AUS-SAGEN-L Archives

From: "Neil Foley" <>
Subject: Yatala Gaol Register
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 08:16:34 +0800

Hello

I am wondering if it's possible for someone to check a register at State Records for me: GRG 54/39 (gaol registers - Yatala 1851-1860). The period would be December 1854 to early 1855. I am looking for a John Brown, John Smith or Peter Smith, a Dutchman, seaman, who was convicted in Dec. 1854 at Port Adelaide with desertion from the ship "Cambalu" in July or August 1854. There may have been both a Peter Smith and a John Brown/Smith ( i.e. two separate people with a combination of these names). The following is some background for anyone who may be able to help.

For 30 years I've been chasing my ancestor "John Brown". He was a Dutch seaman, son of "John Brown", a blacksmith, who was in Fremantle, W.A. by 1858 when he married. He could not read or write and so maybe his real name was Jan de Bruin, Johannes Braun or similar, but the English clerks just wrote "John Brown" (or he may have completely disguised his real name!). He was said to have been a Roman Catholic. He was born c. 1828 -1832, according to family tradition in the Netherlands (he gave his children, born in Fremantle between 1859 and 1879, Dutch Christian names). So, last year, I was interested to stumble across the following article:


The South Australian Weekly Dispatch of 23 December 1854 says:

Port Adelaide.-- About sixteen weeks since a Dutchman named John Brown
alias Smith, shipped as able seaman in the Cambalu bound for Liverpool via
South America, and received an advance note of 7 pound 10 shillings from
the Shipping Office at the Port, which he got cashed at the Port Hotel and
immediately absconded. He was not heard of till the latter end of last
week, when he was apprehended in Currie Street, Adelaide, by
Police-constable Brown, and will be brought before the Magistrate at the
Port, charged with desertion.



I also searched The South Australian Register, which didn't seem to devote much space to court cases, only when it didn't have any more interesting news! I skimmed from 18 December to 27 December 1854. The only reference I could find was on 18 December: At the Police Court, Port Adelaide, December 16, Peter Smith, one of the crew of the Cambalu, was charged with being in the province after the departure of that vessel, and without leave of the master or of the Colonial Secretary. Had an advance note cashed. Fined 15s and gaoled for 2 months with hard labour.



Presumably this Peter Smith is the same man as the John Brown mentioned in the South Australian Weekly Dispatch of 23 December 1854. But, perhaps he is not the same man because this article of 23 December says that he will be brought before the magistrate at the Port when by that date the article should have stated that he had already been tried? Maybe the paper reported the outcome in its next issue? The gaol register may show a number of deserters from the Cambalu.



I went to our State Library here in Perth and checked the SA Genealogy & Heraldry Society's Alphabetic List of Deserter's From Ships taken from the Australian Archives 1852-76 (from D6 Register of Ship's Deserter's at Port Adelaide in the Australian Archives, Adelaide). I skimmed every page for deserters from the Cambalu in 1854 (hopefully I didn't miss anything and neither did the original transcribers). There was no John Brown, Peter Brown, or Peter Smith, leading me to believe that the Dutch man/men referred to in the article did not desert from the Cambalu but merely signed on and then didn't turn up! There was a John Brown who deserted from the Confiance in Sept 1854, but this must have been too late, because the Cambalu departed Port Adelaide for Liverpool via Peru on 19 August 1854.



There was no Peter Smith or similar at all deserting in the 1850s according to the SAGHS index, but it shows the following who deserted from the Cambalu: In July 1854 - Jams Backie, carpenter; Allen Bromley, A.B. (able seaman); Wm Charlton, A.B.; J.F. Cornish, A.B.; John Jones, A.B.; Lawc. Juan, steward; William Lamb, A.B.; Jno Phillips, A.B.; Fredk Rodman, cook. Then in August 1854 - Henry Smith, A.B., John Fox, mate; Cons. Gore, A.B.; Jno Simpson, A.B..



So the conclusion is that John Brown alias Smith or perhaps also alias Peter Smith either deserted from the Cambalu under one of the names above, he deserted from another ship under a different name, or he was discharged from another ship sometime before 19 August 1854 when the Cambalu sailed. I obtained photocopies of parts of register D3 at the National Archives in Adelaide (crew discharges at Port Adelaide) from late June 1853 until September 1854.



If he was discharged or deserted from a British ship that had come from the U.K., then I thought that I may be able to search the crew lists for that ship in the National Archives in London. There was no Peter Smith discharged, although there were some John Browns and John Smiths. Interestingly, on 15 August 1854, just 4 days before the "Cambalu" left for South America minus "John Brown", there is a John Brown and a John Smith, both able seamen, discharged at Port Adelaide from the Anna Dixon, a ship that had just come from Fremantle, Western Australia with only 12 crew.



Sometime after being discharged from his 2 months gaol sentence around Feb. or March 1855 the "Peter Smith" may have left the colony on another ship. I also obtained photocopies of parts of register D2 at the National Archives in Adelaide (crew engagements at Port Adelaide) from late February 1855 until 6 March 1856 and searched for John Brown, John Smith or Peter Smith. There was no Peter Smith. The first John Smith was engaged on 10 April 1855. There was only one John Brown engaged as an able seamen during the rest of 1855 at Port Adelaide. That was on 13 March 1855 aboard the "William Stevenson". That ship went to Peru, not W.A.



I know that State Records holds other records that could be of relevance such as records of the Adelaide Police Court 1847-1936 (GRG 65/1) and Misc. Writs & Returns 1837-59 (GRG 36/2) but I didn't see any reference to those of the Port Adelaide police court/magistrate (perhaps the Magistrate there came under the umbrella of the Adelaide Police Court or if not perhaps the Port Adelaide resident magistrate records are included with the Colonial Secretary's Office Records as they are here in W.A.). There are also Police Station records (GRG/5). I'm not sure if it was the Adelaide or Port Adelaide police who caught him in Currie Street.

So, I know Peter Smith was convicted at Port Adelaide Police court and gaoled for 2 months in late Dec. 1854 and maybe John Brown alias Smith around the same time even if he indeed isn't the same man as Peter Smith. The Yatala registers for late 1854 / early 1855 are probably the first place to for me to look. If by any chance someone can look it would be greatly appreciated.



Thank you very much.



Neil

Perth, W.A.

This thread:

• Yatala Gaol Register by "Neil Foley" <>