AUSTRALIAN
SETTLERS
culture & heritage MAGAZINE
1788
FIRST FLEET BENNELONG THE ROCKS SYDNEY COVE ROBERT CAMPBELL
ROSE HILL PARRAMATTA BILLY BLUE NORFOLK ISLAND
1791 MATTHEW EVERINGHAM START OF WHALING 1792
w w w . a u s t r a l i a n s e t t l e r s . c o m
2ND EDITION
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Billy Blue's Octagonal Cottage
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www.jwtpublishing.com.au COVER IMAGE Billy Blue's Octantal House, Built by Lachlan Macquarie.
Our Next Edition
JULY 2022 No.3
AUSTRALIAN READ NOW SETTLERS Online MAGAZINE www.australiansettlers.com PAGE 06
editor's note 2ND EDITION
Our past footprints It shapes us, teaches us, and affects our character development and growth, but it shall not define us.
JOHN TOZELAND Welcome to the June Edition of Australian Settlers, jam packed with stories and features looking back at 1788 to 1792. We highlight interesting information about the arrival of the first fleet to the settlement in Sydney Cove, Parramatta and Norfolk Island. We feature Bennelong, Billy Blue Matthew Everingham and the Rose Family Lines.
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Grandparents are for stories about things of long ago. Granddads are for caring about all this things you know. Grandmas are for rocking you and singing you to sleep. Grandparents are for giving you treasured memories to keep. Grandparents are for knowing all the things you're dreaming of... But, the most important thing of all, Grandparents are for love.
By Giuseppe Antonelli Contributed By Private collection (from 'Galleria universale di tutti i popoli del mondo'. vol III. Venice, 1838-1842)
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Enjoy this edition as we prepare the next edition for July. Remember to get in touch to share your stories.
PAGE 07
ISSUE 02
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inside the issue 10- 19
1778 On May 13, 1787, the “First Fleet” of military leaders, sailors, and convicts set sail from Portsmouth, England, to found the first European colony in Australia, Botany Bay.
21 - 27 Bennelong
He lived on like this for 18 years, a reject of both black and white. Much of his time, forsaking Bennelong Point, he spent in the bush, but with frequent sorties into Sydney.
36 - 46 Campbell's Wharf Scottish born Robert Campbell, was destined to play such a leading part in the young settlement, as first merchant banker, pastoralist, shipowner, and philanthropist. Credited for crafting the foundations to Australian Commerce and Industry.
53 - 57 Norfolk Island
The first European known to have sighted and landed on the island was Captain James Cook, on 10 October 1774. on his second voyage to the South Pacific on HMS Resolution. He named it after Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk.
58 - 68 Rose Hill - Parramatta It was on or about the 4th November, 1788, that the Governor changed the name of the site of Parramatta from "The Crescent" to that of "Rosehill", in compliment to George Rose, who was a personal friend of the Governor, and had held office in the Pitt Ministry.
PAGE 08
AUSTRALIAN SETTLERS MAGAZINE
1778 REVOLUTIONARY ERA
PAGE 14
STORIES
THE “FIRST FLEET” OF MILITARY LEADERS, SAILORS, AND CONVICTS SET SAIL FROM PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, TO FOUND THE FIRST EUROPEAN COLONY IN AUSTRALIA, BOTANY BAY.
TRADITIONAL ABORIGINAL
BENNELONG
FIRST FLEET
PAGE 10-19 THE EORA PEOPLE,
AT AT SYDNEY SYDNEY COVE COVE IN IN 1788 1788
PAGE 28-31 THE ROCKS
OWNERS OF THE LAND IN THE SYDNEY AREA. THEIR LIVES CHANGED FOREVER. BENNELONG. BALLOODERRY.
PAGE 21-27
ARABANOO.
AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST TOMBSTONE, ERECTED IN 1778
ROBERT CAMPBELL
PAGE 32
PAGE 32
PAGE 36-46
PAGE 20
COOKS
WILLIAM ROBERT CAMPBELL WAS THE FIRST SON OF HON.
CAMPBELL WAS THE SECOND SON OF ROBERT
ROBERT (II) CAMPBELL WHO'S FATHER WAS ROBERT CAMPBELL OF THE THE CAMPBELLS OF DAWES PT. AND
CAMPBELL AND BORN AT CAMPBELL'S WHARF, THE ROCKS IN SYDNEY,
WHALING
PAGE 47-51
PAGE 46 EVERINGHAM
GEORGE
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1791
COTTAGE CANBERRA.
IN HIS DAY, BILLY BLUE WAS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN FIGURES IN SYDNEY. HE WAS DAILY TO BE SEEN IN GEORGE STREET.
1791
PAGE 89-92
PAGE 78
BLACK COMMODORE BILLY BLUE
PAGE 84-92
1790
WILLIAM ROBERT CAMPBELL
HON. ROBERT (II) CAMPBELL
AUSTRALIA. IN 1810
JOHN ( 9TH AND LAST LAIRD OF ASHFIELD) CAMPBELL
"MERCHANT" CAMPBELL OF "THE WHARF," SYDNEY—THE COLONY'S FIRST FREE TRADER, THE FATHER OF AUSTRALIAN COMMERCE, BANKER, GRAZIER, EDUCATIONIST, CHURCH BENEFACTOR, AND A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
1790
NORFOLK ISLAND
PAGE 53-57 WHALING BEGAN IN AUSTRALIA IN 1791 AND QUICKLY BECAME AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE COLONIAL ECONOMY. IT MADE UP HALF OF THE EXPORT INDUSTRY IN NEW SOUTH WALES IN THE 1830S.
PAGE 09
1778 REVOLUTIONARY ERA From 1775 to 1783, Americans fought and won a War of Independence against Great Britain – a nation that was arguably the world’s most powerful in the late eighteenth century. This event not only created the new United States, but also reverberated across the Atlantic World. As such, the founding of Australia can be seen as a prime example of the way the revolutionary era was globally transformative.
After the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1776 halted penal transportation to the Thirteen Colonies, British prisons started to overcrowd. Several stopgap measures proved ineffective, and the government announced in December 1785 that it would send convicts to parts of what is now known as Australia. France entered the American Revolutionary War in 1778, and assisted in the victory of the Americans seeking independence from Britain (realised in the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
The example of the American Revolution was one of the many contributing factors to the French Revolution. Following the American Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was well received in France, both by the general population and the educated classes. The Revolution was perceived as the incarnation of the Enlightenment Spirit against the “English tyranny.” Benjamin Franklin, dispatched to France in December of 1776 to rally her support, was welcomed with great enthusiasm, as numerous Frenchmen embarked for the Americas to volunteer for the Patriot war effort. Motivated by the prospect of glory in battle or animated by the sincere ideals of liberty and republicanism, volunteers included the likes of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, and La Fayette, who enlisted in 1776.
JULY 10 1778
LOUIS XVI OF FRANCE D E C L A R E S W A R O N T H E K I N G D O M O F G R E A T B R I T A I N
Comte d'Estaing speaking to an officer with a captured British flag during the French conquest of Grenadas By Jean-Louis de Marne (1752-1829)
The Kingdom of France was a long-time rival of England and then England-centric Great Britain. To name an example of their conflicts, it lost every single one of its North American holdings in 1763 because of the Seven Years’ War, meaning that it was eager for an opportunity to take revenge. Said chance came when Great Britain fell out with its American colonies.
Initially, the French government preferred more covert forms of support. For www.australiansettlers.com
example, it sold gunpowder as well as ammunition. Similarly, it made French ports available to American ships predating upon British merchant vessels. On top of this, the French government even provided economic assistance. All of which contributed to the Americans’ ability to stay in the war despite Great Britain’s much superior resources.
Battle of the Virginia Capes By V. Zveg
PAGE 11
The establishment of the Trust came out of a growing realisation that the State was the custodian of a steadily expanding number of the finest and most important houses in New South Wales … Our first chairman Peter Stanbury, 1982
Museum of Sydney Sydney Living Museums
Sydney Living Museums cares for a group of 12 of the most important historic houses, gardens and museums in NSW on behalf of the people of NSW. Our purpose is to enrich and revitalise people’s lives with Sydney’s living history, and to hand the precious places in our care and their collections on to future generations to enjoy. We bring our museums to life through a dynamic and diverse program of exhibitions, research and events such as walks, talks and tours so that our visitors can experience Sydney's past as if they had lived it themselves. We were established in 1980 as the Historic Houses Trust of NSW to manage, maintain and interpret buildings and places of historic importance for the education and enjoyment of the public. In 2013 we launched our new identity as Sydney Living Museums to refresh and unify our diverse range of properties and highlight our role and relevance for current and future generations.
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Sydney Living Museums is a State Cultural Institution, along with the Art Gallery of NSW, State Library of NSW, Sydney Opera House, the Australian Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. The State Cultural Institutions report to the Minister for the Arts, and form part of the Arts Screen and Culture Division of the NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet.
Historic Houses Trust of NSW, incorporating Sydney Living Museums, cares for significant historic places, buildings, landscapes and collections. It is a statutory authority of, and principally funded by, the NSW Government. Discover our places, stories and collections online and across our social channels. Stay connected to be inspired and entertained. #DiscoverSLM ELIZABETH BAY HOUSE • ELIZABETH FARM • HYDE PARK BARRACKS • JUSTICE & POLICE MUSEUM • MEROOGAL • THE MINT • MUSEUM OF SYDNEY • ROSE SEIDLER HOUSE • ROUSE HILL ESTATE • SUSANNAH PLACE • VAUCLUSE HOUSE • CAROLINE SIMPSON LIBRARY & RESEARCH COLLECTION • www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au
PAGE 12
Rochambeau and Washington ordering at Yorktown; Lafayette, bareheaded, appears behind
Initially,
French
The process started with the forming of an alliance on February 6
preferred
of 1778, which came complete with France’s formal recognition of
the
government
forms
of
the United States of America as an independent country in its
example,
it
own right. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Great Britain reacted with
sold gunpowder as well as
hostility, as shown by the two countries’ declaration of war upon
ammunition.
one another.
more
covert
support.
For
made
Similarly,
French
it
ports
available to American ships predating
upon
British
merchant vessels.
Hector, Comte d’Estaing. The British could’ve intercepted the fleet but refrained because they were concerned that a separate fleet at Brest could be used to launch an invasion of Britain itself,
On top of this, the French
something that was considered by the French but rejected
government even provided
because of the logistical challenges involved.
economic assistance. All of
Besides this, France also won the diplomatic game in this
which contributed to the Americans’ ability to stay in the
war
despite
Britain’s
much
Great
superior
resources. It
particular conflict. It was able to secure the support of Austria, thus
guaranteeing
the
safety
of
its
continental
interests.
Furthermore, it was able to secure the support of both Spain and the Dutch Republic. Spain would eventually join the war against Great Britain in 1779,
the
while the Dutch Republic would eventually have Great Britain
Americans won the Battle
declare war against it in 1780 because of accusations that it had
of Saratoga in 1777 that
violated its neutrality.
the
www.australiansettlers.com
In April, France sent a fleet to North America under Charles
wasn’t
French
realised
until
government
that
they
could
actually win the war. As such, its choices had been reduced
to
either
abandoning the Americans or giving the Americans full assistance. In the end, it was King Louis XVI who decided on the latter course of action.
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; French pronunciation: 2 3 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before he was executed by guillotine.
PAGE 13
1788 On May 13, 1787, the “First Fleet” of military leaders, sailors, and convicts set sail from Portsmouth, England, to found the first European colony in Australia, Botany Bay.
ILLUSTRATION BY E. LE BIHAN. COURTESY STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
A wide variety of people made up this legendary “First Fleet.” Military and government officials, along with their wives and children, led the group. Sailors, cooks, masons, and other workers hoped to establish new lives in the new colony.
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Perhaps most famously, the First Fleet included more than 700 convicts. The settlement at Botany Bay was intended to be a penal colony. The convicts of the First Fleet included both men and women. Most were British, but a few were American, French, and even African. Their crimes ranged from theft to assault. Most convicts were sentenced to seven years’ “transportation” (the term for the sending of prisoners to a usually far-off penal colony). The First Fleet departed from Portsmouth, then briefly docked in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. The ships then crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they took on huge stores of supplies. Then the fleet sailed back across the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa, where they took on even more food, including livestock.
The main portion of the journey was across the entire Indian Ocean, from Cape Town to Botany Bay—they traveled about 24,000 kilometers (15,000 miles) throughout the entire journey. Botany Bay was not as hospitable as the group had hoped. The bay was shallow, there was not a large supply of fresh water, and the land was not fertile. Nearby, however, officers of the First Fleet discovered a beautiful harbor with all those qualities. They named it after the British Home Secretary, Lord Sydney. PAGE 14
Farewell to
to old England
forever Botany Bay [song, 1885] Botany Bay Farewell to old England forever, Farewell to my rum culls as well, Farewell to the well known Old Bailee, Where I used for to cut such a swell; [Chorus] Singing too-ral, li oor-al, li addity, Singing too-ral, li oor-al, li-ay, Singing too-ral, li oor-al, li addity, Singing too-ral, li oor-al, li-ay; There’s the captain as is our commandier, There’s the bo’sun and all the ship’s crew,
There’s the first and the second class passengers Knows what we poor convicts go through; [Chorus] ’Taint leaving Old England we cares about, ’Taint cos we mis-spells wot we knows, But be-cos all we light finger’d gentry, Hops a-round with a log on our toes; [Chorus]
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Oh, had I the wings of a turtle–dove! I’d soar on my pinions so high, Slap bang to the arms of my Polly love, And in her sweet presence I’d die; [Chorus] Now all my young Dookies and Duchesses, Take warning from what I’ve to say, Mind all is your own as you toucheses, Or you’ll find us in Botany Bay; [Chorus]
“Botany Bay” has been a popular song in Australia for many years. It appears to have originated from songs of English theatrical productions, with part of it taken from Dion Boucicault’s stage show “Janet Pride” (1854) and incorporated into another song for the comedic play “Little Jack Sheppard” (1885) by Henry Stephens and William Yardley. “Little Jack Sheppard” played in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Opera House in 1886 and in Sydney at the Theatre Royal in 1887. The Botany Bay song was a huge success and spread throughout Australia by word of mouth, becoming a popular folk song. PAGE 15
1788 Black-eyed Sue and Oh, had I the wings of a turtle–dove! Sweet Poll of Plymouth taking I’d soar on my leave of their lovers pinions so high; who are going to Slap bang to the Botany Bay, Robert arms of my Sayer, 1792. Polly love, Courtesy National Library of And in her sweet Australia. presence I’d die.
"Bound for Botany Bay" There were between 750-780 convicts and around 550 crew, soldiers and family members.
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The First Fleet arrives at Sydney Cove Alexander Borrowdale Charlotte Fishburn Friendship Golden Grove Lady Penrhyn Prince of Wales Scarborough Sirius Supply
From 1788, Botany Bay, in New South Wales, was the "dumping ground" for British convicts. Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain, and the first Governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January and raised the Union Jack to signal the beginning of the colony.
National Museum of Australia
PAGE 16
Aborigines were on the cliffs crying 'Warra! Warra!' 'Begone! Begone!'
Oil Painting by John Allcot.
At Sydney Cove in 1788
By Ernestine Hill.
ON January 26, the Sirius entered the harbour, the flagship of the sorriest fleet that ever sailed the seas. Closely the others followed, the Alexander, Scarborough, Charlotte, Friendship, Lady Penrhyn and Prince of Wales, transports all, and the store-ships Borrowdale, Golden Grove and Fishburn. The Supply, with Phillip aboard, was already at anchor.
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The first white sails in that beneficent blue, they slipped to haven 'all silent and all damned. There were no ringing cheers for the great discovery, no bunting to celebrate the day, but a quiet and business-like landing. The Governor went ashore with his officers, and unfurled the flag on a slope of Sydney Cove. The marines fired some volleys. Phillip proposed the toasts of 'The King and the Royal Family,' and 'Success to the new Colony.' The first Government House, of canvas, was erected, and the work of unloading the stores and of clearing the scrub was begun. In less than a fortnight there was a goodly space in the dense bushland, the human cargoes of the transports were unshipped, and the whole population assembled to hear the official proclamation. The convicts, men and women, were gathered in a great half-circle, closely guarded by the military and the marines. The Judge-Advocate, Captain David Collins, read His Majesty's Commission to Captain Arthur Phillip, and the Acts of Parliament establishing a judicature, and presented the patents under the Great Seal.
Details of Picture: In the left corner is the site of Fort Macquarie, and top left the Tank Stream flowing into the Cove. The Rocks area commands the landscape with its extreme right extending towards Dawes Point. Over the heights is Goat Island — with Balmain beyond — facing Ball's Head, across the stream. In the little bay beyond the Sirius is the site or Flood's Wharf. PAGE 17
1788
At Sydney Cove in 1788 By Ernestine Hill.
Thrice the muskets rattled out a salute, scattering the forest birds, and the Governor stepped slowly forward to address his humble people. Their welcome to their new home was a warning. To those among them not 'perfectly abandoned,' he SAILOR, soldier, nation-builder and offered — though neither he nor they dreamed it — a philosopher, Phillip had won his office heritage of freedom, and of honour and of wealth. by merit alone. He was a humane man, Their industry and good behaviour might compensate but it was not a humane age. for mistakes of the past, and they could win back their self-respect in this country, which he hoped to The way of the transgressor was hard. Cat o' nine make an advantageous and honourable possession of tails was the only applied psychology. Human beings Great Britain. were either good or bad, and nearly all of these were His voice deepened, and his intellectual and not branded. unkindly face grew stern. 'Many of you,' he said, 'are 'They would not wish convicts to lay the innate villains! To punish you will be my constant foundation of an empire,' he wrote, with care, for the peace and safety of the settlement.'
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The Governor and his officers partook of a cold repast in a marquee, the thankless hundreds, freed of their irons, entered into their inheritance. The shimmering bush and the sparkling harbour lay all about them, a sanctuary of forgiveness and forgetfulness, a promise for their children in the happy years to come. A Providence more merciful than men had brought the prodigals from the "Valley of Humiliation" into the light, but their hearts were still in darkness, and they could riot see.
In the tents and hollow trees of their woodland dwelling, they cried for their lost England, and the grime and crime of old ways. In what was to be a land of laughter, nobody laughed but the kookaburras.
prophetic vision of what the years would bring. 'There can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves.'
That was wisdom. Capital punishment he abjured. 'I wished to confine a criminal until the opportunity offered, and then deliver him as prisoner to the natives of New Zealand, and let them eat him. The dread of this will operate much stronger than death. That was his humour. Our Earliest Explorer the Governor divided his colony into four, officers and soldiery, women and men. A night patrol of 12 protected them from savages, black and white. The Supply was sent to establish another convict station at Norfolk Island, and on the way annexed Lord Howe. The little empire was growing. The clearing widened into streets of huts of wattle and daub, and barracks of stone. Some wheat was planted at the Farm Cove, but did not thrive. PAGE 18
Sydney N.S.W 1788
Carmichael, John, 1803-1857 National Library of Australia
"Colony of Disgracefulls” by Marjorie Barnard
When, after infinite hesitations and delays, torn between fear of the French in the Pacific and an ingrained suspicion of the whole theory of empire building so lately discredited by the secession of the United States, the British Government decided to found a "Colony of Disgracefulls” in Australia, Lord Sydney cast about him for a suitable Captain-General of the undertaking. His choice fell on Arthur Phillip, a half-pay naval officer, who had long been pestering the Government for a job. His record was without spot or blemish, he was forty-eight years old, of slender build, delicate, nervous and rather prim looking. Lord Sydney thought that he would be just the man, a worthy mediocrity who would carry out the letter of his instructions and make no fuss. Never was a man more mistaken. Not content with a commission which gave him almost unlimited powers in the new world, Phillip insisted on something that was much more difficult to get, immediate efficiency in the equipment of his fleet. He became a thorn in the Government’s side, taking arms against official apathy and all the black traditions of his job, until he had secured reasonably good conditions for the helpless people he was taking into the unknown. While his surface energies were taken up with stores and accommodation his imagination was engaged with the wider aspects of his command. He looked forward to a brave new beginning under kinder skies. He has left notes written, evidently for his own guidance, at this time. Already he speaks of Australia as "an Empire” and says of her "there can be no slavery in a free land and, consequently, no slaves.” He never seriously modified his attitude.
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By care and good management he brought his fleet of 11 ships, old and small and slow, 3,972 tons burthen in all, safe to port after an eight months’ voyage. He landed 1,500 unwilling settlers on a barren coast to possess a continent. The country supplied neither food nor shelter. The whole of life had to be built up from the beginning. The difficulties were not all material. He had also to create a state. His easiest method would have been to set up a military dictatorship. He chose, instead, to create a democracy, rudimentary from the necessity of things, but still a democracy. Justice was a civil function. There was one law for all. Offenders were tried by officers in uniform but not by court martial. All adults, officers, marines, sailors, convicts, received an exactly similar food ration. Privilege among the officers was resolutely curbed. Without civil officials Phillip supplied the need, where possible, from among the convicts rather than from the soldiery. To conceive the possibility of creating a democratic state out of such material as he had was an act of stupendous faith. It required, also, great moral courage. Phillip protected the helpless majority against the armed minority just as he protected the aborigines, their rights as well as their persons, against his settlers. Duty forced him constantly on to the unpopular side. PAGE 19
A colour engraving of a family of four travelling in the Port Jackson area National Museum of Australia
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The Eora people, traditional Aboriginal owners of the land in the Sydney area. Their lives changed forever. Convict settlement continued to have devastating effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the decades after 1788.
Governor Arthur Phillip attempted to establish open communications with the Eora people, but the wary Eora avoided the settlement.
Phillip also sought to establish harmonious relations with the Eora people, the traditional owners of the land in the Sydney area.
In desperation, Phillip Local man Bennelong not only acted as an captured Arabanoo at conflicts with settlers and intermediary between Manly Cove. He was from diseases, and many detained at Government Phillip and the Eora, but also more suffered from the seems to have enjoyed a House for questioning, but loss of cultural traditions genuine friendship with died of smallpox in May Phillip. and languages. 1789. Thousands died in
PAGE 20
Bennelong ...romantic legend
...unhappy truth BY BRIAN CARROLL
Although Bennelong, left, frequently went about with no clothes at all, he is shown wearing full European dress in this unsigned engraving. Bennelong point is an apt site for Sydney’s Opera House. As Utzon’s noble vision blurs, save in outline, it might seem that the stars which denied Bennelong himself the full fruits of opportunity there are still set in their courses.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Phillip and Bennelong developed a cordial relationship. Phillip was a man who evoked loyalty and affection from all who knew him. For Bennelong he had an even more compelling attraction.
