INTRODUCTION
This work attempts to identify, trace and flesh out the lives of all children born in the English colony of New South Wales during its founding period between the years 1788 and 1800. For completeness all children
arriving in the colony on board ships for the same period have also been included. To avoid the
cumbersome phrase - 'colonial born and childhood arrivals' - as well as to give them their proper historical due,
the term 'First Generation' has been employed throughout the work to describe them.
Principle Sources of Birth Information
The four major sources of information on the birth details presented in this work were derived from:
1. St Phillips Sydney - Baptismal Register2. St Johns Parramatta - Baptismal Register
3. Norfolk Island and its First Settlement - Reginald Wright 4. The Pioneer Register - Dr C J Smee1. St Phillips Sydney - Baptismal Register
In collecting early baptismal records, it was fortunate to have access to the hand written transcription of the
Baptismal Register of St Phillips, undertaken by the late Joan Provis. It is understood that she may have had
access to the actual register in the late 1960's before it was microfilmed and withdrawn from public access. In
any case her records were then compared and cross referenced with the microfilm held by the National Library
in Canberra.
The Reverend Richard Johnson was the colony's first chaplain and it was he who commenced the register.
Baptisms in St Phillips register actually begin before the First Fleet left England in 1787.
St Phillips is the largest source of information about the births of the First Generation.
2. St Johns Parramatta - Baptismal Register
As was the case with St Phillips, access was had to the late Joan Provis's hand written transcription of St
Johns baptismal register and again a comparison was made with the microfilm held by the National Library in
Canberra.
The Reverend Johnson commenced the colony's second parish at Parramatta in 1789 along with its
accompanying birth, burial and marriage registers. When the second colonial chaplain, the Reverend
Samuel Marsden arrived in 1794, he took over the care of this Parramatta parish.
St Johns and St Phillips together account for more than half the information on the births of the First Generation.
3. Norfolk Island and its First Settlement - Reginald Wright
For his book Mr Wright has searched the victualling lists from the commissariat records of Norfolk Island
from 1788 until 1814 to produce his list of children (and others). A close inspection of Mr Wright's list of Norfolk Island births will reveal that it is longer than the one
presented in this work, the reason being that any child baptised in Sydney is listed under that baptismal
record rather than the victualling record. Also not all children living on the island at one time or another were
necessarily born there, many were either childhood arrivals to the colony or born at Port Jackson.The completeness of these Norfolk Island records, and the list in this book, is dependent of course on the
thoroughness of the research of Mr Wright. The victualling records have not been independently verified.
4. The Pioneer Register - Dr C J Smee
The Pioneer Register project is a collection of family trees for persons arriving in the colony between in years
1788 and 1820. The project was commenced in the early 1970's and to date four thousand families have been
published in over 58 separate books. The books are published in two editions, the first being a soft covered
production containing 100 families. When five first edition volumes have been produced ie 500 families,
plus their accompanying spouse supplement, they are amalgamated into a second edition which is a more
handsome hard covered production. Four special series volumes have also been published as spin offs of the
main body of the Register; "First, Second, Third and Fourth Fleet Families of Australia" their titles being
self explanatory.
The Register aims to collect 33 separate pieces of information on each pioneer:-
1. Christian Name(s) 2. Surname 3. Exact Date of Birth 4. Place of Birth 5. Christian Name(s) of Father 6. Christian Name(s) of Mother 7. Maiden Name of Mother 8. Exact Date of Arrival 9. Ship of Arrival 10. Status upon Arrival 11. Exact Date of Death 12. Place of Death 13. Church/Place of Burial 14. Exact Date of Marriage 15. Church/Place of Marriage 16. Christian Name(s) of Spouse 17. Surname of Spouse 18. Status of Spouse 19. Total Number of Children 20. Christian Name(s) of Each Child 21. Exact Date of Birth of Each Child 22. Place of Birth of Each Child 23. Exact Date of Death of Each Child 24. Place of Death of Each Child 25. Exact Date of Marriage of Each Child 26. Church/Place of Marriage of Each Child 27. Christian Name(s) of Spouse of Each Child 28. Surname of Spouse of Each Child 29. Status of Spouse of Each Child 30. Total Number of Children of Each Child 31. Christian Name(s) of Each Grandchild 32. Exact Date of Birth of Each Grandchild 33. Place of Birth of Each GrandchildThe family trees only extend as far as the grandchildren of the Pioneer and this was decided upon for three
reasons. Firstly, it allowed for a straightforward layout of the family tree, on one page in most cases, which is,
both simple and clear. Secondly, in many ways the two generations represent a 'functional' family unit. No
doubt many of the Pioneers would have heard the wish expressed at their nuptial service that they should live
to see their children's children. Even today the vast majority of families consist of grandparents, parents and
children so what is presented in most cases, represents the family that the original Pioneer actually knew. That
is not to say however that in some families further generations are not shown, as when a Pioneer married the
daughter of an earlier Pioneer, for example the grandchildren of Thomas Carpenter are the great-
grandchildren of William Shaw, and in the case of James Boyce who married Margaret Shortland, his grandchildren are the great-great-grandchildren of John Shortland. Thirdly, two generations will see most
family trees, if not all, past 1856 when compulsory registration of births, deaths, and marriages began in
New South Wales. After 1856 genealogical research is comparatively easy using the facilities of the
Registrar General's Department, whereas pre 1856 details need access to sources such as those held by the
Mitchell Library, the State Archives and the Society of Australian Genealogists,
which are not readily accessible to people outside the metropolitan area and require some degree of skill in
handling. It is hoped that the Register acts as a genealogical service to such people.
