James Cummins a bootmaker from Blessington, Wicklow, Ireland sailed to Port Adelaide per the Golden Sea arriving on 30th March 1876. His wife, Teresa, and daughter, Julia, had died in Blessington. James was accompanied on the journey by his children, Bridget, Peter, Matthew and Mary Anne, as well as his son in law, Michael Crowley. The South Australian Advertiser lists the family under the surname Commons and the Register records them under Commins. Michael and Mary Anne Crowley are listed under the surname Grooley in the Advertiser and Gronby in the Register.

The family resided in Kensington SA and James Cummins and Michael Crowley worked as cabdrivers. Bridget Cummins married Johann Gerhard Diedrich Frerichs and had ten children, of whom two sons, Jack and Frank, were killed in WWI. Matthew Cummins married Ellen Eliza Christina Prentice (nee Cutting) and settled in Uraidla SA. In 1884 Michael and Mary Anne Crowley moved to Pyrmont NSW with their three daughters, Mary Therese, Catherine and Isabella. They had four children in NSW- James, Elizabeth, Michael and Matthew.