Historical
Places
In
Tasmania
With
Relevance to
Jillett/Bradshaw
Family
View from Mt Wellington
The
Clarence Region
There are many historical places
which feature in the Jillett/Bradshaw Family.
Some were granted lands from in Hobart from 1804, others were granted
land at Clarence Plains when they were shipped from Norfolk Island. Others settled at New Norfolk, Oatlands, and Bruny
Island.
It is not possible to provide
information about each and every place that someone lived, however, where
possible historical facts have been sourced, from some of the amazing online
resources.
The Clarence Region was the home
of William Garth, Edward Westlake, William Henry Smith, John Morrisby, all with
links to Jillett/Bradshaw
While for some in the family, they have lived and worked in
Tasmania for a long time. For others, we
have enjoyed holidays, and the experiences.
But one disappointing aspect of Tourism in Tasmania, is that
they do not provide any brochures, their information "is
online". On-line might be well and
good for some of the population, there are certainly a great many, who do not
go on holiday with their computer!
Hopefully some background information will allow you to enjoy
the experience, and have a bit of an understanding as to where the places are
and how they are relevant to the family.
Probably we have all heard of Belreive. Cricket and all that, but what about Kangaroo
Battery?
We drove to Bellerive, and enjoyed the beautiful view across
to the Casino, and had absolutely no idea of what the fort we were standing in,
was built for!
In The Beginning
The successful establishment of
crops on Clarence Plains was vital to the survival of Hobart Town. When new
settlers arrived from Norfolk Island in 1808, some were granted land in
the Derwent Valley, and others upon Clarence
Plains. Very soon a mixture of mansions and fine houses, cottages, inns and
churches began to be built in the area.
However the population growth on the eastern
shore was much slower than that of Hobart Town, despite the close proximity of
the young town. By the 1810s, a ferryman was making regular crossings of the Derwent between
Sullivans Cove, and 'Kangaroo Point', near where the ferry still arrives at Bellerive Quay. The point was so-called due to
the large numbers of Kangaroos that would be seen grazing there in the first few
decades after European arrival. By the late 1810s, farmers, timbermen, and
pioneers had begun settling on the eastern shore of the Derwent River.
The next areas within Clarence Plains to be settled on the eastern shore of Hobart's Derwent River, were Rosny, and its neighbours Montagu Bay and Lindisfarne to the north. Private properties had been built in each of these localities by the late 1820s, commanding excellent views across the Derwent to Hobart Town and Mount Wellington. All three suburbs are named after the three fine houses established. Although private estates and farms began to spring up throughout the district, settlements were generally isolated, with Bellerive, Cambridge, Lindisfarne, and Richmond the only major settlements of note. In 1836, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, George Arthur divided the island into administrative counties, and Clarence Plains fell into Pembrokeshire. Despite this, the Clarence Plains region became a municipality in its own right in 1860. In 1862, Bellerive also became the administrative centre of the municipality, and the Eastern Police District, but for much of the late nineteenth century, Clarence Plains experienced little development, remaining primarily agricultural.
A review of colonial defences in the 1870s saw a complete overhaul of the coastal defences of Hobart, and a new fortress called Kangaroo Battery was constructed between 1880 and 1888 just to the south of Bellerive. An industry that flourished throughout Clarence Plains was fruit growing, and by the 1880s several prosperous orchards were located within the region. A rare attempt at commercial opportunism was the short-lived Bellerive-Sorell Railway (1892 until 1926) which had its terminus on a long jetty extending into the Bay on reclaimed land that now makes up part of the Bellerive Boardwalk.
It was hoped that is could eventually be connected to the Tasmanian Main Line at Brighton, thus providing rail access to the south of Clarence Plains, Sorrell and the Tasman Peninsular, but engineering difficulties and economic problems led to its abandonment
The Land
Grants for Edward Westlake, William Garth, William Smith.
Thomas Jillett owned a large
chunk of the area, along with George Nichols.
While they both lived in Oatlands, and the families were related there
is no explanation as to why they were in partnership with the land.
Suggestion from Hobart to
Bellerive to Richmond to Oatlands.
The Richmond Bridge is a heritage
listed arch bridge located on the B31 in Richmond, 25 kilometres north of
Hobart in Tasmania, Australia. It is the oldest stone span bridge in Australia.
Richmond is a town in Tasmania
about 25 km north-east of Hobart, in the Coal River region, between the Midland Highway and Tasman
Highway
St John's Catholic church was built in 1836, and is considered the oldest Roman Catholic church in Australia.
Site of Stanfield's Mill 1816-1908 South Arm Rd.
It continued to grind the grain for the Clarence Plains district until at least 1876. The miller's cottage was burnt down in 1900 and the now derelict mill blew down in 1908. It must have been an impressive sight - standing 10 metres high, approximately the height of the back section of the Police Academy which is precisely where it stood. The sails reached a further 7 metres.
Site of "Horse and Jockey Inn" c.1833 and Blacksmith's
The interpretation sign on the wall of the supermarket gives a history of this first Rokeby "shopping complex" up to the 1940s.
The mention of cricket is sufficient to
return to Church St. and follow the path to the Village Green.
Site of "Oakleigh" c. 1886
Keeping to the same side of the road we will
come to Fence City - the site of the late Victorian home of George Stokelili.
We know the house at times accommodated families of 14 children so it was quite
large. It was described as weatherboard with high ceilings, many ornate
fireplaces, with colourful vitreous tile surrounds, having four bedrooms (2
with dormer windows in the attic), dining room, drawing room with violin,
piano, harp and organ, and well as a large family kitchen. There was a
scullery, pantry and dairy, extensive outbuildings, servants quarters and a two
hole "dunny".
This beautiful house was also totally destroyed by the 1967 fires.
Old Schoolhouses
3 South Arm Rd., the small cottage with a tall picket fence, is the oldest weatherboard building in the village area. In 1860, this was the Clarence Plains Board of Education School, but, by Federation, it was a private home. Three stages of its history, and the changes to its appearance over 140 years, are shown on the sign at the trail start. Divided by the Clarence Plains Rivulet, the land came originally from grants to Edward Kimberley and David Lord.
This beautiful house was also totally destroyed by the 1967 fires.
Old Schoolhouses
3 South Arm Rd., the small cottage with a tall picket fence, is the oldest weatherboard building in the village area. In 1860, this was the Clarence Plains Board of Education School, but, by Federation, it was a private home. Three stages of its history, and the changes to its appearance over 140 years, are shown on the sign at the trail start. Divided by the Clarence Plains Rivulet, the land came originally from grants to Edward Kimberley and David Lord.
 |
| School 1860 |
Next door, the building dated 1880s, is possibly older, and was the Rokeby State School until 1944-5. It combined a schoolteacher's residence and schoolroom, but for many years there was no connecting door. A press item of 1897, described the break-up for the Jubilee holidays, in the "once populous, but now almost deserted village of Rokeby". After prize giving, the children sang a well-rehearsed "God Save The Queen" and were addressed by the Church Rector. On Empire Day 40 years later, the Warden of Clarence, gave the address, distributed bags of boiled lollies, and gave the children, who included his grandson, the rest of the day off. A Mass Centre before the opening of John Paul II in 1982, it is now the well-loved and cared - for Clarence
Introduction
Clarence Plains has always been important both for its Aboriginal and European heritage. This area, called Nannyeleebata, was valued greatly by its traditional owners for the land itself, its birds, animals, the natural vegetation, the shoreline with Its major harvests of seafoods, and the landscape within which all this was held.
In 1808, the area named by John Hayes in his expedition of 1793 was to get a new type of land manager. Settlers from Norfolk Island, some of whom had been "freed from servitude" after their comparatively small crimes in England, were granted land in what was thought to be, correctly, a rich agricultural area.
All were to make their mark, both in the provision of food for the new colony, and in developing a community which has lasted and grown over the years. The early influence of the Church in the person of the gregarious Colonial Chaplain Robert Knopwood meant that schools came to the area as early as 1820.
In this open area of country, sheltered by wooded hills, with ready access to Ralph's Bay, with a then permanent rivulet, Rokeby village grew. By 1866 there were 180 inhabitants in the township, surrounded by pastoral and agricultural properties.
With grand mansions, working farms, humble cottages, schools, inns and places of worship, outdoor activities of cricket, horse races and ploughing matches, Rokeby continued its pleasant and peaceful existence. The semaphore and steam ferries had improved the links with Hobart, and, at Federation, life was good.
Clarence Plains has always been important both for its Aboriginal and European heritage. This area, called Nannyeleebata, was valued greatly by its traditional owners for the land itself, its birds, animals, the natural vegetation, the shoreline with Its major harvests of seafoods, and the landscape within which all this was held.
In 1808, the area named by John Hayes in his expedition of 1793 was to get a new type of land manager. Settlers from Norfolk Island, some of whom had been "freed from servitude" after their comparatively small crimes in England, were granted land in what was thought to be, correctly, a rich agricultural area.
All were to make their mark, both in the provision of food for the new colony, and in developing a community which has lasted and grown over the years. The early influence of the Church in the person of the gregarious Colonial Chaplain Robert Knopwood meant that schools came to the area as early as 1820.
In this open area of country, sheltered by wooded hills, with ready access to Ralph's Bay, with a then permanent rivulet, Rokeby village grew. By 1866 there were 180 inhabitants in the township, surrounded by pastoral and agricultural properties.
With grand mansions, working farms, humble cottages, schools, inns and places of worship, outdoor activities of cricket, horse races and ploughing matches, Rokeby continued its pleasant and peaceful existence. The semaphore and steam ferries had improved the links with Hobart, and, at Federation, life was good.
Clarence House and Stanton, built
by Thomas Shone are almost identical, in their original state.
Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954),
Wednesday 22 August 1928, page 4
KNOW TASMANIA ROKEBY. EARLY HISTORY AND PROGRESS.
(By Our Travelling Correspondent.)
Realising that only too few of our own Tasmanian-born know Tasmania as
it should be known, the writer purposes giving a series of brief articles on
districts that he has visited, believing that by this means a better
understanding will prevail, and thus enable them to become bigger Tasmanians,
and worthier citizens of no mean country.
Probably Rokeby received its name from the parish of Rokeby on River
Lees, Yorkshire, England. For many years it was known as Clarence Plains, so
called after Commodore John Hayes's ship, Duke of Clarence, in 1794.