The second edition volumes are divided into four sections; the main body of the work containing the family
trees, the spouse supplement, the son & daughter-in-law index and the chronology.
The number of families published in the Register thus far is 4,000. When one adds the spouses to these 4,000
Pioneers, plus their 14,000 children and over 47,000 grandchildren, plus 5,000 sons & daughters-in-law, one
arrives at a total of over 73,000 names, making the Pioneer Register project one of the largest genealogical
works ever published in this country.
The research on The Pioneer Register project has resulted in numerous individuals being identified whose
births did not appear in any of the other sources. By approaching the problem from the other end as it were,
descendants have been able to trace themselves back to individuals who obviously must have existed but
were not otherwise identified anywhere else.
It should be noted as well that the Pioneer Register project was the principle source of information on the
marriages and deaths of the First Generation.Miscellaneous Sources of Birth Information
A minority of entries presented in this work were derived from four minor sources of information on birth
details:
5. St Phillips Sydney - Burial Register 6. St Johns Parramatta - Burial Register 7. Various Musters & The 1828 Census 8. Other Churches - Baptismal Registers5. St Phillips Sydney - Burial Register
The first burials from St Phillips were recorded whilst the First Fleet was still at sea, sadly many were young
infants. There were 31 burials of children taken from St Phillips burial register for whom no parents could be
identified. As they were all designated as "infants" in the register, and as no corresponding baptism entry has
been found, the not unreasonable assumption has been made that they died before they could be baptised and
the year of birth has been recorded as the same as the year of death.
6. St Johns Parramatta - Burial Register
Burials for St Johns commenced in 1789. There were 8 unidentified infant burials taken from St Johns register.
7. Various Musters & The 1828 Census
The colonial musters were searched for all colonial born children and childhood arrivals: New South
Wales for the years; 1800, 1806, 1811, 1814 & 1822 and the 1828 census, Norfolk Island for the years;
1802 & 1805 and Van Diemens Land for the years; 1818, 1819 & 1822. The information in these records form
the basis of the "information lists" discussed below. Of those individuals found, most were identified as
belonging to a known family but some 65 children were not and it is these mystery individuals who have
been collected under this heading.
8. Other Churches - Baptismal Registers
St Matthews Church at Windsor did not commence until 1810, however there was one child, Gabriel
Bradley, who was not baptised until his nineteenth year in 1819 and therefore falls into the period under
consideration.
Likewise St Peters Church at Richmond, which did not commence until 1811, has one child, Ann Carver, who
was not baptised until later in life.
Apart from these two churches there were numerous other churches which were founded in the various towns of the interior and some of them may well have had entries for children baptised later in life but none have been
located at the time of writing.
Childhood Arrivals
For completeness entries have been included for children who were not born in the colony but arrived as young
children. After all, those who arrived very young would have a life experience not very dissimilar from the
actual colonial born and were often their siblings. For no specific reason the age of sixteen has been
selected as the cut off point for inclusion in the study.
One group of childhood arrivals I have not included are the child convicts, many of whom were aged sixteen or
below, but I suspect their experiences of early life were markedly different from those included in this study.
These shipping records were collected over the years in the course of researching the Pioneer Register
project. The childhood arrivals are probably the weakest link in this research in that there is no single nor
comprehensive set of documents to consult. It is certain there must have been more children than have been
recorded for such females transports as the "Mary Ann" (1791) and "Britannia" (1798) whose compliment of
children is noticeably lower when compared to more well researched ships like those of the First Fleet or the
"Lady Juliana" (1790).
The childhood arrivals account for around 10% of the First Generation.
