John Briggs (abt. 1820 - 1878)

Born about 1820 in Furneaux Islands, Tasmania, Australia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1878 at about age 58 in Coranderrk, Healesville, Victoria, Australia.

Biography

John Briggs is an Indigenous Australian.

Louisa Briggs, nee Strugnell, was 'widowed' through the death of her husband John in 1878 at Coranderrk Aboriginal station, Healesville in Victoria, Australia. His birth year of 1820 is taken from Ancestry FTs but without any sources or citations^[1].

He had been raised by James Munro^[2] who moved to Preservation Island in the Furneaux Group in the Bass Strait off the northeast corner of Tasmania, around 1820.

Apart from the comment in Louisa's biography that John had married Louisa's Aunt, Ann Munro, who was possibly a daughter of James Munro and Doogbyerumboroke (Margery Munro), a Woi Wurrung woman, who had been kidnapped from Port Phillip, in Victoria, nothing has been found about his life until he married Louisa herself in 1853^[3]. Louisa was probably a granddaughter of James.

By combining the information from the Biography with that in Fred Cahir's book, it would appear that John and his two wives, Louisa and Ann headed for the gold rush in Victoria but soon found that farming was a more reliable source of income. John worked at the recently established Eurrambeen Station in the Beaufort district pitching hay, carting split timber from the mountains and cutting bark at 6d a sheet. They also worked as shepherds, possibly for a squatter near Violet Town until the late 1860s. John and Louisa had nine children between 1853 and 1871 and managed to live independantly from government assistance until the early 1870's. However, work had become scarce and in 1871 the destitute family joined Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission Station, near Healesville.

In 1872 the Board for the Protection of the Aborigines failed to pay the wages and John was forced to seek work outside the station, which resulted in him being expelled from it. The family returned in 1874 and Louisa acted as a nurse and dormitory matron and was appointed a salaried staff member in 1876.

Louisa became a widow in 1878 when John died. At least 4 of their children had married and produced extensive families, whether connected to Tasmanian or Victorian Aboriginals is unclear.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/11669515
2. ↑ http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/munro-james-13122
3. ↑ http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/briggs-louisa-12816

• Biography: Laura Barwick, 'Briggs, Louisa (1836–1925)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/briggs-louisa-12816/text23133, published first in hardcopy 2005.
• 'Black Gold, Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850-1870, by Fred Cahir, Published by ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated Aboriginal History Monograph 25.
• Van Diemen's Land: An Aboriginal History

By Murray Johnson, Ian McFarlane.