Dr. James Ross's "Hobart Town Almanack" of 1830 records: -
"From Kangaroo Point (now Bellerive) the road continues down near the bank
of the Derwent, through a sandy soil, pass-ing several small farms, until it
arrives at the Glebe land belonging to the chap-lain at Hobart Town. Between
this road and the beach is a long, narrow lagoon of fresh water, situated at
the west end of which, on a projecting point, into the Derwent, is Wentworth,
the property of Mr. R. L Murray. The house which is large, stands upon a
promontory, and a little farther on is the neat and commodious little farm of
Mr. Peter Roberts, D.A.C.G. These farms command beautiful views of the Derwent
from Hobart Town, and the adjacent country, to both sides of the opening of
D'Entrecasteaux Channel.
Fronting the Derwent, two miles lower down, is the thriving and
conspicuous farm of Mr. Charles Hippesley Cox. About a mile beyond is the
settlement of Clarence Plains, originally settled when Norfolk Island was
abandoned. The road runs through the centre of the district, which is mostly in
a state of cultivation. Besides a great many small farms, that of Mr. Nicholls,
on the left of the road, and Mr. D. Stanfield deserve to be particularly
mentioned. In the centre of this district is a respectable inn, kept by Mr.
Hance."
From Walch's "Tasmanian Guide Book" of 1871, we cull the
following:-"Rokeby, five miles from Bellerive, is beautifully situated on
the shore of Ralph's Bay. The whole of the surrounding plain is divided into
farms, and, instead of lines of posts and rails, the fences chiefly consist of
fine hedges of hawthorn. Few spots in Tasmania have a more thoroughly English
aspect than this fair expanse of meadow, corn land, garden, and orchard, with
here and there a thin, blue wreath of smoke, guiding the eye to some pleasant
nook, where lies a cottage home amidst its fields, or perchance a goodly
man-sion, encompassed by lawns and plantations.
"The chief ornament in the village is, as it should be, the church
dedicated to St Matthew, with an adjacent parson-age and burial-ground. In the
latter are several conspicuous monuments. The remains of the Rev. Robert
Knopwood, the first minister of the established church, who arrived in this
colony, and who for many years resided near, are here interred. The organ in
the church was also the first instrument of the kind received in Tasmania,
having originally been placed in St. David's Church, Hobart. One of the chairs
in the chan-cel is of English oak, part of H.M.S. Anson, a 'seventy-four,'
which for some years was moored in the Derwent, and occupied as a hulk for
female prisoners.
Then, without one valid reason for such wanton waste, the grand ship was
broken up, and chiefly consumed as fire-wood, a few timbers only being by
individual solicitation saved from destruction, and kept, like the Rokeby
Church chair, in remembrance of those wooden walls of old England, with which
so much of our national glory is lovingly and reverently associated.
"The principal estates and residences in the vicinity are Rokeby
House, Mr. George Stokell; Clarendon, Mr. Daniel Stanfield: Clarence Vale, Mr.
J. Chipman; Droughty Point, Mr. I. Chipman. Messrs. Holmes and Chipman have
also very extensive gardens".
Middleton and Manning's "Tasmanian Directory and Gazetteer" of
1887 discloses that the Rokeby district was in-habited by many farmers, whose
family names have been associated with the neighbourhood's history and progress
in the old Clarence Plains days - Stanfields, Stokells, Youngs, Frees,
Luckmans, Morrisbys, Percys, Chipmans, etc. Mr. Wm. Free, senior, was then
hotel keeper there, and the addresses of residents were variously given as
Clarence Plains and Rokeby.
On August 16, 1832, James Backhouse and George Washington Walker, famous
Gospel missionaries, began a tour of the Clarence and Muddy Plains localities,
and stayed at the house of Robert Mather, Muddy Plains (now Sand-ford).
Among the many beautiful and attractive places which abound in Tasmania
are some which are so secluded and alienated, as it were, from the sphere of
tourist traffic that they are practically unknown beyond their own locality.
But this is not so with Rokeby, which offers numerous pleasing and expansive
combinations of land and water views within a few miles of Hobart. Peppermint,
box, she-oak, and black and silver wattle are among its chief indigenous trees,
whose foliage blends admirably with sea and sky to limn a delightful picture.
The chief productions of the district are hay, oats, wheat, apricots,
and apples, and dairying and woolgrowing receive considerable attention on its
good pastoral areas. A good portion of Rokeby is watered by the Clarence Plains
Rivulet, on the banks of which the main part of the village, with its two
churches, public hall, post and telephone office, State School, smithy, and
store, is situated. For years Rokeby has earned fame in the realm of sport
through its cricket team.
The business of J. C. Eno Ltd., the proprietors of the world-famous
Eno's Fruit Salt, has been sold to Mr. Harold F. Ritchie, a Canadian
millionaire, for more than £1,500,000. This great deal follows the recent death
of Commander H. S. Swithinbank, one of the directors of the firm, who went for
a long voyage when he was under a medical sentence of death, so that he would
be able to die at sea. Commander Swithinbank was the son-in-law of the late Mr.
James Crossley Eno, the founder of the firm, whose fortune of £1,611,607 was
the largest ever left by a medicine proprietor.
Excerpts from Clarence
City Council Re Early Clarence Plains
Interesting
information regarding the settlers of Clarence Plains, home of so many of the
Smith/Morrisby family.
https://www.ccc.tas.gov.au/contentFile.aspx?filename=FINALClarence
.......All
through this period, most Clarence people lived by farming, either running
farms or
working as
agricultural labourers.
In 1819 there
were 67 farms in Clarence; in 1858 there were 107, so the number of farms grew
as more areas were cultivated. But even by 1826, the surveyor Wedge wrote that
though there was a large proportion of good land in Clarence, most had been
taken up, except for the hills behind Kangaroo Point
.6
In the 1820s
most farms in Clarence were small, owned by ex-convicts. Edward Curr, manager
for the Van Diemen’s Land Company in the north, gave a negative view of farming
in Tasmania at this time
3 Bonwick pp 38-59
. Waste,
disorder and an absence of industry and economy were typical, he wrote.
Agriculture did not prosper, and sheep brought a better return. Most farmhouses
were built of sods, logs or mud, thatched with straw, and had a ‘disgusting
appearance’ due to confused heaps of machinery, firewood, wool, bones and
sheepskins, with dogs barking and ‘idlers’ lounging about.
Farms were
rarely enclosed or divided into fields. The mistress of the house was ‘too
frequently’ a convict or ex-convict. Curr assumed that convicts could not do
well, that they would continue the ‘idleness and profligacy’ which had sent
them to Tasmania in the first place.
Kangaroo Point,
Clarence Plains and Ralphs Bay contained about a hundred such small farms, he
wrote. Another English visitor, Henry Widowson, also had a poor opinion of
farms in Clarence. Clarence Plains was of very little use except to collect
firewood, he wrote after his visit in 1825, and Muddy Plains scarcely deserved
notice, as it was just a few small farms. There were ‘a few pleasant farms’ in
Cambridge, including two extensive dairy farms, and near the Bluff the sheep
and cattle were in good condition although the ground was sandy with little
herbage. But there was some progress. Whereas a few years before people used
hoes to break up their land, now even the poorest farmer used a plough and
bullock team.
Certainly many
former convicts, without knowledge or experience, did not prosper on their
farms, and as
Hobart developed and offered more employment – sometimes in areas in which
these men were trained – many sold their farms and moved to town. Their farms
were generally bought by successful farmers to enlarge their own properties, so
the number of small farms fell.
But other
ex-convicts prospered, and Clarence Plains in particular retained many such
farms. Some convict families were outstandingly successful, such as the
Chipmans and Morrisbys – James Morrisby’s son was so renowned for his ploughing
skills that he became champion ploughman of Tasmania.
Problems
continued for all farmers. Sheep and cattle were lost, strayed or stolen, as a
newspaper story
of 1824 illustrates. Reports of sheep stealing at Cambridge had Kangaroo Point
inhabitants on
the alert, but even though flocks were kept under the windows of their owners’
houses, scarcely a night passed without a sheep or two taken. One Saturday
evening a young girl, alone in a house with a flock of sheep yarded nearby, saw
a man take a sheep, throw it over the fence of the yard, climb over, pick up
the sheep and vanish into the bush. Next day two sheep were missing from the
flock. The local constable started a search, and found two still-warm sheep
carcasses at a house in the neighbourhood. The tenant could not explain them,
but then another of the ‘gang’, a butcher, was seen throwing the carcasses out
of a back window. The two men were remanded for further examination.
People who lived
by the water were vulnerable to thieves coming by boat, and in 1837 two men
were sentenced to transportation for life for stealing five sheep from William
Gellibrand at
South Arm,
killing them, removing the carcasses in a boat and selling them. As well as
stealing
sheep, people
trespassed on properties and sometimes removed fencing. Then there were low
prices, from which farmers suffered in 1828 and the early 1840s, when times
were depressed.9
The weather
could also present problems. Sometimes seasons were excellent; ‘I never see so
fine crops; the
season has been so very fine and plenty of grass’, wrote Knopwood, the
clergyman, in 1825. But there was also plenty of bad weather – gales with
constant hail, rain and snow, snow lying two feet deep, and crops harmed by too
much rain. During droughts the country was ‘dreadfully parched up’ and there
was not enough feed for the cattle; once there was no rain for ten months, and
in 1834 there was so little water that people had to send to Hobart for it,
which was expensive and difficult.
Heat made matters
worse. In 1837 it was 108° (42°C) in the shade, which destroyed fruit in
gardens and crops in fields. No wonder Knopwood often described rain as ‘most
delightful’.10
From Knopwood’s
diary, other writings and advertisements of properties for sale, a picture
can be built up
of farming activities. As in the early years, the main crops were wheat,
barley, oats, and grass for hay, and vegetables included potatoes and peas,
‘Indian corn’ (sweet corn?), onions and turnips – at Droughty Point Daniel
Stanfield had great success with onions, potatoes and other vegetables. A
selling point for properties was growing English, or ‘artificial’ grasses,
considered better for stock than native grass. Land was ploughed in
September-October, crops were sown from September to November, grass was cut in
December, and other crops were harvested in January- February.
Wheat could be
ground at the Rokeby mill, which in 1843 was described as in perfect order – ‘a
steady man can get constant employment in grinding the grain grown in the
neighbourhood’.11
Some people went
to great lengths to reproduce the way and appearance of life they had
known in
England. The Strachan family of Cambridge had hawthorn plants packed in a dry
cask and shipped from England, an eight-month trip, to create a hawthorn hedge.
