This letter not only helped sort out the relationships of the family living at Achnahaird but it also suggested some legal action against the Mackenzie family, their tack being placed under �sequestration for rents� which is a Scottish form of bankruptcy. An advertisement appeared in the Inverness Advertiser 12 May 1826, for the sale of sheep, cattle and horses at Achnahaird and Strathpollie. This is possibly a clue to the difficulties being experienced by the middle classes in the clan system. Susan�s husband, George, �effectively died bankrupt in May 1850. His eldest son and heir was Kenneth Scobie Mackenzie, aged 14�⁽¹⁰⁾

The book, Cromartie Highland Life, 1650-1914 highlights the events leading up to the resistance of the crofters to the re-organisation of the land ownership, which led to migration and large-scale evictions. Clearances occurred throughout the Highlands between 1800 and 1860. The Cromartie heiress, recently married to the Marquess of Stafford, was keen for her factor⁽¹¹⁾ and manager, Andrew Scott, to carry out improvements thus raising the rental value at Coigach. The tacksmen had difficulty in maintaining authority as the poverty of the tenants increased. Rents were in arrears and some people were choosing to opt out of their leases.

Susan would have been at Achnahaird in March 1851 when a sheep farmer made an offer for the farm, at a higher rent than the eleven subtenants were paying. Scott was of the opinion that if the land were cleared of subtenants �the farm would make an excellent Ewe farm and would keep 600 as good Cheviot ewes as any in the district�.⁽¹²⁾

George Macleod, from Assynt, North of Coigach, rented at the old rate and was willing to keep the tenants on condition they paid their rents and �conducted themselves in an orderly peaceable manner.�⁽¹³⁾

Refusing to pay their rent in 1852, the Achnahaird tenants received the following threat by the factor, Scott:

Foolish men! Do you imagine you can remain in your allotments and not pay rent? Whoever so counsels you is your enemy not your friend. Take my advice and settle with Mr MacLeod. If you do not you will repent, when you will be driven forth of the Estate, and no one will receive you from the Character you will have made for yourselves. At least the Marchioness will not.⁽¹⁴⁾

Scott�s efforts to clear other land of tenants for sheep farming and for shooting led to a tenant rebellion against the management of the estate. Scott and the Sheriff�s party sailed around to the Bay of Achnahaird to serve summons of removal to a number of sub-tenants who had not paid their rents. The men and woman acted as on an earlier occasion which occurred nearby on the 18 March 1852. 'The woman rushed in upon the party, tore open their clothes and searched every one in succession for the summonses� and then burnt them �This period of tenant rebellion against the estate management became known as the Coigach Insurrection.⁽¹⁵⁾

Andrew Scott wrote: �It was a distinguished triumph of brute force over law and order and while it continues in the ascendant the rights of proprietors must remain in abeyance�.⁽¹⁶⁾

It is not known whether or not Susan was involved in the riots. It is clear Susan and her children were resident at Achnahaird, Coigach, at a time of major change in old loyalties. The possibility of a new life in another land must have been very attractive to her, especially as they were still recovering from a famine.

In February 1852, the Highland and Island Emigration Society (HIES) was set up in London under the chairmanship of Sir Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary at the Treasury. It owed its origins to the �poverty and destitution� which ravaged the West Highlands in the wake of the tragic potato famine of 1846-47. It �recommended assisted voluntary emigration as a remedy� with the result that 5,000 men woman and children from Scotland were assisted to immigrate to Australia under the HIES scheme between 1852-1858.⁽¹⁷⁾

At the same time as the Coigach troubles, transportation of convicts to Van Diemen�s Land (VDL) was nearing its end. Many people were migrating to Victoria to the recently discovered goldfields and the pasturelands. Pressure was put on the VDL Legislative Council to establish an �immigration fund� to attract emigrants from the United Kingdom. After a circular was received from Trevelyan,⁽¹⁸⁾ the Legislative Council of Van Diemen�s Land, at their meeting on Thursday 6 January 1853, recommended that the Council sanction the appropriation of a sum of money not exceeding �3000, for the introduction of immigrants to the Colony through the Society for assisting Emigration from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.⁽¹⁹⁾

Earlier in 1853, Andrew Scott, was asked by the HIES if the Coigach people were interested in emigrating to Australia with the result fifteen family groups comprising sixty-seven men, women and children departed Coigach for Ullapool in October 1853.