The Paracencus of New South Wales - James Donohoe
This section on the sources of information could not be concluded without mentioning Mr Donohoe's major
opus, documenting births in the colony from 1788 to 1828, which has been of immense assistance in
solving many of those tantalizing mysteries which one constantly encounters in early colonial genealogical research.
The Lists
Whilst there are 30 lists in total in this work, they can be broken down into three broad categories; reference
lists, source lists & information lists.
The 'reference lists' are alphabetical lists which direct the reader to both the source lists and information
lists. The reference lists are Lists 1,2,3 & 30.The 'source lists' are derived from original source material and documents which provide the basis for the
identification of the First Generation. The source lists are Lists 4 to 11.The 'information lists' are again derived from source material but are concerned with the lives of the First
Generation after their birth, information such as marriage, death and departure from the colony but also
appearances in various colonial musters and service in the armed forces. The information lists are Lists 12 to
29.
The Births
The total number of the First Generation is calculated to be 1,978 and the contribution from each of the
source documents is shown in the table below. There were 955 males and 1,023 females. Table i.1. - Total Numbers of the First GenerationSt Phillips St Johns Norfolk Pioneer Musters Other Childhood Yearly
Sydney Parramatta Island Register Arrivals Totals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pre1788 14 3 17
1788 28 2 1 49 80
1789 40 1 4 4 49
1790 37 4 14 5 30 90
1791 41 21 37 6 3 1 23 132
1792 44 24 46 15 5 20 154
1793 46 24 35 13 6 12 136
1794 63 24 57 11 6 3 164
1795 61 27 44 13 2 4 7 158
1796 61 29 37 27 1 6 12 173
1797 62 40 11 28 2 13 155
1798 52 46 30 38 3 5 25 189
1799 56 26 29 30 3 3 13 160
1800 61 39 12 39 5 4 47 206
post1800 29 23 53
unknown 34 43 44 120
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Totals 695 328 390 274 65 41 255 2,043
Percentages 35.3% 16.6% 19.3% 13.7% 3.0% 2.0% 10.1%
The figures for St Phillips and St Johns relate to baptisms not births. The childhood arrival figures relate to
embarkations not births. The numbers for Norfolk Island births include 9 children who were subsequently baptized on the mainland so
these have been subtracted from the final grand total of the First Generation.
The "Other" heading encompasses births derived from the burial registers of St Phillips Sydney & St Johns
Parramatta and baptisms in churches other than St Phillips or St Johns.The numbers for Childhood Arrivals include 50 children who were subsequently baptized in the colony so these
have been subtracted from the final grand total of the First Generation. As do the 6 entries derived from the
various musters who were also childhood arrivals and not colonial born.Only around half of the First Generation appear to have been baptised, a surprisingly low figure for a
supposedly Christian country and with a relatively confined settlement pattern. Obviously the very secular
nature of modern Australian society has its origins in the very beginnings of the colony.
There are four instances where the 'child' is in fact a 'grandchild' of a colonial pioneer. Esther, Samuel,
Robert & Jane Arndell, were the grandchildren of Thomas Arndell, children of John Arndell who had arrived
as an older childhood arrival. Thus Esther Arndell can claim to be the first 'Australian' born grandchild.
The Musters
Some of the more interesting sources of information about the First Generation are the various colonial
musters, which help to paint a fuller picture of their colonial lives.For administrative or organizational purposes, the colonial government regularly took musters of all serving
and time expired convicts in the colony. Caught up in the muster process were often, but by no means
always, the free inhabitants of the colony. The musters generally confined themselves to the adult population
but occasionally a child was recorded.
Whilst these musters began within a couple of years of the founding of the colony, the earliest to have
survived down to modern times, was the 1800 Muster. Other musters followed; 1806, 1811, 1822 for New
South Wales and 1802, 1805 for Norfolk Island.
Fortunately the Australian Biographical & Genealogical Record (ABGR) group, under the editorship of Carol
Baxter, has printed and published all these musters making them widely available to historians and
genealogists alike. They have all been extensively researched for entries on the First Generation for this
work.
In November 1828 the colonial government conducted the first "census" in the colony as distinct from a
"muster", the difference being that the musters were mainly administrative tools to assist in the management
of the convicts (although as will be seen in the various descriptions of these musters some free people were
included as well) whereas a census is reputedly a reckoning of the entire population (reputed - for as will be
seen in List 26 a lot of people are still missing).
What a gift the '1828 Census of New South Wales' is to the genealogical community of this state. Keith
Johnson and Malcolm Sainty, the editors and publishers, must forever be the recipients of the eternal
gratitude of scholars of early colonial history for publishing this seminal document and making it available
to the wider community and more recently for making it available in electronic form.The three musters covering Van Diemens Land; 1818, 1819, 1822 were sourced from Irene Schaffer's book
"Land Musters, Stock Returns and Lists of Van Diemens Land 1803-1822".
