Edward Dash diary of a voyage from Liverpool, England to Australia, 1853

MLMSS 3167

fonds

1853

886610

0.02 metres of textual material (1 folder)

Edward Dash was born in London on 3 November 1818 to Jacob Dash and Charlotte Lawson. On 22 May 1842 he married Susannah Debney in the Parish Church, Kensington, London. They had five children, one of whom died in infancy. In June 1853, Edward sailed for Australia in the Ann Dashwood, arriving in Melbourne on 9 November after a highly eventful voyage.
Dash’s family joined him in Melbourne in 1854.From 1861 to 1880, Edward Dash was a Receiver and Paymaster in the Victorian Treasury Department, first in Ararat (1861-65), then Hamilton (1866-75) and then in Kerang from 1876 to 1880. His wife, Susannah died at Ararat on 2 July 1865 aged just 43. He married his second wife, Catherine Macdonald on 19 January 1866. Dash was very active in community and church affairs, and his repeated requests led to the establishment in 1877 of the Baptist Church in Kerang, which was the first home mission work of the church in the country districts of Victoria. In 1880, Dash left Kerang to return to Ararat as a Baptist minister. In 1886 the family moved to Sydney, living in the inner-west suburbs of Burwood (1888), Petersham (1889) and Leichhardt (1890-91). Catherine Dash (nee Macdonald) died at Leichhardt on 24 June 1890 at 46 years of age. Edward Dash died at Leichhardt on 17 August 1891 at 72 years of age. They were buried in the same grave in the old Presbyterian Section, Rookwood Cemetery.

Source: A transcript by Keith Dash, Cheltenham, NSW Doreen Griffin, Wagga Wagga, NSW November, 1975

In June 1853, Edward sailed for Australia on the Ann Dashwood arriving in Melbourne on 9 November after a highly eventful voyage.
In this account of his journey, Dash records daily occurrences including the deaths of passengers, births: ‘One of the passengers by the name of Irving delivered of a daughter called after the ship "Ann Dashwood"’, of disputes between the Captain and the crew, who were frequently intoxicated, and violent altercations between passengers and crew. There were a total of 8 births during the passage and 15 deaths

Out of copyright

Information transferred from Manuscripts Leaf Catalogue No. 2 as part of the eRecords Project, 2009-2010