William Worland was the son of Joseph and Sarah Worland and was born around 1830. Joseph married Mary Ann Canham (September 1828, Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire - 28 March 1853, Sydney, NSW) at Cambridge in 1850. Mary Ann was the daughter of William Canham and Sarah Canham. They had one son:
William's older brother Joseph Worland was caught stealing and subsequently tried for burglary in 1847. He was then transported to New South Wales on board the convict ship Adelaide (the last convict ship) which left London in August 1849, arriving in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 24 December 1849 after a brief stop in Hobson's Bay (near Geelong) where it was not allowed to disembark passengers.
Possible to join up with his brother, William and Mary Worland decided to travel to Australia. They departed on the ship 'Kate', arriving on 16 October 1852. The incoming passenger list records all three and appears to show that William's profession was 'Groom', unlike most other young men who were recorded as agricultural labourers.
William's wife Mary Ann Worland died in Sydney on 28 March 1853 (when her son William was only 14 months old). According to information provided by a descendant, 'it appears that Mary Ann must have died on the ship coming out to Australia' [although this seems to go against her being listed in the incoming passengers list] as no record had been found of her death.
William Worland married again, this time to Julia Robinson in 1854 at the Scots Presbyterian Church in Sydney. (NSW BDM Ref 1407). No children appear to have been born from this marriage.
William Worland died as a result of an industrial accident in August 1863. (NSW BDM Ref 3401)
The Golden Age (Queanbeyan, NSW) of 3 September 1863 recorded in some details the circumstances regarding the death of William Worland, aged 35, on 22 August the same year at Dangelong, near Cooma.
FATAL ACCIDENT - INQUEST. On Saturday last, the 22nd instant, the district coroner held an inquiry at Dangelong, into the cause of death of one William Worland, lately employed as a shepherd, there lying dead. Geo. Nuss stated that he and deceased were engaged on the previous day falling trees, for making a bough yard, about three miles from the station, and whilst witness was using the axe the deceased was looking on, and as the tree was falling he began to run ; witness remained to see which way the tree would fall and on stepping aside he saw the tree had caught deceased ; he was amongst the boughs, and a limb had struck him on the back of the head, which caused him to double up and fall; witness ran up to him, and found him insensible, apparently dead; witness was about to lay hold of deceased when Mr. Wilson came up, and assisted to raise his head, when he began to breath and groan, and said, “what is the matter with me at all?” I told him the tree had fallen on him, and he replied “did it?” He did not know witness; he asked to be put in a sitting posture, and his request was complied with; he leaned on witness for some time; he had a wound on the back of the head, and his left leg was broken; he died in about an hour after the accident. Mr. Wilson went to the station for a cart, and on his return, deceased was breathing his last; he was placed in the cart and taken to his hut, a distance of two miles. Mr. Willott Wilson, overseer at Dangelong, corroborated the proceeding witness as to the cause of pain evidenced by deceased after the accident. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
William Worland death certificate states that he died as a result of a 'fracture of the skull cause by a tree accidentally falling upon him'. His mother was stated to be Ann Worland (nee Turner).
After William's untimely death, his second wife Julia re-married, this time to Anthony Stevens in 1866 (NSW BDM Ref 1810). Anthony Stevens appears to have been a cattle breeder and is recorded several times in the NSW Government Gazette in relation to cattle breeds. He was noted in Dandelong in The Sydney Morning Herald of 26 August 1867. He may be the Anthony Stevens who died at Cooma in 1892 (NSW BDM Ref 4467). The Manaro Mercury and Cooma and Bombala Advertiser of 25 March 1893 carried a notice under 'Land Matters' in which a Julia Stevens was noted as a widow.
Page created 13 April 2013, updated 13 March 2023. Copyright © Andrew Warland. (andrewwarland(at)gmail.com)