The Davis family and Cornish immigration to Australia

Pictured: James Walter Davis.

Sometimes the best way to understand a historical period or place is by examining the people who lived in it, and how different socio-cultural factors shaped their lives and the lives of similar individuals. Following on from the theme of last week’s blog post on Scottish immigration to Australia, in this blog post I will be sharing some insights into 19th century Cornish immigration to Australia through examining a line of my family tree, the Davis family, in their historical context of 19th-20th century Cornwall and Australia. A particular focus will be on Walter James Davis and his son James, with an analysis on the ways in which race, class, gender, ethnicity, and religion shaped the family’s experiences.

Before we begin, it is important to note that the names of individuals within the Davis family can vary on their records, particularly Walter James and James. For clarity’s sake, I will be referring to the father as Walter, and the son as James in the essay since these are the names on their baptism records.[2] Likewise, although “Davies” is the surname used by subsequent generations of this family, I will be using “Davis” in this essay, as it is the surname listed on the family’s earliest records.[3]

 Walter James Davis was born in 1813 or 1814, in Probus, Cornwall, England.[4] On his baptism record, dated 6 February 1814, he is described as a “base child”, a term used at the time to describe an illegitimate child born out of wedlock.[5] No father is listed on the baptism record, and Walter’s mother Mary Davis, about thirty years old at the time, baptised Walter under her own surname.[6] Mary received parish poor relief for her and Walter, suggesting that Walter’s father was not present in their lives.[7] This is confirmed by the fact that there are no matching “Bastardy” records, indicating that Mary and/or her parish did not seek financial support from Walter’s father.[8]

 In terms of the historical context of illegitimacy, being an unmarried single mother during this period was a gendered experience that heavily affected Mary’s life, and, although male, this gendered discrimination undoubtedly affected Walter too in both an emotional and social sense as Mary’s illegitimate child.[9] As Kate Gibson discusses, “Illegitimacy was a life-long and individual condition, and levels of stigma and parental involvement persisted over time, to varying degrees”, intersecting heavily with socio-economic status and social class.[10] Illegitimate children were frequently viewed in an inferior light, despite any sympathy from society or their wider families.[11] An example of how this personally affected Walter as a working class illegitimate child is found in 1818, when two Justices of the Peace forcibly removed Mary and four-year-old Walter from their residence in Probus to the Parish of Lamorran, upon complaint from the churchwardens and overseers of the poor that Mary was not a legal resident of Probus and had not “produced any Certificate owing her to be settled elsewhere.”[12] The Parish of Lamorran was subsequently required to support Mary and Walter as inhabitants of the parish, a common occurrence as before the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish poor relief were legally required to support illegitimate children and their mothers.[13]

 Mary married an agricultural labourer named John Miners in 1823, who was about 7-10 years her junior.[14] Given that nine years had passed since Walter’s birth, it is uncertain whether John is his father, especially considering that unwed mothers frequently gave their illegitimate children middle names that were actually their father’s surnames in case the couple married in the future.[15] Regardless of these complexities, there are hints that Walter and John had a positive relationship, as on his marriage record Walter lists his father as “John Miners Davis.”[16] Walter himself disappears from the historical record after his baptism, but reappears on the 25th September 1839 at the age of about twenty-five or twenty-six, when he married Ann Kelly in Plymstock, Devon, where she was working as a servant.[17] Ann was born in Gorran, Cornwall, to Francis and Catherine Kelly and was about five years Walter’s senior.[18]

 Although a rural society, in the beginning of the 19th century Cornwall underwent its own form of an industrial revolution, centred on the mining industry, which “placed the county as one of the leading developers of innovative mining techniques in the United Kingdom.”[19] However, the “short boom cycles of Cornwall’s ‘industrial revolution’” created appalling poverty for working class Cornish families like the Davis’, which forced many to immigrate for a better life.[20] During this time, in 1841, Walter, Ann, and their eleven month old daughter Ureenia were living with Ann’s parents in Gorran, where Walter worked as an agricultural labourer, an occupation that was also suffering heavily, with farmers dealing with near constant “struggle against privation, diseased crops [….] poor seasons, high rents, and high taxation.”[21] In addition to this, “as early as 1828 the West Briton noted the recruitment of free emigrants for Van Diemen's Land, and indeed there was a considerable recruiting campaign for the colony in Cornwall during the early 1840s.”[22] These factors undoubtedly influenced Walter and Ann’s decision to immigrate with their daughter Ureenia to Australia in 1842 on the ship Orleana [23]

