Quakers at Sea, travelling to Australia

This panel is inspired by the letters and journals of Friends who came to Australia from 1788 until planes made the journey shorter in the 1960s. In particular it is inspired by the letters of William and Elizabeth Wells who came to Tasmania in the 1880s. Elizabeth Wells is seen having a 'little sit down when the babies were in bed' on a First Day. Elizabeth Well's father was the Head Master of Ackworth School and they settled in northern Tasmania, starting a successful business which perists to this day in Latrobe. They were big supporters of Friends school.

The psalm is referenced by Henry Watson's account from 1838. He travelled to Adelaide to join his brother in law, Barton Hack in 1838.  He mentioned 'those who go down to the sea in ships' which is a quote from a psalm, which includes these words: 'For God commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths.' This seems to speak to the condition of many Friends and they would have read this psalm. 

Down the bottom are the words of John Barrett in 1840, also travelling to Adelaide. It gives us an idea of how far they had to travel.

This panel is being stitched by Sally O'Wheel and Tara Ubrich of Tasmania Yearly Meeting

In another corner will be another of William Well's drawings, of himself and their son. And there is Frederick Mackey who travelled in the 1850s and writes about knitting on deck.