Migration Patterns

A Families Journey to Colonial Australia

Have you ever wondered how your ancestors first arrived in Australia? While digging through shipping records and immigration documents, I uncovered the journeys of my great-grandparents and beyond. Each discovery reveals surprises, unexpected connections, and sometimes mysteries that refuse to be solved. This week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, “Migration”, was a great way to pull all the information together and see some patterns emerge.

One of the most intriguing finds? Three different branches of my family arrived in Western Australia on the same ship—the Palestine—though years apart! Some ancestors arrived as free settlers, full of hope and ambition. Others took more unconventional paths—like my great-grandfather Charles Cripps who made the daring decision to run away from home and jump ship on arrival in 1870!

Then there’s Adam Lymburner, who arrived in South Australia in 1848 with his wife and child, settling in a fledgling colony barely a decade old. And my Williams ancestors, who arrived in Fremantle in 1859, drawn by the opportunities in Western Australia’s expanding mining industry. Each family’s journey tells a different story of courage, hardship and adaptation.

Of course, no migration story is complete without unexpected twists. Convict connections? Absolutely. Lost records? Plenty. And yet, every small clue—a ship’s manifest, a death certificate, an old newspaper article—helps bring the past into focus.

Read the full story on my Wordpress blog at JenealogyScrapbook.com to discover how these eight distinct families helped build colonial Western Australia through free settlement, convict transportation, and the pursuit of new opportunities...