Table i.2. - Musters New South Wales 1800 1806 1811 1814 1822 1828 -----------------------------Males 0 20 58 159 245 247
Females 4 29 122 256 260 265
-----------------------------Total 4 49 180 415 505 512
Norfolk Island & Van Diemens Land 1802 1805 1811 1818 1819 1822 -----------------------------Males 68 88 0 72 18 83
Females 96 136 9 91 22 99
-----------------------------Total 164 224 9 163 40 182
Historical Geography
To give the reader a better understand of the place names connected with the early lives of the First
Generation it was thought helpful to have some idea of the historical background of each location and how
those locations evolved and developed.
Port Jackson
The colony commenced at Port Jackson around Sydney Cove in January 1788 with the arrival of the First
Fleet. Governor Arthur Phillip had moved the settlement from its original destination of Botany Bay
because of the poor soil quality and the lack of fresh water. (Captain James Cook named: the bay after Sir
Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, his botanist on 'HMS Endeavour'; the port for Sir George Jackson, 1st Baronet later
Sir George Ducket 1st Baronet, Second Secretary to the Admiralty & Judge-Advocate of the Fleet; Governor
Phillip named the cove for Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, Secretary of State for Home Affairs).
From this beginning the settlement quickly expanded eastwards, westwards, northwards & southwards.
The book to read is "An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales" by David Collins.
Norfolk Island
Readers may be surprised to learn that the first expansion of the settlement was eastward, to Norfolk Island.
Governor Phillip was also under instructions from London to investigate the timber and flax resources of
Norfolk Island (discovered in 1774 by Captain Cook and named from Mary Blount, wife of Edward Howard,
9th Duke of Norfolk, one of his patrons).In the late eighteenth century ships' masts and sails were the
petroleum of our modern era, in other words, essential resources for the protection and expansion of the British Empire, resources which had to be both secured and exploited. Captain Cook had suggested that Norfolk
Island could supply these invaluable resources to the Empire in abundance.
Within weeks of arriving at Port Jackson, on the 15th February 1788, Phillip had dispatched Lieutenant Philip
King RN in 'HMS Sirius' with 22 others to establish a settlement on Norfolk Island. Whilst the
island proved to be a disappointment to the British Admiralty, it turned out to be the saviour of the infant
colony.
As the lack of food reached crisis point at Port Jackson, Phillip was forced to dispatch more and more of the
colonists to Norfolk Island with its abundant supplies of mutton birds, very fertile soil and temperate climate.
By May 1792 the population on Norfolk Island was 1,156 and exceeded that at Port Jackson.
The settlement at Norfolk Island was abandoned after twenty five years in 1813 and all the inhabitants
moved to the new settlements in Van Diemens Land. It is interesting to contemplate that there are many
among the earliest colonist who spent no more than a couple of weeks at most at Port Jackson, never to set foot
in New South Wales ever again.
In a sad act of historical destruction, a clean up party under the supervision of William Hutchinson was
dispatched in 1814 to make the island uninhabitable for escaped convicts. The task was carried out in biblical
fashion with 'not a stone left upon a stone' and no physical trace of the island's first settlement remains.
The book to read is "Norfolk Island and its First Settlement" by Raymond Nobbs.Parramatta
The westward expansion of the settlement followed the river headwaters of the harbour to Parramatta.
Port Jackson proved to be not much better than Botany Bay in terms of soil fertility but Governor Phillip did
find the soil around the headwaters of the harbour rivers at Rose Hill (named by Phillip for Sir George Rose,
Secretary to the Treasury), renamed by Phillip in November 1791 to Parramatta (reputedly an aboriginal
term for eels), much more suitable to agricultural pursuits. So from November 1788 settlements were started in
this area under the supervision of Henry Edward Dodds. Convict James Ruse famously received the first land
grant in the colony at Parramatta in November 1789, 'Experiment Farm', and it wasn't long before many of
the adjacent lands were being settled; on the northern side of the river; Kissing Point (Ryde), Northern
Boundary & Field of Mars (where the ex marines were placed), Hunters Hill; on the southern side of the
river; Liberty Plains (where the first free settlers were placed), Petersham & Concord; beyond the river; Toongabbie and Bingelly .
The book to read is "The Cradle City of Australia, A History of Parramatta" by James Jervis.
The Hawkesbury River
The northward expansion of settlement was to the Hawkesbury River.