His story, begun in the good intentions of A front tooth was missing from his upper jaw. So Governor Arthur Phillip, eventually led to what partially disfigured the Governor in polite society became for the aborigine a sign that he unhappiness and strife. was one of them. Phillip wanted the aborigines to know that the European invaders came in peace. If he could Bennelong soon took to white man’s food. More, capture one of them, he thought, they could he at once showed a fondness for spirits. He learn each other’s language. So Arabanoo was would drink the strongest liquors, not simply duly taken. But he soon died of smallpox, the without reluctance, but with eager marks of virus of which the strange white men had delight and enjoyment. His powers of mind were certainly above mediocrity. He soon acquired brought with them. knowledge both of the white man’s manners and Arabanoo had been co-operative enough to language.
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encourage Phillip to persevere with his plan. He talked freely, telling all he knew about the After several fruitless sorties, Bennelong customs of his country, and all the details of his and Colbee were captured at Manly. family economy. He sang and danced and Bennelong was judged to be about 26 years old. At five-foot-eight he towered above the majority of his countrymen. Stoutly made, he had a bold, intrepid countenance, which suggested defiance and revenge. Contemporary accounts describe him as courageous, intelligent, vain, quicktempered, liked by children and also “something of a comedian”.
capered. War and love seemed his favourite pursuits. His head was disfigured by several scars, a spear had passed through his arm, another through his leg, and half of one thumb was missing. Bennelong did not take kindly to all white man’s habits. Clothes were given to him, but he did not always condescend to wear them. One day he would, only to be seen next day carrying them in a net slung around his neck.
Within a week Colbee had escaped. Bennelong would have gone with him if his guards had been a moment slower. Still, Bennelong knew how to His relish of white man’s society seemed genuine temporise. He quickly threw off all reserve, and at enough. Hardly anyone thought he would try to least gave the appearance of liking his new state. escape. Yet eventually he did make his getaway.
PAGE 21
Joern Utzon’s Opera House adorns Bennelong Point which received its name because its first habitation was a hut built for the aborigine by order of Governor Phillip. Bennelong’s house was less awe-inspiring than Utzon’s but it was substantial by the standards of the time.
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The white men fell upon hard times, and Bennelong was rationed in food. But two pounds of pork, two pounds and a half of flour, two pounds of rice or a quart of peas, were not enough to see Bennelong, a man of huge appetite, through a week, in fact hardly through a day. Hunger sometimes made him furious, often melancholy. So he left, at two o’clock one morning. Bennelong’s contact with the whites might have been happier had it ended then and there. But it did not. Four months later he met them again. He was one of a group of natives feasting off a dead whale at Manly, when a party from Sydney came upon them. Bennelong soon came forward when his name was called out. He was quick to ask if they had any hatchets for him, but settled instead for two or three shirts, some handkerchiefs, knives and other trifles. He was not very successful in showing his fellows how to put on a shirt, but menaced any white man who tried to help. He had grown a long beard, which seemed to annoy him. When he asked for a razor, scissors were produced, and he quickly showed that he had not forgotten how to use them. He put three or four great chunks of the whale in the boat as a present for Phillip.
Hearing of the encounter when his boat and that of the party from Sydney met in mid-harbour, the Governor hurried to the spot. Bennelong appeared glad to see his old acquaintance. He enquired by name after every person he could recollect in Sydney. Phillip uncorked a bottle of wine, and poured Bennelong a glass. He drank it with all his former show of relish, not forgetting to toast the King. After half an hour of such pleasantry, there was some kind of misunderstanding. Phillip was hit by a spear, which pierced his shoulder, and wounded him badly. Bennelong took no part in the incident, but nevertheless disappeared in the resulting fracas. A week later, some settlers went to the north shore, where smoke signals had been seen. They found Bennelong and several other aborigines. Much civility was exchanged, and they agreed to meet again that very afternoon in the same place. Both sides honoured this engagement. Bennelong was given a hatchet and a fish, a bottle of wine, some bread and some beef. His friends agreed to taste the beef, but none would accept bread. Bennelong was shaved by a barber in the settlers’ party, which won him the great admiration of his fellows, who laughed and exclaimed at the operation. Although they would have no part in being shaved themselves, they did permit their beards to be trimmed with scissors.
PAGE 22
There was regular contact after that, the white men usually rowing across the harbour to see the aborigines. After three weeks, Bennelong decided to go to Sydney to see the Governor. With three friends, he went back in one of the visiting boats. In Sydney, Bennelong expressed his joy at seeing his old friend, and was glad to find that he had recovered from his wound. Food was given out, and each aborigine presented with a hatchet. Bennelong made himself at home in the Governor’s house, where he had lived during his earlier stay in Sydney. He rushed from room to room with his companions, introducing them to his old friends in a most familiar manner. He explained the use and nature of things that were new to his compatriots, who were much impressed with his knowledge. Once they tired of their Sydney visit, Bennelong and his friends were returned to the north shore. From then on, Bennelong’s affairs became more and more interwoven with the strange white men. To encourage him to stay nearby, Phillip decided to build him a house. Bennelong himself chose the site, on the headland between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, which has since borne his name. Before that, Bennelong had called it Jubigalee.
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The Mitchell Library has an original watercolour showing Bennelong Point, as seen from Dawes Point. Thought to have been painted about 1810, it shows a hut on the foreshore, most likely the one that Phillip built for Bennelong. Less imposing than Utzon’s, it was substantial by the standards of the time. Made of brick, it was 12 feet square. Bennelong moved in with his cronies in the middle of 1790. Bennelong’s friendship with Phillip flourished. So much so that when the Governor returned to England, Bennelong went with him, quite cheerfully, and quite voluntarily. Another aborigine, Yemmerrawannie, also went with them, when they sailed out of Sydney Harbour in the Atlantic on December 10, 1792. In England, as well as being presented to King George 111, Bennelong saw many strange things, including his first snow. Cold weather however, was so severe that Yemmerrawannie died, Bennelong became very ill, and it was decided to send him home in the Reliance. But the ship was held up in Plymouth Sound for four months before sailing. Governor Hunter, who joined the same ship, wrote that Bennelong’s health was very precarious, because of cold, homesickness, and disappointment at the long delay, which had much broken his spirit.
In a letter to Joseph Banks on 3 December 1791 Phillip wrote: “I think that my old acquaintance Bennillon will accompany me whenever I return to England…from him, when he understands English, much information may be obtained for he is very intelligent.” Bennelong eventually went to England with Arthur Phillip, but when he returned, he became less popular with Europeans as well as his own people. Trading had now begun in Sydney. People like Balloderee in Parramatta established themselves as commercial fishermen. Others like Pemulwuy traded kangaroo meat for tools etc. It was not long before new problems arose…
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Bennelong’s name has been widely used around Sydney since it was first bestowed on Bennelong Point in the 1790’5. The Maritime Services Board of New South Wales gave the name to its first firefighting tug, ABOVE, built in the early 1950’s.
Bennelong could no longer find contentment or full acceptance among either his own countrymen or the white men. Two years after his return from England, he had become so fond of drinking that he lost no opportunity to get drunk. In that state, he was so savage and so violent as to be capable of any kind of mischief. To his acquaintances, he was distant, and quite In 1798 he was twice badly wounded in tribal the man of consequence, telling them he would battles. not permit them to fight and cut each other’s On one occasion, Colbee was being tried by his throats as they had done in the past. He would fellow aborigines, for some alleged offence. introduce peace among them, and make them Their simple method was to throw spears at the love one another. defendant, a sort of trial by ordeal. When some They were brave but unfulfilled predictions. soldiers rushed in to save Colbee, Bennelong Phillip was no longer there to act as a soothing chose to be in a rage about something. He threw and protecting influence on Bennelong, or to a spear at the soldiers, dreadfully wounding one abate his rages before any real harm was done. of them. From now on, Bennelong’s story becomes one of degradation. There is little of the noble savage He would have been killed on the spot for this, or even the genial rascal about Bennelong after except for the intervention of the provostmarshal. his return from England.
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Once back in Sydney, Bennelong started to show some of his old verve. On his first appearance, he conducted himself with a polished familiarity towards the members of his family.
Finding himself badly received among the women (his wife, Gooroobaroobooloo, who had found another mate, while Bennelong was in England, now disdained him), but not able to endure a life of celibacy, he made an attack on one of his friend’s favourites. He was not only unsuccessful, but was punished for his breach of friendship. Colbee sarcastically asked him if he meant that kind of conduct to be a specimen of English manners.
He was taken away, boiling with rage because he had been hit on the head with a musket butt. When Bennelong was accused of a tribal killing near Botany Bay, he called on the Governor’s protection. He went with a retinue of soldiers to his accusers, and told them that the Governor would not suffer his old friend and fellow voyager to be ill-treated by them on a false charge and that he would drive from Sydney anyone who might be foolhardy enough to make such an attempt.
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He lived on like this for 18 years, a reject of both black and white. Much of his time, forsaking Bennelong Point, he spent in the bush, but with frequent sorties into Sydney.
His wife, Barangaroo, bore him a daughter named Dilboong who died in infancy. Later he took a second wife, Gooroobaroobooloo, but during his absence in England she found another mate, and disdained Bennelong when he returned.
He brawled frequently with other aborigines, usually over women, until he died at Kissing Point in 1813.
Bennelong also had a son who was born in 1800 and was adopted by Rev. William Walker and his wife Anne. They christened him Thomas Walker (Dicky) Coke aka Digidigi Bennelong.
His story set the pattern for many a later encounter between aborigine and European, even to this day. Even so, Sydney has shown little inclination to forget Bennelong. His name has been widely perpetuated since it was first given to Bennelong Point in the 17905.
On Sunday evening, the 8th instant, a very interesting ceremony was performed in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Parramatta. The Rev. William Walker, of the Wesleyan Missionary to the Aborigines of this Colony, publicly baptised the son of Bennelong, of notorious memory; and named him, Thomas Walker Coke.
Source: Walkabout CONTENTS FOR MAY 1968 - VOLUME 34- NUMBER 5 N.S.W. DEPT. TOURIST ACTIVITIES
Digidigi was a son of Bennelong and a woman from the Richmond Clan. He attended the Native Institution but was moved to the household of the Wesleyan Missionary William Walker (hence his baptism).
Digidigi
Maria
Colebee
Maria was the sister of Colebee, she then married Robert Lock (Convict) and they had 11 children together. She died on 6 July 1878 in New South Wales at the age of 73.
Maria "Black Kitty" (Boorooborongal clan) in 1822. married Digidigi, a son of Bennelong (and a member of the Richmond clan through his mother) who had been in the Native Institution. However within weeks of his marriage he became ill and died and was buried in February 1823 at St John's Church of England, Parramatta.
Rose family line 1st cousin 6x removed Maria Boorooborongal clan 1805-1878 James Rose 1831-1916 sister-in-law of paternal grandmother of wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed - father-in-law of paternal grandmother of wife Father of Ephriam Joseph Rose of 2nd cousin 5x removed 5th Great Uncle Richard Lionel Rose 1789-1872 Yarramundi 1760-1818 father-in-law of paternal grandmother of wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed Father of James Rose
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husband of paternal grandmother of wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed
6th Great Grandfather Thomas Rose 1749-1833 Boorooberongal Clan of the Darug Nation 1792-1831 Father of Richard Lionel Rose Son of Yarramundi paternal grandmother of wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed Thomas and Jane Rose (nee) Topp my 6th Great Grandparents Kathleen 'Black Kitty' WARMULI / WEYMALI 1807-1867 and his family together with four Wife of Yellomundi 'Samuel' Coleby Boorooberongal Clan of the Darug Nation other free settlers sailed in the father-in-law of 2nd cousin 5x removed "Bellona £for NSW. Rose and his companions were James Bowen Budsworth "Mudgee Jimmy" 1840-1930 the first free and independent Son of Kathleen 'Black Kitty' WARMULI / WEYMALI settlers to reach Australia. They Cecily Lucy Budsworth 1872-1955 arrived in Sydney on Daughter of James Bowen Budsworth "Mudgee Jimmy" 16 January 1793. Yellomundi 'Samuel' Coleby
wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed
Ephriam Joseph Rose 1865-1943 Husband of Cecily Lucy Budsworth 2nd cousin 5x removed
5th Great Grandfather Thomas Rose 1779-1869 Son of Thomas Rose
4th Great Grandfather William Nelson Rose 1802-1845 Son of Thomas Rose 3rd Great Grandfather Thomas James Rose 1844-1909 Son of William Nelson Rose 2nd Great Grandmother Alice Mary Rose 1873-1903 Daughter of Thomas James Rose Great Grandfather David Thorburn 1892-1971 Son of Alice Mary Rose Grandmother Eileen Louisa "Dolly" Murray 1924-2012 Daughter of David Thorburn
Alice Eileen Murray 1945Daughter of Eileen Louisa "dolly" Murray John Tozeland the son of Alice Eileen Murray
PAGE 25
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Finding Bennelong is a resource which explores the historical evidence and different perspectives about the life of Woollarawarre Bennelong.
This resource provides an overview of Bennelong's life through video narrative, delivered in five thematic sections.
This narrative is designed to be initially explored in order, as the story unfolds. Extensive research material, including quotes and images are also available.
www.findingbennelong.com Episode 4 - First Encounters - Strangers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5nIW6L-KLk
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Woollarawarre Bennelong (c.17641813) and his interactions with the first European settlers make his story one of the most enduring and discussed in Australian history. The grave of Bennelong lies in the suburb of Putney on the banks of the Parramatta River, opposite the region known to Bennelong as Wan, his birthplace. 2013 marks two-hundred years since his death.
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Finding Bennelong tells the story of a man in an extraordinary time, chartering unknown territory in a world of strange new arrivals. Using more recent research and contemporary thoughts on his circumstance, motivation and legacy, Finding Bennelong helps us to better understanding and answer the question: Who really was Woollarawarre Bennelong? Finding Bennelong is a resource that can be shared for the benefit of all communities. By documenting and reflecting on our cultural heritage, Finding Bennelong aims to contribute to community harmony and cultural understandings in contemporary times.
Finding Bennelong is based on historical research by Dr. Keith Vincent Smith, author of Bennelong (2001) and MARI NAWI (2010). Community consultation and additional historical research by Graham Wilson, Susan McIntyreTamwoy and Allen Madden, Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions Pty Ltd www.ahms.com.au Community Consultation was undertaken with the following participants: Allen Madden, Tanya Koeneman, Heidi Norman, Maureen Reyland, Djon Mundine, Craig Madden. Recordings taken from this consultation are available in 2 files: Part 1 and Part 2 City of Ryde Steering Group members: Auntie Kerrie Kenton, Phil Hunt Aboriginal Heritage Office, Dr Keith Vincent Smith, Dr Peter Mitchell, Christopher Ridings, Kathy Maltby Liz Berger, Lexie MacDonald, Angela Phippen, Sarah Shores and Paul Graham.
www.findingbennelong.com PAGE 27
SYDNEY COVE IN 1788:
AN HISTORICAL REMINDER. This engraving depicts the original appearance of the site upon which Sydney, a ''shining city of a hundred spires'' has been built. It is from a sketch by Captain Hunter, taken on the 20th August, 1788, or about seven months after the British colours were first unfurled as a token that henceforth Australia should be a dependency of the Empire.
Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 31 January 1880.
''shining city of a hundred spires''
The picture shows in front the site on which the official residences were first planted: this was a little to the east of the end of what is now known as Pitt Street North, and a little farther south than the existing Circular Quay. In the small bight where the land on each side slopes down to a point in the middle of the sketch, the once famous Tank Stream, that supplied Sydney with water, emptied itself into the Cove.
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The water which occupies the fore part of our picture shallowed in the course of years, and became an unwholesome muddy beach, which was eventually filled up. The space is now occupied by the level land abutting upon the semicircular quay. Our view does not take in sufficient space to the north to include the points to which the quay extends on the east and west. The present Pitt Street runs from a spot between the flagstaff, shown in the engraving, and the place where the small stream flows from between the hills into the Cove. At the time the drawing was taken temporary barracks had been erected. The huts were composed, some of the soft wood of the cabbage palm, others of upright posts wattled with twigs and plastered with clay. One of the most substantial buildings was a hospital, which was on the land shown to the right in the picture, and in the same locality a small observatory had been raised. The first farm was formed on land eastward of the landscape given in this illustration, the space being now partially occupied by the Botanic Gardens. So wonderfully has the city changed the view that our picture of what met the eyes of the pioneer colonists is to us who live in the year 1880 a bit of the truth that is stranger than fiction. PAGE 28
New South Wales in 1788. AN OLD LETTER. We are able to place before our readers the following interesting letter, which a correspondent has accidentally discovered in an old work upon Criminal Statistics, published in 1804. Our correspondent says: I have verified the leading events of which it makes mention in such standard works on Australia as Collins's, Hunter's, and White's, and although I am not in a position positively to name the writer, everything points towards the probability of its being the work of the contractor's agent, who came out (according to the official records) with the expedition. Viewed in the light of later events, it is amusing to read his opinion of this colony as the 'outcast of God's works,' whilst his record of the great scarcity of water with which the little band of adventurers had even in those days to contend with is well worthy of note. My Dear Sir, — I did myself the pleasure to write to you from the Cape of Good Hope on the 17th of November last, and not doubting but you received my letter in due time, I shall not repeat what I then said to you.
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I will endeavour now to give you a short sketch of our passage from the Cape to Botany Bay, and from thence to our present residence, and of the country round us. As far as I can recollect, we sailed from the Cape of Good Hope on the 20th November, 1787, having experienced three weeks' contrary winds and tempestuous weather. We at last doubled the Cape, and afterwards had rather a favourable passage to Botany Bay, where we arrived on the 19th of January, 1788. Here we expected to find a beautiful country, as well as to rest ourselves from our fatigues, at least for two or three years; but you will be much surprised as we were disappointed when I assure you there is not a spot of ground, large enough for a cabbage garden, fit for cultivation within several miles of it, and barely fresh water sufficient to supply our present wants.
Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 8 April 1882.
"However, he at last returned with the pleasing account of having discovered the finest harbour in the world."
The country for several miles round it is either swamps or tugged hills, covered with rocks and trees and underwood; and some barren and sandy, covered with brushwood. Here we lay for some days condoling our hard fate, while his Excellency the Governor explored the coast to the northward. However, he at last returned with the pleasing account of having discovered the finest harbour in the world. Highly elated with this discovery, we quitted Botany (which by the bye, is a beautiful bay, but does not afford safe anchorage all the year round for ships) on the 20th of January, in the morning, and in six hours after arrived at Port Jackson, the harbour above alluded to, which is only 10 or 12 miles to the northward of Botany Bay." On the day following we landed at Sydney Cove (so called by the Governor), where we have fixed our residence and laid a foundation for a colony. I am really not able in describing this harbour, which is, without exception, I believe, the finest in the known world; suffice it to say, that it extends 14 or 15 miles into the country, forming many beautiful bays and coves on every side, which in the summer season abound with variety of fish; but now, being winter, not a fish can be caught. PAGE 29
New South Wales in 1788. AN OLD LETTER. I heartily wish I could say as much of the country round it, which is similar to that of Botany, but not quite so bad. There are some spots here and there, at two or three miles distance from this cove, which may be cultivated. The country has been explored for upwards of 40 miles round us, and hardly one acre of ground could be found in any one place freer from woods or rock; and. what is very singular, no fresh water river, or even a spring has yet been discovered. The water we make use of is the oozing of the hills and swamps, which caused many diseases at the beginning, but now that we are used to it the bad effects have partly ceased. The natives are accurately described by Captain Cook (I wish he had as faithfully described the country).
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They are, I believe, the most miserable of God's creatures ; they are clad in nature's dress, and live chiefly on fish and nuts — which last we are not as well yet acquainted with. Their weapons are long poles, well mounted with hardwood, sharp pointed, and shark's teeth, and all barbed ; which they use indiscriminately in striking fish or assailing their enemies.
Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 8 April 1882.
When kindly treated they seem to be familiar and good natured; still, in my opinion, they are treacherous, for they have murdered three or four of the convicts whom they have met unarmed. I say they are treacherous, because they never attacked any one who was armed. The sight of a musket, if presented, would make a hundred of them scout. They will not suffer their women to be seen if they can avoid it. This miserable state of the natives appears to me to be a sure sign of the poverty of the country. ' The quadrupeds here are few. The kangaroo— for a description of which I refer you to Cook's voyages — is the largest, as far as we know as yet the flesh is coarse and lean, and eats somewhat like very coarse mutton; those that were killed weighed from 50 to 100 pounds, one only excepted, which weighed near 200. The opossum is some what larger than a cat, and is the next in size, the native dogs excepted, which are of the fox kind. There are some other quadrupeds not worth mentioning.
Their working tools are an axe and a chisel — the one a piece of stone, shaped and fixed in a piece of wood ; the other made of an oystershell.
The feathered creation is by no means so numerous as you may suppose, in a wild and woody country ; still they are rare in their kinds. One ostrich and one black swan (the rara avis of the ancients) have been killed, and several more seen. Paroquets, loriquets, and all the species of the parrot kind are very beautiful.
Their huts are few and miserable ; they in general inhabiting the cavities of rocks and hollow trees; which they burn for that purpose.
Different sorts of small birds, totally unknown in Europe, sing pretty wild notes, and are generally of the woodpecker or flycatcher species. PAGE 30
New South Wales in 1788. AN OLD LETTER. The bays frequented by the natives produce wild spinage, celery, paisley, samphire, and wild beans. Some wild grapes have been found in different parts of the country; and a shrub that produces small berries, which are as tart as gooseberries, and make as good pies, grows very common on the hills. The country produces various sorts of flowers unknown in England. There are three or four kinds of trees, which are of little use, except for burning; one only I can except, a species of fur, which may be of use in building. Two very different kinds of these trees produce the same sort of red astringent gum which is used in medicine. A large shrub produces a yellow gum of the tofu kind, with which the natives fasten together their weapons, tackles for fishing, and which may be useful in medicine or for varnish. Of these I will collect what I can at my leisure. Hitherto I have had hardly time to look round me. You may easily suppose the climate is temperate when we can live in marquees now, being the middle of winter, without fire.
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The thermometer rose frequently at noon to 90 in the middle of summer, the time we arrived here, and now seldom higher than 60 at noon, and never lower than 35 the coldest night, which is' three degrees above the freezing point. The rainy season set in three weeks ago, during the whole of which time it has rained incessantly, which we felt the more, being obliged to live in marquees, as I have already told you, having no huts as yet built for us. Having now given you a sketch of this country and its productions, I leave you to form your own opinion of it. I shall only venture to say it will never answer the intentions of Government ; and I make no doubt but we shall be re-called, which I sincerely wish.
Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 8 April 1882.
