The ship travelled through the Suez Canal and called at Colombo and Batavia before reaching Thursday Island on Christmas Eve. Having disembarked immigrants at several Queensland ports, the Duke of Sutherland dropped anchor in the Brisbane Roadstead at midday on 3 January 1888. During the afternoon the ship was assisted up the Brisbane River by the tug Beaver and berthed beside Gibbs, Bright and Co.’s wharf at Kangaroo Point where the passengers were transferred to the new immigration depot. The On the afternoon of 4 November 1887 the 2024-ton BISN Co. vessel, Duke of Sutherland (Captain JS Cox), left the Royal Albert Docks and proceeded to Gravesend where, on the following day, it embarked 483 immigrants who were intent on beginning a new life in Queensland. On board as remittance passengers when the ship weighed anchor a little before midnight were six members of the Graham family from County Fermanagh, Ireland—Alexander (38 58?), Elizabeth (33? 53?), John (18), William (15; d. 13 June 1902), Rebecca (11, b. 19 June 1870) and Maria Matilda (9) whose ashes lie in God’s Acre. Alexander is listed as a farmer and his sons as farm labourers.

Two other Graham children, older than the above siblings, are mentioned on their parents’ death certificates—Robert and Elizabeth. This researcher has yet to find any evidence that Robert emigrated to Australia (perhaps he married and remained in Ireland). However, Elizabeth definitely travelled to Brisbane. She married George Daughtrey, the son of George and Eliza (née Stanford) Daughtrey on 16 August 1889. Elizabeth died on 15 June 1940 and was buried in the South Brisbane Cemetery in the grave (18/6 4A 128) that had already received the remains her husband who passed away on 18 May 1922.

only death en route was that of an able seaman named Wylie who fell overboard on 26 November.

Alexander was a dairy farmer in Cooper’s Plains for many years.

Elizabeth Coulter, the daughter of William Coulter (a farmer), was born in Dromore, County Tyrone, Ireland. Her death certificate indicates that she was 18 when, in the same county, she married Alexander Graham. Elizabeth died on 11 August 1915 at the age of 81 and, leaving her husband and five children to mourn her passing, was laid to rest in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery on the following afternoon. The funeral left from the family residence ‘Glenairlie’, Salisbury. Present at the graveside in an official capacity were: Abraham Hislop (undertaker), the Reverend Robert S Hay of the Church of England, Tom William Spring and John W Hislop (witnesses).

Alexander Graham, the son of John and Margaret (née Brown) Graham, was born in Fermanagh, Ireland about 1828 and died on 9 March 1920. On the following afternoon, his remains were taken from his late residence in Salisbury for burial in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery beside those of his wife. This plot would later receive the remains of two of their children and a daughter-in-law. Assisting at the burial were: John W Hislop (undertaker), the Reverend JS Needham of the Church of England, and GW Sims and DB Hughes (witnesses).

John Graham, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth Graham, was born in the small village of Kesh, County Fermanagh, Ireland, about 1857. On 6 May 1914 he married Sarah Gerety, in the Congregational Manse at Moorooka. John was a dairy farmer at Cooper’s Plains until his death at 83 in the Brisbane Hospital on 30 July 1940. The funeral service in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery was conducted by the Reverend JM Teale of the Church of England in the presence of John W Hislop (undertaker) and E Bamberry and G Hughson (witnesses).

Sarah Graham, the daughter of Thomas (a butcher) and Eliza (née Slack) Gerety, was born in Ipswich, Queensland, on 26 March 1860. Her twin sister Ann died two days later. Sarah passed away on 15 June 1930 and was buried on the following morning in the grave that would later receive her husband’s remains. Those who exercised customary roles in the burial service were: AA Hislop (undertaker), the Reverend J Massingberd Teale of the Church of England, and M Gallein and Tom William Spring (witnesses).

Rebecca Graham, the daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Graham, was born in Fermanagh, Ireland, on 19 June 1870. Having worked for many years as a saleswoman, she died in the Brisbane Hospital on 2 April 1936 and was buried in the family plot in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery on the following afternoon. Those present at the burial in an official capacity were: AA Hislop (undertaker), the Reverend LJ Hobbs of the Church of England, and J Dibble and J Dunstan (witnesses).