Melbourne became a home to Pierre Leon (also known as Louis) Ivanoff.
Who was he? Did he jump from the ship or tried his luck at goldfields? Was he from Russia or any other country?
Intersting to note that there was a Russian gun-boat stationed in Hobson's Bay in 1871 in Hodge Bay with a midshipman V Ivanoff on board.
'THE RUSSIAN CORVETTE HAYDAMACK.', Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 - 1843; 1854 - 1876), 27 March, p. 3. (EVENINGS), viewed 01 Oct 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65424532
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It is not known when an how he arrived, but he married Emma Rooney in 1876 in Melbourne.
Two kids were born in succession - Peter Francis Ivanoff (1876, died in 1877) and Olga Louise Ivanoff (1878-1923). Olga Louise married George McNamara in 1896. There was possibly another daughter - Ivanoff Dagmar Louisa who married McEwan Archibald Chas in 1902.
It appears from the article below that the couple separated by early 1880. Emma "for the past few months had been living apart from her husband, lodged with a blacksmith named John Griffiths". Emma died in May 1880.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197539554/emma-ivanoff
INQUESTS. (1880, May 24). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.
: 1848 - 1957), p. 7. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5972360
Did Pierre Leon remarry? In Melbourne's records there is another girl Dogmar Louise Ivanoff (1883-1928) who married Archibald McEwan in 1902. Since she was born after the death of Emma, then Pierre fathered her to another woman. BDM Victoria does not have a record of this marriage and Dogmar's birth.
"The evidence of Leon Ivanoff, better known as Wilson, was taken to the effect that on the day in question he went to Rigaldi's house for the purpose of obtaining lodgings"
Pierre Leon died in 1907 and burried in the same grave as Emma.