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hunter valley settlers 1837 Select from the maps on the left for more settlers Newcastle - Ash Island - Hunter River - Iron Bark Creek - Map 1
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George Thomas
Graham was twenty four years old when he arrived in 1827 on board the Marquis
of Anglesea. He was granted 640 acres of land by Governor Darling on 14
December 1827.
Known by Aborigines as 'Warraburreen'
'Everybody who complains of their lot in this colony ought to visit those who are established as settlers. For nothing in the shape of description can possibly convey an adequate idea of the state of dirty wretchedness and want of comfort in which they live for several of their first years. Mr. Graham's father kept his hunters in England. They now live in a miserable slab hut of their own building open to admit the wind and rain in most parts badly thatched with reeds, of which the color is not to be seen within for smoke and dirt with which it is covered - no floor - the fireplace a recess made of slabs - their beds a sort of cot slung with bullock's hide to the rough rafters, and everything giving the idea of filth and wretchedness. They wait entirely on themselves chop their wood, boil their kettle, wash their cups. and pannikins - plough, reap - and everything else, themselves. They slept under their cart for three weeks, keeping watch with a loaded gun alternately. Mr. Graham has about 80 acres under cultivation, all good alluvial land close to the river, with a bank forming a natural wharf which will admit of a vessel drawing 8ft. of water. The grant of 640 acres is certainly an excellent one - probably 540 acre of excellent land. A good creek runs up from the river close to the house, with a good depth of water in it. The ground still requires draining in some parts but is easily drainable; a rising bank , which has evidently been once the bank of the river affords an excellent position for building, Graham rents also from the Government a few hundred acres of grazing land at the bank of his own. His average crops have been the last year , from 14 to 40 bushels per acres of maize ( average about 30) and 7 to 10 bushels of wheat.'6
Despite this description, George Thomas Graham did have convict servants assigned to him in 1828 - William Abrahams, William Daniel, James Coombs and John Horton who arrived on the Hooghley and Thomas Clifton who arrived on Earl St. Vincent
2Settlers like the Grahams not only had to battle fires and floods but also had to contend with escaping convicts who turned to bushranging to sustain themselves. Convicts who had absconded from Vicars Jacob's farm and formed a gang 'Jacob's Mob' were active in the area in these years, terrorising settlers and travellers alike. The Graham's were robbed by John Callaghan and their convict servant John Horton who were indicted for the theft in 1831.
39In September 1833 George Graham married Miss Janet Carmichael a sister of Rev. Henry Carmichael
40 and then in December 1835 the Rev. Henry Carmichael married Mrs. Nancy McClymout at the residence of G.T. Graham of Newtown, Sydney. Perhaps by 1835 the Grahams had already left their property at the Hunter River.In October 1839 Archibald Windeyer purchased Kinross from Graham. Windeyer enlarged Kinross purchasing two parcels of land adjoining in 1841.
Knock Finn and Millers Forest
Lieutenant Vickers Jacob was a Sydney merchant, his business being in George Street, Sydney in 1822. He had resigned from the army in India in order to begin his business and was granted land on the Hunter River. His estates were named Knock Finn and Millers Forest. Catherine Bryan who arrived on the 'Mary' was assigned to Jacob in 1822.
9In 1823 the following appeared in the Sydney Gazette:
'Vickers Frederick Jacob, son of Vickers Jacob of George Street died on 9th instant. He was the third child of the Jacobs to die within 4yrs. All had died from fever due to teething. The loss of the two former children was ascribed to the influence of the Indian climate. Mr. Jacob had retired from the service of the East Indian Company and settled in New South Wales under the hope of being here spared a similar trial but this last infliction has shewn the deceitfulness of such hopes and the inefficiency of human precautions."
By 1824 he was resident in the Hunter Valley area and was involved in a dispute with the military at Newcastle when Magistrate Captain Gillman entered Jacob's property and was sued by Jacob for misuse of a search warrant.
9Jacob also had difficulties with his convict servants. He had 20 assigned to him in 1824 and complained of their poor attitude in a letter to the Sydney Gazette. His assigned servant Patrick Riley absconded in 1825 after being sentenced to 50 lashes for losing sheep. Riley was soon joined by other convicts from Jacob's Estate as well as two more from the nearby estates of Dr. Moran and John McDonnell. They formed a bushranging gang known as 'Mr. Jacob's Irish Brigade' or 'Jacob's Mob' and terrorised the Hunter Valley for months.
