She sailed from Liverpool England, to Queenstown (Cobh) Ireland, stopped at the Cape of Good
Hope South Africa, Hobart Town Tasmania, and berthed at Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.
Different sources quote different dates so we are assuming a day variation either side.
Liverpool departure 23 January 1862, Queenstown embarking 6 February, departure 7-8 February
1862, Cape of Good Hope 17 May 1862 (water supplies needed urgently), Hobart Town 12-14 July
(food and water supplies situation desperate),
Moreton Bay entrance 31 July - St Helena 2 August 1862.
People repeatedly ask �Why are you doing this?� and therein lies a story. Almost to the day
in August 2002, 140 years after the �Erin-go-bragh� arrived in Moreton Bay, there was not a
great deal of readily available information relating to the ship nor her passengers and crew.
Material was out there, yes, but a novice researcher had a great deal of difficulty rounding
it up. Trained Librarians were tested during the search, which can never end ... but �herein
and herewith� are some clues to help new researchers embarking on their Family History Trail.
This is not a book, just data.
Because there are many pages of that data to peruse, and it does become tiresome reading it,
you may prefer to bookmark this site and pay other visits. I am adding information progressively.
There are links to articles on the internet, transcriptions of photocopies of original documents
which have lain hidden in folks� filing cabinets for many years and also a Link to a GEDCOM
(Genealogical Data Communication) for those who wish to �prove descendancy� from one of a few
of the pioneering families who sailed on her to this wonderful new country.
Little did they know what lay ahead. The horrors of the voyage, the wretchedness of the untamed
hot, dry and desolate Australian countryside and her native inhabitants, would never
have occurred to them!
They paved the way for our love and enjoyment of -
A Sunburnt Country