In the ever pressing need to make the colony self sufficient in food, good land was urgently sought for
agriculture and pasture. In June 1789 Governor Phillip made an expedition of discovery around Broken Bay
(chartered by Captain Cook and named for the 'broken land' seen beyond the bay) north of Port Jackson and
in the course of that expedition he discovered and named the Hawkesbury river (after Sir Charles Jenkinson,
Baron Hawkesbury, President of the Privy Council for Trade and Plantations), the largest of the tributaries
leading into the bay. He immediately initiated another expedition to examine this river more carefully.
Phillip followed the river until it divided into what were to become known as the Grose (for Major Francis
Grose, commandant of the New South Wales Corps) and Nepean (for Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet
Botherhampton, Under Secretary of State for War and the Colonies) rivers. He was no doubt delighted to find
the rich mud flats and fertile river banks which appeared ideal for future settlement and exploitation.
However it was not until November 1794 that Lieutenant-Governor Major Grose made the first land grants in
the area, placing 22 settlers along the banks of the Hawkesbury River and South Creek. The grants were made
out in the name of "Mulgrave Place" (after Henry Phipps, 3rd Baron Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant for Ireland)
and the first grantee was again James Ruse (having moved from Parramatta). In the immediate ensuring years
many more settlers were to follow with the area eventually becoming the principle "bread basket" of the early
colonial period.
The earliest settlement was referred to at Green Hills, but when Governor Macquarie made his tour of the
region in 1810 he laid out his famous "five towns"; Windsor (after the town in Berkshire), Wilberforce
(after William Wilberforce, MP for Yorkshire who led the movement to abolish the slave trade in
England), Richmond (after Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, Master General of Ordinance), Pitt Town
(after William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister) & Castlereagh (after Robert Stewart, Viscount
Castlereagh, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and responsible for the Irish Act of Union of 1800)
which he established on high ground to put the settlers above the reach of the worst effects of the river's flooding.
The book to read is "Macquarie Country" by D B Dowd.
Georges River
The southward expansion of settlement was to the Georges River.
The Georges River is the largest waterway leading into Botany Bay, noted by Captain Cook in 1770 but
explored by Matthew Flinders and George Bass, first lieutenant and surgeon respectively of 'HMS
Reliance', in 1796 and named after Bass.
The southward expansion of settlement was hindered somewhat by the infamous episode of the lost cattle. In
1788 some idiot convict herder by sheer incompetence managed to loose the colony's precious herd of
cattle, (one can only hope he was severely flogged for his flagrant dereliction of duty) which wondered off
and did a little exploring of their own, coming across probably the most fertile land found in the colony to
date. When rediscovered by Henry Hacking, the colony's principal game hunter in 1795 they had multiplied marvelously and Governor Hunter decided to preserve them as a future asset for the colony forbidding any
settlement near them. When John Macarthur turned his famous negative into a positive (being sent home to
face a court-martial for fighting a duel with his commanding officer but returning with a warrant for the largest
land grant the colony had seen) he chose the best land in the colony, known as the Cowpastures, for his
5,000 acres land grant which he called 'Camden Park' (named for John Jeffreys Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden,
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies), the first land to be granted there in 1805.
Mihcael Nowland received the first land grant in August 1798 in the area know as Bankstown (named for Sir
Joseph Banks).
As with the Hawkesbury, the rich river flats which made the area so attractive for farming also exposed the settlers to flooding. Governor Macquarie in his tour of 1810 laid out a settlement on high ground to avoid the
worse effects of the floods, named Liverpool (after Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, Secretary
of State for the Colonies).
Other villages established in this area included Penrith, (named after the town of hte same name in Cumbria)
David Woodriff obtained the first land grant there in 1804, Appin, Airds (named for the Scottish seat of
Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie) and Campbelltown (named for Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie nee Campbell)
These were the earliest settlements in the 19 counties within the boundaries of the Cumberland Plain (named for
Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland & Strathhearn, the second brother of King George III).
With the successful penetration of the Blue Mountains in 1813 by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth (First Generation member) and the construction of Cox's road through the mountains in 1815, the stage was set for
breakout from the Cumberland Plain into the vast pastoral expanses of western New South Wales.
The Coal River
The Coal River (or Hunter River as it was renamed by Governor King in 1804 after the Governor at the time
of its discovery) was discovered by John Shortland, first lieutenant of 'HMS Reliance', in September 1797
whilst in pursuit of escaped convicts. The original name derives from the coal seams which Shortland noted
in the cliffs. Shortland also reported fine stands of cedar trees which also excited the interest of the authorities in
Sydney.
