Cunningham Caldwell was born in Glen Glush in the parish of Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Ireland in 1822. He travelled to Australia on the Moffatt arriving on 31 May 1841. Cunningham travelled with his cousin Thomas Atchison. Two of Thomas’s brothers, Cunningham Atchison and Samuel Atchison were already in the colony. The Reverend Cunningham Atchison was one of nine Presbyterian ministers brought to Australia by the Reverend John Dunmore Lang in 18371 and Samuel Atchison had arrived on the Coromandel in 1840. Samuel settled in Bathurst but Cunningham Caldwell and Thomas Atchison both came to the Illawarra as did Cunningham Atchison, who was for many years Wollongong’s Presbyterian minister.
Cunningham Caldwell and Thomas Atchison both purchased portions of land on the Balgownie Estate.2 Cunningham Caldwell married Sarah Maxwell in 1853. Sarah had arrived in Australia with her parents John and Elizabeth (nee Evans) Maxwell as bounty immigrants on the Parland in 1838.3 The Maxwells were also from the parish of Ardstraw in County Tyrone.
Cunningham Caldwell and Sarah Maxwell had ten children:
- Cunningham Caldwell 1854-1941, married Alice Clara Harrigan
- Elizabeth Ann Caldwell 1856-1936, married Alexander Lang
- Sarah Jane Caldwell 1858-1943, married James Donnan
- John Caldwell 1860-1938, married Amelia Emily Dennis
- James 1861-1861
- Francis Kirkpatrick Caldwell 1865-1945. Frank married Elizabeth Ann Weeks
- Margaret Caldwell 1862-1921, married John Thomas Gavin
- Samuel Evan Caldwell 1969-1936
- Isabella Caldwell 1867-1953, married Robert Scott
- Rebecca Caldwell 1872-1954, married William Weeks
Family of Cunningham Caldwell and Sarah Maxwell
Cunningham Caldwell and Alice Clara Harrigan had eleven children:
- Ethel Annabel Caldwell 1885-1944, married Herbert William Keogh
- Ivy Adelaide Caldwell 1887-1942 married Walter Leslie Spinks
- Ruth Caldwell 1889-1917, married Andrew Strang Gibson
- Leslie Cunningham ‘Nugget’ Caldwell 1891-1972, married Ethel Ruby Naomi Wall
- Edith May Caldwell 1892-1979, married David Henry McCauley
- Bruce Caldwell 1894-1917, died on active service WWI
- Blanche Mildred Caldwell 1896-1976, married Thomas Hall Parks
- Alan ‘Winger’ Caldwell 1898-1972, married Nellie Muriel Parsons
- Hugh Russell Caldwell 1901-1983, married Louisa Bell
- Harold Atchison ‘Speck’ Caldwell 1903-1972, married Maggie Vickery
- Stanley Ian Caldwell 1905-1942, married Gladys Chinnock
Family of Cunningham Caldwell and Alice Clara Harrigan
1. ↑ Rev. Lang and nine other ministers travelled on the Portland, arriving on 4 December 1837. New South Wales Government. Inward passenger lists. Series 13278, Reels 399-560, 2001-2122, 2751. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.
2. ↑ Thomas Atchison returned to Ireland following the death of his brother James in 1862 to take over the leasehold of the family farm.
3. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships; Series: 5314; Reel: 1294
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