His Excellency the Governor has set on foot a brick manufactory, which succeeds to his wishes, having already burnt several thousand for his own house. We are all extremely busy in building huts, principally of the cabbage-trees, but only two officers are as yet hutted. You expect, perhaps. I will give you some further account of myself and situation here. On this head I can only say that I am happy in the company of three mess-mates ; no four could be more united or more agreeable to each other. Besides, I have enjoyed a tolerable share of good health, thank God, since I left England. Every officer on this settlement is allowed two acres of land, besides a certain space for a garden near his house. Four of us, uniting our estates, have already sown halfan-acre of wheat, which, I am told by my farmer, promises well. I propose to set a few potatoes next week, which are the produce of some I set on my arrival here, and which answered my expectations. I brought six sheep from the Cape at a great expense, and every one of them is either dead through the badness of this country, or killed by some villains among the convicts, who, in spite of every punishment that can be inflicted, still persist in their former villainous practices. Four of them have been executed since our arrival here, and three more are likely to suffer the same fate very shortly. I forgot to say we had a deal of thunder and lightning, which has done some damage ; and a few days ago we had a slight shock of an earthquake — in short, I believe this country to be the outcast of God's works. I shall have an opportunity to write again in the course of two months by Mr. Sharp, master of the Golden Grove. ' Sydney Cove, July 12, 1788.' PAGE 31
Daily Telegraph. Monday 15 May 1939.
STONE DATED 1778 AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST tombstone, erected in 1778: It was found in 1880 near Circular Quay, during excavation. After being sent to the museum. It went to the Public Library, then to the coach house at Wentworth House. It has been there for four years. Sydney Morning Herald. Saturday 29 April 1939.
HISTORIC TOMBSTONE First Fleet Pioneer There has been placed on exhibition at Vaucluse House a tombstone which marked the grave of George Graves, boatswain on H.M.S. Sirius, flagship, of the first fleet to arrive in Australia, which put into Port Jackson in January, 1788. The tombstone records that Graves, who was 46 years of age, died on July 10, 1788, less than six months after the first settlement was formed at Sydney Cove.
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The tombstone was unearthed in Lower George Street, Circular Quay, about 60 years ago, and for many years was stored under a staircase in the Public Library. The stone was sent to Vaucluse House several years ago, and has now been made available for public inspection.
In Memory of George Graves
The discovery of the tombstone in Lower George Street is probably explained by the fact that the first interments in the colony were made at the rear of Campbell's Wharf. That was before a burial ground was established on the present site of the Town Hall, which was known as the old George Street Cemetery. PAGE 32
Inscribed copperplate found on excavating a telephone wire tunnel at corner of Phillip and Bridge Streets. The plate was embedded in the stone which was laid on 15th May, 1788, forming part of the Governor's residence, pending erection of the first Government House.
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REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE MITCHELL LIBRARY. SYDNEY.
ARTHUR PHILLIP TO LORD SYDNEY, 10 JULY 1788: Anxious to render a very essential service to my country by the establishment of a colony which, from its situation, must hereafter be a valuable acquisition to Great Britain, no perseverance will be wanting on my part, and which consideration alone would make amends for the being surrounded by the most infamous of mankind. Time will remove all difficulties. As to myself, I am satisfied to remain as long as my services are wanted; I am serving my country, and serving the cause of humanity.
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The Rocks
Sydney from the western side of the cove, ca 1803, attributed to George William Evans, (1780-1852).
Campbell's Wharf, which is situated on the western side of Sydney Cove, or, to use more use modern nomenclature, the Circular Quay.
They fenced off gardens and yards, established trades and businesses, built bread ovens and forges, opened shops and pubs, and raised families. They took in lodgers – the newly arrived convicts – who slept in kitchens and skillions. Some emancipists also had convict servants. After November 1790, large numbers of Aboriginal people came into the town to visit and to live
The Rocks is the historic neighbourhood on the western side of Sydney Cove. It rises steeply behind George Street and the shores of west Circular Quay to For convict women in particular, The Rocks above could the heights of Observatory Hill. be a place of opportunity, where they got their start in trade, buildings and land. The dynamic Mary Reibey, It was named The Rocks by convicts who made homes there from 1788, but has a much older name, who arrived as a convict in 1791, started out from a small house in The Rocks, amassed a fortune from Tallawoladah, given by the first owners of this trade and shipping, built a number of fine houses in country, the Cadigal people. Tallawoladah, the rocky headland of Warrane (Sydney Sydney and raised a large family.
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Cove), had massive outcrops of rugged sandstone, and was covered with dry sclerophyll forest of pink-trunked angophora, blackbutt, red bloodwood and Sydney peppermint.
Surrounded by water on three sides, The Rocks was associated with seafaring, waterside workers and the maritime trades for most of its history. It was the link with the wider world, a place of new ideas, things and The Cadigal probably burnt the bushland here to keep people, with sailors from all over the world on shore the country open. Archaeological evidence shows that leave, and with the constant movement of people and they lit cooking fires high on the slopes, and shared goods through the port. meals of barbecued fish and shellfish. Perhaps they While Governor Macquarie had straightened the other used the highest places for ceremonies and rituals. streets of Sydney during the 1810s, those of The Rocks Cadigal women fished the waters of Warrane in bark remained crooked and uneven. canoes. It also remained a convicts' place, for when the men After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Tallawoladah from Hyde Park Barracks (opened in 1819) were became the convicts' side of the town. While the allowed out on Sundays after church 'they run governor and civil personnel lived on the more orderly immediately to that part of the town they call the Rocks eastern slopes of the Tank Stream, convict women and where every species of Debauchery and villainy is men appropriated land on the west. practiced'. PAGE 34
1
3
2
4
5
(1)
(Background) OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE 1788-1845 (Foreground) Billy Blue s octagonal cottage.
(2) MILITARY BARRACKS
1792-1847 (site of Wynyard Park, York Street) (long buildings In background)
(3) ST. PHILIPS CHURCH
1798 1856 (with round tower) (site of Lang Park)
(5) MNG'S WHARF
(4) POST OFFICE
First in Australia.
6
Building erected 1808, demolished 1889. (rear view-two chimneys, it faced George Street)
From 1837 QUEEN'S WHARF
(6) COMMISSARIAT STORES erected 1812, demolished 1940.
SYDNEY COVE 1816 13
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7
8
(7) H.M. DOCKYARD (with wooden fence)
(Background) FORT PHILLIP (site of the Observatory)
(8)
CADMAN'S COTTAGE In 1816, the year of its erection as a Coxswain’s Barrack. (House behind it in the trees, occupied by Francis Greenway. 1814 to 1836. South Cnr. George and Argyle Streets)
9
10
(9) HOUSE OF THE CROWN SOLICITOR, FREDERCK GARLING
(Facing lower George Street and backing onto BUNKERS HILL)
11
(10) CAPT. JOHN PIPER'S OFFICIAL RESIDENCE as NAVAL OFFICER and COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS FORMERLY
MASTER BUILDER S HOUSE erected for
12
(11)
ROBERT CAMPBELL'S WHARF HOUSE Demolished 1876
(12) STORE HOUSE of Merchant CAMPBELL (with additions, still standing)
(13)
MILITARY BATTERY at DAWES POINT
THOMAS MOORE in 1798, demolished 1833.
PAGE 35
Campbell's Wharf, Sydney Cove.
Australian Town and Country Journal - Sydney, Saturday 20 November 1875,
We present to our readers this edition an engraving of a spot on the shores of Port Jackson, than which no other on the Australian continent possesses more historical interest, or is more directly or closely associated with the first efforts to plant civilisation and commerce in this quarter of the southern world, where previously savage life had held undisputed sway.
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The accompanying engraving represents Campbell's Wharf, which is situated on the western side of Sydney Cove, or, to use more use modern nomenclature, the Circular Quay. lt is impossible for an intelligent colonist to read the accounts of the first settlement on these shores with indifference, or not to see that on the very spot now illustrated, commerce, the great pioneer of civilisation, first received its impulse in Australia. Commerce, encouraged by men of worth and enterprise, in a few years from the time of the first settlement, became a power in the field of colonisation, and, prosecuted by thrifty and resolute men, presented attractions to capital to embark in enterprises, where, under less fortunate circumstances, nothing would have been found but a huge gaol.
Within a few yards of the northern end of the capacious wharf here depicted, and on the spot from which the accompanying view was taken, Captain Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wale, first unfurled the British standard; and in doing so performed an act which has become part of the history of the country. We cannot do better than give an extract from "The History of Australian Discovery and Colonisation," which in referring to the settlement on the shores of Sydney Cove, says: Proceedings were immediately commenced (after the arrival of Captain Philip's fleet in Botany Bay, on the 18th, 19th, and 20th January, 1788) for landing the people and stores; and men were set to work to clear a piece of land on the south side of the bay, about a mile from the entrance, and near the spot where Captain Cook had stepped on shore eighteen years before. PAGE 36
Campbell's Wharf, Sydney Cove. The place, however, did not at all answer the expectations which the Governor and his officers had been led to form from the description given by Cook; and no time was lost in making an examination of the surrounding country in search of a more favourable site. The first place to which attention was directed was the harbour which Cook had described as lying a few miles north of Botany Bay, and which he had called Port Jackson. The Governor proceeded to examine this harbour on the 23rd, and was as much gratified with its magnificent appearance, its sheltered position, deep water, and almost innumerable bays and bold headlands, as he had been disappointed with the place where he had at first landed. He thereupon decided on removing the settlement to Port Jackson, and fixed on a position about six miles inside the entrance, where he discovered a fine run of fresh water stealing silently through a thick wood, and falling into a little bay, which he named Sydney Cove, in honour of Viscount Sydney, who was at that time at the head of the Colonial Office, and who had taken great interest in the welfare of the expedition.
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The aborigines at Sydney Cove at first showed signs of opposition to the new comers but they were quickly pacified by the tact and conciliatory conduct of the Governor. The leading men of the tribe, after their first surprise was over, behaved with manly frankness, and evinced such an intelligent, yet unobtrusive curiosity, as greatly raised them in the estimation of the intending colonists. Captain Phillip having spent the 24th in an examination of the harbour, on the 25th and 26th the ships and all the people, with the exception of a few left in charge of the stores which had been left at Botany, were brought round to Sydney Cove.
The day before this transfer took place, considerable alarm was created by the sudden appearance, off Botany Heads, of two large ships under French colours. They were soon after driven out of sight by contrary winds, but entered on the following day, and proved to be the Bussole and Astrolabe, on a voyage of discovery. They were under the command of Monsieur de la Peyrouse, who, with his officers and men, at once entered into the most friendly relationship with Captain Phillip, and the people whom they had so unexpectedly found in occupation of the place.
On the evening of the 25th January, 1788, all the ships having come round to Port Jackson, and being safely anchored in Sydney Cove, the Governor took formal possession of the country by hoisting the British colours on a flagstaff erected on the site now occupied by Dawes' Battery. The King's health was drunk by the Governor and officials around the flagstaff, and this proceeding was followed by enthusiastic cheering and much excitement on the part of the people. On the following day the work of clearing a spot on which tents might be fixed and stores landed, was commenced.
The place ("the site of Campbell's Wharf, shown in the engraving) was so heavily timbered that many trees had to be cut down before room could be obtained for the accommodation of so large a number of persons; and while the English were thus busily engaged at Sydney Cove in making preparations for their accommodation on shore, the French were as fully employed at Botany Bay in setting up two long-boats, the frames of which had been brought from Europe, and in making other arrangements for the prosecution of their voyage." PAGE 37
Campbell's Wharf, Sydney Cove.
The forests which margined the waters of Sydney Cove in 1783 were soon cleared, and improvements were rapidly made in the vicinity of the cove. The aboriginal name of the spot was Warrane. In a short space of time the wilderness gave place to rude, hastily constructed residences of "wattle and dab," which in turn were displaced by commodious and durable buildings. The land on which Campbell's Wharf and stores are located, was originally leased to Captain Waterhouse, of H..M.S. Reliance, then (1794) on the Australian station, by Governor Hunter, for the term of six years, with a recommendation to the next Governor to renew the lease. It was only under such conditions that land was held at the time by private individuals.
Shortly afterwards Mr. R. Campbell, senior, a gentleman of great resolution and enterprise, arrived from Calcutta in the barque Hunter, with the view of establishing seal and whale fisheries.
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The lease of the land was offered to him for £1000, a large sum at that time, when the condition of the settlement is considered. There were no improvements on the spot then, except a small garden or orchard; and it is interesting to note that at the present there stands in the garden, near the wharf, a pear-tree planted in 1796, which still appears vigorous and fruit-bearing. A part of the land was used for a time as a burial ground for the marines and sailors employed on the men-of-war on the station, and there is now to be seen in the rear of the stores a tomb-stone, in a pretty fair state of preservation, recording the death of a marine in 1792.
"Campbell of the Wharf" (Picture of painting). Part of: Mildenhall, William James 18911962. Mildenhall collection of photographs of Canberra. National Library of Australia.
Robert Campbell was born on April 28, 1769, at Greenock, N.8., Scotland. He was the son of John Campbell, of Ashfield, Argyleshire, writer to the Signet and the last laird of Ashfield. The stone is partly defaced, but the following words can nevertheless be made out with ease. "SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN JONES, WHO DEPARTED THIS.. 1792, A WORTHY..." PAGE 38
Campbell's Wharf, Sydney Cove.
SYDNEY IN 1809
The lease of Campbell's Wharf was renewed by several Governors, until Governor Macquarie, in consideration of the large sum that had been laid out by Messrs. Campbell and others in buildings and improvements, recommended the Secretary of State for the Colonies to permit him to convert the lease into a grant. This was done, and from that time forward Mr. Campbell continued to spend large sums of money in the improvement of the water frontage, the erection of large stores. The dwelling-house, which was built in 1802, is still in a first-rate condition. The walls, the doors the ceilings, and the various internal appointments seem as sound as they were when first put up, 73 years ago. In different parts of the house are to be found numerous articles of furniture, made at the time the house was erected, and these are certainly more substantial now than those usually purchased for the furnishing of a house at the present day.
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These articles of furniture were, it is said, made by the ancestors of what are now some of the wealthiest families in New South Wales. An inspection of the house cannot but pleasantly impress the visitor with its appearance, surroundings, and quaint old furniture. Valuable old oil paintings and curiosities are seen at every turn.
It is indeed the picture of an old English home, and the place is made yet more attractive by the knowledge that for more than three quarters of a century it has been the home of the Campbells, a family held in the utmost respect and regard by all classes throughout the length and breadth of Australia; and as Campbell's Wharf may be regarded as the centre of our import and export trade, so "the Campbells of the Wharf" may be considered the heads and worthy representatives of the Australian mercantile and trading classes.
The Wharf has a deep water frontage, so that vessels of the largest tonnage are enabled to come close in to discharge or load. The engraving conveys a good idea of the importance and magnitude of the trade carried on at the wharf, and a visit to the place in working hours would give the visitor a good idea of the extent of our commerce, and of the facilities provided for carrying it on. The length of the water frontage is nearly three hundred yards, and as the stores stand back about 100 feet, ample space is provided for the landing and removal of cargo. The stores, which are all of stone and of very strong build, are twenty-two in number, and with the two sheds near the wharf are capable of holding 22,000 tons of goods. Being within a short distance of the principal streets of the city, and with easy access from them, the wharf throughout the year is generally lined with English and foreign merchantmen discharging or receiving cargo. The whole, including the gardens, comprise an area of nearly six acres of land, and therein are provided all the attractive features of a first-class residence, and all the facilities for an extensive shipping business - a combination very rarely indeed found in a populous city. PAGE 39
The Man Who Built the Wharf
The bulletin., v.81, no.4193, 1960-06-22, p.44 (ISSN: 0007-4039) By C. E. T. NEWMAN
The present wave of reconstruction and new building that is completely transforming Sydney’s old harbor-side area of The Rocks offers just the right opportunity to pay the tribute of a monument to the memory of the pioneer merchant and notable citizen who worked and lived there when all this was very young. In 1800 Robert Campbell (1769-1846) arrived in Sydney Cove in the Hunter with a cargo he was determined to sell in the open market in spite of the N.S.W. Corps. It had thwarted his efforts when he was at Port Jackson two years earlier.
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The goods he now brought were articles he knew were required by the settlers ; he let them know what he had for sale, the price, and what he was prepared to take in return. He succeeded so well that a twoway trade was started, and in 1803 an extract from an official report to England read:
He commenced to build solidly of stone, so that early in 1803 a report went to England stating: A little below this the dockyard is the only good landingplace, wharf, store-house and dwelling-house that has any respectable appearance. It has been erected by a Mr. Campbell, a private merchant, at a great expense.
Robert Campbell had entered the sealing industry by 1802, and by 1804, from his own catching-gangs and others, he had collected sufficient skins and oil to load the Lady Barlow for shipment to England, the first private cargo of Australian produce to go there. Governor King warned Campbell that he would be infringing on the East India Company’s rights if he shipped them, and he demanded that Campbell sign an indemnity bond of £lO,OOO before he sailed. Campbell sailed with his ship, and the East India Co., warned of the event by Governor King, seized ship and cargo on arrival in the Thames.
Campbell suffered a loss of £7OOO, but such was the fight he and his friends put up that the East India Company’s power over trade was broken, and a newspaper later reported: Too much honour cannot be given to Messrs. Campbell, who fought and won freedom for Colonial trade from the thraldom of the No man in this country deserves better the protection powerful and wealthy organisation which was said to of the British Ministry than this Robert Campbell who be a Company which maintained armies carrying a has by his liberal acts lowered the price of every sword in one hand and a ledger in the other. British article in the colony and is inclined to pursue On his return to N.S.W. in 1806 Campbell found that that step. the new Governor, Bligh, was interested in the same The “Journal of the Royal Australian Historical things as he himself: the welfare of the settlers, all Society” confirmed this when it stated: The raising of things connected with ships and the sea, and the the settlers from a condition of penury between 1800 progress of development of the colonial people. Bligh and 1806 was due mainly to the activities of Robert had been told on arrival by his Lieut.-Governor, Campbell and his partners. Paterson, that Campbell’s merchandise “Frankly, yer ’onner, I only done it for the publicity.” In 1801 Robert contracted with Governor King to supply the colony with 250 cows from Bengal, and in was the same price in scarcity as in abundance, that the next few years he imported over 2000 head, roughly he had protected the poor and distressed settler; “and doubling the cattle- population of the colony. In the that in fact he was the. only private pillar which same year he made clear to the officers’ syndicate that supported the honest people of the colony.” Bligh and he was in N.S.W. to stay and trade freely. Campbell became colleagues. PAGE 40
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The Man Who Built the Wharf It was natural, therefore, that Campbell’s support should be sought when the Port’s Naval Officer proved unsatisfactory. Campbell became Naval Officer and a magistrate, and the appointment led to his ruin. Campbell was arrested at Government House when the rebellious Corps seized the Governor and the Government.
He worked to see the King’s schools started, and was a trustee for the first scholarship donated. He was a great supporter of the Church. St. Phillip’s; St. Peter’s, Cooks River; St. John’s, Canberra —these are three of many that owed much to him.
For two years afterwards he and his business were oppressed in every way and brought to a parlous state by the time Macquarie arrived. Campbell was requested to go to England to give evidence at the courts-martial of rebels which were to take place there, but he declined, pleading that his business urgently required his presence. He was forced to sail, and he remained away from N.S.W. until 1815, when he returned to find he was ruined.
The first meeting of the company was held in his office at the Wharf, and he was the guest-of-honour at the lunch held in 1842 to see the machinery started.
Campbell set about retrieving his status. He recovered some debts due to him and, as the “Sydney Morning Herald” reported, “he adopted the same honourable course of business which enabled him to regain his position and to continue as he had always been, the head of the Mercantile Community.”
His sons have had the management of the concern [Campbell and Co. for many years, and it will be acknowledged that the spirit of the retired head of the firm has always, and does even now, distinguish the firm of Campbell and Company more than any other House or Firm in N.S.W.
He attended the meeting which led to the opening of the Bank of New South Wales. He opened the first savings-bank. He was appointed one of the first three unofficial members of the Legislative Council, and his was the only appointment of which the population approved. In 1828 he handed over the main part of the business of ships and the wharf to his two eldest sons and widened his interests. In 1830 he visited his large country property, Duntroon, now the Royal Military College. He was on the board of the Australian Agricultural Co., had been asked to accept a seat on the board of the Bank of New South Wales, but declined, and was asked to permit his name to be first on the list of *the first Chamber of Commerce, which dubbed him “the father of the Mercantile Community.”
The Cathedral building-fund received his and his family’s support. Robert was the prime-mover in getting the first sugar-refinery in the colony established, and it was on his land at Canterbury.'
This company later became the present Colonial Sugar Refining Co. Robert died at Duntroon in 1846, and his body was brought to Parramatta to be buried in the family vault. In its obituary-notice the “Australian” stated:
Long may it continue, if it were only for the honour of him who has departed. It also stated that no man in the colony had been more highly respected than Robert Campbell.
The “Dictionary of Australian Biography” sums-up Robert Campbell’s personal character by stating that he “was probably the most trusted member of the community and a benefactor of many institutions.” Some of Robert Campbell’s stores still stand at The Rocks, and what could be more fitting than that a monument to his memory be erected over the site of his headquarters, where he laid the foundation of Australian commerce?
PAGE 41
The Campbell family at Duntroon House, with the dam and orchards and Mount Pleasant in the background in the 1870s. Duntroon House is one of Australia's oldest homesteads, built in 1833 when the local properties of Yarralumla and Lanyon were also established.
The Campbells Of Dawes Pt. And Canberra A very different type of Australian history to the one supplied by Frank Clime (also reviewed this issue) is The Spirit of Wharf House, a story written originally by C. E. T. Newman, for the descendants of Robert Campbell, Australia’s first merchant.
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Through the assistance of the Commonwealth Literary Fund it has now been published for general reading. The influence of the first Robert Campbell who arrived in Sydney in 1798, and the sons and grandsons who followed after, is woven into the fabric of New South Wales. The author is himself a Campbell connection, having married a daughter of Frederick Campbell, grandson of the original Robert, and owner of Yarralumla, Canberra, until 1913 when the Federal Government, having chosen their new capital, “resumed” the Campbell property for their Government House.
The Campbells were, in fact, great originators—although the most famous of their properties are now in Government hands. The first Robert, on his arrival from Calcutta to see if he could work up trade with the new penal settlement on Sydney Cove, bought a parcel of land at Dawes' Point on the western arm of the cove. Here he eventually Greeted a wharf—the first permanent wharf in Australia—warehouses and in later years a fine residence. Of all this now only some of his warehouses remain; where his home —Wharf House—and his garden stood, Sydney now rejoices in its new Overseas Shipping Terminal, nestling close up under the approaches to the Harbour Bridge.
Yarralumla, as we have already seen, built by Robert Senior’s grandson in 1891, became the Australian GovernorGeneral’s residence in 1913. Shakespeare's adage, "One man in his time plays many parts," was perhaps never more applicable than when applied to the versatile and honourable career of Robert Campbell— a picturesque figure indeed of early colonial days, better known by his sobriquet, "Merchant" Campbell of "The Wharf," Sydney—the colony's first free trader, the father of Australian commerce, banker, grazier, educationist, church benefactor, and a member of the Legislative Council. PAGE 42
Hon. Robert (II) Campbell Robert Campbell (5 October 1804 – 30 March 1859) was an early opponent of penal transportation and an Australian politician, Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales. He was also an elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and later, the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. Campbell was the second son of Robert Campbell and born at Campbell's Wharf, The Rocks in Sydney, Australia. In 1810, his parents sent him to Pimlico, London, England to be educated and he returned in 1819.