A statement was sent to Lieutenant-Governor Denison dated 5 October 1853, informing him that:

180 persons who are about to embark to Van Diemen�s Land through the agency of the Highland Emigration Society � they come from the Barony of Coigach and from Rothiemurchus and Kintyre, and that they include of 32 Married couples and 21 marriageable females ... Mr Chant, who selected these Emigrants, reports them to be of very superior class � healthy, robust people - and most of them speak English tolerably well. If this body of Highlanders are satisfied with their condition in their adopted country they may become precursors of many others and an important connection may be established through their means between the Highlanders of Scotland and Van Diemen�s Land �They have all entered into legal obligations to remain at least three years.⁽²⁰⁾

The Coigach people emigrated under the auspices of the HIES and were given family group numbers 517-529 for identification. The family group of interest to this story, number 524, consisted of Murdo Mackenzie aged 49, from Achindrean, Susan 36 and her four children, Kenneth 14, Margaret, 12 Roderick, 9 and Catherine 7. They were noted as �very good family.� The children noted as Murdo�s nieces and nephews.⁽²¹⁾

This group of emigrants gathered at the Free Church school-room Ullapool, between six and seven am, 31 September 1853, to say farewell to their friends and neighbours. They were addressed by �their excellent and beloved minister, Mr Macleod � many were in tears.�⁽²²⁾

The first part of the voyage, from Ullapool to Glasgow was clearly not a happy experience for the emigrants as their boat was towed into Glasgow two days late after being partially disabled in stormy weather. A report from the local factor, Kenneth Mackenzie to Scott dated 11 October 1853, gives an account of the event:

I parted with the Emigrants on Saturday afternoon, they were in very bad spirits; independent of the weather, I never had a more disagreeable trip in my life, there was no pleasing them, they were mostly all seasick by the way when their families were thus distressed they thought that I could command the Boat to return or run into some harbour, they were again too ill to please in their food, and so very troublesome to the hands on Board the Steamer. At parting I got the greatest insolence and abuse from some of them for not paying Porters for putting their luggage on Board them to Liverpool, while they were going themselves with their hands in their pockets. Several of them were most anxious to return home from here [Glasgow], I am certain if I had not been with them, that one half of them would not have come this length.⁽²³⁾

The group left Glasgow for Liverpool on the 8 October and on reaching Liverpool found �that the vessel intended to carry them to their destination was condemned�⁽²⁴⁾ Accommodation was provided in the emigration depots at Birkenhead until they left on board the new 840-ton Sir Allan McNab. A total of 298 emigrants left Liverpool, 28 October 1853, under the Regulations of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission with Surgeon, James John Evans, and Master, Mr Ralf Renner. Susan Mackenzie was appointed matron for the voyage and was probably responsible for the 109 single women, half of who were Scots and the other half Irish. For her services, Susan was paid a gratuity of �5.0.0. During the voyage Murdo took over the teaching duties and received a gratuity of �5.0.0. Another five of the emigrants were noted as constables.⁽²⁵⁾

Photo: Charles Woolley Hobart The provenance of this photo, from the Muirhead album, suggests it may be of Susan Mackenzie c1860s

On 2 February 1854, John Loch, Immigration Office, Hobart Town, advertised the arrival of the 302 emigrants aboard the Sir Allan McNab, which included four babies born since leaving Liverpool. � �for engagement on board the vessel on Monday 6th instant and the following days between the hours of 11 and 2�� 32 married men, 21 single men, and 41 single women are sent out by the Highland Emigration Society��(26) Susan assisted with the hiring of the single women for which she received �2.0.0.(27) Loch�s report, dated 11 February 1854, to the Colonial Secretary, included the following comments: Judging from the appearance and demeanor of the Scotch Emigrants that they will prove trustworthy and serviceable. The women are accustomed to farming pursuits, and have not, so far as I have observed, manifested the anxiety too common among female Emigrants to obtain high places - I should � consider it very undesirable to put any considerable number of Highlanders and Irish in the same ship � the least religious event tending to cause disturbance among them, and it requires constant care and attention on the part of the Superintendent to hinder the most serious consequences.(28)

Robert Kermode of Mona Vale Ross hired Susan with keep and a salary of �40 per annum and about 15 February 1854, she travelled north to commence her new life. Kermode hired Kenneth as �a farm labourer and apprentice with rations and clothing� and the two younger children were also hired by him to stay with mother. Daughter, Margaret, my future great grandmother, was hired by Mr F Hatton of Hobart Town for one month at a wage of �14 with keep.�⁽²⁹⁾ Murdo was not hired out but 'travelled North of his own accord.�, and departed in the "Clarence" from Launceston 24 June 1854 to return to England.⁽³⁰⁾

Mona Vale situated near the fork formed by the Blackman and Macquarie Rivers was the large landholding at Ross inherited by Robert Kermode from his wealthy father, William, who received his first grant in 1823. By March 1854, Susan and family, no doubt, were settled into the second home built of brick for William Kermode in the 1834. Colonel Mundy describes what he saw in 1851.

