Port Hunter and the site of Newcastle district were discovered by Lieutenant John Shortland jun., on September 9, 1797, but prior to that date it may have been visited by escaped convicts or by fishermen.
As a matter of fact, a party of convicts escaped from Port Jackson is September 1790, and reached Port Stephens where they remained until August, 1795, when they were rescued by Captain W. R. Broughton of H.M.S. Providence, and were returned to Sydney. During the period of about five years spent by them at Port Stephens, it is more than probable that they accompanied the natives to the south and reached the Hunter River or Port Hunter.
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| Coal River N.S. Wales, 1807 / watercolour by J. W. Lewin from an earlier sketch in c. 1801 |
In 1796 it is recorded by David Collins that a fishing boat returned from "a bay near Port Stephens" and that the fishermen brought with them large pieces of coal which they had found some distance from the beach, lying in considerable quantities in the ground. It is reasonable to suggest that the "bay near Port Stephens" was Port Hunter and that the coal was found on the beach under the cliffs.
The first white man to notice the coast in the vicinity of Newcastle and to record the fact was Captain James Cook, who sailed along the coast in his ship, the Endeavour, and, on May 10, 1770, saw when, six miles from land, "a small clump of an island lying close on shore, south, 82 degrees west: distance off shore about two leagues." The "small clump of an island" was Nobbys, but Cook made no further investigation, and sailed on, missing the discovery of a port and a river destined to take a large part in the industrial, shipping, and commercial life of Australia.
SHORTLAND'S DISCOVERY.
The escape of a party of convicts from Port Jackson led to Shortland's discovery. On September 5, 1797, the Government boat Cumberland was at Broken Bay with provisions, and was boarded by a party of convicts who took possession and announced the intention of escaping in her. The coxswain and three others were landed at Pittwater, and the Cumberland sailed out through the heads for the open sea. The coxswain and his comrades, on reaching Sydney, gave the alarm, and two boats were sent in pursuit. One, the Governor's whaleboat, in charge of Lieutenant Shortland, went North, searching on its way. On September 9, 1797, Shortland was attracted by "the small clump of an island" noted by Captain Cook, and decided to investigate. Getting close to the island, he saw a bay behind it, and entered by the passage, then existing between the island and the mainland. Passing up the port, he found that a river entered it, so that he had discovered a new port and a new river. Some days were spent in searching for the fugitive convicts and in exploring the port, after which he proceeded further North along the coast, reached Port Stephens, and eventually returned to Port Jackson on September 19.
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| Lieutt. Shortland by Samuel Shelley. The Voyage of Governor Phillip. Published by J. Stockdale, 6th August, 1789. |
About a year after his discovery, he referred to it in a letter written from Sydney to his father, Lieutenant John Shortland, senr., under date September 10, 1798, as follows:-
"About a 12-month ago I went on an expedition in the Governor's whaleboat as far as Port Stephens, which lies 100 miles northward from this place. In my passage down I discovered a very fine river, which I named after Governor Hunter. The enclosed I send you, being an eye-sketch, which I took the little time I was there. Vessels from 50 to 250 tons may load there with ease, and completely landlocked. I dare say in a little time this river will be a great acquisition to this settlement. The short time I remained at this river we had rain, which prevented my doing as much as I otherwise should."
It may be taken for granted that ordinary rain would not have caused him to leave the port, and that the real cause was a river flood with its floating debris. He landed at five places during his stay. His camp was on the site of the east end of the town, in the vicinity of the tablet erected to perpetuate the event on the Australian Society of Patriots' Hall, in Scott-street. He also landed on the island, Nobbys, where he found coal, pieces of which he took with him on his return to Sydney. There were three landing-places on the port side of Stockton peninsula. He also took some soundings in the vicinity of Nobbys, and marked a number of shoals and islands.
NORFOLK PIRATES.
