Monday 8 July 2013

Hawkesbury Settlers Address 1810

The following address was printed in the Sydney Gazette 8 Dec 1810, p. 1 from the settlers of Hawkesbury and presented to Governor Lachlan Macquarie in Windsor, by Thomas Arndell. Thomas, a prominent Hawkesbury resident, Magistrate was the Assistant Surgeon with the First Fleet in 1788. The address read:
    
"We, the undersigned settlers, residents of the Hawkesbury and its vicinity, beg leave respectfully to congratulate your Excellency on your arrival at this settlement, and earnestly hope your Excellency will be pleased with the agricultural improvements and industry that pervade here; and trust that the continuance of our exertions will ever merit your Excellency's approbation. We also beg leave to return our unfeigned thanks for your Excellency's recent appointment of William Cox, Esq., as a magistrate at this place - a gentleman who for many years has resided amongst us, possessing our esteem and confidence, who, from his local knowledge of this settlement, combined with his many other good qualities, will, we are convinced, promote your Excellency's benign intention of distributing justice and happiness to all." 

The settlers signing the address were as follows:

Thomas Appledore    William Etrel       John Merritt
Thomas Arkell           G.W. Evans        James Milaman
Thomas Arndell         William Ezzy        Patrick Murphy
Benjamin Baits          William Faithful    Henry Murray
William Baker           Daniel Fane         Richard Norris
Henry Baldwin          Robert Farlow     Charles Palmer
William Baxter          Edward Field       Thos. Matcham Pitt
John Baylis               R. Fitzgerald        James Portsmouth
David Bell                Thomas Gordon   Edward Pugh
John Benn                John Gregory       Paul Randall
Elias Bishop             Jonathan Griffiths  James Richards
James Blackman      Robert Guy           Jacob Russell
John Boulton           Thomas Hagger     John Ryan
John Bowman         George Hall           William Shaw
Paul Bushel             Thomas Hampson  William Simpson
William Carlisle       John Harris            William Small
Richard Carr          William Heydon      Robert Smith
Benjamin Carver     Thomas Hobby      Stephen Smith
Thomas Cheshire     John Jones            Benjamin South
Patrick Closhel        Donald Kennedy   Thomas Spencer
John Cobcroft         Henry Lamb          John Stevenson
Pierce Collett          Thomas Lambley   Owen Tierney
George Collis          John Leese            James Wall
Roger Connor         Matthew Lock       John Watts
Thomas Cowling     John Lyoner           James Welsh
Hugh Devlyn           Joseph McColding Thomas Weyham
John Dight              Daniel McKay        John Wild
William Dye           Thomas Markwell    Caleb Wilson
Elizabeth Earl         Robert Martin          Robert Wilson
William Eaton         Laurence May         Thomas Winston
Rowland Edwards   Martin Mentz          John Yoel
John Embrey        

Governor Macquarie responded:

"I beg you will make known to those respectable settlers of the Hawkesbury who signed the address presented by you to me, that I am much pleased with the sentiments it conveys, and to assure them that it will always be an object of the greatest interest to me to promote their prosperity by every means in my power. With this view I have fixed on ground for four(sic) different townships for the accommodation of the settlers who have suffered so severely by the floods of the river; and by a speedy removal to those situations of security, I hope they will enjoy the fruits of that labour, which, I am happy to observe, promises this season to be rewarded with one of the finest crops I ever beheld in any country. I hope on my return to this part of the colony to find the new habitations built on an improved and enlarged plan to those hitherto erected on the banks of the Hawkesbury. I am very glad to find that my appointment of Mr. Cox has met with the satisfaction of the settlers, and I have every reason to believe that he will fulfil the duties of his office so as to gain the good will of all."

Hawkesbury River at Windsor NSW.  M. Nichols 2013

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