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.

UNCLAIMED LETTERS

Throughout July 1841, the General Post Office, Adelaide placed advertisements in the Southern Australian newspaper for its list of unclaimed letters. George Mawbey's name was on this list.
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In January 1843, another Adelaide Post Office list of unclaimed letters was published in the South Australian Gazette.
A Duncan Mawbey was on this list.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA A PLANNED COLONY

Last night during a clean-up at home I found my old social studies textbook from when I was in 6th class at primary school.
Yep! That's right. I've been hanging on to it since 1959!
It's title is Social Studies for Sixth Grade by G T Spaull, MA, William Brooks & Co Limited, The Educational Publishers of Australia, Waterloo [Sydney] and Brisbane.
Oddly enough, it bears no date of publication, but the preface says it had been written in conjunction with the 1952 curriculum of the Education Department of New South Wales.
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Why I am mentioning it here is that it has a piece on George Fife Angas, claiming him to be the 'Founder of South Australia'.
I don't recall ever hearing of him before, but according to my old school textbook, he was a Scottish merchant and philanthropist, based in London, who wanted to establish a colony in Australia for the British poor and unemployed.
He wanted to do this in South Australia, but in 1834, the British Government beat him to it.
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The colony it set up was run by a Governor assisted by a group of Commissioners who were expected to find the money to make the venture a success.
According to my textbook, they failed to do this, and that through bad government, the colony became bankrupt.
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In 1836, Fife Angas formed his South Australian Company which became the real founder of the new colony.
In 1839, he sent out his agent, Flaxman, to buy property on his behalf, but as a result, he found himself in debt.
He eventually sold all his properties in England and Scotland and in 1851 moved to South Australia where he lived until his death at 90.

In the three years of its [South Australia's] colonial existence, only 16 individuals have incurred the sentence of transportation.
                                                                                        Royal South Australian Almanac 1840

Four of them, a quarter of the total, were on the ship George and Ann Mawbey sailed back to Sydney in August that year..

On 1 December 1839, the population of the province [of South Australia] was 10,200.
                                                                                  Royal South Australian Almanack 1840

THE CITY OF CHURCHES

Adelaide is known as 'the city of churches' today.
According to the Royal South Australian Almanack 1840, many Christian denominations were already well established with large congregations.
By far the biggest was the Episcopalians with 600 worshippers.
Their Trinity Church had cost 1,000 pounds to build and a further 1,300 pounds spent to enlarge it.
In 1840 they were erecting another church, St John's, in Gilles Street.
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Next in number were the Wesleyan Methodists, 550, and the Catholics, 300.
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Neither the Catholics, the Baptists nor the Scotch Presbyterians had their own churches.
The former met in a private home, and the latter on the Park Land, opposite the Trinity Church.
However, the Presbyterians, with their minister from the Secession Church in Scotland, were erecting a church in Victoria Square.
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The Congregational Independents formed 'a large and respectable body' worshipping at North Terrace and erecting a new chaple at Gawler Place.
They had raised 600 pounds by subscription for the new chapel which was estimated to cost 2,600 pounds.
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The Society of Friends (Quakers) still had no place of worship.

NOT IN 1840 ALAMACK EITHER

Geo. Mawbey would have already known he was planning to leave Adelaide at the time information was being gathered for the 1840 Royal South Australian Almanack. This is probably why his Refreshment Rooms are not listed in the 'General Directory' at the back.
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New entries for Rundle Street:
Cornwall Hotel
W. Pearce - Tailor, Draper, Habit, Robe, and Cap Maker, Adelaide Clothing Establishment, corner King William and Rundle Streets
Adelaide Market - meat, poultry, new cheese, fresh butter, eggs, vegetables and fruits of all kinds ... exhibited for sale daily.
C. Robinson - Oil, Color (sic) and Glass Store, plumber, painter and glazier, Rundle-street, near the Market.
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There was a large advertisement in the General Directory for The Brewery which supplied families with genuine XX Ale for 2s.6d. per gallon.
Also a smaller one placed by the organist from the Trinity Church about his pianoforte and singing lessons.
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George Mawbey appears to have been involved in the theatre in Sydney, so he might have visited the Victoria Theatre on North Terrace that was open Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.
The proprietor was C. Cameron.

The Royal South Australian Almanack 1839 does not list George Mawbey in its business directory, but does the following:
John Stuckey, baker
J Pitman, joiner and pianoforte tuner
John Reynell, landholder, 'Surreyville', 81, Rundle Street
Archibald Macdougal, printer
George Alston, accountant, 41, Rundle Street
Dingham and Harvey, merchants
Flaxman and Rowlands, merchants
John Forrester, victualer
Miss Nihill, ladies school
___ Williams, builder
E Baker, Adelaide Bazaar
John Crawford, builder
Clement Crispe, butcher
At the beginning of 1839 when this alamanack was compiled, it was not two years since the founding of the new colony, and there were already 620 houses and 5,000 inhabitants.
[Source: Royal South Australian Almanack 1839]

UPDATE 19-12-11
According the Royal South Australian Almanack 1840, John Reynell, was a director of the Joint Stock Cattle Company. It was established to 'supply colonists with the purest and most approved breeds of cattle, as well as butter and cheese at a moderate price'.
Mr John Stuckey, baker in Rundell Street, had been appointed one of their agents for butter.
Archibald Macdougall published the Southern Australian every Wednesday morning, price 1s.

