Captain Charles Swanston ‘Man of the World’ and Van Diemen’s Land Merchant Statesman Eleanor Denise Robin, BA, Grad Cert App Sci (Ornithology) School of Humanities Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania, 12 March 2017 i Copyright statement This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Eleanor Robin 12 March 2017 ii Declaration This thesis contains no material accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis. To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Eleanor Robin 12 March 2017 iii Abstract For two decades in the development of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Captain Charles Swanston (1789−1850) was one of the most influential men in Hobart Town. In the time- honoured tradition of the nineteenth century British Empire, he was the very model of a Merchant Statesman, strengthening the link between commercial enterprise and colonial good. Between 1829 and 1850 Swanston was managing director of the renowned Derwent Bank, Member of the Van Diemen’s Land Legislative Council, an internationally-recognised entrepreneur and merchant, an instigator of the settlement of Melbourne and the Geelong region and a civic leader. His strategic skills, business acumen, far-sightedness and bold ambition contributed significantly to Van Diemen’s Land’s transition from an island prison to a free economy. Yet after the Derwent Bank’s failure in September 1849 and his mysterious death at sea a year later, Swanston’s name faded into the shadows of history. By shining a penetrating light on the colourful life and times of Swanston, this study advances understanding of the role of mercantile ambition in the foundation and growth of the nineteenth century colonies of Tasmania and Victoria. It paints a vivid picture of mercantile networks, endeavours, political aspirations and disappointments. Based on an examination of the voluminous records of the Derwent Bank, family records and other primary sources, it examines Swanston’s trajectory from his childhood in the Scottish Borders and service with the 12th and 24th Regiments of the Madras Native Infantry of the Honourable East India Company to his high status in Van Diemen’s Land. It illustrates the driving urge of early capitalists to acquire property and how their belief in the unassailable value of land led many, like Swanston, to financial ruin when the severe depression of the 1840s reduced land values to below the level of their mortgages and bank loans. Swanston operated under the administrative regimes of successive Lieutenant-Governors Colonel George Arthur, Sir John Franklin, Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot and Sir William Denison. These were tumultuous times, exacerbated by diminishing internal revenue, increasing numbers of transported convicts, a lack of responsiveness from the Colonial Office in London, the growing desires of settlers and a strident demand for political representation. The despondency that characterised Swanston’s last years in Van Diemen's Land occurred during the period that Hobart Town lost its commercial advantage as a port for whaling and trading vessels from around the world and when the broad horizons across Bass Strait beckoned away many ambitious people. While the opportunities of the new lands in Victoria did not save Swanston, he had played a critical role in their settlement, especially in establishing some founding flocks of Victoria’s great wool industry. His 1837 prescience that: ‘Port Phillip is established and flourishing and cannot fail to be a great Colony’ is manifest in the bustling metropolis of Melbourne today. Its central thoroughfare, Swanston Street, perpetuates his name. Swanston was a player in the expanding and volatile world of international capitalism. His biography adds an important chapter to the economic and political history of Australia. iv Acknowledgements I sincerely thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Stefan Petrow, for his encouragement and unstinting patience and good-humour throughout my studies in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania. Stefan’s guidance, particularly in directing my natural interests to a specific topic in nineteenth century mercantile history, is greatly appreciated. His passion for history – the ‘Queen of the Humanities’ – is infectious. I also thank Professor Michael Roe for his insights, and Associate Professor Peter Chapman for stimulating dialogue surrounding my topic. As a distance student on infrequent visits to the university, I have gained much from staff and other post-graduate students in the conversation