The fields of
the Rokeby estate also had hawthorn hedges, and a report praised the owner for
‘his truly English style of managing his estate’, and recommended visiting the
hedges in spring for the sake of Auld Lang Syne.12 Others, notably Dr James Murdoch,
experimented with different crops. He arrived in 1822, set up practice in
Hobart and had a farm at Risdon, where he grew various herbs and opium, from
which he made medicines. In 1834 he gave a newspaper editor some seeds, to give
to any farmer who wanted to grow this useful crop.
After he moved
to a larger farm near Cambridge, Craigow, he grew the usual crops of wheat and
hay, and also sugarbeet, telling the editor that this was an excellent crop
which any farmer could grow. It was easy to make your own sugar, and you could
make wholesome small beer from the molasses you produced, while the refuse was
good food for pigs.13
But neither
opium nor sugarbeet became a popular crop in Clarence.
Though Clarence
was an excellent fruit-growing area, in this period fruit was mainly grown for
home consumption, as the market was small and long sailing trips made export
difficult. But
there was
interest in fruit: in 1827 Michael Lawler collected 30 apples in one year from
a newly grafted apple tree, and enterprising Daniel Stanfield was the first to
export apples from Tasmania, in 1828 sending some seedling apples to the
Horticultural Society of Edinburgh. One was a foot in circumference and
appeared beautiful, wrote the Society, but as the fruit had passed through the
tropics it had decayed too much for the recipients to estimate the flavour.14
For most
farmers, grazing stock was as important if not more so as growing crops, and
advertisements show that in most cases only a small proportion of a farm was
cultivated, such as 200 acres out of 1200, 10 out of 195. Sheep and cattle were
the most important animals, and some
farmers grazed
them on areas outside Clarence.
Henry Morrisby had a stockyard 120 miles away,
probably in the midlands. As farmers prospered more fencing appeared, and in
the late 1820s William Rumney of Acton Vale was the first to fence his land to
any great extent. Fencing was a big selling point in advertisements. By about
1840 most claimed at least some fencing; in 1832 part of Seymour Cottage farm
was ‘stumped and paddocked’ and ‘nearly fenced’, but ten years later the farm
had a post and rail fence. Various attributes made a farm more desirable.
Waterfront land
could be useful, as people could collect shells for lime or manure, or seaweed
as a fertiliser, and water transport was handy, a selling point in
advertisements. Fresh water was another selling point, and properties on
permanent streams or near permanent marshes or lagoons were fortunate. As time
went by water could be better stored against drought, and in 1853 Droughty
Point had a brick tank to store water. Firewood was another bonus, and a supply
of eucalypt or sheoak was valuable for home use or to sell.15
Farming became
more lucrative as markets were developed. In the 1820s Richard Lewis of
Hollow Tree
(Cambridge) was the first to succeed in sending butter to the Hobart market,
and at
South Arm,
Gellibrand supplied oysters for Hobart. As Hobart expanded the market for
primary
produce grew,
but the real boost in prices came in the gold rushes in the 1850s, when the
price of
farm produce
rose with the enormously increased demand from Victoria.
George Stokell,
who had been nearly bankrupt, recovered his financial position because of high
prices following the gold rush. Onions grown at South Arm were even said to
have been sent to the larger gold rush market of California, where they brought
‘fabulous sums’.16
By 1858 the
average size of a farm was 400 acres, and a farm of 250 acres advertised for
sale
was described as
‘small’. Of the 107 farms, eleven were large, over 1000 acres, altogether
taking up more than half the total acreage, and there were only forty very
small farms, under 100 acres, typical of the farms ex-convicts had run in
earlier years. Over half the total number of farms were owned by their
occupiers, and the rest were rented, often from other Clarence inhabitants.
Well over half
the farms were in Clarence Plains or Cambridge, the largest agricultural areas,
and others were at Muddy Plains and South Arm, with a few around Kangaroo Point
and Risdon.
At South Arm,
George Gellibrand rented out six farms and nineteen pieces of land to
individual farmers.17
One man tried an
unusual way of making a living. In the 1820s a Mr King bought Betsey
Island, which
always had problems due to a lack of water. King knew that the skins of silver
rabbits sold well in China, and he imported several pairs and let them loose.
By 1830 they had ‘overrun’ the island, and King started to kill them. He sold
the meat in Hobart, where it was seen as a luxury, and the skins in China,
where, it was reported, they did fetch a high price and he did amazingly well.
On Betsey Island
he fenced two paddocks and built a stone house. But something went wrong, and
in 1832 he put the island on the market.18
Most people,
however, followed conventional trades. As the population increased, some
people started
their own businesses, such as shoemakers, builders and publicans, and some of
these employed other people. The registers of deaths from 1826 to 1860, while
obviously not covering the whole population, provide figures which give an idea
of the range of occupations.
People either
did the following work or lived in families which were supported by it:
Farmers 44%
Unskilled
workers 15% labourers, servants, carrier, pedlar, barman
Semi-skilled
workers 12% boatmen, housekeeper, gardener, sawyer, bricklayer, laundress, salt
boiler
Skilled
tradesmen 9% carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, builder, boat builder,
stonemason,
chairmaker, miller, brickmaker
Convicts 5.5%
including ticket of leave men
Responsible
positions 5% publicans, constables, overseer
Professional
people 4.5% ‘gentlemen’, teachers, lawyers, chaplain, retired officer
Other
occupations mentioned are tailor, wheelwright, shopkeeper, shepherd, lime
burner,
fisherman,
quarryman and one person on welfare, a military pensioner. Details are
available for
some of these
enterprises. As townships grew, particularly Kangaroo Point, people opened
shops
(three by 1858).19
In 1831 Knopwood,
by now living at Rokeby, had to take his horse to Hobart to be shod, but two
years later this could be done locally. Some people provided transport, such as
a Robert Cooling’s coach service from
Kangaroo Point
to Richmond, advertised in 1832 as ‘cheap
and safe’.20
There were also
some larger business enterprises. In 1849 Richard Lewis discovered a vein
of silver on his
land near Kangaroo Point, but did not mine it. However, that year the Ore
Smelting Company of South Australia, with boards in Adelaide and Hobart, set up
smelters at Rosny to produce copper from South Australian ore, using Tasmanian
coal. The smelters operated for only a few years.
Longer-lasting
were quarries established in the 1850s near Kangaroo Point. One produced white
sandstone, and in 1854 it was claimed that this highly-regarded stone was ‘constantly’ being sent to Port Phillip, and
the quarries were contracted to supply stone to the Victorian Government for
public buildings in Melbourne. Six years later the quarries were described as
‘very valuable and extensive’. Another quarry was established in Kangaroo Point
itself, and produced green stone used to build St Mark’s chapel and St Mary’s
Hospital in Hobart, but the stone decayed badly.21
As Kangaroo
Point became a centre of river activities, boat-building developed. Thomas
Florence built
ships at his property at Rosny Point in 1822 and 1823, but the best known
boat-builder was John Petchey, an ex-convict who was given a land grant at
Cambridge. An enterprising man, he sold firewood in Hobart, and extracted
tannin from wattle bark and tried to export it to England. Though this was not
successful, he was granted more land, set up businesses in Hobart, and took up
the licence of the Highlander hotel at Kangaroo Point, where he also ran a
ferry. He started shipyards there and produced fine vessels, notably in 1838
the barque Sir George Arthur, the largest ship built in Australia to
that date.22
Whaling
continued and was profitable for some, but it barely touched the lives of Clarence
people even when
the trade was opened to local people in 1824. Frederick Henry Bay was an
important
centre, sometimes so full of boats that when one struck a whale the others
crowded in for their share, but few if any Clarence residents were involved.
More exciting to locals were the
occasions on
which Clarence boats caught whales in the Derwent. In 1830 a boat struck a
whale off Kangaroo Bluff, but while it was being secured a crew member had his
leg severed at the ankle by a rope. A baby whale taken from the adult whale was
exhibited to raise funds for him.
Twenty years
later, a Kangaroo Point ferry boat made fast to another whale. The ferry
swamped, leaving the crew swimming and the whale towing the boat. The crew were
picked up and rejoined the fray in another boat, and the whale was finally
killed. This made thrilling watching for the locals who lined the shore.23
There were a
few, but not many, government positions. Schools are described elsewhere. A
postal service
began as soon as the town of Richmond was established, and in 1834 William
Jemott was the postmaster at Kangaroo Point.
The post went
from Hobart to Richmond twice a week via -Jemott’s post office, and Jemott
earned £20 a year for his part-time job.24 By the 1850s there were more postal
services, for the mail was delivered to districts – Clarence Plains, Cambridge,
Muddy Plains and South Arm – where part-time postmasters delivered it, or at
least told people it was there.
These
postmasters were usually farmers but included a publican.25 Another
part-time government
job was
registrar of births, deaths and marriages, with people appointed in Kangaroo
Point from the late 1840s. The first was the postmaster and constable; the
second the local teacher.26
Few jobs for
women were mentioned, only servant or housekeeper and one laundress; it was
taken for
granted that most women would marry and most did so, so that the only women
needing
employment were
poor widows. The main job done by women was farming, and six women ran
farms, and a few
others, often widows, owned farms and rented them out. After her husband died,
Sarah Holmes
kept the farm and brought up their children. Bustling and energetic, she ran
the farm competently, and when manpower was scarce because so many men were
away at the gold diggings, she carried her own hay to market and sold it,
gathered stones from a paddock to build a wall to divide it from the road, and
scandalised neighbours by attending public meetings that concerned her
interests.
Another woman,
Mary Ann Larsom, ran two farms and some land, and rented out a farm
and a house.27
Though not many
women appear in official lists of the time, they played a vital role in
society. Most
farmers’ wives worked just as hard as their husbands, running the house, bringing
up the children, preserving food, making clothes, managing the dairy and the
hens, and often doing agricultural work – it is noticeable that of the early
settlers who prospered, all were married. Many jobs were seen not just as the
husband’s but for the whole family, so that wives and children worked hard in
enterprises like farms, inns, shops and schools.
Stories of life in Clarence show that women
were active, and they are seen alerting police to robbers, reforming men,
closing a road to the annoyance of their neighbours, attending meetings,
helping neighbours, and generally speaking their minds.
