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Page 1 of 3 Diary of Sarah Ann BrayNotesThis is the earliest of the diaries kept by a passenger on the City of Adelaide. It was the maiden voyage and Miss Sarah Ann Bray 20 was travelling with her parents and sister Blanche Louisa 16 to South Australia. Her parents Tom Cox Bray (1815-1881) and Sarah (Pink) Bray (1813-1877) were making a nostalgic trip back to Adelaide to visit their younger son John Cox Bray. Once a humble shoemaker family, they were now able to enjoy the first class saloon on the brand new City of Adelaide during its maiden voyage. Sarah Ann Bray's diary is a useful account and gives a different perspective to the other diaries. Although the entries are brief they give comment on the weather and sea conditions, the way passengers passed time, how they interacted with the crew, and especially the respect which the master of the ship was afforded. The original was unclear in places so some words have been shown as underscore. Sarah's brother they were visiting in Adelaide became The Honourable Sir John Cox Bray, KCMG, JP the first native-born Premier of South Australia. He was also the first South Australian-born man to serve as Speaker, and Agent-General for the State. Sarah Ann Bray (1844-1908) was born at Adelaide in March 1844. She married John Smith Kerr (1840-1918) in December 1869 at Kidbrooke in Kent. He was a tea and sugar merchant from Greenock, Scotland. They had 5 children - two sons and then three daughters, all born in Scotland at Garnethill, Kelvinside, Glasgow.
Sarah Ann’s younger son, Charles Ferguson Kerr (1873-1923) married Kathleen Marie Taylor in 1907 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, Ulster. He died in Scotland at "Egremont", Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire. The three girls - Ethel May (1875-1942), Alice Violet (1877-1948), and Amy Edith Kerr (1879-1954) never married and, like their parents, died at "Rosemount", Greenock in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The elder son John Henry (1871-1934) became The Honourable Sir John Henry Kerr, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., colonial governor in British India. He was created a Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, and a Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India in 1922. Educated at the Glasgow Academy, the University of Glasgow, then Clare College, Cambridge, John Kerr had joined the Indian Civil Service in 1892. In turn he was settlement officer, Bihar; collector of Midnapore; Director of Land Records, Bengal; Deputy Secretary to the Government of India ; Revenue Secretary to the Government of India; Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal; (Finance) member of the Bengal Executive Council; Governor of Assam; acting Governor of Bengal; and Deputy Chairman of the Indian Franchise Committee. He retired only a year or so before his death. He was married in 1898 at Christ Church, Muzaffarpur, Tirhut, Bihar, India, to Minnie Julia Wilson, grand-daughter of the Chief Judge of Mauritius. They had two daughters and two sons, the elder of whom, John Minden Kerr, was a brigadier in the British army. Sir John died in April 1934 at his residence “Fairstead” in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. He was survived by Lady Kerr until January 1957.
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