Introduction / Aims:
The aim of this report is to gain extra research skills by using record repositories to gain information on a person from the Adelaide area. For this report I have chosen to research the first member of one part of my family to arrive in Australia and in particular South Australia.
This person being researched and reported on is my Great Great Great Great Grandfather,
Robert Clifford. This report will detail the processes made to gain information on Robert Clifford as well show the key information gained from the research. Finally, the report will go through the various errors that may have been encountered as well as the result of gaining these new researching skills.
Method of research:
Because Robert Clifford was the first of the Clifford family to be moved to Australia, he has become a very popular piece of research for members of the family. Research in to Robert
Clifford has been conducted for many years prior to this report but some information has remained elusive until now. The first person who was consulted in the study of Robert Clifford was Julie Ann Brown, the Great Great Great Granddaughter of Robert Clifford. Julie has conducted extensive research into Robert in an attempt to retrace her roots but she could never gain a true grasp onto the history of the family (2010). The prior research conducted by
Julie was only basic but it had retraced the family back to Robert and then hit a brick wall whereby no further information could be found. Julie Brown had consulted some primary

sources which were used to inform this report further. Many of the sources consulted by Julie have had their information confirmed through other research and evidence whereas some information has just caused more confusion to the case but this will be explained later in the report. Julie Brown consulted various family members such as Myrtle Clifford, who was Robert
Clifford’s Great Granddaughter in-law who married Herbert Henry Clifford, Robert’s Great
Grandson. Myrtle Clifford found information regarding the various children of Robert Clifford such as birth and death dates as well as burials of the children and some information about their life at Black Rock South Australia. Terry Clifford was also consulted by Julie Brown. Terry informed Julie of the burial place of Robert Clifford at the Black Rock cemetery. Narelle Ballcon, another Great Great Great Great Grandchild of Robert Clifford, supplied information regarding the burial place of Robert Clifford’s wife Charlotte Clifford (formerly Perry). Julie Brown later compiled this information into an unpublished article entitled Robert Clifford, which detailed very small details into the life of Robert Clifford (J. Brown, 2010). This source was very limited in information whereby it basically only displayed information about the family tree and births and deaths of the immediate family of Robert Clifford but it has been consulted for confirmation on various minor details.
Another consultation conducted was through Barbara Volpato, wife of the late Donald Clifford who was Julie Brown’s father (See Appendix A for direct line family tree). While Donald Clifford was alive, he conducted some minor research into Robert Clifford and gained a pair of letters from Bernadette Heinineger who authored the Clifford family history in the book “Yours, Mine,
and Our Perry Family (B. Emberson, 1996 p 10 – 29). I have gained access to these two letters

from Bernadette Heinineger (1985) which contained the beginnings of research into Robert
Clifford which was later compiled into the Clifford chapter of “Yours, Mine, and Our Perry
Family (B. Emberson, 1996 p 10 – 29)”. These letters contain very raw information on Robert
Clifford such as his time in Langhorne Creek but are too long to include in this report.
This leads to research I conducted through the Langhorne Creek area. After consulting the
Langhorne Creek Primary School and the Langhorne Creek Post Office, the book “The Town
That Welcomes Floods (P. Verrier, 1977)” which contains some information on Robert Clifford’s illustrious life in Langhorne Creek was found. More research was conducted through the
Orroroo Carrieton District Council. This research involved locating the burial plot in Black Rock, as well as property holdings by Robert Clifford in the area but no property was found. Finally, the office of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Adelaide South Australia was conducted to gain access to Robert Clifford’s Marriage certificate as well as his Death Certificate; unfortunately these certificates did not arrive in time to be consulted for the research in this report.
After all this research there was still much of Robert Clifford’s life that remained mysterious.
This is where consultation from the internet was involved. Ancestry.com would be the first port of call for further information on the subject. After signing up for this website, some further information was gained as to how Robert Clifford ended up in South Australia and more which will be detailed later. The National Library of Australia was also consulted by accessing newspaper archives for The Advertiser which gave information of Robert Clifford’s work, life

