Hello Fellow Listers In December 2002 I posted to this list. However, since then my email address has changed and I have found a little more information so I am now reposting my family hoping someone may be able to help me find my Ancestors in Ireland. In 1857 THOMAS BATES, his wife MARTHA ELLIOTT and five children emigrated to Moreton Bay, Australia on the "Mary Pleasants" and settled in what is now known as Queensland around the Ipswich Area, close to Brisbane. The ship's records show that both THOMAS and MARTHA came from Tyrone. THOMAS said his parents were ROBERT BATES and MARY SIMPSON. MARTHA said her parents were WILLIAM ELLIOTT and BETTY (no surname given unfortunately). On death certificates for both THOMAS and MARTHA they show that they were both supposed to be born in OMAGH and married there. As yet have no confirmation of this as haven't been able to find birth certificates or date of marriage. Going by death certificate THOMAS would have been born about 1817 and MARTHA about 1826. They would have married about 1843 going by birth of first child. The children accompanying their parents to Australia were Sarah 12, Mary Ann 11, William 7, Matilda 4 and Margaret an infant under 1. After employing a researcher in Belfast, it was found that two of the children were baptised in the1st Presbyterian Church in Ballynahatty, Sarah on 13 Mar 1844 and Matilda on 25 January 1853, daughters of Thomas Bates and Martha Elliott. Any help would be greatly appreciated Dorothy in Cairns, Queensland, Australia