Ann Bunt, Free Settler "Juliana" "Morayshire" 1839

Eighteen-year-old Ann migrated with her family as Bounty Immigrants (Government assisted) on the 'Julianna' and arrived in Sydney on the ship 'Morayshire' on the 20th of May 1839. Her two elder married sisters (Rebecca and Mary) remained in England. Ann and the rest of her family, her father and mother William and Hannah, and brothers and sisters, John (25 years) George (13 years) Grace (10 years), Valentine aged 8, Edward aged 5 and Ellen aged 2 years sailed with her.

The voyage was a challenge to say the least; the Fairall family had originally set sail from Gravesend England on the 'Julianna' on the 20th of October 1838. On board were 244 men, women and children. At Green's Point, Table Bay, off the Cape of Good Hope on the 19th of January 1839 the 'Julianna' was wrecked. Thirteen children and nine adults lost their lives, all the Fairall's survived.

The Fairall family continued their voyage aboard the sailing ship 'Morayshire' on the 29th of March 1839 landing in Sydney on the 20th of May 1839. Ten families remained at the Cape of Good Hope afraid to continue their journey.

Ann had a relationship with Henry Philpot, a convict stone cutter of Sydney, resulting in the birth of her daughter Sarah, who was baptised in May 1840 at All Saints Church of England, Sutton Forest, NSW, Australia.

Her family settled in the Sutton Forest area where Ann married John Bunt and lived the remainder of her life.

It is not known how Ann and their 12 children managed to survive after John's death or where exactly in Sutton Forest they were living. In 1867 Ann was listed in the Post Office Directory as being a needle woman at Sutton Forest. It is believed she shared a small cottage on the comer of the property with her son Charles. After Charles built another house for his own family Ann continued in the cottage.

Ann also helped to rear a number of her grandchildren, particularly the children of her first daughter, Sarah who died at the age of 31. Ann lived to see most of her grandchildren, which numbered more than 100 born.

Ann is buried with John at All Saints Church of England Cemetery, Berrima, Australia. Their headstones no longer exist.

Ann, the times she lived in: At first sight there does not seem to be much to - an intersection on the Illawarra Highway between the Freeway and Moss Vale. Today few people live in Sutton Forest (although that is changing quickly in 2005 with new urban development) there are only a few houses, now off the main road; the rest live on properties which spread out towards Moss Vale, Berrima, and Exeter. However, the name is famous and the entire area between the Bong Bong River (a few kilometres north of Moss Vale) and Paddy's Creek (about ten minutes' drive toward and along the freeway south) was once called Sutton Forest.

The beautiful rolling green hills and trees seen today are not part of the original Sutton Forest. They are the result of land clearing and pasture improvement over a hundred years, and the plantings by former residents wishing to recreate the idyllic landscape of England. Like other parts of the Highlands, the pines, poplars, elms, and other European trees provide a modern panorama, as do the magnificent gardens surrounding many of the old homesteads.

Hundreds of convicts laboured in road gangs to build the South Road which passed by there, and many were indentured to settlers to clear land and act as domestic servants.

Considerable grants of land were given to early settlers in the Sutton Forest area, some of whom built substantial Georgian and Victorian homes. Sutton Forest has a significant place in early Australian history. First settled in the 1820's it was then on the very outer limits of the colony.

There are four 'Sutton Forests'. The first is the area described above - from the Throsby estate at Bong Bong, south west to Paddy's River. It was also referred to as "Argyle"! The second Sutton Forest was a government village surveyed about a kilometre east of the present village centre in 1854, it did not come to anything.

The third Sutton Forest grew up as a private village in the 1830's near land made available for a cemetery (1828) on the banks of the Medway Rivulet by one of the early settlers. A wooden chapel was erected nearby, the only one south of Camden. Later an Anglican school, at least three inns, a store, and a few houses followed, only the remains of this village can be seen today on entering Sutton Forest from Moss Vale. In front of the hotel at Sutton Forest is a memorial to the first explorer in the region (1798) - the convict John Wilson and his party - who had been sent inland by Governor Hunter to prove to the convict population of Sydney that they could not escape over the mountains to China and freedom!

Karen Rhonda Jurd nee Bussey

John Jurd, b.1941

The “Juliana” left Gravesend on 26/10/1838 with 241 passengers enroute to Australia and was wrecked off Cape Hope on 19/1/1839 with no loss of life. The passengers continued on either the “Morayshire” (108 - arrived 20/4/1839) or the “Mary Hay” (69 - arrived 19/5/1839)

• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 17 2022, 19:03:43 UTC