30/07/1853 - 14/11/1853

Alexander Bethune, aged just 14, was assigned to the ship 'Olivia' travelling from Plymouth to Adelaide. The rest of his family, Norman, Catherine and siblings, Lachlan (18), Christina (16), Malcolm (10), Ann (8) and Isabella (6) had been assigned to the ship 'Neptune' leaving 23 days before 'Olivia'. The whole family had originally left Campbeltown in Argyllshire on 'Hercules' on 26 December 1852 bound for Adelaide (and possibly then on to Melbourne). Outbreaks of typhoid, smallpox and fever caused the passengers of 'Hercules' to be disembarked in Cork and quarantined for months. 'Olivia ' arrived in Adelaide on Sunday November 13, 1853, 19 days after 'Neptune' had arrived. How difficult must it have been for Alexander to have travelled on his own and how harrowing the wait for his parents before they were once again reunited. Alexander was my great, great uncle. His brother Lachlan was my great great grandfather. Wil Sprake (nee Bethune)