Murder claims a first settler

Hobart Town Gazette

A HOME invasion at Back River claimed the life of one of New Norfolk's first settlers early in the year 1819. Two hundred years ago tonight, two murderers were at large after robbing the home of Matthew and Catherine Wood, leaving Mr Wood bound and dead.

The Woods were neighbours of Samuel and Betty King, fellow Norfolk Island evacuees who went on to be two of the longest-lived First Fleeters, with Betty famously claiming to be the first woman to set foot in Australia.

At about 9pm on February 3, 1819, two men burst into the home Mr and Mrs Wood, who were both in bed. When the elderly Mr Wood resisted their demand for money, he was tied and beaten. An inquest the next week found there was no doubt he had been strangled by the cord tied between his wrists and neck.

Mrs Wood was also severely beaten and left for dead as the pair of housebreakers made off with a sum of money and other booty. It was two days before Mrs Wood was able to crawl to the house of her nearest neighbours to raise the alarm.

News of Matthew Wood's death was published in the Hobart Town Gazette on February 6, followed by a report of the inquest in the next issue a week later. Subsequent issues of the Gazette included notices from police superintendent A.W.H. Humphrey warned that the assailants were still on the run and all constables were required to do everything possible to find and detain the offenders.

Published several times, with an incorrect date, the police notice also detailed the items stolen from the Wood house: four white calico shirts, four check cotton shirts, a pair of grey woollen cloth trousers (the cloth made at Sydney), a white double-breasted waistcoat, five calico women's caps, one women's cotton bed-gown with red spots and a matching petticoat, two brown linen sheets (issued from the King's Stores), a pair of cotton sheets, one tin baking dish, a Dutch-made gun, a small quantity of gunpowder in a bottle, about 9kg of moist sugar and about 1kg of tea, a Promissory Note by Thomas Murphy for £5 ($10), a store receipt for £25 ($50), signed by Commissary Broughton, two new calico shift dresses, one hank of fine white thread and a quantity of red and brown thread.

Details of the incident reached Sydney a month later and was published in the Sydney Gazette on March 6, noting that Matthew Wood was "a person generally respected; and we hear was reported to have had some money in his house, to get possession of which probably the murderers had in their view when they perpetrated this horrid deed."

The record of Matthew Wood's burial in the St David's Cemetery, Hobart.

The inquest into the death of Matthew Wood produced a verdict of wilful murder against two men unknown, noting that despite the efforts of the police the perpetrators remained undiscovered. Catherine Wood testified that her husband had previously held the sum of £25 ($50), which must have been taken with the rest of the property stolen from their house.

Wood was buried in the St David's Cemetery in Hobart (now St David's Park) on February 15, 1819. The Reverend Robert Knopwood recorded in the burial register that Matthew, 84, had been murdered at New Norfolk.


Sources: 
(1819, February 6). The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter (Tas: 1816-1821), p.2, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page40716
HOBART TOWN. (1819, February 13). The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter (Tas: 1816-1821), p.1, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article655701
GOVT. PUBLIC NOTICES. (1819, February 27). The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter (Tas: 1816-1821), p.1, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article655817
HOBART TOWN, FEB. 6. (1819, March 6). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: 1803-1842), p.3. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2178576
Burials in the Parish of St David's, Hobart,  https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD34-1-1$init=RGD34-1-1p013

Work starts on Hobart-New Norfolk road

Hobart Town Gazette

TWO hundred years ago today, the entrepreneurial ex-convict Denis McCarty started work on his "New Norfolk Road", which eventually became Main Rd, from New Town to Granton, and the Lyell Hwy from Granton to New Norfolk.

“On Wednesday last Mr Dennis M'Carty commenced the undertaking, under an agreement with Government, of opening a Road from Hobart Town (by New-town and Austin’s Farm) to New Norfolk,” reported the Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter in its issue of May 30, 1818.

“As this road embraces the communication with the populous village of New-town, and forms the first 15 miles (to the ferry) part of the principle road to Port Dalrymple, it cannot fail to be of benefit and advantage to the Settlement,” the newspaper concluded.