Looking to exploit the natural resources found there, in June 1801 Governor King decided to found a settlement at the Coal River, under the command of Corporal Wixstead New South Wales Corps with 19 others. This first
settlement attempt was not a success and after only 8 months the first settlement was abandoned. However
history was overtaking events and a second attempt at settlement was soon put in train.After the Irish convict rebellion at Castle Hill in March 1804, Governor King at once decided to establish a
place of secondary punishment at the Coal River where he could send the ring-leaders of the rebellion and any
other convicts who offended against regulations.
On this occasion Lieutenant Charles A F N Menzies of the Royal Marines aboard 'HMS Calcutta' was
appointed Commandant and Magistrate of the settlement at Newcastle, in the county of Northumberland in
late March 1804. He led a settlement party of 40. Coal no doubt influenced Governor King in the naming of
the settlement, as Newcastle-upon-Tyne was the principal town in the coal region of the county of
Northumberland in England.
This time the settlement succeeded with several of the First Generation moving there, some regretfully in
chains. From Newcastle settlement proceeded up the Hunter Valley to Singleton (pioneered by First
Generation member Benjamin Singleton), Morpeth, Maitland (both named after similar towns in
Northumberland) and beyond.
The book to read is "The Birth of Newcastle" by Wilfred James Goold.
Van Diemens Land
In 1802 after a visit to Sydney by the French explorer Nicholas Baudin in his ships the 'Le Geographe' and
'Le Naturaliste', Governor King became convinced that the French were about to lay claim to Van Diemens
Land (discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1662 and named for Anthony Van Diemen, the
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies) and to plant a French settlement on the new trade-route
through Bass Straight. This led to a flurry of settlement activity resulting in four new settlements in the
years 1803 and 1804. Two did not last, Risdon Cove and Port Phillip Bay but two did, Hobart Town and
Port Dalrymple.
These two settlements were to have great significance for the lives of those First Generation members who
were born or lived on Norfolk Island and then subsequently moved to Van Diemens Land.
Risdon Cove
King chose a young naval lieutenant, John Bowen, who had recently arrived on board 'HMS Glatton' to
command the settlement attempt at the Derwent River. The Derwent River in Van Diemens Land was named
in 1793 by Captain John Hayes after a river of the same name in his native County of Cumberland. He also
gave Risdon Cove it's name, after the second officer on board his ship the 'Duke of Clarence'.
In September 1803 the 'Albion' and 'Lady Nelson' ferried the first 49 persons to Risdon Cove. The first
military contingent included the intrepid Corporal Wixted, perhaps that was a bad omen.
Unfortunately Risdon Cove proved to be a poor choice by Bowen for a settlement, in that ships and boats
could not conveniently anchor near to the shore to unload cargoes and the river proved to be an unreliable
source of water in summer. The settlement ultimately failed and in October 1804 was moved to David Collins'
new colony at Hobart Town on the other side of the river.
The book to read is "John Bowen's Hobart: The Beginning of European Settlement in Tasmania" by Phillip Tardiff.
Port Phillip Bay
Upon receiving King's urgent advice about French designs upon Bass Strait, Lord Hobart acted quickly in
January 1803 by dispatching Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins (who had previously arrived with the First
Fleet as Judge-Advocate) as Lieutenant-Governor of a new settlement to be made somewhere in Bass Strait,
and in April Collins and his party of 466 sailed in 'HMS Calcutta', accompanied by the store-ship
'Ocean' for Port Phillip, which they reached in October. In what was becoming a familiar pattern of initial
settlement, Collins decided in January 1804 to move his settlement to the Derwent, because of the poor
quality of the soil and lack of fresh water, with the added difficulty on this occasion of hostile natives.
Hobart Town
Lieutenant Bowen gave the name Hobart to his settlement, in honour of Robert, Lord Hobart, Secretary of
State for War and the Colonies at the time. Collins appropriated the name when the two settlements merged.It was to this settlement that the Norfolk Island families were moved to from 1807 onwards. It comes as no
surprise that they were settled in an area called New Norfolk.
The book to read is "Convicts Unbound" by Marjorie Tipping.
Port Dalrymple
Lord Hobart also gave instructions for a settlement on the other side of the strait at Port Dalrymple. Port Dalrymple in northern Van Diemens Land was discovered by Lieutenant Matthew Flinders in his sloop
'Norfolk' in November 1798 during his voyage of exploration which proved that Van Diemens Land was an
island separated from the mainland by Bass Strait (named by Flinders for his fellow explorer Surgeon George
Bass). The port was named after Alexander Dalrymple, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, whose name had been
mooted as the leader of the voyage to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus, before the choice fell upon James
Cook.
For this settlement King selected Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson of the New South Wales Corps.
