What's in a Name?
Updated: Mar 27
Descent, Vol. 53, No. 3, September 2023, pp. 96–98 (Society of Australian Genealogists)
Book Review
September 2023
Abstract
A heritage controversy in Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point in March 2023 becomes the starting point for tracing an unexpected historical connection between Australia and Jamaica. Focusing on Shafston House, the article follows the origins of its name to the New Shafston Estate in Jamaica, associated with the Pinnock family- an enslaving family whose descendants later migrated to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century.
Drawing on memoirs preserved in the Harrison Papers, alongside historical research, the article explores lived experiences of plantation life, the upheaval of the 1831 Baptist War, and the economic decline of Caribbean estates following emancipation. It also traces the movement of family members to Queensland and New South Wales, situating their story within broader patterns of imperial mobility.
Through the lens of a single place name, the article reveals the entangled histories of empire, migration, and slavery, and reflects on how these legacies continue to shape contemporary understandings of heritage in Australia.