 Walter and Ann’s immigration record reveals that one family member was “educated” and one could only read; Ann could not sign her name on the marriage certificate but Walter could, suggesting that he was likely the “educated” family member and must have therefore gained some education in his early life, which relates to the uneven gendered statistics of (working class) literacy during this period.[24] The Davis family arrived in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land (Lutruwita/Tasmania), on the 4th of July 1842.[25] Ann gave birth to their second child, Joseph Kelly, a few days after arriving.[26]

 The Orleana was the first ship under the new General System, which enabled the Davis family to immigrate for free because “The whole expense on account of passage money, as well as all contingent expenses whatsoever, have been defrayed by the Government.”[27] Analysis of contemporary newspaper notices reveals that the General System was designed to encourage skilled immigration to the colonies, which would enable landowners and overseers to apply for particular workers to assist the development of their properties, and thus expand the British settler colonisation of Lutruwita/Tasmania as a whole.[28] Described as one of 28 “first class” farm servants, Walter’s wages were £40 per annum.[29] An “Overseer in the government service Launceston” applied to have Walter allocated to him, and by October 1842 the Davis family were living in the Launceston area.[30] It was during this time that Walter was charged with “feloniously receiving” a stolen gold ring, but was discharged, suggesting that he had simply purchased the ring without knowing its provenance.[31] The fact that Walter brought the ring (valued at 35 shillings) could suggest that he was anxious to leave the stigma of illegitimacy behind in Cornwall and present his family as respectable by ensuring that his wife wore a wedding ring, which gives an insight into how being illegitimate might have affected him emotionally.

 By 1845, the Davis family were living at the property of Coronea, Hadspen, where Walter worked as a farmer for landowner Henry Jennings.[32]  While at Coronea, Walter and Ann had two more children, Mary Ann and an unnamed son.[33] As British immigrants to Tasmania, race and settler colonialism are important topics of the Davis’ family’s historical context that fundamentally shaped their experiences. As a young and skilled family from England, the Davises were seen by the colonial authorities as the perfect type of immigrant to “domesticate” the colony according to the settler colonial criteria of the period.[34] Although they immigrated due to circumstances out of their control, it must be recognised that Walter, Ann and their children, whatever their personal opinions on the subject, were part of the broader scheme of settler colonialism in Lutruwita/Tasmania that saw the genocide of the Tasmanian Aboriginal population through state-sanctioned massacres and forced removal from Country that still affect the resurgent Tasmanian Aboriginal community today.[35] It was arguably this settler colonial scheme that enabled the Davis family to immigrate for free through the General System in the first place, and for Henry Jennings to own the land that Walter farmed.

 In the late 1830s, Walter’s employer Henry Jennings continually experienced financial issues owing to his incessant purchasing of land, beyond his means.[36] In 1845 and 1846, newspaper advertisements indicate that Jennings was once again in financial trouble, with Jennings advertising that he found Coronea “too far from Launceston” and wished to “let or sell the house and buildings, with any quantity of land from 100 to 1000 acres” or would exchange it for a house closer to town.[37] In January 1846, he advertised the property for let, suggesting that Walter’s job, income, and the family’s living arrangements were in jeopardy.[38] In addition to this, Tasmania (and Australia as a whole) was experiencing the 1840s Depression, which saw a cease of Tasmanian land sales in 1845.[39] Around the same time as these factors were occurring, Walter and Ann’s unnamed son died.[40] Because of working class constraints, such as lack of finances and property ownership, Walter and Ann would have found it difficult to navigate the 1840s Depression in Tasmania, especially considering Jennings’ financial instability, and made the choice to immigrate to Victoria with their three surviving children on 25th May 1846 on the Shamrock.[41] Within eight months, they had settled in the Geelong district, where Walter worked as a labourer.[42]