In 1832 his assigned servants included John Booth, John Hines, Thomas Brennan and Samuel Herring
14In 1847 2000 acres of land situated in the Parish of Wolfingham in the county of Durham that had been granted to the late Vickers Jacob (bounded on the north by land granted to Pritchett; on the south by land granted to McLeod; and on the east and west by the river Hunter) was advertised to be let for two years. It had been rented by William Charles Wentworth. This land is on
Map 4.
William and Martha Bucknell were living on the property belonging to Francis Short in 1829
In 1831 Bucknell's Estate known as Elmshall bounded by Adair and Townsend was advertised to be sold by the sheriff. Afterwards Bucknell's lease of a farm on the Hunter River known as Short's Farm was to be auctioned.
41
Francis Moran arrived on the Mary Anne in 1822 and travelled to Newcastle later that year where he accepted a medical appointment replacing Dr. Evans
11 and became an early land owner at Hunter's River.He was a member of the 48th Regiment and was appointed assistant surgeon at Port Macquarie after
Abraham Fenton in 1824.One of Dr. Moran's assigned servants at Hunter River absconded in 1825 and with others who had absconded from the farm of Vicars Jacob, formed a gang of bushrangers - Mr. Jacob's Irish Brigade (Jacob's Mob) - who terrorized the vicinity for months.
In June 1827, Moran announced he was retiring from his position in the Public Service Medical Department at Port Macquarie. At this time he had not determined whether to enter his profession in Sydney or retire to his estate at Hunter River however by February 1828, he was living in Pitt Street Sydney while his estate was leased out.
The farm called Duck River Farm he leased to William Bucknell in June 1828 for £100 per annum. The property consisted of a dwelling house and out offices and a large farm; the ground, cultivated with corn and potato crops, was fenced in and surrounded the dwelling house. Moran and the Bucknells were in conflict over a wheat crop and Moran evicted the family from the property when William's daughter and young son were present, William having left the farm to attend Court.
5 The Bucknells then moved to Elmshall at Vacy. John Eales marriage to Jane Lavers took place at their residence at this time. Later the Bucknells moved to the nearby property belonging to Dr. Short.Dr. Moran owned a house in Pitt Street Sydney and was robbed there in 1828 by three men, one of whom, James Williams was his servant. Williams together with Dennis Sullivan and Thomas Kirby stole clothing and a watch from Dr. Moran and were convicted of the crime in February 1828.
An overseer was employed to run Moran's estate in his absence. In 1828 Brian Spolin who had arrived on the Brittannia in 1797 was overseer. His wife Mary was employed as a dairywoman. Servants assigned to Dr. Moran who worked under Spolin in 1828 were John Skycroft, John Buckley and William Bullingham.
2In 1832 he travelled to India where he remained for some years before returning Australia. When he returned he was already unwell, having been plagued with rheumatism for years and under the effects of an intemperate lifestyle. He took lodging in Pitt Street Sydney at the house of Mr. Quinn. Within a few months of his return he was in trouble with the authorities and was imprisoned for 'an impropriety of conduct in the Police Office'. Although he was released the next day, from that time he complained of pains in his limbs and became confined to his bed for several weeks, attended by an elderly man Miles MacDonald. As his end neared he became delirious, requesting MacDonald to remove his boots, although his feet were bare, and taking excessive doses of laudanum. After his death an inquest into his death by Dr. Hosking at Wood's Hotel in Pitt Street, found that he had died of disease induced by intemperate habits. Mr. Quinn was to apply to the Commander of the Military Forces to establish whether Dr. Moran was to be buried with Military Honours.
51Francis Moran sold his 1000 acres to H. Osborne who later sold it to John Eales. Duckenfield House was then built on this property by John Eales.
11
This estate belonged to John Eales who was born in Devonshire in 1799. He emigrated to Australian in 1822 with his servant 'Jim the Londoner' on the Francis arriving in Hobart in 1823. On board the 'Francis' was John Cobb and his young wife, also future Hunter river settlers. Eales was granted 2100 acres on the Hunter River 4 miles east of Morpeth and six convicts were assigned to him. Here he cleared the land for crops and built a slab hut.
9 In 1828 he married Jane Lavers at the residence of William and Martha Bucknell of Elmshall. 44Eales added to his estate by purchasing land nearby that had been granted to Dr. Moran in 1822. Here he built
Duckenfield House, a 45 room two story house made of stone, complete with ballroom, billiard room, gymnasium, drawing room dining room breakfast room, servant and store rooms.Eales worked hard and prospered. He was wealthy enough to survive the devastating depression, constructing his own boiling down works at Berry Park.