Another escape of convicts from Port Jackson is identified with the early days of the port. The Norfolk, a decked boat of 25 tons, was on its way from the Hawkesbury to Port Jackson in November, 1800, with 500 bushels of wheat for the settlement at Sydney, when it was seized by 15 convicts, whose object was to escape to the Dutch settlements north of Australia. They made northward and turned into Port Hunter to escape a storm which followed them, and drove their boat against a point on Stockton peninsula, where it was bilged. From the incident the locality received its name Pirate Point. At that time one of the Sydney traders had a boat waiting for coal from the cliffs, and that was seized by the convicts who made once more for the open sea. Only nine of the number continued the voyage, the remaining six preferring to take their chances on land, and they became the first settlers in port. An armed cutter pursued the others from Sydney, captured them, and returned to Sydney, where two were executed and the others were sent to Norfolk Island.
The six who remained had a camp for some time on Throsby's Creek and lived with the natives. They were reinforced by two more escaped convicts from Sydney; but, after several months, they grew restless of the primitive life in the bush, and some of them suggested surrender in Sydney. Three of them took the risk and two reached Sydney, assisted by the natives, and were picked up at Broken Bay, where they were rescued by Lieut. Grant, who was there on an expedition. They were taken to Sydney. The others remained on the Hunter River under their leader, a man named Grace, but nothing of a definite nature was heard of them afterwards.
EXPLORATION.
Governor Hunter does not appear to have made any effort to follow up Shortland's discovery, although he must have authorised some of the Sydney traders, notably Simeon Lord, Hugh Meehan, James Underwood, and others, to send small vessels to the port to get coal and cedar. The visits were not regular, but supplies of coal were taken to Sydney by the traders and sold there.
Governor King, who assumed command in the colony on September 28, 1800, continued to favour the traders, and Lord and Meehan in April, 1801, sent the brig, Anna Josepha, to the port for coal and cedar. Meehan had a sawmill on the Stockton side for some months, but it was abandoned for one placed on the north side of the port in the vicinity of the Market (Strand) site. The camp was pitched there, and coal was collected for loading into the brig, which left with a consignment on May 29, 1801. Cedar was also part of her cargo.
Prompted by this result, Governor King decided to send on expedition to the port to report on its possibilities as a source of coal and timber supply, and also as a site for a settlement.
The expedition was entrusted to Lieutenant John Grant, who was in command of the brig Lady Nelson and tile schooner Francis. Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson and other officers accompanied Grant, but Paterson was practically in charge of the expedition. The story of their stay of about six weeks at the port, and of their survey of the port and of the river, the collection of coal and timber, their discovery of huge accumulations of oyster shells along the east side of Fullerton Cove and the port side of Stockton peninsula, is too long to be reviewed in this brief sketch. Suffice to say that the reports submitted by Paterson and Grant induced Governor King to establish a settlement.
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| Lady Nelson, ca. 1800 / painted by Baker. |
FIRST SETTLEMENT ABANDONED.
Governor King's selection of a commandant to take charge of the settlement he proposed to establish was Corporal Wixtead (Wicksted) (Wixted) (Wixstead), who was recommended for the position by Captain John McArthur. Wixtead had five privates to form the guard, and 12 convicts were selected to proceed under their charge to the Coal River, as the locality was then called. A young man, Cole, was appointed storekeeper. From the data available the settlement party under Wixtead, reached the ports between June 20 and 27, 1801, but, as Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson was there at the time, Wixtead did not assume command until July 22, when the exploration expedition left the port for Sydney.
Wixtead entered on his new duties with enthusiasm, but almost immediately had to face difficulties. The members of the guard were not loyal to him, and hampered him in many ways, and the convicts, who had received many privileges, caused further trouble. There was some suggestion that Wixtead was not playing fairly with provision and liquor, and a mutiny broke out. This was suppressed, and was followed by an inquiry ordered by the Governor. Surgeon Martin Mason was sent from Sydney to form a court of inquiry, with Ensign Barrallier, who was surveying in the district at the time. That was in September. The court of inquiry acquitted Wixtead of having misappropriated the provisions and liquor, but censured him for imprudence in administration, and he was removed from office, though he was allowed to remain in command of the guard.