The 1857 census
showed that in Clarence women formed 40% of the population, nearly half,
so the ratio was
much more even than in the early days of settlement.
As shown in the
list above, there were some convict servants in Clarence. Settlers had convicts
assigned to work for them, women in the house and men in outdoor work. They did
not
have to pay
wages, but provided accommodation, food and clothing, and though there were
many
complaints about
the convicts, settlers queued up to gain this cheap labour. The complaints are
not surprising: the convicts had rarely been trained in the work they had to do
and had no choice in the matter, and some were naturally unwilling workers – in
1851, for example, one refused to work for Mr Pitfield in his quarry at
Kangaroo Point.28.....
.......
Another reminder
of the convict system came when a naked man turned up on the Morrisby
property of
Waterloo, and asked for clothes, with the promise that he would leave
immediately.
The Morrisbys
gave him warm clothing and he left. They assumed that he had escaped, probably
from the coal mines at Saltwater River or the convict station on Slopen Island,
and swum the five miles across Frederick Henry Bay.34
............ The
missionaries then visited Robert Mather, who farmed at Muddy Plains, and
although a Methodist often allowed Knopwood to hold Anglican services in his
house. They were glad that the tide was out so they could walk across the sand
to Mather’s house, saving quite a distance. Less glad was Mather’s daughter
Sarah, who had kept house for her father since her mother died. She ‘didn’t
want to be bothered with strangers’, and when she saw them coming she said to
her younger brother, ‘Shut the door, Sam. Here come the Quakers’. Backhouse
overheard her and reproved her, and when at dinner she asked for pepper or
mustard, Walker said he didn’t think she wanted either.46
(Eight years
later he married Sarah.)
The missionaries
visited Hugh Germain, a neighbouring settler, who, Backhouse reported,
had been
addicted to spirits and ‘like many others in this country’ would bring rum home
in a bucket and drink it neat. But he married Mather’s housekeeper Mary Ely, ‘a
managing woman’ who reformed him. Backhouse found them a sober, industrious
couple, a well-worn Bible prominent on their table. The Germains’ brick house
was ‘remarkably’ clean, their two children were very tidy, and their garden
thriving and clear of weeds. From the way Backhouse wrote this, it sounds
unusual. Mary Germain proposed starting a little school, which was excellent,
said Backhouse, as drunkenness and ignorance prevailed lamentably. 47
Robert Mather
was in the habit of holding prayers daily and a church service on Sundays for
his family,
convict servants and anyone else, which usually meant only the Germains. This
Sunday there were 25 people, and Backhouse – who ‘could do nothing better than
talk’, said Sarah Mather crossly – preached a sermon against drunkenness and
swearing. That evening he held a ‘religious opportunity’ in the kitchen; a man
who kept a sly grog shop (where he made and sold illicit moonshine) and others
were moved to tears ‘when life and death were set before them’.48
The missionaries
crossed the bay to the northern section of South Arm, where William
Gellibrand had
set up a farm. Though the grass there was thin, the property was well-managed
and ‘looks like an English farm’ (a great compliment). Gellibrand read the
scriptures to his family every day, and assembled his convict servants on
Sundays for readings and a sermon. He cared unusually well for his servants,
providing them with a comfortable hut, and clothes which did not mark them as
prisoners, with a better suit for Sunday – well calculated to reform them,
thought Backhouse.
(Gellibrand also built his own tombstone in
readiness, in a fine spot under some she-oaks, and spent many sunny afternoons
sitting on it, reading.) Backhouse clearly thought the Mathers, Gellibrands and Germains were unusual; being a Quaker he
could not speak too badly of anyone, especially in print, but he obviously
found the rest of the population sadly lacking in sobriety, good behaviour and
religious observance. 49
In the late
1840s and early 1850s the school system changed several times, and when the
situation
stabilised there were two schools in Clarence, at Kangaroo Point and South Arm.
In the mid 1850s they had about 70 pupils between them, though numbers
fluctuated: at Kangaroo Point there were 36 scholars on the roll, but the
average attendance was 22, as children were often kept at home to help with the
work on the farm or in the house, or to care for younger siblings. It was usual
for children to spend only a few years at school, just until they could read
and write. By 1860 there were three schools, for the school at Clarence Plains
was functioning again, an inspector reporting that the children were more
advanced than was usual in rural schools.52 At the South Arm school, established in
1856, an inspector wrote that the 34 pupils were ‘getting on well’. They were
learning reading and writing, geography, grammar, sewing (for girls) and Latin
(boys). ‘The locality is very poor; but the people take a laudable interest in
the school and their children attend with regularity and are neat and clean’,
added the inspector.53
Though
government schools came and went, they were more stable than most private
schools.
Anyone could
open a private school, as there were no regulations, and it was a useful way
for
someone with a
little education to try to earn a living. Some private schools were similar to
government
establishments, offering little beyond literacy and charging about the same
fees, and
others aimed
higher, charging more and teaching Latin and Greek or the accomplishments which
were necessary
for a gentleman or lady.
Mrs Eliza Speed was running Rose Vale Boarding
School at Bay View in Clarence Plains in 1822, when Knopwood’s ward Betsey Mack
went there. She was fourteen, and the school took in girls as young as three.
Later that year the governor’s lady went over the school, and was delighted at
Mrs Speed’s manner and ‘the neatness of the beds and rooms’. The effect of Mrs
Speed’s lessons in ladylike behaviour is debatable: Corbetta Lord attended the school
when she was
seven, and since she was the smallest, the other girls gave her the task of
squeezing
through a very
small window on to a sloping roof, then into a tree, to raid fruit trees in the
garden.
In 1823 the
school closed, shortly after Knopwood removed Betsey because of ill-treatment.
Later that year
Mrs Speed gave birth to a baby, so perhaps she gave up the school voluntarily.54
Throughout the
colony private schools rarely seemed to last longer than a few years, and
Clarence saw,
among others, RW Giblin’s academy at Kangaroo Point in 1827, Mr Hobson’s school
at Clarence Plains from 1829 to 1832, Mrs Sams’ seminary for young ladies in
1831, Mrs Rocher’s seminary of 1834, a school run by the clergyman at Rokeby in
the early 1840s, Mrs Wilcock’s school in Rokeby House in 1851.
By far the
longest-running and best-known school was John McArdell’s boys’ boarding school
at Rokeby. John McArdell arrived in Tasmania with his mother and brother in
1833, aged sixteen, and with his mother taught at the government school at
Clarence Plains. Then he took over Bay View and started his own school, which
was attended by most of the local boys from reasonably well-to-do families.
The school was
never large – no other teacher is mentioned – but McArdell was highly esteemed,
described as ‘redoubtable’ and ‘stern’, and troublesome boys were sent to him
from as far away as the mainland. In 1854 the school’s annual examination was
described. In front of the local clergyman and numerous parents and friends, a
daunting audience, the boys were examined orally; nearly all acquitted
themselves ‘tolerably’ and many did very well. Prizes were then distributed.
Four years later
McArdell later moved his school to his new house, Mornington at Kangaroo Point.
Overall he taught in Clarence for 53 years, until his death in 1886. In 1881 a
group of old scholars and locals presented him with an address and a purse of
sovereigns in recognition of the sound education they had received at a time
when schooling in Tasmania was limited.55
A few children,
such as Henry Morrisby’s son Robert, were sent to private schools in Hobart,
but generally
education was fairly basic for Clarence children. Still, somehow or other most
seemed to be able at least to read: an 1822 list of 52 Clarence Plains children
showed that 39 could read, and half of the rest were aged seven or under.
Only six
teenagers were illiterate.56
However,
it was not a society with high demands, and people could function adequately
with basic literacy or even less.
Churches and
schools were seen as the main requirements of civilised society, but the
government
provided other services: pounds and post offices, and a police force, set up to
try and
stop the petty
thieving which was rampant in a convict colony –
Elizabeth
Morrisby was so afraid of theft at her farm at Muddy Plains that she left her
valuables with friends in Hobart. In 1824 there were thirty constables in
southern Tasmania, with one at Kangaroo Point, and ten years later Clarence was
part of the Richmond police district, with constables at Muddy Plains (a
farmer) and Kangaroo Point.
...........From
the 1820s there had been suggestions of a bridge across the river at Risdon,
but
nothing
happened, even after the government passed an Act to set up the bridge, in
1842. In 1846
further
legislation set up a ferry worked by nine convicts. A painting that year shows
a few houses at ‘Risdon township’, with a large hotel and a police station and
lockup – a holding prison for convicts being taken to and from Hobart. For a
time this was a major route, and Risdon was lively with travellers. ‘Here “many
a man with an evil eye” sauntered about the ferry’, wrote a later newspaper
imaginatively.
At some stage
the government left the ferry to private operators, but in 1852 inhabitants of
Richmond complained that the boats were unsafe; if an accident happened,
which was not
unlikely from the way they were laden, there was nothing to save passengers
from a watery grave. The next year a public meeting in Richmond, called to discuss
roads, instead
discussed the
ferry, with many complaints about its gross mismanagement. A deputation
interviewed the
government, who resumed control of the ferry.66
There were also
two smaller ferries at Pittwater, one crossing from the Bluff to Sorell, and a
lower ferry
which went from the end of Seven Mile Beach to Forcett, and was operated by
Ralph
Dodge. These
were not so vital, as people could travel by road to Sorell.67 Intermittently
there was also a ferry service from Ralphs Bay.68
Like ferries,
roads in Clarence had their ups and downs. When the first land grants were
given, surveying
staff were in short supply and the main aim was to get people on their land as
soon as possible, so little attention was paid to roads. Main roads from
Kangaroo Point to Richmond and Clarence Plains were more or less made, but
others were a problem. Everyone had to be able to reach a main road, but this
meant side roads going over other people’s land, which led to problems of
trespass and theft of stock.
Sometimes people
closed off such roads, and in 1830 fourteen residents complained to the
government that William Rumney and Agnes Wilson had stopped a road which had
‘long been opened in the neighbourhood’ so that travellers had to make a long
detour. Others complained that there were too many side roads, ‘numerous roads
dissecting [my] property in all directions’.69
In 1832 a
committee of Clarence Plains inhabitants met to work out the best lines for
roads,
to recommend to
the government. They agreed that the ‘shortest and best’ line of road should be
followed, but
disagreed as to what this actually was. People wanted access to roads, but did
not
want roads
crossing their land, and accused others of selfishly trying to benefit
themselves: ‘I dont see why my property should receive such an injury to
benefit the Estate of others’. William Rumney seemed opposed to many of his
neighbours, and there were other factions as well.