 The baptism of Walter and Ann’s fifth child James (born 27th December 1846) gives important insights into how religion may have shaped the Davis family’s experiences.[43] Walter and Ann were married as Church of England, and maintained this religion throughout their early adult lives.[44] However, Walter’s former employer Henry Jennings was a devout Wesleyan Methodist and a prominent figure in the Launceston Wesleyan Methodist Society.[45] His 1836-39 spiritual diary records that he sporadically attempted to convert his assigned convicts to the religion, but failed.[46] Nonetheless, his religion appears to have influenced Walter and Ann, as baby James was baptised at the Geelong Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.[47] However, this apparent conversion to Methodism may not have had a solely religious reason, but a social one as well, as the Cornish identity and community in Australia was strongly tied to the Methodist religion, particularly Wesleyan Methodism.[48] Walter and Ann’s conversion may have therefore been just as much about maintaining connection to their ethnicity and culture as it was about religious belief, plus the support networks the Cornish Methodist community provided.[49]

At some point after James’ baptism, the Davis family shifted to the Barrabool Hills near Geelong, where Walter worked at the “far famed” Berramongo Vineyard, owned by Edward Willis and Charles L Swanston, but managed for many years by John Belperroud.[50] Berramongo was noted to possess “all the requisites for a Vineyard [sic] of the first class.”[51] Walter and Ann’s youngest child John was born in the Barrabool Hills in 1848.[52] Life in the Barrabool Hills was volatile, with multiple cases of cattle theft, robbery and murder reported, including one that Walter was a witness for.[53]

 While the Davis family lived in the Barrabool Hills, they experienced the devasting Black Thursday bushfires of February 1851, “perhaps the first great fire disaster in settler Australian history” which burned about a quarter of Victoria and destroyed property, landscape, and livestock.[54] John Belperroud suffered extensive damage from the fires, losing “his stacks, barn, stables, and outbuildings”, which indicates that the Davises may have also suffered damages as they lived on or near to the Berramongo Vineyard.[55] One newspaper commented that after the fire, “the fine agricultural district of the Barrabool hills is a desert.”[56] However, the Davises did not leave the Barrabool Hills straight away, and were still living there in 1853.[57] It has been suggested that the Black Thursday bushfires were strongly connected to the Victorian Gold Rush that started shortly afterwards, as the fires laid the land bare, making it easier for gold to be found and mines to be established.[58]

 Between 1853-1862, the Davis family unfortunately disappears from the historical record, but at some point during these years they moved to the Ballarat area.[59] Ballarat was a key epicentre of the Victorian Gold Rush, during which it developed a prominent Cornish population, the majority of whom worked in gold mining and introduced new techniques to the goldfields from Cornish mining practices.[60] Indeed, one Ballarat contemporary noted “We are surrounded by Cornishmen”[61]

 The marriage of  Walter and Ann’s eldest daughter Ureenia to Robert Dickinson in 1862 gives another insight into the Davis family’s religion, as she was married by a Bible Christian minister, which is a stream of Methodism.[62] The majority of Cornish in Ballarat were Wesleyan Methodists, who built a strong Cornish community in the area, including “Wesley Hill”, a key place of Cornish Wesleyan Methodist worship, which could once again suggest that the Davises may have moved there for cultural and religious community as well as economic opportunities, which provides insights into how religion shaped the Davis family’s experiences.[63]

 On the 7th of January 1867, Walter’s wife Ann died at the age of about fifty-six from Phthisis (Tuberculosis), which she had suffered from for ten years.[64] Her death record states that Walter was living at the Bonshaw Estate, Winter’s Flat, near Ballarat, which contained farmland and a prominent gold mine.[65] He later shifted to Thorpdale near his son James, and became a valued member of the community before his death in 1903 at the age of about ninety.[66]

