Ellis Island

Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954.

History of Ellis Island

In early 1630s Ellis Island was no more than a lot of sand in the Hudson River, located just south of Manhattan. In the 1630s it was known as Oyster Island for the plentiful amounts of shellfish on its beaches. During the 1700s, it was known as Gibbet Island and used to hang men convicted of piracy.
Samuel Ellis purchased the island during the time of the Revolutionary War. Samuel died in 1794, and in 1808 New York State bought the island from his family for $10,000.

After the Civil War, the US government made the decision to move the New York immigration station at Castle Garden to Ellis Island. About $75,000 were spent on the construction of the first federal immigration station.

On 1st January 1892, first Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opened. Three large ships were waiting for the official opening. Seven hundred immigrants passed through Ellis Island on its first day, and nearly 450,000 over the first year. Over the next five decades, over 12 million people passed through the Ellis Island on their way into the United States.

In 1903, to create an additional space at the Ellis Island, two new islands are created using landfill. Island Two was the hospital for inmates and Island Three was used as a psychiatric ward. By 1906, Ellis Island has grown from three acres to more than 27 acres.

Due to World War I in 1914 and immigration to the U.S. dropped dramatically. Ellis Island experienced a sharp decline. By 1917, Ellis Island was used as a hospital for the U.S. Army. By 1918 most of Ellis Island was taken over by Army to treat sick and wounded American servicemen.

The buildings on Ellis Island begin to fall into neglect and abandonment as mass immigration was coming to an end due to great depression in 1932. 

Ellis Island was taken over by U.S. Coast Guard in 1949 and they were using this facility as their office and storage space. Ellis Island was officially closed in November 1954.

In 2001, The American Family Immigration History Center was opened for visitors. It has the research facility and visitors have access to the millions of immigrant arrival records who passed through Ellis Island on their way into the United States. The records include the original manifests, given to passengers’ onboard ships and showing names and other information, as well as information about the history and background of the ships that arrived in New York Harbor bearing hopeful immigrants to the New World.

In 2008, expansion of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum called “The Peopling of America” was announced and was completed in 2011. Ellis Island Museum highlight  the American immigration experience to its visitors.

Why is Statue of Liberty Green?

The Statue of Liberty is made of an iron frame with a sheet of pure copper hung over it. The torch flame now is very bright because it is coated in gold leaf instead of copper. Original flame was also coated in copper. In mid 1980s - the statue's 100th birthday, old torch was removed due to excessive damage and replaced with gold leaf torch. Old torch is placed in the monument's museum.

The true colour of the Statue of Liberty before patination was a shiny reddish brown colour. The Statue of Liberty is coated with a thin layer of copper, which turns a blue-green with age due to chemical reactions between metal and water.

The Statue of Liberty was the first lighthouse to use electric lamps. Until the restoration of 1986, the torch acted as a lighthouse for ships coming into New York Harbor.

The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York City, in the United States of America.  The statue was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor and was gifted to United States from the people of France on October 28, 1886. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad.

The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924. National Park Service has been caring for the colossal copper statue since 1933.

The Statue of Liberty is made of copper. Height of copper statue is 46 meters and weight is over 27 tonnes. Foundation of pedestal to tip of torch is 93 meters.  Total weight of the statue is 204.1 tonnes.

Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed worldwide. As an American icon, the Statue of Liberty has been depicted on the country's coinage and stamps.

Battle of Vinegar Hill

Vinegar Hill Memorial, Castlebrook Memorial Garderns, Windsor Road Rouse Hill

On the morning of Monday 5 March 1804 men in drab convict clothes moved through the trees of Castle Hill in an area mostly unsettled, carrying guns, pitchforks and poles. It was the first battle between convicts and soldiers on Australian soil. Convicts were mainly Irish, who were working on the government farm at Toongabbie.

No one could miss the red coated soldiers under the leadership of Major George Johnston. Soldiers and their civilian supporters strode along the Windsor Road after a quick march from Sydney Town during the night. Governor King had been warned that a band of Irish convicts had broken out of the Castle Hill Barracks the night before with the intention of joining other rebel convicts and marching firstly on Parramatta and then on to Sydney to seize ships in the harbour and had planned to commandeer a ship home to Ireland.

