It was a fateful decision for the Lawrence family. Remain in England and endure a life of hard times or take a chance and emigrate to a new land with new possibilities and new challenges they could not imagine or prepare for. They took the high road. The youth would go first and establish a foothold. If it looked do-able, the old and the young would follow.
James and Mary Ann Lawrence bought passage for their young adult offspring — Elizabeth (28) widow with a 5 year old son who would follow later, George (26), William (25) and Roza (24). These four arrived in Melbourne on the ship Medway 9 Aug 1849, all healthy. Each found work. Elizabeth and Rosa were listed on the passenger list as house servants, and George and William as bricklayers. The following year George returned to England to help the remainder of the family to emigrate.
This second contingent arrived in Australia 15 June 1850 aboard the ship Lady McNaughton. The ship had suffered storm damage in the roaring 40s and consequently made port at Adelaide instead of Melbourne. Fourteen of the Lawrence family were aboard (unconfirmed by the passenger list which went missing):
- Parents James Lawrence (59) builder
- Wife Mary Ann (66)
- Their son James Lawrence (34),
- His wife Jane Farmer (32)
- James and Jane’s five children: James (13), Jane (11), Clara (9), Maria (3) and Rosa (5m)
- George Lawrence (26)
- Catherine Lawrence (34)
- George Henry White Sr (34), husband of Catherine Lawrence
- Their son George White Jr (6)
- Alex Sloan (6), son of Elizabeth Sloan nee Lawrence (Elizabeth came out in 1849)
In Adelaide, passengers were loaded onto another ship, the Sea Queen, which would take them on to Melbourne. Tragedy struck. George Lawrence (26), the eldest son who had spent twelve months at sea orchestrating the family’s move to Australia, fell overboard, hit his head on the anchor and drowned.
Despite the sad beginning, the Lawrence family set down firm roots in Australia. Elizabeth Sloan, well aware, no doubt, of her precarious position as a widow and mother, partnered with a Mr Edward Seymour. But Mr Seymour soon slipped away to the goldfields and disappeared. Elizabeth moved to Bendigo, Victoria, northwest of Melbourne, where she married a Mr Joseph Abel Hunt and thereafter enjoyed a full family life. George White Jr. became a successful hotelier in Melbourne. He died early at age 49 while on holidays in New Zealand.
[Source: family document]Image: Landing at Lyttleton, New Zealand