 Regardless of Walter’s beginnings as a “base child” and the circumstances he and Ann later found themselves in after immigrating to Australia, it is clear that they continued to make choices that positively impacted their children, which is a compelling example of how migration could positively change a family’s circumstances and even give them or their descendants an opportunity to rise up in social class. Walter and Ann’s fifth child, James, is a compelling example of how immigration could allow a person to transcend class boundaries in ways that many people were not able to “back home”; Walter’s mother Mary, and John Miners, who didn’t immigrate to Australia; in 1861, Mary died in a poorhouse.[67]

 By 1900, James became the proprietor of the Thorpdale Coffee Palace.[68] Thorpdale, established in the 1870s, was experiencing significant growth at the time.[69] Coffee Palaces were the result of the temperance movement in Victoria, and were similar to hotels except that they did not serve alcohol.[70] The temperance movement was strongly linked to religion, particularly among Cornish Methodists, which gives another insight into how religion shaped the experiences of the Davis family by providing them with economic opportunities.[71] James becoming the proprietor of a successful coffee palace is also a compelling example of how far the Davis family had come from their poverty in Cornwall, as James arguably moved upwards in social class, and this is evidenced in his 1928 will.

In the will, James (aged eighty-one) describes his occupation as a “gentleman.”[72] Listing himself as ““gentleman” is arguably a means of self-identification aimed to consciously situate himself (and therefore his family) within the middle class, despite class being a frequently dismissed topic in Australia.[73] This self-identification refutes societal perceptions that the Davis family were lesser because of their humble beginnings, including James’ father being labelled a “base child.” In addition to this, James lists his residence as “Ethilda, Hawthorne Road, Caulfield,” a suburb of Melbourne.[74] “Ethilda” was likely an amalgamation of the names of James’ daughters, Ethel and Hilda.[75] The very fact that James lived in Caulfield is linked to class, as during this time, there was an “association of the working classes with the dense, inner suburbs, especially to the north and west of the city [Melbourne], and of the middle classes with the leafy, sparsely settled outer eastern and southern suburbs” of which Caulfield is a part.[76]

 In conclusion, race, class, gender, ethnicity, and religion heavily shaped the experiences of the Davis family, particularly in regard to how their Methodist beliefs kept them connected to their ethnicity, culture and community, and also provided economic opportunities. Although the Davis family faced many challenges - from the stigma of illegitimacy, the poverty they experienced in Cornwall, immigrating through the restrictive General System, working for a financially unstable employer, and navigating economic depression and cataclysmic bushfire - they are nonetheless a compelling example of how immigration could positively change a family’s circumstances, allowing their descendants to experience a better life than what was left behind.

____________________________________

References:

[1] Will Grant of Probate of James Davies [Davis], died 7 March 1930 (will created 24 October 1928), Wills, Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 7591/P0002, 234/609, p 2.

[2] Baptism record of Walter James Davis, baptised 6 February 1814, Probus Town, Cornwall, England, in the Cornwall OPC [Online Parish Clerks] Database, Baptisms, (index only; no image currently available), film no. 5745375, image no. 28, https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/ [note: cannot link to individual records] accessed 22 October 2024; Baptism of James Davis, baptised 31 January 1847, Wesleyan Chapel Geelong, Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 32202 / 1847; Baptism of James Davis, baptised 31 January 1847, Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Victoria, 10301 / 1847.

[3] Baptism record of Walter James Davis.

[4] Baptism record of Walter James Davis.

[5] Baptism record of Walter James Davis; For examples of how the term “base child” was used, see ‘Cornwall Lent Assize’, Royal Cornwall Gazette, 26 March 1825, n.p., accessed through Find My Past newspapers collection; and ‘At the Shrewsbury Assizes’ Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 25 August 1827, n.p., accessed through Find My Past newspapers collection.

[6] Baptism record of Walter James Davis; Census record for Mary Miners [née Davis], age 55, Port Holland St Michael Carhayes, Cornwall, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/146/10, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024.

[7] Removal order for Mary Davis, 2 March 1818, Parish of Probus to Parish of Lamorran, Cornwall, in the Cornwall OPC [Online Parish Clerks] Database, Parish Settlement, (transcription only; no image currently available) LDS Film 1596594 image 1530; CRO Ref: P194/13/1/102, https://www.opc-cornwall.org/settlement/probus_settlement_davis.pdf, (Cornwall OPC website: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/), accessed 22 October 2024.