Partly as compensation for losses incurred during the bushranger raid on his house four years earlier, McCarty was awarded a contract to build a road - and the necessary bridges - 24 feet wide (7.3m) from Hobart Town to Austins Ferry and 16 feet (4.8m) wide from there to New Norfolk.

As payment for the work, McCarty sought a grant of 2000 acres (809ha) of land, 15 men on government rations for a year, a cart and eight bullocks, a tent for the men to sleep in, tools suited to the work to be done, and 500 gallons (2300 litres) of rum.

SOURCES: No title (1818, May 30). The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter (Tas. : 1816 - 1821), p. 2. Retrieved May 27, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article654597. OLDEST ROAD IN TASMANIA (1939, November 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved May 27, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25767152

Sydney learns of McCarty home invasion

Sydney Gazette

READERS of the February 5, 1815, issue of the Sydney Gazette were given a detailed description of a daring raid on the New Norfolk home of Denis McCarty several months earlier. McCarty had been appointed chief constable for the New Norfolk district in 1808 and is generally regarded as having built the first house in the town.

McCarty's farm, Birch Grove, was on the northern bank of the river - opposite the slowly-growing village of Elizabeth Town - and was the location of the punt that provided the only transport across the river at that time.

The robbery by nine bushrangers might today be called a home invasion and from the newspaper's description it was a well organised raid, with a suggestion of inside information. The ordeal lasted through the long hours of the night, during which time the thieves demanded items from a pre-prepared list which included details of where things were stored in the McCarty home.

The spelling of Denis McCarty's name has varied over the centuries and the following article from the Sydney Gazette opted for "Dennis McCarty".

"The farm-residence of Mrs McCarthy, wife of Mr Dennis McCarthy, at New Norfolk, some miles distant from Hobart Town, was forcibly entered on the night of the 28th of October, by bush rangers, with their faces blackened, and robbed of property, consisting of wearing apparel, tea, sugar, jewellery, &c. &c. to a very considerable amount, stated to be 600l. and upwards.

"There were several persons in the house when they entered, besides Mrs McCarthy, the whole of whom they bound with cords; but thinking it safe, as they were armed, to release Mrs McCarthy and a servant man, to attend their wants while they chose to remain, they desired tea to be made; conversed with the two liberated persons without restraint or reserve, and at the approach of morning went off with their booty in a boat, also Mr McCarthy's property, which we do not hear had been recovered.

"During their stay and conversation they declared themselves to be part of a gang of sixteen, of whom one out of the three or four that shewed themselves upon this occasion avowed himself to be the leader; stating with perfect ease and familiarly; at the same time, that only nine were employed on the present business.

"This chief, as he styled himself, produced a schedule of the various property the     house contained, with a description of the places where deposited; and from this written information, and uniform detail demanded the articles as expressed to be delivered up to them; which it would have been vain to deliberate in complying with.

"Among the leading articles enumerated in the scroll, was a cask of gunpowder 70 to 80lbs weight; a pair of double barrelled pistols, and a musket, all which they unfortunately got possession of. They took two chests of hyson tea, leaving one of black, saying, that Mrs. M. and family had drank green tea long enough.

"The whole of her wearing apparel, which had been for years accumulating from the best specimens and patterns of Europe or of India; they also secured in packages, and took away with them together with every trinket, or moveable of value the premises contained; and on a request from Mrs. McCarthy, that they would return to her a favourite box or case, the intrinsic value of which was trifling; unseasonably adding to the solicitation, that she hoped to experience honor, even   among thieves, they refused compliance, and angrily replied, that they were not thieves; but freebooters living at large in the wild woods.

"On their departure they took the precaution to re-bind Mrs. M. and her servant, and threatened them with death if they offered to impede their escape by the slightest alarm. The number of fugitives from the several settlements in Van Diemen's Land amounted to 36, the 24th of September last; viz. 27 from Hobart Town; one from Restdown; and eight from Launceston."

At the time of the home invasion, Denis McCarty was in Sydney fighting smuggling charges. He would later state a figure of 546 Pounds for the property stolen by the bushrangers. This translates to about $49,000 in today's money and it was not the last the McCartys and the rest of Elizabeth Town/New Norfolk would hear of the bushrangers. Far worse was to come in 1815.

