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Hobart Town First Settlers Association
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25.01.2022 An event that would have slightly affected the southern settlement... Patterson was put in charge of this northern settlement - Collins was Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania.
23.01.2022 People may be interested in this image of early Hobart. I have copied the image from the book by Barbara Hamilton Arnold on G. P. Harris. Sadly Barbara died a f...ew months ago, but I was fortunate to spend many hours with this expert on Harris. Harris sent this drawing to London, an image that was re-presented as the iconic picture that this group uses as its banner. There is a big question over any high quality painting attributable to Harris, but the drawings all look like his own work. As a researcher it is best to work with the less exciting, but original images. Enjoy the picture. See more
22.01.2022 Part 3, Bruny Island (Lunawanna-alonna )
20.01.2022 Some early exploration of Tas.
19.01.2022 Some of our first settlers were on this brig, coming from Sullivan's Bay Port Phillip Bay to Sullivan's Bay Van Diemen's Land February 1804.
19.01.2022 I was thrilled to find this yesterday - as far as I know it's the only photo in existence of : The Parsonage Rokeby, formerly occupied by the Rev. Robert Knopwood.' - The Australasian, (Melbourne Vic.) 19 July 1919.
16.01.2022 The Hobart waterfront has seen many changes over the past two hundred years. When Europeans arrived, Sullivans Cove was surrounded by bush. There would have be...en tracks made by the local Mouheneenner people as they moved down to the foreshore, perhaps to collect eggs in the marshy area in front of where Parliament House now stands. Or a track to the rocky shore of Battery Point to collect shellfish. Since then Sullivans Cove has changed enormously, but thankfully we have a great record through images of how the change has occurred. See more
16.01.2022 Came across another gravestone (actually, a memorial stone) the other day on the wall in St David’s Park. Behind the carefully carved lettering lies the story o...f a go-ahead young man of mixed fortunes. Born in 1793 in South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, John Laughton, like many islanders, had the sea in his blood. He was described as a ship-owner and master mariner when he was elected as Harbour Master at Kirkwell in 1812. His adventurous spirit led him to enter the service of the Hudson Bay Company and later the East India Company. In the course of his travels he met Elizabeth Williams, daughter of another seafarer, and they married in St Davids, Wales in 1817. Elizabeth faithfully followed her husband from port to port. Their eldest son, Thomas, was born in Stepney in 1820 followed by John, in Barton- on-Humber in 1823. Their third son, James, was born in Hobart Town in 1826. Captain Laughton sailed from London for Australia as Master and part-owner of the barque ‘Alfred’ which arrived in Sydney in July 1824. He then continued on the ‘Prince Regent’, arriving in Hobart Town on 4 October 1824 after what was described as a tedious 18 day voyage. He hadn’t intended to stay in Van Diemen’s Land, but a venture with the brig ‘Governor Phillip’ had fallen through. Then a shipment of oranges on the ‘Alfred’ had shown a loss which caused one newspaper correspondent to quip that he deplored the loss very much, as his mouth watered with expectation of being favoured with a delightful squeeze! In an effort to recoup his losses, Captain Laughton invested in a sealing venture in Bass Strait in the schooner ‘Helen’. After three months he returned to Hobart Town with more than 1200 skins on board. A newspaper report quoted Captain Laughton as saying the islands between Van Diemen’s Land and the Mainland were infested with a number of gangs of runaway convicts, whose piratical outrages rendered navigation of Bass Strait dangerous to unarmed ships. The article continued some ... attempted to carry off his boat; but the thieves [ran] aground on a reef, and, after a sharp skirmish, he recovered it. He was still away sealing when his family arrived in Hobart Town on the barque ‘Lang’ on 17 December, 1825. John Laughton then decided to apply for some land and on 19 February 1825 he received a Location Order from Lieutenant-Governor Arthur for 274 acres on Bruny Island. This included Partridge Island, but was conditional on the arrival of his family. The contrast between life in London and as settlers in the fledgling colony of Van Diemen’s Land must have been great, especially for Elizabeth and her family. This would have been particularly apparent on Partridge Island