In 1851 Harry was living as a 16 year old with his Bartlett grandfather, an innkeeper in Bideford, Devon, whilst his mother was in nearby Holsworthy.
Harry arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on 5 July 1857 on the Gilmore which had departed Plymouth on 7 March, with his sister Amelia Lucy and mother Mary Anne Ribouleau Bartlett, née Perrers, entered on the ship's manifest as Harry Bartlett, age 21, born Middlesex (but his sister and mother born Holsworthy, Devon), occupation labourer.
[4] He soon went to Woolundunga Station, near Port Augusta, and there met John McKinlay, the noted explorer, whom he accompanied on a trip to the Barrier country.
At that time the only buildings in Port Lincoln were a couple of shanties owned by Captain Bishop (later owner of Boston Island), and "Jimmy" Owen.
He spent several years prospecting on Kangaroo Island, and Yorke Peninsula from Franklin Harbour to the Gawler Ranges, gaining an intimate knowledge of the country.
Etienne had been a French Protestant Huguenot who fled his native Ile de Ré in France, was granted denization in England in 1687, and settled as a distiller in Hammersmith outside London.