Passenger list: 'Wee Tottie' sails for Australia from Natal 1853

 Wee Tottie passenger list, departures, Feb 22 1853
Natal Witness

Several early British settlers to Natal were disappointed with the Colony
and hoped to start a new life in Australia - the goldfields there being
an added incentive. However, some of these emigrants returned to Natal later.

Wee Tottie A 1 at Lloyds: This vessel is now being
fitted up with superior accommodation for Passengers all this being in Enclosed
Cabins; and offers in every respect a most eligible opportunity for parties about to
proceed to Australia. An experienced Surgeon is engaged to
accompany the vessel, and every attention will be paid
to the comfort and requirements of the  passengers.

Passengers to Australia from Natal: Golden Age 1854

Golden Age departure for Australia Natal Mercury July 12 1854

The Natal Mercury announced on 12 July 1854 that the barque Golden Age (Captain W Jones) would at last depart for Melbourne after being unfortunately detained for several days - reasons for the delay are not given. She carried about 50 passengers, Natal settlers leaving the Colony for fresh opportunities in Australia.

The strongly negative comments published in the same paper on 1 February of that year apparently did not change the Golden Age passengers' minds about their destination. Under the heading 'Australia', an emigrant from Natal to that colony warns against considering the 'perilous adventure': he has nothing good to say about the climate, the health hazards, high rents, or the crime rate. Even the gold diggings, the main incentive for settlers removing from Natal to Australia at this period, are described in disappointing, even scathing, terms.* Nevertheless, the Golden Age did sail as planned, with several children on board. 

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE

SAILED
July 12 - Golden Age, bq [barque] 
W Jones - for Melbourne - 

Natal Mercury 12 July 1854

PASSENGERS 
W Gallians 
Mr Bayley and two children 
H Baker, wife and two children 
J Matters, wife and four children 
J McGully 
HJ Gale, wife and children 
G St. Paul 
J Forman 
E Standish 
Mrs Glover and three children 
R Short 
JS Erwood 
J Cuthbert 
E Dubois 
J Clark 
J Canning and wife 
W Fuller 
Charles Richards 
Donald McPhail 
R Mathew 
Mrs Williams and two children 
C Owen 
T Poynton, wife and child 
R Parker 
Whitaway 
Dineley


IN PORT 
Heath, bq. 307 tons, - W Wightman - for Colombo 
John Millar and Co. agents. 
Queen, schr. 104 tons - R Thomson - for Mauritius 
EP Lamport, agent.

VESSELS EXPECTED 
Natal, scr.-stm. 700 tons - from Table Bay 
E Snell, agent. 
Leontine Mary, schr. 29 tons - G Henwood 
E Snell, agent.

FOR MAURITIUS 
The A1 Schooner 'Queen', Captain R Thomson; in order to give Shippers to England time to collect cargo, will make an intermediate voyage to the above place, and will sail on Saturday the 15th instant. 
For Freight to and back from Mauritius apply to EP Lamport. 
Durban, 5th July 1854.


*From the Natal Mercury 1 February 1854:

AUSTRALIA
The following extracts from the letter of a Natal Emigrant to Australia, received by the last Mail, may supply useful cautions to those who meditate a like perilous adventure.

'So long as you can gain anything more than a living, I wouldn't advise any married man to come here. Illness has been universal and a doctor's bill is no joke, I have incurred £5 myself, besides awful rheumatics. You know of course that Byrne is here, a storekeeper at the diggings. I was at Geelong, in Court, the other day when he was called as a witness, but in coming down he broke his leg, and couldn't appear. Rents are frightful, £100 per annum, for one room, and I have to live besides three miles from town at another rent. 

Geelong is worse than Melbourne, nine inches in mud, in short the place and the climate is as bad as it can be, I have not met one who likes it. I believe you will soon have some of our people back again, some are at the diggings, but I have not heard of any doing well. The only persons who can ensure a living well, are carpenters, masons, and hard working labourers. Labourers who can stand any climate, - they get, - the former, £1 to £1 5s. and labourers 10s to 15s per day, but expenses are in proportion, nevertheless they do exceedingly well. Professional men are cheap enough and get cheaper every day.