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In 1827, Campbell joined his father's company Campbell and Co. One of his first duties was in January 1828 to travel to England on company business on the barque Lady Blackwood (John Dibbs, Master), returning to Sydney in March 1830, again on the Lady Blackwood. In 1829, (in England) he became active in the antitransportation campaign. In the early 1830s, he refused to sit on a jury that included emancipists in order to draw attention to this cause and as a result became the leader of the campaign.
Portrait of Robert Campbell in masonic regalia National Library of Australia Campbell had become a Freemason at the age of 18, senior warden of his lodge at 19, and worshipful master before he was 21. In 1856 the Freemasons installed him as the first provincial Scottish grand master of the province of Australia.
A petition in opposition to transportation was signed by some 6800 persons was presented to the Legislative Council and the British Government. Nevertheless, the convict ship, the Hashemy, arrived in 1849, but further meetings chaired by Campbell prevented more convicts being sent to Sydney.
In 1851, Campbell was elected to the Legislative In 1835, he had married Annie Sophia, daughter of Council representing the City of Sydney. In 1856, he Edward Riley (1784-1825), a merchant and was elected to the first Legislative Assembly. He was pastoralist in the Sydney area. Colonial Treasurer from August to October 1856 and from January 1858 until his death. In response to an 1846 parliamentary committee recommendation that transportation (which had He became ill and died at his father's property at ceased in 1840) be recommenced, Campbell organized Duntroon in what is now Canberra. His daughter was a protest meeting. married to Edward Wolstenholme Ward.
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St John's cemetery, Parramatta, is the oldest burial ground in the Colony of NSW. It contains the remains of notable persons associated with the foundation of the colony and many graves of those identified as having arrived with the First Fleet.
When Hon. Robert (II) Campbell was born on 5 October 1804 at Campbell's Wharf in Sydney.
......and thence the motion comes at last-for the Council to adjourn, because ROBERT CAMPBELL IS DEAD.
The second son of Robert Campbell and his wife Sophia, née Palmer.
"The Honourable Robert Campbell"-and yet more than one husky voice, after the first burst of surprise, says simply, and even affectionately, "Poor fellow! Poor honest Bob!" Tears, such as are very seldom seen or shed at the death of any public man, start unbidden from the eyes of those present.
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He sailed to England in the Hindostan in 1810, was educated at Pimlico, and returned to New South Wales in 1819. He married Anne Sophia Riley in New South Wales. They had nine children in 18 years. He died on 30 March 1859 at the age of 54, and was buried at St John's cemetery in Parramatta, New South Wales.
"The Honourable Robert Campbell"- says the matter-of-fact functionary, with a cool dry regard to proper official etiquette, and every generous heart beats strangely at that epithet, so peculiarly appropriate, so deeply, so unusually true.
Good, sturdy, truthful, manly ROBERT CAMPBELL with all that fearless integrity of purpose which ennobles a man, and that frank, confiding simplicity which we love in a child this public grief becomes thy memory well! It is, indeed, a lesson; a lesson to the gifted, to the ambitious, and to the proud. Without one brilliant talent, but armed with a thousand 'virtues and a bright and spotless name, he has gone to his account like a fine old paladin in harness, toiling, fighting, DYING for what he deemed the weak cause against the strong, the truth--the right-the commonwealth, of all. The House breaks up in confusion. A deep, passionate response is heard from a group of men-of whose talents our country may well be proud echoing back the broken words uttered by a venerable old man, as he descends sobbing from the Presidential chair.-" A good man destroyed.' A GOOD MAN DESTROYED !" obituary Sydney morning herald 1 April 1859
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William Robert Campbell A stained glass window commemorates William Robert Campbell who was the Member for Sydney in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1868 and held the position of Treasurer. He was a leader of the anti-transportation campaign from the early 1830's. and was a member of the Sydney Council of Australasian League. The late Mr. William Robert Campbell, M.L.C., whose death occurred last night at the age of 68, was for many years a prominent figure, in political and business circles. Formerly he was interested in pastoral properties in the northern district, but sold out many years ago and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was very popular both in the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, and the news of his death was received in political circles with many expressions of regret. He married a daughter of the late Sir Edward Deas-Thomson.
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He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as member for West Sydney on December 16, 1868, and sat throughout that Parliament till its dissolution in November, 1869. In the tenth Parliament he sat from November, 1880, till November, 1882, as the member for Gwydir, and he was re-elected for the same constituency in 1885, but resigned on May 25, 1886. In April, 1890, Mr. Campbell was appointed by the Parkes Government to a seat in the Upper House. He was educated at King's School, and he was one of the vice-presidents of the King's School Old Boys' Union, and a member of the council of King's School. For many years past he was a prominent member of St. James' Church. Sydney Morning Herald, 4 July 1906.
173 King Street, St James Anglican Church, St Peter Window, South Wall No. 50, Sydney, 2000 William Robert Campbell was the first son of Hon. Robert (II) Campbell who's father was Robert Campbell of the The Campbells Of Dawes Pt. And Canberra. PAGE 45
When John ( 9th and last Laird of Ashfield) Campbell was born on 10 June 1727, his father, Donald, was 45 and his mother, Jean, was 27. He married Agnes Paterson on 30 November 1754 in Paisley, Renfrewshire. They had ten children in 18 years. He died on 12 November 1797 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, at the age of 70.
John Campbell of Ashfield, Scotland.
And Agnes Campbell his wife.
John Campbell 9th Laird of Ashfield Born 10 June 1727 at Ashfield, North Knapdale, Argyllshire, Scotland. [Genealogist N.S. xxvii, pp. 127, 128]. Grandnephew and heir of Duncan 27Aug. 1770. A.S.X. 297. John married Agnes Paterson on 30 Nov. 1754 in Paisley, Renfrewshire. The first mention of John as being the laird of Ashfield is when he witnessed a renunciation by Archibald Campbell of Danna on 3 Nov. 1747.
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In 1771 John appears on the Great Valuation of Argyll’s vassals. On 1 June 1775 we find him and Capt. Niall Campbell of Duntroon appointed trustees for the purpose of arranging the financial affairs of the laird of Ulva, another Duntroon cadet. As a rule, such trustees were chosen from among the group of lairds sprung from the same stock as the bankrupt. On 18 May 1787, there was a notice of a bond by John Campbell of Ashfield, writer in Greenock, in favour of Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglass, witnessed by John’s eldest and youngest sons (explicitly so styled) William Campbell writer in Greenock and Robert Campbell. John had 10 children in 18 years. John died on 12 Nov. 1797 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Duntroon (Duntrune) Castle, Scotland.
Official blazon Azure, five mullets (arranged to represent the constellation of the Southern Cross) Argent, a chief gyronny of eight Or and Sable within a bordure Azure charged of eight annulets Or, the chief with a fillet Argent in the lower part. Above the shield is placed a coronet appropriate to a Municipality (VIDELICET: a mural coronet Proper masoned Sable) and for Crest issuant from the said mural coronet a sun rising Or (the said Crest of a sun rising Or, when used alone is to be depicted on upon a Wreath of the Liveries) and in an Escrol over the same this Motto “AGITE PRO VIRIBUS”, Origin/meaning Arms were granted on November 5, 1983. The stars are the Southern Cross constellation.
The chief shows part of the arms of John Campbell last Laird of Ashfield in Argyll, Scotland. These were added as the suburb is founded on Ashfield Estate which belonged to Robert Campbell, John's younger son.
Duntrune Castle is located on the north side of Loch Crinan and across from the village of Crinan in Argyll, Scotland. It is thought to be the oldest continuously occupied castle on mainland Scotland. PAGE 46
Billy Blue's Cottage & the Harbour W. Moffitt sculp Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales
Stood at the south side of Sydney Cove, and just within the Government Billy Blue's Domain. The cottage, which was octagonal, was built by Governor Macquarie for Billy Blue at the time that eccentric- diameter filled the Octagonal Cottage situation of water bailiff, or Superintendent of the Water Police.
Billy Blue the first settlers on the North Shore The first actual settlement on the shore is believed to have taken place in 1817, when Governor Macquarie granted to William Blue 80 acres of land on a point, which to this day is known as Blue’s Point. The grantee was more commonly known as Billy Blue, and later as Commodore Blue.
"He was an American by birth, a sailor man by trade and a very Hercules in proportion. By the Grace of God, William Blue voyaged to Australia in an early ship, and elected to throw in his lot with that of the early colonists.
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His first employment was in the capacity of caretaker, the theatre of his vigilance being the old octagon store, erected by Governor Phillip for the accommodation of provisions, on about the site of the Floods store of today His history so far as we are interested in it may be on the west side of Circular Quay. briefly summed up. He came as a sailor in one of the ships of the early days, and being a strong, active man, received the appointment of storekeeper of the old octagon store that stood on the eastern side of the cove, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Hill, Clark & Co.’s wool store. Being an excellent boatman, he ran a ferry boat across from Miller’s Point to the opposite point, and had boats to carry the grass across also. The story is told that on one occasion the Governor came down to the point, and seeing Blue and his sons and several boats, said, “Why, Billy, you have quite a fleet.”
Nature, ally his calling being what it was, Blue was a good man in a boat, and thus it not infrequently fell to his lot to take the only son of Governor Macquarie for a row upon the harbour. Between the sailor-man and the delicate youth, something near akin to a strong friendship seems to have existed. In 1817 Blue was granted some 80 acres of land on a point of the north shore which has since been known as Blue's Point.
Removing to his newly-acquired land, Blue early established a primitive sort of ferry connection “I shall have to make you commodore of this fleet, but between his own and Miller's Point. It wasn't much of mmd you, stop the smuggling that goes on over a ferry service, but it was. entirely adequate to the demands upon it. there,” said the Governor. PAGE 47 “Yes, your honour,” replied Blue.
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William "Billy" Blue Oil painting by J. B. East 1834 The Mitchell Library PAGE 48
Black Commodore Billy Blue By K. S. POOLE
James Milson, accepted pioneer of the North Shore arrived in Sydney Cove in 1804. His house, Brisbane Cottage, was the first to be built at Milson's Point, and one of the earliest on the North Shore.
Sydney Morning Herald NSW, Saturday 3 May 1947.
THE Old Commodore himself, Billy Blue (whose daughter George Lavender married)—laughing, friendly and irrepressible, a legend in his own life time and black as the Ace of Spades—may claim equally with Milson if you are no snob, to have initiated the development of the whole North Shore. Blue was a Jamaican or American negro, who is said to have come out as a sailor in one of the early ships, and elected to stay in Sydney. As with all ancient heroes, some confusion has grown around his story.
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Some say that because he was a powerfully built man, he was made caretaker of the Octagon Provision Store built by Governor Phillip to keep provisions in at Circular Quay. Later, he is recorded as keeper of the magazine in the Domain, from which position he Lavender Street is linked with a story as old as Milson's, less clear but no less colourful. The street was dismissed, apparently through detection in and the adjacent Lavender Bay were named after attempted smuggling. George Lavender, boatswain of the hulk Phoenix. The Governor and Mrs. Macquarie, according to a This vessel was moored in the bay as a temporary copy of "The Sydney Gazette" published just after gaol for convicts who had been again convicted after Blue's death, could not stand by and see Billy Blue their landing in the colony. The bay originally called without a roof over his head, and his children homeless. So, in 1817, Macquarie gave Blue, then 83 Quiperee, was then known as Hulk Bay. years old, a grant of 80 acres on the North Shore, In 1828 its beauty and possibilities so impressed the Surveyor General, Major (later Sir Thomas) Mitchell, including Blue's Point and the western side of that he suggested that the highest part of the Lavender Bay. foreshores might be adorned with crescents of Here, undaunted, the old man grew vegetables for the buildings and terraces of flowers. This was Sydney market, and used his skill as a boatman considered "a sublime idea but too vast." (which had given happy hours in earlier days to Only the names of East Crescent and West Crescent Macquarie s delicate son) to build up a small fleet of Streets, McMahon's Point, now remain of this clumsy boats. suggestion. In these he and his sons ferried travellers across from Mitchell also recommended Hulk Bay as a suitable Dawes Point to Miller's Point or Blue's Point and site for a naval base, and foresaw quarters and docks back. there for the British squadrons in India and China Macquarie, crossing one day, perhaps as host to one —"nowhere in the world were to be found such of the parties which shot parrots, ducks, and natural advantages." This idea also came to kangaroos in the North Shore bush, laughingly said nothing. to Blue "that as he had such a fleet of boats, he should In the "incomparable" bay convicts were held on be called commodore of his fleet." Thereafter Blue board the Phoenix until a sufficient number were was always "The Commodore." assembled for transportation to the cruel remoteness His first passengers were mainly soldiers cutting of Newcastle, Port Macquarie or Moreton Bay. grass on the North Shore either for their horses, or George Lavender, the boatswain, later became a ferryman, and lived ashore. When his cottage was for thatching Sydney's roofs. But a track, blazed by burnt down in 1838, public subscriptions were invited Lieut. Ball, R.N., of H.M.S. Supply, ran from nearby Ball's Head promontory to Middle Harbour. to build him a new one. The earnings of an industrious couple being consumed and themselves penniless. He sold his second house some ten years later, and went to live at the Old Commodore Hotel, in Blue's Point Road, at the head of Lavender Street.
A track from Blue's Point wharf joined it, and Billy Blue's ferry provided the first invaluable transport link which opened up the North Shore for travellers and settlers. As always, development followed the provision of lines of communication. PAGE 49
Black Commodore Billy Blue Blue built a house some little distance from the Point itself. Here, out of kindness of heart and a reasonable disinclination for making enemies, he would sometimes give food and a pot of tea to runaway assigned servants, headed for Sydney rum and beauty, or to escaped twice-convicted men from the Phoenix, afterwards rowing them across to Sydney at nightfall. In 1829 (when the older settlers still told tales of "shooting parrots, to make pies of in the middle of George Street, then a crowded wood") Blue was gaoled for sheltering a run-away prisoner, but was released on payment of a fine. Other homes had begun to spring up. At Blue's Point itself a Captain Norrie built a house, on a shelf blasted out of the solid rock, and called the house "Gibraltar." Only a wide, friendly verandah, looking over to Dawes Point, and some great scattered blocks of stone, remain of "Gibraltar," which afterwards boasted a cannon for defence, and a later tenant who kept pet monkeys. The old way to it was by steps at the point cut out of solid stone. These are still there though access to them is unofficial. Sydney Ferries, Ltd., own a caretaker's cottage further inland, just behind the old house, and have marked the main entrance gate "Strictly No Admittance".
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Billy Blue died in 1834. Of his house also, only tumbled convict-hewn blocks of stone remain though if you go there at dusk you may be prompted to look behind you. But there is never anything there, except a queer sense of pleased amusement, as though some-body had chuckled silently, "Wot, looking for the Commodore's house, after all this time?"
In his day, Billy Blue was one of the best-known figures in Sydney. He was daily to be seen in George Street. His contemporaries writing of him said: "Who ever saw the Commodore out of humour?" "Scarcely a day passes but Billy Blue, an octogenarian makes more than half the faces he meets look happier. Many a one smiles or laughs at him and nothing else." "Even the urchins doff their hats to him." "The Sydney Gazette" mourned his death and wrote several hundred words on his life. Few of those who live on his 80 acre grant could tell you Blue's story now. About 1864 Mr. McMahon, a brush and comb manufacturer, built a house on the small headland just east of Blue's Point, and the suburb gradually became known as McMahon's Point. Local history leaves many questions unanswered. Why did George Lavender shoot himself in the Old Commodore Hotel in 1851, leaving his widow, Blue's daughter, to marry again soon after-wards? And where was Jack Buckley's house in Lavender Street, where he lived for many years? (In later days he went to Samoa, was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, and died from an explosion caused "by examining a cask of gunpowder while smoking a cigar.") And where in McMahon's Point did Henry Lawson live? Down in the old ruin by the present ferry, or up in William Street, where heavy blocks of stone from a forgotten house lie haphazardly among the saplings? There is no answer now in McMahon's Point to such queries. There are only old trees, old worn steps going down to the water, old houses dreaming as they look out towards Quiperee, Dawes Point, or Berry's Bay.
William (Billy) Blue (c.1767?-1834), convict, settler and ferryman, was born possibly in Jamaica, West Indies. As he later claimed to have served with the British army in the American war of independence, he may have been a freed African-American slave from colonial New York. By 1796, however, he was living at Deptford, London, and working as a chocolate-maker and a lumper (labourer) in ships in the River Thames. On 4 October that year at Maidstone, Kent, Blue was convicted of stealing raw sugar—presumably intended for confectionery making—and sentenced to seven years transportation. After over four years in convict hulks, he was transported to Botany Bay in the Minorca. He was described in convict records as 'a Jamaican Negro sailor', aged 29 in 1796. Reaching Sydney on 14 December 1801, Blue had less than two years of his sentence to serve. By July 1804 he was living at The Rocks with Elizabeth Williams, a 30-year-old, English-born convict, who had arrived from Hampshire the previous month. They married on 27 April 1805 at St Philip's Church of England and were to have six children. PAGE 50
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www.australiansettlers.com A portrait of 'The Old Commodore', Billy Blue, ca. 1834 drawn from life and on stone by John Carmichael, Item 88010600, courtesy State Library of NSW
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Norfolk Island first landing party 6 March 1788
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Each year on 6 March, Norfolk Island celebrate “Foundation Day”, the day in 1788 when Lt Philip Gidley King landed on Norfolk Island to establish the first European settlement on the Island, leaving Port Jackson 15 Feb 1788 aboard HMAT Supply, disembarking 6 Mar 1788. Lieutenant Philip Gidley King (Commandant) James Cunningham (Midshipman, Master’s Mate) of HMS Sirius Thomas Jamison (Surgeon, 1st Mate) of HMS Sirius John Turnpenny Altree (Assistant Surgeon) Lady Penrhyn Surgeon Roger Morley/Murley (Seaman, Master Weaver) HMS Sirius William Westbrook (Ship’s Carpenter) HMS Sirius Charles Heritage (Ship Marine) HMS Sirius John Batchelor (Ship Marine) HMS Sirius
Phillip Gidley King
John Williams (Convict) Charlotte then transferred to the Scarborough - Charles McClellan (Convict) Alexander - Nathaniel Lucas (Convict) Scarborough - Edward Garth (Convict) Scarborough - John Mortimore (Convict) Charlotte - Noah Mortimore (Convict) Charlotte - Edward Westlake (Convict) Charlotte - Richard Widdicombe (Convict) Charlotte - John Rice (Convict) Charlotte - Ann Inett (Convict) Lady Penrhyn - Elizabeth Colley (Convict) Lady Penrhyn - Elizabeth Lee (Convict) Lady Penrhyn Elizabeth Hipsley (Convict) Lady Penrhyn - Olive Gascoigne (Convict) Lady Penrhyn - Susan Gough (Convict) Friendship then transferred to the Charlotte. PAGE 53
Norfolk Island
1788
The first European known to have sighted and landed on the island was Captain James Cook, on 10 October 1774. on his second voyage to the South Pacific on HMS Resolution. He named it after Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk. When the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip ordered Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to lead a party of 15 convicts and seven free men to take control of Norfolk Island, and prepare for its commercial development. The Island served as a convict penal settlement from 6 March 1788. During the first year of the settlement, which was also called "Sydney" like its parent, more convicts and soldiers were sent to the Island from Sydney Cove.
SETTLEMENT MARCH 23 1790. Norfolk Island, an island in the South Pacific, about 1200 miles from Sydney, is about sis miles long by four broad, and has a fertile soil and healthy climate, readily producing, the various tropical fruits, wheat, maize, etc. It was discovered uninhabited by Captain Cook in 1774 shortly after Governor Phillip had, in 1788, founded his settlement, Lieutenant King, with a partyof soldiers and convicts, sailed to Norfolk Island to endeavour to raise fruits and other products that would add to their very limited supplies.
Convicts who arrived on Norfolk Island March 1788. First Settlers on Norfolk Island – May 1791. Marine Settlers arriving aboard the Atlantic November 1791. Married women taken off the Stores May 1791 to 5 May 1792 Norfolk Island. Women listed as married in Women off the Stores 16 June 1794 Norfolk Island. Married landholders and number of children October 1796.
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It continued to be a convict settlement for a considerable time; but in 1808 it I was abandoned. A, settlement was established in 1824, and in 1856 it was given to the descendants of the mutinous crew of the Bounty. Several of the Settlers, requested my permission, to marry some of the best behaved Female Convicts. As I hoped that many good consequences would result from a connexion of that kind. I Gave them permission to make choose of these who were likeliest to behave well, and as the Reverend Mr Johnson Chaplain to the territory came here in the Atlantic. I requested him to marry them; Upwards of One Hundred Couple were married in the course of three days. Philip Gidley King, 12 November 1791, Norfolk Island
HMS Sirius brought no convicts to the colony in 1788 but did transport on the voyage to Norfolk Island.The image depicts the melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790. (National Library of Australia, PIC/3312/1, painting by George Raper)
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Norfolk Island NORFOLK ISLAND ITS DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT (BY "AUSTRALIAN PATRIOT.")
Norfolk Island was discovered In October, 1774, by Captain Cook, who stayed there a day noting Its pine trees, so familiar to us, and its flax plants. The British Government, thinking flax and timber of Norfolk Island might be found useful, the colonisation of the island as a dependency of New South Wales was considered advisable.
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Accordingly Governor Phillip was ordered to "send a small establishment to secure the same to us and prevent its occupation by any other European Power." Though very loth to lose his services, Phillip selected Lieut. King for this task, and the latter left Sydney on February 15, 1788, In H.M.S. Supply, with James Cunningham, master's mate: Thomas Jamison, surgeon's mate; Roger Morley, a master weaver; two marines, and a seaman from H.M.S. Sirius, together with nine male and- six female convicts. to form the little settlement.
1788 Sun (Sydney, NSW. Tuesday 16 May 1911.
Signal Midshipman Southwell, stationed at the lookout on the South Head of Port Jackson, tells us: — "Nothing more of these (the Sirius and Supply) were seen until April 5 when the man who takes his station there at daybreak soon came down to inform me a sail was in sight. On going up I saw her coming up with the land, and judged it to be the Supply; but was not a little surprised at her returning so soon; and like-wise being alone. My mind fell to foreboding an accident, and on going down to get ready to wait on the Governor, I desired the gunner to notice if any of the people mustered thick on her decks as she came in under the headland, thinking in my own mind what I afterwards found out, that the Sirius was lost. The Supply brought an account that on the 19th March the Sirius had, in course of landing the boats, drifted rather in with the land. On seeing this they of course endeavoured to stand off but the wind being dead on the shore, and the ship being out of trim and working unusually bad she in staying — for she would not go about just as she was coming to the wind — trailed the ground with the after part of her keel, and with two sends of the vast surf that runs there was completely thrown on the reef of the dangerous rocks called Point Boss. They luckily in their last extremity let go both anchors and stoppered the cables securely, and though it failed of the intention of riding her clear, yet caused her lo go right stern foremost on the rocks, by which means she lay with her bow opposed to the sea — a most happy circumstance, for had she laid broadside to which otherwise she would have had a natural tendency to have done, 'tis more than probable she' must have overset, gone to pieces, and every soul have perished.
