User:Asumoh/Barbara Crawford Thompson

Scottish girl Barbara Crawford Thompson [aged 12 years] was taken from her home in Kent Street Sydney in March 1843. She was relocated to Brisbane by a much older man who took her to wife almost as soom as he had her away from her family. For 18 months this man kept her hidden at Ipswich some thirty miles up river from Brisbane.

On being told of the wreck of a whaling ship with its cargo still intact, William Thompson took his young lady and four seamen on a fateful voyage that would leave Barbara Crawford Thompson alone on an island inhabited by headhunting cannibals until her rescue in October 1849 by the British Survey ship HMS "Rattlesnake".

The true story of Barbara's ordeal can be found in the new book "Wildflower" The Barbara Crawford Thompson Story by Brisbane Historian Raymond J Warren. For over 160 years, her story has been hidden and much erroneous material published about her life, age and possible marriage, now the truth has finally been told.'''