Originals images held in State Library of Tasmania The first image shows the Mona Vale house seen by Colonel Mundy in 1851. Robert Quayle Kermode inherited it from his father, William in 1853. The second image shows the present Mona Vale house planned by William Archer and built for Robert Kermode in the 1860s containing the section for the housekeeper on the left.

Mona Vale house is excellent. There are pleasant gardens and green houses full of fruit and flowers � a rare feature in Australian home scenery � a clear and rapid stream running across the lawn and forming a large pool beyond it � Both houses, in and out of doors, gardens and stables and offices and even in the bedrooms upstairs, are all provided, at a turn of the finger, with a copious supply of water � A patriarchal profusion and a good old-fashioned hospitality reign at Mona Vale.⁽³¹⁾

We can only speculate how Susan and her family fared in their new environment. A copy of a letter written by Robert Kermode, to his cousin John in the Isle of Man on 21 July 1853, sheds some light on his own family situation about this time. It reads:

Apologizing for being so long in communicating his news having been quite ill myself � for several days after my father�s death [1852] we were kept in a sad state of suspense and distress. Heavy rains came down for days and rivers throughout the country became so flooded that the oldest inhabitants of the place never remembered a season like it. Our roads and bridges were so covered that we were unable to remove and inter my father�s body for a fortnight after his death � within five months I was called to give up and carry to the grave both my beloved parents and my beloved wife � I am left with four boys. Willie is 7; Bobby 6; Tommy 5 and the baby, Lewis, nearly 10 months.⁽³²⁾

Before Robert�s wife, Martha, died his widowed mother-in-law, Susannah Archer of Woolmers, Longford, moved to Mona Vale to live and then fill the position of her late daughter as �mistress of a family responsible to a certain extent for all beneath her roof�.⁽³³⁾ No doubt her �primary task was management� in this home of the �landed gentry�. Susan Mackenzie�s responsibilities as housekeeper may have included �taking charge of all other female servants and managing the house in the absence of the family. She would also be responsible for the servants� deportment and keep order amongst them�.⁽³⁴⁾ �A housekeeper planned the work which was written on a board and hung in the kitchen�:

The servant was expected to rise at 6am (5am on washing days), serve lunch at 1pm and 4pm commence cooking. Dinner was served at 6 and by 8, the coffee tray [was] to be in by 10pm in order to retire early. Kitchen, halls passages and dining room were to be cleaned every day before breakfast, except washing day. Sundays brought many visitors to middle class households. Setting house to right on Monday mornings, Tuesday was the recommended day for washing, with ironing on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday heavy house cleaning, and Saturday devoted to preparation for Sunday only to make the beds and cook the meals for a weekly total of sixty eight hours � [the] governess had a significantly shorter week, often being required to work as few as five hours a day. With Saturday and Sunday free⁽³⁵⁾

Robert, and Susannah Archer and some of their families, left for England in 1858 leaving five-year-old Lewis at home �with a governess.� Was this Susan?⁽³⁶⁾ Whilst in England, Robert married Emily Addenbroke on 16 June 1859,⁽³⁷⁾ and their daughter, Emily Louisa, was born 14 April 1860.⁽³⁸⁾ In the same year, they returned to Mona Vale on the Percy with their animals, which included �six fine woolled German rams, three horses, one Durham cow, two white swans and some sheep dogs�.⁽³⁹⁾

Also on board the Percy was James Muirhead aged 26, from a farm called Croftside near Stirling, Scotland. An assisted emigrant, James cared for Kermode�s animals on board ship and, on arriving in Hobart Town was hired as �a farm servant� at Mona Vale to work with the merino stud, which was commenced by William Kermode in 1829.⁽⁴⁰⁾

Two years later on 25 November 1862, James Muirhead married Susan�s daughter Margaret Mackenzie. The ceremony was held in the Mona Vale house. Adam Turnbull was the minister and Catherine Mackenzie and Robert Turnbull were the witnesses.⁽⁴¹⁾

Six of Susan�s grandchildren were born at Mona Vale. James and Margaret followed the Scottish tradition of naming their children as follows:

