Tom Tunaley emigrated to Australia in 1911, three months before his wife Margaret (hereafter called "Maggie"... I'll explain why, later) .
On 6th July 1911, Tom boarded the "SS Themistocles" bound for Australia. His cousin William (Bill) John Smith also emigrated with his young family around the same time. Tom and Bill were both carpenters and took their families to Melbourne. Bill and Harriet Smith were close friends of the Tunaleys in Australia and more information about them can be found in The Smiths blogpost on this site.
I'm indebted to Phil Tunaley's amazing website for many of these details as well as Shirley Tunaley in Melbourne. Dr Jane Holmes in New Zealand has also provided a lot of useful information. As Phil Tunaley's website indicates, Tom and Maggie weren't the first Tunaleys to emigrate to Australia. A 34 year-old Thomas Tunaley emigrated in 1868 and 33 year-old Matthew Henry Tunaley in 1881 and a 25 year old Catherine Tunaley in 1885. I've created a separate blog post about these earlier emigrants (thanks to Phil Tunaley's and Jane Holmes' research).
On the passenger list for the "SS Themistocles" in 1911 (below), Tom Tunaley was recorded as a Scotsman (mistakenly, one assumes..). His first name was also wrongly written down as "Thomas" ... probably not the first time that happened, I'm guessing. ..
Three months after Tom Tunaley had set off for Australia, his wife followed him. On 21 October 1911, Tom's wife Maggie sailed out on the "SS Gothic" (pictured top) with her second son, William (Billie) who was nine months old.
Unexpectedly, Maggie travelled to Australia without their eldest child, John Charles Tunaley. Two year-old John was left in the care of his maternal grandparents, Sarah and William Simpson. On the day she was due to depart, Maggie's parents accompanied her and the two children to the ship. When they reached the dock, Sarah Simpson took John out of Maggie's arms and Maggie boarded the ship with only baby William (Billie) who was nine months old.
Here's a picture of John with his grandfather Simpson in England, around that time (from John Tunaley's collection).
Maggie and Billie's names are entered correctly in the passenger list for the SS Gothic (below) as "Mrs M. Tunaley" and "Master W". There is no "Master J." on the list, because John had not come on board with them.
Maggie and Tom Tunaley had intended that both boys would be brought to Australia by Maggie on the "Gothic". Tom Tunaley didn't know that John would be left behind. When he met them off the ship in Port Melbourne, Tom's first words to Maggie on Australian soil were, "Where's John?"
John Tunaley was raised by his grandparents in England. He never saw his mother or father again.