where the living quarters, even by 1843, must have been basic and by 1848 the wooden cottage still only had three rooms. Apart from a base for fishing, about 25 acres of Partridge Island was soon under cultivation and there were several huts for farm workers. The island was frequently used as an anchorage for ships sailing in and out of Hobart Town and whalers called in for fresh supplies. However, Captain Laughton spent much of his time away - at sea or drumming up other business ventures. He became Master of the ‘Cape Packet’, a whaler owned by James Kelly. John eventually decided that the land on the Bruny shore was unsuitable for his purpose and applied for land elsewhere. In lieu, he was given a Land Order dated 4 May 1827 for 500 acres in the Macquarie Reserve, described as fronting the Cockatoo Valley Creek adjoining Michael Brett’s grant on the same side of the above creek. However, he retained the right to occupy the land on Partridge Island where he intended to operate a fishing establishment. It was whaling, however, which really interested him and to this end in 1826 he joined a select group who called themselves the Derwent Whaling Club. This Club had been formed by James Kelly, the Hobart pilot and harbourmaster and all-round adventurer, William Wilson, merchant, shipowner and whaler whose house ‘Hobartville’ became Friends School, Walter Angus Bethune, a successful merchant and landowner, and Charles Ross Nairn, a most unsavoury character whom I have written about before. They offered a prize to the person who first gave information about a whale in the River Derwent. Profits, they said, were to be divided into seven shares, five being shared amongst the members, one to be devoted to charitable purposes, and the seventh to the man who killed the whale. In 1827, John Laughton decided to clarify his position on Partridge Island as a formal grant had still not been issued. As a result, he was given 10 acres and a promise of more if necessary, provided it did not interfere with the fair claims of others in the fishing trade. In partnership with W H Mason and Thomas Atkinson, John Laughton commissioned David Hoy to build a ship at his shipyard near Kinghorne Point on Bruny Island. Named ‘Apollo’, the brig was built for the Sydney trade and on her maiden voyage in October 1826 carried a cargo of timber. ‘The colonists will learn with pleasure, that a very handsome brig, built by Mr David Hoy, and called the Apollo, burden 105tons, was launched last week in grand style from the banks of the Derwent. Mr Thomas Atkins, Mr Mason and Captain Laughton, are the spirited individuals who have accomplished this accession to our colonial importance’. (Hobart Town Gazette, on Saturday, 7th October 1826) On its second voyage in March 1827, the Apollo made heavy going around Cape Pillar, foundering at Maria Islandfortunately without loss of life. An assertion in the Government Gazette claimed that the vessel shipped such a quantity of water from some of her upper works not being sufficiently caulked, that she became completely water-logged. The claim was, of course, countered by David Hoy, fearing that such statements could injure his credibility as a ship- builder. Hoy took great pride in his work; he achieved wonders with the men and boys who worked for him. Few had any trade skills, but under his instruction they turned out ships as good as any in the colony. William Moriarty, Superintendent of Government Vessels and Port Officer in Hobart praised Hoy for ‘making fair tradesmen out of the boys and men’ and Hoy himself claimed to have played an important role in their reformation, asserting that ‘many of them are now respectable and useful members of Society’. The loss of the ‘Apollo’ as well as cargo worth about 500 was a severe blow. Looking for other avenues of making money, John Laughton purchased, for 63 at auction, the wreck of the ship ‘Hope’ which had gone ashore on the beach opposite Betsy Island (now known as Hope Beach) in early hours of Sunday 29 April 1827. On Thursday10 May, he and Captain Cunningham, former Master of the Hope, inspected the wreck. A big swell was breaking on the beach and their boat was swamped, throwing both men into the water. Cunningham was able to save himself but just as Laughton reached the beach, another wave swept him off his feet and he drowned. A lengthy column in the Hobart Town Gazette about the tragedy said that his active and enterprising turn had led him to make the most exemplary exertions for the sake of his family. For a man who had only been three short years in the colony, he had accomplished much but had little real property. Nor had he written a will, which left his family destitute. However, they