Footprints The People and Places of Early Clarence Plains and Rokeby Wendy Andrew Tranmere-Clarence Plains Land & Coastcare Inc. Footprints The People and Places of Early Clarence Plains and Rokeby WENDY ANDREW TRANMERE-CLARENCE PLAINS LAND & COASTCARE INC. Hobart, Tasmania 2008 i Cover Photograph. Main Road Rokeby c. 1910. From left to right: Hawthorne Cottage; Rokeby Watch House; Free’s Cottage; ‘Bayview’ and the 1860s Schoolhouse next to the Clarence Plains Rivulet. Of these, only the Watch House and the Schoolhouse building remain. Hawthorn in fl ower. Photograph: Bruce Andrew. Inside Cover. Section: Van Diemen’s Land Sidney Hall TLMAP 880fb 1828 Map of Police Districts. ii Footprints The People and Places of Early Clarence Plains and Rokeby Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait. ‘A Psalm of Life’ (1838) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 iii Published by: Tranmere-Clarence Plains Land & Coastcare Inc, 2008. 158 Carella Street Howrah, Tasmania 7018 Email: [email protected] ©Wendy Andrew, 2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior consent of the publishers. The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Andrew, Wendy. Footprints: The People and Places of Early Clarence Plains and Rokeby / Wendy Andrew. 1st ed. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-646-48965-0 (pbk.) Bibliography. Clarence Plains (Tas.)--History. Rokeby (Tas.)--History. Tranmere-Clarence Plains Land and Coastcare. 994.62 This book has been printed in Australia by the Print Centre Tas. Pty Ltd, 12-16 Bathurst St., Hobart 7000. Its publication has been made possible through a grant for the Promotion and Conservation of Tasmania’s Cultural Heritage from the Tasmanian Community Fund Board. iv Contents Aboriginal Heritage 7 The Explorers 1642-1802 10 Arrival at the Eastern Shore of the Derwent 16 One Name – Two Settlements 23 Knopwood – His Life 34 Norfolk Island 39 Kangaroo Point to Pitt Water 43 Chaplain’s Glebe – Convicts and Tenant Farmers 52 South Arm and Muddy Plains 59 Crossing Ralph’s Bay Neck 72 Ralph’s Bay Shoreline 76 The Rokeby Mill 86 Rokeby Hills 92 Maps and Illustrations 106 Upstream along the Clarence Plains Rivulet 118 The Education of Children 124 Developing an Identity 128 Schools in Rokeby 139 Knopwood, Stokell and St. Matthew’s 149 A Tale of Two Parsonages 161 The Rokeby Watch House 166 Cricket and other Entertainments 171 The Growth of a Village 182 Pubs of Clarence Plains 185 Cham, Carter and the Congregationalists 189 Cottages, a Hall and a Bit of Confrontation 194 Pests, Problems and Progress 201 Rokeby Afl ame! 208 v Footprints Photographs and Illustrations Old Rokeby Historic Trail Logo 6 Riding School Equestriennes 144 View of Clarence Point 13 Students at Rokeby Public School 1890s 146 Image of trypot 28 Knopwood’s Cottage 149 Excerpt from Ralph’s Bay Neck Canal Act 74 Dipping sheep at Rokeby House 152 View of Ralph’s Bay 76 Stone Parsonage 162 Mill and Millhouse 88 Wooden Parsonage 163 Clarendon Vale House 103 Plan of Rokeby Watch House 167 Rokeby Aerial View c. 1940 106 Hill climb on Skillion Hill 171 Tomb of Revd. Robert Knopwood 109 The New Hall – Trust Hall at Rokeby 173 St. Matthew’s Church, Rokeby 109 Spectators and Players at a cricket match 174 The John Gray (1824) Organ 109 The Currier and His Beam Inn 186 ‘Bob, Pincher and Pony’ 110 Horse & Jockey Inn 187 Account for the Interment of Mrs. Morrisby 110 The Blacksmith Shop Rokeby 188 Chaplain’s Glebe, original house and farm 111 Congregational Chapel 191 Clarence Plains Rivulet Saltmarsh 111 Oakleigh 192 Rokeby Watch House 112 Kate and Albert Chipman 192 Aerial View of Rokeby township c.1940 112 The Nutshell 194 Three Images of the 1860s Clarence Anne Dodds’ Cottage 196 Plains Board of Education school building 113 Pat Connor and Tree Planting group 197 Clarence House 120 Rokeby Village Aerial View 198 Main Road c. 1910 124 Rokeby House - Before and after the fi res 211 Claremont 135 Maps Section: Hall’s Police Districts Rokeby Town Survey R/27 114 Map 1828 Frontispiece Rokeby Town Survey R/28 115 Meehan’s path through Clarence Plains 20 Original grant locations 116 Monmouth 27 107 Properties in the Rokeby Village 117 Monmouth 27 Section. 