David MOORE described himself as a "Dairy Man" when he married Jane COKER in 1846 at St George, Hanover Square (London, England). On Christmas Day 1852, David and Jane MOORE, with their daughters Mary aged 5 and Sarah aged 3, as well as baby son William, sailed from Deptford (London) in the barque Sacramento for the long voyage to the gold rush in Victoria, Australia.
On April 26th as they approached Port Phillip (Melbourne), the Sacramento struck the Point Lonsdale Reef, about a mile from shore and 4 miles from the lighthouse. At 3 am the longboat, lifeboat and 2 smaller boats began landing the 250 passengers. Some were taken straight to the shore and others were landed temporarily on the reef in case the ship broke up rapidly. The ship was carrying ₤60,000 in coins for Colonial Banks. Most of the coins were landed safely, but most of the passengers' luggage was lost.
So David, Jane and family landed in the new colony with only the clothes they were wearing. David indentured himself for 12 months as a farm labourer, thus earning a salary of ₤60. He then took the family to Lexton (a gold mining district) where he worked as a labourer, and presumably did some fossicking as well. David and Jane had the following children:
- Mary Jane MOORE who married Charles Wilson CONNELL, and after she was widowed, married again to George MILLS
- Sarah Ann MOORE who married Edward CARTER
- William Melbourne MOORE
- Emma MOORE who married Charles LOFT
- Ruth MOORE who married Edward TOPP
- Ellen MOORE who married George Thomas CORPS
- Edward MOORE who married Lucy Ellena THICKINS