I live in South Australia.

My family is of Welsh origin and, due to skills, were paid to immigrate to Australia, arriving here in 1849, some 13 years after settlement of my state.

My ancestor, his wife and 7 children (plus another born during the voyage) sailed on the barque SS Aden. Launched as the SS Delta in 1856, she was built by Summers, Day & Co of Southampton with a gross tonnage of 812, measuring 257 ft. 6 inches by 29 ft. 10 inches beam. She was powered by direct-acting trunk steam engines of 210 hp, driving a single screw, which gave her a service speed of 12 knots. She could carry 112 first class, and 22 second class passengers, and in 1869, carried official guests from Marseilles to Port Said for the formal opening of the Suez Canal. She was sold to Shanghai owners in 1872.

The following is an account of the hardships endured during their voyage as reported in the October 10, 1849 issue of the South Australian Register:

From London via Plymouth - Captain William Samuel Baker, arrived Port Adelaide on 12-09-1849 with the charge of 172 passengers all paying their own expenses (not free or assisted passengers), many of them of superior origin to himself, and many more in still better circumstances.

The ADEN had an accident on the way to Adelaide, colliding with a fishing boat off Start Point (England) on May 29th, 1849 causing her mast and gear to be carried away. There were numerous complaints about the master and officers, including the surgeon - Dr J. Heigenbottom, who was reported to have been "not only professionally incompetent, but was gross and improper in his language, and seldom sober". "Our first source of complaint and grievance arose out of the manner in which the ship was provisioned. We had good meat till we left Gravesend, but as soon as we got away to sea, there arose such a stench as was quite unbearable from some flesh which was boiling in our cook's coppers. This, more than the rolling of the ship, turned us all sick, and we went into every out-of-the-way place to avoid the stench. The surgeon declared it would bring on some disorder, and promised to see the Government Inspector about it on arrival at Plymouth; but he did not do so. This meat was given to us for three successive days after leaving Gravesend, and we all became so ill and hungry that we threatened to kill the cats and boil them. On the third day the stuff was left boiling in the coppers - all the passengers having agreed to allow none to be taken out of the boilers." During the stay in Plymouth, the passengers had no fresh provisions served out to them - the captain's reason being because they had refused to eat the beef served out to them on their way down the channel. May 21st was beef day and when it was served, was totally rejected as being unwholesome and stank so abominably that most threw it overboard. The report went on to mention that the Captain and first mate Mr Court disagreed about the condition of the beef, but even the sailors were not offered the horrible stuff. "Some of the casks of beef were branded 1839. The flour given to us in lieu of potatoes consisted almost entirely of lumps as hard as chalk, and was so mildewed and nasty, that laterly it was mostly thrown overboard, as we could not eat it. Many complaints were made about the meat and puddings always being boiled in salt water. The biscuits were mouldy, the butter rancid and we were never given our full allowance of water. Mr Sloper and Mr Bennett were seized with cramp in the stomach and suffered intensely, and other passengers also suffered from the same cause. In terms of our agreements, arbitrators were to be selected from amongst the passengers, to see that the provisions were fairly and correctly apportioned, but more than once the captain ordered away the persons so appointed and grossly abused them. Most gross instances of dishonesty on the part of the officer serving out the stores were witnessed by several passengers who complained they received short weight (of their supplies). One of the passengers insisted on the scales being emptied and then tried one against the other, which was for a long while refused, but when done the cheat was instantly discovered. The report went on to mention that the Captain was very fond of throwing it in our faces "that we had paid such extravagant amount of passage money, that certainly we had a right to be waited on and to receive all kinds of luxuries." It is true that the steerage passengers paid only £15 each, but for this Messrs. Marshall and Edridge promised to supply them as well as the rest with good food, water, lights, fire and cooking, yet on every score they had serious grounds of complaint. On September 3rd some of the ship's stores were stolen, partly due to the dishonesty of some of the officers. The Captain declared that until someone owned up to the theft, their provisions would be stopped. The passengers went in a body to the quarter-deck and told the Captain that the officers were responsible, and reminded him that the Passengers Act required 22 weeks of stores to be put on board for the Australian voyage, and as they had been out only 16 weeks, there ought to be stores for 6 weeks still on board. Remonstrance’s having failed they threatened to institute legal proceedings against him on their arrival in Adelaide. This eventually brought the Captain to his senses. Besides these breaches of contract, we have to complain that our meat and puddings were always boiled in salt water, and sometimes the water used for tea was wholly or partially sea water. For days we were compelled to suffer thirst or drink water caught from the dirty poop during tropical showers, which stunk awfully of tar and the washings of the hen coops.

