THE LILLEY STORY (continued)

First Arrival in Australia.

Our line of the Lilley family started in Australia with the arrival of  Reuben Lilley in April 1853 at Port Phillip, later named Melbourne.  He was 19 years of age and came out as an unassisted passenger on the ship Emigrant.  It wasn’t until four years later that the next member of the family, Ebenezer Lilley,  ventured out here.  He was 26 years of age at the time and came out as an unassisted passenger on the War Spirit which arrived in Melbourne in June 1857.  Ebenezer was listed as an unmarried Labourer. 

Strangely in the same month that Ebenezer arrived, ie, June 1857, so did another one of his brothers, Samuel Lilley but on a different ship, the Adriatic.  The reason the two brothers didn’t travel together on the same ship will probably remain a mystery forever.  Samuel also came out as an unassisted passenger and was also listed as Single and a Labourer. 
 

The Gold Rush Days.

The following table, taken from a genealogy site on the Internet, shows a number of Lilleys who were born around or soon after the Gold Rush period.  I have not been able to establish any links to our side of the family yet but it serves to prove even in those days the name Lilley was not all that uncommon. 
 

Samuel Returns with his Bride.

At some stage within three years of Samuel Lilley arriving in Australia it seems he returned to his homeland, got himself married and returned to Australia with his wife.  This would have been no mean feat as in those days the voyage to England took around three months each way. 

Samuel and his wife Elizabeth Chandler arrived in Australia at the ages of 24 and 22 years respectively.  They boarded the ship Prince of Wales in Plymouth UK, on 6 October 1860, the day after they were married in Kempston, Bedfordshire.  They arrived in Melbourne in January 1861.  Maybe it was their intention to honeymoon in Australia for the rest of their lives. 

Upon arrival here Samuel and Elizabeth joined Reuben and Ebenezer and settled in the Ballarat area.  Samuel was a Blacksmith and in around 1865/66 lived at White Flat, presumably a suburb of Ballarat.  At that time Reuben and Ebenezer were Miners and they lived in Albert St, Ballarat.  At some stage later Samuel and his family moved to the western districts of Victoria.  It is believed however that Samuel died in Geelong in 1896.  Elizabeth lived another 24 years and eventually died also in Geelong in 1920.  Click here to find out who attended Elizabeth's funeral.  Samuel and Elizabeth ended up producing ten children although one died as an infant. 

Apart from Reuben and Ebenezer, it is not clear whether any of Samuel’s other brothers and sisters migrated to Australia or whether they remained in Kempston.  I tend to think the latter was the case. 

Wine Merchant in Ballarat.

Even before Samuel and Elizabeth had arrived in Australia there was a G.W. Lilley who by 1855, maybe even earlier, had set up in business as a Wholesale Wine & Spirit General Merchant in Dana St, Ballarat.  I haven’t been able to link him to our ancestors but he could possibly have been a relative of Samuel and his brothers. Anyway I thought it worthy to reproduce an advertisement that he placed in the Ballarat Star on 1 August 1856.  It was typical of the wordy way of writing in those days.  It read as follows - 
 
 

Either the sale couldn’t have gone too well for G W Lilley or there was some other reason for the Auction notice to appear in the Ballarat Star a mere four weeks later on 30 August 1856 for the sale of his business.  The Auction was scheduled for 2 September 1856.

By 1865 there was a storekeeper, G Lilley in Humphray St, Ballarat.  There was also listed a Lilley & Miller storekeepers also of Humphray St.

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