and death through various reports in the newspaper. Also, findmypast.co.uk was also consulted but this only gave the same information as ancestry.com.
As a note, I also conducted research at the South Australian State Records, but the only items that occurred in the records with the name Clifford bared no resemblance to the information on Robert Clifford and therefore this was useless in this report.
The story of Robert John Clifford:
Early Life: Birth to arrival in South Australia
Robert Clifford was born on the first of June 1807 in Ipswich County in Suffolk England (B.
Emberson, 1996 p 10). Due to little information during Robert’s early life it is unknown who
Robert’s parents were. I was unable to find any birth certificate to find the names related to
Robert. Information on Robert’s early life is scarce except for a few convict registers. In 1821 a record of a Robert Clifford appears in a criminal register (see appendix B) which states that
Robert Clifford was imprisoned for a sentence time of seven years for larceny (Criminal
Registers England & Wales, 1791 – 1892, appendix B). It is unknown whether this is the same
Robert Clifford but it is a best match as shortly after there was a record for a Robert Clifford being transported to the colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). This record is an Australian
Convict Transport Register which states that Robert Clifford was convicted of larceny in
Nottingham and transported aboard the Countess of Harcourt to Van Diemen’s Land for a

sentence of seven years. The vessel departed from England on the eighth of April 1821
(Queensland Government Library website, see also Appendix C: (Convict Transportation
Registers 1791 – 1868)). Then in 1828 a government notice in a newspaper states the Robert
Clifford and 11 other convicts were released due to having completed their sentences and were now free to live their lives (Colonial Times, 1928 p 3, See Appendix D).
The trail of Robert Clifford then runs dry until 1838 when Robert Clifford is listed as a passenger aboard the Gem, an 83 ton ship owned by John Batman and captained by a Captain Owen
Morgan which departed from Launceston Tasmania on the tenth of February 1838 and arrived in Port Adelaide on the first of April 1838. This manifest lists Robert Clifford as well as nine other passengers (State Library of South Australia Website, see also B. Emberson, 1996 p 12) but an advertiser article states that the Gem arrived in December with Robert Clifford and ten passengers (The Advertiser, 1838, See Appendix E) so it unsure which source is correct as no other information on this could be found to confirm one or the other. It is not entirely known what Robert did after arriving in South Australia, one newspaper article on the death of his eldest son Robert John Clifford states that Robert Clifford settled in Magill and later moved to
Nalpa station (The Advertiser, 1934 p 27, See Appendix F) but this has been unconfirmed through any other articles so it is not known whether this is accurate although his first child was born in Magill.

Marriage, Children and Langhorne’s Creek:
Robert Clifford would begin having children shortly after moving to South Australia, with his first child Mary-Ann (also known as Marian) being born on the 26 th of April 1840 in Magill and then Emma was born on the third of November 1841 and unfortunately passed away just four years later in 1845. Louisa was born on the 24 th of June 1843 in Langhorne’s Creek (but this is unconfirmed as her birth was not officially registered until 1856) (B. Emberson, 1996 p 13 – 14;
Also, Featherstone Society Website) which would beg to reason that Robert Clifford moved to
Langhorne’s Creek (now known as Langhorne Creek) between the birth of Mary-Ann and Louisa because there is no known place of birth of Emma but this cannot be possible because further children were born in Carrieton. Barbara Emberson (1996 p 11) believes that Robert may have been married prior to moving to South Australia; therefore, it is unknown who the mother of the three children was because there is no record of Charlotte and Robert having been together prior to their marriage in 1845 but it is assumed that they were all the children of Charlotte
Perry. Charlotte Perry was born on the second of April 1822 at Speldhurst Kent, England.
Charlotte Perry was 15 years younger than Robert. Robert Clifford would go on to marry
Charlotte Perry at the Trinity Church in Jamestown South Australia on the first of January 1845 and three months later they would welcome their first son into the family with Robert John *(B.
Emberson, 1996 p 16 states this child as being John Robert but this must be a typo as John
Robert was not born until 1860 and a newspaper article about the death of Robert John states that he was born in 1845 (The Advertiser, 1934 p 27)* being born on the 29 th of March 1945.

