Vincent Broomhall and 12 years old and his brother William aged 14 years old were made orphans in the Hibernia shipwreck tragedy of 1833 in which his father John, a cabinet masker, his mother and four siblings died. The correct spelling of their surname is Broomhall, the family name which was recorded in the Board of Emigration lists to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

Of the 232 people on board only 80 people survived when the Hibernia caught fire in mid - Atlantic en route to Australia and only 12 children under 18 years old survived from the 50 who had originally sailed from Liverpool.

The survivors endured six days of depravations at sea in makeshift lifeboats having attempted to sail to the Esadtern coast of Brazil over 1000 miles away. Amazingly they had accurately covered over 600 miles when the survivors were rescued by two passing ships, the Isabella and the Lotus, a convict ship bound for Australia.

They were taken to Rio de Janeiro before they journeyed on to Hobart, Tasmania.

Vincent was one of a cohort of seven children from the Hibernia placed in the Orphan school in 1833, the others being Edward Hudson 2671; the Campbell children Eliza 755, James 756, Mary Ann 757 and Thomas 758.

Sarah Bushton 707 may also be a Hibernia placement but perhaps her Christian name was incorrectly recorded as she was actually called Ann, and the Hobart Relief Committee also incorrectly referred to her as being called Nancy.

It is not known what happened to the two brothers when they were discharged from the Orphan School, and no subsequent references have been found for them in the Tasmanian newspapers or researched in family history websites.

The author is not related to the Broomhill brothers but he is the g.g. grandson of the Hibernia survivor Thomas Graham and his step son Edward Hudson 2671.

Keith Graham