A steerage passenger (Mr Baldwinson) having requested the captain to notice the state of his berth (through various parts of which the water constantly dripped), he sarcastically remarked that "he (the passenger)" was very fortunate, as there would be no occasion for bringing water down there from the deck." To avoid the deck leakage, which also saturated the next berth, another passenger (Mr Farre) was obliged to sleep, during more than two months, with his knees cramped up upon a box only four feet long, his bed having become rotten from the leakage complained of, being thrown overboard, as well as those of two young men occupying the same cabin. On another occasion, for complaining of the shortness of our provisions, the first mate flung Mr Toller, the captain of the 13th mess, down on the deck, and swore he would put him in irons. After this rough usage, Mr Toller appealed to the captain, who taunted him with being "a sea lawyer," and by way of punishment ordered him to keep abaft the cook's galley during the remainder of the voyage. He also insultingly told him, when we had another appeal to make, to let it be made through a man, and not by the mouth of a boy. The foremost to complain was only regarded by the captain as a breeder of dissatisfaction, and the cause of all the existing ill feeling, and significantly reminded that he was not ashore, and that he had no higher authority to look to than the captain's. John Hartshorn, the passengers' cook (who is now in jail for insubordination) was almost always drunk and frequently offered to fight the passengers. He assaulted Mr Thomas Michelmore several times, and struck him in the face. At this time the first mate was standing behind the mainmast, and seeing the cook strike Mr Michelmore, without knowing the cause, called out to him, "Hit him again, hit him hard." The cook also threatened to stab Mr McQueen, and committed such indecencies towards that gentleman as it would not be delicate to mention in print. Besides the Captain's abusive and ungently manner, he exercised the greatest tyranny over the passengers, as though they had been hireling menials or slaves. He imposed work upon them from the time of quitting Plymouth, which work we had been informed by Messrs’ Marshall and Edridge we were only to superintend, but were not required to perform. Passengers were compelled to draw water out of the hold for all the passengers and crew. They also had to go into the hold to pump it up, often lying on their bellies. They were compelled to scrape, holystone, wash and keep clean the between decks, and other tasks. When there was any show of resistance the Captain and Mr Court (the first mate) enforced their commands, by ordering that no break- fast or dinner should be served out until the work was done, and on one morning the captain came down at half-past five a.m., and threatened to stop the medical comforts of the sick if the passengers did not at once turn out, and clear up the place. "To our mortification we were told, on reaching Port Adelaide, that the agents in London had paid two passengers (Child and Simmons) £5 each for doing the drudgery. " The ship's cook, John Hartshorn, assaulted both Mr Thomas Michelmore and Mr McQueen several times. Several passengers, including Mr Baldwinson and Mr Farre, complained of the water constantly saturating their berths. The Captain responded by offering to throw them overboard. He offered the same to Mr Rosser for no apparent reason. He also used indelicate remarks to the women, which they very properly resented.

