THRA Papers and Proceedings Tasmanian Vol. 59, no. 3 December 2012 CONTENTS Historical Research PAPERS Association John Lewes Pedder (1793–1859): (Incorporated) Some new perspectives on a colonial judge ........................ Jacqueline Fox 165 Yet more about Mary Leman Grimstone .................................Michael Roe 189 PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS ‘Secure the shadow ere the substance fadeth’: Stephen Spurling, colonial artist-photographer .....................Gillian Winter 194 ‘They call me “wild cat”’: William Aylett (1863–1952), career bushman ........................Nic Haygarth 203 BOOK REVIEWS John Biggs Tasmania over five generations. Return to Van Diemen's Land? ..........................................Elizabeth Parkes 229 Roger McNeice Fight the fiery fiend: colonial fire fighting 1803–1883 ...................................... Alison Alexander 230 Lucy Frost (ed.) Convict lives at the Ross Female Factory ..........................Margaret Glover 231 Guidelines to submitting papers ........................................................ inside back cover Volume 59, number 3 December 2012 Print Post Approved No. PP739016/00027 THRA Cover imp.indd 1 13/12/12 2:59 PM THRA Papers and Proceedings Tasmanian Vol. 59, no. 3 December 2012 CONTENTS Historical Research PAPERS Association John Lewes Pedder (1793–1859): (Incorporated) Some new perspectives on a colonial judge ........................ Jacqueline Fox 165 Yet more about Mary Leman Grimstone .................................Michael Roe 189 PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS ‘Secure the shadow ere the substance fadeth’: Stephen Spurling, colonial artist-photographer .....................Gillian Winter 194 ‘They call me “wild cat”’: William Aylett (1863–1952), career bushman ........................Nic Haygarth 203 BOOK REVIEWS John Biggs Tasmania over five generations. Return to Van Diemen's Land? ..........................................Elizabeth Parkes 229 Roger McNeice Fight the fiery fiend: colonial fire fighting 1803–1883 ...................................... Alison Alexander 230 Lucy Frost (ed.) Convict lives at the Ross Female Factory ..........................Margaret Glover 231 Guidelines to submitting papers ........................................................ inside back cover Volume 59, number 3 December 2012 Print Post Approved No. PP739016/00027 THRA Cover imp.indd 1 13/12/12 2:59 PM TASMANIAN HISTORICAL RESEARCH Contributors Alison Alexander, 17 Dynnyrne Road, Dynnyrne, TAS 7005 ASSOCIATION INC. Jacqueline Fox, 83 Barrack Street, West Hobart, TAS 7000 Margaret Glover, 749a Sandy Bay Road, Sandy Bay, TAS 7005 Nic Haygarth, 3/42 Frederick Street, Perth, TAS 7300 PATRON Elizabeth Parkes, PO Box 167, Lindisfarne, TAS 7015 Michael Roe, Unit 119 Vaucluse, 319 Macquarie Street, Hobart, TAS 7004 Robert Sharman Gillian Winter, 150 Goulburn Street, West Hobart, TAS 7000 COMMITTEE Editorial team Editor: Heather Felton President: Caroline Homer Assistant Editor: Sally Rackham Vice President: Ian Terry Proofreader: Jane Hyland Hon. Secretary: Andrew McKinlay Hon. Treasurer: Ross Kelly Guidelines for submitting papers Hon. Editor: Heather Felton 1. The Tasmanian Historical Research Association publishes original papers on the history of Members: Michael Roe, Margaret Glover, Alison Alexander, Tasmania, and on other places where there is a considerable Tasmanian connection. Papers Stefan Petrow, Caitlin Sutton that have been, or are about to be, published elsewhere will not be considered for publica- tion. Authors need not be members of THRA, and unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. When submitting a paper, please supply full contact details, including an email address and Annual Subscription phone number. Individual: $45 Household: $50 Student: $35 2. The copyright of papers published in Papers and Proceedings remains with the author, Life Members: $40 for Papers and Proceedings apart from any fair dealing permitted according to the provisions of the Copyright Act. Permission to reproduce longer portions of a paper is negotiated with the author. These prices include 10 per cent GST. 3. The Editor usually acknowledges contributions as soon as they are received. If she fails in this, she will not take amiss a reminder. The Editor reserves the right to decline publication. Overseas: Asia–Pacific: $50 Rest of world: $60 4. Authors will receive an edited copy of their paper to review before the manuscript is sent to the printers. During the process of publication, a proof copy will be sent to each author Address all communications to: to check prior to printing. PO Box 441 5. In general, the text of articles should not exceed 10,000 words. (On average, a forty-five Sandy Bay, Tasmania 7006 minute lecture uses between 6,500 and 7,000 