Eventually plans
were finalised for a road from Kangaroo Point to Ralphs Bay through eighteen
properties to the Neck, with four roads branching off to serve farms. A second
road ran from Ralphs Bay towards Richmond through eight properties, with a
branch to Seven Mile Beach.70
When these plans
were made public there were more complaints. Roads across properties
took up room –
Richard Lewis said 7 of his 95 acres were taken up by three roads, when others
had no roads on their farms – and encouraged ‘trespass and injury’ against
which settlers had no
remedy. But
roads were vital, and sometimes when neighbours closed roads, people had no
access to their farms. This could result in ‘violent threats’. Joseph Chipman
said Richard Holmes had closed a road and he could not proceed to market
without going over Mr Free’s land. He had lived on his grant for 25 years
during most of which the road had been used, but now Holmes had given him
notice of a civil action, subjected him ‘to every annoyance that malice can
suggest’, and choked the main road with stones and rubbish. A note by a
government official said ‘this complaint is frivolous’; but another note
described Holmes as ‘an unhappily tempered Man and being on bad terms with his
neighbours’.71
Other
neighbourhood feuds became evident. A group of settlers complained that Hugh
Germain had made
a road impassable at Muddy Plains. Years ago he and William Roberts had
decided to
provide half the land each for a road through their properties, but he had
blocked his
section off.
Germain replied angrily that the disputed area was all on his land; he already
had two
roads going
through his small farm and did not want the hardship of a third.72
On the shore of
Ralphs Bay, neighbours complained that Henry Mortimer closed a road, to
which he replied
that he was at a loss to explain their audacity. The old road, ‘if road it can
be
call’d’,
remained as it was when he arrived, eleven years earlier. It was never used, as
the bay it led to was so shallow and loading boats so difficult that boats
always came at different points, and ladies had to be carried ashore through the
water. He had made a road and wharf for himself at great expense on his own
ground.
Problems arose,
he said, because the bay had many names –
South Arm Bay,
Cockle Shell Bay, Mortimer’s Bay, York Bay – could they please decide on one?
Gradually these complaints
were sorted out, or ignored, the decisions of the road committee were
carried out, and
the road system became more settled. The roads followed much the same routes as
the older roads of today, with a deviation leaving the road to Richmond before
Cambridge and
running up
Breakneck Hill.73
Even so-called
main roads could be rough, and one girl described the road to Muddy Plains
as ‘just a bush
track’. They were ‘made’ by felling and grubbing timber, filling in holes,
bridging
creeks, and
sometimes throwing earth from the sides to the middle, and digging a cutting at
the
sides. After
heavy rain Knopwood described roads as ‘dreadful beyond measure’ and ‘almost
impassable’, and
once he was scarcely able to walk on a road due to the water on it. When a road
was just an
unmade track which had grown up because people used it, it was even worse; once
when Knopwood
took a road like this, to Mr Barnes’ property near present-day Clifton, he
described it as
the worst he had ever travelled in Van Diemen’s Land, which was saying
something.
Roads were
sometimes damaged by rains and floods – in October 1828 several bridges were
washed away –
and settlers were expected to help with repairs, lending their equipment to
help
carry materials
as the roads were repaired by convict gangs.74
Probably the
best road in Clarence was the new road from Risdon to Richmond. The route
via Kangaroo
Point involved the long river crossing, and the road itself was impassable
after heavy rain as it crossed such loamy soil. Arthur’s new road ascended
Grass Tree Hill by as moderate a gradient as possible, and once down the other
side crossed the flats to join the old road. There was criticism that Arthur
made this road to gain better access to his own property at Richmond, and work
on it was very slow. In 1833 Knopwood said the road gang of 55 ‘appeared to be
doing scarce anything’, with the overseer gone to Richmond and little
supervision.
The gang grew to
139 men in 1838, and though they were often insubordinate, stealing sheep and
defying orders, the road was eventually finished. Louisa Anne Meredith
travelled by it to the east coast: there was a beautiful view from Risdon, she
wrote, and the climb up the fine, newly-made road with interesting grasstrees
at either side led to another beautiful view at the top of the hill.
But the new road
never became as popular as the southern route, probably because the hill was so
steep, and in 1869 a Richmond resident said that if the road to Kangaroo Point
were repaired, no one would use the Grass tree Hill road at all. Coaching
services ran from Risdon and Kangaroo Point to Richmond.75
............By
the late 1830s many people needed to travel between Hobart and the new
settlement at
Port Arthur. It
was too much for the voluntary service, so the government built a railway line
across the Neck.
The 2-km wooden
line was built by eighteen convicts, who lived on site in a ‘sod and bark’ hut
with rations of flour, salt pork, tea, sugar and potatoes, and also, from
settlers’
complaints,
stolen sheep. The line was finished in 1840, and eight years later surveyor
James
Calder described
an unusual crossing. It was extremely windy, so his party put up the sail on
their
boat, which
actually sailed over the isthmus, with no other force necessary at all.76 The railway fell
into disuse as steam vessels appeared, which could cope better with wind and
rough seas, and went by water for the whole trip............
These rough seas
caused a number of ships to founder, and from earliest times lighthouses
had been suggested.
The rocky islet of Iron Pot at the mouth of the Derwent was an obvious site; it
was called this, people said, because of an old iron pot left there which might
have been a whaler’s pot, or because whalers might have left pots there, or
because some holes in the rocks looked like trypots. A light was suggested in
1825, and its need became more obvious with the wreck of the Hope in
1832 (see box). That year the government did build a lighthouse on Iron Pot, at
first using a lantern on a ship, while a stone tower was built. The light in
the tower was seventy feet high, and it could b
seen from ships up to twelve miles away. Two convicts were in charge,
and new lanterns were installed periodically. Today the lighthouse is the
oldest in Australia still in its original building.77
Convicts also
ran the semaphore system, used between Port Arthur and Hobart in the 1840s
and for a period
in the 1860s. Signals were sent from one semaphore station to another, using
signals on masts, and stations were built on hills. One line went via Mt
Augustus at Muddy Plains. In good weather, a 20-word message could be sent and
a reply received in fifteen minutes.78
As the
population of Clarence grew so did the number of inns, from two in 1820 to nine
in
1860. They fulfilled
several functions. They were places where people could drink, be sociable and
sometimes play games, like skittles. They were community centres where
coroners’ courts, meetings and even church services were held. They provided
services for travellers: accommodation, refreshment, stabling for horses, and
sometimes ferries with adjacent stockyards for farmers.
Inns ranged from
small to large establishments, from rough to acceptable, and publicans were
often prominent in the community. Inns came and went, certainly the names and
probably the buildings too, and it is often difficult to know whether a new
name is a new establishment, or an old one under another name.79
Patrons ranged
from manual labourers to the social elite, such as it was, for even the
clergyman,
Knopwood, sometimes used an inn’s facilities. ............
A novel form of
transport existed at Ralphs Bay Neck, which was part of Robert Mather’s
farm. Many
people wanted to cross the Neck to avoid the often rough seas and contrary
winds of
Storm Bay and
the entrance to the Derwent. Mather, a public-spirited man, assisted them by
dragging boats
over the neck on a cart pulled by a bullock team. He also provided provisions
and
accommodation.
Mather performed
this service free; after he sold his property, others charged a
fee, Richard
Larsom advertising in 1836 that he had a strong team of oxen to draw boats
across, and a sledge to protect their keels. Family tradition has it that
Mather built a wooden railway over the Neck, but it does not sound as if Larsom
used one.
In 1826 after a
rough ferry crossing, (Knopwood)
‘completely wet through, having shipped some heavy Seas’ and even wetter
because when they landed in Kangaroo Point ‘Rain fell in Torrents’, he and the
Commissioners for Lands went to an inn at Kangaroo Point to dry off and take
refreshment.
In 1833 he
visited his acquaintances the Morrisbys who were running the Plough Inn at
Kangaroo Point, and three years later he and three other gentlemen dined at a
new inn there, Peregrine Clarke’s Wheat Sheaf.80
Clarence Plains,
a smaller population centre, supported only one hotel, whose name and
possibly
building changed often. Chequers, the original, faded from 1822, and afterwards
came the Clarence Arms (1828-31), the Horse and Groom, later Horse and Jockey
(1833), the Currier and His Beam (1833-40) which was mostly run by the Morrisby
family, the Harrow (1841-49) under James Shuttle, then William Martin’s Horse
and Jockey from 1850.
When the
Clarence Arms was advertised to let, it was described as an eligible public
house with sixty acres of land, at the head of Ralphs Bay, with an excellent
wharf on which a considerable sum of money had been spent, and a ferry service.
.................The
arguments Wedge spoke about were often over boundaries, which in the early days
had sometimes been vague and left plenty of room for disagreement. For example,
in 1824 the Land Commissioners noted that Richard Lewis asked them to arbitrate
a dispute he was having with John
Petchey over land.
They did, but
found it hard to trace the boundaries. Ten years later there was a protracted
court case over the ownership of land in Kangaroo Point, which three people
claimed to own either through grants or having bought it. The authorities found
this extremely difficult to solve,especially since two of the parties were
‘illiterate beyond description’.91 Then there were people who just did not get on with
others, like Richard Holmes the teacher who insulted the clergyman and was
described as ‘an unhappily tempered man’.
But most people
lived amicably with their neighbours, and generally life seemed stable
despite the odd
quarrel. Neighbours helped each other in times of trouble, and in 1826 the
surveyor John Helder Wedge recorded a warm welcome from one inhabitant, Mrs
McAuley, ‘a fat round faced widow about 38 years of age...A more hearty
welcome, or a more plentifully fil’d table no one ever met with – it was about
5 p:m. when I arrived and in about five minutes I saw before me a large cold
round of Beef & one of the largest Legs of Pork I ever beheld a bottle of
wine & a Bottle of brandy –
What more could
a man wish for?’92
Early
inhabitants had been mainly convicts, but in the early 1820s glowing
descriptions of
Tasmania were
published in England, which encouraged free people to emigrate. Some came to
Clarence, such
as Robert Mather at Lauderdale and George Stokell at Rokeby House, who both ran
businesses in Hobart and bought farms in Clarence. Richard Lewis was another
Hobart businessman who bought farms in Clarence, eventually owning nine
properties there. Others lived on their farms, such as William Gellibrand at
South Arm, and William Rumney at Cambridge. Thomas Gregson, later a politician,
bought Restdown at Risdon and owned farms in the midlands, but he lived at
Risdon in considerable style.
