 |
| Margaret Carberry died on St. Stephen's Day 1849 the same year as her sister Jane landed in Australia as an orphan emigrant |
Read the true story of two Ballyshannon sisters, one of whom went to Australia and the other who stayed at home in 1849. For more local history an ideal Christmas gift is a quality limited edition hardback edition of "Ballyshannon Genealogy and History" available in A Novel Idea.
Jane Carberry arrived in Sydney in 1849. Her sister Margaret Carberry was buried in Ballyshannon on St. Stephen's Day 1849
 |
Ideal Christmas gift: A Local History book available in a quality limited hardback edition with dustcover as above in : A Novel Idea Bookshop Ballyshannon and Four Master's Bookshop Donegal Town and for postal delivery contact the author anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com
|
Two sisters were to go together to Australia but
unfortunately fate intervened. These were the two Carberry sisters. Jane Carberry was born in Ballyshannon and
arrived in Sydney, aged 14, along with a shipload of orphans from Ireland,
including the other 18 girls from Ballyshannon workhouse. They landed in
Australia from a ship called ”The Inchinnan" in February 1849. Jane
Carberry was said to be a nursemaid and could read and write. She had no
relatives in the colony. After assessment at Hyde Park Barracks she was sent to
Yass to work, where she met Henry Gibson Kemp and they were married in the
Church of England at Gundaroo (or Tumut) on 23 June 1850. Jane was in Australia
less than a year and a half when she was married. Between 1851 and 1874 they
had a total of 13 children about half of whom died in infancy. Jane died in
Tumut New South Wales in 1917 and she is buried there.
Margaret Carberry was in Ballyshannon
Workhouse and was originally to go with her sister Jane to Australia. However
she took sick and was too weak to travel. She died in Ballyshannon Workhouse
and was buried in St. Anne's Church in Ballyshannon on St. Stephen’s Day
1849. Their parents William and Ellen Carberry were both dead and in the burial records at St. Anne’s Church in
Ballyshannon are the following entries: William Carberry aged 65 was in the
workhouse and was buried on 28th January 1847, his wife Ellen
Carberry was buried in St. Anne’s on 14th May 1847.
Christmas
1849 and the Carberry sisters were separated with Jane in Australia and her
sister Margaret dying in Ballyshannon Workhouse. Jane was aged 14 when she landed in Sydney and Margaret was aged 15 when she was buried in Ballyshannon, the day after Christmas Day. One wonders when Jane heard of her sister's death?
 |
| The Carberry sisters are remembered along with 17 other orphan girls at the Famine Orphan Memorial beside the Workhouse and close to Fr. Tierney Park in Ballyshannon. |
Ballyshannon has the only Orphan Girls’
Memorial in Ireland remembering 19 girls aged 14-18 from the area who were
shipped to Australia at the height of the Famine. They left Ballyshannon
in October 1848 and arrived in Sydney Australia in February 1849. They
went to make up for a shortfall of females in Australia for domestic work and
ultimately for marriage. Many of their descendants have visited the memorial in Ballyshannon and appreciate that the 19 orphan girls are remembered here. Well worth a visit so that these girls and their story is not forgotten. Their names and story can be read on the memorial.
 |
Ballyshannon workhouse today showing the well-preserved admission block
through which the girls were first admitted to the workhouse
|
No comments:
Post a Comment