Eliza(beth) Maud Field (Orphan 1815)
Born 1828 Launceston, Died 17 July 1911, Wilcannia, NSW
Parents:
Catherine (Kitty) Rowen (Rowan)
Born about 1794 Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Buried 9 September 1836
Norfolk Plains, Tasmania
Ship: Princess Charlotte 7 June 1820 arrival Port Dalrymple
Francisco (Francis, Frank) Field
Baptised 3 November 1797 Birmingham, England; Died 14 May 1837 Norfolk
Plains, Tasmania
Ship: Elizabeth Henrietta 13 February 1819 arrival Port Dalrymple
Discharged to Dr. John Learmonth
Ancestry Profile of Eliza
https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/14740108/person/302020877033/facts
Eliza and her siblings Catherine, Maria and Thomas entered the Orphan
School in 1837 after their Norfolk Plains former convict parents died. The
children were destitute as their father had been a poor provider and was
constantly in trouble with the law. Like the other orphans, their adult
fate was heavily determined by who they were discharged to. In an
incredible stroke of luck, Eliza was to have a safe and happy placement to
a prominent family, the Learmonths of Victoria's Western District.
Prior to entering the Orphan School, Eliza had been part of a largish
family. Her parents Frank and Kitty Field had two boys and five girls
(including twin girls). Her father Frank's character was summed up by the
magistrate who appointed him as a special constable in Launceston in
February 1828. The Police Magistrate said that Frank could "only be
employed on the maxim that an old smuggler makes the best revenue officer".
[1]
Frank was dismissed in June 1828 as he had been convicted of illegally
retailing wine. His wife Kitty did stay with him despite these ups and
downs. At least this gave some stability to the children of the marriage
in their very early years prior to admission to the Orphan School.
After being in the care of the Orphan School for nearly 4 and a half years, Eliza
Field, aged 13, was discharged to Dr. John Learmonth in 1841.
[2]
The Learmonth family were well known in the medical field in Scotland and
they also made their mark in Australia particularly in Victoria's Western
District.
[3]
In 1845 at age 17, Eliza was taken by Dr. John Learmonth and his young
family back to England and Scotland before returning to the Western
District in 1848 and later marrying with Learmonth support.
[4]
The stability of Kitty and Frank's parenting, housing of the Orphan School
and stewardship of employer Dr. John Learmonth set Eliza up well for
married life.
In 1849, Eliza was married at age 21 at a Learmonth property in Moorabool,
Western District and her witnesses were Learmonth women. They were clearly
protective and fond of Eliza.
Eliza's wonderful placement with the Learmonth family was unlikely to be
happenstance as there was a connection between the Orphan School and the
Learmonth family. In January 1837 Mr Thomas Learmonth (presumably Senior)
was appointed to a committee to enquire into the operations of the Orphan
School at Hobart just prior to the Field children entering the institution.
[5]
The Learmonths continued to support the Orphan School in both their
official (committee member) capacity and also by taking in discharged
residents.
Eliza's sister Maria also was discharged to the medical fraternity this
time in Geelong.
[6]
Quite probably this was a result of the Learmonth medical connection and
their ongoing support of the Orphan School.
Eliza and her new husband Henry Duncan moved to Geelong, then the Victorian
Goldfields in 1856 followed by a move in the late 1870s to Wilcannia, New
South Wales. They went from the lure of gold to riding on the sheep's
back in Western New South Wales. Eliza and Henry became the parents of 9
children (4 girls and 5 boys).
Henry Duncan died in Wilcannia in 1879 and Eliza remarried to an Alfred
Henry Powell, confusingly also known also as 'Henry'.
Eliza died in 1911 in Wilcannia aged 83 having grown up in poverty on the
Norfolk Plains, entering the Orphan School at age 9, being discharged 4 ½
years later to a kind family in the Western District of Victoria, then
taken by them to England and Scotland for 3 years in her late teens, to
marrying at 21 and living in Geelong, Victoria, moving to the Goldfields
and finishing her journey in Wilcannia, Western New South Wales. Eliza
lived a varied life with some incredible changes of fortune but overall,
she succeeded from a very challenging start in life.
Figure 1.
[7]
Figure
2.[8]
Bibliography
Ancestry.com,
https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/tree/14740108/family?cfpid=191253590
, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922.
Australia Death Index, 1787-1985.
Assignment Lists and associated papers, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage
Office.
Conduct Registers of Female Convicts arriving in the Period of the
Assignment System, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Assignment
System, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
Convict Indent, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
Convict Records, 'Janus Voyages to Australia',
https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/janus, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts, 'R. v.
McBean [1837]',
https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/tas/TASSupC/1837/15.html
, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts, 'R v Mckay
and Lamb [1837],
https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSupC/1837/83.html?context=1;query=McKay%20and%20Lamb;mask_path=
, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Digital Panopticon, 'Catherine Rowen VDL Founders and Survivors Convict
Biographies', https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/life?id=fsbccc97118.,
Version 1.1, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Duncan family, Photograph, c.1890s Wilcannia, New South Wales, original
held by Fran Ferris, Sydney, New South Wales.
Female Convicts Research Centre Inc., 'Permission to Marry',
https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/administration/ptom, Accessed 4 August
2023.
Friends of the Orphan Schools, 'Search',
https://www.orphanschool.org.au/listorphans.php, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Marriage Record, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, RGD 36/1/1/ no 694.
'New South Wales Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788 - 1856',
Ancestry.com, Accessed 4 August 2023.
'New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842', Ancestry.com,
Accessed 4 August 2023.
'New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records,
1790-1849', Ancestry.com, Accessed 4 August 2023.
Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923.
Victoria, Australia, Marriage Index, 1837-1950.
[1]
CSO 1/248/5987; CSO 1/287/6845
[4]
Immigration record for Elizabeth Field, aged 19, Victoria,
Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923,
Ancestry.com, Accessed 4 August 2023; Marriage certificate for
Elizabeth Field and Henry Duncan, married 28 February 1849,
registered 2133/1849, Victoria.
[5]
Tasmanian, Friday 27 January 1837, p. 7.;
The Hobart Town Courier
, Friday 27 January 1837, p. 2.
[6]
. Friends of the Orphan Schools, 'Search',
https://www.orphanschool.org.au/listorphans.php, Accessed 4 August
2023.
[7]
[7] Photograph of elderly Eliza Field, daughter of Kitty Rowen and
Frank Field, c. 1890s Wilcannia, New South Wales supplied by Fran
Ferris, Sydney, New South Wales. The photo erroneously labels
elderly Eliza and Henry as the parents of Ada. Ada's father was in
fact Eliza's first husband (deceased by the time this photograph
was taken) also confusingly known as Henry, thus Eliza Field had
two husbands known as Henry. This is the only photo of one of
Kitty Rowen's children that has been located.
[8]
Plaque on Memorial Wall Wilcannia Cemetery, New South Wales, for
Eliza Field.