Help please: immigration to Queensland DRUMMOND 1880s and 1890s

[eltelf]

Dear list,

I am interested in finding out more about the circumstances in which at least 4 sisters from the same family immigrated to Queensland between 1868 and 1887 (names and details listed below). Their brothers all seem to have remained in England!

I have some photographs and information about their lives once they arrived in Queensland, but would like to know more about the circumstances of their immigration, and am hoping that some infomation might be available on Australian immigration infor or passenger lists:

1. Was Elizabeth DRUMMOND, the first sister to travel to Queensland, going to visit someone already settled there? 
2. Elizabeth DRUMMOND travelled with someone named Peggy WOODS.  (about whom I know nothing).  Are there any more details available about Peggy WOODS (date of birth, origins)?
3. Did any of the other DRUMMOND sisters travel with other family members (this was a large family, and there may have been cousins or other family friends travelling with them - some of the sisters were only teenagers).
4. Would young women like this have been 'sponsored' or funded in some way? 

These are the sisters and the informtion I have about them:

Elizabeth DRUMMOND (b  1868, Newcastle On Tyne) travelled to Australia in 1887, married Joseph Wheatley in Mackay.

Peggy WOODS (travelled to Australia in 1887 with ‘cousin’ Elizabeth DRUMMOND) – I have no further information on her, and would like any further details that are available about her.

Katherine DRUMMOND (b 1870, Gateshead, Durham, England) sailed to Australia on SS ‘Duke of Norfolk’ arriving 1890; married Robert Wallace in 1892 Mackay area

Emily Baker  DRUMMOND (b 1873, Gateshead, Durham, England) travelled to Australia 1888on SS ‘Jumna’ to Mackay to visit sister (Catherine?).  Married Hans Borresen in 1893 Townsville.

Margaret Ann DRUMMOND (b 1887 Gateshead, Durham, England) travelled to Australia on ‘India’ to visit sister Elizabeth in Mackay, Queensland.  Married Alfred Francis in Mackay 1894

Very grateful for any advice or information.

Lesley Telford

[eilidh]

Hi Lesley


DRUMMOND Elizabeth aged 19 years arrived aboard the  Duke of Buccleuch which departed London 5th October 1887 and arrived in Maryborough 4th December 1887 and Brisbne 6th December 1887


I cannot find a Peggy Wood(s) on this journey are you sure she came out on the same ship ?

bye

[Ruskie]

Lesley, can I ask where you obtained the immigration information about the girls? Have you viewed the appropriate films to see if further details are given?

(Peggy may be a diminutive of Margaret).

There was a big drive to get people to populate the colonies and it is possible that the girls were sponsored. I think I am correct in thinking that ads were placed in UK newspapers requesting people to go to the colonies. There may have been a need for more women in certain areas of the country (too many men and not enough eligible women  ), hence so many sisters leaving the UK and the brothers staying in England.

Have you managed to find a link to the Woods family back in England to determine who "Peggy" is?

[judb]

Could you please let us have correct date of birth for Margaret Drummond?  It may help us in looking.........

Cheers, Judith

[eilidh]

Hi,


In the 1880’s there were concentrated attempts to bring out men, women and families from the agricultural counties of England and N.E.Scotland.  The Queensland Government also turned to Ireland as a source of agricultural labourers, the Irish making up about 25% of those settling in Queensland in the 1880’s.  The Government pursued a vigorous policy of assisted packages to ensure that Queensland was the most popular destination for immigrants to Australia.

I have attached a couple of newspaper advertisements, apologies for the clarity.

[eilidh]

and another offering free passage for female servants & domestics

 

[eltelf]

Dear all,

Thanks very much for your replies. 

The information I have about the girls is passed on to me second or third hand - it is a 'family history' booklet which appears to have been put together by a descendent in Australia some years ago.  There are photographs included, and I think the person writing it must have had documents/good information from Australian families. The dates that I can check from UK census and BMD information seem to be correct.

The Australian family history says that:

'Elizabeth came to Australia in 1887.  Peggy Woods, Elizabeth's cousin, came out to Australia with her'. 

I am sure that is Elizabeth's record travelling out on Duke of Buccleuch; if Peggy is not on the ship, perhaps Elizabeth was actually travelling out to visit or join her? I have been looking for Woods in Gateshead, but Elizabeth's father was from London, and Elizabeth's ship sailed from there so I will check for Woods relatives in the London side of the Drummond family.

Is there anywhere I can look to see if more information is included in passenger list of Duke of Buccleuch e.g. about destination address?

The Drummond family were living in the centre of industrial Gateshead, all the sisters were born there or in Newcastle upon Tyne, father and sons working in chemical works in Gateshead, so not rural or agricultural.  But all the sisters married soon after arriving in Queensland, so they do seem to have gone out to find a better life / husbands! But pretty intrepid to go out there like that alone and so young.

Very grateful for all your help,

Best wishes,
Lesley

[Ruskie]

Lesley,

Are you not based in Australia? You had such specific information that I assumed you had already done a lot of research hence my question.

I would be happy to go to the Qld State Archives to check the immigration records for your family. Usually there is very little information included in the records, and sometimes so little that it's hardly worth loading the film.  So don't get your hopes up. If you have any other names of missing Drummonds let me know and I'll check for them too. Family members often tended to follow one another.

I think at various times the govt just wanted more bodies, so even inexperienced labourers and domestics would be welcome in the colony.

[judb]

On the same ship as Emily Drummond, 16, (Jumna, arrived 13 Oct 1888) is an Emma Drummond aged 25, can't tell from the index if she is related or just another of the same surname.

I could not see these girls on the UK censuses - were they in Gateshead before they emigrated?


Judith