News of the uprising spread quickly to Sydney and Governor King dispatched soldiers of the NSW Regiment. The rebels never made it to Parramatta but turned away towards the north-west. Major Johnston caught up with them and more than 10 convicts were killed and nine court-martialed and hanged over the next few days. None of the Government forces were killed or wounded. Phillip Cunningham was badly wounded and was hanged without trial on the steps of the government store. His grave is located at Windsor, in Sydney's west. William Johnston and two fellow convicts were hung at Castle Hill.  Cunningham, at first thought to have died during the skirmish, Rest of the convicts were returned to imprisonment.

Many convicts were political prisoners and were members of the United Irishmen's Society. They were concentrated in the Barracks at Castle Hill to work on the Government Farm. In the farm they were planning for the freedom.

Unfortunately plans were easier to make than to carry out. It was very difficult to get word to the other convict barracks and to sympathisers in the towns. It was impossible to stop an informer from going to the authorities in Parramatta.

Vinegar Hill was named after a similar hill in Ireland, which was also the scene of battle in the 1798 United Irishmen's uprising. Some of the rebels at Sydney's Vinegar Hill were veterans of the Irish Vinegar Hill. In 1988, a monument was erected at the site of Vinegar Hill and the names of many politicians and councilors at the time. In 2004 another plaque was placed having the names of the men who lost their lives on 5 March 1804.

John Stenhouse

 

The Stenhouse family lived in Pennant Street, North Parramatta. John Stenhouse was born in Scotland in 1852 and arrived with his wife Christina and three children in 1883.

John and Catherina’s son Norman was coming home from Lithgow, to spend some time with his parents over Easter. On reaching home, he found his mother lying unconscious, bleeding to death on the kitchen floor. He called Dr. Kearne and Catherina was taken to hospital.

Later in the evening, a stonemason's hammer, with the human hair was found in the house. Police was called and John was charged the next day. He was sent to jail for fourteen years for the manslaughter of his wife who died 14th April 1914, aged 58 years. John died at the Rookwood Asylum in April 1924.

John is remembered as one of the two stonemasons who built the Centennial Fountain in Parramatta.

WW1 - Indian Soldiers - Gabar Singh Negi

Gabar Singh Negi was born on 21st April in 1895  in Manjood village, in Northern India. He was 21 years old and a Rifleman in the 2nd and 39th Garhwal Rifles when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 10th March 1915 at Neuve Chapelle, France. His bravery led to his death.

"During an attack on the German position, Rifleman Gabar Singh Negi was one of a bayonet party with bombs who entered their main trench, and was the first man to go round each traverse, driving back the enemy until they were eventually forced to surrender. He was killed during this engagement."

The Gabar Singh Negi fair is organised annually in Chamba (Tehri) in his memory.

WW1 - Letter to a friend in Punjab

A Sikh wrote to a friend in Punjab about the Battle of New Chappell, France.

“Now hear what happened to us. On the 9th March, the General told the Lahore and Meerut Divisions that they were to make a grand attack and glorify the name of the Punjab throughout Europe. The attack came off on the 10th at seve o’ clock in the morning. We fix bayonets and look towards the enemy. The enemy trenches are two yards off. They have been well built. In front is barded wire and we are not expected to attack here. With a shout to our Guru we hurl ourselves forward. The enemy’s bullets scorch our heroes while machine guns and cannons spread their shot upon us. We leap the wire entanglements and overwhelm the enemy, killing some and capturing the rest. On the 10th we captured 1050 Germans and took four lines of trenches defending the city of La Bassee. Here from the beginning the enemy have been very strong. On the 10th and 12th we took two miles of enemy position. Next day at five o’ clock the Germans attacked in eight lines. There was fine fighting on the battlefield. Eight lines of the enemy were destroyed. We also suffered grea loss in killed and wounded. On that day no one took thought of his friend and the slightly wounded man made his way back himself. If severely wounded, a man lay out in the battlefield. When the sun set in the evening, the rain began to fall. The wounded were picked up and sent back. The enemy attacked fiercely but were beaten back with great loss. We did not give up our trenches but pressed the enemy very hard. They could not recapture their lost lines. From the 10th to the 25th the German lost 70,613 men."

Reference:

Omissi, David, Indian voices of the Great War. Soldier’s letters, 1914-18, pp 51, London, 1999.
PS - The transcripts of the original letters are kept in the India Office Library at the British Library, London.