Family History From Australia

Relationship to Dad (Donald Elmo Truscott)

Great Grandfather—James Crowle Truscott

Grandfather—Fredrick Truscott

Father-- Robert Truscott

Thanks to Leisa, our cousin in Australia, we know more about Dad’s family and how the Truscotts ended up in Australia. This is the story that Leisa sent me. The ship above is the one that brought our ancestors from England to Australia in 1873. Judy


James Crowle Truscott Sr. was born about 1833. He was the son of a miner. Tin and copper mining were both big industries in Cornwall, England. To bring money into the household, usually as soon as the children were old enough, about 11 years old, they too went to work in the mines with their family. From that age on James' sons all became tin or copper miners.

In 1866 the Cornish tin industry collapsed and miners were looking elsewhere for work.
James and his wife, Mary Ann moved to Wales where the iron ore mining was going along okay. On the 1871 census James' occupation is listed as an iron ore miner. I am not sure of the exact date but they were definitely there by the time the census was taken on April 2, 1871. They resided in a little town called Miskin and it was there in Wales that in Aug/Sep 1872 Mary Ann gave birth to Rosena, who died in early 1873.

The gold rush was happening in Queensland, Australia in the little outback town of Charters Towers in the 1870's and I assume that's what attracted miners from England to Australia. I did read somewhere that miners’ services were being sought after in Australia at that time.

James Crowle Truscott and his wife Mary Ann sailed on the ship, Alexandrina all the way from London, England to Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia with their four children, Fredrick, 17 years old, Elizabeth, 12 years old, David, 10 years old and Ellen Jane, 8 years old.
James and his family were indented passengers on the ship. Perhaps most of the indented passengers were mining families being brought to Australia to work in the gold mines.
They were all aboard the ship Alexandrina that left England on August 29, 1873 and arrived on December 7, 1873. What a hard 4 months it must have been for them. (To see the passenger list, click on this website). http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~auscqfha/shipping_alexandrina.htm

When James Truscott and his family arrived in Australia in 1873, I believe that if they had nowhere to go, then they would be given 1 or 2 nights accommodations in customs and then they had to move on from there. At the time, Brisbane was the biggest city and Charters Towers was the second biggest city due to the gold that was being discovered there.

Our great grandfather, Frederick was a tin miner in England with his father James. Frederick's brother David must have involved himself in mining in Australia when he was old enough and I guess from there, their sons also became miners. Frederick's four sons, James, Robert, Frederick Jr. and William were also involved in mining at some stage.