THE LIFE of BOYLE TRAVERS FINNISS (1807-1893) by CLEVE
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THE LIFE OF BOYLE TRAVERS FINNISS (1807-1893) By CLEVE CHARLES MANHOOD B.A.(Hons), Dip. Ed. Presented as a thesis for the Degree of Master of Arts, History Department, University of Adelaide, 1966. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . , , , , . o , , . , , . , . iii FOREWORD it STATEMENT y Chapter I. A YOUNG MAN LOOKS AHEAD 3. U. THE ILLUSTRIOUS SUBORDINATE . , , 23 III. COMMERCIAL FAILURE , . 0 . , , , 50 IV. POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS ... , a . 71 V. THE CHAMELEON 98 VII. A CLASH OF PERSONALITIES 115:. VII. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FIRST MINISTRY . 132 VIII. THE POLITICAL SLIPPERY DIP 153 IX. FORTUNE KNOCKS AGAIN 181. X* THE PERILS OF DESPOTISM , . x.210 XI. A FIASCO ENDS 234 XII. AN OLD.MAN LOOKS BACK . , . , . , 255 APPENDIX :ABBREVIATIONS . 266 BIBLIOGRAPHY . , . e . 267 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page Boyle Travers Finnise.. Frontispiece 1.. B.T. Finniss -- Colonial Politician 108 2. Gov. Richard Graves MacDonnell . 116 3., Members of the Northern Territory Expedition, 1864 191 EscapeCliffd Stockade . 216 Map of Adam Bay region, Northern Territory . 229 iii FOREWORD Boyle Travers Pinnies came to South Australia when his hopes of a military career had been shattered. His original intention was to become a member of the landed gentry in a new colony where only the best aspects of the British social system would be retained. When this proved impracticable he set out to make a name for him- self in other fields. Finniss was a prominent figure in South Australian politics for a quarter of a century and progressed slowly but surely until he reached the highest positions in the province. It is ironic that Finniss, a man who spent all his life endeavouring to keep his image before the public eye, should die in compatative obscurity and that today his name is rarely mentioned in South Australian school text books. Undeniably he had many opportunities to achieve his ambition to become a great figure in colonial history but he neglected to make the most of his chances. His failure to reach his goal was due partly to his limited ability and to a greater extent to this propensity in times of stress to sacrifice principles for expediency. iv STATEMENT To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any University. Furthermore it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Cleve C. Manhood. V, - CV T!lÈT i q M/'YEi^_ (r ( ' L S '-y- 71 ,v# °iLa\ ? CHAPTER I A YOUNG MAN LOOKS AHEAD In 1884, at the age of seventy -- seven, a tired, dispirited Boyle Travers Finnisa looked back over his long life and bitterly lamented: . I have nothing to leave behind me--My annuity is extinguished at my Death a sad return for a long life of Devotion and I can truly add of usefulness in the public Service. It is hard that I who had through life in the army and in the Civil Service won the highest posts when- ever opportunity offered should be left in my old age to neglect and humiliation owing to the establishment of Responsible Government in 1857 which in that year threw me on the world with an annuity not an adequate compensation for the sacrifice of the best years of my physical and mental manhood . with all my hopes of certain preferment in the Imperial Service cut short and without aapitallor a profession or business to fall back on. Admittedly this complaint does contain an element of truth, but most of the blame for Finniss's failures must be attributed to his own deficiencies. In many ways Pinnies was typical of the early- Victorian bourgeois settler who emigrated to the colonies during the nineteenth century. He, like them, 1Fìnniss Papers, S.A.A., 76/119. 1 2 was often out of his depth in trying to adjust to the tide of changing ideas flowing through the national life of England after the American and French revolutions. The old order was doomed, but the new way of life with its spirited activity, electrifying innovations and recurrent social unrest seemed strange and frightening. Like many of his contemporaries Pinnies, while paying lip service to the new ideas, found it difficult to abandon the traditional view that the three chief func- tions of government were to secure national defence, maintain order and protect property. Whereas a great number of emigrants adapted themselves to their new environment, Finniss found it impossible to shake off the feeling that the mere fact that he was an English officer and a gentleman was enough recommendation to open the doors of any colonial office. In this respect he was representative of the nineteenth century English officer class at its worst -- condescending, officious and exasperatingly punctilious. Boyle Travis Finniss was born at sea on August 18 1807 aboard the East India Company's Warbey2while his parents were en route for India where his father was to become paymaster in the 56th Regiment of Foot. From the 2Pioneers' Association of S.A., S.A.A., 1384/5, p.3. 