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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, October 21, 2015 - Page 00
Long Stories
No 1
Melbourne Observer Editor Ash Long, now in his 60th year, looks back at a lifetime of memories.
It’s a long a way from Tipperary ■ My paternal great-great grand-father James Long arrived in Australia on the Hydaspes on November 27, 1851. Then 21, James was working in the family potato fields at Mountshannon, in his native Ireland. Friendly gypsies approached and offered to tell his fortune. The offer brought some comic relief, for times had been dificult with Ireland suffering the ravages of a potato failure over the previous two years. Potatoes were the staple diet of the Irish, and more than one million people had starved to death. The gypsies told James that they saw him “going overseas within three months”. With the famine and distress, a million folk had already left Ireland for the United States ofAmerica, Canada and Australia to seek a new life. Nonethless, James did not take the prophecy seriously. He was living with his family at Mountshannon. His father, James Long Senior, a school teacher, and his mother Eliza Smith, were married in 1824 in the diocese of Killaloe, which extended into six counties: Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, Offaly, Leix and Galway. Young James, was born on May 12, 1830, at Lorrha, Burris O’Kane, in the barony of Lower Ormond, County Tipperary. Local references do not show any Longs as landholders, a clear indication that they were latecomers to the vicinity. James’s grandparents were in farming, and had a 99-year lease by the Shannon River. In later years, land holdings are shown in the towns of Sellernane and Ballinagough for William Long, Ben Long Jnr, John Long, as well as Ben Long and partners. James Long had five brothers and two sisters: Benjamin, who died young; George, also died young; William; Joseph, died young; Susan; and Elizabeth. The gypsies were correct with their prediction. James sailed from Liverpool on the Hydaspes, arriving in South Australia on November 27, 1851. The Hydaspes was a sailing ship of 595 tons captained by Hugh Stewart. It supported a crew of 28, and was registered at Liverpool in 1847. The usual route of immigrant ships was non-stop around the Cape of Good Hope. James Long’s stay in South Aus-
● James Long, born in Borrisokane, in May 1830 tralia was about 2½-years where he At one stage he thought he had diswas employed mainly in the bakery covered a good-sized nugget, but business. when he came to handle it, pieces of His last employment in the colony very thin good leaf left the surface of was reporting vessels arriving for the a substantial stone. Port of Adelaide. James did not gain a lot of satisfacHe worked from Semaphore, now tion from the Victorian digging operaa suburb some 15 kilometres from the tions. city centre. There were those who made a forOn one occasion he fell asleep, al- tune in a few days, and others who lowing a vessel through - without re- toiled for weeks without seeing any porting. He did not wait to be repri- ‘colour’. manded - and left immediately. Those who did find success, spent James Long joined a company of freely. Some even flamed their tobacco bullock teams taking goods to the with £5 notes. Ballarat goldfields - as their cook. James recalled that he had a fair When he arrived in 1854, he fur- amount of success on the goldfields. thered his way to Castlemaine where While in Castlemaine, there were he stayed on the diggings for 18 rumours of bushrangers. As a safemonths. guard, he left £70-80 between a couple of trusses of hay,. After a scare, he went to recover the money, but the hay was gone, probably burnt. James later told that many of the diggers thought the boom days of the field days were going to last forever, but they did not. Other members of James’s family were quick to leave Ireland for Australia. It has been suggested that the 99year lease that the family held in Killaloe may have been due for expiry. James’s elder brother, William, arrived at much the same time. The remaining members of the family appear to have arrived in South Australia at a later stage, spending two years there. ● James Long’s birthplace Lorrha, as depicted in a Christmas Following their stay, they then greetings card. Source: www.lorrhadorrha.ie moved to Western Australia - in the
