The Jones family arrived in Sydney on Sunday the 10th March 1878 aboard the immigrant ship “Northbrook”.
The photo of the Northbrook shown above left was downloaded from the website of the Royal Museums Greenwich which holds the copyright. On this trip to Australia, the ship was mastered by Henry Peirce. It was an iron-hulled ship of 1820 tons, built in 1874 at Stockton UK.
The ship’s log tells us something about the Jones family. Firstly, they were members of the Church of England. David Daniel Jones, then 34 years old, was a blacksmith, was literate in English and could speak both English and Welsh. His wife, Mary Anne (then aged 29 years) was not literate but presumably (probably) could also speak both languages. The couple were my grandmother’s grandparents and, so, were my 2nd great grandparents.
Living and working in Lambton
Soon after their arrival in Sydney, the family then sailed to Newcastle. Their first Australian-born child (Rachael Ann) was born the following year (1879) and two further daughters, Margaret Ellen and Sarah Elizabeth, were born in 1881 and 1883 respectively. All three births were registered in Lambton where, we may presume, the family would have been living.
Coal had been discovered in the Waratah hills north of Lambton in 1860 by Thomas Grove. Within a couple of years it was found that the seam continued further south near what is now Howe and Chilcott Streets in Lambton. The Scottish Australian Mining Company was given a crown lease to undertake mining in this area and immediately began recruiting experienced miners from England, Wales, Germany (among other places) and from other areas of Australia such as Bendigo. First exports of coal from Lambton began in 1864 (5,900 tons) and this had risen to 159,000 tons by the time the Jones family arrived.
Initially, miners built makeshift housing on un-surveyed land but by 1871 the area had been surveyed, had gained the status of a municipality, and the orderly construction of streets and mainly timber housing had begun.
Upon arrival, David was most likely working at the Lambton Pit (see photo below).
This is an early photo of Lambton (1900), looking north towards Waratah from Russell Road, New Lambton. The pit and line of coal trucks across the centre of the photo were located adjacent to Howe Street. The rail line having already been constructed It was taken by Ralph Snowball from New Lambton and I downloaded it from the Newcastle Region Library Photo Bank
One source, (John Turner “Coal mining in Newcastle 1801-1900”) estimated that, at Lambton , “a miner producing the district average would
have earned £92.15.0 per annum, not a large sum compared to the incomes of other workers in regular employment at daily wages of from 5s 6d. for labourers to 1 1 s for skilled tradesmen”.