Surgeon Mason succeeded Wixtead as commandant, but his appointment was an error of judgement. It is almost impossible to justify King's action in placing such a man in command of an outpost so far removed from central authority. He was a harsh man, with little regard for the decencies of life, and, though a Sydney magistrate, was condemned by his fellow magistrates, who declined to be associated with him. He certainly made an effort to carry out his duties successfully, but was obsessed by a bitter animus against the prisoners, and his treatment of them was brutal. There were no privileges for any of them. The lash reigned supreme. It was the lash for every offence, and there was so much of it that a mutiny of convicts resulted. It would have been bad for Mason, but for the influence of Wixtead and Cole, who induced the mutiny leaders to leave the position to the Governor's intervention. Mason was recalled, and Governor King was so disgusted that he decided to abandon the settlement. Mason left for Sydney on December 8, 1801, and Wixtead remained in charge until the following February, when a vessel was made available to take the guard and the prisoners back to Sydney.
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| Coal Harbour (Newcastle, New South Wales), Surveyed by Ensign Barrallier in 1801. The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson. |
SHAFTS ON THE HILL.
It is due to Mason to record that, despite his methods, he accomplished some work. Before he left the port four shafts had been sunk on the hill; in the vicinity of the bowling green, their depths, respectively, being 102, 93, 51, and 10 feet. He was getting nice tons of coal a day with three miners and three basket carriers, but thought that with nine miners he could increase the output to 100 tons a week. He also proposed to drive a tunnel into the hill from the port side, probably where one was driven a few years afterwards on the site of the old Market land, about Laing-street. He also decided to construct a wharf that "may be run out to reduce labour, that the schooner may be loaded,by 12 men in 12 hours." The mutiny and his recall prevented him from carrying the idea into effect.
FOUNDATION: MARCH 30, 1804.
The necessity for the establishment of a settlement to which recalcitrant convicts might be sent for the safety of the settlement at Sydney, and the prospect of exploiting the cedar and coal at Coal River, as the district at Hunter's River was then called, impelled Governor King to make another effort to establish a settlement. Accordingly, he decided to send Lieutenant C. A. F. N. Menzies to accomplish that object.
In a letter of appointment to Menzies, on March 15, 1804, he stated "that the settlement at Coal Harbour and Hunter River, now distinguished by the name of Newcastle, in the county of Northumberland, should be established without loss of time; &c. You are hereby required to take upon you the charge and command of the said settlement." On March 24 he issued his instructions to Menzies, and on the same day issued a General Order announcing that "Lieut. Charles Menzies is sworn in as a Magistrate for the above settlement, and county, which is hereafter to be distinguished by the name of Newcastle, in the county of Northumberland, the division between which, and the county of Cumberland, is to be the parallel line of 32 deg. 20 min. south latitude."
The brig Lady Nelson, the Colonial cutter Resource, and Mr. Thomas Raby's sloop james, were placed at Menzies' disposal to take the guard and convicts to the new settlement. All was in readiness on March 28, and on the following day the little fleet left Port Jackson, and arrived in Coal Harbour on March 30, 1804.
The personnel in each vessel was as follow: Lady Nelson - Lieut. Menzies, Assistant-surgeon James Mileham, Mr. F. Bauer, natural history painter; Mr. John Tucker, storekeeper, one overseer, two carpenters, three sawyers, a gardener, a salt bailer, and 6 convicts; the "Resource," one sergeant and four privates of the New South Wales Corps, Mr. Knight, Superintendent of Convicts, 12 convicts; the "James," Mr. George Caley, botanist and explorer, and three miners, with stores and provisions for six months.
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| The Coal River or Port of Newcastle New South Wales ... / watercolour drawing possibly by John William Lewin from an earlier sketch in c. 1801. |
Menzies tells the story of the arrival of the vessels in a letter written to the Governor on April 19, 1804, as follows:
"Previous to the vessels entering the harbour, I went in a small boat to examine the situation of the mines and to fix on a place, the most suitable for a settlement, which I found to be a delightful valley about a quarter of a mile from the entrance and south head, and close to the mines. I immediately ordered a disembarcation to take place, and began to unload the three vessels."
