Despite a great deal of time and effort, very little information, has been found to indicate how Elizabeth made her way to Australia and thence to Waanyarra.
One romantic story related to her grandchildren, told of her being widowed as Mrs. Hawkins-Black, hailing from Edinburgh and traveling to Australia on the same ship as Michael.
Predictably the tale of a shipboard romance between them unfolds, with a mysterious brother of Michael also vying for the lady’s fair hand.
Michael, who according to another family legend was a defrocked Catholic priest, emerges triumphant, willing to marry Elizabeth despite her refusal to abandon her Presbyterian faith. The brother, being of stronger religious resolve presumably, retires from the contest, never to be heard of again.
This saga reaches its predictable romantic conclusion with a shipboard wedding.
The facts we know do not support this fable. By their own statements recorded on documents, we know when and where they married, that Elizabeth came from Roxburghshire, and Michael’s age and birthplace match the convict records.
At the time of writing, how Elizabeth Hawkins came to Australia remains a mystery. An Elizabeth Hawkins about the correct age and time of arrival in Australia arrived on a ship called “Blonde” in 1848, but hailed from Oxford shire in England.
Another Elizabeth Hawkins is being investigated—her name appears on a record of departures for the Brig “SWAN” which sailed for Port Phillip on April 26th.1849. This listing was made by Police at Georgetown (Launceston), to ensure that only “authorised persons” left Van Dieman’s Land.
This lady maintained that she had arrived in Tasmania aboard the “ROYAL SAXON,” a ship which made several journeys to Tasmania. No shipping list has yet been found to confirm this.
Elizabeth Morton (nee Hawkins) died of stomach cancer at Waanyarra on May 24th.1909, aged (78?). She is buried with Michael in the family grave at Waanyarra.