Correia Family

The presence of Portuguese immigrants in Australia was first recorded in the 1871 Census. The first family known to have arrived in Sydney were Emanuel and Anna Serrao from Madeira. They arrived on board the Alfred in 1824. In 1901, there were only 311 Portuguese in Australia, none of them in Western Australia. Before World War Two, the population remained small. Upon arriving, many of them encountered hostility and discrimination. Unhappy with the situation, they often returned to Portugal. By 1947, the total number of Portuguese in Australia had fallen to 126 people. But by the 1950’s the Portuguese immigrants established a presence in the fishing community off Fremantle, and chain migration would ensure that presence never faded. The first group originated from the island of Madeira. Most of the Madeirans worked as fishermen or farmers. Land was scarce in Madeira, making it difficult for all members of the family to own their own plot. As a result, the island of Madeira has a long tradition of exporting labour elsewhere.

Francisco Correia and his wife originated from Madalena do Mar in Madeira. They left for South Africa in 1939, and spent several years working illegally in the crayfishing industry. Life in South Africa was difficult for illegal immigrants, so when Francisco learnt of an opportunity to establish an export crayfishing industry in Western Australia, he came over in 1951 with an American-Portuguese friend, Joe Silva, to investigate. Satisfied with the prospects, he negotiated a contract with the Australian government titled “Crayfishing in Australia”, which guaranteed employment for himself and fifteen other men. He returned to Madeira and gathered a group of men willing to work in Australia from his village in Madalena do Mar. The group included one of his brothers, Antonio. They sailed to South Africa, where Francisco managed to buy a boat through one of his contacts, named the North Cape. The North Cape was an old wooden 77 foot net fishing boat, with a single diesel engine, canvas sails and a single mast. Francisco engaged a Captain and a Marine Engineer and began the journey to Western Australia in 1952.

On board the vessel were the following;

Desmond Walter Bowen, 27, South African Captain

Humberto Augusto Gomes, 44, Portuguese First Mate

Arthur Henry Schildt, 43, German Engineer

Gordon Keith Fuller, 41, South African Engineer

Humberto Augusto Gomes Jnr, 5, South African (the only child onboard)

Francisco Correia, 37, South African Citizen, Portuguese, Owner of the North Cape

Johanna Ladia Beukes, 31, South African (the only lady onboard)

And 15 other men;

Alfredo Fernandes Abelha, 22

Francisco de Sales, 32

Manuel Jesus Sousa, 22

Antonio Fernandes Correia, 23

Francisco Fernandes Correia, 23

Francisco Sebastian Rebelo, 23

Manuel Da Silva Garcias, 24

Julio Goncalves Mauricio, 22

Teodora Florencas, 30

Manuel Fernandes Correia, 29

Manuel Perreira, 23

Apolaniro Jesus Goncalves, 24

Joao Perreira Goncalves, 34

Antonio Silva Lino, 36

David Silva Jesus, 32

The journey took 75 odd days. They almost didn’t make it. They left from Cape Town, travelling up the east coast to Mauritius. From Mauritius they made for Rodriguez Island, and then the straight dash to Western Australia. The North Cape turned out to be horrendously unreliable, with the engine breaking down constantly during the voyage. One of the first breakdowns was in treacherous waters off South Africa – the same spot that almost bought famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama to grief 500 years earlier. Huge waves splashed over the sides of the stricken vessel and it started to sink, but only the hand pump on deck was working and it was impossible to stand there without being washed overboard. To survive, the passengers and crew each took turns manning the pump while a shipmate held tight to a rope tied around their waste. Once they went overboard, they’d be hauled back in and the rope would be handed over to whoever was next in line. The North Cape pulled into Durban for repairs, but broke down another dozen times on the way across the Indian Ocean; on one occasion the boat drifted 300 kilometres in the wrong direction. Short of food and water, when they finally sighted the Rottnest Island lighthouse, Captain Bowen unusually joined the passengers around the galley table to say a prayer for their safe arrival. They arrived in Fremantle Port on the 28 June 1952.

On arrival, Francisco and his crew set the North Cape up as a freezer vessel, and crayfished the coast beyond Lancelin to Jurien Bay. They had two smaller catch boats, the 48 foot Saga and the 34 foot Crazy Mac. During their first season, in April 1953, the North Cape was destroyed by Fire. Francisco and his family would pick up the pieces and eventually build the Miss Portuguesa, and diversified into prawn fishing, real estate and restaurants, as well as banana plantations in Carnarvon. Francisco guaranteed jobs and accommodation and advanced passage money to many relatives, friends and other countrymen to join them. As a result a strong Portuguese community developed in Fremantle.

Francisco remained a very prominent member of the Portuguese community in Western Australia. He was active in establishing the Portuguese club in Fremantle and was its first President and the Correia family remain prominent figures in the Fishing Industry, as one of the last of the original operators still fishing the waters of Shark Bay.