Historical information

The Rogers Family lived in Truro (Cornwall), and John Rogers followed his brother to Australia in 1838, at the age of 17. He boarded the Florentia, bringing with him only this sea chest, and after arriving in Sydney John travelled to Victoria where he went to the goldfields. He married Sarah in 1862 when he was 46, and she was 28, and from 1866 to 1872 they lived on Churchill Island, building two cottages which stand to this day.

Significance

This object is intrinsic to the history of Churchill Island Heritage Farm, as it was the only object that John Rogers - one of the first inhabitants of the Island - brought with him from the United Kingdom. The sea chest is demonstrative of his personal journey as well as a broader pattern of immigration and settlement that occurred throughout Australia in the early nineteenth century. John's travels from Sydney to Victoria, onto the goldfields, and then settling onto Churchill Island - claiming possession of it through 'squatter's rights' - is one that is fundamental to the understanding of the formation of the Island and the development of its modern identity.

The chest is now part of the collection of the Churchill Island Heritage Farm and sits on the island’s first building; a cottage Rogers has built himself. It has been part of all Rogers life story and has stayed with the family, passed on to generations until Rogers’s great granddaughter, Helen Sykes, donated it to the museum in 2012.

Physical description

Wooden sea chest with hinged lid, possibly wood Baltic pine (Picea abies). Green paint stain on lid

Inscriptions & markings

JOHN ROGERS/WANTED ON THE VOYAGE