Where Hawkesbury buried their dead ~ Trove Tuesday

Windsor Catholic Cemetery. Photo M. Nichols

Prior to 1810, inhabitants of the Hawkesbury buried their dead in various places including their properties, or along the riverbanks. There was also an early burial ground on the banks of South Creek at Green Hills (which was the original name of Windsor) but no records survive and the exact location is not confirmed, although a small plot of land has been set aside to commemorate early burials.

In 1811, the following Government Order, decreed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie was published in the Sydney Gazette stating that all burials were to take place in consecrated cemeteries. The Order stated:

The respective burial grounds which were sometime since marked out for the accommodation of the settlers in the several townships of Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Wilberforce having lately consecrated by the Principal Chaplain, His Excellency, the Governor is pleased to give this public notice, thereof and at the same time directs & commands that in future all settlers and other residents within those townships, or in their respective vicinities shall cease to bury their dead as heretofore within their several farms, & shall in a decent and becoming manner inter them in the consecrated grounds now assigned for that purpose in their respective Townships.

It was also recorded that when someone died, "notice of the event shall be immediately given to the Constable at the District wherein it has occurred, and the Constable receiving such information is hereby directed to communicate the same with the least possible delay to the nearest Resident Chaplain, in order that he may attend and perform the Funeral Service."

This order was not to be neglected and ignoring it could result in severe punishment. Further it became a "sacred duty ... to guard and protect the Remains of ... deceased Friends from every unnecessary Exposure."

Governor Lachlan Macquarie was keen the burial grounds be made available soon after and donated ten pounds towards the erection of a fence, to be built as quickly as possible. The first of these burial grounds to be established was at Windsor. Many people do not realise that the burial ground came first and was established adjacent to what was eventually to become St. Matthew's Church of England, which began construction in 1817.  Andrew Thompson who died in 1810 was in fact the first person buried in the burial ground. Henry Antill was responsible for selecting Thompson's burial site. 

Shortly after Windsor, burial grounds were established in Richmond, Wilberforce, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Ebenezer. They were surveyed, marked out and then consecrated. 

1809 Flood at Hawkesbury

This week in 1809, heavy rain had begun which eventually turned into a deluge and led to the Hawkesbury flooding. The July/August flood reached 14.49m with at least 8 people perishing as a result. This followed a big flood in May 1809 where the water rose 14.63m. There were heavy losses of crops, livestock and belongings. Read the accounts from The Sydney Gazette, 6 August 1809, p. 2. 

Hawkesbury River in flood by Michelle Nichols

Accounts were on Tuesday last received in town of the Hawkesbury Settlement being again flooded; and in the course of the following day those accounts were unhappily confirmed; a Mr. BULL of Sydney, who was at the house of Mr. John BENN, down the River, at the commencement of the flood, informs us, that little or no rain fell in that quarter until Saturday evening the 29th ultimo, when a heavy rain set in which continued without intermission until Monday morning. That a rise in the water was perceived between 10 and 11 on Sunday night, and continued for some hours to rise gradually, but afterwards with an astonishing rapidity until the whole of the surrounding farms were laid under water. About noon on Tuesday it was at the highest; and in the course of the afternoon abated 5 or 6 feet; but, in consequence of the deluges of rain that fell in the evening and night of Tuesday, the water rose again several feet. On Wednesday it began again to fall, and by the noon of Thursday had decreased 10 feet from its greatest height. Among the principal sufferers that we have heard of down the River, is Mr. BENN; he having lost upwards of 300 head of swine, 100 sheep, about 1000 bushells of wheat threshed or in stack, and a stack of barley, besides a valuable property contained in his dwelling-house and barn, among which were two chests of tea and a ton of sugar, but a few days prior received from Sydney. 

The Sydney Gazette, 6 August 1809, p. 2.