SOURCE: Sydney, SITTING MAGISTRATE—W. BROUGHTON, Esq. (1815, February 4). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 1. Retrieved January 16, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article629052

The town plan takes shape

GOVERNMENT surveyors James Meehan and George Evans travelled from Sydney to Van Diemens Land in September 1812 under instructions from Governor Macquarie to re-measure all the land grants, form the streets of Hobart according to the governor's earlier plans and to lay down a plan for George Town in the north and New Norfolk in the south...

"The plan of Elizabeth Town, agreeably to His Excellency's judicious design, has also been laid out; and promises to be a situation highly interesting from the beauty of its surrounding scenery, and no less important from its position, which is on the right bank of the River Derwent, in the immediate   vicinity of the settlement of New Norfolk, and within twenty-five miles of Hobart Town, which with its increase of population must gradually rise to eminence, and hereafter may become an envied mart of commerce in the southern hemisphere."

Elizabeth Town (New Norfolk) and George Town were originally laid out on the same plan but it seems unlikely that the same grid laid down for the northern town ever took form on the hilly ground in New Norfolk. While there were similar street names, notable absences from the plan for George Town include a circus (Circle St) and the twin crescents (Hillside and Montagu).

Source: Sydney. (1813, August 21). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved December 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628758

Macquarie spreads the word

SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

Sydney, Jan. 11th, 1812.

His Excellency the Governor having, in his late tour through Van Diemen's Land, received addresses from the Inhabitants of the various settlements in that country; namely, of Hobart Town, New Norfolk and Port Dalrymple, breathing pure sentiments of loyalty to their sovereign and attachment to his government, and at the same time expressive of much satisfaction and content with their present situations; and deeming it a satisfactory channel through which to convey to the inhabitants of this country so unequivocal testimony of the comfortable and contented situation in which he found their countrymen and fellow settlers on Van Diemen's Land, has directed that said addresses, with His Excellency's answers, shall be made public through the medium of the Sydney Gazette.

By Command of His Excellency the Governor,

J.T. CAMPBELL, Secretary.

Source: GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL ORDERS. (1812, January 11). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved January 11, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628393

Safely home, Macquarie reports to the colony

Sydney Gazette, 11 January 1812

TWO hundred years ago today, the Sydney Gazette published several reports of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's recent visit to Van Diemen's Land. 

The front page advised the governor's return and his resumption of local authority, as well as several reports written by his secretary, John Campbell. These expand on the details recorded by Macquarie in his journal. Highlights of Campbell's reports follow.

Government House, Sydney,

Saturday, 11th January, 1812.

"His Excellency the governor, anxious to promote the welfare and prosperity of all the inhabitants of the extensive territory under his government, and deeming it of essential Importance to the effecting those measures that he should be personally acquainted with all the local circumstances of the country, having lately undertaken and effected his tour of inspection through Van Diemen's Land, Newcastle, and the principal harbours to the south and north of Port Jackson, takes the earliest opportunity to convey to the public the observations he has been enabled to make in his progress.  

"These observations, when combined with those he made in his tour through this country, as laid before the public in December 1810, may prove documents of importance to refer to at some future period, when by the increasing population, industry, and good moral and religious conduct of the inhabitants, the aspect of the country may be much improved, and the condition of the people themselves proportionately ameliorated."

(The report goes on to describe Macquarie's journey to Hobart and his first days there before his visit to New Norfolk...)

"From Hobart Town the governor made several excursions into the country, where settlements have been formed, and was much pleased in viewing the quantity of ground in a state of cultivation, extending from New Town to the most distant part of the district of New Norfolk; and here, he must declare with gratification, that the advancement made in agriculture in this part of the colony far exceeded his expectations, and does great credit to the people, as well as to those by whom they were directed; and he hopes by continued exertions, that those inhabitants denominated Norfolk Island Settlers will shortly become independent of the support which he has thought fit to extend to them, by continuing them on His Majesty's stores for twelve months longer; which indulgence has been granted in consideration of the promise which had been made to them on the part of government, to allow them government labourers, which the resources of the country have not yet permitted to be carried into effect.

