30 June 1914 - Eighty-Five Years Ago

"A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR" - HOW DR. WILSON CAME TO PERTH. (By "Nomad").

The eager hospitality which Perth offers to "distinguished visitors" is renowned throughout Australia, and by this time should, in these universal globe-trotting days, be fairly well known throughout the world. It should be of interest, therefore, to recall the impressions of the first distinguished visitor whom Western Australia entertained. He dropped in, so to speak, in October 1829, on his way home to England by a route which fortune made most marvellously circuitous. Dr. T. B. Wilson, was a Royal Navy surgeon, an M.D., scientific observer, a good judge of land, and a member of the Royal Geographical Society. He had as surgeon in charge of a convict ship, brought to Botany Bay a freight of 200 human beings without losing a single head; and he decided to go straight home again in the Governor Ready a merchant ship of 512 tons- a big boat for those days. He paid his passage, and went abroad at Hobart on April 2, 1829 and he reached London in the Surrey on August 25. 1830-after

A Perfect Odyssey of Adventures 1

Regulations for Hiring

CONVICT DEPARTMENT - REGULATIONS For the Hiring of Probationary Ticket-of-Leave Holders.

1 - PERSONS who may wish to hire Convicts of this class must obtain the sanction of the Lieutenant-Governor through the office of the Comptroller-General, and it is desirable, to prevent delay in the consideration of the application for authority to hire, that it should be sent through the Police or Assistant Police Magistrate of the district in which the applicant resides.

As it is intended that these Convicts should generally be distributed in country districts, his Excellency's special authority must be obtained in each case before they can be hired in Hobart Town or Launceston.

2 - Convicts of this class can only be hired at the Prisoner's Barracks, Hobart Town, and such other government establishments as may be hereafter notified in the Gazette, tot some one of the following periods : — 1 year and a half, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years, according to the length of their original sentence; each period being, however, subject to a diminution of one-fifth for continuous service, without offence ; and on completion of these periods they will be no longer subjected to the restraint of having to work for a particular master, but will be eligible for a Ticket-of-Leave with the privileges now attached to that indulgence by law and regulation. Any failure on the part of the convict in fulfilling his engagement, will render him liable to punishment, and defer the period of his becoming eligible for higher indulgence.

3 - Two-thirds only of the wages at which the convict is hired are to be paid to the convict himself, at intervals not exceeding three months; the remaining third to be paid by the employer to the Comptroller-General on account of the government. The payments to the Comptroller-General are to be made half-yearly, in the months of January and July. ............ 1

  • 1REGULATIONS - The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880) 28 November 1850: page 847

The Cascades - Part One

"The Cascades" is the popular name of the Government establishment at the top of Macquarie street, a short distance below Degraves's brewery, and which embraces the Gaol and House of Correction for females, the pauper establishment for males and females, and the reformatory for boys. The premises consist of a somewhat irregular range of stone buildings, situated in a well-sheltered valley, close to the Hobart Town rivulet, down whose bed the water runs clear and unpolluted by the filth cast into it when it enters the more populous part of the town. As we have before stated, it is in a well-sheltered valley, and at the same time it stands away from any centre of population, while in the immediate vicinity, and connected with the establishment, there is as much land as could be cultivated if the place were full of inmates, and all were set to work at agricultural pursuits. The large hill that rises immediately behind the buildings renders the place very picturesque, and can be seen plainly from all the yards in the gaol. This slight glimpse of the outside world must be grateful to the prisoners, and take off a good deal from the dull monotony of nothing to look at but the walls around, and the sky overhead.

The first part of the establishment that our reporter was shown over was the House of Correction for females ... 1

  • 1THE CASCADES - The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) 30 December 1872: page 2

Mary Ann Arnott and Charles John Young

Arthur Bartholomew - Butterfly Gurnard, Lepidotrigla vanessa - Google Art Project

CURIOUS FISH. - A correspondent sends us the following description of what he calls a most remarkable specimen of the finny tribe, caught in the Derwent with a common hand-line, by Mr. Young, of the Association's Baths, on Monday evening. It is, he says, of the gold-fish genus, but in addition to the beauties which make the ordinary kind valuablo to the possessors of an aquarium, this one exhibits many remarkable features. It is about four inches long ; and from its sides extend two butterfly-like circular wings. These wings, which are of a gauze-like texture, are beautifully marked with alternate rows of green, blue, and yellow bands, radiating from the centre ; they are ribbed like a "lady's fan, and the edges are tipped with a delicate violet-coloured fringe. 1

Arthur Bartholomew
Butterfly Gurnard
Lepidotrigla vanessa
(Wikimedia Commons)

  • 1THE MERCURY - The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) 1 May 1872: page 2

Mary Ann Arnott and George Rose

Mary Ann Arnott was born about 1826, based on her age given as seventeen when she married George Rose in Hobart on 3 June 1843. The witnesses were Christopher Holder and James Sly. 1
Virtually nothing is known of Mary's life as a child, up until her marriage, which raises the question - how and where did Mary meet George Rose ?. Did George Rose and Richard Arnott meet and strike up a friendship while both were servings time at Port Arthur between 1834 and 1837 ?. Could it have been that Mary was visiting Richard Arnott at Port Arthur and met George in the process ?. Did George Rose then visit Richard and Thomas at their Clarence residence and begin his courtship of Mary Ann ?. We may never know ...