The Supply, commanded by Lieut. Ball, was ordered to return immediately after landing the colonists. En route Ball discovered and named Lord Howe Island, and on March 8 he landed his passengers on Norfolk Island. King made such progress that not only did the colony soon become self-supporting, but it was able Her bottom bulged immediately, and the masts were to receive and maintain a large portion of Phillip's us soon cut away, and the gallant ship, upon which hung the hopes of the colony, was now a complete half-starved settlers from Port Jackson. wreck. They brought a few of the officers and men When King left Norfolk Island the population hither; the remainder of the ship's company, together numbered 418, exclusive of the 80 shipwrecked crew with Captain Hunter, &c., are left there on account of of the Sirius. To relieve the strain on the food constituting a number adequate to the provisions, supplies, H.M.S, Sirius and the Government brig and partly to save what they possibly can from the wreck. "I understand that there are some faint hopes, Supply had sailed from Sydney on March 1790 for If favoured with extraordinary fine weather, to Norfolk Island with a large proportion of the settlers, recover most. of the provisions, for she carried a and a marine guard under Major Boss. great quantity there on the part of the reinforcement.
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Norfolk Island The whole of the crew were saved, every exertion being used, and all assistance received from the Supply and colonists on shore. The passengers fortunately landed before the accident, and I will Just mention to you the method by which the crew were saved. When they found the ship was ruined and giving way upon the beam right athwart, they made a rope fast to a drift buoy, which by the surf was driven on shore. By this a stout hawser was conveyed. and those on shore made it fast a good way up a pine tree. The other end, being on board, was hove tight. On this hawser was placed the heart of a stay (a piece of wood with a hole through It), and to this a grating was slung after the manner of a pair of scales. Two lines were made fast on either side of the heart, one to haul it on shore, the other to haul it on board.
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On this the shipwrecked seated themselves two or more at a time, and thus were dragged on shore through a sad, dashing surf, which broke frequently over heads, keeping them a considerable time under water, some of them coming out of the water halfdrowned and a good deal bruised. Captain Hunter was a good deal hurt, and with repeated seas knocked off the grating, in so much that all the lookers-on feared greatly for his letting go; but he got on shore safe, and his hurts are by no means dangerous. Many private effects were saved, the sea drawing them on shore when thrown overboard, but was not always so courteous. Much is lost, and many escaped with nothing more than they stood in. Hunter and his crew remained at Norfolk Island for many months, and it was not till the following March that they sailed from Sydney for England by the Waaksamheyd, a small Dutch scow. Though Lieut. King had been appointed Acting, Governor of Norfolk Island by Governor I Phillip, yet when that vessel was wrecked! Major Boss thought fit to proclaim martial I law. The ceremony Is thus described by King: — "At 8 a.m. on March 22. 1790, every person in the settlement was assembled under the lower flagstaff, and the Union flag was hoisted.
1788 The troops were drawn up in two lines, having the Union at their head in the centre, with the colours of the detachment displayed, the ship's company of the Sirius on the right, and the convicts on the left, the officers In the centre, when the 'proclamation was read, declaring the law martini to be that by which the Island was in future to be governed until further orders. The Lieutenant-Governor addressed the convicts. after which the whole gave three cheers, and then every person, beginning with the Lieutenant-Governor and Captain Hunter, passed under the Union in token of a promise or oath to submit and be answerable to the law martial then declared. The convicts and ship's company of the Sirius were then sent round to Cascade Bay, where proportions of flour and pork were served from the Supply and brought round to the settlement." The soldiers (the N.S. Wales Corps) on the Island drank and gambled and quarrelled with the convicts and the prisoners' wives became too intimate with them, so that matters grew serious. An emancipist (freed convict) caught his wife and a soldier together and struck the latter, for which he was fined twenty shillings and bound over to keep the peace for twelve months. In January, 1794, some emancipists and convicts were, by permission performing a play— the regular Saturday night entertainment. A sergeant of the N.S. Wales Corps entered and forcibly tried to take a seat allotted to the Lieutenant-Governor's servant. A freed convict, one of the managers of the theatre, protested, and was at once given a blow. At the conclusion of the performance the disturbance was continued outside, and many of the soldiers brought out their sidearms. King, hearing the disturbance rushed out and seized a soldier flourishing his bayonet, and ordered the guard to removed to the guardroom. After some hesitation this was done, and on the order of their officer. Lieutenant Abbott, the soldiers retired to barracks. Here they held a meeting, and determined to free their comrade by force if he was not released next morning. King, taking counsel with his officers, determined to disarm the detachment by stratagem. All the suspected men were, in the morning, sent under one of their officers to a distant part to collect wild fowl feathers, while King with his remaining officers went to the guardroom and took possession of all the arms, he then swore in and armed 44 marines and seamen settlers as a militia, and all danger was at an end. The Government schooner arriving from Port Jackson just then, King sent ten of the ringleaders of the mutiny to Sydney, with a very meagre letter to Grose, trusting the lieutenant of the guard sent with the mutineers to explain matters. Grose held a court of inquiry, which severely censured King for daring to disgrace soldiers by disarming them. Grose sent back an offensive despatch ordering King to disband his militia and reverse everything he had done. King obeyed, but the Duke of Portland approved of all King's acts. King left Norfolk Island in 1797 for England.
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Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier. Saturday 5 October 1878.
NORFOLK ISLAND.—FROM SKETCHES BY CAPT. ARMSTRONG, R.N.
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NORFOLK ISLAND
General View of the Harbour.—The island is in extent about 7 miles by 3. Its soil is volcanic, and its The Lieutenant's description of the island is so climate excellent. Wheat could be successfully grown and might form a large export. Fruits of all kinds are faithful that we cannot do better than abundant. Potatoes and onions grow prolifically, and summarise it. He found it uninhabited. To his there are fibres on the island capable of being utilized eye it truly presented a scene of exuberant in trade to a large extent. If a deeper channel can be fertility — the soil seemed rich and good. made in the new passage just opened, the island must Numerous pine trees, some of enormous growth become an important calling place. It is central to covered the island. One, blown down or fallen by age, vessels trading between New Caledonia, Fiji, New measured 140 feet in length, and several which were Zealand, and New South Wales. measured standing were 30 feet in circumference. The Old Gaol.—The most profligate of the old Pigeons, parroquets, doves, and other birds were in convicts were sent to the island, and the sketch shows abundance, and so tame that they were knocked the quarters provided for their accommodation. down with a stick. He found the flag plant flourishing Numerous tales of revolts and violence perpetrated 5 or 6 feet in height. The cabbage-tree — similar in by the prisoners are fully detailed in "Hunter's character (yet very much smaller in bulk and nut to Journal of Discovery," published early in the century, with a detailed list of the felons as they were the Lord Howe Island tree) — in abundance. Wheat committed from the Old Bailey. was sown; the first crop of which was destroyed by rats, but in June of the following year 260 plants of The Gallows.—The masonry of the frame work is all wheat were transplanted, and the threshing in the that remains of this once formidable institution. ensuing December produced 3 quarts of very fine full Perhaps the removal of these unsightly remains grain. might justify an Imperial parliamentary vote.
The accompanying views of this interesting island, once the terror of evildoers but now the happy abode of that singular people, the Pitcairn Islanders, are from sketches made on the spot by Captain Armstrong, R.N., who recently returned from a rather prolonged visit to the Island.
The Bloody Bridge.—This repulsive appellation arose from a savage murder committed by three convicts on a constable. They were detected killing a sheep on the bridge. The constable ordered them to stand. They rushed him, beat him to death, and ripping his body open deposited within the entrails of the sheep.
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HISTORY OF ROSE HILL
PARRAMATTA
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A view of the Governor's house at Rose Hill in the township of Parramatta c1798
From the collections of the State Library of New South Wales (Mitchell Library, David Collins, 'An account of the English colony in New South Wales', Cadell & Davies, London, 1798)
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THE SETTLEMENT called ROSEHILL IN NOVEMBER, 1788.
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It was on or about the 4th November, 1788, that the Governor changed the name of the site of Parramatta from "The Crescent" to that of "Rosehill", in compliment to George Rose, who was a personal friend of the Governor, and had held office in the Pitt Ministry. The Governor had, in 1768, married and settled down in the new Forest at Lyndhurst in Hampshire, where he amused himself with farming pursuits during the time of peace. Here he was associated with Mr. Rose, the statesman, who, in 1788, was verderer of the new Forest, and lived at Cuffnells, where his Majesty George the Third was in the habit of visiting him, and spending days in his hospitable mansion.
George Rose was one of the most remarkable men that ever entered the British Parliament. According to the Marchmont papers he was a natural son of Lord Marchmont, who befriended him through life, and made him his executor. He was born 17th June, 1744, and his adopted father was the Reverend David Rose, a nonjuring clergyman From 1758 to 1762 he was a midshipman on the "Infernal" bomb ship of eight guns. By his uncle dying intestate he lost a fortune of £15,000, and in 1769, through Lord Marchmont, he completed the publication of the early records of the House of Lords. He was then appointed keeper of the records, and Lord North made him secretary of the Board of Taxes. He then became Secretary to the Treasury at £3000 a year, and in April 1783 took office under the Pitt Ministry. Through the influence of the Duke of Northumberland he was elected to Parliament for Launceston in Cornwall, and as Prime Minister Pitt's bosom friend, as well as an intimate acquaintance of George III. In 1804 he was Vice-President of the Board of Trade in Pitt's second Ministry, and Paymaster-General with Lord Charles Henry Somerset. In 1807 he was Vice President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy in the Duke of Portland's Ministry. In 1808 the Duke of York made him Warden of the New Forest, and on one occasion he refused the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Some idea of his position may be gathered from the fact that in 1817 he was paid £10,000 per annum in salaries made up of £4324 as Treasurer of the Navy, £4946 as Clerk of the Parliaments, £400 as keeper of the records, and an allowance of £500 per year to his wife for his services to the nation on critical occasions in those troublesome times. He was connected with all the great institutions of London and made many famous speeches in and out of Parliament, besides writing many books. He died at Cuffnells on the 18th January, 1818, aged 74 years, leaving sons who were knighted for signal state services. PAGE 59
VIEW AT ROSE HILL 1792 (NEW SOUTH WALES) VIEW AT ROSE HILL;
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DRAWN BY E. DAYES FROM A SKETCH BY JOHN HUNTER (1737-1821; PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1, 1792, BY I. STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY; AN HISTORICAL JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTION AT PORT JACKSON AND NORFOLK ISLAND, JOHN HUNTER.
HISTORY OF PARRAMATTA. Parramatta may justly be called "The Cradle of Australia,"' because it was here Australia's first town was established, and because it contains so many historic landarks. Parramatta which means "where eels rest."
The oldest dwelling in Australia is "Elizabeth Farm", Parramatta. It was built by Captain. Macarthur, in 1793, and is still inhabited by Mrs. Swann and her daughters, one of whom is Miss Margaret Swann, the wellknown historical writer.
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FROM ROSE HILL TO PARRAMATTA
HISTORY OF PARRAMATTA and DISTRICT.
Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Saturday 2 September 1899.
WRITTEN FOR "THE ARGUS" BY H. W. H. HUNTINGTON.
The Native Hostility Delays the Settlement, of Parramatta in June 1788.
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It was in June, 1788, the Governor announced his intention of forming a small settlement at the place he had in April, 1788, called "The Crescent," from the natural form of the land immediately behind the scene of his encampment, now known as Parramatta Park. This measure was expedient, as the soil about headquarters appeared indifferent and unproductive, whilst that at the Crescent was more favourable to the growth of grain. The settlement was to be under the direction of a person named James Smith, who had explored the river with Captain Campbell in the previous March, and was much impressed with the fertility of our district. He informed the Governor that he had had been brought up in farming pursuits, and that he had taken his passage in the Lady Penrhyn transport for India, where he had prospects of lucrative employment. At this time, there was not half-a-dozen persons in the colony that understood agriculture, and the Governor offered him work if he would settle in the colony.
They then arranged that Smith should go up to the Crescent with about twenty convicts and clear and cultivate some particular spots.
Just as the arrangement for a start were perfected, the natives in the district became troublesome, by reason of the seamen and convicts stealing their spears to sell to the masters of the transports, also insulting their children and women, and slaying those who resented their wrongs. This provoked reprisals, and conflicts were almost of daily occurrence. The Governor feared the hostility of the enraged Parramatta natives, and broke up the expedition, writing: "Several of the convicts having been lately killed by the natives, I am obliged to defer it (the expedition) until a detachment can be made." At this time the officers had declined the least interference with the convicts and would only do garrison duty, which mostly comprised protecting the convicts from the natives, and keeping them within certain limits. PAGE 61
Government Farm at Rose Hill, view from road looking towards the building, circa. 1790s
After the penal colony was founded at Sydney Cove in January 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip organised exploring expeditions up the Parramatta River.
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When more fertile land near the head of the river was found, he decided to set up a second settlement. On 2 November 1788, a site was selected for a redoubt at the Crescent, in what is now Parramatta Park, and on 4 November 1788, convicts were sent to the site.
DARUG (DHARUG, DARUK). THE CLAN THAT OCCUPIED THE AREA WAS KNOWN AS THE BURRAMATTAGAL. THE BIDJIGAL OCCUPIED THE AREAS TO THE NORTH AND WEST. THE BURRAMATTAGAL RELIED ON THE MIXED FOOD SOURCES AVAILABLE FROM THE RIVER AND THE SURROUNDING WOODS.
Land was cleared and planted with crops. Apart from government agriculture, private farming also began. In November 1789, James Ruse was occupying land at Experiment Farm, which he was cultivating. Later, it was granted to him. PAGE 62
FRESH PREPARATIONS for the
SETTLEMENT OF PARRAMATTA
made on August, 1788.
Nothing daunted by the attacks of the natives against those who had driven them out of their hunting grounds, and taken away their means of living, the Governor in August, 1788, adopted measures for the settlement of the land in the vicinity of the Crescent, as soon as he had despatched the Sirius to the Cape for grain, flour and provisions, during the first week in October. he He writes, "I purpose remaining with the officially notified he would in October party until they are settled, and have no doubt when settlers come out, and personally take to the Crescent a small proper people to superintend the detachment of marines consisting of 2 convicts that will be employed for the lieutenants, 1 captain, 25 non- Crown, but that two or three years will give this country a very different aspect, commissioned officers and privates with and in the meantime the clearing of the 40 or 50 convicts who were to be ground near the settlement shall not be neglected." employed in cultivating the land. www.australiansettlers.com
At
the
beginning
of
September
General Order to the Military Destined for Parramatta. The first General Order connected with the establishment of Parramatta was issued at the end of September, 1788, and it was to the effect that one captain, two subalterns, two sergeants, two corporals, one drummer and twenty privates, should hold themselves in readiness to set out for the head of the harbour (Parramatta) at the beginning of the month of November, 1788, for the protection of a number of persons the Governor intended to employ there in the clearing and cultivation of land for the growth of corn. The order named Captain James Campbell as the officer to command the detachment. PAGE 63
THE GOVERNOR and
MAJOR ROSS visit the
CRESENT
in September, 1788. Robert Ross, Major, Marines, Scarborough 1788
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The Sirius did not leave Port Jackson until the 2nd of October, 1788, and then the Governor found he had not one peck of seed to sow an acre of land.
However, the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor in the middle of September, 1788, visited the Crescent and selected various spots worthy of being cleared and cultivated with the little grain then at their disposal. After the Major had examined the locality, he gave
It seems a failure of seed was voice to the following guarded opinion on our district apprehended, as very little of :— "As this place seems the most promising spot yet the English wheat had vegetated seen in our neighbourhood, so does it appear to me and the barley and other seeds to be the only hope of raising grain." had rotted in the ground from He then said cautiously: "But being heated in the passage. should the ground not answer the All the barley and wheat from the Cape was destroyed by the weevil, and the ground was sown a second time with the seed he had saved for the next year. Food was also running short, and the re-turn of the Sirius was not expected within six months.
intended purpose I shall give up every hope of finding any place near as fit to form a settlement upon, much less the purpose of establishing a colony."
Owing to these circumstances and various courtmartial proceedings among the military officers, the carrying out of the measures for founding a The Major and his officers considered the scheme a settlement at the Crescent was delayed, and plausible one, and argued that he thought the season was too advanced to raise grain successfully. postponed to the month of November. PAGE 64
PARRAMATTA FOUNDED on the
2ND NOVEMBER, 1788.
The Governor's Description of the Settlement in November, 1788. The Governor spent several days examining the district. Writing a few days after he says: "The land appears to be the best I have seen in this country, and as fine as any I have seen in England."
The settlement or, as it was then, and for many years afterwards called, ‘The Camp’ — was named by the Governor, ‘ Rose Hill.’ The first commandant was Major Ross, belonging to a company of Marines who came as military guard in the First Fleet, in January 1788. Major Ross was also Lieut-Governor of the new colony of New South Wales. He, with a company of about 150 marines, and a number of convicts, formed the first settlement of the place now known as ‘Parramatta’ — an aboriginal name, from ‘Parra,’ (eels), ‘ Matti’ (locality), literally, Eels here.
The little band of settlers had arrived early in the morning and before sunset the top of the hill was denuded of its underwood and few scattered trees,
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in order to clear sufficient ground for the pitching of some tents. A rough plan was drawn up showing the crown of the hill with a battery for the protection of the convicts from the attack of natives and a public storehouse to be erected inside of it. On the 4th, ten convicts (who were understood to know something about the business of cultivation) were added to our population and the land intended to be sown with corn was cleared.
The month of November 1788, commenced with the foundation of the Crescent (Parramatta) as the second township formed in Australia. The memorable event took place on the 2nd of the month, when the Governor accompanied by the Surveyor-General, Theodore Henry Alt, Captain James Campbell, and twelve marines (four of whom had a knowledge of agriculture) reached the site of our town-ship, in two new boats, which had been brought out in frame and were put together for service to and from the Crescent.
The first business transacted was the fixing of the site of the settlement at the foot of the gentle ascent which the Governor had named the Crescent from its natural appearance, and is near the site of old Government House. PAGE 65
PARRAMATTA Evening News, Sydney, NSW. Saturday 20 March 1897.
When Barrington went to Parramatta as chief constable, the town consisted of a road about a mile long, with huts on each side of it. It led from the wharf on the river, at which the Sydney boats loaded and unloaded, to Rose Hill, crowned by the cottage built by Phillip, and known as Government House. It was rebuilt by Hunter and Macquarie, and is now known as the "Old Government House." Each hut stood "in its own ground," with ample space for additions as well as for gardens. The public buildings included a large hospital, a store, and a lockup, with "the stocks" attached. There was no church; a foundation had been laid for one, but before the building was finished it was converted into a gaol and afterwards into a granary. Divine service was held by the Rev. Richard Johnson, who rode up from Sydney once a fortnight and preached in the open air at 7, 10, and 4 o'clock to as many of the convicts as could be got together.
George Barrington National Library of Australia
There were then about 600 them. Beyond Rose Hill lay, Cumberland Park, set apart as a reserve by Phillip for the purpose of grazing the Government cattle, as well as those of the settlers.
George Barrington the ‘Prince of Pickpockets,’ would be appointed the subordinate to Thomas Daveney, the Superintendent of Convicts at Toongabbie, Toogagal Country, and was soon made Principal Watchman, earning him a conditional pardon in November 1792 and a land grant before the end of the following year.
Bounded on one side by the river, well grassed, and full of wildflowers, it was a pleasant place to ramble in on Sundays and holidays, especially for the women and children.
John Hunter In 1796 then made this absolute by appointing him to the position of chief constable at Parramatta.
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The farming land comprised about a hundred acres, and in the He also had his own house at spring of 1792, when Barrington first saw them, the crops of Parramatta, two thirty-acre (12 ha) maize, wheat, oats, and barley looked particularly well, promising land grants and fifty acres (20 ha) which he bought on the the best harvest the colony had yet seen. Hawkesbury and farmed with The fruit trees and vegetables were equally pleasant to behold; the assigned servants. Governor's garden, on the slopes of Rose Hill, was full of grapevines and orange trees, as well as lemon, pear, apple, apricot, and almond trees, while all kinds of vegetable luxuries flourished in the rear. The chief constable took possession of his new quarters with no little satisfaction. His office made him one of the most important men in the place, and he was received accordingly. It was not long before he found himself the most popular man in the place. Strict in the performance of duty, his manner was so free from the coarse brutality, which most men in authority displayed, that even hardened sinners yielded to his influence. His practical knowledge of the arts practised by thieves and receivers lent him additional authority, and he met with little interruption in his efforts to preserve order and detect offenders. His work became easier when Lieutenant John McArthur was sent up by Major Grose in the following January to reside in Parramatta and take charge of the district.
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THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF ROSE HILL IN 1788
'Indeed, a cabbage cut in honour of the King's birthday in 1789 weighed 271b! The first grapes cultivated in Australia were cut in the garden of the Governor's House at Rose Hill on January 24, 1791— humble precursors of the wine industry
Parramatta, which is about to celebrate its 150th 'birthday,' was once the virtual capital of New South Wales — a richer, a more prosperous, and a more socially-important town than Sydney. Had the estuary between the settlement and the sea been navigable by large ships there is little doubt that the centre of Colonial administration would have been permanently transferred. By the end of 1792 Parramatta could boast of 1970 inhabitants, compared with Sydney's 1170.
which has since brought so much wealth to this country. ON January 4, 1791, the name of the settlement was changed to Parramatta ('Rose Hill' being reserved for the small hill, now part of Parramatta Park) on
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CAPTAIN PHILLIP had not been at all impressed by which Government House had been the agricultural possibilities of either Port Jackson or Botany Bay. As early as April, 1788, he had made up built. his mind that both places could never be selfBy that time the town was all but the capital, Sydney, supporting in food supplies. with its scattered huts and starved gardens, being Great was his delight, therefore, when regarded as only a depot for stores. The majority of the convicts were at Parramatta and every available he discovered what appealed to be a stretch of lush farming land just above craftsman was employed there in building houses. Proof, too, that Phillip had taken an optimistic view the head of navigation on the of the future was offered by the fact that the streets Parramatta estuary. Without hesitation were planned 200 feet wide, the principal street was he resolved to establish a settlement on made a mile long, and a church, barracks, a hospital, this auspicious site, and accordingly we and residences for all the principal officials were in course of erection.
read that on November 2 'Rose Hill,' named after George Rose, a secretary of the British Treasury and friend of William Pitt the younger, came into existence.