[8]Cornwall OPC [Online Parish Clerks] search, ‘Bastardy’, Search criteria: dates: 1813-1823, mother’s surname: Davis (include similar surnames), https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/extra-searches/bastardy/, accessed 22 October 2024; Kate Louise Gibson, Experiences of Illegitimacy in England, 1660-1834 [PhD Thesis], The University of Sheffield, 2018, pp 38, 214, 316, https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/21476/1/Gibson%2C%20Experiences%20of%20Illegitimacy%2C%20ethesis.pdf accessed 22 October 2024.

[9] Gibson, Experiences of Illegitimacy, pp 309-310; Removal order for Mary Davis, 2 March 1818.

[10] Gibson, Experiences of Illegitimacy, pp 309-310; Removal order for Mary Davis, 2 March 1818.

[11] Gibson, Experiences of Illegitimacy pp 303, 316.

[12] Removal order for Mary Davis, 2 March 1818.

[13] Gibson, Experiences of Illegitimacy p 305.

[14] Marriage record of Mary Davis and John Miners, married 1 June 1823, Gorran, Cornwall, England, in England Marriages, 1538–1973, (index only; no image currently available), FamilySearch, accessed 23 October 2024; Census record for Mary Miners [née Davis], 1841 England Census; Census record for John Miners, age 45, Port Holland St Michael Carhayes, Cornwall, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/146/10, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024.

[15] Baptism record of Walter James Davis; Cornwall Online Parish Clerks, ‘Resources – Family Naming Patterns’, https://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/naming_patterns.php, accessed 22 October 2024; Norfolk Record Office, ‘Illegitimacy’, n.d.,  https://www.archives.norfolk.gov.uk/article/31121/Illegitimacy, accessed 24 October 2024.

[16] Marriage record of [Walter] James Davis and Ann Kelly, married 25 September 1839, Plymstock, Devon, England, in Church of Plymstock Parish Register, Plymstock, Devon, England, v. 694/14, Image Group Number

004635178, FamilySearch, accessed 22 October 2024.

[17] Marriage record of [Walter] James Davis and Ann Kelly.

[18] Census record of Francis Kelly, aged 75, Gorran Haven, Gorran, Cornwall, England, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/145/2, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024; Census record of Catherine Kelly, aged 65, Gorran Haven, Gorran, Cornwall, England, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/145/2, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024; Census record of [Walter] James Davis, aged 25, Gorran Haven, Gorran, Cornwall, England, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/145/2, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024; Census record of Ann Davis [née Kelly], aged 30, Gorran Haven, Gorran, Cornwall, England, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/145/2, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024; Baptism of Ann Kelly, baptised 1809/1810, Gorran, Cornwall, England, in the Cornwall OPC [Online Parish Clerks] Database, Baptisms, (index only; no image currently available), film no. 5749305 [no image number], https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/].

[19] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners: The Cornish in Ballarat 1851-1901’, in Kerry Cardell and Cliff Cumming (eds), A World Turned Upside Down: Cultural Change on Australia's Goldfields 1851-2001, Humanities Research Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2001, http://hdl.handle.net/1885/210329, accessed 22 October 2024, p 62; P. Payton, ‘Cornish’ in James Jupp (ed) The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001, p 227.  

[20] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’ pp 62-63; P. Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 227.

[21] Census record of [Walter] James Davis, 1841 England Census; Census record of Ann Davis [née Kelly], 1841 England Census; Census record of Urinah [Ureenia] Davis, aged 11 months, Gorran Haven, Gorran, Cornwall, England, 1841 England Census, The National Archives (UK), HO107/145/2, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 16 October 2024; Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners: The Cornish in Ballarat 1851-1901’ pp 62-63; P. Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 62-63.

[22] P. Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 234.

[23] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d], Orleana, arrived 1842, General Return of Immigrants Under the General System, Returns of Immigrants under the Bounty and General System.; Film: SLTX/AO/MB/244; Series: CB7/32, in Tasmania, Australia, Immigrant Lists, 1841-1884, Ancestry.com, accessed 23 October 2024.

