They came by ship in 1840

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Ships that came to Port Phillip in 1840

Arrivals by each Month - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Notes on Vessels by name - Adelaide, Cintra, Eagle, Harvest Home, James, Lord Goderich, Madras, Mary Ridgeway, Perseverance, Statesman, Vesper,

Found Dec 2009 - Online Reel - Scroll through the digital copies of these lists, ship by ship, just as you would if you were going through a microfilm in the reading rooms. List shows year, date of Arrival, Ship, begins 1838, and includes 'Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip,'. Passenger lists - NSW lists as families or singles, Victoria has age of individual, or C=child, A=Adult. The Launceston Courier has movements between Launceston and Port Phillip and Portland Bay from Oct 1840. Sydney shipping reports in their papers sometimes have news from Port Phillip. For example page 2 of the Commercial Journal Sat 14 March 1840 reports the arrival on Mon 24 Feb of the 'Mary Eliza', Paterson from London on 22 Oct 1839 with merchandise and two passengers - the cargo is listed, not the passengers names. The Hindustan with Emigrants was daily looked for at Port Phillip. The Madras, Captain Henniker, left Port Phillip at 8am Fri 21 Feb and anchored at the bar at Launceston at 4pm the following day, a run from Port Phillip said to be unequalled.
324 Arrivals recorded in 1840 by 148 different vessels, 56 from beyond colonies. List from Port Phillip Herald, 26 June 1840 reports the Andromache had a problem with the shoals near the Heads Comment by Editor - At present we have no means of learning anything of the arrival of vessels in port until it suits the Captains' convenience to enter at the Customs House.	Name and date in Bold type indicates these eight vessel brought Bounty immigrants and has its own page January - John Bull 22, Madras 22, all January recorded traffic listed February - William Barres 7, Caroline 8, William Metcalfe 10, Columbian 24, Mary Eliza 26 from London, all February recorded traffic listed March - Rajasthan 9, Indus 15, Brankenmor 14, all March recorded traffic listed April - Lord Goderich 7, Tomatin 9, India 9, Seppings 9, Louisa Campbell 16, Glenhuntly 17, Caledonia 18, Thomas Laurie 23, all April recorded traffic listed May - China 2, Arab 9, Strathfieldsaye 9, Orissa 10, Dauntless 15, all May recorded traffic listed June - Majestic 8, Cintra 17, Duchess of Kent 20, Statesman 20, Andromache 24, Mellish 29, all June recorded traffic listed July - Coromandel 10, Theresa 18, Water Lilly 23 from London only merchandise, Ann Gales actually went to Port Jackson, all July recorded traffic listed August - Marmion 8, Isabella Watson 11, Culdee 13, Dauntless 15, Dovecot 20 from London, William Woolley 27, East London 28, all August recorded traffic listed September - Eagle 30, Himalaya 30, all September recorded traffic listed October - London 18, Thomas Harrison 31, all October recorded traffic listed November - Martin Luther 1, Perfect 8, Clydesdale 9, Lapwing 15 from Liverpool, all November recorded traffic listed December - Glenalvon 9, Midlothian 13, Orient 13, Dumfries 14, Vesper 14, Anne 15, all December recorded traffic listed
Geelong Advertiser commenced Dec 1840,	Sarah Layton drowned trying to fetch water, Charles Ruffle opened a Bakery, John Rice absconded and Thomas Wright wants him back, Ben Levien has opened a punt and hotel at Saltwater River, and Mrs J Griffin had a daughter 21 Dec, at the Geelong Retreat Inn
In 1839 the vessels brought Government Immigrants, now the system is changed to allow 'Private Enterprise' to participate, and Victoria is to pay a Bounty for each employee landed. This was later extended to include reduced prices for children, thus also paying for their food during the voyage. See "The Somerset Years", by Florence Chuk, page 46 for a discussion on the relative merits of the two systems - Government scheme concentrated on the immigrants, carried their cargo, wasted valuale cargo space, and used the barracks to house the new arrivals. The Bounty scheme was in private hands, filled spare space with cargo, and did not have a sheltered landing place on reaching Melbourne. The John Bull arrived 21 Jan 1840 with English papers up to 6 Oct 1839. On Fri 7 Feb the Port Phillip Herald printed Sydney Intelligence from the Sydney papers of 25 Jan, brought by the overland mail. On Feb 23 the PPH printed English news received in Sydney by the James Pattison which took 82 days to arrive from Lands End, and then brought by the Christina which left Sydney 16 Feb. Fri 20 Mar 1840 Column 1, 'The Land Revenue', begins - The first sale of Crown Lands in the district of Port Phillip was held in Sydney on 4 June 1837 ... and only four emigrant ships have arrived direct from Britain, viz., the David Clarke, William Metcalfe, Westminster and John Bull, and of these only the first was a Government emigrant vessel; the rest were bounty ships and the Emigrant Agent General had no control over their destination. See the newspaper cutting concerning the payments to be made. Fri 17 April 1840 we see English intelligence dated 23 Nov 1839 which contains the intended marriage of the Queen to Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg A Bill for the naturalization of Prince Albert had passed the Lords and Commons and received the Queen's assent previous to the Queen's marriage. On 19 June we see English intelligence to the 14 Feb has arrived via the Cintra, but she brings no regular mail. They report Queen Victoria's marriage took place on 10 Feb 1840 and a full column of small print contains the description of the marriage ceremony. My pages are a combination of reports by the Port Phillip Herald listing arrival of 40 vessels from United Kingdom, and Shipping lists for Bounty passengers, suggests 2725 persons came to Port Phillip in 1840. Paying passengers listed (790 names from Herald, includes departures) are 517 Cabin, 128 Intermediate, 458 Steerage, 73 vaguely described and 1550 Bounty emigrants. In other words, approximately 5 Bounty immigrants for each 4 who paid and could be expected to become employers.

Arrivals by each Month - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Notes on Vessels by name - Adelaide, Cintra, Eagle, Harvest Home, James, Lord Goderich, Madras, Mary Ridgeway, Perseverance, Statesman, Vesper,

Old versions for vessels - A, B, C, D,
Arrivals in 1839, here 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849,
Home, Notes on names

Port Phillip Herald Fri 26 June 1840. Editor outlines urgent wants for good management of Sydney's newest settled district

A Supreme Court with resident Judge (Sydney has 3 Judges)
A lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour, bouys to mark safe channels through the shoals.
Pilots and signal stations between the Heads, Melbourne, Williams Town and Geelong.
Post Office communication between the ships to enssure regular receipt and despatch of mail, also town mail delivery
Public wharf replacing the bank of the river and tree stumps used at present despite masters of vessels having to pay harbour dues.
Streets passable in wet weather. Particularly Collins and Elizabeth Streets where a dray can be so bogged six or eight bullocks struggle to drag it out.
A Jail. At present the prisoners are kept in custody during the daytime, in the street in front of Jail, by a guard of soldiers.
A Hospital to replace the present slab hut.
A Court House with rooms for prisoners, Jury and Court. The present building also serves as the Police Office.
A Coroner to serve the interests of justice, accidents are a frequent occurance.
Roads to facilitate access to land obtained by purchasing Crown Lands which has raised 200,000 pouns

Elizabeth Janson's web contributions
began 1^st Nov, 1998