Bastian family

Fast Facts

Type of person	Family
Place of birth	from Crowan, Cornwall, England.
Date of arrival	1840
Principal occupation	Slate quarry owners and farmers

Sampson Bastian senior (1791-1846) and his wife Philippa Holman (1797-1872) were from Crowan, Cornwall, England. They had ten children (4 sons and 6 daughters), nine of whom were born in England and one (Thomas Henry) was born in the colony of South Australia. Their religion was Wesleyan Methodist (Uniting Church),

Sampson (43 years) and Philippa (42) Bastian travelled with their nine children Sampson (18), Elizabeth (16), Jane (15), John (13), Philippa (12), Mary (10 died on the voyage), Hannah (8), Ann (6) and Stephen (4) on board Java, Captain Alexander Duthie, leaving from London on 13 Oct 1839. With their eight surviving children, they arrived at Port Adelaide on 6 Feb 1840. Two other early Willunga families arrived on the same ship at the same time – the Polkinghorne family and the Williams family.

On arrival the Bastian family lived in huts erected by the Government on the banks of the Torrens River, and afterwards removed to a house in Light square, where they lived for about six months. Land was secured at a place known as Beltunga, one and a half miles from Willunga. The Bastian family were resident in Willunga probably by the end of 1840 and certainly by 1843 when their tenth child (and fourth son) Thomas Henry was born on 6 March 1843. On 8 Oct 1849 Sampson Bastian senior, slate dresser, and his oldest son John Bastian together with Richard Hill were granted 110 acres comprising of Section 1241 (on the hillside SE of Willunga and E of Willunga S), which they paid 110 pounds and 1 shilling for.

Both of the first generation (Sampson senior and Philippa) lived out their lives in Willunga. Most of their children (the second generation) were also resident in Willunga for most or all of their lives and their five surviving daughters all married members of early Willunga familes (Atkinson, Hill, Holman, Shepherd, Williams).

By the third generation, the Bastian family had started to disperse from Willunga.

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