Wood, Ronald

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181 
ARTEMESIA 
THE FIRST MIGRANT SHIP TO 
MORETON BAY 
by Ronald Wood FRHistSQ 
President, Royal Historical Society of Queensland 
The Moreton Bay Settlement was established in 1824 to receive 
convicts punished by Colonial Courts in New South Wales and 
Tasmania. It was first set up on the Redcliffe Peninsula and later on 
the present site of Brisbane. The convicts remained untU 1839, but 
the area was not open to free settlement until 1842. 
The controversial Reverend Dr John Dunmore Lang, who had 
introduced German missionaries to the settlement in 1835, visited 
Moreton Bay again in 1845 before going to Britain to organise free 
settlers for the area which he caUed Cooksland. 
PastoraUsts led by Patrick Leslie began to establish sheep runs on 
the Darling Downs coming overland from the direction of Sydney. 
Because of an embargo, stores could not generaUy be obtained through 
Moreton Bay. A great labour shortage developed, European workmen 
did not stay long and even Chinese specially imported for this work 
were disappointing. 
In Britain, migration was controlled by the Land and Emigration 
Commissioners. In a report to Under Secretary Merivale dated 1 
August 1848, they stated that they had recently received from parties 
connected with New South Wales urgent representations to send 
Emigrant Vessels to ports other than Sydney and Melbourne as it was 
almost impossible to induce emigrants to proceed into the interior 
of the Colony once they had landed at Sydney. 
The Commissioners accordingly advertised for vessels for Moreton 
Bay and Twofold Bay. The vessel chosen for Moreton Bay was the 
Artemesia. J.J. Knight in his book In the Early Days wrote of the 
desire of the (NSW) Government to get in their first shipload before 
that of Dr Lang and there may be some truth in this. 
Unlike some migrant ships, the Artemesia was a new vessel, a 
barquentine of 492 tons built at Sunderland in 1847. It was owned 
by A. Ridley and commanded by Captain John Prest Ridley. 
According to the Lloyd's Register, the ship berthed in the East India 
Dock, London and sailed from there to Plymouth on 27th July 1848. 
182 
The Illustrated London News of 12 August 1848 published some 
details of the passengers and Ulustrations of the ship. The British 
Government gave agricultural labourers, shepherds, wheelwrights, 
carpenters and other country mechanics free passages (including food) 
to New South Wales and South AustraUa. The vessels were first class 
and proceeded every month to Sydney, Port PhUip and Port Adelaide. 
Migrants had to be of good character, recommended for sobriety and 
industry, and provide their own clothing. On being accepted they had 
to pay one pound ten shillings for every child under fourteen as 
security that they would embark. Two hundred and nine passengers 
embarked at London and another 31 at Plymouth. 
The upper deck of the Artemesia was handsomely fitted to 
accommodate wealthier passengers. The reporter from the Illustrated 
London News tasted the biscuits, beef and pork provided for the 
emigrants and found them of excellent quality. 
Among those on the lower decks were seven boys and two girls from 
the Ragged Schools at Westminster, who were visited on ship by Lord 
Ashley. Ragged schools as an institution were begun in 1820 by John 
Pounds, a Portsmouth shoe-maker, to supply free education and 
sometimes bodily necessities for destitute children. After the 
foundation of the Ragged Schools Uruon in 1844 by Lord Ashley, 
agencies for the education of the poor became an important part of 
English life. They lost their importance when free compulsory 
education was introduced in England in 1870. 
The nine Ragged Scholars are not named as such in the passenger 
list. However, two boys and one girl aged 14 years stated to have come 
from Westminster may have been three of them. 
The Artemesia arrived off Sydney Heads on 9 December 1848 and 
then proceeded to Moreton Bay where it arrived four days later, 120 
days after leaving Plymouth. When off Cape Moreton, Captain Ridley 
was offered the service of Captain Brown of the Schooner Ann Mary 
to pilot him around Combuyuro Point when the Harbour Master 
boarded her. Ridley was criticized in the Sydney press for not engaging 
a pilot from Sydney, but was strongly defended in the Moreton Bay 
Courier. 
The ship was too large to sail across the bar of the Brisbane River 
and the passengers were taken to Brisbane by the Raven on 16 and 
17 December and lodged in the Hospital and other Government 
buUdings. The Raven was a small ship carrying cargoes and passengers 
between Brisbane and Ipswich. During the voyage, three immigrants 
had died, Elizabeth Faulkner and two infants. There were four births 
during the voyage. The migrants comprised 38 agricultural labourers, 
seven shepherds, seven smiths, six labourers, five weavers, four 
carpenters, two each of sawyers, cartwrights, miners, ironfounders 
and wheelwrights, totaUing in all 84 male workers. 
183 
The Courier was "rather startled at the rates of wages said to have 
been received by some of the previous migrants", as much as 15 
shUlings a week and hopefully suggested that 5 to 8 shillings would 
be the usual average. 
In three days 182 out of 240 immigrants (including 59 children) were 
engaged or otherwise provided for. Of these 31 were married couples. 
Two married couples had left for Sydney. l\vo had entered business 
on their own account, 47 unmarried men were hired as were six 
unmarried women. The wages ranged from 20 pounds to 25 pounds 
per aimum with rations. Married couples with families had obtained 
30 pounds to 50 pounds with rations. 
By 6 January 1849, the Courier reported that only seven persons 
remained at the disposal of the Immigration Agent: one clerk, four 
mecharucs and two young women. "The labour has been taken 
gratefully and although it has generally been thought that more men 
and fewer babies would have met the wants of the place, there has 
been a general disinclination to look the gift horse in the mouth". 
In her recoUections entitled My Dear Miss Macarthur, Emmeline 
Maria Macarthur, said Brisbane in 1848 was a primitive one street 
town containing some official buUdings, a temporary church, a small 
inn and a few stores. The population was only a few hundred. Arriving 
at such a remote outpost in hot and humid summer weather surely 
tested the migrants resolve. 
Little is known about the passenger of the Artemesia in contrast 
to those who came by Dunmore Lang's ships in 1849. This is 
something that the forthcoming pubUcation by the Queensland FamUy 
History Society may do much to rectify. I only have knowledge of 
one famUy, John and Christina Mclntyre and their seven children. 
Their second eldest child, Allan, was my grandfather. 
REFERENCES 
Moreton Bay Courier 16, 19, 23 and 30 December 1848; 6 January 1849. 
Jane de Falbe, My Dear Miss Macarthur, Kangaroo Press, 1988. 
J.J. Knight, In the Early Days, Sapsford & Company, 1895. 
Historical Records of Australia 1 XXVI 533-4. 


Artemesia: the first migrant ship to Moreton Bay

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Artemesia: the first migrant ship to Moreton Bay

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