I have come across two female members of the Mcdonald side of my family who emigrated to Van Damiens Land(Tasmania) in 1860 aboard the ship Antipodes. On searching the web I discovered that this ship sailed from the port of London arriving at Launceston on the 5th December 1860 with 160 immigrants on board.No details are available of individuals. Can anyone tell me if there was an assisted passage from Islay to Tasmania at that time and why they would have to travel to London to sail instead of the ports in Scotland? I also wonder if perhaps there was a religious connection to this emigration as both sisters were in domestic service on Islay. Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks Dona Findlay

You might find that the families that these two women worked for, also emigrated to Tasmania and that they were servants who travelled with them. There were also Emigration schemes abounding at that time which encouraged young women over 21 to emigrate to the colonies as servants. Female servants were very difficult to retain as there were far more men than women in the colonies and they kept getting snapped up for marriage. Most ships did leave from Gravesend, London for all ports overseas, only a minority left from Glasgow. Celia from NZ.

Thank you Celia for your reply it makes a lot of sense, this gives me another avenue to explore. Dona Findlay On 15 Jun 2006, at 01:13, celiageary wrote: > You might find that the families that these two women worked for, also > emigrated to Tasmania and that they were servants who travelled > with them. > There were also Emigration schemes abounding at that time which > encouraged > young women over 21 to emigrate to the colonies as servants. Female > servants > were very difficult to retain as there were far more men than women > in the > colonies and they kept getting snapped up for marriage. Most ships > did leave > from Gravesend, London for all ports overseas, only a minority left > from > Glasgow. Celia from NZ. > > > ==== SCT-ISLAY Mailing List ==== > Click on this link for some wonderful stories, and general > information about Islay: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/ > misc.htm >