From the Green Hills, the following report contained in a private letter, dated on Tuesday night, 11 o'clock, was received in Town on Thursday; "With regret I inform you of the dreadful scene that at the present moment chills me with excessive horror. The whole of this extensive settlement is one uninterrupted sheet of water. The lower range of houses upon the Green Hills is immersed; and the River has formed a juncture with the South Creek, across the Hills, through RICKERBY's grounds upon the River side, and those of the Rev. Mr. MARSDEN on the Creek. Yesterday and last night was a most dreadful season! The danger encroached with a rapidity never before witnessed; and the cries of the numerous families who were more imminently exposed were rendered still more agonizing by the impracticability of affording them immediate relief. In one alarming instance, a young man a settler, his wife, and three children, were seated on a ladder lain across the fork of a tree, in which situation they contrived to sustain an equilibrium for nearly three hours, the man a great part of the time clinging by his hands at the end of the ladder; but alas; yielding to fatigue, he forsook his hold and all were in consequence precipitated into the deluge. The woman and children were picked up; but the fate of the unfortunate man is doubtful. A settler at Cornwallis passed the Hills this morning on the top of a small wheat-stack; his fate is unknown; but it is much hoped he may have been preserved by some of the boats employed in this humane work. In another, and truly melancholy instance, eight persons are supposed to have perished in one spot. The names of those supposed unfortunates have been mentioned; but from this I must refrain, hoping the account may be erroneous, or at the least exaggerated. At present all is uncertainty and dread, all terror and astonishment. Some lives are lost; many have been saved by the exertions of the mere enterprising, directed by our Magistrates, who by their example encouraged the toil of rescuing whole families from the very verge of fate. And I cannot omit to mention the active and indefatigable exertions of Messrs. THOMPSON and BIGGERS, to whom, under the direction of Divine Providence, many are indebted for their lives ... Their fatigues were equal to their dangers, which were increased by the extreme darkness of the nights; during which their boats were repeatedly stove, and it was with difficulty they could with their crews preserve their lives. Many others who volunteered their exertions are also entitled to every praise. At the order of Mr. BELL, the Church was appropriated to the reception of the sufferers brought to the Hills, and such as were destitute were victualled from the Store, and every measure that humanity could devise was adopted to alleviate as much as possible the misery of their condition. It is considered that the perpendicular rise of the River could not be much less than 85 feet from the general level, and to have exceeded that of March, 1806, by 6 or 8 feet or perpendicular height; and unfortunately happens at a time of year which totally destroys the prospects of the settler, and the dependence of the Colony upon this Settlement for the next year, as the sown wheat will in all probability perish in the ground in most of the lower situations. At the farm of Mr. S. TERRY nine persons viz COOLEY, of Toongabbee; MUNSEY, of Hawkesbury; HODGES, servant to a gentleman of Sydney; MAHOMED an Asiatic, his wife and two children, and two black men - had endeavoured to secure themselves on the top of the barn, which fell in about 5 on Monday evening; but as there was no other resource left, they continued upon the roof for about two hours after, when the wife of MAHOMED fell through the thatch with one of her children in her arms, and was no more seen. COOLEY endeavouring to save the other child, which clung to MAHOMED, the father, slipped off with the infant, and in like manner disappeared; as did MUNSEY also. MAHOMED and the two black men saved themselves in trees, and HODGES swimming about in the dark at length got into the stream, by which he was carried between 5 and 6 miles before any impediment opposed his rapid course; when happily he found safety among the branches of a tree; from whence he was at length taken by a boat, and conveyed to a place of safety.

The accounts from Richmond Hill are of the same distressing tendency; but from Portland Head no communication has yet been received. The loss of stock has been very severe, as well as grain, no possible estimate can be formed at present. As soon as the melancholy intelligence was received His Honor Lieut. Governor FOVEAUX left Town, accompanied by James FINUCANE, Esq. Secretary to His Honor the Lieut. Governor, with intention to proceed to Hawkesbury direct; but was obliged to return, as the roads were impassable. The Banks of George's River were unfortunately inundated at the same time; and a great quantity of stock and other property lost. In Major JOHNSTON's stock-yard 490 sheep were drowned; Mr. McCALLAM lost 300, and several houses were left in ruins. We have much satisfaction in reporting, however, that fewer persons have lost their lives than at first was apprehended; an account received last night stating, that many who were unaccountably missing have since been heard of, and are in safety. 

Toll House at Windsor

If you have ever travelled to Windsor along Windsor Road and over the Fitzroy Bridge at South Creek, you may have noticed the small white building tucked next to the bridge. This is the Toll House, where during the nineteenth century, tolls were collected for using the road. If your ancestors lived in the Hawkesbury during the 1800s they would have most likely paid tolls here at some time or other. It is one of only two intact toll houses remaining in NSW, the other is at Mt Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

The concept of charging tolls for the use of a road or ferry was in wide use throughout the United Kingdom and Europe and was introduced into NSW by Governor King in 1802. Permission was granted to Andrew Thompson  to charge a toll for the use of his "floating bridge" over South Creek near the Green Hills (now Windsor) in 1802. There was possibly earlier buildings on the present site however there are no surviving records. 