The passenger’s major grievance was about the activities held on July 5th under the pretext of performing the 'Crossing the Line' ceremony. They had agreed to pay the crew 1s. each to be excused the 'entertainment', only to have this over-ruled by the Captain giving as his reason "that the crew liked to amuse themselves as well as the passengers". In the case of Mr Sloper (who was the first to complain of the putrid flesh at the commencement of the voyage, and recommended a general resistance), no money could avert the treatment to which he was subjected, and which nearly cost him his life, and for the perpetration of which they had the captain's licence. Mr Sloper was perched upon a pole, pinioned, and blindfolded. On opening his mouth to reply to questions put by Neptune's representative, it was filled with a disgusting compound of ordure, slush, tar, grease, &c, and on his refusing to answer further, a bottle was applied to his nostrils, into the cork of which three pins were inserted, which ran into his nose, producing excruciating pain, when his mouth was again filled with the filthy composition referred to. In this state of agony his sufferings were increased by the application of what is termed Neptune's best razor, specially prepared for the occasion, every stroke of the jagged edge of which inflicted painful wounds, two cuts in particular producing a deep mark extending from ear to ear; his face and chin were bleeding with the marks of the razor. But this was not all. He was then hurled backwards, still blindfolded, pinioned, and smothered with tar, into a sail filled with salt water, three feet deep, in which two executioners disguised as bears, and consequently not recognisable, submerged him, holding him, struggling, down for several moments, when all recollection left him; and when released, by order of the captain, he was more dead than alive. But the doctor was subjected to even worse treatment, although he vainly endeavoured to escape by offering an order on Adelaide for £5. The captain, all the while standing immediately opposite, encouraged the disgraceful proceedings, and evinced his delight by repeated bursts of laughter. Several other heartrending acts of cruelty were perpetrated on some of us, but space will not allow us to trouble you with their detail. One (Mr Murden) had a tuft of his whiskers pulled out, flesh and all, although be offered 1s to be released. Another poor fellow was treated most shame- fully, although he paid 2s 6d to escape, and many who struggled the hardest paid the most. This game lasted some time, till the spirits of some of the passengers got roused, when Mr George Wilcox, assisted by eight fellow-passengers, determined to make an end of it. They took possession of the 'tween decks, pulled down the gangway ladder, and, arming themselves with the legs of stools, pistols, and whatever came in their way, assumed a position of defence. This brought matters to a crisis, and the captain coming amongst us to enquire what was the matter, we told him we were determined not to submit to any such insult, and would resist even at the expense of our lives; but we were willing, notwithstanding, to give the sailors 1s each adult if they asked us civilly. The captain in vain urged submission on the ground of custom, and at length, growing pale and frightened, he ordered "the fun" to be stopped. We must not omit to state that the previous night much mischief was done to the females' health and wearing apparel by numerous bucketsful of water being poured from aloft by one of Neptune's mischievous sons. The fees extorted from the passengers by this disgraceful stratagem were enormous, and were subsequently spent in the purchase of spirits, wine, and beer from the captain at about twice the ordinary charges. Understandably the passengers were upset as they were given to understand that no beer or ale was put on board for sale.

It was only after the passengers returned to their quarters that they discovered that one of Neptune's mischievous sons had thrown bucketsful of water over much of the passengers’ wearing apparel. Mr John Higginbottom, the ship's surgeon (a very young man) was not only professionally incompetent, but was gross and indecent in his language, and seldom sober. His general conduct was such as led the captain to put him under arrest, to thrash him, to rope's-end him, and to lash him to the rigging. If fact the passengers felt the presence of Higginbottom so objectionable that they signed a round-robin to the Captain asking for him to be landed at Madiera, which the captain consented to do, on being indemnified for the incidental expenses. This they declined, on which Mr Chaplin, a cabin passenger, with a large family on board, demanded to be put on shore. The captain, however, held on his course. As exhibiting the result of this state of things on board, written orders for medical comforts, issued by the doctor, were burnt by the captain, and the captain's orders were stopped by the surgeon, to the imminent danger of the health and lives of the passengers and ship's company. The SA REGISTER reported concluded with

"Such is a slight description of the way in which the passengers were treated on board the ADEN in violation of specific contracts entered into with her owners Messrs’ Marshall and Edridge." A number of the passengers proceeded to Port Phillip in other vessels at their own expense. The passengers excluded Mr Larton, the second mate, from these complaints as his conduct was quite the reverse of those who were his senior officers.

Growing up I was taught the Church of England faith as religious instruction was compulsory in Australian schools at the time. Although this was originally my family's religion, it was abandoned for atheism during the Great Depression due to the corrupt practices of the church during a period when they should have been helping people. As a result, I was raised as an agnostic and encouraged to follow whatever religion I chose and I sometimes attended church or synagogues with school friends. Due to marrying a Catholic, I brought my children up in the Catholic faith. I myself can probably be called a liberal Jain.

I am naturally left-handed. During my early school years, this was discouraged by the teachers with Corporal punishment. My parents eventually stopped the authorities from using this practice after I required medical treatment due to a particularly severe punishment after being caught using my left hand to write with. As a result, I can write both left- and right-handed and play most sports with either hand, although I am still preferentially left-handed; I have, however, lost the ability to throw left-handed.

I love the colour black and usually dress in that colour. If I had been born 20 years later I would probably have been part of the Goth subculture although I'm probably also a hippie at heart. I attended the Meadows Festival in 1972 and the Sunbury Pop Festival in 1973. The cover of the Sunbury 73 record album is a photograph of the crowd taken from the stage and I can be seen just below the centre. This same photo, although taken in 1973, is also featured on the cover of the DVD for the 1972 event.

