| In December 1838, TLM-P travelled to [[wp>Gravesend|Gravesend]], at the mouth of the Thames River, and boarded the //Roxburgh Castle// to sail from England to Australia. He had turned 19 only a month previously and, not unusually, the trip involved a lethal outbreak of disease and a near shipwreck. It took five months to arrive in New South Wales, a penal colony where the land was being brutally wrested from its Aboriginal inhabitants. TLM-P had limited money; no family in the colony; and knew no-one other than an 'old friend', Dr Charles Scott, his cabin-mate on board ship.((TLM-P, Draft memoirs of a voyage from London to Sydney on the 'Roxburgh Castle' [c.1879], MLMSS6576 (copied from Praed papers, Oxley Library.)) What motivated him to take such a dangerous journey? Why would any parents risk their son in a venture that meant they may never see him again? How did he survive, and thrive, largely on his own at such a young age? This family history helps answer these questions. In doing so, it records fascinating characters and great stories, and provides an intriguing window on the past. We try to give as much context as is needed to understand the family history, but equally hope that family members help us understand the past. TLM-P is its focus point as he was the founder of the largest (but not the only) branch of the Murray-Prior family in Australia.\\ | In December 1838, TLM-P travelled to [[wp>Gravesend|Gravesend]], at the mouth of the Thames River, and boarded the //Roxburgh Castle// to sail from England to Australia. He had turned 19 only a month previously and, not unusually, the trip involved a lethal outbreak of disease and a near shipwreck. It took five months to arrive in New South Wales, a penal colony where the land was being brutally wrested from its Aboriginal inhabitants. TLM-P had limited money; no family in the colony; and knew no-one other than an 'old friend', Dr Charles Scott, his cabin-mate on board ship.((TLM-P, Draft memoirs of a voyage from London to Sydney on the 'Roxburgh Castle' [c.1879], MLMSS6576 (copied from Praed papers, Oxley Library.)) What motivated him to take such a dangerous journey? Why would any parents risk their son in a venture that meant they may never see him again? How did he survive, and thrive, largely on his own at such a young age? This family history helps answer these questions. In doing so, it records fascinating characters and great stories, and provides an intriguing window on the past. We try to give as much context as is needed to understand the family history, but equally hope that these individual lives help us understand the past. TLM-P is its focus point as he was the founder of the largest (but not the only) branch of the Murray-Prior family in Australia.\\ |