Emigration from UK/Ireland:

Goughs/Goffs in Australia

Please E-mail me if you have any comments, questions or information: Norman Gough

Australia

The Welsh in Australia: The number of free Welsh settlers in Australia before the goldrushes of the 1850s was probably small. One source refers to 14 of the young members of Bethlehem Chapel, Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, leaving for Australia during the ministry of Morgan Morgans, sometime between 1828 and 1836. Departures of this nature must have been rare. Early census records indicate that there were about 1800 Welshborn in the colonies by 1851. These would have included a number of free settlers. The discovery of gold in 1851 brought the Welsh to Australia in significant numbers. The Welsh-born population of Victoria consisted of only 377 people in 1851; in 1854 it stood at 2326, and by 1861 it had reached 6055. Over the next decade it rose slowly to a peak of 6614 in 1871. Thereafter, it declined in Victoria but increased in the other colonies, totalling 12 000 throughout Australia by the turn of the century. (For details see Ffestin Hughes and The Welsh in Australia)

W.H. Gough settled in the Sorell Parish in 1825, purchasing 1000 acres at 15s per acre. See Hawkins 1985.

My cursory explorations into the land of Oz suggest that there are more Goughs there than anywhere else in the world. Can anyone confirm or deny that?

Link to site on Australian passenger lists
Melbourne's Dead Persons' Society

Family Histories

John Short's Gough Family - David Gough from Waterford, Ireland

James Gough, convict b. 1790 in England, sailed from England on 2 Jun 1813 on board the convict transport "Earl Spencer." See page detailing all known descendents.

Questions about Ancestors in UK

Harriet Garbett Gough b. c.1845 in Bilston UK Father possibly from the area between Broad Hinton and Lineham in Wiltshire. See Alan Thomson's Gough Family page from Canberra.

Famous Australian Goughs

….. apart from Gough-Whitlam

June Bronhill the famous Australian Opera singer was a Gough. She died recently after a long illness.She was born and grew-up in Broken Hill in Australia who encouraged her career in singing, so she took the name Bronhill (as a shortening of her birthplace) as her stage name.

Sources:

A. Ffestin Hughes. The Welsh in Australia

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Pag ecreated 1997 last updated 2/25/2005

Australia's First Fleet	Links to Passenger Lists	Sources	Page Author
Ancestors in the UK	Family Histories		Gough/Goff History and Genealogy page
Famous Australian Goughs