I have been a single parent with full custody of my two boys since the 1990s. My eldest son left home when he married in 2006 while my youngest left after buying his own home in 2008.

Achievements such as they are

In 1975 I was tested by MENSA and scored in the 97th percentile. I did not finish the test which I attribute to dozing off as it was conducted very late at night a considerable drive from my home LMAO. Too bad you can only apply once. I had previously scored 135 on the Stanford-Binet and 156 on the Cattell.

6 years experience with fireproof building materials (my father owned the manufacturing company) where i took an interest in heritage architecture as during this period many government Victorian era buildings were having fire proof walls and floors installed. I became experienced with restoration of Italianate architecture and worked on many government buildings such as Old Parliament House. Later a further 21 years experience in the fire protection industry as a supervisor, instructor, technician, consultant and troubleshooter for a company with an 11 figure turnover. Until I retired I held top secret security clearance (access only) for both U.S. and Australian military research and defence facilities (the stories I could tell but then I'd have to kill you) and was a member of the National Fire Protection Association.

In the late 90s as a result of new laws requiring the replacement of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), I designed and built the first Halon reclamation system with a recovery efficiency rate of 100%. The unit is now used in several Australian states and also America. The company I worked for received an award for innovative engineering for the design.

I have certification for teaching, rescue, entry and supervisory work in the permit required confined space industry. I am licensed in OHS and give lectures to companies. I am licenced to handle radioactives used in industry.

My hobbies

• In 1965 I joined the St. John Ambulance service. I left in 1976.
• In 1989 I joined the local fire brigade as a volunteer fireman. I left in 2001 after suffering a severe articular fracture while playing baseball. As a result, I lost 50% of the movement range of my wrist and thumb. During my time with the brigade I completed all firefighting level certificates and was certified for SCBA.

Retired from full time work in 2004.

• Currently a volunteer tutor of university students in most subjects. I also proof read and correct student papers.
• I like to research world history and religions.
• An avid reader of world newspapers and current events.
• I have written an article that has been published in a peer reviewed historical magazine.
• I have been credited as co-author on several academic papers on Indigenous subjects.

Strange but Interesting Facts

According to the Global Rich List...I am the 885,077,013th richest person on earth by income.

I was born with blue eyes and blond hair. From around the age of six, my eyes changed to Hazel while my hair went dark brown. If I drink enough alcohol my eyes turn blue for a short period of time. I'm almost teetotal but do drink once or twice a year and everyone knows when I do lol.

The greatest influence in my life is without doubt Julius Sumner Miller and the concept of the Fair Witness. I try to model myself on both.

Before my voice broke I sang in a choir and gave public performances. Since it broke I can't sing worth a damn :-)

Throughout school I always wanted to be an Egyptologist. I spent most weekends in the museum teaching myself to read and write hieroglyphics which, along with the Latin and French I learned in high school I have long since forgotten. I am however still able to speak some German, probably because I had more German friends than ancient Roman or Egyptian.

In the early 1970s I designed and built the fluted Archivolt entrance archways for the Elder Conservatorium at the Adelaide University. The original arches had deteriorated beyond repair with the subsequent loss of the original fluting. In 1979, Adelaide's original Parliament House built in 1854, was restored and converted to become the Adelaide Constitutional Museum (opened 1980, later closed and returned to office use). Most of the original Ceiling rose's, Rosettes, Architraves and Moldings were beyond repair so I had to replicate the originals. Instead of using the traditional materials I developed a new process using foundry sand, plaster, Sisal fibre and white cement which is expected to be much longer lasting. My name will be forgotten but my work will last for hundreds of years.

While speaking to Prince Philip I accidentally called him "Phil" (he smiled).

I have written letters regarding politics or the Iraq War to the newspaper for many years and to date all but one have been published.

I sometimes write online historical articles on various websites. I recently found myself used as a source in a Wikipedia article.

I used a firearm for the first time in 1977. In 1980 I ranked fourth in the state in an Olympic Trap shooting competition. I gave up shooting in 1981 and have not handled a weapon since.

In the mid 1990s my employer paid for me to take the full Myers-Briggs typing system personality test. I can only say that I am a textbook example of an INTP.

I don't like cliff hangers in TV series. When a new movie is released, I usually come to Wikipedia to read the article first to see how it ends before going to see it. I also prefer to know who won a game and what the score was before watching a match on TV. I just cant understand what why some people have problems with spoilers.