After this, Harriet was born on the 17 th of October 1846. Strangely, of all the children of Robert and Charlotte, it is unknown when exactly Louisa and Harriet passed away as there is no material that states their dates of death. On the eighth of April 1848 Robert’s second son was born, William Thomas Clifford. Barbara Emberson (1996 p 17) states that William was buried with his Father but after research it is not known if this is true as the local council has no record of this. Henry Clifford was born on the 20 th of March 1850 in Carrieton (this is the only child after Mary-Ann to have a definite place of birth; also, Henry Clifford is the direct line to my family). Frances Clifford, being the eighth child of Robert and Charlotte, was born on the 20 th of
March 1852. Frances died on the 4 th of February 1873 which was the day her eldest sister Mary-
Ann was to be married to James Dalton (B. Emberson, 1996 p 22). Shortly after this is the first confirmed sighting of Robert Clifford in Langhorne’s Creek with the birth of Emma on the second of February 1854 but unfortunately she passed away just one year later. Charlotte
Frances Clifford (or Caroline) was born on the 21 st of December 1855 at Langhorne Creek. On the 20 th of July 1858 Charles Frederick Clifford was born and later John Robert, the last child of
Charlotte and Robert, was born on the 16 th of March 1860. Due to these births being in
Langhorne’s Creek it is presumed that the Clifford family had moved to Langhorne’s Creek sometime between 1850 and 1854 (again because there is no place of birth for Frances it is hard to put a more definite time span on this).
This begins Robert Clifford’s fairly well known life at Langhorne’s Creek. The book “The Town
That Welcomes Floods (P. Verrier, 1977 p 7 – 16)” has some small information on Robert’s time in Langhorne’s Creek. ‘Robert Clifford had the General Store which was always known as the

“White House” on the East side of the Bridge (P. Verrier, 1977 p 7)’. Robert Clifford would also go on to become one of the first Sunday school teachers at the Methodist Church which was opened in 1858 (P. Verrier, 1877 p 7; also, B. Emberson, 1996 p 12) as well as a well documented pound keeper (See Appendix G). Through the research many advertiser articles were found documenting the animals taken in by Robert Clifford as pound keeper but I have chosen to only include one to back up the information that he was pound keeper as there were far too many to include all of them. This pound keeper notification shows that Robert Clifford took in a single horse that was flea-bitten and was to be sold on the 12 th of February 1872
(South Australian Register, 1872 p 3, Appendix H) this also shows that Robert lived in
Langhorne’s Creek for a substantial time.
Later Life in Black Rock:
Sometime between 1872 and 1875 the Clifford family moved to a farm near the small town of
Black Rock just south of Orroroo. I use these two dates because the last known record of Robert
Clifford in Langhorne’s Creek was in 1872 through pound keeper reports and the earliest known date of living in the Orroroo / Jamestown area was a report in The Advertiser (1876 p 6) which states that Robert Clifford was robbed whilst at an establishment in Jamestown. The articles states that a watch of £4 value was stolen from Robert Clifford after he had taken too much liquor and fell asleep. This report also states that Robert Clifford was a farmer in the Black Rock area and although the article was written in 1876 the date of the robbery occurred on the 20 th of November in 1875 (The Advertiser, 1876 p 6, See Appendix I). After this there was not much

evidence of Robert Clifford’s late life. Robert Clifford passed away on the second of March
1885, leaving his wife Charlotte and ten surviving children; he was 79 years old and had been a colonist of 49 years (The Advertiser, 1885, See Appendix J). Robert was buried at Black Rock
(See Appendix K & L). Charlotte would pass away on the 9 th of January 1899 at the age of 76 years, leaving seven children, 55 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren (The Advertiser,
1899 p 4, See Appendix M).
Discussion / Errors / Problems:
The biggest problem found whilst conducting research into Robert Clifford was the inability to find any records from the state repository. After numerous searches through the database I could only find information on Clifford’s who were in South Australia from around the 1870’s which puts them in a period of time that can only connect with Robert Clifford as being one of his children or another Clifford. The results that were returned from State Records were prisoner lists and ship manifests but Robert Clifford had already been transported to South
Australia by this time and there are no reports of Robert having been in prison after the initial time in Tasmania. This meant I had to search elsewhere for further information on Robert
Clifford.
Another problem with the research occurred with Robert Clifford’s life prior to his Arrival in
South Australia. Due to the lack of information regarding Robert Clifford’s parents, and middle name, it was near impossible to find out much about this time frame. Some information was