Paterson received his commission and full instructions and sailed on October 1804 in 'HMS Buffalo' in
company with the 'Lady Nelson', 'Francis' and 'Integrity'. Paterson's establishment consisted in total of one
hundred and eight-one persons.
Paterson had explored and named the Tamar river in honour of Governor King who had been born at
Launceston on the Tamar in Cornwall, England. For once a settlement was made where the land was fertile and
well watered.
It was to this settlement that the last of Norfolk Island families were moved to 1813.
The book to read is "The Story of Port Dalrymple: Life and Work in Northern Tasmania" by Llwelyn Slingsby Bethell.These then were the settlements and places forming the background to the childhood of the First Generation.
The 'Stars' of the First Generation
Who were the major achievers of this First Generation of colonial born? Not surprisingly the sons of the
officer class, both military and civil, were the ones to shine.
Given the very limited educational opportunities in the colony, indeed totally non-existent in the first decade, if
the colonial born were to have any chance of acquiring culture and refinement they would have to return home
to England, which of course meant that only the sons of the very wealthy could be educated in the classical
manner of the times.
Edward, son of John Macarthur would have to been a leading contender for the achiever of his generation,
even though he was not born in the colony, he had arrived as a child of one, he was baptised here. He was sent
home to England by his father to be educated at the age of six. His father procured a commission for him in
the British Army, he saw active service under Wellington during the Peninsular Campaign in Spain, rose to
the rank of lieutenant-general, returned to the colony of Victoria in command of the colonial military forces
and was acting governor of that colony upon the death of Governor Hotham. He was knighted for his services to the Empire.
Edward's younger brother John, was likewise sent home to be educated, obtained a BA degree from the
University of Cambridge in 1817, being the first colonial born to do so and read law. He practiced as a lawyer
in London. He was the only Macarthur brother never to see the colony again. His premature death in his
thirties in 1831 no doubt hastened his illustrious fathers descent into madness.
Edward's two youngest brothers, James and William, also achieved great prominence in the colony, as pioneers and entrepreneurs of the fine wool industry, which proved to be the financial backbone of the country for nearly two hundred years. James served in the colonial parliament and was also knighted, William was offered a
knighthood but declined.
The Macarthur brothers are an early example of a global financial enterprise. Whilst William was responsible for
producing the wool at the family estates in Camden, James in Sydney was responsible for its preparation for
shipment to England and John was responsible for the reception and sale of the wool in England. Australia's
first multinational company ?
Phillip Parker, son of Phillip Gidley King - the colony's third governor - was born on Norfolk Island. He was
educated in England and entered the Royal Navy, following in his fathers footsteps, and as Lieutenant King did
great work in surveying the coastline of Australia. According to his entry in the Australian Dictionary of
Biography he was the most celebrated native born Australian in his own life time. A fetching portrait of him as
a young man hangs in the State Library of New South Wales.
Phillip's two bastard half brothers, Sydney and Norfolk, also born on Norfolk Island, were educated in
England as well and likewise achieved commissioned rank in the Royal Navy.
George Johnston's two eldest sons George and Robert were given English educations up to the secondary
level. George jnr may or may not have taken up a commission with the New South Wales Corps. Robert
joined the Royal Navy and served with distinction.
Undoubtedly the brightest light from amongst the more lowly born was William Charles Wentworth, born on Norfolk Island. Whilst his father D'Arcy may have been the colonial surgeon, he arrived in the colony under
dubious circumstances, having thrice been before the Old Bailey on charges of highway robbery and having
thrice been acquitted but he felt no doubt that his luck may run out and banishment to the colonies might be in order. William's mother was a convict and not married to his father. He was sent home to England to be
educated, was the second colonial born son to obtain a degree from the University of Cambridge in 1819 (he
and John Macarthur were the only two of their generation to graduate) and he too read law. With Blaxland and Lawson he forged a path over the Blue Mountains to the rich Goulburn plains beyond, which were to be a
source of great wealth for the colony for generations to come. He wrote one of the earliest books on the
colony of New South Wales and was instrumental in fighting for and obtaining self government for the colony
and served in its earliest legislature. The 'stain' of his family background though was cruelly brought home to
him when he was refused the hand of John Macarthur's eldest daughter Elizabeth and as a consequence he was
implacably opposed to the "pure merino" faction in the colony ever after, becoming the champion of the
emancipist faction.
William Sherwin was the first colonial born surgeon. He would not have received a formal university
education in medicine but rather undertook an apprenticeship at the Sydney Hospital under the tutelage of
William Balmain and D'Arcy Wentworth. John Henderson, our second surgeon, was obviously similarly
trained.