words.) An author proposing to write a longer article should discuss this with the Editor before submitting. Shorter papers are welcome. THRA Website – www.thra.org.au 6. The style conventions followed in Papers and Proceedings are based on the Style man- ual for authors, editors and printers, sixth edition, John Wiley & Sons, Canberra, 2006, The Association meets at 8.00 pm on the second Tuesday of each month, from February to December (inclu- pp. 49–135. Please minimise capitalisation, use a single space after a full stop, and avoid sive), in the Royal Society Room, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. breaking words at the end of a line of text. Acronyms should be included only when they are generally recognised as proper nouns. Words are used for numbers up to 100, and nu- merals thereafter. The Annual General Meeting is held in February. 7. Use footnotes, not endnotes. Link each footnote automatically to the text, using super- The Association has published indexes to its first 50 volumes. script Arabic numerals as in-text note-identifiers. Footnoting follows the conventions of the documentary-note system, as outlined on pp. 190, 208–15 of the Style manual. Please Index to the Papers and Proceedings: do not use ibid., op. cit., vide supra and suchlike latinities. In the citations, given names or Volumes 1–30, 1951–1983 initials (without full stops) should precede surnames. While notes should consist mainly of citations, explanatory comments can be included. For more information on the style Volumes 31–40, 1984–1993 conventions go to www.thra.org.au > Publications > Papers and Proceedings > guidelines Volumes 41–50, 1994–2003 for submitting. 8. Papers should be submitted as Word documents on a CD or DVD, accompanied by a dou- The indexes are available from the Association. ble-spaced typescript in hard copy. Papers, but not production quality images, can also be Price $25.00 per index or $65.00 for all indexes, post free. submitted by email to [email protected]. The Papers and Proceedings are indexed in the Australian Public Affairs Information Service, which is 9. Illustrations are welcome, but authors will need to supply their own photographs and readily available in large public libraries. graphics in the form of production-quality electronic copies (jpegs or tiffs at 300 dpi and at A4 in size). Note that these images must be submitted on CD or DVD, not by email. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce items where this is required, Contributors’ opinions are not necessarily those of the Association. and will need to supply documentation. The inclusion of specific illustrations will be at the discretion of the Editor. Publication is assisted by the Minister for the Arts through Arts Tasmania. Please send papers to: The Editor, THRA P&P, PO Box 441, Sandy Bay 7006; or email: [email protected] Cover illustration: detail from the map in Godwin’s Emigrants’ Guide to Van Diemen’s Land … (1823) ISSN 0039–9809 THRA Cover imp.indd 2 13/12/12 2:59 PM JOHN LEWES PEDDER (1793–1859): SOME NEW PERSPECTIVES ON A COLONIAL JUDGE Jacqueline Fox This paper was presented at a meeting of THRA held on 10 July 2012. Foundation chief justice of the Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land, Sir John Lewes Pedder (1793–1859) was a central figure in the colonial administration and settler society from 1824 until his retirement in 1854. Appointed by the Colonial Office to administer English law in an experimental superior court which extended full civil and criminal jurisdiction to the penal colony for the first time, Pedder also served as a member of the executive and legislative councils. In these ex-officio roles, he provided legal, policy and legislative advice to a series of lieutenant-governors. With his wife Maria Everitt, Pedder arrived in Hobart Town in March 1824, bearing the Charter of Justice which established the Supreme Court.1 A thirty-year-old London equity barrister at the time of his appointment, Pedder belongs to the first of what Tony Earls has identified as three ‘waves’ of professional judges posted to the Australian colonies during the nineteenth century.2 Like other ‘first wavers’, Pedder was one of many expatriate professionals who filled official posts throughout the British world.3 American colonial historian Ann Laura Stoler characterises these men as colonisers who ‘followed career itineraries and personal trajectories that led them … across imperial maps’.4 Pedder’s unusually long tenure in a single colony suggests that his imperial itinerary stalled in Van Diemen’s Land in 1837, when promotion to the Supreme Court of New South Wales was thwarted by an applicant with more influential connections in London.5 In the local context, this (unintended) thirty years at the head of the Van Diemen’s Land judiciary has endowed