A Valley in a Valley: Colonial S Truggles Over Land and Resources in the Hunter Valley, NSW 1820–1850

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A Valley in a Valley: Colonial S Truggles Over Land and Resources in the Hunter Valley, NSW 1820–1850 A Valley in a Valley: Colonial s truggles over land and resources in the Hunter Valley, NSW 1820–1850 Mark Dunn A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities and Languages Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences June 2015 i Abstract 350 words maximum: This thesis investigates the colonial Hunter Valley from the closing years of the penal station at Newcastle in the early 1820s until the end of convict assignment in the early 1840s. It examines the gaps in the historiography of the colonial Hunter Valley, namely the post-contact Aboriginal valley and the place of convicts in the establishment and development of the Hunter. These two groups, highly visible during the period have all but disappeared from the written history of the Hunter. Instead much of the colonial history of the valley has focused on the arrival and settlement of free emigrants, post 1820, who were given access to large grants of land to farm. The legacy of this period can be seen in the remnant grand mansions and homesteads that remain standing throughout the valley, dominating prominent hillsides and riverfront properties. These homesteads are the prism through which much of the colonial history of the Hunter Valley has been viewed. They represent a civilised landscape, a place that was settled by Europeans with seemingly little of the frontier violence and trauma that affected other areas like Bathurst or the Liverpool Plains. However they are facades behind which hide much of the realities of the colonial Hunter Valley. By a close reading of contemporary letters, journals, reports and documents, the contact and connectedness between Aboriginal people and convict, emancipist and free Europeans is examined and the interdependency that each group had on the other revealed. Violence was juxtaposed with co-operation, with alliances and friendships established across race and class. The thesis also considers the role of the physical environment in the process. The colonial history of the Hunter cannot be fully understood without a consideration of the environment of the place itself. The valleys natural resources drew people to it, both Aboriginal and European, while its rivers, forests and mountains, shaped the way they lived, worked and interacted with each other. By returning these lost peoples and elements to the colonial history of the Hunter Valley, this thesis illustrates the complexities, influences and ambitions that shaped the place and its occupants. i ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed … Date ………16 September 2015…. ii iii Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 2 List of Illustrations .................................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ 6 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1: A Valley within a Valley…………………………………………………………………………………… 41 Chapter 2: Entering an occupied Valley ................................................................................. 66 Chapter 3: As fine a country as imagination can form......................................................... 116 Chapter 4: In expectation of receiving an extra grant of land… .......................................... 142 Chapter 5: We have taken possession of their land ............................................................ 188 Chapter 6: The contact zone ................................................................................................ 236 Chapter 7: Daily annoyances and petty tyranny .................................................................. 279 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …330 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 338 iv 1 Acknowledgments This thesis had its genesis in Wambo homestead, built and owned by an emancipist and threatened by encroaching coal mines in the middle of the Hunter Valley. This fine house and its surviving outbuildings appeared anomalous compared with traditional colonial histories of the Hunter, in which convicts hardly featured outside the bonds and chains of popular history, let alone made good and settled the land. Thanks must go firstly to Sharon Veale, who supported and encouraged me at the very beginning of the process and continued to provide excellent advice and guidance throughout. Thanks also to my supervisor Associate Professor Grace Karskens, who was encouraging me to pursue the topic before I had begun and generously agreed to take me on as a student when I started. It is hard to imagine approaching the complexities of the colonial Hunter Valley without her vast knowledge, generous help and assurances that it was possible. Thanks also to Dr Ruth Balint who acted as my co-supervisor and stepped into the breach when Grace was overseas. Thank you to the staff of the State Library of NSW, the specialist’s librarians in the Mitchell Library and the archivists at State Records NSW, whose knowledge of their vast collections and how to get the most from them was invaluable. Special thanks to Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville and former Mitchell Librarian Elizabeth Ellis who both pointed me in the direction of a number of obscure collections and references. In Newcastle, thank you to the Cultural Collections Staff in the University of Newcastle archives, especially University Archivist Mr Gionni Di Gravio. Many historians, both in academic and public history gave me advice and listened to my ideas over the years. Special thanks to David Roberts, Carol Liston, Terry Kass, Richard 2 Waterhouse, Tanya Evans, Lisa Ford, Paul Ashton, Paula Hamilton, Shirley Fitzgerald, Matthew Kelly, Julie McIntyre, Nancy Cushing and Lyndall Ryan for advice on convicts, the Hunter Valley, rural living, colonial life, Aboriginal culture and resistance as well as on research techniques, structure and keeping sane. Paul Irish and Michael Bennett helped enormously with my understanding of Aboriginal history and navigation of the sources available, as did Ray Kelly, who helped with explaining the meaning and significance of the Aboriginal languages across the Hunter. To my fellow candidates at UNSW, thank you for your advice, questions and answers to my questions about the thesis and the process. To Meredith Walker, whose tireless enthusiasm and passion for history and heritage, and her promotion of my research to others was extremely generous. Her donation of her large collection of Hunter Valley research material, maps and books made the task that much easier, thank you. Thank you to Cecilie Knowles, graphics extraordinaire. Your maps make the words make sense. This thesis would not have been possible without the love and support of my family, particularly my mum and dad, Ruth and Mick Dunn, both descended from first generation Hunter Valley convicts and proof that convicts stayed on and made lives in the Hunter. Thank you also to my sisters Jane, Fran, Catherine and brother Peter, who have heard more about the Valley in which we all grew up than they probably wanted to hear. The biggest thank you to Lisa Murray, fellow historian and partner; your encouragement, advice, love and support, even as you had your own book to write, made the whole thing possible. 3 List of Illustrations Figure Page Figure 1: The Hunter Valley. (Source: NSW Planning and Environment Commission 10 1977) Figure 2 : Looking across the steep cliffs and outcrops of the Broken Back Range 47 where it meets the flat lands of the Hunter Valley. (Source: Author’s collection) Figure 3 : Baiami Cave, Milbrodale showing the human like figure with 63 outstretched arms, surrounded by stencilled hands, boomerangs and axes. (Source: Author’s collection) Figure 4 : A map of the Hunter Valley showing the approximate areas occupied by 68 the identified Aboriginal people of the area. (Source: Brayshaw, Aborigines of the Hunter Valley ) Figure 5 Grant’s survey ship the Lady Nelson at anchor in the Coal River looking 83 from the Newcastle shoreline. (Source: SLNSW PXD 942) Figure 6 : ‘Ca -la -watum -ba, a native of the Coal River’ c1810. (Source: SLNSW 87 P2/425) Figure 7 : Grant’s camp on the Paterson River, 1801 as sketched by J. W. Lewin . 88 (Source: SLNSW PXD 388) Fig ure 8 : Five Aboriginal men as painted by James Wallis, c1817. (Source:
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