public entertainment on Christmas Eve held as a tribute to the new Governor, Sir William Gawler.
On it were Rundle Street retailers, John Stuckey and Grieve Campbell, but not George Mawbey.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 1 June 1839
The brig Nereus sails for South Australia to-morrow morning under the command of Capt. Tavenor, late chief officer of the Bardaster.
Her passengers are (cabin) - Messrs. Elliott and Roberts, Mrs. Harvey and child, Mrs. Mawbey, and Mrs. Denham.
Steerage-Patrick Lahiff, Donald Sutherland, Charles Macarthur, Richard Hamilton, David Anderson, John O'Brien, William Roberts, Mrs. Weatherhead and 3 children.
[Source:http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2540896]

EARLY SA SHIPPING & PASSENGER LISTS

Just found a very good website of the State Library of South Australia that lists all the ships and passengers arriving at Port Adelaide from 1839-45.
As a result of stumbling across this, I think I've finally found out how and when my great great grandfather, George Mawbey, arrived in the new province.
A name that sounds like his is on the manifest of the Nereus that sailed from Sydney and arrived in Adelaide on 27 January 1839.
The name given is 'Mr G Morley', but it is possible that it was written phonetically, not the correct spelling.
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When Geo. Mawbey's wife, Ann, was planning to sail from Sydney to join him, she too was booked to travel on the Nereus.
But bad weather forced the vessel to turn back, and she subsequently sailed on the Abercrombie.
I'll see if a 'Morley' appears in any South Australian newspaper articles or directories at that time.
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The link to this Pioneers and Settlers of South Australia website is StateLibSA-ShippingRecords.