were well regarded and a collection was soon taken up to tide the family overabout 550 being collected within six days including a donation of 21 from Lieutenant-Governor Arthur. Now widowed, Elizabeth applied to exchange Partridge Island for other land but her request was refused and the family moved to live in Campbell Street, Hobart Town in 1828. Elizabeth remarried in 1840, and lived with her new husband, Charles Frederick Salmon, at 62 Macquarie Street, Hobart Town. The eldest son, Thomas, was not yet 16 when he left school and in a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor, his mother requested help in getting him paid work. She said that ‘I find my expenses daily increasing, and of course wish by the employment of my eldest son to derive some means of providing for his two younger brothers, whose education I find an immense expense.’ Thomas had been working in an ordinance store without remuneration for some time. However, a comment penned at the bottom of the letter by Acting Commissary-General Moodie said that ‘I am led to believe from the enquiries I have made, that he is too young and ineffective.’ Whether Thomas ever obtained a post with the Crown is not known but by about 1840 he is believed to have been in command of the Imperial Government schooner Eliza which carried officials between Hobart Town, Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur. Elizabeth Laughton again applied for recognition of their title to Partridge Island by way of a grant in 1836. She called on Arthur at Government House, pleading her case, and wrote him a lengthy letter. However, in an annotation on the correspondence the Surveyor-General penned ‘Mrs Laughton has no claim to Partridge Island, she having received land in another situation.’ There appears to have been a total mix-up over the ownership of Partridge Island - the Laughtons believing they owned it and the Government saying they didn’t. Thomas failed to sell the island holding at auction which left him in dire straits. On 8 October 1846 he took out an Indenture of Mortgage to Hobart businessman Richard Cleburne. Subsequently, he was forced to relinquish ownership with a final payment of the mortgage in 1849 and the island passed into the hands of Richard Cleburne. In the meantime, Thomas’s younger brother, John, injured after falling from a horse at Bothwell, died at his mother’s residence in Macquarie Street on 6 September 1845. James, the youngest of the family, was far more scholarly. He is said to have been an early pupil at the Hutchins School, a Latin scholar and solicitor, serving his articles in the chambers of Mr John Dobson in Hobart. He died in 1895, aged 68. Thomas left Van Diemen’s Land for the Californian gold rush about 1849. He was later employed by the Hudson Bay Company and is thought to have joined in the search for Sir John Franklin’s expedition to the Arctic. In his last letter to his family he said he was heading north from Vancouver for a couple of years. He was never heard from again. Elizabeth seems to have recovered her fortunes. In 1867, two years before her death, the Valuation Index shows her being the owner of 114, 116 and 118 Macquarie Street, Hobart Town. She died in 1869 at the ripe old age of 75.
15.01.2022 Spotted this sign on a wall opposite Hobart Private Hospital
14.01.2022 On this day, 7th October 1798, sea explorers Flinders and Bass set out to prove that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) is an island. Matthew Flinders and George Bass... were early sea explorers who charted sections of Australia's coastline, adding valuable information to the current charts. In 1798, Bass explored along the southern coast of what would later become the colony of Victoria. His journeys led him to the belief that Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) was separate from the mainland. Governor Hunter wished for this theory to be proven conclusively, so he commissioned Flinders and Bass to circumnavigate Van Diemen's Land. The two men set out at dawn on 7 October 1798. By January of the following year, they had completed their circumnavigation of the island. Governor Hunter subsequently named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land as "Bass's Strait", later to be known as the Bass Strait.
13.01.2022 Dunkley was a prominent Hobart merchant, who arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in December 1818 aboard the convict ship Lord Melville, sentenced to seven years transportation for grand larceny.
13.01.2022 Painting was hanging in St Mathews Rokeby (2010). Had been presented to Norma Free (b. 1908 - 1999) postmistress Rokeby for many years and St Mathews Treasurer. Not sure of the artist.