George Rose was another of the many convicts sent to the VDL colony in 1831 aboard the transport ship Lord Lyndoch (1). George was born about 1809, based on his age given on his VDL convict records. As a ploughman, he had been tried and convicted in Kent on 14 March 1831 of "housebreaking" after having been convicted four times previously for various felonies including "stealing bread and beef." George's conduct record also records that he was "Married" with "Wife Mary Rose at N[ative P[lace] Canterbury" 2
George had married Mary Ann Bolton in the Kent Parish of St Alphege, on 27 April 1830 3

Narrative of the Wreck of the George III Convict Ship

WRITTEN BY MR. J. E. CALDER.

To the many tales of calamity that have been published, I am about to add one that happened in Tasmanian waters nearly thirty-eight years ago, the object of which, though still familiar to some of our old colonists, is either unknown in its details, or nearly so, to the great majority of our people, and may therefore be profitably selected from the long category of the fading events of early Tasmanian history, for the instruction of many of your readers, especially the youthful portion of them. I allude to the most disastrous wreck of the convict ship George the Third, in 1835, on an isolated rock about fifty miles from Hobart Town. 1

George III Monument

"Near this place are Interred the Remains of Many of the Sufferers
Who perished by the Wreck of the George the III., convict ship,
Which Vessel struck on a sunken rock near the Actaeon reef
On the night of the 12th April, 1835,
Upon which melancholy occasion 134 human beings were drowned.
This Tomb is erected by the desire of His Excellency
COLONEL GEORGE ARTHUR, Lieut.-Governor,
To mark that sad event,
And is placed on this spot by MAJOR THOMAS RYAN, 50th Regiment,
One of the Survivors on this occasion."

John Palmer was one of the lucky survivors ...

George III Monument on Southport Bluff
(TAHO) 2

Dorothy (Ann) Woodhead

Dorothy Ann Woodhead

Dorothy was the eldest daughter and second eldest child of John and Sarah Woodhead (nee Chadwick) of Elmton in Derbyshire, with Dorothy baptised on 4 March 1815 at the local St Peter's parish church. 1
Dorothy was one of a very long line of the Woodhead family to have been baptised, married or buried in this heritage listed 1771 Anglican church. The church registers date as far back as 1599 and Woodhead family baptisms recorded from 1625; marriages from 1629; and burials from 1627.

ELMTON, a parish in the hundred of Scarsdale, county Derby, 7 miles S.W. of Worksop, and 9 N.E. of Chesterfield, its post town and railway station. It includes the hamlet of Cresswell, from which it is separated by a wide common on the N.E. Limestone is plentiful in the neighbourhood. The soil is a thin marl. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £120. The church is a small plain edifice, dedicated to St. Peter. There are a few small charities for the poor. W. H. De Rodes, Esq., is lord of the manor. Jedediah Buxton, the calculating boy, was born here. 2

Dorothy Ann Woodhead
Photo courtesy of the Smith and Jacques family.
(From the photo album of John Cecil Bailey and Susannah Maher)

  • 1England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA - FHL Film Number: 428910, 498079
  • 2Description from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)

John Bailey

John Bailey

This John Bailey's family origins were obscure for many years, due to the confusion with the individual of the same name, who was the son of John Bailey snr and Catherine Richards; and who originally had a similar possible calculated birth year of 1812, based on his convict, marriage and death record ages; until this John's 1809 birth and 1817 baptism were discovered. 1

John Bailey, the convict transported to VDL in 1830 onboard the ship David Lyon, was tried and convicted at the Old Bailey on 18 February 1830, for theft, specifically pickpocketing and "... stealing, on the 15th of February , 1 handkerchief, value 1s., the goods of Thomas Jones, from his person."

John Bailey
Photo courtesy of the Smith and Jacques family.
(From the photo album of John Cecil Bailey and Susannah Maher)

  • 1England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 - [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA; FHL Film Number: 374357

John Wilson

John Wilson

Until now, very little biographical information was known about John's life. An interesting email inquiry prompted some further investigation.

John Wilson is the ninth child of James Wilson and Catherine Boak. John Wilson was born on 6 July 1801:

John, lawful son to James Wilson and his wife Catharine Boag in Curriehill was born July the 6th and baptised the nineteenth instant before the congregation. 1

When where and how John arrived in Van Diemens Land has not been definitively discovered. There are several possible arrivals that may be him during the period immediately prior to his land grant being issued. 2

John Wilson
(From the photo album of John Mitchell)

  • 1GROS OPR Births 682/0020 0214 - Currie
  • 2TAHO: Tasmania, Australia, Passenger Arrivals, 1829-1957 Ancestry.com [database on-line]