C Sailing from Moreton Bay to Newcastle, the ship Isabella carrying Backhouse & Walker arrived 'into Port Hunter, tacking first to one side, and then to the other, close to the breakers' until they 'reached a place of safety, under a natural, though imperfect breakwater, terminated by an islet, called The Knobby'.

Placename

Nobbys Head, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, pp. 377-378

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker were welcomed in Newcastle by the Colonial Surgeon George Brooks. Newcastle was described as 'only a village of about forty houses, inclusive of a jail, a hospital and military barracks'

Placename

Newcastle, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

George Brooks

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 378

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C While working with George Brooks, Backhouse & Walker 'passed the burial ground, in which a detachment of an ironed-gang was at work, under an overseer, and three sentries'. Backhouse considered that 'these men had been occupied here about a month, in making improvements, that a quarter of their number of industrious men, would have effected in the same time' as 'work without wages proceeds slowly, by a natural consequence that is not at all reversed, by the work being imposed as the punishment of crime'.

Placename

Church Street, Newcastle, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 379

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Unable to proceed to Sydney because of storms, Backhouse & Walker decided to visit Ebenezer, on Lake Macquarie, where Lancelot Edward Threlkeld was employed by the Government, as a Missionary. They engaged Beerabahn, otherwise known as M'Gill asa guide. Beerabahn was described as 'a tall, intelligent man' and the 'chief' of the local Aboriginal people 'resorting thither'. Together they set out fro Ebenezer with another Aboriginal man called 'Boatman' or 'Boardman' and arrived at the home of L.E. Threlkeld as the sun set on 27 April 1836.

Placename

Ebenezer Mission, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Beerabahn; M'Gill; Boatman; Boardman; Lancelot Edward Threlkeld

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, pp. 379-381

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Lancelot Edward Threlkeld had 'applied himself diligently to attaining the language' of Awabakal Aboriginal people and 'reducing it to writing, compiling a grammar, preparing a translation of the Gospel according to Luke, and some smaller selections from Scripture, also a vocabulary'. While operating the mission he also had to provide for his own family, which consists of nine children. Threlkeld walked with Backhouse & Walker to a woody point extending into the lake and spoke to some Aboriginal people who were fishing.

Placename

Coal Point, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Lancelot Edward Threlkeld

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 381

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Three Aboriginal men rowed Threlkeld, Backouse & Walker to the site of the old missionary station at the head of Lake Macquarie. This station had been abandoned by the London Missionary Society and the Aboriginal people who had lived there were reported to have 'become dispersed among the settlers, towards Newcastle'.

Placename

Threlkeld Reserve, Coal Point, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Lancelot Edward Threlkeld; London Missionary Society

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 381

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Threlkeld conveyed Backhouse & Walker, along with their guides Beerabahn and Boardman by boat to the head of Lake Macquarie to take the road to Newcastle.

Placename

Teralba, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Beerabahn; M'Gill; Boatman; Boardman; Macquarie; Lancelot Edward Threlkeld

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 383

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C On the way to Newcastle they were joined by an Aboriginal man named Macquarie. When the party reached Newcastle, the guides 'received their wages in bread, tea, sugar, and tobacco'.

Placename

Newcastle East, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Beerabahn; M'Gill; Boatman; Boardman; Macquarie;

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 384

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker returned on the ship Ceres from Newcastle to Sydney, where they were visited several times by Aboriginal men Beerabahn (also known as M'Gill) and Boatman (also known as Boardman), who had been their guides and interpreters when travelling to the Ebenezer Mission. These Aboriginal men were in Sydney in order to act as interpreters at a trial alongside Lancelot Edward Threlkeld.

Placename

195 Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal men; Beerabahn; M'Gill; Boatman; Boardman; Macquarie;

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 385

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C While staying in Sydney, Backhouse and Walker were 'much occupied in sending books, and tracts to persons' whom they had visited over the course of their journey.

Placename

195 Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Objects

Correspondence

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 388

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker were 'furnished with letters of introduction' from their 'kind friend, the Colonel Secretary, to several settlers on the Hunter River', so they 'sailed by the Ceres steamer, for Maitland, and had a fine passage, the sea being so smooth as scarcely to give motion to the vessel'.