12.01.2022 The First settlers of Queenborough -Sandy Bay were the Norfolk Islanders. Most of them had spent two decades farming on Norfolk Island before being transported ...to the Derwent. They and their fellow Norfolk Islanders brought much needed farming and other skills to the fledgling Colony in Van Diemen's Land 1807-1813. See more
10.01.2022 Daniel Stanfield Jnr's Mill.
09.01.2022 The Presbyterian burial ground in Church Street North Hobart was for St Andrew’s as well as St. John’s Churches. The first burial took place in 1829, the last in 1872 with some of our early settlers buried here. When the burial ground closed, some remains were transferred to Cornelian Bay. Ownership of the burial ground was transferred to the Hobart City Council in 1934, and was converted into a playground. It is now known as St Andrews Park, with play equipment and seating. Several larger monuments and vaults remain in situ in the park. The remaining headstones have either been mounted on, or can be found leaning against, the boundary walls. Others are found in the walkway from Patrick Street which in spring has an impressive archway of flowering trees.
09.01.2022 Maps tell stories, this one dates from the mid 1830's. The names on the map give a clue to the date. This map shows the 'New Road' - Sandy Bay and the names of... the farmers of the area with their farm houses in red. A number of the original Norfolk Islander location orders had changed hands by the 1820's... By 1821 George FLEXMORE, son of Norfolk Islander Francis Flexmore, had bought Hannah Ronay's grant. Edward GARTH and family were farming next door. Benjamin Briggs grant was sold to Patrick Gould HOGAN in1818. James MOODY bought the Kidner grant in 1827. James SHARP had bought Barnard Walford and John Cropper's grants and was listed as a farmer of Sandy Bay in 1833. The FISHERS were still farming and one can locate the second GARTH farm. Further south John and George CARTWRIGHT had bought 400 acres belonging to six Norfolk Islander families by 1826. Sharland, the Assistant Surveyor wrote about the 'New Road in 1837. See more
08.01.2022 Something light and "puffley". Some good information and some 'then' and now street comparisons towards the end.
08.01.2022 Using maps; the topography of the land; lists of land owners and dates can confirm a time and place.... In the book 'Sea Wolves and Bandits' by Leslie Norman.... (published in 1946, based on oral histories.) Leslie Norman places a 'smuggling event' at Garth's Hut in the valley south of today's Alexandra Battery in 1810. The event is more likely to have occurred in the area of Edward Garth's first Land Grant, in the area of today's Garth and Maning Avenues. There is a little beach below the cliffs at today's Maning Reserve and there are steep gullies leading up to the foothills on Mount Nelson on Garth's first Land Grant. Edward Garths neighbours at the time were Benjamin Briggs, Thomas Kidner and Barnard Walford. They all gave evidence at Terrance Flynn's trial in Sydney. Elizabeth Walford gives compelling evidence..."I was coming home from Mr Garths in company with my father. Mr Garth is a settler and lives at Sandy Bay , about two miles from Hobart Town. I heard the report of a gun. We had left Garth's House about a quarter of an hour before I heard the report.... Garth's house is about half a mile from ours." ... (Gath's hut is in the valley south of the Alexandra Battery , is four miles from Hobart Town and one would doubt if one could have heard a gunshot from there!) Edward Garth did not obtain his second land grant south of today's Alexandra Battery until 1813 . He later bought W. McLaughlin's grant where Gath's Hut was built. There is no doubt that smuggling occurred in the area off Gath's Bank and that the contraband was hidden on the slopes of Porter's Hill and Devil's Glen, but at a later date . Smuggling was going on in the Sandy Bay area during the 1820's -1840's All the little beaches south of Chaffey's Point (Wrest Point) and Garth's Point ( Blinking Billy Point were good drop off points for early smuggler's contraband. See more
08.01.2022 An interesting story from our President.
08.01.2022 Part 2, Bruny Island, (Lunawanna-alonna ) Tasmania.
06.01.2022 These coins were used in VDL/Tasmania, too!!
06.01.2022 A very interesting story on the Launceston links with Helen Reddy's family.
05.01.2022 Many of our earliest settlers settled in the Sorell/Pittwater district and those of the faith of the Church of England would have attended worship here.
02.01.2022 A reminder that this year all buildings and events need to be pre-booked Visit openhousehobart.org for more details and to book, and to see the full program!