Nothing seemed to be wanting. And, indeed, the scheme was without tarnish until Hunter (though he was no farmer) noticed that the soil was in reality merely a thin layer of humus on a deep bed of sand and would require 'much manure, much dressing, and good farmers to manage it before good crops can Phillip thought so much of the area and its apparent be expected from it. potentialities that he regretted that the first settlement had not been 'planted' there, instead of on 'Writing in October, 1792, George Thompson the sandy (though well- watered) outpost of Port described the two settlements thus: 'Sydney is the spot where the first settlement was founded merely Jackson. for the advantage of good water and the conveniency He wasted so little time on the new project that by of the harbour. In this part are only gardens 1790 some 40 acres of bushland had been cleared and sufficient to supply the inhabitants with vegetables, most of it laid down in maize. Potatoes, cabbages, etc? Parramatta is the grand settlement.' 'Grand' as it melons, and pumpkins were also grown, and all might have been, however, Parramatta soon began to except the potatoes 'throve astonishingly. fade in official esteem. PAGE 67
Poster publicising the Anniversary Celebrations PRS16/001 Parramatta Council Archives
A Letter Home
Historical Records of New South Wales, Volume 2 (British Museum Papers) Published in Mary of Maranoa Tales of Australian Pioneer Women by Eve Pownall, 1959 Project Guttenberg Australia, on-line
Port Jackson, 14th November, 1788 I take the first opportunity that has been given us to acquaint you with our disconsolate situation in this solitary waste of the creation. Our passage, you may have heard by the first ships, was tolerably favourable; but the inconveniences since suffered for want of shelter, bedding, &c., are not to be imagined by any stranger. However, we have now two streets, if four rows of the most miserable huts you can possibly conceive of deserve that name. Windows they have none, as from the Governor’s house, &c., now nearly finished, no glass could be spared; so that lattices of twigs are made by our people to supply their places. At the extremity of the lines, where since our arrival the dead are buried, there is a place called the church-yard; but we hear, as soon as a sufficient quantity of bricks can be made, a church is to be built, and named St. Philip, after the Governor. Notwithstanding all our presents, the savages still continue to do us all the injury they can, which makes the soldiers’ duty very hard, and much dissatisfaction among the officers. I know not how many of our people have been killed.
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As for the distresses of the women, they are past description, as they are deprived of tea and other things they were indulged in in the voyage by the seamen, and as they are all totally unprovided with clothes, those who have young children are quite wretched. Besides this, though a number of marriages have taken place, several women, who became pregnant on the voyage, and are since left by their partners, who have returned to England, are not likely even here to form any fresh connections. We are comforted with the hopes of a supply of tea from China, and flattered with getting riches when the settlement is complete, and the hemp which the place produces is brought to perfection. Our kingaroo rats are like mutton, but much leaner; and there is a kind of chickweed so much in taste like our spinach that no difference can be discerned. Something like ground ivy is used for tea; but a scarcity of salt and sugar makes our best meals insipid. The separation of several of us to an uninhabited island was like a second transportation. In short, every one is so taken up with their own misfortunes that they have no pity to bestow upon others. All our letters are examined by an officer, but a friend takes this for me privately. The ships sail tomorrow.* * The Fishburn and Golden Grove, transports Departed Sydney Cove, Wednesday, 19 November 1788 PAGE 69
THOMAS TILLEY BY CHERYL TIMBURY www.firstfleetfellowship.org.au
Stafford Labourer Thomas Tilley was aged 39 when he was delivered aboard the Censor Hulk on 19 January 1786. Sentenced with Edward Parry and Thomas Wood for the theft at Kinfare of six pieces of Fusian called Queen’s Cord of the value of ten pounds and one Flaxen Bag of the value of one shilling of the goods and chattels of John Harrison, James Harrison and William Topping, feloniously and did steal take and carry away. Tried at Staffordshire Summer Assizes on 27 July 1785 Thomas Tilley received a sentence of 7 years transportation. Whilst on the Censor Hulk, Tilley made contact with one of the itinerant engravers or traders who frequented the prisons and hulks to peddle his wares. Tilley commissioned a Love Token to be engraved on a copper coin, then to be left with a love one in England. One side of the circular smooth-down copper coin Love Token (hand-engraved), is a bird chained to the ground and on the observe side: Thomas Tilley transported 29 July 1785 for signing a note sent to the hulks Jan, 24 1786 sent to the Hulks Jan 24 1786. Thomas was not sentenced for signing a note but for feloniously stealing. Convict Love Token (maas museum 87/1494) On the 6 January 1787 Thomas Tilley was delivered aboard the Convict Transport Alexander. Embarking aboard Lady Penrhyn on 31 January 1787 was 30 year old Mary Abel, alias Tilley. She had been tried at the Lent Assizes held at Worcester on 5 March 1785 for feloniously stealing three ells of hempen cloth, table cloths, clothing etc being the goods and chattels of Robert Wright and the second indictment of feloniously stealing the goods and chattels of one John Page. Convicted of Grand Larceny, Mary received the sentence of 7 years transportation. Held over in Worcester gaol, where she became pregnant, Mary was ordered to Southwark gaol in London on 25 November 1786, before being transferred to Lady Penrhyn. One month before the fleet sailed, Mary bore a son William Abel on 20 April 1787, when the vessel was anchored at the Motherbank, Plymouth.
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Sydney Cove 4 May 1788, Thomas Tilley and Mary Abel/Tilley were married in the presence of Thomas Restell Crowder and Martha Davis. 15 days later on Monday 19 May, baby William Abel/Tilley was buried. Mary Abel/Tilley died in Sydney Cove and was buried there on 21 July 1788. Following the arrival of the Second Fleet transport ship Lady Juliana, Thomas Tilley met and married convict Betty (Elizabeth) Tilly on 12 August 1790. Betty Tilly, had been transported for an untraced crime, and described as the wife of Daniel Tilly. By 1794 Thomas Tilley was farming on 30 acres at The Ponds and in mid 1800 he owned 16 hogs and had ten acres sown in wheat another three ready for maize. He was off stores with a convict employed and one woman and four orphan children. In 1802 Tilley had lost his land when he assigned the title of Tilley Farm to George Bass. The following year he was living with, and probably employed by First Fleet settler Robert Forrester. No death date had been found for Thomas Tilley, although it could have been between 1803 and 1814. Elizabeth (Betty) Tilley was recorded as a widow in 1814 when a burglary was reported in Mrs Tilley’s house near George Street Sydney.
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1790 Between 1789 and 1791, the colony at Sydney Cove was critically short of food.
Sarah Griggs second fleet 1790
To make matters worse, the supply ship HMS Guardian was wrecked off South Africa before it reached the colony, and HMS Sirius, one of two of the colony’s navy vessels, was wrecked on Norfolk Island. In desperation, the HMS Supply, the Colony’s second navy ship, was sent to Indonesia for food.
After substantial crop failures and the wreck of the store ship HMS Guardian off the Cape of Good Hope, a mere five weeks' supply of rations was left in the stores. In 1790, the settlement's non-Indigenous population was 1,715 and the settlement at Norfolk Island numbered 524. The Second Fleet arrived in June 1790 after losing more than a quarter of its 'passengers' en route through sickness. Neptune, together with three other ships of the Second Fleet, Surprize, Scarborough and the store ship Justinian sailed from England on 19th January 1790, six months after the departure of the domed Guardian and the Lady Juliana, infamously known as ‘The Floating Brothel’. The Neptune had been contracted to take 424 male and 78 female convicts from England to the new colony of New South Wales.
Unlike the First Fleet with its planning and measures to ensure the health of the convicts, the Second Fleet was contracted to private businesses that kept the convicts in shocking conditions.
Donald Trail, the Neptune’s captain had commanded a slave ship and was described by many as a sadist.
Upon disembarkation, the sickly convicts were a drain on the already struggling colony.
Elizabeth Macarthur described him in her diary as “a perfect sea-monster”. The voyage took 160 days.
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Hopes were raised when a vessel arrived in Port Jackson in 1790, but it was not the Supply, but the first of a Second Fleet of five ships carrying over 730 people.
Of 1000 convicts on board, 267 died and 480 were sick from malnutrition, scurvy, dysentery and fever. The supplies on board the Second Fleet were supposed to feed the convicts, but the ship sailed ahead of the convict transports and the ships master withheld the supplies, starving the convicts, so that there was more they could sell afterwards and the earlier the convicts died on the voyage the more of their allowances the shipmasters could keep to themselves. Governor Phillip, enraged, had to further ration existing supplies, became desperate to establish farms and a local economy. Two years after the arrival of the First Fleet, the colonial authorities had, according to plan, allocated land to male emancipists and expirees in little settlements at Norfolk Island and New South Wales. PAGE 71
2nd Fleet 1790 The Lady Juliana arrived February 21 (NSW) and only carried women. and was the first all-female transport ship and the female population of Sydney more than doubled when it arrived. Justinian - was a store ship with the Second Fleet and she left England 20/1/1790 and arrived in Port Jackson on 20/6/1790. Following shortly after on the June 26 saw the arrival of the Surprize, Neptune, and Scarborough were contracted from the firm Camden, Calvert & King, which undertook to transport, clothe and feed the convicts for a flat fee of £17 7s 6d, or GB£17.38 per head, whether they landed alive or not. Guardian - set out before the convict ships but struck ice after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, returned to southern Africa, and was wrecked on the coast. The unprecedented mortality rate for the voyage was one death to every 3.1 convicts. One hundred and forty -seven men and eleven women from the human ‘cargo’ were dead.
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The First Fleet (1787-88) arrived in NSW with a mortality rate of 5.4%. The Second Fleet arrived in NSW with a mortality rate of 40%. It’s no surprise the Second Fleet was known as ‘The Death Fleet and that Neptune is known as the ‘Hell Ship’. This mortality rate, one that would be the highest in the history of transportation, was so shocking, even by the punitive standards of the late 1700s, that discussions were held in the British parliament:
Out of 500 passengers on board the Neptune but 42 were able to crawl over the ship’s side; the rest were carried and eight out of every ten died at Sydney Cove. The detail of the sufferings of these wretched convicts … were equal to any endured in the slave ships. sir Charles Bunbury’s Resolutions Respecting convicts for transportation 1793, Parliamentary history of England.
I beheld a sight truly shocking to the feelings of humanity, a great number of them laying, some half, others nearly quite naked, without either bed or bedding, unable to turn or help themselves…Spoke to them as I passed along, but the smell was so offensive that I could scarcely bear it….
The landing of these people was truly affecting and shocking; great numbers were not able to walk, nor to move hand or foot; such were slung over the ship side in the same manner as they would a cask, a box, or anything of that nature. Reverend Richard Johnson, 1790
In June 1790 the Second Fleet, known as the 'Death Fleet', arrived with enough supplies to end the famine. The first ship that docked in two and a half years was the convict ship Lady Julian with 226 female convicts. It brought letters and news from home. Later in the month the store ship Justinian arrived with muchneeded supplies. It was followed a week later by the Surprise, Neptune and Scarborough, each having convicts in very poor condition. The nine-month sea journey was fraught with dangers and many deaths from dysentery, scurvy and fever. During the voyage, the convicts were chained below deck with only a few rations and had to breathe the foul air. When the ship docked, some were unable even to walk off the ship. The Second Fleet was the first transport organised by private contractors, which had reduced convict rations and medicines in order to increase their profits. The barbaric conditions and resulting desperately high mortality rates of the Second Fleet were a direct result of the privatisation of the fleet. The First Fleet had been an expensive but effective exercise. All aspects of the expedition were closely monitored by Governor Phillip. Importantly, the ships stopped three times along the way, to ensure supplies of fresh food and water.
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Discovering how you are related to all of your ancestors. Your family history helps to provide meaningful connections to your ancestors and their stories.
family line Part One
Rose family line
Elizabeth McGahy née Rymes .
Matthew James Everingham 1768-1817 paternal grandfather of wife of husband of mother-in-law of paternal 1st cousin of wife of 2nd cousin 5x removed George Everingham 1799-1881 Son of Matthew James Everingham
Matthew Everingham, son of an Earl, whose crime had been to steal legal textbooks, had wed Elizabeth Rymes, from the Second fleet, was sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing and pawning bedclothes from lodgings. George Everingham. PAGE 75
Ann Everingham 1850-1850 Daughter of George Everingham
When George Everingham was born on 9 December 1799 in Parramatta, New South Wales, his father, Matthew, was 31 and his mother, Elizabeth, was 25. He became a lay preacher and is said to have been the first Australian born preacher for the Wesleyan cause. PAGE 78
Thomas Chaseling 1772-1847 Husband of Ann Everingham
Anne McMahon .
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Margaret McMahon 1843-1929 Wife of Thomas Chaseling
Mary Ann Stafford 1868-1942 Daughter of Margaret McMahon
Thomas Henry Blackman.
She married Thomas Henry Blackman on 10 February 1864 in Mudgee, New South Wales. They had 11 children in 21 years. She died on 15 August 1929 at the age of 86. PAGE 80 When Mary Ann Stafford was born on 2 February 1868 in Coonabarabran, NSW, her father, Thomas, was 25, and her mother, Anne, was 25.
John Allen 'Jack' and Mary Ann Stafford.
She married John Allen 'Jack' Stafford on 2 August 1884 in her hometown. John Allen 'Jack' Stafford 1857-1932 Husband of Mary Ann Stafford PAGE 81
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family line
The Thomas and Jane Rose (nee) Topp family line has been fascinating to research, discovering the links to the past and what is an amazing part of Australia's history.
Part One
Rose family line Catherine Rachael BUDSWORTH 1832-1906 Mother of John Allen 'Jack' Stafford Joseph 'Henry' BUDSWORTH Snr ASSIZES 1811-1892 Father of Catherine Rachael BUDSWORTH James Bowen Budsworth "Mudgee Jimmy" 1840-1930 Son of Joseph 'Henry' BUDSWORTH Snr ASSIZES Cecily Lucy Budsworth 1872-1955 Daughter of James Bowen Budsworth "Mudgee Jimmy"
Next edition No. 3 we bring you Part Two that started for the Rose family line from 1793.
1st cousin 6x removed James Rose 1831-1916 Father of Ephriam Joseph Rose 5th Great Uncle Richard Lionel Rose 1789-1872 Father of James Rose 6th Great Grandfather Thomas Rose 1749-1833 Father of Richard Lionel Rose
Thomas and Jane Rose (nee) Topp my 6th Great Grandparents and his family together with four other free settlers sailed in the "Bellona £for NSW. On 8 August 1779 at Sturminster Newton he married Jane Topp, who bore him three sons and one daughter before 1792. In August that year, as the result of Rose and his companions were repeated requests by Governor Arthur Phillip for the dispatch of intelligent the first free and independent and experienced farmers, Thomas Rose and his family together with four settlers to reach Australia. They arrived in Sydney on other free settlers sailed in the Bellona for New South Wales. 16 January 1793. Rose and his companions were the first free and independent settlers to reach Australia. They arrived in Sydney on 16 January 1793, when David Collins 5th Great Grandfather noted that Rose was 'the most respectable of these people, and apparently the Thomas Rose 1779-1869 best calculated for a bona-fide settler'. Son of Thomas Rose The new arrivals chose land about seven miles (11 km) west of Sydney, which 4th Great Grandfather they called Liberty Plains, now the Strathfield-Homebush district, where Rose received first 80 (32 ha) and later 120 acres (49 ha). Why they settled there is William Nelson Rose 1802-1845 uncertain, for the soil was poor, and without manure was quickly exhausted, Son of Thomas Rose but possibly Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose wanted to establish 3rd Great Grandfather settlement between Sydney and Parramatta for the safety and convenience of Thomas James Rose 1844-1909 the travelling public. Son of William Nelson Rose Rose soon decided that they had 'made a hasty and bad choice of situation'
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Thomas Rose (1749-1833), farmer, was born at Blandford, Dorset, England, and baptised on 24 November 1754, son of Christopher Rose and his wife Mary, née Belben.
and according to family records he soon afterwards moved to Prospect, where he was made an overseer in charge of the government farm and stock, and where his second daughter, Sarah, was born. He appears to have stayed at Prospect for some twelve years. He and his family then moved to more fertile lands along the Hawkesbury River where they purchased the 30-acre (12 ha) grant of William Mackay near the laternamed Wilberforce, which Grose began to settle in 1794. There he spent the rest of his life and became a well-known and highly respected figure, surrounded by a growing army of descendants. A son and a daughter had been born in the colony. He died on 15 November 1833 and was buried in the cemetery of St John's, Wilberforce. His wife, who predeceased him in 1827, was, according to the Sydney Gazette, the first woman to attain the status of great-grandmother in the colony since its establishment. Quiet, homely, unassuming and industrious, Thomas Rose belonged to that humble band of men who, in a rough and licentious age, helped to lay the foundations of ordered social life in a new country.
2nd Great Grandmother Alice Mary Rose 1873-1903 Daughter of Thomas James Rose Great Grandfather David Thorburn 1892-1971 Son of Alice Mary Rose Grandmother Eileen Louisa "Dolly" Murray 1924-2012 Daughter of David Thorburn
Alice Eileen Murray 1945Daughter of Eileen Louisa "dolly" Murray John Tozeland the son of Alice Eileen Murray
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Convict Love 1st fleet convict Matthew Everingham Married 2nd fleet convict Elizabeth Rymes. Matthew Everingham, son of an Earl, whose crime had been to steal legal textbooks, had wed Elizabeth Rymes, from the Second fleet, was sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing and pawning bedclothes from lodgings.
Elizabeth McGahy née Rymes . Elizabeth Rymes 2nd Fleet 1774–1841 BIRTH 20 MAR 1774 • Oxford, England DEATH 12 DEC 1841 • Knights Retreat, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia
They lived on a farm at Prospect that Watkin Tench had visited and been not Matthew James Everingham arrived in much impressed by. Sydney on the ship Scarborough in 1788. Yet Elizabeth Rymes would give birth and habitation to nine small 'cornstalks' or currency children.
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The native-born children rode their farm horses bareback down dusty tracks, swam and fished in the creeks and rivers and learned bushcraft from each other and local aboriginal children. A confusing range of opinions were uttered in Britain and in New South Wales about these national children, just as had been uttered about their parents. It was assumed by many that they must be criminal sporn, abandoned by their 'unnatural parents' or raised amidst scenes of criminal activity and debauchery. In fact the colonial experience and later research shows that they grew up, a remarkably honest, sober, industrious and law abiding group of men and women.
Matthew James Everingham (1768-1817), was born in London on 25 July 1768, and was the son of Joseph Everingham and his wife Mary. He was convicted in London on 7 July 1784 and sentenced to transportation for seven years. Prior to his conviction he was employed as a 'servant' by an attorney of the Middle Temple, hence the subsequent references to him as 'attorney's clerk'. Allegedly 'in great distress' he had obtained two books by false pretences from the servant of another attorney, and these he had offered for sale. He arrived in the First Fleet transport Scarborough and was employed by Assistant Commissary Zachariah Clark. In 1791 he was married at Parramatta to Elizabeth Rhymes who had arrived on the Neptune on 28 June 1790. They were married by the Rev. Samuel Marsden. In the same year he was granted 50 acres of land, then described as "at the Ponds two miles N.E. of Parramatta".
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Hawkesbury farmer and district constable Matthew Everingham and surveyor James Meehan were two emancipists who were living vindications of Macquarie's policy of allowing talented convicts to regain a place in society through hard work and good conduct.
The Sydney Gazette dated 3 January, 1818 reported that “On Friday last Mr. Matthew Everingham, settler and district constable at Portland Head, fell overboard from a Hawkesbury boat, and was unfortunately drowned.
In early 1818 the Everingham family were in mourning as Matthew was dead after 30 years in the colony.
On the finding of the body an Inquest was convened, who returned a Verdict Accidental Death. He leaves a large family to deplore his premature destiny.”
Matthew Everingham had been a young man when he arrived on the Scarborough with the 1st fleet. As he was literate he was employed immediately by assistant Commissary Zachariah Clarke and later went on to work as a carpenter and boat builder (1789) and to assist the farm superintendent at Rose Hill, overseeing timber cutting and supervising the women employed at needlework there (1791). Once free, Everingham became a successful farmer, with an initial land grant at the Ponds near Parramatta and later at Portland Head. (Ebenezer) As well as farming he contributed more broadly to colonial life. In 1795 he and 2 other settlers attempted to cross the Blue Mountains and while this was unsuccessful they reached a point, where they could see good country Sun, Sydney. to the west before turning back.
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Tuesday 23 April 1912.
For some time, while living in Windsor, Everingham held a liquor licence and was involved also with the A FIRST FLEETER'S GRAVE. tanning industry, having leased the West Hill Farm tan yards at McGraths Hill following Andrew View of the churchyard at Wilberforce, showing Thompson's death. Leather used for making harness in the foreground the tombstone of Michael James Everingham, who arrived in the First and footwear was produced there. Fleet in 1788. The illustration is from a In 1800 Everingham was appointed district constable photograph by Mrs. A. G. Foster. at Field of Mars and in 1817 at Portland Head. The position involved a variety of functions relating to convicts, overseeing law and order in the local area Elizabeth McGahy and enforcing government and general orders. née Rymes . No wages were paid, but in return for his work he She died on 12 recieved full rations and a half, plus clothes and December 1841 rations for his wife and up to 2 children. at the age of 67 Everingham had been called out on Christmas day, Cemetery 1817 to investigate the selling of smuggled spirits Knight's Retreat from a vessel at Lower portland, but fell overboard Farm Cemetery and drowned.
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Windsor and Richmond Gazette. Friday 5 February 1932.
HOW PIONEER MATTHEW JAMES EVERINGHAM MET HIS FATE. How Pioneer Met His Death Romantic Hawkesbury Story MANY stories have been told as to how Matthew James Everingham met his fate at Sackville on Xmas Day, 1817, and in view of the further investigations that are to be made to recover the huge fortune that is said to exist in England for the relatives of the pioneer, some additional information may prove interesting. ACCORDING to Mr. Matthew W. Woodbury, of Medora street, Inverell, the pioneer was, as district constable, searching a boat at Sackville suspected of smuggling when he was knocked on the head, thrown over-board and drowned.
Whilst engaged in looking over the ship he was knocked on the head and his body thrown overboard and drowned, so he was really murdered. "One of 'Betsy' Everingham's husbands was on board at the time and saw him 'knocked overboard,' but would not tell the authorities. However, he must have been telling the account to someone he knew and it got to the ears of the court people. They had him arrested and tried to make him disclose the names of those who had done the deed, but he refused to do so. So the Judge put 'Betsy' Everingham's husband in the murderer's place and sentenced him to be hanged.