Swan River area. James Long Senior was the second child of George Long, a farmer, and the former Susanna Mason. It is believed that James Long Snr was the first cousin of Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861), the well-known explorer. George Long and Susanna Mason were married in 1787 in the diocese of Killaloe, County Galway, Ireland. James Long Snr was one of seven children: ■ Ann, who married Henry Brady in Killaloe, in 1819; ■ James Snr; ■ Michael, born in 1795 and later married to Phoebe Oakley; ■ Robert, 1811-1883, and married twice; ■ William, 1812-1864; ■ Benjamin; and ■ John, who married Mary Bourchier. James Long Snr’s brother, Michael, migrated to Canada in 1832. His great-grand-daughter, Lois Long, of Ontario, Canada, records that Michael and Phoebe married in 1825 in Killaloe. When they travelled to Canada seven years later, they took four or five children with them, sailing from Limerick. Like his brother James Snr, Michael was a teacher, possibly even with university education. When he first settled, he taught his own family as there were no schools. He would walk several miles every week or two to acquire a newspaper, which he would read aloud to his Irish neighbours who would come to visit him for news, as few of them could read or write. With money he brought with him to Canada, Michael purchased a farm, mainly uncleared flat land with his residence, Maple Farm, built on an area to become known as Long’s Hill. Another two brothers of James Snr - Robert and William - also emigrated to Canada and settled on land in Western Ontario, taking up land next to each other. Both were schoolmasters. Robert later settled in the township of McGillvray where he spent about 40 years. He later moved to Clinton in 1879, and Belgrave in 181. Robert was married twice: first to Margaret Rogers, and then later to Mary Pritchard. Both Robert and William converted from being Anglican to Methodism after settling. William’s will of 1863 was distrib-
● Robert O’Hara Burke
uted after his death in May 1864. He left all “real and personal estate” to his wife, Deborah, with the following exceptions: ■ To my sister, Mrs Henry Brady, $100; ■ To Mary Bourchier, widow of my late brother, John Long, $50; ■ To my niece, Mary Long, $50; ■ To my nieces, Susan and Margaret Ann Long, daughters of my brother, Robert Long, $50 each; ■ To the Wesleyan Methodist Church, to build a church in the village of Ireland, $100. A codicil, made in September 1863, provided an additional $100 for the construction of the church, and a further $20 to purchase a Sunday school library. James Long Snr had a brother, George, who was known to have come to Australia, but who may have later migrated to America or Canada. James Long Snr was an itinerant school teacher. A letter in the Western Australian archives shows that he was dismissed from his post because he was said to have given shelter for one night to a young woman who was sacked by her employer. James had apparently met the lass on the boat from Ireland. There was quite a scandal, and an appeal was lodged to the local bishop. James Long Snr was forced to leave his wife and family, while he found an alternative teaching post. He was now around 50, and found a post, tutoring a family at Stoney Rises, near Colac, Victoria. Meanwhile, James Long Jnr had moved to Geelong, Victoria, managing a bakery business. The 1856 edition of the Ballarat and Creswick Creek Commercial Directory and Almanac shows: ■ Long, James, store, O’Connell St, Ashby; ■ Long, James, store, Bellair St. The 1858 edition records: ■ Long, James, 4 Somerset Place, Ashby. In 1856, James Long joined in marriage with Miss Olivia Lucas at the United Methodist Church in Preston St, Geelong, Victoria. The Rev. Mark Bradney officiated, as he later did for other Long family weddings. James Long Snr was a witness. Olivia, 17, was the daughter of Thomas Lucas and his wife Margaret (nee Sydes), and was born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1839. Olivia was grand-daughter of First-Fleeter Nathaniel Lucas (1764– 1818), who was a convict transported to Australia. His occupation was listed as carpenter. He and Olivia Gascoigne, who had also been transported, were the first couple to be married on Norfolk Island. The wedding certificate for James Long describes Olivia as a ‘lady’, and lists her brithplace as Van Dieman’s Land. James is shown as ‘storekeeper’. Around 1859, James and Olivia Long moved to Ballarat where James commenced his own bakery and confectionery business in Plank Rd. It was the start of a grand Australian enterprise. - Ash Long, with research by the late Alan C. Long