Jews have been coming to Australia by boat since the First Fleet, left Portsmouth (England), early on Sunday 13 May 1787, on an eight month journey to an unknown land. Following their arrival here some Jews came to become owners of boats. And a few left Australia for other Pacific destinations. There are many stories of these comings - and goings - and of happy and unhappy voyages. In this section of the JewishHistoryAustralia website just a few of these stories are told. Here is the first -- the story of the topsail schooner, "Elizabeth Cohen".
Artists impression of the Topsail Schooner Elizabeth Cohen, from KOSKIE, Jack. Illustrated By the Author: SHIPS THAT SHAPED AUSTRALIA, published by Angus & Robertson, Sydney,1987. Picture reproduced with the permission of the Estate of the Late Jack Koskie.
The Elizabeth Cohen was recorded on the Sydney
Shipping Register in 1850 as of “43 tons measure” .She was 53 ft 7 in (16.3m)
long, beam 15 ft (4.6 m) draught just 6 ft 7 in (2 m) – small but beamy
and shallow, suited for negotiating harbour bars.
This boat was pure colonial, it was built before 1839 on the
So just who was the Elizabeth Cohen for which this topsail schooner was named? She was the wife of the stockbroker Henry Cohen, convicted in 1832 on a charge of “being in possession of promissory notes”, and sentenced to transportation. Elizabeth, obviously a woman of both competence and devotion, with their eight children followed him out as free migrants in 1833. This was the start of the period that with an influx of free migrants, the convict colony grew to become a self-governing British colony. Elizabeth set up a trading business at Port Macquarie, in which the "Elizabeth Cohen" played a vital role in bringing stores from Sydney. (Remember this was long before railways were constructed.) Meanwhile Henry served seven years before getting his Ticket of Leave. He then formally took the lead in this pioneering business.
HAC