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Then he began to tell but the Judge told him it was too late, as he had taken the other man's (the murderer's) place." Mr. Woodbury says that his grandmother (nee Sarah Everingham) had told him that her father had some property in England and Actually, he was murdered? WRITING to Mr. Geo. G. that her brother, Matthew James Everingham. (II.) , Reeve under date of January 22, 1932, Mr. Woodbury had in his possession the papers belonging to the tells a romantic story regarding the pioneer estate. Everingham. Mr. Woodbury, who is over 75 years of age, says his grandmother was the eldest daughter of Many years later there was a man, supposed to have the Everingham family and was born at Parramatta. been a ship's officer, who came from England to see her brother. They became very 'chummy', and the Her sister, Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph Ladd), he can alleged ship's officer persuaded Matthew James recollect very well, as he was a good deal of his time Everingham (II.) to let him have the papers stating living with his grandmother when Mrs. Ladd used that he would get everything "fixed up." But her to stay with her. Mr. Woodbury says he has heard it brother heard nothing further about the property in stated that 'Betsy' Everingham was married five England. times, but he could not say whether that was true. Her last husband, however, was Joseph Ladd (the first) . "Most I know about the Everingham affairs," says Mr. Woodbury, "I got from my grand-mother. She told me that her father (Matthew James Everingham, the pioneer) was district constable at the Hawkesbury (Sackville) when there was trading on the river between Windsor and Sydney which was suspected of smuggling grog. 'The pioneer was exciseman and went on board a vessel to conduct a search.
'There is no doubt in my mind," adds Mr. Woodbury, "that this man was sent out to get the Will of M. J. Everingham (I.) from his eldest son, and the Everingham claimants are only throwing away good money after bad. I will never put sixpence into it until the claimants' secretary can produce a copy of Matthew James Everingham's father's will. 'The complainants have no claim what ever, and I will be pleased to meet any of them who may wish to have a talk about the matter." [Mr. Matthew W. Woodbury's, grandmother (nee Sarah Everingham) married Richard Woodbury (I.).
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We are concerned to state that a few of the Natives have again manifested an inclination to hostility, and already proceeded to acts of abominable outrage. Report at the present juncture confines their ravages and barbarity to Portland Head, where Mr. Matthew Everingham, settler, his wife, and a servant, are said to have been speared; as is also Mr. John Howe, settler, near the above spot. The house and out‐houses of the former were plundered and afterwards set on fire, but the spear wounds received are not accompanied with any mortal appearance. Several other settlers in this neighbourhood have suffered very considerably in being robbed of their clothing, stock, and grain.
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On Thursday evening, shortly after the accounts arrived, Hɪꜱ Exᴄᴇʟʟᴇɴᴄʏ dispatched a file of Troopers to the Magistrate at Hawkesbury, with Instructions promp[t]ly to adopt such measures as the exigency of the case required. The settlers and constables of that settlement went to the succour of the other settlers at Portland Head; as no provocation appears to have been given the Natives in that quarter, and as the Natives in the other districts are still on the domesticated footing they have been for the last two Years, it is hoped the exertions that are making to keep them in that state, will have the desired effect, without proceeding to further extremities. By 1803 he was well established at Portland Head, but in 1804 his home and farm buildings were burned by natives and he, his wife and servant were speared, though happily their wounds were not fatal. Everingham was survived by five sons and four daughters, and was buried in St John’s cemetery, Wilberforce.
When George Everingham was born on 9 December 1799 in Parramatta, New South Wales, his father, Matthew, was 31 and his mother, Elizabeth, was 25. He married Keturah Stubbs on 17 August 1821 in Church, Lancashire. They had 11 children in 27 years. He died on 15 April 1881 in New South Wales having lived a long life of 81 years, and was buried in Ulmarra, New South Wales.
George Everingham.
On a June afternoon in 1816 the front room of Rose's cottage was overflowing with people. At the back of the room stood the tall 17 year old George Everingham and others who had travelled to the cottage to hear the missionary Samuel Leigh, who had preached earlier at Ebenezer. George was present at the earlier service, and had been so moved that he had to hear Leigh speak again. Mr Leigh was again persuasive, and exhorted his listeners to devote themselves to the service of the Lord. "All that is wanted to change the habits of those who are steeped in sin is a few proper men to itinerate among them," Reverend Liegh said. You Cornstalks, young men, you are the ones! We want good riders, men able to sleep under a tree, capable of fatigue, able to dine in a native hut on oposssum, for our missionaries. Will you hear the call - offer your first fruits and be holy men unto the Lord?" George the Cornstalk was born in 1799, the 5th child of Matthew Everingham and Elizabeth Rymes. George had 2 major tasks: the first to help look after his fathers properties, and the second to follow the path so strongley presented by the Reverend Liegh. He suceeded in both. He became a lay preacher and is said to have been the first Australian born preacher for the Wesleyan cause. In a report of 1838 he is said to have preaching appointments at the Macdonald every four weeks and at Mangrove Creek every eight weeks, both 30 miles from his home. In his service to the Wesleyans he was always supported by his wife Keturah (nee Stubbs), who he married on August 17th, 1821. George and Keturah retired to Ulmarra on the Clarence River, where he died in April 1881.
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HAWKESBURY HISTORY A LINK WITH THE PAST LATE MRS. MARY DANDO
Windsor and Richmond Gazette. Friday 11 April 1930.
Mr. Thomas Chaseling (I.) died at his residence Pitt Town, near Windsor, on the 27th November, 1847, in his 76th year. His obituary notice in the "S.M. Herald" says:—
Mrs. Dando was a descendant of very old Hawkesbury and Windsor families. In the paternal line, the deceased lady was a descendant of Mr. Thomas Chaseling, who came to New South Wales in the year 1790, at the age of 20 years.
"He was greatly respected by all. He died at 76 years of age, 56 years of which he was a resident of this colony (New South Wales), and leaves a numerous family to lament their loss." A gigantic vault tomb at St. John's, Wilberforce, encloses the pioneer, his second wife (nee Rose), his son, Thomas Chaseling (II.) , and the latter's wife (nee Miss Eleanor Brown), who came from a very old Hawkesbury family. The inscriptions are very indistinct, but a few years since I de-ciphered the epitaph. It says:—
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As there are three lines or branches of the Chaselings, All flesh is as grass; and quite a number of Thomas Chaselings laid to rest ALL THE glory of man is the flower of grass; in the Hawkesbury district burial grounds, I wish to point out particularly that Mr. Thomas Chaseling (of The grass it withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, 1791) was one of two brothers, originally soldiers or But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. guards at Toongabbie Stockade. The brother was George Chaseling (I.), the original surname being spelled CHESTLAND, and at other times CHASLAND, and other spellings as well, as various newspapers have recorded same from 1803 upwards. Mr. Thomas Chaseling's (I.) first wife is buried at St. Thomas' cemetery, Sackville, where a stone, is inscribed:— "Sacred to the memory of MRS. ELIZABETH CHASELING, the beloved wife of Thomas Chaseling, senior, who departed this life in the year of our Lord October 28th, 1828 Aged 33 years." The late Mrs. Mary Dando's great grandfather, the pioneer soldier and later a farmer-settler of 1791, Mr. Thomas Chaseling (I.), after his wife Elizabeth's death, married secondly, Miss 'Margaret Rose, and the worthy couple lie on the hillside at St. John's churchyard, Wilberforce.
One of the sons of Pioneer Thomas Chase- ling was John, born 30th August, 1799, and who at 19 years of age, in the year 1818, married Miss Ann Everingham, one of the daughters of M. J. Everingham (I.) (obit. 1817). The latter couple's youngest son (one of 10 children in all), Mr. Joshua Wats- ford Chaseling, born 1842, was married at Richmond, by the Rev. James A. Nolan on the 24th December, 1864, to Miss Mary Ann Hull, second daughter of William Hull, Esq., of Windsor. Mr. Joshua W. Chaseling and his wife had a family of two sons and three daughters. The late Mrs. Mary Dando is survived by two brothers—Mr. Ernest E. Chaseling, of Toronto, Newcastle, an officer of the N.S. Wales railway service, with quarters at Tyrrell House Newcastle, and Mr. Wm. John Chaseling (Sydney)—and two sisters, Mrs. A. Madden, and Miss H. Chaseling.
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Anne McMahon Chaseling Blackman
Anne McMahon Annie arrived on board the "talavera"with her parents and three brothers and two sisters on the 8/9/1853 When Anne McMahon was born in 1843 in Nobber, Meath, her father, James, was 23, and her mother, Catherine, was 23.
She married Thomas Henry Blackman on 10 February 1864 in Mudgee, New South Wales. They had 11 children in 21 years. She died on 15 August 1929 at the age of 86.
DEATH OF MR. THOMAS BLACKMAN
Guardian and North-Western Representative NSW. BINNAWAY.
Thomas Henry Blackman Despite the dangerous river crossing the funeral cortege was a very large one. In the absence of the Rev. J. Hendry through illness the burial service was read by Mr. C. W. Rowell. Of Mr. Blackman another correspondent writes: — Mr. Blackman, who was 73 years of age, was born at Cooyal, near Mudgee, in which district he spent the early years of his life. He was married at an early age in the Wesleyan Church. Mudgee. Leaving Mudgee with his young wife he came to this district, and managed the Rampadal estate for five years.
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Then he took up land on his own account. He selected a block near this town, which he named Glenalvon. On this he lived for about forty-five years. He sold out A gloom was cast over our little town when it became his farm about two years ago, when he purchased the known that Mr. Thomas Blackman Sen., had passed property in Napier Street, where he died. away on July 18, suddenly. There are also over forty grandchildren and twenty The deceased had suffered for six or seven years from great-grandchildren. Mr. Blackman was a very an obstruction in the throat or chest, which was the powerful man in his younger days, and continued so immediate cause of death. He had consulted until about five years ago when he contracted an specialists in the city but without avail. affection of the throat. From that time he had not had Although his death was not altogether unexpected yet the best of health, but was always of a jovial it was a great shock, as it came at last, with dramatic disposition, and always ready with some little ioke. suddenness, a few minutes after a sudden seizure. About a week before his death he took a turn for the Mr. Blackmail was widely known and highly worse but he still did light work about his home. The respected. Of a kindly cheerful disposition, always day before he died he took his horse and cart and ready to do a good turn, and ever attempting to live brought some fire wood home. On Friday night he up to the Golden Rule, he was an ideal neighbour for was not so well, but complained little. His end came peacefully in the early hours of Saturday morning. whom everybody had a good word.
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Mary Ann Stafford When Mary Ann Stafford was born on 2 February 1868 in Coonabarabran, NSW, her father, Thomas, was 25, and her mother, Anne, was 25. She married John Allen 'Jack' Stafford on 2 August 1884 in her hometown. They had 114 children in 21 years. She died on 16 May 1942 in Dubbo, NSW, at the age of 74, and was buried there.
The Stafford Family The Stafford brothers are descended from a Cannemegal (Warmuli) woman called Black Kitty who was placed in the Parramatta Native Institution in 1814 at the age of five.
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The Parramatta Native Institution was established by NSW Governor Macquarie to assimilate Aboriginal children, educate, train and Christianise them into colonial societal standards. Once the children were sent to the institution they were not allowed to return to their parents or to their lives they once knew.
Kitty first married Boorooberongal man Colebee, who had been granted land in the Richmond area of NSW. In 1831, Kitty is mentioned in a blanket list as being widowed in her twenties and living in Richmond. They had six children, one of whom was Catherine Budsworth, born in 1832 on the Liverpool Plains. The family then moved to the Maitland area.
In 1832 Kitty married English convict Joseph Budsworth (aka Henry Joseph Budsworth). Joseph had been assigned to Magistrate William Cox in 1829 in Clarendon and it may have been this connection that led him to meet Kitty. In 1852, Catherine Budsworth married Joseph Stafford, an Irish convict from Cork who had been assigned to James Hale’s Bomera Station, located at the foot of the Warrumbungle range north of Coolah. They had seven children including John Allan Stafford who was born in 1857; he was also known as John Allen Stafford.
In 1865, Mary Ann of the Gamilaroi people was born in Binnaway to Anna Mahan and Thomas Henry Blackman or Captain Blackman, as he was known. Blackman was an Aboriginal man and was the son of doctor and farmer, Thomas Blackman and Aboriginal woman Mary Ann. In 1884, Mary Ann and John Allen Stafford married in Coonabarabran. They had 12 children including Charles Fitzroy, Clyde Gilford and John Harold.
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The three Stafford brothers, Charles Fitzroy, Clyde Gilford and John Harold served in the Australian Light Horse as part of the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War. From 1915 to 1918, three brothers from the Stafford family – Charles Fitzroy, Clyde Gilford Ortley and John Harold, enlisted and served in the Australian Light Horse as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in the First World War.
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Descendants of Darug (Warmuli Clan)/Gamilaroi peoples, the brothers distinguished themselves as excellent horsemen. For their service, all three brothers were awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and a King's Certificate of Discharge. Clyde and Charles Stafford were also awarded a Silver War Badge. The tinplate badge below of the Stafford brothers is an example of a photomontage, a technique popularised during the First World War. The technique involves the creation of a composite photograph by cutting and joining two or more photographs into a new image. The badge came from a time when a mother wore a visual representation of pride and honour for a son or sons serving in war. It was perhaps a way of keeping a son close to a mother’s heart.
Tinplate badge featuring a silver gelatin montage on the face, circa 1918, AIATSIS Collection, MS 5013. Photo: Peter Morphett.
John Allen Stafford with children in a horse-drawn sulky, c. 1920s. AIATSIS Collection ANDREWS.C01.DF-D00027563
The Stafford Papers In August 2014, the Stafford Papers were gifted to AIATSIS. They highlight the remarkable story of Alfred 'Alf' George Stafford, a Gamilaroi and Darug man who was the youngest of twelve children and the brother of Charles, Clyde and John Stafford. The papers shed light on his role in Australia’s political history as a chauffeur to eleven Australian prime ministers. The collection includes personally signed letters and photographs from prime ministers and political figures, material relating to his induction into the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), military service and sporting achievements. It also includes genealogical and family history research painstakingly collected by his granddaughter and collection donor Michelle Flynn.
www.aiatsis.gov.au/explore/ stafford-brothers#toc-the-stafford-family
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1790 Mr Waterhouse endeavouring to break the spear after Govr Phillips was wounded by Wil-le-me-ring where the Whale was cast on shore at Manly Cove, 1790 ‘Port Jackson Painter’ Detail Watercolour Watling Drawing – no 24 Natural History Museum, London
Governor Arthur Phillip is speared in the shoulder while speaking with a group of Indigenous Australians, due to a misunderstanding. Acting as interpreter, Bennelong prevents the situation from escalating and the Aboriginals are permitted to leave in peace. Keith Vincent Smith 2020
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7 September 1790. As Bennelong began to introduce him to the governor, Willemering, the Garigal garadji (clever man) from Broken Bay, north of Sydney, stepped back suddenly and hurled a spear with great force. The wooden barb struck the governor’s right shoulder near the collarbone and came out 8 centimetres lower, close to his backbone. Lured by the gift of garuma (blubber) sent by his former captive Bennelong, Governor Arthur Phillip was rowed from South Head to meet him at Kayeemy (Manly Cove), where some 200 Aboriginal people were feasting on the carcass of a stranded whale.
In retrospect this seems appropriate, because, following orders from Phillip, Lieutenant William Bradley and his boat crew from HMS Sirius had lured Bennelong (a Wangal from the Parramatta River) and Colebee, (a Gadigal from eastern Sydney Harbour) by holding up two large fish when they seized and captured them at Manly on 25 November 1789. In Dancing with Strangers (Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2003), Inga Clendinnen characterised the spearing as ‘an iconic moment in Australian history’, referring to the ‘slim wooden spearhead which pierced the governor’s flesh’. Adam Hochschild in his review of her book in The New York Times (4 July 2005), put it bluntly as ‘throwing a wooden spear right through his body.
‘Governor Phillip was so well recovered of his wound, as to be able to go on a boat on the 17th, to the place where Bannelong and his wife then resided: he found nine natives on the spot, who informed him that Bannelong was out fishing; the native girl [Boorong] was in the boat, and her father being among the natives, a hatchet and some fish were given him; in return for which he gave the governor a short spear that had been pointed with a knife, which the natives now used when they could procure one, in preference to the shell.’
www.eorapeople.com.au/uncategorized/spearing-the-governor/
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3rd Fleet
1791
The Third Fleet arrived in April 1791 bearing convicts whose physical condition was equally appalling.
The New South Wales Corps replaced the marines in 1791.
From the beginning of the penal settlement convicts tried to escape. Those who walked off into the bush usually perished as they lacked the survival knowledge and skills needed to find food, fresh water and shelter.
Between 1789 and 1791, the colony at Sydney Cove was critically short of food.
Those convicts who did return to the colony were dehydrated, emaciated and defeated. Others were taken in by Indigenous family groups and some were returned to the British by Indigenous groups or individuals. In 1791, 21 male convicts and a pregnant female convict escaped from Rose Hill (later Parramatta) with some provisions, clothing and work tools. Some convicts sighted them after their escape and the escapees informed them that they were on their way to China.
To make matters worse, the supply ship HMS Guardian was wrecked off South Africa before it reached the colony, and HMS Sirius, one of two of the colony’s navy vessels, was wrecked on Norfolk Island.
The convicts mistakenly believed that China was nearby and they could just walk there. In January 1792, another 44 men and 9 women went missing from a muster.
In desperation, the HMS Supply, the Colony’s second navy ship, was sent to Indonesia for food.
'View at Rose Hill, Port Jackson' c1791 (State Library of New South Wales, a1528525, watercolour)
The New South Wales Corps replaced the marines in 1791. 14 February 1791 – Sydney's first retail shop opens. 10 December – With the colony beginning to flourish, Phillip is granted leave and permitted to return to England.
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He leaves on the Atlantic, taking Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne with him, and retires to a quiet life in Bath. While the British government decides on a replacement, Francis Grose (the commanding officer of the New South Wales Corps) takes control as Acting Governor.
The Third Fleet consisted of 11 ships which set sail from United Kingdom in February, March and April 1791 bound for the Sydney penal settlement, with over 2000 convicts. The passengers consisted of convicts, military personnel and notable people sent to fill high positions in the colony. More important for the fledgling colony was that the ships also carried provisions. The first ship to arrive in Sydney was the Mary Ann with its cargo of female convicts and provisions on the 9 July 1791. The Mary Ann could only state that more ships were expected to be sent. The Mary Ann had sailed on her own to Sydney Cove. The next ship to arrive just over 3 weeks later on 1 August 1791 was the Matilda. With the Matilda came news that there were another nine ships making their way for Sydney, and which were expected to arrive shortly. The final vessel, the Admiral Barrington, did not arrive until the 16 October nearly 11 weeks after the Matilda, and 14 weeks after the Mary Ann.
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1791 Mary Ann RMG BHC3478.tiff." Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 9 Nov 2019, 20:50 UTC.
The eleven ships of the Third Fleet departed England in March 1791. Atlantic; Salamander, William and Ann departed from Plymouth in March 1791. Mary Ann, Matilda, Active, Admiral Barrington, Albemarle, Britannia, Gorgon departed from Portsmouth in March 1791.
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Queen departed from Cork and met with the other vessels at Madeira. August, 1791, the term for which many of the convicts had been sent out having expired, such of them as were well conducted and desired to remain in the colony were allowed to select land to clear and, cultivate for their own name.
The live stock consisted of six horses, sixteen cows, fifty-seven sheep, and twenty-five pigs. The number of prisoners who arrived in the colony this year was nearly two thousand. Of those who had left England more than two hundred had died on' the passage. Of the number of free persons, military und civil, who arrived in the same period there is no record. Most of the marines who formed the first garrison had now left, and their places were filled by detachments of the corps raised expressly for service in the colony, and afterwards called the 102nd Regiment. So great was the horror which the name of Botany Bay inspired in England, at this time, that when its destination and purpose became known, it was called 'the doomed regiment,' and this continued to be its common appellation for many years.
The first party, twelve in number wore fixed at the , foot of Prospect Hill, about four miles from Parramatta.
Those of the marines, both officers and men, who had formed the first guard, if they wished to remain in the colony were allowed to do so, and had quantities of land assigned them in proportion to their rank.
At the end of this year 1791, the land wholly or partially cleared and in cultivation at Sydney and Parramatta amounted to nearly a thousand acres.
Major George Johnson, and several others who availed themselves of this offer, became, in a few years, very wealthy colonists.
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3rd Fleet WOMAN DIARIST. Visit to Sydney in 1791. (BY G.R.) One of the earliest accounts of life in Australia, as seen through the eyes of a woman, is that of Mrs. Mary Anne Parker. She was the wife of Captain John Parker, R.N., of H.M.S. Gorgon, one of the two ships-the other being the Discovery, which were selected for an expedition "on the north-west coast of America."
In April, 1790, news had been received in England that Spanish ships had attacked and captured the British shipping and settlement at Nootka Sound. But before Captain Parker sailed in the Gorgon to punish this outrage, the Spaniards climbed down and agreed to make restitution. As a consequence, his sailing orders were changed, and he was Instructed to embark Major Grose and a detachment of the New South Wales Corps for Sydney Cove.
Voyage of Eight Months.
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In addition, a large quantity of stores, equipment, and supplies were embarked, and among the interesting items committed to the care of the captain for delivery to Captain Phillip, were the warrant "for the use of the seal of the territory," and the seal itself, which were duly delivered. (Where Is this seal now?) In those days, captains In the Royal Navy were allowed greater liberties than today, and when Captain Parker asked his wife if she would like a voyage round the world with him, she eagerly assented. The Gorgon sailed from Portsmouth in January 1791, and after a tedious voyage, arrived and anchored in Sydney Cove on September 21, after a passage of eight months.
Mrs. Parker seems to have made herself quite the grand dame on board, a position to which she was entitled as the wife of the captain. She kept a, diary from day to day in which she jotted down anything which interested or amused her. The arrival in Sydney Cove of the Gorgon, with the officers of the N.S.W. Corps, with mails and with supplies, was a social event of some importance.
Sydney Morning Herald, NSW. Saturday 13 March 1937.
Among the few ladies in the settlement was the wife of Captain John MacArthur, and Mrs. Parker was invited to stay with Mrs. MacArthur during the Gorgon's protracted stay in Sydney. The ship remained there until December l8, when she sailed, taking with her Captain Watkin Tench and other officers of the marines who had completed their term of service, under the command of Major Ross.