[24] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d]; Marriage record of [Walter] James Davis and Ann Kelly; Amy J Lloyd, ‘Education, Literacy and the Reading Public’, in Contextual Essays from Gale Primary Sources [British Library Newspapers], Gale Primary Sources, 2007, https://www.gale.com/intl/essays, accessed 24 October 2024.

[25] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d].

[26] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d]; Baptism record of Joseph Kelly Davis, baptised 20 June 1843 [born 7 June 1842], Wesleyan Church Register, Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmanian Archives,  RGD32/1/3/ no 2185, accessed via the Libraries Tasmania Name Index, 1089023, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1089023, accessed 22 October 2024.

[27] ‘The Gazette’, Colonial Times (Hobart), 19 July 1842, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8752833, accessed 23 October 2024; ‘Immigration Office’, Courier (Hobart), 8 July 1842, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2954090, accessed 22 October 2024;

[28] ‘The Gazette’, Colonial Times (Hobart), 19 July 1842; ‘Immigration Office’, Courier (Hobart), 8 July 1842; ‘Sir John Franklin and Emigration’; South Australian Record and Australasian and South African Chronicle, 20 March 1841, p 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245933612, accessed 23 October 2024.

[29] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d]; ‘Immigration Office’, Courier (Hobart), 8 July 1842.

[30] General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d]; ‘Police Report’, Launceston Examiner, 8 October 1842, p 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36250172, accessed 23 October 2024.

[31] ‘Police Report’, Launceston Examiner, 8 October 1842.

[32] Birth register entry of [Given Name Not Recorded] Davies, born 28 August 1845, in Births in the District of Launceston, Tasmanian Archives, RGD33/1/23/, no.  957, accessed via the Libraries Tasmania Name Index, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1106746, accessed 23 October 2024.

[33] Baptism of Mary Ann Davis, baptised 25 April 1845 [born 1844], Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, in Australia, Births & Baptisms, 1792-1981 (index only, no image currently available), FindMyPast.com, accessed 24 October 2024; Birth register entry of [Given Name Not Recorded] Davies. Note: This child is listed as male, but may have been female, as Ann’s death registration (see footnote 64), lists a predeceased child named “Malvina.” Alternately, “Malvina” could be a misinterpretation of a phonetically similar name like “Malvin.”

[34] Kirsty Reid, ‘Production and Reproduction: Colonial Order, Convict Labour and the Convict Private Sphere, c.1803–17’, in Gender, Crime and Empire: Convicts, Settlers and the State in Early Colonial Australia, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2007, pp 94-99, 107-108, 112,  115; Jill Cassidy, ‘Migration’, in Companion to Tasmanian History [online edition], Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies (University of Tasmania),  2005/2017, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000663b.htm, accessed 23 October 2024

[35] Victoria Grieves Williams, ‘Truth telling and giving back: how settler colonials are coming to terms with painful family histories’, The Conversation, 9 February 2021, https://theconversation.com/truth-telling-and-giving-back-how-settler-colonials-are-coming-to-terms-with-painful-family-histories-145165, accessed 24 October 2024; Greg Lehman, ‘Tasmanian gothic: The art of Australia’s forgotten war’, Griffith Review, 2013, 39: pp 201-212.

[36] Dr Anne V Bailey, ‘The Spiritual Diary of a Colonial Launceston Wesleyan Methodist, Henry Jennings’, Launceston Historical Society, 2010, vol. 21: 32-48, pp 35, 39-43,

accessed via the Launceston Historical Society inc, https://launcestonhistory.org.au/publications/papers-and-proceedings/, accessed 24 October 2024.

[37] ‘Advertising’, Launceston Examiner, 26 April 1845, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36239786, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Advertising’, Launceston Examiner, 3 May 1845, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36239862, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Advertising’, Launceston Examiner, 24 May 1845, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36239862, accessed 24 October 2024.

[38] ‘Advertising, Launceston Examiner, 28 January 1846, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36243505, accessed 23 October 2024.

