Part 2 ... From Crime to Destitution

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Birth records indicate that John and Jane were living in Adelaide in 1850. There are no shipping records to indicate they sailed to Adelaide so they may have travelled overland or via the Murray River. Unfortunately John and Jane registered the births of only two of their six children. Their fourth child, Lavinia, born 24 March 1850,was the first to be registered. At this point the family was living in Howden Street, Adelaide. The informant, a James Andrews who was a butcher living on the same street, recorded Jane's maiden name as Bonster on the birth certificate. He signed his name with a cross. The third child was a son, Benjamin Thomas Bonster Lancaster, my g-g-grandfather. His birth was not registered but he appears to have been born in 1847. His death certificate lists his place of birth as Adelaide, but this may only have been assumed. The fifth child was a son, John, born about 1855, not registered and the last child was Alice, born 2 September 1856 at Adelaide. Alice's birth was registered. In spite of a thorough search I have not found any record of baptism for any of the four children born (or assumed born) in Adelaide, nor in Port Augusta where they eventually settled. There is no evidence that any of the children were educated as they are not listed in any records for schools in Adelaide and there were no schools in Port Augusta. Destitute records do not record their presence in the Adelaide Destitute Asylum while in Adelaide and none of the children appeared on the orphans or fostered lists. So it is assumed that the family was in Adelaide in 1850 and John had enough work to support the family with no assistance. John's name next appears in Port Augusta in 1866, although he could have moved there well before that date. John and his family are not listed on any shipping records to Port Augusta so they must have gone overland or John may have worked his way up. At one point there would have been employment available in this newly growing town, particularly labouring jobs. At some stage John worked as a quarryman. Records indicate this would have been Saltia Creek, which is approximately half way between Port Augusta and Quorn. There was a drought and recession in Port Augusta in the 1860s and the town board set up a rock/stone breaking works to provide minimal income for unemployed men. This quarry was in the area now known as Saltia Creek, approximately half way between Port Augusta and Quorn. The work was described as "backbreaking", cracking ironstone, probably to be used for road works. This work provided a wage of about one pound per week, which was about two thirds of the equivalent labourers wage. It must have been extremely difficult supporting a family on this income. A report to the Destitute board around this time gives an indication of the difficulties faced by Port Augusta residents. My eldest boy helps me to break stones. Can't afford to send my children to school at one pound, six shillings per week...we live in a government tent. I believe John Lancaster worked at this quarry as he was injured in an accident described as occurring at a quarry and he was paralysed. On 7 May 1866 John was sent to Adelaide hospital and returned to Port Augusta as "being a case incurable" on 21 May1866. How were John and a family of six children to survive?Fortunately the humane policies of the Colonization Commissioners led the Government into the novel responsibility of caring for the sick and destitute. Regardless of Government works there was still visible suffering in Port Augusta in 1866. No one who has not witnessed it can have any proper conception of the amount of poverty and actual destitution which prevails among (those) who have been thrown out of employment. Several cases have been temporarily relieved by the charitable organizations of some of the residents in Port Augusta, but the distress has become so widespread that it is absolutely necessary that the Government or the authorities at the Destitute Board should authorize some person here to grant relief to persons who are absolutely in want. ......some of the inhabitants have got up a memorial (asking the Government) to grant such relief as may be required. In order in the meantime to provide for the urgency of the case they have each contributed a sum weekly.... Until something is done by the proper authorities to relieve the destitution now prevailing. The committee who have to administer the relief fund have ascertained that at Port Augusta alone there are seventeen families comprising nearly one hundred people who are destitute of the necessities of life. John Lancaster was to receive destitute funds for the remainder of his life. In fact, he was the first person to receive these funds in Port Augusta and even received destitute funds before the board was formed. The destitute records state... The recipient John Lancaster received monthly rations in May and June previous to the formation of the Board. Suffering from paralysis. Recommended by ...Cotter, The Medical Officer being absent. On 3 September 1866 John was ordered to obtain a medical certificate. It stated.... I hereby certify that I have examined John Lancaster of Port Augusta and find him afflicted with paralysis, and unable to work Signed by Saul.K.Ellison, Medical Officer, 1866. The same destitute record states that Adelaide Hospital found John Lancaster to be a "case incurable". John Lancaster was the most long-standing recipient of destitute funds on Port Augusta records, having received a total of 69 pounds, 10 shillings and eight pence over six years. On one of his reviews on the 18 May 1868, John was described as a "Chronic Case" . On John's initial application for relief funds on 18 June 1866, there was a statement that his two male children, aged 11 years and 18 years, had left home and were earning their own living. This would refer to John (Junior) and Benjamin. Two female children were still living at home, Lavinia aged 16 years and Alice aged 9 years. The second child Jane was married by then. On 16 December 1867, Benjamin Lancaster appears on the Destitute list at Port Augusta. He was suffering from rheumatism and was unable to work. He was described as single, aged 19 years and a labourer. The application was described as personal (which means Benjamin applied himself and was not referred by someone else) and Benjamin received rations for two weeks. There was one very strange statement on the application, which does not fit my research. In the space for "what ship and when". Benjamin wrote that he came out on the "Dorset" in 1849. Was this not John Lancaster's son then? Was there another Benjamin Lancaster of exactly the same age, living in the same small town who was likely to be destitute at this time?A ship named the "Dorset" sailed from England in 1839, a full ten years too early for our Ben, as he wasn't even born then. There was also an Australian coastal ship "Dorset" but it appears to have ceased sailing in 1850. Just in case Ben was not sure about his age, I searched all passenger lists for the "Dorset" for many years at a variety of ports, including Port Augusta, but there was no mention of Benjamin Lancaster or any other Lancaster. So why did Benjamin say this? Was he confused about his origins? That is possible. His birth is not registered so we cannot be exactly certain where he was born or when. He was probably illiterate and may have even been confused about numbers, although a ten-year discrepancy appears a bit much. Also John and Jane may well have been trying to hide John's convict past and may not have told Ben the truth. The other possibility is that Ben deliberately lied to cover up his father's convict past, as John was still alive. Also, if Jane was Aboriginal it would have been convenient to avoid suspicion of being Aboriginal, as they were not allowed to receive destitution rations. I suspect the latter theory. Whatever the truth, I am sure that this was our Ben. Benjamin's sister, Lavinia, also temporarily received destitute funds. She applied for rations and received one week's worth on 16 March 1871. At this time Lavinia was married with a son aged two and a half years and a daughter aged six months. Her husband was away looking for work. So through this drought stricken period of Port Augusta's settlement, John Lancaster was permanently paralysed and destitute. Two of his adult children also had brief periods of destitution and it appears that his son John left home at a very young age to find work. After being transported half way around the world, leaving behind a wife and young son, travelling from Bathurst to Melbourne, to New Zealand, then Adelaide and finally Port Augusta, John Lancaster became chronically disabled, reliant on charity funds to survive, and finally died on 6 November 1872. He was sixty years of age and still receiving Destitute funds at the time of death. John's gravesite cannot be found as early burials were at Braddock Park, which is now an oval and cemetery records for that site were destroyed when the Port Augusta Town Hall burnt down. What then became of John Lancaster's family? The records for the Destitute Board ended in the year John Lancaster died, so I could not find what happened to his wife, Jane. Perhaps her adult children looked after her, most likely Lavinia. Jane died on 23 October 1888 of cancer at the age of 71 years. She is buried at Port Augusta cemetery in a shared cemetery plot with a pauper who died two years earlier and late