108 vi Acknowledgements My interest in history and writing was encouraged at an early age by my late mother, Marjorie Caldwell, who this year would have celebrated her 100th birthday. It is also 50 years since she died. She inculcated in me a love for the garden and the surrounding landscape and was proud that I earned my fi rst £1 writing an article for a Melbourne paper, and the second £1 out in the country picking peas. These interests have been encouraged and tolerated over the years by my husband Bruce and my children, now adults themselves, who oversaw my writing of magazines for dog clubs, the land and coastcare group, and various short histories in Tasmania. This is my fi rst published book. I owe a great deal to the following people for assistance with my research: Fonda Arnold, Robin Barker, Doug Chipman, Adrian Collins, Adrian Howard (FOSMA), Julie Davidson, Freda Gray, Audrey Hudspeth, Peter MacFie, Mary McKinlay, Peter Mercer, Robin Pulford, John Sargent, Wayne Smith, Lyn Thorp, Phil Watson and Reg Watson. My thanks also, to the Anglican Diocesan Offi ce for access to their records; to staff at the Archives Offi ce of Tasmania, the Allport Museum, The Mercury, Tasmanian Heritage Council, Tasmaniana Library, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, The State Parliamentary Library, and especially to staff at Clarence City Council. Thanks also to my husband Bruce for his immense knowledge and interest in the Rokeby Mill as well as in Robert Nash; Dr. Stuart Blackler for fostering my interest in Robert Knopwood; Pat Edwards of the Hermitage Garden, UK, for her great assistance in fi lling in the gaps in the ‘Vigar’ research; Lindsay Luddington of Flinders Island; Mary Ramsay of ‘Ratho’ for our shared interest in Rev. Robert Wilson; Bill Read formerly of Land Titles Offi ce and Tony Naughton of the Nomenclature Board; Richard Tuffi n of Austral Archæology who introduced me to the art of reading aerial photographs and their use in research; and Gerard Willems for map identifi cation. For devoting time to personal interviews - Dulcie Bowden, Derreck and Phyllis Calvert, Basil Chipman, Trevor Chipman, Kevin Connor, Maurice Connor, Gwen and Bernie Cook, Lesley and Max Dunstone, Marge and Jeff Essen, Marjorie Goodwin, Esther Hutchins, Steve Knight, Mary McKinlay, Brian Richardson, Rose Richardson, Theo Sharples, Len Stanfi eld, Zena Stanfi eld, Ian Stokell, Athol Tollard, David Tollard, Jack Van Dongen, and Mavis Webb – some of whom have sadly left us. These interviews helped to put the places of the area into context and, through their anecdotes, gave me a better understanding of Rokeby life – my grateful thanks. 1 Footprints To the many unnamed people who contributed information, you will know who you are, and I thank you all for your interest. To those who contributed individual photographs, especially Lois Bayley, Doug Chipman, Trevor Chipman, Adrian Collins, Gwen and Bernie Cook, Ian Duffy, Roger Gillam, Wendy Granger, Audrey Hudspeth, Esther Hutchins, Peter Mercer, Sue Potter. David Tollard and Zena Stanfi eld – you were so helpful. To Phillip Tardif, my great appreciation for his permission to use the map ‘Meehan explores to the south of Risdon 4-7 January 1804’ from his excellent book John Bowen’s Hobart. I would also like to acknowledge the Archives Offi ce of Tasmania as the source of the following: An aerial photograph of Rokeby (LSD 353/1/14/11273); The Old Parsonage (TM 15.6.1911); Spectators and Players at a cricket match (TM 9.5.1912); The New Hall at Rokeby (TM March 1914); The Clarence Plains Board of Education School 1860 (30/4660); and the Horse and Jockey Inn (NS 1195/1). The source of Sidney Hall’s 1828 Police District Map (published 1830) is the Tasmaniana Library; House - Main Road, Rokeby (Q14022) from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and Rokeby House after the 1967 bushfi res, from The Mercury. This assistance is much appreciated. To Bruce Andrew for drafting the plans of grants and properties in Rokeby; Ian Boersma for his drawing of the Knopwood Tomb; Ian Duffy and Dean Smith for producing superb images both for the original brochure and the book; and to the Print Centre for ‘putting it all together’ Thank you. I must also acknowledge the importance of three diaries: Firstly the well-known Mary Nicholls’ edition of Knopwood’s diary. Here is a wealth of all sorts of information. In quoting his entries I have, where possible, used his original spelling, quaint and contracted though it may be. Similarly with other quotes, I have endeavoured to use the original form. Short quotes have been shown in plain text, but longer extracts are in italics, throughout the book. The two years of Charles Chipman’s and the twelve years of William Maum Jnr.’s diaries provided useful personal insights into the farming habits of the day. Many people are common to each diary, and there is an interchange of small mentions of each author. I also really appreciated the access to various Chipman documents, the notes of Julie Davidson and the farm records of George Stokell.