Genealogy Chat

> I heard people were aware of Australia in the 1600s, but > nobody settled there until after Captain Cook Australia has been 'settled' by 'people' for approx 40,000 years.

There is this one: http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/ doesn't look as though it goes back far enough for you lots listed on this one, don't know if any are what you want. http://www (.) coraweb (.) c o m.au/shipsite.htm remove brackets and spaces

I've been searching, but not found any passenger lists other than of convicts, so please let me know if you find a website...

Yes, there are various passenger lists and you will also want to check names of crew members. If you google around you will probably find something - if not I will post some website addresses up later but my son is desperate to get on the computer now! Kate.

Thanks Bill! That Henry Lambourne (also on the IGI) seems to be the closest person to my ancestor, and might even be closely related to her. However, it seems very difficult to trace Mary and her parents (free settlers?) from such an early period in Australian history, as there are no Lambournes among the list of convicts. I heard people were aware of Australia in the 1600s, but nobody settled there until after Captain Cook because it wasn't worth it due to lack of fertilised soil or something stupid like that...

> I heard Captain Cook only discovered Australia in 1770 It was 'discovered' by Melanesians millenia before that! The 1828 NSW census shows a Henry LAMBOURN, 19 years of age, at Port Stephens on the North Coast area of (present) NSW. Cheers, Bill Sydney, Australia

Kate, I guess births were not registered as early as 1806. I wonder if there's passenger lists available for settlers, other than the fleets of convicts? From the info posted above, I assume they referred to New South Wales as 'New Sydney', as it's part of Sidney, which was a 'new world' at the time? Thanks.

This page tells a bit about being a British Subject in the days of the Empire: http://www.eurolegal.org/british.shtml Seems to me that if she was born in Australia she would automatically be a British Subject!! There are many people on the census returns who originated from countries not part of the British Empire who say, ''naturalised'' or 'British Subject'' and many who were not......... I don't know what they had to do in those days to become naturalised? My father-in-law still doesn't have a British Passport, despite having lived here since 1940 and having fought in WW2 in the British Army, but I think that is only because he hasn't got round to it yet!! lol (He is from Barcelona - have you seen Fawlty Towers??) Merry

History Main article: History of Sydney The area surrounding Sydney Harbour (called Warrane by the aborigines) has been inhabited by Aboriginal tribes, notably the Eora and Cadigal, for at least 40,000 years. Although urbanisation has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), there are still rock carvings in several locations. European interest arose with the sighting of Botany Bay (now a southern suburb of Sydney) in 1770 by Captain James Cook. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip in 1788. Most convicts came from Ireland and England. A great number were in fact not real criminals but were simply sent to the new colony as a harsh punishment by the ruling aristocracy. (See the First Fleet article for more information.) Phillip first landed at Botany Bay, but found it unsatisfactorily shallow for a permanent settlement. After a brief sail north, Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson (the correct name for Sydney Harbour). Phillip originally named the colony 'New Albion', but for some uncertain reason the colony acquired the name 'Sydney', after the (then) British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789). This is possibly due to the fact that Lord Sydney issued the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. Prisoners were quickly set to work to build the settlement and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary; by 1847, convicts accounted for only 3.2% of the population. Each day, ships would arrive from Ireland and England with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. The first of several gold rushes was in 1851, since which time the port of Sydney has seen many waves of people from around the world. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population well in excess of one million. Throughout the 20th century Sydney continued to expand with various new waves of European and (later) Asian immigration, resulting in its highly cosmopolitan atmosphere of the present day. Pippa

The website given above only has information for New South Wales, so if your other Lambournes were born in another part of Australia they wouldn't be on there. Anyway, a births search on the surname Lambourne and date range 1788 to 1905 comes back with 34 matches, but the earliest is 1847. There are also matches for various spellings (Lamborn, Lamborne, Lambourn), but none earlier than 1847. Kate.

Thanks for the link, but I cannot find the registered birth of any LAMBOURNEs at that website, when I know for a fact there were some LAMBOURNES born in Australia (from the IGI).

Hi Giles Have you tried searching for her birth http://www*bdm*nsw*gov*au/familyHistory/search*htm (just replace * with .) No Australian Census online. Vivian

My ancestor named Mary LAMBOURNE, born 1806-1807 is listed on the 1871 England census as being born in 'New Sidney, Australia', and on the 1861 census with a birthplace of 'New Sydney British Subject, Australia'. Can anyone please shed some light on where exactly New Sydney was located in Australia, and whether it has something to do with New South Wales? Also, what is a British Subject? Finally, I heard Captain Cook only discovered Australia in 1770, and my ancestor's surname does not appear in the list of convicts who arrived on the first, second and third fleets, so how would I go about tracing her? Is there any Australian censuses available online? Any help would be much appreciated!