He proceeded to explain that Chapman's Island (now Carrington) would neither serve as a place for a settlement nor as a place of confinement for refractory convicts. It was too far from the mines for settlement purposes and the water between it and the mainland was so shallow that convicts could escape from it to the mainland by wading. Evidently natives were about the place, because he added that, even though the water were too deep for wading, convicts might be taken across in canoes by the natives. He preferred Coal Island (Nobbys) as a safer for such convicts, as they could not escape from it, though he expressed the hope that there would be no occasion for such drastic steps to be taken. He referred, to an excellent mine that had been opened, showing a seam of coal 42 inches thick, but he deplored the fact the mines had been dug in a most shameful manner, no proper supports having been left, so that falls had taken place.
He suggested that 50 more convicts be sent to the settlement as he was desirous of keeping a quantity of cedar and coal on hand in order that vessels sent by the Governor might not be detained. He was confident that the military guard could control the increased number of convicts, as those convicts already there were made to work hard, but were most cheerful. He had caused the irons to be removed from most of them as their legs were sore and he did not wish to be deprived of their labour. A reference to the cedar shows that some convicts had been sent up the river, timber-getting, and that the had taken precautions to prevent their escape by boat from the river and harbour.
Menzies named the settlement King's Town in honour of the Governor, a name it retained for about 20 years, though Governor Macquarie invariably referred to it as Newcastle. It would appear that Governor King named the whole district Newcastle.
Menzies remained in charge of the new settlement until March 15, 1805, when he resigned, lest further delay might militate against military promotion. He proved himself to be an able administrator and a humane disciplinarian. The work in the mines made fair progress, and the coal and timber industries assumed fairly large proportions.
The Sydney traders continued their operations, purchasing the coal from the Government and sending their own men up the river timber-getting. The Hunter River was then known as Paterson River and the Paterson River as the New River, and both were exploited for cedar, the logs being rafted down stream to the harbour.
Menzies constructed a stone wharf, 120 feet long, 8 feet six inches deep at high water and two feet deep at low water, and it remained in use for many years at the foot of the street now known as Watt-street. He also caused a coal-fire beacon to be lighted on Colliers' Point (Signal Hill). The soldiers and convicts were provided for in huts. The conditions generally were of rather a primitive nature, but Menzies made the best of things in the circumstances. Well-conducted convicts were allowed certain privileges such as fishing, within a certain area, and during stated hours. He received loyal support from his civilian assistants, but there was some friction between him and Ensign C. Draffin, who was in charge of the military post.
Sources:
- Pages from History (1929, November 30). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 22.
- Exploration (1929, November 30). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 22.
- First Settlement Abandoned (1929, November 30). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 22.
- Foundation: March30, 1804 (1929, November 30). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 22.
- Coal River N.S. Wales, 1807 / watercolour by J. W. Lewin from an earlier sketch in c. 1801; Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
- Lieutt. Shortland by Samuel Shelley. The Voyage of Governor Phillip. Published by J. Stockdale, 6th August, 1789. Courtesy: State Library of Victoria
- Shortland's Chart on His Discovery of the Hunter River. NEWCASTLE PIONEER EXPLORER. (1902, March 22). Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), p. 3 (EVENING NEWS SUPPLEMENT).
- Coal Harbour (Newcastle, New South Wales), Surveyed by Ensign Barrallier in 1801. The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson with the Journal of Her First Commander Lieutenant James Grant, R.N. by Ida Lee, F.R.G.S. (Mrs. Charles Bruce Marriott.) 1915. Courtesy: Project Gutenberg Australia.
- Lady Nelson, ca. 1800 / painted by Baker. Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
- The Coal River or Port of Newcastle New South Wales / watercolour drawing possibly by John William Lewin from an earlier sketch in c. 1801. Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
- View of Hunters River, near Newcastle, ... / Published Nov. 30th. 1812, by A. West, Sydney / Drawn by I.R. Brown Engraved by W. Presston. Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
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