arrived Port Adelaide on August 24th, 1839 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. 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. He had left Nailsworth, Gloucestershire in 1837 and had been an influence in persuading others from his former home town to join him in this new ‘promised land’. |
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