3 beginning there was little doubt regarding his future career. As the first male child of the marriage he was expected to follow his father into the army. Young Finniss appears to have enjoyed a pleasant childhood amidst the hubbub of life in an Indian military camp until he reached the age of six. He was then packed off to a boarding school at Greenwich, England, to be educat- ed in the formal tradition by Archdeacon Charles Burney. Here it was that Finniss became interested in Australia for a frequent visitor to the school was the headmaster's estimable brother, Captain James Burney. According to George Morphett, Matthew Flinders records that when it was conceded that New Holland and New South Wales were one land, it was in deference to James Burney's_ views that he derived the name "Australia" from the original "Terra Australis" of the old maps.3 Captain Burney's fame did not rest there. He was at the time writing his authoritative five-volume work, A Chronolotcal Histor, of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, 1803 -1817.4 Doubtless the young and impressionable schoolboys were often entertained by Burney's stories, real or imaginary, of his exploits in distant lands. 3Pioneers' Association of S.A., S.A,A. 1385/5, p. 4. 4British Museum General Catague of Printed Books, Vol. 30, 1965, p. 505. 4 Even in his old age Finniss could still recall the fanci- ful games the boys played at school based on their lives- to-be in the great southern continent.5 Finniss was an excellent scholar --he had no trouble with his lessons and he was a diligent worker. Apart from the news of his mother's death at Madras in 1815, his school life was uneventful and he headed the list of the sixteen candidates admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1822.6 Here he again acquitted himself well for at the end of his three -year course Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hope wrote to Finniss's father: The Commander -in- Chief having been pleased to direct that a certain number of gentlemen cadets, distinguished for good conduct and superior diligence in study, should be recommended for commissions, I an happy to acquaint you that I have had it in my power to recommend Gentleman Cadet Finniss as deserving to receive this extraordinary mark of His Royal Highness's approbation.' Gazetted at his own request to his father's old regiment, the 56th, Finniss served in England and overseas for two years. On March 29, 1827 he became a fully fledged lieutenant with the 82nd. Regiment. 5Pioneers' Association-of S.A., S.A.A. 1385/5, p. 4. 6B.T. Finniss, The Constitutiona Histor of So Australia (Adelaide: W.C. Rigby, 188 , p. 248. Cited hereafter as Const. Hist. 7lbid., pp. 248 -249. 5 At this stage there appeared no reason why Finniss should not make a successful career in the British Army. He was ambitious; he took his work seriously and contin- ued to study philosophy, military tactics and history even while performing his duties at home and overseas. By the time he reached Mauritius in 1833 he had collected a small library consisting mainly of a number of treatises on military strategy and the biographies of three great generals, Alexander the Great, Frederick 11 of Prussia and Napoleon. To improve his topographical knowledge-- for he was convinced that all great military leaders had a natural flair for the subject -- Finniss began to study surveying in his spare time.8 If hard work and persist- ence had been the prime requirements for a distinguished military career, he would have been an outstanding success. From 1833 -1835 Finniss, now reunited with his father who had quit the army to become Police Commission- er on Mauritius, spent his free hours laboriously making a series of survey maps of the island. Once they were completed he donated them to the Royal Military College- - a wily attempt to impress his superiors with his prowess. Even at this stage of his career it seems that he could see no point in doing a job unless it could earn him some 8Pioneers' Association of `.A., S.A.A. 1384/5, p.4. 6 praise, notwithstanding that this might mean soliciting commendation. When his regiment was transferred to Ireland early in 1835, he could take with him a number of testimonials from senior officers on Mauritius prais- ing his diligence and complimenting him on his surveying skill.9 At the age of twenty -eight Finniss, a well- respect- ed figure in army social life and earning a salary of 8200 per annum, considered himself in a position to marry.