September 2025 marks the 200th Anniversary of the arrival of our forebears John Ward Gleadow and Diana Harriet Kearton in Hobart Town.  Their arrival on 11th September 1825 is recorded in the ‘Hobart Town Gazette’ which describes how “The Andromeda from Gravesend brings a cargo of goods and passengers to this colony” including amongst the passenger list a “Miss Kirton”, and a “Mr John Gleadow”, who of course married in Hobart the following year, and the rest is (our) history.  The newly married couple moved to Launceston later that same year. 

Most of the Gleadows in Australia are descended from John and Diana and we plan to commemorate the bicentenary of their arrival. The main events will be in and around Launceston on Saturday 6th September 2025 and we do hope you will join us. There will be an optional side trip to Hobart to visit Birches Bay, about 40 km south of Hobart, on Monday 8th September, exactly 200 years to the day after they first made landfall in Tasmania at that site, and a possible short trip on the reconstructed 19th Century sailing ship, the Lady Nelson.

Please register your interest (even if you have told us before) so we have an accurate record of the likely number of people attending the events. This website will be updated regularly during this year, so please come back from time to time to get the latest news. John and Diana’s, ship the Andromeda, departed from Gravesend in Kent on 28th April so we will follow their voyage to Van Diemen’s Land from 28 April 2025 on the ‘Voyage’ page.