found as is shown above but I have been unable to confirm with solid evidence that the Robert
Clifford on these criminal (Criminal Registers England & Wales, 1791 – 1892) and convict transportation registers (Convict Transportation Resgisters 1791 – 1868) is actually the Robert
Clifford that later ends up in South Australia but this information fits fairly well with the known timeline of Robert Clifford and as there is no other record of a Robert Clifford coming to any colony of Australia other than this therefore it has just been assumed this is the same Robert
Clifford.
One other problem that has occurred from this research is an uncertainty as to how many children Robert and Charlotte Clifford had. Some resources have stated that there were 12 children born to the family but some state there were 13 children but the 13 th name remains elusive which leads me to believe that either there were only 12 children or the 13 th child passed away fairly soon after birth but this possibility does not explain why Emma Clifford was still included in the 12 as she also died at a young age; therefore, I have left the child count to
12 as there is no solid evidence to there being a 13 th child.
Results of research / Conclusion:
From the research conducted, I have found new ways of finding information on lesser know people from the early years of colonial Australia. I have learnt that it is not always possible to find information on these historical people in public records repositories in major centers, whereas going through smaller outlets such as schools and local councils can bring new

information to light as well as finding details such as burial places. I have also learnt that the best way to find information on a person is to go straight to the source. Talking to the family of the person gained the most information and also gave me a head start on where to search for the information needed to write a report on Robert Clifford. Without these valuable primary sources it would have taken a far longer period of time to discover many details of the life of
Robert Clifford. Also, I have learnt that newspaper archives are a priceless source of information and can give more details into the life of people.

Appendix A: Family Tree in my line (Taken from own research)

Appendix B: Criminal Registers England & Wales, 1791 – 1892, Note: Robert is the 13 th name

Appendix C: Convict Transportation Registers 1791 – 1868, Note: Robert is the first name

Appendix D: Colonial Times Friday January 25 th 1828, Page 3
Appendix E: The Advertiser 15 th December 1838

Appendix F: The Advertiser, Friday September 1934, Page 27

Appendix G: Application to the Governor to appoint Robert Clifford as pound keeper of
Langhorne’s Creek, From: P. Verrier 1977, The Town That Welcomes Floods, published by
Peter Verrier, page 8

Appendix H: South Australian Register, Friday 2 nd February 1872, page 3
Appendix I: The Advertiser Thursday 23 rd March 1876, page 6

Appendix J: The Advertiser Thursday 26 th March 1885
Appendix K: Robert Clifford’s Grave Stone at Black Rock

Appendix L: Burial Plots of Black Rock Cemetery acquired from the Orroroo Carrieton District
Council, Note: Robert Clifford is buried in plot number 21, Section B, denoted by the arrow.

Appendix M: The Advertiser Wednesday February 1 st 1899, page 4

References:
Ancestry.com, accessed between September 12 th and November 8 th 2010, following articles sourced from this website:
Australian Convict Transportation Registers 1791 – 1868, originally from: Home Office:
Convict Transportation Registers, The National Archives of the UK, Surrey England.
Criminal Registers, England & Wales, 1791 – 1892, originally from: Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, The National Archives of the UK, Surrey England.
B. Emerson 1996, Yours, Mine and Our Perry Family, Ancestral Publications Victoria, page 10 – 29
P. Verrier 1977, The Town That Welcomes Floods, published by Peter Verrier, page 7 – 9
Queensland Government Library Website, Convict transport of Robert Clifford, Part of
Criminal: Convict transportation registers, Canberra, accessed on 9 th November 2010
South Australian Library Website, The Gem 1838, Passenger lists, Accessed 9 th
November 2010 at http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passangerlists/1838Gem.gif
The National Library of Australia, accessed between September 15 th and November 4 th
2010, following articles sourced from this website:
Colonial Times, Friday 25 th January 1828, Government notice, Hobart Tasmania, page 3
South Australian Register, Friday 2 February 1872, Pound keepers notice, Adelaide South
Australia, page 3
The Advertiser, Saturday 15 th December 1838, The Gem’s Arrival in Adelaide, Adelaide
South Australia, page unknown
The Advertiser, Thursday 23 March 1876, Larceny from the person, Adelaide South
Australia, page 6
The Advertiser, Thursday 26 th March 1885, Robert Clifford death notice, Adelaide South
Australia, page unknown
The Advertiser, Wednesday 1 st February 1899, Charlotte Clifford death notice, Adelaide
South Australia, page 4
The Advertiser, Friday 7 September 1934, Robert John Clifford death notice, Adelaide
South Australia, page 27