'Trade is the way to make money. If I had capital I could double it every two months with safety. There is no comfort to be purchased. I send you a paper to show you the way we commit robberies here. We don't steal a few paltry pounds, but 2,300 ounces of gold. I may tell you that the escort from the diggings has been stopped, and 2,300 ozs of gold taken, the escort consisting of eight troopers, all shot dead but one; so says the report at present. They were attacked by 20 bushrangers, and shot from behind the trees. It is a common thing for one man to rob another of from £200 to £500. Last week £1,000 was taken from a digger. 

My room is a back room, 10 x 9, stinks like a p....y: the yard behind is full of green slush and the front little better. When you hear grumblers in Natal, ask they if they are gaining a living; if they are, they are better a hundred times than those who are doing the same here. As for houses and stores they are not to be got. Talking of winter and not requiring warm clothing, I have nearly perished of cold. All that they have written about this colony as to climate is lies, lies, lies, from beginning to end. Every imaginable disease rides rampant here, and a few extra ones to boot. Grown people die, and children won't live.'

The End of the Rainbow: Golden Square 1857 by George Rowe
Australian gold diggings

Passengers to Australia from Natal: Wee Tottie 1853

WEE TOTTIE departure for Australia Natal Witness 4 March 1853
plus other arrivals and departures:

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE
ARRIVED
Feb 24 - Margaret Gibson, brig, 148 tons, R Robinson from Liverpool 22nd Oct., to this port. 
Cargo sundries. 
EP Lamport, Agent.
Feb 28 - Anne, schooner, 99 tons, J Cameron, from Table Bay and Algoa Bay 20th, to this port. 
Cargo sundries. 
PASSENGERS 
Misses Loftie and Walker 
In the steerage 
Mr Jones 
J Brown, Agent.
SAILED
Feb 19 - Leontine Mary, F Fuller, to East London. 
PASSENGERS 
Mr Garbutt and wife 
Mr Trow, wife and 2 children 
Mrs Miles and 2 children 
Messrs 
Hawkins 
Tucker 
Clarkson 
Alexander 
Maitland 
Wilson

Natal Witness 4 March 1853

Feb 22 - Wee Tottie, J Roberts, to Australia. 
PASSENGERS 
Mr F Spring, late Postmaster General 
Mr and Mrs Schwikkard 
Mrs Warwick and 2 children 
Mr and Mrs Mullins and child 
Mr and Mrs McKeaney 
Mr and Mrs Trotter 
Mr Geddes, wife and 3 children 
Mrs and Mrs Greenaway 
Mr and Mrs O'Neil and child 
Mr and Mrs Bennett and 6 children 
Mr and Mrs Marianny and 3 children 
Mrs Blade 
Mr and Mrs Munro and child 
Mr and Mrs Fanning and child 
Mr and Mrs Hicks 
Mr and Mrs G Tomlinson 
Mr and Mrs Troy 
Mr and Mrs McKenna and child 
Mr Harris and 2 children 
Messrs 
Cope 
Milner 
Williams 
Kelley 
Hubbard 
Todd 
D Patterson 
Watt 
Jenkey 
Butler 
Fyvie 
Webber 
Taylor 
Barber 
Ashton 
Callain 
Thomas 
Strachan 
Holden 
Wilson


INSIDE 
Roscoe, 
Jackson and Co., agents. 
Margaret Gibson, R Robinson, for Mauritius. 
Lamport 
Anne, J Cameron, from Table Bay. 
Brown

VESSELS EXPECTED 
From London 
Louisa Maria, Trent, Vibilia, Augustus Schnader, Wanderer, and Lady of the Lake. 
From the Cape 
Sir Robert Peel, Steamer, J Boxer.

Wee Tottie A 1 at Lloyds: This vessel is now being
fitted up with superior accommodation for Passengers all this being in Enclosed
Cabins; and offers ... a most eligible opportunity for parties about to
proceed to Australia. An experienced Surgeon is engaged to
accompany the vessel, and every attention will be paid
to the comfort and requirements of the  passengers.

