William Henry Manwaring was born August 1827 in Maidstone - Kent - England. He joined the London Police Force & was attached to Scotland Yard. William then served in The Crimean War where he received a Alma Award & Clasp. In 1857 (age 30) William emigrated to Port Phillip - Victoria - Australia on the ship Roxburgh Castle, the ship set sail Sept 22, 1856 & arrived in Melbourne Feb 6, 1857. On board was also the Atkinson Family who's daughter Harriet Jane would later marry William Henry. They married in Chewton - Victoria - Australia on October 12, 1859. On arriving in Melbourne William joined the Victorian Police Force & was appointed Detective - Class 3 on March 16,1857, on Feb 1, 1859 he was promoted to Class 2 & then on Jan 1, 1864 to Class 1. Throughout his career...

On August 6th, 1839 The Duchess of Northumberland departed London under the command of Captain Frederick Geare & among her passengers were two friends from Devon - England with their families who would become etched in South Australian pioneering history. The Coltons who's son would later become Sir John Colton & a South Australian Premier & Thomas Charles Hewett with his wife Hannah & their then 7 children. An eighth child Rhoda Augusta Northumberland was born during the voyage on September 15, 1839. Both were farming families from Devon. After a journey of 4 and a half months The Duchess of Northumberland sailed into Port Adelaide on November 19th, 1839. Charles Thomas Hewett & William Colton were 2 of the early settlers to take up land in McLaren Vale where they established neighbouring farms. Charles Hewett established Oxen...

In October 1839 two ships would sail from London with migrants from each becoming significant to the Carman family decades later & in their adopted home country. The Java left London on October 12, 1839 & Plymouth on October 29 & on board was Samson Bastion, his wife Phillipa (Holman) & their 7 children, including a daughter Phillipa jnr. The other ship was The Rajasthan which left London on 27 October, 1839 & on board was John Carman, his wife Mary Martha (Manwaring) & their children. For most of the journey the two ships would sail together & both docked in Port Adelaide on February 6, 1840. Eight years later Phillipa Bastion jnr. would marry a John Shepherd, son of Ann & Robert Shepherd who generations later would be the Great Grandparents of Reginald Alfred Carman from the Shepherd side, making John & Phillipa Shepherd Reg's Great Aunt & Uncle. John & Mary Martha Carman from The Java would become Reg's Great Great Granparents from the Carman side. Back to the story of The Java, this particular trip under the command of Captain Alexander Duthie is well documented as it was the worst of all that came to Australia. Overcrowding caused much discontent amongst the passengers & as many as 50 passengers perished from disease, malnutrition & starvation on the voyage. The Medical Board inquiry held by the Govt. of S.A. into the Java incident found the captain & medical officer guilty of maltreating their passengers. Among the 50 to perish was Samson & Phillipa Bastion's young daughter Mary. Unrelated to this Mary Martha Carman too would die on December 24 of this year leaving John to raise their family.

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The first settlers established farms in the Kersbrook area in the early 1830's due to it's relatively gentle slopes. John Bowden, manager of the South Australian Company's dairy farm at Hackney bought a 32 hectare (79acres) section & named it Kersbrook after the Cornish farm where he was born. The settlement itself was created by William Carman, a blacksmith working at the copper mine near Williamstown. William took advantage of the areas location on the busy road to the Barossa Valley to build a blacksmith shop & wheelwright in 1851. By 1858 some settlers had arrived & William gave up some of his land to build a town. The town was laid out by William Carman after Maidstone in Kent his hometown. William's preferred name for the town was Maidstone but in 1917 it was renamed to the locals preferred name of Kersbrook. It bacame a ...

"The dealers are all gone now" said the doyen of the livestock profession in South Australia, Mr. W.H. (Bill) Chester, Dalebank, Blakiston near Littlehampton, recently. Bill Chester is a dealer who has never apologised about a career which for him has been so fruitful he thought of none other. He was speaking in his old home which has been the headquarters for Mr. Chester & his family for 33 years. This man of high principle dealt & moved cattle in the oddest places in Australia. He always paid cash in business & was prepared to buy at full market prices. He was a seller in the same open-hearted way. He has no peer in the dealing business now. He went to distant properties & markets to buy stock during his career. Often before he had bought them he was planning their sale at another ...

When Mr. Bill Chester of Mt. Barker met his sister (Mrs. Beatrice Farrier) at Outer Harbour off the "Orsova" about a fortnight ago, it was the first time these two had "laid eyes" on one another for about 50 years. The last time this pair had been together was in a hospital in Birmingham in 1917 where Mr. Chester was recovering from wounds sustained in France during the fighting of World War 1. "Actually it wasn't a hospital in the true sense" Mrs. Farrier told the "Courier" reporter. "It used to be an old workhouse, but it had been converted & given over to the Australian troops as a place to convalesce". But the story goes back farther than this - some eight years earlier in fact, when Mr. Chester (then a lad of 17) left his family & immigrated to Australia. "I was supposed to be going to Queensland but I didn't like the sea voyage & got off the boat in W.A. " said Mr. Chester, " I stayed there for about two years before coming to Adelaide and later to Woodside where I took a job as an ostler at the local hotel". "When World War 1 broke out I enlisted in the 48th Battalion in 1914 & that chance meeting in the hospital in Birmingham 3 years later was the first for 8 years. From this point their lives paths went in different directions - not to come together again for another 50 years. Mr. Chester's sister married a Mr. Joseph Farrier who lived on the property next door in their home town of Wednesfield. They have 2 children & 6 grand children & now own a arable farming property in Shropshire. Mr. Chester returned to Woodside & bought his first property in 1918 & from there commenced to build his farming interest. BEEN COMING FOR 10 YEARS "My husband & I have been meaning to come come to Australia for the sole purpose of seeing my brother for the past 10 years but something has always intervened" said Mrs. Farrier. "At this stage we plan to fly out to Australia again in about 5 years time. We can't let another 50 years go by" she added jokingly. Mr. & Mrs. Farrier will fly to Perth & board ship for England via the Suez Canal this week.

The Shepherd family lived in the parish of Lastingham near the Southern edge of the North York Moors for hundreds of years. Today there may be no descendants there with the Shepherd surname but the family has spread world wide & can be found in most English speaking countries. The largest concentration of Shepherd descendants is probably to be found in Australia.

Appleton-le-Moors (formerly called Wood Appleton up until sometime after 1700) is a village & civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire - England .

This ancient village retains it's classic medieval layout - It is the site of archaeological interest being a rich source of finds such as flint tools, Roman coins & a medieval oven.

It is particularly noted for it's exceptionally fine 19th century church which has earned the description "the little gem of moorland churches" & is grade 1 listed. It was designed by the architect J.L.Pearson in French Gothic st...