The Adventures Of A Local Emigrant
By Mike Brinkworth
A local news magazine called The Fountain often contains information on the history of Nailsworth, and the spring 2002 edition has a couple of articles that I am able to reproduce in full here. The title of the article is as above, and explains why so many people from Nailsworth now live in Australia.
From 1832 onwards, many Gloucester parishes devised schemes to assist potential imigrants by granting allowanes and assigning them lands in the colonies. In 1837 the Gloucester Journal reported that several families from Horsley had embarked for Australia. There appears among the poor of these districts a strong prevailing disposition in favour of emigration to this promising colony, to which, numerous parties have already gone'. * In the same year, the colonial Government of South Australia announced the embarkation of several emigrant ships and the provision of free passage for married couples of the working classes aged 15 to 30.
There could hardly have been a worse prelude to their new life. Normally migrants
and their possessions were carried by bullock dray to Adelaide, but as they did not
arrive to meet the Somersetshire, the new arrivals had to spend their first night on
the beach, watched with great amusement by the local aborigines. The Brinkworth
family used their four-poster bed turned upside down as a tent — Thomas and the
boys slept on top, Elizabeth and daughter underneath. At the time of his arrival,
Thomas’ total finance was 3 shillings and sixpence.
The first family home was at Nailsworth, a village north of Adelaide (and now one of
its suburbs). Here, the only employment Thomas could get was at government
forests, sawing wood. The wages were sixpence a day and double rations. It must
have come as a surprise to find a place called Nailsworth; formerly called Pine
Forest, it had been renamed by settler Butenock Fry who owned large tracts of land
there. He had left Nailsworth, Gloucestershire in 1837 and had been an influence in
persuading others from his former home town tojoin him in this new ‘promised land’.
In 1842. Thomas bought a block of land in Walkerville and built his own house.
Many of the pioneers were given the opportunity to clear land for cultivation;
every man induced to settle upon the land was viewed as a good citizen gained for
the community. The pioneer farmers, both men and women did all they could to
be self supporting by keeping cows, pigs and poultry. and providing their own meat
— often from the kangaroo. Here he grew 8 acres of wheat.
When the Victorian gold rush began in 1851. Thomas and his two eldest sons
decided to try their luck in the Eureka Fields near Ballarat. They spent two years
there and were relatively successful. On the return journey to South Australia they
were robbed of food and possessions by bushrangers, but the gold remained safe.
They had hidden it in the axles of the bullock wagon just in case!
On his return, Thomas continued with farming, growing wheat and hay in the
Nailsworth area until 1855 when the increasing family (10 children now!) moved
to selected land at Lower Light, fencing and clearing virgin land to bring it under
cultivation for the first wheat crop. Drought and failure of crops forced them to
move again to Manoora, where once again they began farming virgin land. Thomas
successfully farmed here for many years, but in 1881 his wife Elizabeth died. Like
other pioneer women, she had suffered immense hardship in creating a happy
home life for her husband and family.
When Thomas later sold portions of his property, he was able to help each of his
seven sons to become pioneer landowners in South Australia. He spent his declining
years with son Peter and died in 1892. He had arrived without capital, but with
hard work and determination had overcome the many difficulties that faced him in
this new and untamed land. He is buried in Georgetown Cemetery on a burnt,
brown, dusty hillside, far removed from the green fields of his Horsley birthplace.
Postscript:
Bibliography:
E V Priest:
There is a photo of the town of Brinkworth, but it does not scan very well, as you can see from the above. Nailsworth.com.
The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of invention and considerable social upheaval. As a result of technological advances, the Cotswolds, still heavily dependent
upon the woollen industry, was witnessing great changes. The rapid introduction of carding engines and shearing frames made some grades of woolworkers redundant, and after 1825
general economic decline coincided with the growth of loom factories and reduced tade; hundreds of local residents remained unemployed and chronic stagnation led to severe
depresion. For many the situation Was desperate; it seemed that the only possible solution was to seek a fresh start on the other side of the world.
On 14th March 1839, Thomas Brinkworth made an application for an assisted passage to South Australia; he gave his age as 27 years, his wife 26 years and children 4, 3 and 1. Both Thomas and wife Elizabeth (née Harvey) were born In Horsley and were named in Horsley Church in
1834. The children were born in Nailsworth but like their parents. were baptised in Horsley Church. Thomas was a broad weaver at Newington Bagpath, and presumabIy it was the change of fortunes in that industry that led to his decision to emigrate. On 19th May the Brinkworth family sailed from London on board the barque Somersetshire, and after an appallingly difficult voyage of more than three months, they arrived at Port Adelaide on 25th August, having made only one stop at Calcutta en route.
It was in 1892, the year of Thomas’ death, that the town of Brinkworth was born.
As the railway pushed further across the country, it was necessary to pass through
land owned by George Brinkworth, Thomas’ second son, and he generously
donated this land to them. In return, the settlement that developed around the line was named after him. It lies about 150km north of Adelaide.
* By 1851 there was an outmigration of 1,337 persons from Nailsworth/Horsley.
Albion M Urdank:
Religion and Society in the Cotswold Vale: Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.
The Family History of Thomas and Elizabeth Brinkworth
(1978 Gulnare, S. Australia)