Robert Stevens Abt 1816 Exing – Blencowe Families One Name Study

Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire, England) → Port Adelaide, South Australia. Arrived: 1853.

Exing, Suffolk and Burwell, Cambridgeshire

The Blinco and Stevens family connected by Robert and Ann

We do know that Roberts father George was an Agricultural Labourer living in the small village of Exing (where Robert was born. Robert age 23 married Ann Blinco age 20 on 26 December 1839 at Swaffam Prior her home village in Cambridgeshire. The birth of children is the main indicator of their locations in England.

The census for 1841 and 1851 for Robert and his family are not found as yet, but its very likely he was also a Labourer.

The birth of daughter Maryann Jeffery Stevens in 1841 at Swaffam Prior places them there in that timeframe, but by 1846 they moved to the nearby Burwell village in Cambridgeshire, evidenced by birth of son George Jeffery Stevens, in that year.

The three villages that Robert Stevens lived in, just about 1 hours walk from each other

What was the catalyst for Emigration

Robert Stevens a Agricultural Labour may well have been a dat labouere and as such income for any period was not only poor but unreliable so when he and Ann started see posters at theor Church and other public places advertising free passage to South Australia. They most likely applied for the supported passage. A example of the poster they may have seen below.

The Voyage

With their youngest child now 5 years, Robert and Ann Stevens decided to emigrate and in probably 1852 went through the process of application and acceptance for an assisted passage. In May of 1853 they had to take the first leg of their long journey by horse and cart to Newmarket, then by rail to London, and finally by rail to Southampton, taking roughly 10–14 hours total travel time. Boarding the ship Calabar after likely spend a night or two in boarding house in Southampton. The Calabar was a wooden ship of 754 tons which sailed from Southampton, under the control of Captain David Moodie, on 4th May 1853

They arrived in South Australia on 1 August 1853. We know from this newspaper article that the ship had onboard assisted passengers, in this Domestic Servants are mentioned specifically.

There were 257 Passengers aboard the ship and during the voyage, six births occurred and eleven deaths; one adult and ten children. However the newspapers gave a more positive account of its voyage.

When the assisted passenger ship arrived in port at Adelaide, typically married couples were allowed to stay aboard for 10 days to seek out employement or opportunities . Whether Robert discovered land opportunites or employment at this time, we dont know, but we do know they ended up in Gawler District.

Burra, South Australia

Burra the place the Stevens went to after arriving in South Australia

When the Stevens arrived in Burra district we do not know, except that youngest son James Henry was born there in June 1856. Thus setting the date before that, and possibly not long after arriving in Adelaide in 1853

What Burra Was in the 1850s

Burra was not a single town but a cluster of mining villages surrounding the Burra Burra Copper Mine, discovered in 1845 and operating from 1848. By 1850, Burra had around 5,000 residents, making it the largest inland settlement in Australia at the time.

Key features of the 1850s landscape:

A valley settlement surrounded by bare hills stripped for firewood
A company-controlled township (Kooringa) and several privately surveyed villages
A booming copper industry that kept the young colony solvent
A population dominated by Cornish, Welsh, Scottish, German, and English migrants

Yet despite this Copper boom , Robert Stevens choose to lease land and farm.

Land Leasee 1857 -1867

It seems as early as 1857 Robert was farming land own by a Mr Dutton and obviously the land was not fenced.

The follows more tangible evidence that Robert rented two plots of land south of Burra near Kooringa from October 1863 this two plots total 46 square miles of land. This was know as Burra Creek Station, Kooringa

It is a debt‑recovery and compliance notice issued by the Crown Lands and Immigration Office on 17 September 1867.

Its purpose was to:

list pastoral runs that had already been declared “stocked” (meaning the lessee had met the minimum stocking requirement under the Waste Lands Regulations),
but for which the formal lease had not yet been prepared,
and for which annual rents were overdue.

The government was warning run‑holders that unless arrears were paid by 19 October 1867, the claim could be forfeited under clause 6 of the Waste Lands Regulations.

This was a standard administrative practice in the 1860s as the colony tightened control over pastoral occupation. The record below for the same land specifies actual rents but also the location south of Kooringa

From these 1857 and 1867 pieces of information, we can construct a reasonably accurate map of where Robert Stevens was a tenant farmer is this period.

Approximate location of the block south‑east of Princess Royal Station and adjoining Smith’s Station, as referenced in the 1857 trespass notice signed by Robert Stevens.
Approximate location of the land for which rents were owing in 1867, described as south‑east of Kooringa.

Map constructed using geo mapping of the approximate locations from the areas describe in vrious Newspaper publications and historical data of the names of the adjacent farms etc. Robert had moved to **Burra Creek Property** by **1867** likely a few years before that.

Circa 1875

This photograph of Robert Ann and son george jeffrey would seem to be about the mid 1970s

I am going speculate that the two photographs below were paid for by Robert Stevens son of George Stevens an Agricultural Labourer of Exing Suffolk. Perhaps Robert wanted a photo of his Father and sent instructions and money in mail to George Stevens to have them taken and return to Australia. I think the fact that these photographs exists with the othe Australian photographs suggest they were at one time in the possession of Robert in Gawler SA.

1890

Its Fri 14 Mar 1890 and Robert age 74 years, is Advertising he is selling up his farm and “going into sheep”

Timeline

Event	Date/Location	Details
Full Name	Robert Stevens
Birth Place	Exning, Suffolk
Birth Date	Abt 1816
Marriage	26 Dec 1839, Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire, England
Birth of Daughter Maryann Jeffery	1841,
Birth of Son George Jeffery	1846,
Birth of Daughter Ann Elizabeth	3 Aug 1848,
Emigrated	1 Aug 1853, Adelaide, South Australia	Robert Stevens (Abt 1816, Exning, Suffolk) → Port Adelaide, South Australia. Arrived: 1 Aug 1853. Note: Robert and Ann Stevens (nee Blinco) aboard the ship Calabar, with children Mary Ann , George and Elizabeth. arrived in South Australia on 1 August 1853.
Residence	1856, Burra, South Australia	Birth of Son in Burra
Birth of Son James Henry	16 Jun 1856,
Occupation	1857, North of Burra	Tenant farmer or employed farmhand MR Duttons property
Occupation	1867, South of Burra, nr Kooringa, SA	Tenant Farmer
News Article	8 Jan 1869, Burra Creek Station, Kooringa, SA	Income problems and so forced to sell stock at an auction 7,000 sheep.
News Article	9 Oct 1874, Burra Creek Station, Kooringa	Auction notice: Again Robert is forced to sell off stock and assets a sign of flucuating fram incomes but he still is at Burra Creek Station and the leaseholder
Occupation	6 Feb 1875, Burra	elected Burra Town Councillor report BURRA. January.— Meeting for election of Coun cillor in place of Mr. J. J. Rhead, resigned.— Proposed by Mr. EL Broad, and seconded by Mr. B Need, Mr. Robert Stevens. Returning Officer (Mr. Isaac Killiooat) declared Mr. Stevens elected.
News Article	14 Mar 1890, Burra Creek Station, Kooringa, SA	Robert puts his stock and Farm equipment up for sale by Auction and says he is giving up farming and \going into sheep\""
Death of Wife Ann	27 Feb 1890, Kooringa, SA
Death	29 Mar 1900, Point Pass, South Australia,