Early Life and Voyage To Australia
Francis Ormond was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the only son of three children to British Merchant Navy sailor, Captain Francis Ormond Sr., and Isabella (née Esson). He was educated at the Tyzack's Academy in Liverpool, England, after his father moved his family to the major shipping city to further his career, circa 1835.
Ormond's father adopted an early interest in Britain's southern colonies, which came from stories he heard of the expedition of Hume and Hovel and of Australia Felix. In command of the merchant vessel John Bull, Captain Ormond was the first to transport British settlers to the newly founded settlement of Melbourne – in the south-east of the Colony of New South Wales – arriving in the bay of Port Phillip in 1840. Upon his first landing in Melbourne, he was so impressed by the pastoralism opportunities the settlement presented, he began plans to move his family to the colony. He purchased the barque Tuscan the following year, and set sail with his family for the fledgling Port Phillip District.
When the Ormonds arrived in Melbourne in 1842, they found the district in the midst of a trade crisis. The crisis was caused by dissent some other districts of New South Wales held for the Port Phillip District – which had attempted to become an independent colony in 1840 – and many novice pastoralists neglecting their interests, and spending most of their time in the burgeoning settlement of Melbourne. This had led to a considerable depreciation in the pastoralism industry, with sheep once costing 35 shillings (≈ A$200 today) being sold for 18 pence (≈ A$10 today), and sometimes less.
Discouraged by the economic state of the Port Phillip District, the Ormonds then sailed to the Colony of New Zealand, after hearing positive reports about the islands. However, there they were met with heightened tension between British settlers and the indigenous Māori tribes. His father unsure of what to do, Ormond accompanied him to meet with a former passenger of the John Bull who counselled them and suggested they return to the Port Phillip District.
Read more about this topic: Francis Ormond
Famous quotes containing the words early, life, voyage and/or australia:
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. It is not the part of men, but of fanatics, or of mathematicians, if you will, to say, that, the shortness of life considered, it is not worth caring whether for so short a duration we were sprawling in want, or sitting high. Since our office is with moments, let us husband them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I dare say I am compelled, unconsciously compelled, now to write volume after volume, as in past years I was compelled to go to sea, voyage after voyage. Leaves must follow upon each other as leagues used to follow in the days gone by, on and on to the appointed end, which, being Truth itself, is One—one for all men and for all occupations.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)