Susan Taylor Muirhead Jessie Muirhead Thomas Muirhead George Mackenzie Muirhead                        Margaret (Peg) Muirhead Isabella Muirhead

born 2 October 1863 (after the mother�s mother)(42) born 28 May 1865 (after the father�s mother)(43) born 17 May 1867 (after the father�s father)(44) born 7 March 1869 (after the mother�s father)(45) born 21 August 1871(46) born 28 July 1873 (after the father�s sister)(47)

On 26 March 1869, Susan�s daughter, Catherine Mackenzie aged 24, married William Duncan aged 29, at the Mona Vale home of Mr and Mrs James Muirhead. This family was most likely living in one of the stone cottages built in 1861 for employees. William was a stonemason and builder and probably met Catherine (Kate) whilst building the Mona Vale mansion. The minister was William Quick and the bride�s brother, Roderick, and Lucy Cootes were witnesses.⁽⁴⁸⁾

William and Kate�s first five children were born while the family was living at Cascade Brewery. For the sixth child the address was Harrington Street, Hobart.

The children were:

Susan Kate Duncan James Duncan George Mackenzie Duncan Alexander Scott Duncan Elspeth Jane Duncan Roderick Mackenzie Duncan

born 13 January 1870(49) born 25 October 1871(50) born 9 December 1875(51) born 29 August 1877(52) born 25 February 1880(53) born 23 September 1881(54)

I have not yet researched Susan�s sons, Kenneth and Roderick Mackenzie. In the early 1860s, they apparently moved to New Zealand to work on the large land holding opened up by Robert�s cousin, George Moore in North Canterbury in 1853 on behalf of a company, that included Robert Kermode, and Dr John Lillie, George Moore and his son William. The Company sent about 6000 merino sheep across to New Zealand in three voyages of the William Hyde.⁽⁵⁵⁾

In 1865, the third Mona Vale home was commenced. William Archer�s entries in his diary are interesting: June 1865 �Inspected new house � foundation of kitchen and housekeeper�s rooms carried up to same height as the dining room�, 21 August 1866, �visit to top floor of tower. Splendid view of surroundings�, and 20 November 1867, �glad to hear that he is to have the Royal Duke, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh at Mona Vale�.⁽⁵⁶⁾

William Archer�s masterpiece, a mansion, four stories high, twelve entrances, fifty-two rooms and 365 windows was completed in time for the visit of the Royal Duke in January 1868.⁽⁵⁷⁾

Susan and her family no doubt would have been saddened by the sudden death of Robert Kermode on 4 May 1870,⁽⁵⁸⁾ and by 1875 the Muirhead family had moved to another estate, Clarendon, near Evandale where James was employed as a labourer.⁽⁵⁹⁾ Two more children were born at Clarendon:

Jane Ross Muirhead Roderick Mackenzie Muirhead	born 15 December 1875(60) born 10 June 1878(61)
The family were at Forden Nile, for the birth of their sixth daughter and ninth child:
Kate Muirhead	born 4 July 1882(62)

It seems unlikely Susan was ever a governess at the large home at Clarendon because James Cox (Junior) inherited Clarendon after the death of his stepmother in 1869.⁽⁶³⁾ He married Elizabeth Thirkell 6 May 1875,⁽⁶⁴⁾ and their first baby, John Claude, was born 7 April 1876,⁽⁶⁵⁾ just five days before Susan died. Dr Oldmeadow, from Evandale, recorded She died of softening of the brain on 12 April 1876 and that she was the widow of a Farmer.⁽⁶⁶⁾

A notice in the local paper announced, �the Funeral of the late Mrs Mckenzie will take place at the Presbyterian Burying ground Evandale on Friday 14 April leaving Clarendon at one o clock�.⁽⁶⁷⁾

Researching this almost forgotten ancestor has been interesting and intriguing and at times frustrating in not knowing anything of her personal life. She left her home in the Western Highlands during a period of unrest between the landowners and their tenants. Her position as Matron on the emigrant ship, and her position as housekeeper in palatial homes envisages to me a strong courageous and resourceful lady of her time in history.

My English reader records names of the last Mackenzie tacksmen of Achnahaird.⁽⁶⁸⁾

Susan�s life was intriguing and interesting � not an important person in history but a poor widow and farmer who left her country at a time of social unrest between the landowners and their tenants. Fortunately she and her family had a free passage to Van Diemen�s Land paid for by the government of the time. They were given employment, shelter and keep in the palatial home of Robert Kermode, an affluent wool baron. Susan was a brave and resourceful woman who has great-great-great- great-grandchildren, at least on my side of the family.