These men formed
the upper social layer, with earlier settlers who had prospered, like Daniel
Stanfield and Joseph Chipman, who between them owned half of the six most
valuable properties in Clarence. There were also a few emigrants from British
India, like Samuel Dawson, the police magistrate. The Dawsons lived at
Claremont House, and though they were not wealthy they lived grandly, borrowing
silver from their neighbours the Stokells when they gave a dinner party.
The Fielders
called their property Howrah from their Indian memories; Mrs Fielder, described
as a charming woman, was said to be an Indian princess.
Then there was
Dr Francis Desailly; it was said that he practised at the court of George IV,
and his wife was a lady in waiting to Queen Caroline. Why had they come to
Clarence Plains? They farmed and Dr Desailly practised medicine, but unlike
most people they always had plenty of money from a mysterious pension. It was
said that they knew some deep royal secret, perhaps to do with royal marriages
not being valid, but if there was such a secret it died with them.93
Then there were
respectable citizens who lived decent lives, working hard and living
comfortably,
usually on medium-sized farms. Some were convict descendants, others free
emigrants from Britain. A number came to South Arm when land was available for
rent. Edward Musk, a convict ploughman, arrived in 1832 and was probably
assigned to Gellibrand. In 1839 he married, and at the birth of one of his
eleven children, in 1848, he was described as ‘farm overseer of South Arm’. He
went to the gold rush, and perhaps struck lucky; at any rate he bought a farm
from Gellibrand in 1856 and settled down there with his family.
Three sons of
Robert Alomes, a marine who arrived in 1804, settled at South Arm. They
prospered, and their descendants still live in the area. So do the Richardsons
of Sandford, descendants of William Richardson, an ex-convict, whose tombstone
described him as a kind husband and father and a just and honest man. It also
said he died
aged 102, though
there is doubt about this.94
Another family
to come to South Arm were the Calverts. In 1832 William Calvert, a
gunmaker,
arrived in Hobart with his son Christopher and three daughters, and set up a
business.
Five years later
Christopher married Hannah Watson, whose family farmed at Muddy Plains, and
after spending
some years in Victoria they leased a farm at Cambridge, where they grew
vegetables.
Hannah Calvert
was a hard worker, and her vegetables were known for their good quality. Their
eight-year-old
son William used to drive dray-loads to the ferry at Kangaroo Point, to be sold
in
Hobart. In 1851
the family leased land at South Arm, and bought it five years later. They too
prospered, partly
through hard work and partly perhaps because their children were so helpful;
they had eight sons and three daughters.95
Then there were
people who were not so well off, agricultural labourers and others less
.... As an
example of the district’s petty criminals, at Muddy Plains lived a man called
Ratcliff, and John Morrisby said that ‘the worst of characters, men and women
runaways and others’ went to his house, as they could obtain spirits and hide
any goods there.
These goods were
often taken to Hobart by fishermen or boatmen taking firewood, and sold for
rum.98
Most crimes were
committed by men, but Honora (or Nora) Sheen often appeared in the
Kangaroo Point
police court. An ex-convict, ex-prostitute, known for her drinking and
fighting, in
1847 she had
been found guilty of having sexual intercourse in a public street in Hobart.
............
.............Racing
was popular; many people went to watch races at New Town and Richmond, and some
entered horses. One of Henry Morrisby’s horses beat seven others, his old pony
defeating some of the latest colts. In 1826 a meeting was held on Frederick
Henry Bay beach at the Neck, with two races, each the best of three two-mile
heats, and a good prize of fifty guineas.
The four horses
belonged to local men. ‘The best of Sport was shewn, and a numerous concourse
of Spectators attended on that well-adapted and excellently chosen Racing
Ground’, ran the press report. Michael Lackey’s horse Favourite and Daniel
Stanfield’s chestnut Paddy were the winners, and after this excitement ‘a
numerous and respectable Party’ went to Stanfield’s house, where ‘that
enterprizing Colonist’ gave a splendid ball and supper. Other races were held
on beaches, at Clarence Plains and Muddy Plains on Boxing Day, or on flat land,
with Waterloo Course at the head of Ralphs Bay considered the best in Tasmania
because of its springy turf. Races were also held at Wentworth, on the flat
behind the beach. Another popular sport was cricket, which people enjoyed
playing on holidays.
First Fleet and Free
Settlers on Norfolk Island
Thomas Jamieson: Surgeon’s First Mate (Sirius) was on Norfolk island from 1788 until 1799 (not continuous) looking after the medical needs of the people on the Island with John Altree After being discharged from the books of Sirius he was appointed surgeon in the colony at Norfolk Island. Leaving the Island he took a years’ leave in England. On his return to Sydney in 1802 he became Acting Surgeon General of New South Wales in the absence of William Balmain. His partnership with Elizabeth Colley produced four children.
John Turnpenny Altree: Assistant to the Surgeon (Lady Penrhyn) to Thomas Jamison for approximately three years. He returned to England in 1791 by Waaksamheid with the crew of the shipwrecked Sirius. He received a payment of £12 pounds for his work on Norfolk Island.
John Batchelor (Sirius) was a private marine 55th (Portsmouth) Company. He drowned from a fishing boat on 15 June and King buried his body near the flagstaff. Batchelor’s wages were paid to his father.
Charles Herritage/Heritage (Sirius) was a private marine 55th (Portsmouth) Company. He decided to stay as a settler on the Island and was discharged from the books of Sirius on 7 March 1791. He left Norfolk Island by Sugar Cane for Bengal in 1793 after selling his 60 acres of land to Thomas Restell Crowder for £60 pounds.
Roger Murley/Morley (Sirius) was an able seaman but was brought to Norfolk Island for his skills as a weaver. The flax that Captain Cook wrote about was his main task but they were unable to locate the flax amongst the dense vegetation. In 1789 he was made constable and in 1791 was a storekeeper. Morley left the Island by Supply to embark with the Sirius crew members on Waaksamheid to England in March 1791.
James Cunningham (Sirius) midshipman was lent from Sirius to Supply with the first group to settle Norfolk Island. On 6 August Cunningham was sent to give assistance to Supply on her first visit to the Island after the original landing. Heavy surf was running and the boat overturned drowning him, William Westbrook, John Williams and able seaman off Supply Laurence Tomlinson. Cunningham’s wages were paid to ‘the Right Honourable Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Glencairn’.
William Westbrook (Sirius) was an able seaman and sawyer from Fareham, Hants. He drowned on 6August with James Cunningham, Laurence Tomlinson able seaman off Supply and John Williams convict. His wages were paid to his brother Edward.
John Williams/Floyd (Scarborough) drowned in the boating accident on 6 August with able seamen William Westbrook, Laurence Tomlinson, and James Cunningham. Williams’ body floated ashore on the 13th and was buried.
Charles MacLauglin/McClelland (Alexander) was 14 years old when convicted and sent to the Ceres Hulk for stealing a purse full of money. While on the Island he received lashings for stealing eggs and rum from the surgeon’s tent. He sustained a fractured skull while chopping wood, recovered, and for stealing potatoes was sent to Nepean Island in irons, on short rations, for four week. McClelland had left the Colony by January 1793.
Nathaniel Lucas (Scarborough) Being a carpenter by trade he became a valuable asset in the community and was also a successful farmer with a land grant. He married Olivia Gascoigne and they had 13 children, loosing twins in an accident caused while clearing trees near his house. The Lucas family were settled in Port Jackson by the early 1800s. His craft in building many of Sydney’s fine heritage buildings is well known today.*
Edward Garth (Scarborough) Tried at the Old Bailey for stealing two cows; the sentence of death was later reprieved for seven years transportation to Africa. From the Ceres Hulk he was sent to Portsmouth for embarkation on Scarborough. As a successful farmer on the Island, he cultivated life stock and grain on his land grant. In 1793 he was elected a member of the Norfolk Island Settlers Association. Married to Susannah Gough they raised six children on the Island, before leaving in 1807 aboard Porpoise for Van Diemen’s Land. The Garth family lived on lands at Clarence Plains and Queensborough.
John Mortimer (Charlotte) was tried with his son Noah and Edward Westlake on two counts, the first of theft of a wether sheep and second of sealing 40 pounds of mutton. He was sentenced seven years transportation on the second count. Mortimer farmed successfully on a land grant before being transferred to Van Diemen’s Land in 1808 aboard Lady Nelson
Father - in- law of Edward Westlake
Noah Mortimer (Charlotte) was sentenced to seven years transportation for his involvement in the two counts as his father John and Edward Westlake. When he departed the Island with his wife Mary Cottle, their son and father John aboard Lady Nelson in 1808, he left behind nearly 56 acres cleared, buildings, a barn and a shingled roofed house, valued at £40 pounds.
Step/Uncle of Susannah Westlake
Edward Westlake (Charlotte) was 34 when he went aboard the Dunkirk Hull after receiving seven years for his involvement with John and Noah Mortimer. Although he left a family in England he had eight children with Elizabeth Wood (Neptune 1790). Westlake was a successful farmer on the Island and at the time the family departed in 1808 for Van Diemen’s Land by City of Edinburgh, he left buildings valued at £20 pounds and 22 of his 82 acres cleared.
Susannah Westlake/Mary Ann Shone
John Rice (Charlotte) was sentenced to be hung for house breaking and stealing valuables, but was later reprieved to seven years transportation. A rope-maker, he became one of the convicts most trusted by Commandant King. He was a successful farmer on the Island and was still there when the 1805 Census was taken.
Richard Widdicombe (Charlotte) was sentenced to seven years transportation for theft of a wooden winch and other goods. On the Island he was subsisting himself on an acre lot and sharing a cow. As he had no intention of becoming a settler he left the Island in 1793 aboard Chesterfield bound for Sydney before sailing to India.
