ABOUT THE EMIGRANT
The Emigrant left Plymouth on 17 April 1850, carrying 276 assisted emigrants from Ireland and England to Moreton Bay.
She was the second government-sponsored ship to sail directly to Moreton Bay.
Typhus broke out on the voyage, and by the time the barque had reached Moreton Bay, it had killed 20 of the passengers and crew. The ship was diverted to the newly-proclaimed quarantine station at Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, where a further 26 passengers and crew, the ship's surgeon-superintendent, and a Brisbane doctor who had gone to assist at the quarantine hospital, perished.
The story of the Emigrant - her voyage and quarantine and the stories of some of the people affected by the tragedy - is told in Jane Smith's book Ship of Death: the Tragedy of the Emigrant.
This website contains more details - some that are included in the book and some extra facts and statistics.
The story of the Emigrant is a story of many heroes. The book and this website pay tribute to them.
She was the second government-sponsored ship to sail directly to Moreton Bay.
Typhus broke out on the voyage, and by the time the barque had reached Moreton Bay, it had killed 20 of the passengers and crew. The ship was diverted to the newly-proclaimed quarantine station at Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, where a further 26 passengers and crew, the ship's surgeon-superintendent, and a Brisbane doctor who had gone to assist at the quarantine hospital, perished.
The story of the Emigrant - her voyage and quarantine and the stories of some of the people affected by the tragedy - is told in Jane Smith's book Ship of Death: the Tragedy of the Emigrant.
This website contains more details - some that are included in the book and some extra facts and statistics.
The story of the Emigrant is a story of many heroes. The book and this website pay tribute to them.
