Overview

1864. Cornwall. In the wake of the Agricultural Revolution, Benjamin and Emma Bowden decide to emigrate. They are pawns in a much bigger scheme, which is to divest Britain of its poor and send them to Wakefield's Free-Colony of South Australia. During the long journey, the sailing ship is tossed like flotsam, and they eagerly disembark in Adelaide. Here they work on Samuel Davenport's farm.To make more money, they move to Moonta Mines and live on the mining lease, where danger is all around them, until Ben and William Threthowan finally acquire their freehold properties. Clearing Mallee scrub from the land is brutal and the isolation daunting. Droughts, anthrax, financial crises and typhoid hover and strike. The large Bowden and Threthowan families struggle just to survive during the Great Depression. Will their sons ever own farms of their own? Should they have stayed in Cornwall?

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9781922830302

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As you journey alongside Ben and Emma, you'll be inspired by their courage, and moved by their ability to overcome incredible challenges, from the doubts and fears that come with leaving everything you know behind, to the joys of building a new life, watching your family grow and prosper, and the best of what communities provide. Through it all, you'll come to appreciate the power of human connection, and the resilience of the human spirit. - Kenneth Aberdeen, IT Project Manager

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"Dianne Griffin lived in Moonta, South Australia, as a child. She loved the town and its people, especially her grandparents, Charles W and Eleanor B Bowden. At 25, Dianne set out to see the world, and re-immigrated to Cornwall and Britain. She married in 1970 and, settling in Ireland, raised three children. Never one to shy away from telling a great story, Dianne published short stories and dabbled in journalism. Moving back to Australia in 1989, she settled in Brisbane near family. She retrained as a Registered Nurse, and, at the age of 50, completed her Bachelor of Science. Dianne's nursing career gives her great insight into the experiences of women, and the inevitable health issues faced by immigrants to Australia in the 19th century. Continuing her lifelong desire to learn, Dianne completed a post-graduate certificate in creative writing-in particular studying Life Writing under the exceptional tutelage of Kristina Olsson. Dianne's office began to overflow with books, diaries of immigrants and newspapers of early South Australia.With inspiration from her grandfather, who wrote in his preface to History of Agery, ""Being blessed with a fairly retentive memory, and having in my possession much authentic information, I have a duty to pass it on--now that I have lived the allotted life span.""Dianne discerned the mantle had passed to her, and that the voices in From Cornwall to Moonta should come back to life."

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