"The governor hopes the settlers will in future pay more attention to the manner of erecting their houses, stock-yards, and the inclosures of their grounds, than they have hitherto done, which will add greatly to the value of their lands, which it is his intention to confirm to the present possessors by regular grants, as soon as the necessary measurements can be made out - and it is also the governor's intention, that all those deserving industrious settlers who have not hitherto been assisted with government cattle shall receive that indulgence on the same terms as those already granted to the settlers on the continent of New South Wales.

                 

"The governor has been induced, from the eligibility of the situation, to fix on the site of a township, to be called Elizabeth Town, in the district of New Norfolk, for the convenience of the inhabitants, by affording them a more ready mart for the disposal of the produce of their farms, and the advantage of education for their children. The situation fixed on for the town is on the south side of the River Derwent, and at the highest part of it, which is navigable, being about a mile below the first fall, it commands every advantage which can be desired, combining beauty of situation with fertility of soil, a fine rivulet of fresh water on the rear, and with water carriage on the front; Here the river forms a very fine reach, at the distance of twenty miles from Hobart Town."

(Visits to Launceston and Newcastle are then described, before the report concludes with Macquarie's return to Sydney...)

"On Sunday the 5th of January, 1812, the governor departed from Newcastle, on his return to Sydney, and arrived here on the following day, highly gratified with his tour, and with the hope of deriving considerable advantage from the local knowledge he has thus obtained of the different subordinate settlements, since his departure from the seat of government.

 

By Command of His Excellency the Governor,

JOHN THOMAS CAMPBELL, Secretary.

Source: GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL ORDERS. (1812, January 11). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 1. Retrieved January 11, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628393

Settlers address the governor

TWO hundred years ago today, New Norfolk constable Denis McCarty called at Government House in Hobart to see governor Lachlan Macquarie. "At noon Mr McCarty waited on me with an address from the settlers and other inhabitants of the district of New Norfolk, to which I made a suitable reply in writing," the governor wrote in his diary.

The first three years of life at New Norfolk had not been easy and the settlers had survived on government rations since arriving from Norfolk Island in late 1807. Macquarie would allow this to continue into the following year and the townspeople were keen to express their thanks before the governor set off for Launceston on his way home to Sydney.
 
This is the letter McCarty presented to Macquarie:

"From the inhabitants of New Norfolk to His Excellency Lachlan Macquarie, Esquire, Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies.
"The Inhabitants of New Norfolk, a settlement formed under the jurisdiction of Hobart Town, most dutifully presume to return Your Excellency our most sincere thanks for your condescension in visiting our settlement.
"Our industrious exertions are fully compensated on receiving Your Excellency's approbation; and we pledge ourselves in future to persevere to the utmost in honest industry, and every effort to advance by agriculture the interests of the colony in general, to merit a continuance of Your Excellency's generous and kind patronage.       
"Our gratitude for allowing us to remain on the King's Stores shall never be effaced from our memories; and our children shall be instructed, as soon as their articulation commence, to lisp the name of Governor Macquarie; and dutifully in behalf of their brother settlers, subscribe ourselves, Your Excellency's most grateful Servants, (signed) D. McCarty, J. Triffith, J.B. Cullen, A. Hands." 

The governor was evidently pleased with the message and responded in writing.

"Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land. Saturday, November 30th, 1811.
"To Messrs Dennis McCarty, James B. Cullen, James Triffith, and Abraham Hands.   
"You will be so good as to acquaint the inhabitants ot the district of New Norfolk, that the address you have this day presented to me from them has proved highly gratifying to me; and that I receive it as a pledge of their resolution to persevere in that course of honest industry so happily begun - the beneficial result of which, in the present pleasing prospect of their enjoying the fruits of their labour in an abundant harvest, I have so recently wítnessed in my inspection of the district.           
"I beg you will assure the settlers and other inhabitants of New Norfolk, that I shall ever take a lively interest in their welfare and prosperity, and that it will always afford me sincere pleasure to extend every reasonable indulgence to such of them as prove themselves worthy of it, by persevering in habits of honest industry, sobriety, and morality. 
(signed) L. MACQUARIE."

Sources:

• Journeys in Time, retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1811/1811.html
• ADDRESS. (1812, January 11). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, p. 2. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628395