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four childrn; John Fotheri.ngham and William Plaister and his wife. Of
these Hall, Black and Fotheri.ngham were surgeons eigratiṇg to Australia.
In the steeage were thirty-five adults and sixteen children who were.
disembarki.ng
children who were leavng the ship at Sydney.
eleven weeks.
fortunate one.
The journey from Liverpool to Hobart Town occupied a little over
For Mary Hall, indeed, the decision to eigrate was a
Contrary to the expectations of her family, her health
gradually improved durng the lng sea voyage and she arrived in Van Diemen 's
Land alive and well.
Never gain in her subsequent long life did she ever
show the symptoms of the disease which had almost destroyed her in England
and which did, indeed, cause the death of her two yonger sisters who
remained in Liverpool .
Hall described their arrival in Hobart Town on
J\ugust 25, 1833, in his "Reminiscences" which he wrote on J\ugust 25 , 1878,
on the forty-fifth anniversary of that momentous day .
After a tedious voyage from England we cast anchor in the harbour
of Hobart Town late on Saturday night . Our first sight of the
island was South-West Cape, and we gazed eagerly and admiringly on
the bold coast of our future home.· Storm Bay on the occasion
verified its appellation, for we had a succession of squalls , in
one of which we lost some spars . Sunday morning broke sunny and
fine, and Mount Wellington looked grand to us iṅdeed with its amp le
mant le of snow . We ·landed immediately after breakfast on the jetty
of the Old Wharf, and walked by the shore to an inn in Murray-street ,
whence, having secured quarters , we proceeded to attend Mass at the
rude , barn-like building which then served for the only Catholic
place of worship in the island. It was situated close behind the
Presentation Convent . It was built of brick, unceiled, unplastered,
and floored with loose warped boards, which would fly up by a
careless tread on their extremities ; their edges were very sharp to
the knees of the worshippers, and only a few ·forms to sit upon .
Father Philip Connolly was then the only priest in the whole island,
and we found him after our muddy trudge, pacing, as was his usual
cus.tom , outside the chapel to watch ' the arrivals . He at once
welcomed us heartily having no doub t that we were fresh arrivals by
one of the two vessels that had arrived from England the previous
eveni We presented our letters of Catholi'city from our English
director, and after a little chat , he took us to a form near the
vestry door , sayi.ng that he heard the soldiers coming , and that
service would commence after their arrival . At that time there were
two regiments in Hobart Town, the 21st and 66th , and many of them
Catholics . The chapel was densely crowded, and the service and
accessories altogether of a rude and primitive character , and when
Father Connolly.thrus t his way among the people with an old hat to make
the collection at the offertory, my better half, who had been
accustomed only to the decorous and solemn services of ng
was astounded . After Mass we were invited into the vestry, which was
also Father Connolly's sitting room, his rude dwelling being only a
lean-to against the chapel . Here we were introduced to ·
Mr Cornelius Driscoll, then Assistant Colonial Secretary ,