Passengers to Australia from Natal cont: Sarah Bell 1852

Australian Gold Diggings 1855

SARAH BELL Durban - Melbourne December 1852

Cabin passengers
Alloway
Dimock, Dr George, Sarah, and servant
Halloway, John

Steerage passengers
Bowlan, J
Braithwaite, CJ
Bryan, James, Rebecca, and child
Bush, Thomas
Carroll, W
Carruthers, Joseph Swan
Crocker, William
Dacomb, Joseph
Field, J
Gibbons, Thomas
Gilland, J
Greaves, John W, Anne
Grice, Waltham
Harrison,
Hutchinson, J
Iliffe, William Gregory
Kirkham, J
Luke, Charles, and Dr Henry Joseph
McKnight, James
Marshall, Cuthbert, and William
Nowell, Frederick
Pasford, W
Phillips, Samuel Vincent Price, and Harriet JS
Phillpott,
Richardson, Richard, Anne E, and child
Rolfe, J, and wife
Scotson, Samuel
Searle, E
Smith, G
Tucker, Alfred Octavius
Turnbull, Adam
Walker, John, Esther, and three children
Warwick, Edward
Webber, J
Willis, James, wife and two children
Wilson, William Donald

Passengers to Australia from Natal: Hannah 1851

Australian gold-diggings, Ararat 

From 1852 the discovery of gold in Australia led to an exodus of colonists from Natal. Some were disillusioned with the way the Byrne settler scheme had turned out; for a few, it was an escape from debts incurred in Natal; all were lured by the prospect of new get-rich-quick opportunities in the Antipodes. No precise figures are recorded for those who left permanently. The families of some men remained behind in Natal while the breadwinner went adventuring, not intending to stay in Australia unless fortune smiled upon him.

Gold-diggers at evening mess: Mount Alexander 1851

In October of 1852 the Hannah and Sarah Bell went directly to Melbourne from Natal, carrying such settlers. The brig Wee Tottie and the Golden Age followed in 1853 and 1854 respectively. Additionally there were passengers who took alternative routes e.g. via the Cape.

Should an ancestor unaccountably disappear from the Natal scene during this period, he might reappear in Australia - or pop up again in Natal after an interval in the other colony.

HANNAH Durban - Melbourne September 1852

Cabin passengers
Brooking, Dr Benjamin, Charlotte Elizabeth and family
Browne, Hugh Junot
Gordon, John Anderson
Heap, Charles Rogers
Jackson, Amelias
Lewellin, Dr John Henry Hill, wife GE Lewellin, 

Lewellin, Charles 

Page, Alfred Harrison
Pryce, Edward
Silvester, Adolphus
Skipper, AJ
Turner, John
Whitaker, Daniel Faber
Zohrab, Peter Thomas Henry Gordon, Marianne, 2 children

Steerage passengers
Abbott, Thomas Nathaniel
Barrett, Joseph Rhodes
Blundell, Thomas
Brough, Richard
Buckley, J
Clark, William
Coates, John
Davies,
Dixon, Henry Lincolne
Duprey, Peter
Edlin, William Brampton
Franklin, Mark
Gregory, Charles
Greville, Robert N, Chaloner
Hallett, James
Hamley,
Hastie, Michael
Howden, Francis Welch
Howden, Montague
Jones, Thomas
Kingham, R
Logan, Robert
Macrae, Kenneth
Marriott, Thomas Oakley, Elizabeth and children
Murray, William
Richardson, Alfred
Richardson, John Alfred, Mary Ann
Richardson, Alfred
Saker, George William
Stevens,
Suttie,
Symes, Edward
Taylor, James, Jane and children
Taylor, John
Taylor, John Horrocks
Turnbull, James Maitland
Vear, William, Sophia
Webb, James, Sarah
Webb, John, Caroline Emma
Webster, George, wife and 2 children
Withers, William Bramwell