[39] Wendy Rimon, ‘Depression of the 1840s’, in Companion to Tasmanian History [online edition], Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies (University of Tasmania),  2005/2017, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000289b.htm, accessed 23 October 2024; Bryan Fitz-Gibbon and Marianne Gizycki, ‘A History of Last-Resort Lending And Other Support for Troubled Financial Institutions In Australia’, Reserve Bank of Australia (System Stability Department), 2001, pp 13-16, https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2001/2001-07.html, accessed 23 October 2024.

[40] Although there is no death record available online for this child, it is clear that they died at some point between their birth in August 1845 (see footnote 33 and 34) and May 1846, as only three children are listed on the Davis family’s 1846 immigration records to Victoria (see footnote 41).

[41] Shayne Breen, ‘Class’, in Companion to Tasmanian History [online edition], Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies (University of Tasmania),  2005/2017, https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/C/Class.htm, accessed 23 October 2024; Departure record of [Walter] James Davis, Shamrock, departing George Town, Tasmania, for Port Phillip, 25 May 1846, Tasmanian Archives, CSO95/1/1 p 331 (index only; no image currently available), accessed via the Libraries Tasmania Name Index (541423), https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/541423, accessed 23 October 2024;  Departure record of Ann Davis [accompanied by three children], Shamrock, departing George Town, Tasmania, for Port Phillip, 25 May 1846, Tasmanian Archives, CSO95/1/1 p 331 (index only; no image currently available), accessed via the Libraries Tasmania Name Index (541424 https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/541424, accessed 23 October 2024.

[42] Baptism of James Davis, baptised 31 January 1847 [32202 / 1847].

[43] Baptism of James Davis, baptised 31 January 1847 [32202 / 1847].

[44] Marriage of [Walter] James Davis and Ann Kelly; General Return of Immigrants entry for [Walter] James Davis, wife and two chil[d].

[45] Dr Anne V Bailey, ‘The Spiritual Diary of a Colonial Launceston Wesleyan Methodist, Henry Jennings’ p 32-45.

[46] Dr Anne V Bailey, ‘The Spiritual Diary of a Colonial Launceston Wesleyan Methodist, Henry Jennings’, p 43-44.

[47] Baptism of James Davis, baptised 31 January 1847 [32202 / 1847].

[48] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’, p 69-72; P Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 231, 234.

[49] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’, pp 68-69

[50] John Belperroud, ‘Essays on the vine with instructions for its cultivation in Australia and how to make wine’, 1859, p 8, accessed via the Government South Australia and Sate Library South Australia website ‘Wine Literature of the World’, https://wine-literature.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/ozwater.htm, accessed 24 October 2024; Inquest at the Berremonga Vineyard, Barrabool Hills, On The Body Of Augustus Hinke, A German.”, Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, 13 October 1853, p. 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article86414121.

[51] John Belperroud, ‘Essays on the vine’, p 8.

[52] Birth registration of John Davis, born 1848, Barrabool Hills, Geelong, Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 22065 / 1848 [viewed in index only].

[53]‘Inquest at the Berremonga Vineyard, Barrabool Hills, On The Body Of Augustus Hinke, A German.’; ‘Police Court [Charge of Robbery]’, Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, 24 October 1853, p 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article86415455, accessed 23 October 2024; ‘Geelong (From Our Correspondent”, Argus (Melbourne), 14 October 1851, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4781066, accessed 23 October 2024; ‘Aggravating An Offence’, Geelong Advertiser, 25 September 1849, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93133067, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Attempt to Rescue’, Geelong Advertiser, 14 June 1848, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91459164, accessed 24 October 2024.

[54] Fiannuala Morgan, ‘Mythologised, memorialised then forgotten: a history of Australia’s bushfire reporting’, The Conversation, 18 January 2022, https://theconversation.com/mythologised-memorialised-then-forgotten-a-history-of-australias-bushfire-reporting-170778, accessed 24 October 2024; Douglas Wilkie, ‘Earth, Wind, Fire, Water – Gold’, History Australia, 2013, 10(2): 95-113, pp95-113; ‘List of Suffers By The Late Fires’, Geelong Advertiser, 13 February 1851, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91915431, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘The Late Bush Fires’, Argus (Melbourne), 10 February 1851, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4776100, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Port Phillip’, Hobart Town Advertiser, 18 February 1851, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article264609008, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Geelong’, Geelong Advertiser, 30 May 1851, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91918759, accessed 24 October 2024.