No person or persons convicted in any court of justice in Great Britain or Ireland, or elsewhere, shall at any time, or under any circumstances, be transported as a convict to any place within these limits.

                                                    Constitution and Government of the Colony [of South Australia].
From its conception, the province (now state) of South Australia was an exclusive, convict-free zone.
All of the other colonies of Australia - Western Australia begrudgingly - imported convicts as a form of cheap labour.
The SA Colonisation Commission thought it could still supply free labour to land owners by attaching a levy to the price of land which would be used to 'carry' (transport) poor families from Britain.
Those eligible under the 'emigration fund' had to be 'real' labourers between the ages of 15 and 30 and married.
Single women could come if they were attached to a family, like an aunt.
On the arrival of these labourers in SA, they were not to be 'indentured' like the convicts (attached to a particular employer), but rather allowed to negotiate their conditions of employment with an employer of their choosing.

Free labour and no convicts means the colonists are protected from the enormous evils which result from the immorality and profligacy unavoidable in a penal settlement.

This was the situation in SA when George Mawbey was running his own business in Adelaide in 1839-40.
[Source: Royal South Australian Almanack 1839]

RUNDLE STREET ADELAIDE

"Beehive Corner"
Rundell & King William Streets,
Adelaide
1900
State Library of South Australia
B60076

JOHN RUNDLE, after whom Rundell Street was named, was an English MP, member of the House of Commons, and one of the founding Board of Directors of the South Australian Company that was formed on 9 October 1835 to establish the new colony.
Rundle Street is in the 'East End' of Adelaide and is today known for its eateries and coffee shops.
Its western section which ran to King William Street, and where George Mawbey's Refreshment Rooms were located, was closed in 1972 to form Rundle Mall, a pedestrian shopping precinct.
Rundle arrived in South Australia on 6 February 1840, while George Mawbey was still in Adelaide.
In 1849 the former English politician owned a two-storey building on the corner of Rundle and King William Streets called 'Beehive Corner'.
There is a painting of it in the State Library of South Australia.
I am seeking permission to publish that on this blog.
Update 10-2-2012
Permission was kindly granted.


"Beehive Corner"
ACRE 46: A view of Rundle Street
showing the Beehive Corner
ca.1900
State Library of South Australia
B56370

THE STREET WHERE GEO. MAWBEY WORKED

In the June 1939 newspaper advertisement in which George Mawbey announced his new Refreshment Rooms in Rundle Street, Adelaide, he mentioned another business operator across the road, Mr J [John] Stuckey as a locational point of reference.
Several other advertisers of businesses in the street area did the same.
Mr J Stuckey was a bread and 'Fancy Baker' operating from a building on the corner of Rundell and King William Streets.
He was also an importer of goods like manchester and clothing from England which he sold from his residence in King William Street, and a wealthy landowner and member of the local 'establishment'.
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In May 1839, the business next door to him in Rundle Street was that of Mr Weston, Surgeon, Adelaide General Dispensary.
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And opposite, near George Mawbey's Refreshment Rooms, W Mincham, plumber, painter and glazier who provided specialised services like 'Writing, Graining, Sign and Ornamental Painting', had just let his business premises and was working from his home in Currie Street.
[Source: All of this information comes from digitalised newspapers on the National Library of Australia website.]
See Google Maps Rundle & King William Streets, Adelaide.

GEORGE MAWBEY'S SHORT-LIVED STAY IN ADELAIDE

I have learned so much about my country since embarking on this family history in 2010, particularly about the state of South Australia.
This occurred recently while I was sifting through reams of digitalised newspapers on the National Library of Australia (NLA) website, trying and find out more about my ancestor, George Mawbey, and his short-lived stay in Adelaide from 1839-40.
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He appears to have gone there prior to June 1839 to set up his own business - Refreshment Rooms - in a building he was leasing near the corner of Rundle and King William Streets.
That month he placed an advertisement in the privately owned newspaper, the Southern Australian, telling his friends and the public that the new eating establishment was now open.
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Around the same time, his wife, Ann, whom he had married in Sydney in July 1838, was booked on a ship to go to SA to be with him, but the voyage was cancelled because of bad weather.
She subsequently sailed there on the Abercrombie.
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Just five months later, in November 1839, George was attempting to dispose of the lease of the eatery.
In August 1840 he and his wife returned to Sydney on the brig, Christina.

I have contributed a summary of this latest information about George Mawbey to the SA Memory project being conducted by the State Library of South Australia.
It can be seen at http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=61&c=8804

The library of Genealogy SA has two books that might tell me more about my great great great grandfather.
Congregationalism in Australia by G Lockley, and Centenary Calendar 1837-1937 Stow Memorial Congregational Church.
I would like to find out where George Mawbey's Refreshments were located, by doing a land titles search.
And it would be great to find a photo ...