After a tiring journey of 109 days the Subraon arrived safely in Sydney on 12 April 1848.
For the Fitzpatricks the journey did not end there, for just one month later they boarded the schooner Thetis bound for Port Phillip.
The Sydney Morning Herald on 11 May noted the departure of the Thetis the previous day:
[Note that this vessel should not be confused with the 460 ton barque of the same name which landed in Sydney on 27 May with 230 immigrants.]DEPARTURE.
May 10.-Thetis, schooner, 94 tons, Captain Collins, for Port Phillip. Passengers-Mr. Hart, Mr. and Mrs. Lock, Mr. and Mrs. Carruthers and child, Mr. Allen, Mr. T. Fitzpatrick, Mr. and Mrs. James Fitzpatrick and child, Mrs. Hogan, and Denis Callaghan.
Stormy weather and rough seas caused delays on the journey to Port Phillip, and when the Thetis entered Bass Strait, conditions had still not improved greatly. Upon trying to enter the Port Phillip Heads on the night of Friday 26 May, the vessel struck a reef and keeled over. The two Fitzpatrick children were quickly swept away. Their parents were helped down onto the reef, but in a state of sheer exhaustion, from which they couldn't recover. Michael Fitzpatrick and the remaining passengers and crew managed to survive the ordeal and make it to the nearby Pilot Station. There is a graphic account of the grounding and subsequent rescue in the Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser Mon 29 May 1848. http://www.rootschat.com/links/01n2g/
[Coincidentally, early last year I made the crossing of Port Phillip Heads on the ferry, and would have passed within a short distance of where the Thetis went down.]
There is a sequel to this story in that on 26 October of the same year the barque Subraon was wrecked when departing Wellington Harbour. Fortunately all passengers and crew were rescued in that incident. This highlights the dangers of sea travel during the sailing era.