[55] ‘List of Suffers By The Late Fires’; ‘Inquest at the Berremonga Vineyard, Barrabool Hills, On The Body Of Augustus Hinke, A German.’.

[56] ‘Port Phillip’, Hobart Town Advertiser.

[57] ‘Inquest at the Berremonga Vineyard, Barrabool Hills, On The Body Of Augustus Hinke, A German.’

[58] Douglas Wilkie, ‘Earth, Wind, Fire, Water – Gold’, pp 111-113.

[59] ‘Marriage’, Star (Ballarat), 8 April 1862, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66323164, accessed 24 October 2024.

[60] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’, pp 61-73.

[61] Henry Giles, quoted in Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’ p 69.

[62] Marriage’, Star (Ballarat); SA History Hub, ‘Methodist Church’, 2 April 2014, https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/organisations/methodist-church/, accessed 24 October 2024.

[63] Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’, pp 61-73; P Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 232

[64] Death registration of Ann Davis, died 7 January 1867, Registery of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 3732 / 1867.

[65] Death registration of Ann Davis; ‘Advertising’, Star (Ballarat), 5 June 1861, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66339685, accessed 24 October 2024.

[66] ‘A Nonagenarian Vocalist’, Kyneton Observer, 23 June 1898, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240969432, accessed 24 October 2024; ‘Thorpdale. From An Occasional Correspondent’, Narracan Shire Advocate, 7 June 1903, p 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/256339061, accessed 24 October 2024.

[67] Census record of Mary Minors [Miners] [née Davis], aged 76, Poorhouse, St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall, England, 1861 England Census, The National Archives (UK), Piece 1550, Folio 60, Page number 5, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 23 October 2024; Census record of John Minors [Miners], aged 69, Poorhouse, St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall, England, 1861 England Census, The National Archives (UK), Piece 1550, Folio 60, Page number 5, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 23 October 2024; Burial record of Mary Miners [née Davis], buried 29 December 1861, St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall, England, in the Cornwall OPC [Online Parish Clerks] Database, Burials, (index only; no image currently available), [no film or image number], https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/; Death index entry of Mary Miners, died 1861, St Austell district, Cornwall, England, vol. 5C, page 91, in England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007, FindMyPast.com, accessed 23 October 2024.

[68] ‘Orange Blossom’, Narracan Shire Advocate, 26 May 1900, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256451784, accessed 24 October 2024.

[69] Victorian Places, ‘Thorpdale’, Monash University and The University of Queensland, n.d, https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/thorpdale, accessed 24 October 2024.

[70] Sally Murdoch, ‘Coffee Palaces’, The Encyclopedia of Melbourne (online edition), The University of Melbourne, July 2008, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00371b.htm, accessed 24 October 2024.

[71] Paul Dee, ‘Temperance and Melbourne’s grand coffee palaces’, State Library Victoria (Blog), 31 May 2014,

https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/temperance-and-melbournes-grand-coffee-palaces/, accessed 24 October 2024; P Payton, ‘Cornish’, p 232; Jan Croggan, ‘Methodists and Miners’, p 72.

[72] Will Grant of Probate of James Davies [Davis], p 2.

[73] Sarah Attfield, ‘The Australian working class in popular culture’, in Michele Fazio, Christie Launius and Tim Strangleman (eds), Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies, Routledge, London, 2020, pp 274-276; Shayne Breen, ‘Class’, in Companion to Tasmanian History; Graeme Davison, ‘Class’, The Encyclopedia of Melbourne (online edition), The University of Melbourne, July 2008, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00354b.htm, accessed 24 October 2024.

[74] Will Grant of Probate of James Davies [Davis], p. 2.

[75] Will Grant of Probate of James Davies [Davis], p. 2.

[76] Jill Barnard, ‘Caulfield’, The Encyclopedia of Melbourne (online edition), The University of Melbourne, July 2008, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00310b.htm, accessed 24 October 2024; Graeme Davison, ‘Class’.