This is my family. William was the eldest son of John and Mary Fairhall of
Brede, Sussex. His wife Ann, was a daughter of John and Mary Huntley of Robertsbridge, Sussex. They left England from the port of Gravesend on board the 'Maitland', on 24 June 1838. Both William and Ann were illiterate,so in the Maitland's records their surname was recorded by the shipping clerk and the surgeon as 'Fairall', which was probably as it was spoken. However, some time after they arrived in Australia they adopted the spelling we use today.
With them were their children Thomas, Samuel, Sophy, Charlotte, William, Benjamin and James. An unnamed child was born during the voyage on 21 August 1838, but lived only 10 days. Their first child Mary (born c.1815) remained behind in Sussex, and came to Australia on the "Barhampooter" in 1841, then married William McKnight the following year. William and Anne's son David was born two years after they arrived in Australia.
The arrival of William Fairhall and his family in 1838 has been recorded on the Welcome Wall outside the Australian National Maritime Museum, in Darling Harbour, Sydney, and was unveiled as a part of the original lists on 25 Jan. 1999 by the Governor-General, Sir William Deane. Click on the ANMM logo (above) to view the Welcome Wall web page, and from there you can explore a Virtual Welcome Wall to find our Fairhall listing or other names.
If visiting the Museum, look up the family on the Genealogy Computer terminal and find our inscription on the Welcome Wall in Panel #1, Column #2 at Line #101.
John Fairhall was the son of Thomas and his wife Mary Ann (nee Apted), of London, England. He arrived in Port Phillip, Victoria, on board the 'Marco Polo' on 20 December 1856. He married Ellen Maria Upham at Brunswick, and was a school teacher in several locations throughout Victoria. So far, just nearly 300 descendants have been recorded.
William was born around 1812, reportedly in Sussex (England), and in 1854 married an Irish lass Matilda BALL (then aged 31). To date, we have not been able to identify this William Fairhall's ancestry.
According to Victorian records they had just one child, William, in 1855 at Horsham (Victoria), who achieved success as a photographer in Waratah, Tasmania, but the story from there is, as yet, undiscovered.
William, (age 49) son of Edward and Grace (nee Offin) of Icklesham, Sussex, and his wife Anna/Hannah (age 46) daughter of William Weller of Icklesham, left Gravesend on 20 October 1838 on board the Juliana. They were accompanied by their children William (with his wife Charlotte, nee Lavender), John, Anne, George, Grace, Valentine, Edward and Ellen.
The Juliana was shipwrecked near Capetown, and the surviving passengers (including William's family) arrived in Australia on 20 May 1839 on board the Morayshire.
This family retained their surname as recorded by the shipping clerk, and have been the base of the major Fairall family name in Australia, settling initially in the southern highlands of New South Wales.
Their history is being traced by several local researchers, and around 4000 descendants have so far been recorded.
John (age 45),was recorded as the son of William of Brede, Sussex. His wife Philadelphia, (age 39), was a daughter of William Masters of Icklesham, Sussex.
Harriet (13) and Philadelphia (9) accompanied them on the Prince Regent, which arrived in Sydney on 20 March 1839. Both girls were Philadelphia's daughters by her previous husband Robert Chester, although they were listed in the ship's records with the surname Fairall.
Harriet married William Radford in Sydney in 1842 (their son Robert died as an infant).
Philadelphia (Phillis) married Thomas Boucher in Sydney (their son Thomas died as an infant) and then she married Henry Watton.
As yet, nothing more has been discovered about this family, including records of their deaths. It appears there were no further descendants, but we welcome further information.
Edward (a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Fairhall of Brede, Sussex) and his wife Ann (nee Bishop) migrated to New Zealand on board the Mary Ann which departed from Deal on 24 September
1841 and arrived in Nelson on 5 February 1842. With them they brought their 8 children, and there are almost 400 members of this family documented so far.
Edward was baptised in the East Sussex village of Brede, as were all of their children, so this family may possibly be related to our William and Ann Fairhall.
William Fairhall migrated on board the Harpley to Australia from Sussex, having been born in the Crawley/Cowfold area. He married Susannah Trotman in 1851 in Melbourne. Two children were born in Victoria, and then the family migrated to New Zealand, where William and Susannah had 11 more children.
William and Susannah's 1600 immediate descendants generally remained along the west coast of New Zealand, especially around Greymouth.
Research into this family is well advanced, and I am in regular contact with family members and other researchers.
Henry Fairhall, who was born in 1829 in the Sussex village of Beckley, travelled to North America around the time (c.1855) of his marriage to Caroline Gumb. It has not been possible, as yet, to identify the ship he/they journeyed on to North America, or where they disembarked. However, they settled in Ontario, Canada.
Many of the names recorded for Henry's family are very similar to those in our family, and with recorded events in Brede, Mountfield and nearby villages it seems very likely that his Great-great-grandfather, Thomas, is directly related to our ancestors.
I am in contact with members of this family, and we have so far documented nearly 1200 descendants of Henry and Caroline.
An Extract from Tom Fairhall's notes (1981)