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William Cromarty was born in
Ronaldsaye, Orkney Islands, Scotland in 1788 (1)
He arrived in
1822, two years
before his wife Cecilia and daughter Elizabeth who arrived in 1824 on the
Phoenix.(2) He was engaged as captain of the vessel
Fame which was owned by merchant Simeon Lord(3)
and also later received a land grant for his services to
Government which he eventually took up at Port Stephens
(6)
J.F. Atchison in an
article in the Royal Australian Historical Society Newsletter of April 1978 wrote
of Cromarty (extract):
'In February 1827 Robert
Dawson commissioned William Cromarty, an able sailor, to attempt an
entry of the Manning River from the sea and to chart its channels. The
Barnard-Manning Rivers system had been explored in 1825 by
Henry Dangar and named by
Dawson in honour of William Manning, Deputy Governor of the Australian
Agricultural Company. Dawson was anxious to establish its course. Cromarty
made an unsuccessful attempt to enter Farquhars Inlet (Old Bar). He then
walked along the coast to Port Macquarie
Dawson made another attack on the Manning the following October. He sent
John Armstrong and John Guilding, an experienced planter and native of the
island of St. Vincent in the West Indies, north by sea from Port Stephens.
They established that the Barnard Manning system flowed out to the Pacific
Ocean through two outlets: Harrington and Farquahars Inlets, inlets which John
Oxley in 1818 had judged to be coastal lagoons.
The tall headstone in the cemetery at Tahlee commemorates William Cromarty,
an early settler whose unsuccessful attempt to chart the Manning River pave
the way for Armstrong and Guilding's notable contribution to our understanding
of Australian topography.' In 1830,
Australian Agricultural Co., Commissioner
Sir Edward Parry,
described a visit to Captain Cromarty -
'Dr. Nisbet went over to see Mr.
Cromarty, a settler, to endeavour to arrange with him to go up the Myall with one
of our boats to look for cedar, of which there was a great quantity purchased by
the company formerly from Mr. (Simeon) Lord, and of which Mr. Cromarty knows more than
anybody else, having been employed by Mr. Lord.
Cromarty is an honest man, a
rara avis here, and is desirous of paying us in this way for any services we
can render him'. (7)
William Cromarty was in Newcastle in April
1833 when Governor
Burke's visit took place. Perhaps he assisted in piloting the famous steamer
Sophia Jane into the harbour on that day in April.
He signed an address prepared by Sir Edward Parry and later
presented to the Governor.(4) Read
about the Governor's visit to Newcastle
Mr. Cromarty was seriously
injured in an accident at Newcastle port later that year and retired from his
position to settle on his land at Soldier's Point, Port Stephens.
(8)
It was reported in the Sydney Gazette that the Newcastle
port was left without a pilot for some time on Cromarty's resignation, although
this was
disputed by assistant pilot
Charles Hughes who stated that he
had
performed
the duties of pilot at Newcastle, not only from the
superannuation of the late Mr. Eckford, which took place in
the year 1827, but for ten years prior to that occurrence
without imputation or fault '
William Cromarty was apparently appointed to the position of
pilot again in October 1834. The Sydney Herald reported of his high
fitness for the post, being a man of courage and an excellent seaman
(5)
William Cromarty was only 50 in September
1838 when, with
his sixteen year old son William, and two others, he perished near Port Stephens
while attempting to recover the lifeboat belonging to the King William IV steamer.
Read about his death in the Sydney Herald
(9)
His wife Cecilia stayed on at Port Stephens with their son
Magnus and daughters Elizabeth, Cecilia and Mary.
(8)
D aughter
Elizabeth married
Thomas Peck
on October 1833 at Port Stephens. Daughter Cecilia married Captain Banks.
William and Cecilia's
son Magnus settled on land that became known as Bob's Farm. His son
Magnus Cromarty was elected
to parliament in 1922.(11)
1.
Cromarty Births Deaths and Marriages
2
1828 Census (Ancestry)
3
Sydney Gazette 5 August 1826
4.
Sydney Gazette 20 April 1833
5.
Sydney Herald 13 October 1834
6.
Sydney Morning Herald 24 January 1845
7. Early Days of Port
Stephens: Extracts from the diary of Sir Edward Parry, Dungog Chronicle
8.
Brief Historical Facts about Port Stephens
9
Sydney Herald 19 September 1838
10.
Baptisms, Marriages and Burials Register Book of Christ Church [Cathedral]
Newcastle Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1826 to May 1837
11.
Parliament of NSW site
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