43 He also owned land on the Liverpool Plains. - Walhollow and Quipolli. Charles Humphrey was superintendent at Walhollow in 1846.45 In addition he was the first director of the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company and constructed a dry dock 2 miles below Morpeth to service the Company's steamers.42In 1838 Eales offered a portion of his estate for Scottish immigrants from the Midlothian to settle on. They were to be given 2 months rations and transport to his estate by the Government. Eales offered to allow them undisturbed possession of the land for 5 years at a moderate rent and at the expiration of 5 years they were to pay a higher rent in proportion with the increased land value; in the mean time he was to supply them with 12 months provisions, the cost of which would be defrayed by them from the produce of their farms. Included in the offer was land for the erection of a Church and school. However after representatives of the immigrants travelled to Eales estate to view the location they declined the offer stating that the land was flood prone. They later settled on Lang's land.
46Eales life was not without hardship. Tragedy struck the family in 1844 when his 13 years old son Walter was dragged
¼ mile after his pony shied. He was badly injured and never regained consciousness. His father was away from home at the time.47Eales also had to deal with absconding, dishonest or incompetent servants - assigned servants John Kirkton and George Shapton absconded in 1846. In 1845 James Burns was sentenced to 14 years transportation for stealing 300 sheep and in 1848 Eales was offering 30 pounds reward for the conviction of persons who destroyed a hut, sheep yards and well at his station Dumble on the Liverpool plains.
10 1848 was a bad year for him as he had a serious fall in Argyle Street, Sydney while leaving a party. He fractured his leg and dislocated his ankle and must have been laid up for some time.48Some of Eales' employees:
Wiliam Armstrong - Superintendent
Thomas Kelly 1847
Joseph Goodwin employed as watchman in 1847
Charles Humphrey - Superintendent at Breeza 1847
Edward O'Neile employed at Breeza 1847
Edward Walker 1828
George Barton employed as overseer in1828
Henry Rae, a saddler of Sydney was granted 560 acres in two portions in the (Parish of Hexham) on 27 May 1825 and 12 November 1825. He sold this land in 1827 to Edward Spark. Adjoining land originally given to Kerry Lyne, James Cracknell and William Mayberry was purchased by Edward Spark's son John the whole of which later became the farm known as Wybah. Henry Rae moved to Maitland where he was an active member of the community
1. Backhouse, James., A Narrative of a visit to the Australian Colonies in 1843
2.Census of New South Wales. 1828
5. Decision of the Superior Courts of New South Wales 1788 - 1899
6.Early Days of Port Stephens - Extracts from Sir Edward Parry's Diary. Dungog Chronicle
7.Hunter, Cynthia., The Settlers of Paterson's Plains, Paterson Historical Society, 1997
9. Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788 - 1825
11.Mitchell, C., Hunter's River, Estate of Cecily Joan Mitchell, 1984
12.Newcastle Coal Report: History of Newcastle Mines under Crown and Australian Agricultural Company
13. New South Wales Registry of BDM
17.Uebel , L., The Port Jackson Convicts Anthology, 2001
18.Maitland Mercury1847 28 July
19. The Virtual Coquun, Hunter River Project, Sydney Monitor Correspondent
20. Colonial Secretary Returns of the Colony
24. Maitland Mercury1847 14 April
25. Bench of Magistrates, Newcastle, AONSW 2722
26.Maitland Mercury1843 14 October
27Maitland Mercury 1848 10 June
28 Turner, J.W., Manufacturing in newcastle 1801 - 1900
30.
Hunter River Gazette 1842 14 May
31. Maitland
Mercury 1848 8 July
32 Maitland
Mercury 1844 16 March
33
Maitland Mercury 1847 22 December
35 Sydney Gazette 1838 3 March
36 Maitland
Mercury 1843 1 July
37.Rose, L., Richard Siddins of Port Jackson., Union
Offset Co. Pty. Ltd., Canberra 1984
38. Hainsworth, Dr., The Sydney Traders., Cassel
Australia., 1981
39 Sydney
Gazette 1831 6 January
40 Sydney
Gazette 1833 14 September
41Sydney
Gazette 1831 22 November
42
Hunter River Gazette 1841 11 December
43 Maitland
Mercury1844 24 August
44 Parish
Records 1828 23 February
45
Maitland Mercury 1846 2 September
46 Sydney
Gazette 1838 11 January
47
Maitland mercury 1844 17 February
48
Maitland Mercury 1848 12 February
49. Sydney
Gazette 9 April 1835
51Sydney Gazette 30 March 1839
52 Wood, Allan, Dawn in the Valley, Wentworth Books, Sydney, 1972. p131.
53 M.
Aurousseau. (Editor) The letters of F.W. Ludwing Leichhardt, 1968, p. 583.
This page was last updated on 19/11/2008