Six Female Convicts
Ann Innett/Innet (Lady Penrhyn) Bowes recorded Inett as a former mantua maker (dressmaker), aged 30, when she boarded Lady Penryhn following a seven year sentence for stealing a quantity of clothing. On the Island she became Commandant King’s mistress. Their son Norfolk was the first born child on the Island recorded his father. Their second son Sydney was baptised at Sydney on 9 July 1790. King raised the two boys and educated them in England. Both had distinguished careers as naval officers. Ann made a good marriage with Richard John Robinson at Parramatta and lived a comfortable life. Richard Robinson left the colony in July 1819 by Surrey and Ann followed him in March 1820 by Admiral Cockburn
Olivia Gascoigne (Lady Penrhyn) following a seven year sentence for stealing goods from a dwelling house Olivia was held with Ann Inett in Worcester gaol until ordered to Southwark gaol, before being dispatched to Gravesend. Bowes gave her age as 24 and her occupation servant. On the Island she married Nathaniel Lucas and had 13 children before returning to Port Jackson in 1805. After Nathaniel’s death in Sydney she went with six of her surviving children to Van Diemen’s Land, settling on 100 acres in Port Dalrymple.
Susannah Garth/Gough (Friendship and Charlotte) was tried at the Old Bailey in 1783. Sentenced to seven years transportation, Susannah was aboard the Mercury transport when mutinous convicts had taken control of it. She scrambled down the side of the ship with 65 other convicts and while trying to get to shore was taken aboard Helena and then committed to the Exter gaol. Spending six months on the Dunkirk Hulk Susannah was discharged to Friendship. Married to Edward Garth on the Island, they had several children before leaving for Van Diemen’s Land aboard Porpoise. While living in Van Diemen’s Land, aged 71, she stated on oath that she was the first woman ashore on Norfolk Island.
Their son William married Susannah Bradshaw/Jillett
Elizabeth Colley (Lady Penrhyn) had a fourteen year sentence, the longest of the entire group, for receiving stolen goods. Aged 21 when delivered to Lady Penrhyn in January 1787, she gave birth to a stillborn boy six months later. Children born to Elizabeth on the Island are thought to be fathered by Thomas Jamison. On 1 August 1797 she received a ‘conditional pardon’ and in 1801 she was marked gone to England – possibly with Thomas Jamison when he returned on a years’ leave.
Elizabeth Lee/ Lees (Lady Penrhyn) was aged 23 when sentenced to seven years transportation at the Old Bailey for stealing a large quantity of wine and spirits and numerous other articles. On the Island she was an independent woman supporting herself by growing and selling her produce to the stores. She left Norfolk Island by Chesterfield in April 1793. The ship sailed to Port Jackson, then back to Norfolk Island and on to Bengal presumably with Elizabeth aboard.
Elizabeth Hippesley/Hispley (Lady Penrhyn) was 28 when sentenced at the Old Bailey for the theft of articles from a master butcher she had persuaded to go with her to her loadings. On 30 January 1788 Surgeon Bowes recommended her as one of the six women to be sent to Norfolk Island having uniformly behaved well during the whole of the voyage. Elizabeth was an independent woman supporting herself by growing and selling her grown produce to the stores on land at Sydney Town. She married marine settler Robert Stephens in 1794 before they returned to Port Jackson. Stephens joined the NSW Corps and following his soldering career returned to England with Elizabeth and their son in 1810 on HMS Dromedary.
* James Lucas and Isabella
Matthews
James
Lucas was born in England in 1806.
By
1830 he was married, with one child, could read and write, was Protestant and
was a carpenter by trade. He was 5’9” tall and lived with his family in
Islington.
His
mother was Mary Lucas and his sister, Sophia, was in service, his wife, Jane,
was a dressmaker.
On
September 16, 1830, he was tried at Middlesex for “breaking into a building
within the curtilage of a dwelling house” and stealing tools. He was found
guilty and sentenced to transportation for 14 years.
He
came to New South Wales on the ‘Argyle’, arriving August 5, 1831.
In
1834, Emma Matilda Lucas was born at Battery Point to James Lucas and Isabella
Matthews.
On
November 24, 1834, James applied for permission to marry Isabella but was
denied on an ecclesiastical objection.
James
applied again on November 15, 1837, and this time it was allowed. They were
married at St John’s Church, New Town, on December 21, 1837. In the St John’s
Register of Banns, James was described as a widower and prisoner of New Town.
The
original objection may have been because Jane was still alive, and she may have
died by 1837. However, convicts in James’ situation were allowed to marry six
years after they had been sent to the Colony, so Jane may still have been
alive.
On
the Banns Register, Isabella was described as singe and free. However, there
was a convict, Isabella Matthews, who came out on the ‘Asia’ from Dublin on 30
July, 1828, who was granted a Ticket of Leave in 1832, so she may then have
been described as ‘free’.
James
worked as a carpenter in the Colony and was granted a Ticket of Leave on 11
September, 1837, a Conditional Pardon on 10 August, 1841 and a Free Certificate
on 23 March 1852.
Eight
more children were born to James and Isabella: Jane (25 March 1837), Isabella
(6 June 1839), Sophia Tice (1840),
Claudina (1 June 1843), James (14December 1855), Isabella (19 October 1846),
William Edward (8 September 1848) and William (12 March 1852).
Isabella,
born 1839, died on 8 July 1845, as the result of burns sustained in an
accidental fire in her home a day or two before her death.
William
Edward appears to have died before 12 March 1852.
James
died of heart disease at New Town on February, 1862, aged 56.
Isabella
survived James by 34 years and died of senile decay at her home, “Moonah’, on
27 June 1896, aged 93.
Courtesy
of Margaret Thompson
Inter family
marriages
William
Young son of Capt William and Rebecca married Emma Lucas -
Cooper and Pam Alderson
William
Henry Jillett m Isabella Lucas
Land was first granted to Sgt. James McCauley and his wife Maria. He was a non-commissioned officer who arrived with Lt Col. Collins in 1804. The first reference to him in regard to his land at Clarence Plains was the 1819 muster where it was noted that he had:- 400 acres - 46 acres in wheat, 1 acre in barley, 2 acres in beans and 4 acres in potatoes, 100 bushels of grain in hand, and 347 acres in pasture.
Sheep were his main stock, of which he had 356 plus 28 cattle. He and his wife were on Government stores, as were his 3 servants.
During this time he was also a Constable in the district.
The survey map of the District of York1844 shows a large section had been granted to Elias Grimsey including most of Calvert's Hill to where it joined to the property of Elizabeth Mack. Elizabeth was the adopted daughter of Rev. Robert. Knopwood who had helped secure a land grant for her in the area. Elizabeth and her husband Henry, established a farm called Woodland Green but in 1830, Elizabeth died in childbirth with her second child at the age of only 22 years. Eight months later Henry married her friend Christiana Smith - they had a large family and prospered at Woodland Green. Today many descendants of Elizabeth, Henry and Christiana Morrisby still live in the area.
Waterloo Farm
John Robert Morrisby purchased ‘Waterloo' from widow Mary Busby in 1898 and worked the 50 acres beside Pipe Clay Lagoon in orchards. This was reported as "where once it was a wilderness of fern and scrub now produced apples, pears, apricots, cherries and in between the trees, rows of peas and root crops. The soil was enriched by seaweed and by alluvial deposits carried down from volcanic hills nearby". John Morrisby built a large apple shed near the lagoon and transported the fruit cases by tractor to a jetty and then onto a trolley to the ship's sides for delivery to the Hobart markets. At the peak of the districts rural development 4 jetties existed in the lagoon.
The Subdivision of Cremorne
After the First World War the property ‘Waterloo' was divided between two Morrisby sons, Alfred and Allan, and the half nearest the beach was called Cremorne after Alfred wife's former home in Sydney. The homestead, ‘Cremorne House' was built about 1909 and still stands on a knoll overlooking the village.
One of the rarest of all eucalypts, ‘Eucalyptus Morrisbyi' is endemic to the Cremorne area and has been named in recognition of this family's long association with the district.
Alfred Morrisby sold the estate of Cremorne in 1943, and it was subsequently subdivided and put on the market in stages from 1946 by Hobart real estate agents, Shaw and Tregear. There were 201 blocks along the waterfront, along the lagoon and some inland and by 1949, 121 had been sold and 48 dwellings built, virtually all weekenders. There was also a reserve, giving public access to the beach. The new township was naturally called Cremorne.
As a postal destination, the village was known for some time as ‘Pipe Clay' and the Sandford area was known as ‘Muddy Plains' or ‘Clarence Plains'
William White, a zinc worker, was one of the first to buy and purchased a block in May 1946 to build a house as a weekender. In 1947, William brought three other blocks using one block to build Cremorne's first shop, White's Cash Store, where he sold basic stores at holiday times.
Cremorne developed and was officially proclaimed a town on 12th October, 1959 - published in the Tasmanian Government Gazette 21st October, 1959.
The Cremorne Progress Association was founded in 1948 and was formed with the idea of fighting for amenities in the area and a better access road and initially worked out of a small wooden building situated in the park on Cremorne Avenue. The road into Cremorne was at first a dirt track with holes which sank deep into the sand and it was the Progress Association which, on many occasions brought gravel to fill the hole, with the local residents carrying out the work themselves.
In 1962, land in Wisteria Avenue was offered for sale for the building of an outdoor bowling green and after a group of interested residents in Cremorne formed a committee, the property was purchased. In 1972 extensions to the club house and greens of the Cremorne Bowls Club were under-taken and in 1993 the greens were changed from natural grass to a new synthetic green.
By 1968 the Progress Association had achieved a sealed road into Cremorne, street lights, rubbish tins and development of the Beach Reserve, again often through working bees with the residents. Early in 1970 the Clarence Council built a sealed road along part of the back beach along Pipeclay Lagoon, which many did not approve of and to this day the road has not progressed any further.
The 1960s saw many regattas in Cremorne on Pipe Clay Lagoon beach with children's activities on the sand and yacht races in the bay.
At this time Cremorne was a popular destination for a day trip to the beach for many families.
Cremorne suffered in the 1967 ‘Black Tuesday' bushfires and the destruction would have been far worse but for the efforts of volunteers and prisoners from Risdon Prison. The bushfire raged down the peninsular towards Cremorne, burning the old homestead of ‘Woodlands' and very selectively destroyed thirteen houses.
The school bus driver came to stand by at Sandford school in case they had to evacuate but they kept the children there and no one was hurt. The rector at St Martin's Church, Sandford went to Cremorne to help, but could only get about half way in. "There wasn't much we could do, but some people and I helped by putting out fires on the HEC [electricity supplier] poles with buckets of water, and that was about all we could. The fire was so fierce, we just saved a few poles and that was about it."
Some of the local families - mothers and their children took to the beaches for safety. The police blocked access into Cremorne from the turn off at South Arm Highway but residents ignored the blocked road in a desperate bid to save their homes and took to the lagoon beach to drive into the township.
