Anna-Marie Adelskšld
| First name | Anna-Marie |
|---|---|
| Last name | Adelskšld |
| Country of Origin | Sweden |
| Date of Birth | 3/18/1858 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1886 |
| Submitted by | Ann Marie Yee |
Story
Anna-Maria Svensson-Linde was born in 1858 to Hedda Nystršm of Jšnkšping (Sweden). Very little is known about her life in Sweden except that she and most of her siblings were born out of wedlock and she used the surname Svensson-Linde because these were her father and stepfather’s names.
Anna-Maria arrived in Port Phillip, possibly accompanied by her mother, on the SS Salier on 29 August 1886. Three weeks later she was married at the Port Melbourne Registry Office to Claes Anders Adelskšld, elder son of Claes Adolf Adelskšld, Sweden’s greatest railway engineer.
Claes Anders had first come to Australia as a twenty year old. He was an apprentice on the SS China (sailing from Galve in Sweden) and was at sea for over two years on that occasion. He made several more trips to Australia in the next ten years and in 1884 he was listed as ‘missing’ though the following year he arrived in Australia as a passenger on the SS Garrone. It\’s believed he had been banished to Melbourne to get him away from some trouble in Sweden but nobody knows for sure why he had to leave. It\’s likely that his aristocratic family did not approve of Anna-Maria as she would have been considered a most unsuitable match for him.
Their first child, Hilda Maria Sofia Australia, was born in South Melbourne in 1887. The family subsequently moved to a house in Punt Road and lived there for most of their lives. There were six girls (all became school teachers) and one son, Claes Adolf Melbourne, who was a Patrol Officer in New Guinea. Anna-Maria and Claes Anders raised their children as if they were living in Sweden still and they were active in the Swedish community all their lives. The children grew up thinking they would ‘return home’ (to Sweden) at any moment, but it never eventuated. After leaving home Claes Anders didn\’t ever see any of his family again. Anna-Maria made one trip back by herself in 1907. When Claes Anders was quite old he gave a speech saying how lonely the life of an immigrant was. After all those years he still missed home and his family!
Anna-Maria and Claes Anders both died in the 1930s (in the house in Punt Road). Their son did not have any children so the name Adelskšld only survived for two generations in Australia.