"Crowded with Curiosities." Altogether, there were on board 109 officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates, together with 25 wives and 47 children, all home-ward bound after their years of exile in the distant settlement. "Our bark," wrote Mrs. Parker, "was also crowded with kangaroos, opossums, and every curiosity which that country produced. The quarterdeck was occupied with shrubs and plants." The Gorgon set sail for Capetown, where she arrived early in March, 1792, A few days later, Captain Parker received a visit from an officer who had just arrived, and who announced himself to be Captain Edward Edwards, late of his Majesty's ship Pandora. The Pandora, it appeared, had been despatched from England to the South Seas to capture the mutineers of the Bounty, and Captain Edwards, having secured 14 of these rascals, had clapped them in irons and im-prisoned them in a wooden cage. Then he set off home, but ran his ship ashore on an outlying reef off the Queens-land coast, with the result that four of his 14 mutineers were drowned. With the remaining ten prisoners and his crew, he made his way in the Pandora's four boats to Koepang, in Dutch Timor, where he was astonished to find the survivors of another English ship or so they claimed to be. But suspicions were aroused, and Captain Edwards soon discovered the truth. These people were not shipwrecked mariners at all, but escaped felons from Port Jackson. There were eleven of them, including the wife of the leader of the party, who gave his name as Will Bryant, and the Bryants' two infant children, aged one year and three years. This party had survived a passage of ten weeks In an open boat from Port Jackson to Koepang. PAGE 86
3rd Fleet WOMAN DIARIST. Visit to Sydney in 1791. (BY G.R.) "Transports at Large."
"A Numerous Family."
Captain Edwards immediately put them under arrest, too, but the hardships of the boat voyage had been too much for some of the runaways. Will Bryant died, and so did his infant son, aged one year.
The volume, published in London in 1795, bears the title, "A Voyage Round the World in the Gorgon, Captain John Parker, performed and written by his widow for the advantage of a numerous family."
On the way down to Capetown three more died, so that when Captain Edwards finally reached Capetown with the crew of the Pandora, the mutineers of the Bounty and the- runaway convicts from Port Jackson, these latter consisted only of Mary Bryant, her small daughter, and four men. With his mixed party, Captain Edwards now went on board the Gorgon, and asked Captain Parker for a passage home. Although the ship was crowded, room was made, and a few days later the Gorgon continued her voyage homeward.
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On the way home, the Bryant's little girl, who had been born at sea four years before, died, and was buried, so that Mary Bryant was the sole survivor of the family to arrive back In England, where she was put on trial at the Old Bailey, with her companions, on the charge of being "transports at large." Mrs. Mary Anne Parker arrived home safely, too, but shortly after he had completed the voyage round the world, Captain Parker died, leaving his widow with a young daughter, a posthumous son, and inadequate means. In these circumstances, Mary Anne be-thought herself of her diary. "With her left arm supporting her Infant son and her right hand holding the pen," as she described it, the lady proceeded to write a book, based on her diary.
It is now scarce. Mrs. Parker seems to have been a dull and unimaginative chronicler.
She paints a drab picture of life at Sydney Cove, and when she commended her book to the public, she did so by referring to her "numerous family" in need of support. If she is to be believed, her "numerous family" consisted of the small girl and the infant son.
Poor Mary Bryant, the escaped convict, also had a small girl and an infant son. She, too, had made a voyage round the world, but in very different circumstances from Mrs. Mary Anne Parker. Mrs. Parker made no reference at all to the convict woman in her book, and though she must have witnessed the burial at sea of the small daughter of the convict, she makes no mention of the incident, which is re-corded in brief official terms In the Gorgon's log book.
The Gorgon anchored off Spithead on June 20, 1792. The Bounty mutineers were removed to H.M.S. Hector, there to await court martial, and the five escaped convicts were removed to Newgate, there to await their trial.
H.M.S. Gorgon sailed from Spithead on 15th March and Portsmouth on 18th March 1791 with stores and personnel for the starving colony of NSW. As well as 280 passengers and crew the ship carried livestock. The vessel was to collect the salvaged stores from the wreck of the Guardian at Cape Town and bring the first contingent of the NSW Corps to Port Jackson as well as to deliver Lieut. Gov. Philip Gidley King to the new penal settlement on Norfolk Island.
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1791 Sydney Mail. Wednesday 30 August 1922.
Historic Ryde 1791
His Excellency, being caught indulging in "forty winks," was playfully kissed by one of the ladies of the party, for which she expected, and possibly received, the customary reward of a pair of white kid gloves.
Next to Sydney and Parramatta, Ryde is the oldest centre of population in Australia. Some interesting information concerning its settlement and development is here given by Mr. R. Carmichael.
The second appellation resulted from the fact that the district had been laid out in farms for settlement, these lying east of this reach of the Parramatta River. Quite a number of those farms were taken up by time-expired soldiers — hence the name ''Field of Mars."
In one of the earliest, if not actually the earliest, maps of Australian territory, the Ryde district (with other country is referred to as a "track (tract) of good land to appearance in many places hereabout. This map purported to be "a map of all those parts of the territory of N.S.W. which have been seen by any person belonging to the settlement established at Port Jackson, in the said territory, faithfully constructed from the best materials that could be obtained; and respectfully inscribed to Captain Twiss, of the Royal Engineers, by his much obliged and most humble servant, William Dawes.
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March, 1791" — a little more than three years after the advent of the First Fleet, which arrived in Port Jackson on January 26, 1788. Ryde was successively known officially as Kissing Point, the Eastern Farms, and Field of Mars.
There is a legend that Governor Phillip, or Governor Hunter, was present at a picnic party which landed on what is now designated Blaxland Point.
The name Ryde was suggested by the wife of the Rev. George Turner, incumbent of St. Anne's, owing to its similarity in some respects to Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, where the reverend gentleman was born. The last name was officially bestowed when the district was incorporated.
Early Land Grants. THE first grant of land in Australia was made to a man named Rouse, in 1791. The earliest grants to Ryde settlers were made in the year following, each being issued by Governor Phillip. The first grant in the Ryde district was that made to Isaac Archer, on January 3, 1792. It consisted of 80 acres. Then followed 30acre grants each to John Laurel, William Careless, and James Weaver, all bearing the date of February 22, 1792.
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1791
Start of whaling Whaling began in Australia in 1791 and quickly became an important part of the colonial economy. It made up half of the export industry in New South Wales in the 1830s.
But the industry had nearly collapsed by the middle of the 1800s as whale oil was less sought after. The last whaling station in Australia closed in 1978.
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South Sea Whalers boiling blubber. Boats preparing to get a whale alongside by Oswald W Brierly State Library of NSW a128893
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Britannia, a whaling ship that brought convicts and supplies to Sydney as part of the Third Fleet, was the first ship to harpoon a sperm whale off the Australian coast, in October 1791. The whaling industry helped the fledgling colony survive and the industry flourished until a downturn in the 1850s and the eventual overharvesting of many species. The last whaling station in Australia closed in 1978.
European whaling history The Basque population of what is now northern Spain and south-western France are the first people known to have hunted whales commercially. Their hunts began around 1000 CE in the waters off the Iberian Peninsula. By the 1530s they had established a seasonal settlement for whale hunting and processing at Terra Nova on the coast of Labrador in what is now Canada. From 1611 as whale and cod populations around Terra Nova diminished, the Basque shifted their fishery to Spitsbergen in the Arctic. The area proved extremely productive and gained the attention of British, Dutch and Danish companies, which all sent ships to the area.
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Whaling in the Pacific The first whale harpooned in the Pacific Ocean was taken by the ship Emilia off the coast of South America on 3 March 1789. Emilia returned to England with a lucrative cargo of 140 tonnes of sperm whale oil. Enderby wrote, ‘From [her captain’s] account the whales of the South Pacific are likely to be the most profitable’. The success of this expedition led Enderby to petition British Prime Minister William Pitt to remove all restrictions imposed by the East India Company and open up the Pacific fishery.
A good part of the capital which had been so lavishly employed in the import trade, they are gradually diverting into that safer and infinitely more productive channel – the oil-fisheries … the whaling merchants are public benefactors, entitled to the gratitude of the whole community. They are stopping the inlets of Australian poverty, and opening those of Australian wealth.
Revolution and expansion Much of the whale hunting and processing capacity that Britain developed in the 17th century shifted to their American colonies of Massachusetts and New York in the 18th century. England lost these colonies in the American Revolution. In 1775 an embargo was placed on all exports to Britain including whale oil. The embargo prompted Samuel Enderby, who had been heavily involved in the British–American whale trade through his fleet of ships, to investigate the possibility of whaling in the untried waters east of the Cape of Good Hope (the southern tip of Africa). Captains sailing the Indian Ocean recounted seeing large numbers of sperm whales, which was the most prized species because of the quality of their oil. However, the British East India Company, the largest and most powerful company in the world at that time, had a monopoly on all trade in those waters. Enderby and his business partners Alexander Champion and John St Barbe spent years petitioning the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations (the government body responsible for Britain’s trade regulation) for the right to harvest whales in the Pacific and Indian oceans. In 1789 permission was granted.
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Whaling in Australia The First Fleet arrived in New South Wales in 1788 just as the international whaling industry was rapidly expanding to meet the increasing demand for whale oil that would continue throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Until the development of petroleum in the 1850s, whale oil was the primary machine lubricant and preferred lamp oil in Europe and North America. While Enderby was at the forefront of the international whale oil business, he also saw another commercial opportunity, noting that whaling ships were travelling to the South Pacific with no cargo before returning fully laden. Transporting convicts and supplies to the newly established colony would provide his ships with a profitable cargo for their outward voyage. The First Fleet had been arranged and financed through government channels. However, private contractors provided the ships, rations and crew of the Second Fleet, resulting in appallingly high death rates among the convicts. Enderby lobbied the British Government to award the contract for transporting convicts to NSW to the whaling industry, and then let the whalers hunt in the waters of the South Pacific before returning to England with their cargoes of oil.
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In early 1791 the Third Fleet set sail for Sydney. Eleven ships transported 1716 convicts. When their human cargo had been delivered, the William and Ann, Mary Ann, Matilda, Salamander and Enderby’s own ship Britannia went whaling. Their success saw the start of the Australian whaling industry and Eber Bunker, captain of the William and Mary, went on to become a leading figure in the early colony.
Eber Bunker
Whaling in the early colony Whaling became an essential part of the New South Wales economy and culture. Whalers were the most frequent visitors to the colony in its first decade. Whaling was Australia’s first major industry with thousands of men and hundreds of ships eventually involved in the trade. Whale oil and bone products were ideal commodities for the new colony as they were high-value items that could survive months at sea. The focus of South Pacific whaling had been along the South American west coast, but the industry shifted west after war was declared between Spain and Great Britain in 1797. With British ships unable to buy provisions in the Spanish colonies, Sydney became a major whaling port. British whalers were soon joined by Americans in the South Pacific, but it was still a few years before Sydney-based ships became involved in the trade.
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Sydney and Hobart
Legacy of the whalers
Whaling was an expensive industry: fully outfitting a suitable ship cost more than £10,000. Business people were more likely to invest in the less costly sealing industry.
The whaling industry helped the fledgling colony of New South Wales survive, as the whaling ships brought much-needed food and supplies to the colonists from the 1790s. Whaling went on to become the colony’s first viable industry at the turn of the 19th century. Even into the 1820s whaling was as financially important as pastoralism.
The discovery, with the settlement of Hobart, that the Derwent River estuary was a breeding ground for the southern right whale encouraged the launch of the first Sydney-owned whaler, the King George, in June 1805. Small-boat, shore-based whaling conducted around Tasmania and in the bays of the south-east mainland grew rapidly. The first Sydney-based, oceangoing sperm-whaler Argo, owned by the pastoralist John Macarthur, sailed out of Sydney in 1806. The peak of Australian whaling activity was between 1820 and 1855, with up to 1300 men working in the industry each year. With the 1851 discovery of gold in Australia, however, sailors deserted their ships en masse to travel to the goldfields. As petroleum increasingly replaced whale oil throughout the 1850s, the industry went into decline. An industry that had provided New South Wales with 52 per cent of her exports in 1832 provided less than one per cent by 1855.
The push to find productive whaling grounds, especially by the private companies involved in baybased hunting operations, led to some of the first intensive European exploration of the Australian coastline. Despite the downturn during the 1850s, whaling continued well into the 20th century with technological changes radically increasing the productivity of the whaling fleets. This efficiency led to the catastrophic overharvesting of many whale species and a public outcry to halt the industry. The last whaling station in Australia, Cheynes Beach Whaling Company in Albany, Western Australia, closed in July 1978. Australia is today a leading member of the International Whaling Commission and deeply engaged in the fight against whaling.
The National Museum of Australia brings to life the rich and diverse stories of Australia through compelling objects, ideas and events. We focus on Indigenous histories and cultures, European settlement and our interaction with the environment.
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www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/start-of-whaling
I'm delighted to bring you the second edition of Australian Settlers Magazine. We look back to reflect our past, events and people. Why they came, Where they come from, Who they married, What they did and how We come together in a convergence of Cultures. Circulating bi-monthly by e-magazine directly to your email inbox every issue as you subscribe for free. I hope you enjoy our storytelling and the journey in this edition we take you on looking back.
John
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AUSTRALIANSIAN
Pioneers' Club
www.pioneersclub.com.au
CONT A C T THE OFFI CE MANAGER (61 2 ) 8 2 73 2380 Tues d a y a nd Thursday 10am – 2 p m local time OFFI C E 89 M a c q uarie Stre et, Sydney, NSW 2 0 0 0
CLUB HISTORY The Australasian Pioneers’ Club was founded following a meeting on 2nd May 1910, which was convened by Mr Douglas Hope Johnston BA, a descendant of LieutenantColonel George Johnston, of the Marine Detachment which embarked with the First Fleet. (Then) Lieutenant Johnston came to New South Wales in the ‘Lady Penrhyn’ (one of the transports of the First Fleet) and is reputed to have been the first officer ashore at Port Jackson on 26th January 1788.
OUR MOTTO The Club’s motto “Primi in Terras Australes” refers to British settlement in Australia and the Pacific Islands. The Club’s crest is an 18th Century Ploughshare over which the Rising Sun appears.
OUR PURPOSE The first three objects of the Club, as listed in its memorandum of Association, are to foster mutual help and friendship amongst gentlemen who were the descendants of pioneers, to foster the pioneering spirit in Australasia, and to promote discussion of Australasian history.
OUR FUTURE Since its foundation in 1910 the Australasian Pioneers’ Club has continuously attracted a thriving membership. Its continued success is assured by the Members’ pride in Australia’s past, their active participation in its present and their unbounded faith in the Nation’s future.
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INSPIRATION IS TAKEN FROM THE PIONEERS’ PRAYER: Let us remember our ancestors the pioneers through whose toil and suffering and sacrifice, and by the Grace of a Divine Providence, we inherit our liberties, our way of life and our place
among the great nations of the earth.
The motto of the club, "Primi in terras Australis"— The First, in Australasia.
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Observer, Adelaide, S.A. Saturday 2 July 1910.
AUSTRALASIAN PIONEERS' CLUB
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This club (says The Town and Country Journal, Sydney) has been brought into existence with the object of fostering a national spirit among the rising generation of Australasia, as well as to stimulate the desire to know more of the lives and hardships, bravely and patiently endured by those who, individually and modestly, strove to do their duty in the past eo that we of to-day can enjoy the heritage of their labours. The Australasian Pioneers' Club is entirely devoid of political colour, and the mere possession of wealth is absolutely of no consideration in the election of its members. The following gentlemen are eligible for membership: (A) Descendants in the male line of any (a) officer or man of the naval or military force. (b) Officer or man of the mercantile marine, (c) Officer or man of the civil establishment. (d) Landholder; who resided (in New South Wales) on or before December 31, 1810. or Norfolk Island on or before 1810, Tasmania on or before 1825. New Zealand on or before 1848, Queensland on or before 1817, South Australia on or before 1838, Western Australia on or before 1845, Victoria on or before 1839. (B) Descendants in either the male or female line of any member of the above clauses (a), (b), (c), (d) who were members of (a) The first fleet of 1788; (b) the first regiment of 1790; (c) the first Settlers of 1793. (C) Descendants of the 15 most notable explorers of Australasia after 1810. All eligible for membership should communicate with the Hon. secretary (Mr. D. Hope Johnston), Citizens Chambers, Moore street, Sydney. AIMS AND OBJECTS. In a preliminary circular -- to eligibles, Mr. Douglas Hope Johnston, a great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston, A.D.C. to Governor Phillip, wrote: "One of the chief aims of this club will be to supply a convenient meeting place and opportunities, hitherto wanting, of meeting together and by contributing to a common store of knowledge, help to increase and preserve for future generations those 'Tales of a Grandfather' . which, when placed together, will form a valuable addition to our early historical records.
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MEROOGAL WOMEN'S ART PRIZE 2022 Entries are now open for the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2022. Women artists from across NSW are invited to submit works, in any medium, that respond to the historic house of Meroogal with finalist works exhibited this September.
Meroogal | Sydney Living Museums www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/meroogal PAGE 95
MEROOGAL WOMEN'S ART PRIZE 2022 Sydney Living Museums is excited to announce that entries are now open for the 2022 Meroogal Women’s Art Prize, with a prize pool of over $10,000. Female artists from across NSW are invited to submit works, in any medium, that respond to the historic house of Meroogal, its former occupants, and its meaning within broader historical and contemporary contexts. Selected artworks will be displayed and photographed throughout the property, throwing new light on the personal stories of the people who once lived there, and the rich collection of objects that are still contained within the house. The Meroogal Women’s Art Prize is a regional, non-acquisitive competition and exhibition. It is open to a work in any medium made by a woman aged 18 years or over who is a resident of NSW. This year, Sydney Living Museums is waiving the artist entry fee. Entries close at 4pm on Tuesday 2 August 2022. Artworks selected for display in the exhibition will be on display to the public from Saturday 17 September 2022 to Saturday 22 April 2023.
Prize money kindly funded by SLM Foundation: 1st Prize: $7000, a Bundanon artist-in-residence scholarship,* and a Sydney Living Museums membership 2nd Prize: $1500, a solo exhibition at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra, including an opening event, and a Sydney Living Museums membership Highly Commended Award: $1500 and a Sydney Living Museums membership People’s Choice Award: $500 and a Sydney Living Museums membership (to be announced at the close of the exhibition) * The timing and duration of the residency to be determined in negotiation with Bundanon.
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Key dates Entries close: Tuesday 2 August 2022 at 4pm. Artists selected for exhibition will be notified by Monday 29 August 2022. Artwork delivery dates: Thursday 8 September and Saturday 10 September 2022 between 10am and 3pm. Judging: Friday 16 September 2022. Prize winners announced and exhibition launched: Saturday 17 September 2022. Exhibition dates: Saturday 17 September 2022 – Saturday 22 April 2023. Meroogal | Sydney Living Museums www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/meroogal
Inquiries: Joanna Nicholas, Curator Email: mwap@slm.com.au
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The oldest is Sydney’s The Australian Club, founded in 1838, followed by the Melbourne Club, which was founded a year later to give grazing gents a city bolthole and enable the oldest pioneer families to maintain an urban network. These clubs and their imitators had a similar founding principle: a cocoon for the landed.
AUSTRALIAN CLUB THE AUSTRALIAN CLUB, FOUNDED IN 1838, IS A PRIVATE MEMBERS’ CLUB SITUATED IN THE HEART OF SYDNEY WITH UNPARALLELED VIEWS OF THE BOTANIC GARDENS AND NORTH SHORE. WHERE TRADITION AND MODERNITY HAVE BEEN SKILFULLY BLENDED TO PRESERVE WHAT IS BEST IN A CLUB FOR TODAY'S MEMBERS, WHERE MEMBERS BRING THEIR GUESTS TO ENJOY THE BEST AMENITIES THE CLUB HAS TO OFFER. THE CLUB PROVIDES EXCELLENT DINING FACILITIES, EN-SUITE BEDROOMS AND APARTMENTS, A FULLY EQUIPPED GYM, AND ON LEVEL 7 OF THE BUILDING IN WHICH THE CLUBHOUSE IS LOCATED, ARE FIRST RATE BUSINESS FACILITIES WHICH MEMBERS AND RESIDENT GUESTS MAY ACCESS.
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THE AUSTRALIAN CLUB HAS RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS WITH SEVERAL OTHER PRIVATE MEMBERS’ CLUBS NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY.
General Information Facilities: Private Dining is available for between 4 and 80 people. A fully equipped Gym with Personal Trainers. An extensive Library. On-site car parking. Standard of Dress: Members and gentlemen guests should wear a long sleeved jacket and tie (business attire) and ladies may wear a dress, skirt, tailored trousers with a jacket, or evening pants in the Club. Members and guests resident in the Club may wear smart casual dress appropriate to their destination when entering or leaving the Club. Denim is not permitted. Enquiries For information or to make an accommodation or restaurant reservation, please contact Reception via reception@australianclub.org or (612) 9229-0400 Australian Club Address: 165 Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australian Club Postal Address: GPO Box 169 Sydney NSW 2001 Car Park: Club parking is accessed via the loading dock on 45 Bent Street; ‘Macquarie House’. The entrance is between Flight Centre and the Chifley (Wilson) parking.
www.165macquariestreet.com.au
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Melbourne Club The Melbourne Club is a private social club established in 1838 and located at 36 Collins Street, Melbourne. The club is a symbol of Australia's British social heritage and was established at a gathering of 23 gentlemen on Saturday, 17 December 1838, and initially used John Pascoe Fawkner's hotel on the corner of Collins Street and Market Street. The Melbourne Club moved to new purposebuilt premises at the eastern end of Collins Street, designed by Leonard Terry in Renaissance Revival style, in 1859.
Melbourne Club entrance.
A dining room wing with a bay window was added at the western end in 1885, designed by Terry and Oakden. It includes, among other rooms, a library, main dining room, private dining room, breakfast room, billiard rooms, lawn room and bedrooms. The building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
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At the rear of the Club building is a private courtyard garden, maintained by arboristhorticulturalist John Fordham, which is also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is the location of garden parties and private functions.
The Melbourne Club 1860 State Library Victoria.
The garden contains the largest plane tree in Victoria, according to the National Trust's Register of Significant Trees. The Melbourne Club courtyard garden The Melbourne Club does not allow female membership. The female-only Lyceum Club, located directly behind in Ridgway Place, enjoys views of the trees of the Melbourne Club's gardens.
The Melbourne Club courtyard garden.
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Vagrant Verse:
1788 And All That By RJ.W.
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Rum Doings
Queensland Country Life, Thursday 31 March 1938
When o'er early days we gloat, Why not fabricate a float, Which would represent a barrel or a drum— Thus we'd reproduce a phase, Of the happy early days, When the currency in Sydney was in rum! When a man would toil and sweat Many months and then would get, As a recompense his wages in an urn, And in two days I should think Any robust man could drink What it took him half a year or so to earn! With a currency in rum How could anyone be glum! Let them keep their "holey dollars" or the "dump"; You had but to steal or beg Half a gallon in a keg And then "water your investment" at the pump! A monopoly was sought And eventually bought (I assure you that the fact all doubt resists), Sydney Hospital, they tell, Was the price—and built as well Was a fortune for the rum philanthropists. If the early tales are true There was once a man who grew Discontented with the state of married life; Love and kisses have a price— He accepted in a trice When they offered him four gallons for his wife!
AUSTRALIAN
SETTLERS culture & heritage MAGAZINE
Bellona
1793 1792 1793 BELLONA
ROUSE HILL THORBURN'S OF MEROOGAL
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