By Pamela See

175 years ago, the Duke of Roxburghe was chartered to deliver Chinese labourers to Moreton Bay – and a plucky would-be pioneer, Mr July Davidson, might have been among them.

One of his descendants, Mrs Sharon Windle, said, “I’ve managed to find a few bits and pieces.

“Some information has been provided to me by another descendant.”

Judith McGarry is the “granddaughter of Augustine Sim (nee Smith), daughter of July” who was “born to another woman before [his] marriage.”

Augustine Sim (nee Smith)

“Both of us only realised we were July’s descendants after doing DNA tests for other reasons and found we have some Chinese ethnicity,” explains Mrs Windle.

“I know July and Ellen worked in a hotel near Wivenhoe… but so far haven’t been able to obtain any photographs.

“He was from Amoy… I would like to find out which ship he was on,” said Mrs Windle.

Reflecting his 1851 arrival in Queensland, it’s likely that her ancestor was on one of the two three-and-a-half month voyages between China and Australia made by the aforementioned ship that year.

Was Mr Davidson one of the 242 “Chinese emigrants” who disembarked in Sydney after the first, and 130 of which boarded the baroque Emma in March?

126 survived the journey to Brisbane, but many were then maimed and some murdered upon being transferred to Ipswich.

The second delivered the 225 of his countrymen directly to Moreton Bay in November. It was likely to have been orchestrated by North Brisbane’s Mr John Richardson and Ipswich’s Walter Gray & Co.

Although, there were accounts from proprietors of sheep stations suggesting the immigrants to be “equally intelligent and hardy”, their movements could be traced through their brushes with the law.

Notably, figures released from the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture suggest that the majority of these emigrants originated from the region close to the port of Amoy.

Many were victims of “The Pig Trade”, which was led by British merchants who offered financial remuneration for the provision of contractees.

Early Chinese

With the abolition of African slavery gaining momentum across the colonies, the British turned to Asia to meet labour shortages.

This in turn led to the post-Opium War Hokkiens being coerced, by way of physical torture, or kidnapped and placed in barracoons prior to departure.

Within months of Mr Davidson’s marriage to Ellen Russell on 11 May 1864, the pair appeared in the Ipswich Police Court for absconding from the services of Publican Thomas Birch from Wivenhoe.

July had evidently been in pursuit of unpaid wages.

Mr Davidson’s next appearance in court was in 1865, after being “maliciously assault[ed]” while “selling fruit” using “baskets hung from a pole” at Three-mile Creek.

He also provided a testimony as a “shepherd residing in Coondarra” in a larceny trial in 1877.

Mrs Windle said, “My husband and I both grew up in Warwick.

“I knew the property Canning Downs as I went to high school with the daughter of the property manager at the time [which was] around 1974-1976.

“I had actually stayed out there a number of times,” said Mrs Windle.

The mid-19^th century proprietors were instrumental in lobbying for the engagement of Chinese labourers.

Ironically, there is also an account of “the Chinese” at the station expressing their dissatisfaction about an inequity in wages by breaking their “cast-off shears” in 1852.

However, “We believe July took the name of his employers – so maybe they had a good relationship,” said Mrs Windle.

In 1854, Mr Gilbert Davidson bought the property from his cousin George Leslie, son of Mr William Leslie.

Mr William Leslie was married to Jane Davidson, and another of their sons, also named William, became a partner of the British Canton-based Dent & Co.

It was originally called W.S Davidson & Co, prior to the departure of Mr Gilbert Davidson’s father: Mr Walter Stevenson Davidson.

Between 1867 and 1876, Mr July Davidson and his wife Ellen would have six children.

“July (who died as an infant), Julia, John, Eizabeth [also known as Lottie], William and Dave [also known as Augustus],” said Mrs Windle.

Augustus “Caeser Davidson” was Mrs Windle’s great grandfather.

After having lived “principally in Ipswich and Charleville districts cooking “, Mr Davidson was admitted to the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum on 5 February 1889 with “senile decay”.

Notably, the marriage certificate was witnessed by “John Davidson”, the licensee of the Royal Hotel in Ipswich.

Records indicate that his family took him on several “leaves of absence” prior to his death on 19 July 1901.

He was 77 years of age.

The life expectancy for males in 19th century Australia was just over forty-two years.