William and Elizabeth Welsh ’s children were christened in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Pittenweem. William (English Bill) Welsh was a well known ploughman in the area. He was poor, as were many of the local agricultural labourers.

“May 22 1852 – Emigration from the East Coast: We stated some weeks ago that upwards of 30 of the people in this neighbourhood were preparing to emigrate, but since that time the number has augmented to 100 at least. Some of them are going to America but the greater proportion is bound for Australia. William Welch (sic), who lately lived at Pathhead, on the Pittenweem Braes, with wife and 6 children, are for Australia.”

Before the journey they made sure that the eldest children were christened. The family went to Liverpool and embarked on the “Wanata”.

James Baines had founded the Black Ball Line of Australian packets in 1851 and had a contract to deliver mail to Australia. They were “first class clipper ships sailing twice a month from England”. The vessels were deemed “comfortable with well ventilated quarters for steerage passengers, state rooms for cabin passengers, smoking rooms, decorated saloons and were strongly rigged.”

In September 1852 the Wanata arrived in Port Phillip Bay and anchored off Gellibrand Point (near Williamstown) with seven hundred and ninety six government emigrants aboard. William and Elizabeth Welsh and their children were included in that number.

The passenger list had been completed on 9th June stating that the ship could legally carry six hundred and sixty four adult steerage passengers. She had left Liverpool the next day with eight hundred and twenty emigrants. Luggage was restricted onboard, as was water and food. The daily diet was made up of biscuits, preserved meat and fruit, coffee, tea and sugar. Passengers had to live by the captain’s rules: out of bed at 7am, and back in bed by 10pm. Every day they were required to roll up their beds, sweep the decks (including the space under the bottom of the berths), and throw the dirt overboard. On Sundays, passengers were to appear in clean and decent apparel (not always an easy task given they couldn’t do any washing thanks to water restrictions). “Gambling, fighting, riotous or quarrelsome behaviour, swearing and violent language” were not tolerated on any day. It had not been an easy journey as the ship had taken the Great Circle Route south of the Cape of Good Hope into the cold Southern Ocean and had attempted to “thread the eye of the needle” to pass through the narrow entrance into Bass Straight and on to Melbourne. Thirty three children died during the voyage and six adults also died (one from apoplexy, one from consumption and four from typhoid fever). Fifteen babies, born during the voyage, survived long enough to arrive in Port Phillip Bay. Dr Thompson was the superintending surgeon on the ship, and Dr Dobbin was his assistant.

Dr Hunt, the Health Officer of the port, visited the ship and ordered her to quarantine offshore between Brighton and St Kilda. The schooner Apollo was stationed nearby as a guard ship to prevent passengers from escaping from the Wanata until the quarantine restrictions were lifted by the authorities. It was proposed to release the ship from quarantine after a week had passed but, on September 23rd, a new case of fever was reported. All the sick passengers were then transferred to the schooner Fanny, which lay nearby, and this ship was then also placed in quarantine.

On October 4th the Wanata was allowed to leave the quarantine area and join the other ships in the bay and arrangements were made for the migrants to disembark.
After 118 hard days at sea, reaching dry land at Melbourne was hardly the paradise many had been waiting for.

“The migrants who had travelled so eagerly to the other side of the world were rarely prepared for the frontier society they found at the end of their journey ... the township of Melbourne whose streets were a far cry from the leafy avenues and promenades of London, Liverpool or Dublin.”

There was much criticism in the newspapers regarding the overcrowding permitted on the Wanata although she was a large ship of 1442 tons under the command of Captain John Lee. By 1st November 1862 the number of steerage passengers permitted was reduced by sixteen per cent to five hundred and fifty seven; a reduction of one hundred and seven passengers.