Trust all on the list are having a wonderful Easter. I'm trying to find contacts or anyone researching the TOOHEY / TOUHY / TWOHY etc.. family from Tipperary who arrived at Moreton Bay on board the 'John Fielden' in 1853. Below is the list of names of family members. Any assistance or leads much appreciated. 297 Tuohy John 39 Farm Labourer Tipperary 298 Tuohy Ellen 40 Wife 299 Tuohy John 17 300 Tuohy Mary 15 301 Tuohy Ann 13 302 Tuohy Bridget 8 303 Tuohy Margaret 5 304 Tuohy Patrick 1 Details below of that voyage for those interested published in the 'Courier' 18th June 1853. THE JOHN FIELDEN The event of the week in Brisbane on 18th June, 1853, had been the arrival of the John Fielden. This vessel was of 916 tons register, arrived in Moreton Bay on 11th June 1853 after a run of ninety days from Liverpool, and had on board Dr. M. E. B. Nicholson, surgeon-superintendent, and 306 Government Immigrants. Of the latter there were 73 married couples, 102 single women, 19 single men, 42 males from 1 to 14 years, 76 females from 1 to 14 years, and 14 infants. The " Courier," in referring to the immigrants, said : "The large number of single women and girls makes it highly desirable for all persons requiring female servants to apply for them forthwith, so that no excuse for cutting off our supply of immigration may again be taken," from the fact of numbers remaining in the depot. The immigrants by the John Fielden who reached the sheltered waters of the Bay on 11th June, 1853 and who remain to us yet, good citizens of the young State, will let memory go back to the delays in Moreton Bay which were the experience of all shipmasters and passengers fifty years ago. The "Courier" was not slow to note that the captain of the John Fielden broke his windlass in heaving up his second anchor in the Bay, and it takes a theme, too, from a correspondent's letter of the same date to administer a sharp lecture "on the necessity for an improvement in the port. It was pointed out that there was a necessity for buoying the channel ; but the fact was mentioned that the buoys laid down were being lost, probably owing to quick- sands. The " Courier" advocated a light- house, with a lightship inside, and on board the latter a pilot with a strong crew and two lifeboats to assist ships coming in. It was pointed out that unless the port management was improved shipowners would not send their vessels to Moreton Bay, and the probability of this was emphasized by the fact that the demand for tonnage in England was greater than the supply. Kind regards, Jen Dr Jennifer Lambert Tracey Archaeologist ~ Historian PO Box 629 MORAYFIELD 4506, QLD. AUSTRALIA Email: [email protected]