John Black was an accountant and Robert Howe a newspaper editor, both undoubtedly colonially trained.There were two clergymen amongst the First Generation; the brothers Samuel & Thomas Hassall.
But of course an education was by no means the only way to achieve wealth and prominence in a pioneer
and frontier society. Hamilton Hume, son of settler Andrew, achieved fame when he, along with Charles Throsby, pioneered an
overland route to the Victorian colonial lands and became a wealthy squatter around Yass, although by all
accounts he was never considered an educated man.
In similar vein, Benjamin Singleton, son of convict William, pioneered an inland route to the fertile grazing
lands of the Hunter Valley around Patrick's Plains.
The sons of William Kable became quite wealthy men on the backs of their emancipist father's business
acumen. As did no doubt the sons of emancipist Simeon Lord, the "Botany Bay Rothschild".
If we take land ownership as a measure of wealth, the ten richest colonial born men as recorded in the 1828
census in ascending order were:
Table i.3. - Ten Richest Landholders Name Holdings
----------------------------------------Alexander McDougall 1200 acres
Robert Williams 1200 acres
John Thorn 1850 acres
Hamilton Hume 2200 acres
Richard Kelly 2600 acres
William Lee 2750 acres
David Johnston 2860 acres
Joseph Pye 3080 acres
Duncan McKellar 3280 acres
James Macarthur 6500 acres
William Macarthur 6500 acres
William Wentworth 7000 acres
George Bowman 7566 acres
Many of this First Generation of young Australians "took the King's shilling" and served in one of the many
regiments of the British Army, although admittedly mostly in the "other ranks". A separate analysis of this
military connection is examined later in the work.One young man, John Nash, son of William the First Fleet Marine is reputed to have fought and died at the
Battle of Waterloo in 1815 but no independent confirmation of this fact has been sighted. Andrew White
has a similarly dubious claim to have fought at the Battle of Waterloo.
Of course, balancing these high achievers, were the low achievers. Several of the colonial born ran foul of
the law and found themselves the recipients of its vengeance. But on the whole the First Generation were a
surprisingly law abiding lot, especially surprising given the family background of most of them.
As for the girls, it is not known whom amongst them were the greatest beauties of their generation. Theirs was
the era before photography and those who did survive into the "age of photos", in the latter half of the
nineteenth century, would have been well past the bloom of their youth. Only the wealthiest families would
have been able to afford the services of a portrait artist and as far as is known only Julia Johnston in the period
under discussion was captured on canvass and even then portraiture is often a poor witness to physical beauty.
A painting does exist of Governor King's family but this was painted when his children were still quite young,
and of course all young children look beautiful.
It is difficult to see how any of the colonial born girls would have received an education in the feminine
accomplishments of music, singing, drawing and proficiency in the French language. The only girls of this
generation to receive an English education would have been the daughters of Governor King and Julia Johnston
daughter of George Johnston. Samuel Marsden took his two daughters home to England in 1807-1810 but
they were not away long enough to had received more than one year's 'polishing'. John Macarthur's
daughters were not sent home to England to be educated like their brothers rather they are believed to have
been educated by a private tutor, the reputed minor French aristocrat, Gabrielle Huon de Kerrilleau.
Other prominent families may also have employed tutors, although one would have to admit that given the
milieu of the convict colony at the time, their quality would not have been excessive.
The colonial born girls, if they survived childhood, generally all married, although as will be shown in a later
section, they had no great affinity for their colonial born brothers. Given the great imbalance between the sexes
in the colony at the time the wonder is that any of the girls did not marry. Surprisingly some of the daughters
of the wealthiest families "achieved" the distinction of remaining single, surely they can't have been that ugly
and even if they were, one would think the family wealth would compensate. Examples to mind include:
Elizabeth Macarthur, the eldest daughter of John, although we do know that at least she was proposed to once
and Julia Johnston.
The colonial born girls did however succeed brilliantly in populating the young colony with loyal British
subjects. From the analysis for this book, the prize for fecundity goes to Ann Williams (nee Lucas) who is
reputed to have borne 22 children. Whilst one has severe reservations about the quality of their minds, more
than one contemporary has commented upon the generally healthy state of their bodies. The generally
sunny climate and plentiful food (after the first few starvation years of the colony) meant that the colonial females were particularly fertile, survived numerous pregnancies and produced robust infants who were
more likely to survive childhood than their English counterparts, whose damper environment and poorer
nutrition condemned them to death in childbirth and high infant mortality.
But when all is said and done, in reality, the whole First Generation, those who survived infancy (apart
from the few criminals), were all 'stars' who pioneered, settled, developed and populated this wonderful
country, from penal colony to proud member of Empire and now Commonwealth, from English colony to
Australian nation.
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