Sydney Gazette & NSWAdvertiser 9 March 1806, p. 1
Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article627036 

Tenders were called for a Toll House in 1834 and the building was completed in 1835. In the 1864 flood "the town the waters came up within a foot of the Barrack gate, Bridge-street ; and the Fitzroy Bridge was totally under water. The toll-house and adjoining houses...were entirely flooded" according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. As a result the building was practically demolished as a result of the 1864 flood when the building was actually shifted off its foundations. It was rebuilt with some alterations shortly after. It is a small building with three rooms and a projected bay window, which the toll keeper could view the road from both angles, to collect tolls. 

In 1886 a deputation was made to the Minister for Works, urging the toll to be abolished as it was unjust particularly as many others throughout the country had been removed. The toll was eventually abolished by the Windsor Road Trust in 1887.

Toll House at Windsor  1947 Courtesy of the State Library of NSW [No. d1_40918]

In 1975 a new high level bridge was constructed over South Creek almost concealing the Toll House from view. The building, has in the past, been damaged by both vandals and rising flood-waters however the exterior of the building was restored in 1997. The public can view the Toll House from the outside by walking from Court Street, on the pathway down beside the Fitzroy Bridge.

Sources :
Exploring the Hawkesbury / Ian Jack
Macquarie Country / D. G. Bowd
Windsor Toll House : user pays in the 19th century / Justin O'Connell
Sydney Gazette & Sydney Morning Herald newspapers on Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper 

Trove Tuesday - Death of Andrew Thompson 1773-1810

Andrew Thompson, despite arriving in the colony as a convict on the Pitt in 1792, went on to become one of the Hawkesbury's most celebrated pioneers. Thompson was renowned for his work as a Chief Constable, and magistrate but was also a farmer, brewer and businessman, accumulating a huge estate.  His premature death in 1810 was mourned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, the elite of the colony as well as the local Hawkesbury community. His obituary in the Sydney Gazette reads: 

At Hawkesbury, Green Hills, on Monday the 22d Instant, after a lingering and severe illness, aged 37, Andrew Thompson, Esq. Magistrate of that District. In retracing the last twenty years of the life of this exemplary and much lamented Character will not be held uncharitable to glance at the lapse from rectitude which in an early and inexperienced period of youth destined him to these shores, since it will stamp a more honourable Tribute to his Memory to have it recorded, that from his first arrival in this Country he uniformly conducted himself with that strict regard to morality and integrity, as to obtain and enjoy the countenance and protection of several succeeding Governors; active, intelligent and industrious, of manners mild and conciliatory, with a heart generous and humane, Mr. Thompson was enabled to accumulate considerable property; and what was more valuable to him, to possess the confidence and esteem of some of the most distinguished Characters in this Country; the consciousness of which surmounted the private solicitude of revisiting his native Country, and led him rather to yield to the wish of passing the evening of his life where his manhood had been meritoriously exerted, than of returning to the land which gave him birth. Mr Thompson's intrinsic good qualities were appreciated by His Excellency the present Governor, who soon after his arrival here was pleased to appoint him a Magistrate, for which situation Mr. Thompson's natural good sense and a superior knowledge of the Laws of his Country peculiarly qualified him. 

Nor can we close this Tribute to his Memory without recurring to the important services Mr. Thompson rendered this Colony, and many of his fellow-creatures, during the heavy and public distresses which the floods at the Hawkesbury produced amongst the Settlers in that extensive District; Mr. Thompson's exertions were on a late occasion for two days and two nights unremittingly directed to the assistance of the sufferers, and we hasten to add, that in these offices of humanity, he not only exposed himself to personal danger, but laid the foundation for that illness which has deprived the World of a valuable life.

During the unfortunate Disturbances which lately disrupted this Colony, he, whose death we now lament, held on the even "Tenor of his Way," and acquitted himself with mildness, moderation and wisdom, and when the ruthless Hand of Death arrested his earthly career, he yield with becoming fortitude, and left this World for a better, with humble and devout resignation, and an exemplary confidence in the Mercies of his God.

Source: Family Notices. (1810, October 27). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628118

The square, located on a ridge between the Hawkesbury River and South Creek, was named Thompson Square by Macquarie in honour of his friend. He also erected a lengthy monument on his grave in St. Matthew's Church of England Cemetery in 1813 with "respect and esteem for the Memory of the deceased."