*Macquarie Lighthouse, where* *Emmanuel Silva was* *assistant lighthouse keeper in the 1860s*

WILSON da SILVA

IN the early 1830s, a Portuguese sailor on a whaling vessel jumped ship and settled in Watsons Bay, became a crewman on a long boat, and established a family tradition in maritime affairs. Today, his direct descendant is the manager of all Port Jackson.

“It’s interesting to have a maritime heritage stretching back that far,”said Mr Eric Silva, port manager for the Maritime Services Board. “I’ve been involved in maritime activity all my life, and at least three of my forebears were too.”

In the early days, when Watsons Bay was an outpost and a fishing village, it attracted many foreign sailors who, impressed by the thriving new colony, settled around South Head.

This weekend, the Portuguese Ambassador will declare Watsons Bay and a Portuguese village (yet to be named) as sister villages in recognition of the part played by many Portuguese in Australia’s early history.

A brief history of the Silva family’s Australian heritage is recorded below:

In the 1830s Emmanuel Silva, a sailor from Faial in the Azores, left a US whaling ship and began work at Port Jackson on a butcher boat, rowing out to vessels as they entered the Heads and selling provisions.

In 1851, after working briefly for customs, he fossicked for gold at Lambing Flats. He made a small fortune, then followed the gold rush to Queensland but was robbed by a highwayman. He returned to Watsons Bay where he managed The Gap Hotel.

In the 1860s, Emmanuel became the assistant lighthouse keeper at Macquarie Lighthouse, Watsons Bay. He married an Irish immigrant, Ester McEvoy, and retired in 1888.

Emmanuel’s son, Frederick, who was born at the lighthouse in 1860, took over as assistant keeper when his father died. In 1882 Frederick married Julia Rosa Jacinto, also of Portuguese descent. The couple stayed at the lighthouse for 35 years, bearing a son, James, in 1891.

In 1902 Emmanuel, by now a Watsons Bay identity, died aged 102. A sketch of him was published in The Sydney Morning Herald, and many attended his funeral.

James Silva served in World War I, returning in 1915 to take up service with the then State Department of Navigation as a relieving signalman, and was posted to Ballina.

James was promoted to a signalman, and for 11 years worked at Ballina, where in 1930 a son, Eric, was born. In 1938 James was promoted to a signalmaster and posted to Newcastle.

In 1948 the family returned to Watsons Bay, James taking up the post of signalmaster at South Head signal station.

In that same year Eric Silva obtained his leaving certificate and joined the Maritime Services Board as a junior engineer. He studied at night for five years, then over another three years converted his diploma into a civil engineering degree.

Except for three weeks after leaving school, the MSB has been his only employer. Today he works 12 floors above Circular Quay, serving as the ultimate port authority on Sydney Harbour.

Wilson da Silva

NEWS | Portuguese role in Watsons Bay's past