Sir Charles Forbes By Ida M. Forsyth THE Sir Charles Forbes, of 363 tons, sailed from Liverpool on January 23, 1839, with 171 passengers on board-very close quarters it would seem for such a tiny vessel. On the passenger list one reads the names of the Rev. Ridgeway William Newland and wife, Messrs. Watts Newland, S. Roberts, J. B. Myles, G. R. Simith, M. Wardle, Robert Jagger, Thomas Drummond Nicholas, Stevens, C. Roberts, Mesdames M. Wardle, Joshua Laffin, and Miss Sophia M. Myles. Dr. Sam Myles (surgeon of the ship) settled at Morphett Vale. A portion of his old property is now known as Christie's Beach. A number of his descendants live in South Australia. The best known of all the Sir Charles Forbes passengers was the Rev. Ridge way William Newland, a Congregational minister, and the founder of settlement in the Victor Harbor, Port Elliot, and Encounter Bay district. He showed his organising power in gathering together a party of people who, like himself. had adventurous spirits. £1 An Acre His party numbered 34 in all, including himself, his wife, and eight children, several friends, and a blacksmith, a stonemason, a shepherd, a ploughman, and several laborers, accompanied by their wives and children. Arriving on June 7 at Holdfast Bay he bought, on the advice of Governor Gawler a number of sections of excellent land at £1 an acre in the Victor Harbor district. Then the Newland party transhipped on to the Lord Hobart, a tiny vessel at Port Adelaide, and finally dropped anchor on June 20 under Granite Island, the aborigines lining the beach to the great apprehension of the women and children. It was arranged that the women and children should be driven in a bullock dray to the encampment at Encounter Bay. Unfortunately, the driver had already been regaled by the sailors of the Lord Hobart, so that he soon lost his way in the bush. and the bewildered and terrified travellers were forced to spend their first night on Australian shores in the open air, and far from their friends. Although they were discovered next, day, this was not a happy introduction to their new life. The whole party lived for two years in tents while the homesteads were being built. Mr. Newland was the pioneer pastor of the south. The first church on the south coast, the original Tabernacle, was opened in 1846. It seems fitting that the very modern Congregational Church in Victor Harbor today should be named the Newland Memorial. That little community, with high hopes, entered upon the long task of making civilisation out of untouched forest. The new settlers had many difficulties, not the least of them being lack of knowledge and experience. Their crops failed, or were eaten by their own stock before they could deal with fencing. Their mills refused to grind, until in despair they were obliged to take their wheat to Port Adelaide to be ground. the journey to and fro taking six days. Fresh water had to be carried from the river. Flour was £100 a ton, so that they had to press on with sowing cleared land afresh as each crop failed. Those early years must have been very terrible in their strain and anxiety. "Paving the Way" Mr. Simpson Newland, C.M.G., who died in 1925 in his ninetieth year was four at the time of landing. In his book, "Paving the Way," he pictures the life of Encounter Bay in the old pioneering days with the sealers, the colonists, and the natives —a very different Encounter Bay, though only 100 years ago. Among descendants of the pioneers on the Sir Charles Forbes at present in South Australia are:-- Sir Henry Newland, and his son and daughters, Mr. Ridgeway Newland, of Port Augusta, and his son and grandson, Mrs. Wark, Miss Una Wark, Mrs. A. C. Macdonald and family, Misses Margaret and Nancy Newland, Messrs. V. M. T. and J. Newland, Mrs. R. Dutton, Mrs. R. Wreford, Mrs. C. S. Stow, Mrs. G. C. Deland, Messrs. H. W. Marshall, Beaumont and Ashley Moulden, Myles Mar shall, Kenneth and W. Johnson, Master John Myles, Michael Dunn, and Barry Rogers, Mesdames Peter Anderson. Harry Johnson, H. E. Meyer, Talbot Dunn, Maxwell Rogers, Misses Roma Meyer, Ruth Moulden, Peggy Rogers, Joan Marshall, Beverley Rogers.
News Friday 14 August 1836 page 8
ADAMS John ALLAN John ATKINSON Thomas BLAKELY Emma, Sarah Ann BOWSE John, wife, 2 sons CHRISTIE Alexander, Ann DOWIE CHRISTIE Maxwell, Ann GILCHRIST CLARK William Henry COMER Robert, wife, dau CORNER James, Mary EVA, Sophia Jane; possibly COYNE John, wife CREERY / CREESY John DAVIDSON Alexander, wife DODD Ellen, son George (d aft arr) DRUMMOND Ralph, Elizabeth MURRAY, Kath, Thos, Eliz, Rbt, John, Chas, Ralph (d aft arr), Helen DUNN Janet EVANS Richard EWART William FITZGERALD Margaret/Mary GILPIN Bernard GLASEBROOK Paul GRAHAM William GRIFFIN Ann GROSE Elizabeth HART Thomas Rusher HILL (George?), wife (Harriet?), 2 ch (John, Sarah?) HILL James, Janet FARREN, Janet, Eliz Park Forbes (b@sea) HOLMAN John, Millicent (wife), Philippa, Eliz, My, John, Susanna, Jas, Jane, Wm JAFFREY Archibald JAGGER Matthew, Mary SENIOR, John, Wm, Rbt, Jas (Jim) JONES Thomas JOULS, wife KEELING Mrs James nee Sarah DIMMOCK (w), ch Isabella, Cath KINNISH William LENNAN / LENNON / LEMON James, wife, son MCKAY / MACKAY Gordon, Anne (wife) MCDOUGALL James, Jane PAUL MCINTYRE Catherine MCLEAN Mary MONTGOMERY Robert, Anne ATKINSON, My Ann MONTGOMERY William MOORHOUSE Jane MOORHOUSE Matthew MURRAY Thomas MYLES Samuel J, Eliza HEGAN (2nd wife), John Burgess, Sam, Sophia M, Maria Anne (d aft arr), Hannah, Jane (←1st wife), (2nd→) Chas Hegan NEWLAND Ridgway William, Martha KEELING (2nd wife), Watts, Ridgeway Wm (←1st wife), (2nd→) Martha, Sophia, Wm, Cath Humphries, Simpson, Sarah PATTERSON Alexander PATTERSON James/John PEACOCK William, (Sarah PICKFORD), Isaac, Joseph PEDLER Sally PEDLER Thomas, Elizabeth HICKS, Thos, Eliz, Wm, Joseph, John Hy, Dan PHOENIX / PHENIX James, Sarah (wife), Jas, Rbt, Wm POLLETT Samuel, wife PRINGLE James PRINGLE John PURNES / BARNES, wife, child RILNER Henry ROBERTS C(harles?), S ROBERTS Jonathan, Ann HARVEY, Thos ROBERTS Thomas, Hannah WEBB, Wm, John, Jas, Eliz Ann, Hannah SALT Abraham SALT Hester/Esther SMITH G R SMITH John SMITH M A STAR / STARR (Richard?), wife, 4 ch STEVENS Nicholas TAYLOR Ambrose, Sarah (wife) TAYLOR Samuel THEAKSTONE William, Ann Croker DODGSON / DODSON, Wm, Rbt Geo THURSTON Sarah TURNER Thomas Newman WARDLE Michael, Mary DANIELS, Ralph, Olive, Mic WARREN Thomas WILLIAMSON Sarah (Ann?) WILSON James Beith, Marion WILSON, Jane, Eliz Tritton, John, Rbt Murray, Thos, Rebecca WILSON Joseph WORTHINGTON Isaac