memorials
Memorials to the people involved in the tragic Emigrant incident include:
Twenty-six graves
Twenty-six crosses mark the approximate resting place of immigrants buried in the historic cemetery at Dunwich, Stradbroke Island. A plaque listing their names stands at one end.
Memorial plaque at Dunwich
A plaque listing names of those who died during the voyage or quarantine of the Emigrant was unveiled at the Dunwich cemetery in 2002.
A transcription of the text on the plaque (with notes) may be found here.
Deceased are listed (in approximate chronological order) on this page.
AT SEA:
William Frith 2 May - Diarrhoea
Hannah Hallett 24 May - Apoplexy
Mary Meara 25 May - Typhus
Catherine Slattery 3 June - Diarrhoea
Hallett infant 18 June - Diarrhoea
Mary Burberow 19 June - 'Decay of nature'
Anne Cunningham 3 July - Typhus
Mary Waterson 10 July - Typhus
James Chapple 15 July - Typhus
Ann Gleeson 22 July - Typhus
AFTER ENTERING BASS STRAIT
Ann Charlton 26 July - Typhus
George Hayward 26 July - Typhus
Sophia Brimble 28 July - Typhus
(Ann/Mary) Connor 29 July - Typhus
James Lancaster (seaman) 31 July - Typhus
Caroline Loder 3 August - Typhus
Fanny Bloxam 5 August - Typhus
IN MORETON BAY
Euphemia Furphy 8 Aug - Typhus
Henry Waterson 10 Aug - Typhus
AT ANCHOR AT QUARANTINE STATION
Daniel Gorman 13 August - Typhus
AT THE QUARANTINE GROUND:
Elizabeth Wade 21 Aug - Drowned
Joseph Rowe, 23 Aug - Typhus
George Heuston 24 Aug - Typhus
Johanna Dwyer 27 Aug - Typhus
Joseph Ball 27 Aug - Typhus
Elizabeth Brimble 31 Aug - Typhus
John Connor 31 Aug - Typhus
Henry Roberts, cook 31 Aug -Typhus
James Hallett, 3 Sept - Typhus
Maria Trowbridge 5 Sept - Typhus
Robert Frith (3-6 Sept?) - Typhus
Charles Hallett (3-6 Sept?) - Typhus
John Hector (3-6 Sept?) - Typhus
James Real (3-6 Sept?) - Typhus
James Syrett (3-6 Sept?) - Typhus
Hester Farmer 10 Sept - Typhus
Dr George Mitchell 19 Sept - Typhus
Jane Syrett 19 Sept - Typhus
Mary Ann Ball 20 Sept - Typhus
Henry Hallett 25 Sept - Typhus
Thomas Coleman 26 Sept - Typhus
Dr Ballow 29 Sept
(not on plaque) - Typhus
Samuel Brimble 30 Sept - Burns
Andrew Brimble 22 Oct- Typhus
Baby Canning ? - Typhus?
Eliza Cummins ? - Typhus?
Mary Anne Salisbury ? - Typhus?
Baby Salisbury ? - Typhus?
Dr Mitchell’s grave
Dr Mitchell is buried in the Dunwich Cemetery, Stradbroke Island. A plaque on the north face of the grave reads:
SACRED
TO
THE MEMORY OF
GEORGE MITCHELL
LATE SURGEON SUPERINTENDENT
OF THE SHIP “EMIGRANT,”
who well and fearlessly combated
for many weeks a deadly malady
to which he fell a victim
15th* September 1850
Aged 25 years
*Note that he actually died on
19th Sept 1850, not the 15th.
A plaque on the south face of the grave bears the inscription:
AROUND THIS STONE
ARE INTERRED
THE MORTAL REMAINS
OF
TWENTY-SIX IMMIGRANTS,
WHO
SEEKING IN THIS LAND
AN EARTHLY HOME,
HAVE FOUND, ELSEWHERE,
WE TRUST,
A BETTER COUNTRY.
Dr Ballow’s grave
Dr David Keith Ballow is buried beside Dr George Mitchell at Dunwich.
A plaque on Dr Ballow’s tomb reads:
Sacred to the Memory of
DAVID KEITH BALLOW, LATE COLONIAL SURGEON, CORONER OF THE DISTRICT, AND MAGISTRATE OF THE
TERRITORY, WHO IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS DUTY AS SURGEON SUPERINTENDENT
OF THE QUARANTINE STATION AT DUNWICH,
fell, with many others whose graves are around,
a victim to typhus fever.
Born at Montrose October 27th, 1804. Died September 29th, 1850.
Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down
his life for his friend—15th chap. St. John, 13th verse.
THIS TOMB WAS ERECTED BY HIS AFFECTIONATE WIDOW,
MARGARET CAMPBELL BALLOW.
Memorials to Dr Ballow
By the late 1840s, the Church of England in North Quay was inadequate for Brisbane’s growing congregation. Dr Ballow was on the planning committee for the building of a new church in William St, but he did not live to see it completed. After his death in 1850, the congregation had a memorial stone made and installed in the church, presumably in the William St premises, which opened in the early 1850s. When St John’s Cathedral was built in Ann St, Brisbane, the stone was transferred to the basement of St Martin’s, next door. A plaque bearing the same inscription is affixed to the outer wall of Ballow Chambers, Wickham Terrace - one of Brisbane's oldest purpose-built medical buildings, which opened in the 1920s.
The text on the plaque reads:
To the Memory of David Keith Ballow, late Colonial Assistant Surgeon, Coroner of the District and a Magistrate of the Territory who, on the arrival in this port of the ship "Emigrant," having malignant typhus fever on board, with which the medical officer of that vessel was seized and subsequently died, nobly undertook the duties of Surgeon Superintendent of the Quarantine Station, at Dunwich, and fell himself a victim. Born at Montrose, Scotland, 17th October, 1804; died, Sept. 29th, 1850.
Memorial stone held in the basement of St Martin's House.
Plaque at Ballow Chambers. Photo by Eddie Smith.
Ballow Chambers. Photo by Kerry Raymond, from Wikimedia Creative Commons.