In the late 1800s steam ships were used as the main means of conveying freight and passengers between Hobart and the surrounding southern and Southeastern rural communities. The S.S. Nubeena was typical of the river steamers of her day.
She was a wooden hulled vessel of 93/138 tons built in 1890 by W. Bayes at Battery Point, for W.J. and G. Whitehouse and W. Pitfield of Hobart who traded as Whitehouse Brothers.
On Friday 7 October 1910, she berthed at Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula. During the day about 40 head of cattle were loaded for transport to Brown's River (Kingston). She left Koonya at 6.00pm with the cattle and 18 passengers aboard.
On the trip she had to again call at Dunalley where the voyage was delayed when she had to stop and retrieve one of the cattle that had jumped overboard, leaving Dunalley late at around 8.10pm bound for Hobart.
In the vicinity of Slopen Island, in Frederick Henry Bay, captain John Franklin, having clerical work to attend to handed over to the mate, Gordon Vickary and left the bridge. The night was dark with a westerly wind blowing and in order to avoid a beam sea, Vickary was told to keep the vessel "up to windward". The order, it appears was obeyed too literally, with the result that by the time she had crossed Frederick Henry Bay the steamer was a few miles off course. At 10.40pm she came ashore in a heavy swell, on the beach at Pipe Clay Lagoon, now known as Cremorne. The news of the accident reached Hobart about 1am on Saturday morning. Arrangements were made for another steamer S.S. Breone to proceed to Pipe Clay Lagoon to collect the stranded passengers but by the time she arrived the majority had either walked or been transported by horse-drawn vehicles to Bellerive where they had caught the early morning ferry to Hobart. It was also reported that hospitality was provided by local residents and that no one was injured except for one passenger, a man, who had slipped on the deck and hurt his wrist.
The S.S. Nubeena appeared to have been badly damaged and the next morning was found to be firmly embedded in the sand and was given up as a total wreck.
A further report appeared in The Mercury newspaper on 11 October which said that the ‘S.S. Nubeena' was in a fairly upright position but was buried in the sand to a depth of 6 feet. At low tide it was possible to walk around the vessel. Expert opinion was that the ship's back was broken.
The details surrounding the wreck and how it came to be so far off course were brought out at a Marine Board inquiry held on October 24th, 1910.
The board found Captain Franklin was at fault. When leaving the bridge he should have been more careful in giving directions on the course to be steered and made sure that the mate clearly understood the position of the steamer. The Board decided to be very lenient and ordered Captain Franklin's certificate to be "suspended for 3 months from the date of the stranding."
4 HTG 5.11.24;
Bonwick pp 59-60; Ryan pp 79, 90; West pp 269, 271; CBE 1/1 p 17, 18 March 1830
5 AOT CSO
1/240/5809 p 160, Baptismal entry in register NS 373/12, 11.3.33; Nicholls p
611. It
was not possible
to find out anything more about Rebecca, especially as no family name was given
for her; Mercury 12.7.1867
6 Wedge p 31,
11.11.26
7 Curr pp 2,
12-16, 60, 63, 119; Widowson pp 79, 101-2
8 Halliday p 29
9 HTC 21.3.31,
19.1.28; Bent’s News 13.5.37; HTG 4.10.23, 13.5.26; True
Colonist 26.6.35; Colonial Advocate 1.7.28; Lloyd p 14
10 Nicholls pp
463-4, 523, 558, 593-595, 596, 598, 602, 621, 622, 625, 646, 673
11 Nicholls pp
474, 504, 546, 558, 562, 563, 575, 579, 622, 623, 640, 643, 670, 673, 675, 676;
HTA
25.4.53; HTC 31.1.29,
17.10.29, 22.5.35, 13.10.43
12 Wedge, p 29,
20.8.26; Mercury 11.9.58
13 HTC 6.6.34,
3.1.34; True Colonist 14.10.36. ‘Herbs’ come from Wayn Index, AOT,
though
absent from
reference stated.
14 Tipping pp
188-9; Stanfield and Mannering pp 21-22
15 Nicholls 509,
537, 610; Ross 1829 pp 68, 76-77; HTC 7.2.29, 21.4.32, 9.12.42; HTA 25.4.533
16 Ross 1829 pp
68, 76-77; Halliday p 45; H O’May p 38
17 Valuation
roll, HTG 25.5.58; HTC 22.11.54
18 Ross 1829 p
77; Betts p 55; HTC 21.4.32; THRA 21/55; Calder pp 9-14; Stoney p 37
19 AOT,
Registers of deaths, St Matthew’s Parish, 1826-1860; HTG 9. 9.56
20 Nicholls pp
577, 610, 611, 615, 619, 622, 625, 638; Melville 1833; HTC 21.4.32
21 Tinning pp
11, 14-15; CT 16.2.49; Mercury 22.6.60; Hull 1860; AOT NS 1280/5,
NS 544/2/54;
Stoney p 77;
Sharples et al pp 89-95
22 ADB vol 1, pp 391-2; Read pp 40-42; H O’May p 32
23 Betts p 76; CT
19.5.26; Colonial Advocate 1.7.28; HRA 3,5,p 700; Ross 1835;
Widowson p 42; H O’May pp 44, 59
24 Ross 1834 p
96, 1835 p 24, 1836 p 24, 1837 p 25, 1838 p 25
25 Woods 1847 p
66, 1848 p 122, 1849 p 77, 1850 p 70, 1851 p 53, 1854 p 80; Hobart Town
Directory 1857 p 138; Hull 1858
p 35, 1859 p 30, 1860 p 72
26 Woods 1849 p
78; Hobart Town Directory 1852-3 p 28; Hull 1860 p 72
27 Hookey The
Chaplain p 172
46 Backhouse p
41; PB Walker pp 145-6; Mather p 61
47 Backhouse pp
41-2; Walker p 146
51 Bent
1824-1829. Robert Giblin wrote in 1827 that he was setting up a school, but
this seemed to be a Sunday school (CSO 19/2/385, 30.4.27); Woods 1847-1849; GO
33/51/921
52 Statistics
of Tasmania 1858; Phillips p 31
53 Robb p 105
54 Chipman, ‘The
Chipman Family’; Nicholls pp 353, 371, 381; HTG 15.11.23
55 Bent 1829 p
138, 1830 p 68; Melville 1831 p 229, 1834 p 241; CT 22.2.32; HTC 31.12.51,
23.12.54,
12.7.58; Hookey p 97; Tinning p 7; Mercury 2.12.86; Address to JOO
McArdell, 1881, TL
56 CSO
1/240/5809 p 16088 Ledger p 4
65 Rowntree pp
6-9; House of Assembly Hansard, Risdon Ferry Act (Repeal) Bill Second reading
1984 p 3320; HTC
13.10.37, 10.9.41, 1.4.42; CT 14.4.40, 13.8.44; HTA 13.12.42
66 Ross 1829,
1830; HRA 3,5,p 308; HTG 6.10.46; House of Assembly Hansard, Risdon
Ferry Act
(Repeal) Bill
Second reading 1984 p 3320; Angus plate 13, ‘Risdon Ferry on the Derwent
V.D.L.’;
AOT Calder’s
Field Book 1189; information from Jan Clear; Mercury 7.5.04; HTC 26.9.46,
CT
16.3.52, 5.7.53,
21.7.53
67 Newitt p 39; HTC
11.6.31; H O’May p 13
68Old hands
William Bignell (NS 544/2/54) and H O’May, p 13, recall innkeepers called Mawle
running a ferry
from Ralphs Bay, but the only indication of such an inn comes in 1831, and it
was
licensed W.
Hance (HTC 11.6.31). Perhaps the licensed inn descended to a sly grog
shop
69 AOT LSD
1/77/136, Francis Desailly, 21/12/1831
70 AOT LSD
1/77/110, minutes of meeting 8/8/1832; LSD 1/77/175, letter from P Roberts,
12/1/1833; LSD
1/77/107, group of inhabitants, 6/3/1830; HTC 7.12.1832
71 AOT LSD
1/77/182, Richard Lewis, 26/8/1834, and see also LSD 1/77/133, Jacob Bellette,
8/10/1832; LSD
1/77/160, P Roberts 14/6/1832; LSD 1/77/187, Assistant Surveyor 15/6/1837; LSD
1/77/192, J Chipman and note on back, 15.8.1837
72 AOT LSD
1/77/147, group of settlers, 3/11/1835; 149, survey office to Germain,
2/9/1837; 150, Germain, 5/9/1837
73 AOT LSD
1/77/156, H W Mortimer, 24/9/1836; LSD 1/77/177, J. Chipman 22/1/1833; Jones ‘A
Guide...’ p 156
74 PB Walker p
143; Newitt p 9; Jones ‘A Guide...’ p 156; Nicholls p 558, 601, 613, 635
75 Newitt pp
111-114; Nicholls p 618; MacFie ‘Dobbers and Cobbers...’ pp 112-123; Meredith
pp 49-
50; Britannia
12/11/45; Mercury 12.7.69; NS 544/2/54, a newspaper description of
Bellerive in about 1905, in which William Bignell, the oldest inhabitant, is
quoted as saying this
76 Thwaites pp
210-20; Walker pp 64-67; Mather pp 62-64; True Colonist 29.4.36
77 H O’May pp
19-20; Stanley pp 7-10; Bryan passim
78 Hudspeth,
Scripps, MacFie pp 80-83
79 Most
information comes from annual licensing lists, in HTG and later TGG
89 HTC 22/3/33
90 Wedge pp
31-2, 11.11.26
91 McKay p 3; SC
285 report 69
BOXED ITEMS
Place Names in
Clarence
During this
period several places in Clarence had their names changed, though the original
name has
been used in the
chapter for consistency.
Kangaroo Point
to Bellerive
The town of
Kangaroo Point was renamed Bellerive in about 1832, though the new name was
slow to
catch on. It was
suggested by George Frankland who lived in Secheron at Battery Point. Wayne
117 HTC 23.4.51
118 HTG 20.4.22;
CT 5.1.27; HTC 7.2.29, 20.1.49, 26.11.44; Mercury 11.9.58,
12.2.58
119 HTC 20.1.49,
Stoney p 77; Mercury 11.9.58
120 Newspaper cutting dated 7.11.55, in the
possession of Ted Bezzant
No comments:
Post a Comment