of Thursday mornings in the history tea room. I thank the staff of the Morris Miller Library, especially Heather Excell, Wendy Rimon and Luana Nandan of Special Collections, and the staff of the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of Australia and the Chifley and Menzies Libraries of the Australian National University for their efficient service. Thank you particularly to the librarians and archivists of TAHO’s History Room who shared my enthusiasm for the discoveries, large and small, while reading through the Derwent Bank Papers in the WL Crowther Collection, an initial occupation of almost a year with many follow-ups. I am indebted to Dr Bronwyn Meikle for drawing my attention to these papers and I thank Senior Librarian Heritage Collections, Ian Morrison, for his explanation about their provenance and recent cataloguing. A New Zealand descendant of Captain Charles Swanston, Janie Swanston, generously provided the opportunity for me to see an oil portrait of Swanston’s wife, Georgiana, and some precious family papers. Thanks also to Warwick Oakman, owner of the Swanston residence ‘New Town Park’ in the Hobart suburb of New Town, for his glimpses into Swanston’s style and home life, to Mark Hosking of the Maritime Museum of Tasmania for assistance with maritime questions, to Graeme Broxam for information about the ships in which Swanston held shares, and to Colleen Read for access to the journal of Amelia Read, (nee Wilson). The company of family and friends provided encouragement and distraction in perfect proportion. A younger generation comprising Sylvie, Helena, Isobel, Elizabeth, Rufus and Tara caused me to think often about the purpose of such a project and hence has been a major source of inspiration. And immense thanks to my dear husband, Geoffrey, for his support and understanding during my recent consuming pre-occupation. v Table of contents Abstract iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of tables and list of maps viii List of images ix A note on spelling, style and references x INTRODUCTION 1 Quest and originality 2 Merchant Statesman 3 The challenge of biography 7 Sources 10 Literature review 16 Organisation of the thesis 23 CHAPTER 1: Tentacles of Empire 27 Men of Empire 28 Origins in the Scottish Borders 30 Madras Army of the Honourable East India Company 34 The promise of Van Diemen’s Land 42 New career in banking and politics 48 Establishing a family in style 50 CHAPTER 2: ‘The most talented and accomplished financier of our day’ 55 Eminent patronage 56 ‘Security, Secrecy and Impartiality’ 59 George Mercer’s capital investment 69 Impact of the settlement of Port Phillip and South Australia 76 Hardship of the 1840s depression 77 Collapse of the Derwent Bank 85 CHAPTER 3: Politics in the Legislature 90 Public life in the penal colony 91 Administrative transparency 98 Colonial self-sufficiency 100 Civic unrest 105 CHAPTER 4: A Fracturing of Power 120 A well-established clique? 121 ‘An excuse to turn me out’ 125 Implications of ‘the Book’ 129 Achievements as legislator 135 vi CHAPTER 5: In Trade, an Influential Name ‘far and wide’ 138 ‘Merchant’ and ‘Merchant Statesman’ 140 Hobart Town’s mercantile community 1830-1850 142 Swanston’s way of business 146 Agent for George Mercer 153 Wool grower and broker 157 Other enterprises 161 CHAPTER 6: Iramoo and Swanston’s Lost Sheep 166 Land-grabbers or Empire-builders? 167 Swanston as strategist 174 Lost flocks and distraught shepherds 177 The Port Phillip Pie 188 Swanston’s place in Victoria’s history 198 CHAPTER 7: ‘A Taste and spirit of refinement’ 201 ‘New Town Park’ 203 Horticulture 207 Horticultural Society 213 Viticulture 216 Architecture, surveying, and work with James Blackburn 218 Education and civic affairs 224 CHAPTER 8: Confronting the Lingering Aspersions 229 Desperation or blind optimism? 229 Gold fever 234 Swanston’s critics 239 By comparison 242 Post mortem 248 Expunged 257 CHAPTER 9: Conclusion 260 Legacy and aftermath 264 Appendix 1: Capabilities of Port Phillip 270 Appendix 2: The Shepherd’s Letter 273 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 276 Primary sources 276 Secondary sources 282 vii List of Tables Table 1: Statement of the Liabilities and Assets of Van Diemen’s Land Banks as at 30 June 1838 74 Table 2: Government Revenue and Expenditure 1832−1848 108 List of Maps Map 1: 1830 Map of the settled part of Van Diemen’s Land xiii Map 2: India in the mid-nineteenth century from Tallis’s illustrated atlas 40 Map 3: Map of Port Phillip from the survey of Mr Wedge and others 181 viii List of images Image 1 Captain Charles Swanston