Placename

Darling Harbour, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 388

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C The steamer Ceres anchored at Newcastle 'about five o'clock in the morning' and after 'waiting an hour for daylight, it proceeded up the Hunter, to the Green Hills or Morpeth, the port of the embryo town of Maitland, which is about twenty miles from Newcastle, by land, and forty by water.' Backhouse described the Hunter river as 'of considerable width' with banks of 'low, alluvial land' with little cleared and a 'thick scrub, containing a variety of trees and shrubs' extending to the water's edge.

Placename

Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 388

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Maitland was described as being 'aobut three miles from Green Hills' and consisting of 'a considerable number of houses, scattered by the sides of a soft road, for upwards of two miles, some of which' were 'substantially built of brick'. Backhouse & Walker found 'good accomodation at a hotel between Green Hills and Maitland'.

Placename

Newcastle Street, East Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 389

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker found that in Maitland 'a considerable number' of Aboriginal people 'were working for the inhabitants, as hewers of wood and drawers of water'.

Placename

Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal people

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 389

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'visited the Jail' which was described as 'a place of temporary confinement' before prisoners were transferred to Newcastle'. The Maitland Jail consisted 'of a few cells, enclosed within a high, wooden fence' and was 'said to be sometimes so crowded' that prisoners had 'to be brought into the yard to avoid suffocation'.

Placename

Maitland Gaol, 18 John Street, East Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 389

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C After holding a meeting in the Maitland Court House, Backhouse & Walker 'visited an ironed-gang, employed on the roads, under a military guard' and 'found them locked up in their caravans, out of which only one-third were allowed to come at a time, for exercise'. Backhouse reported that when the convicts were locked in 'only half of them can sit up, on the ends of the platforms, on which half of them sleep; the rest must sit back, with their legs at a right angle with their bodies'. On the arrival of Backhouse & Walker, these convicts 'were all turned out, counted, and then marched to a place, at a short distance, where they stood, with the guard of soldiers, under arms, behind them' in order to be addressed by the Quakers.

Placename

Maitland court house, 1 John Street, East Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 390

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'travelled westward through open, grassy forest, towards Harpers Hills' where an 'ironed-gang' were stationed. These convicts at Harpers Hills 'were working on the road, at a place where... there were marine fossils, sparingly imbedded in basalt'.

Placename

Harpers Hill, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 391

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C While journeying from Dalwood to Busby's Kirkton vineyard, Backhouse saw a kangaroo, which he noted was an animal that had 'become scarce in the settled parts' of New South Wales, 'where flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle... consume the thin grass of the continuous forests'.

Placename

Elderslie, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

James Busby

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 392

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C In June 1836 the 'town reserve of Muscle Brook' was 'marked by a small, weatherboard inn'. A few miles away was 'Arthurs Vale, a large farming establishment, belonging to Henry Dumaresq'. At Arthurs Vale, the prisoner-servants were numerous, and under excellent management'. Most were 'lodged in ten, neat cottages, with gardens attached' with 'wives of several of those of good conduct... permitted to join their husbands'.

Placename

Muswellbrook, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Henry Dumaresq

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 393

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'received a most kind welcome' at 'St Aubins, the residence of William Dumaresq', a property that they reported was 'conducted on a similar plan to that at Arthurs Vale, and with a similarly beneficial result'. At St Aubins Backhouse & Walker met the Quaker Charlotte Anley, author of 'The Prisoners of Australia'.

Placename

St Aubins Street, Scone, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts; Charlotte Anley; Henry Dumaresq

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 393

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C After leaving Ravensworth, Backhouse & Walker 'were assisted with horses, in fording the Hunter', then continued their journey 'on foot, passing the habitations of some settlers, to Cock-fighters-bridge, on the Wollombi Rivulet'. At Cockfighter Bridge, the party 'were hospitably entertained at the house of a person belonging the Survey Department, under whose charge, a party of prisoners were employed in the erection of a bridge'. The prisoners 'were lodged in huts of split timber' with 'numerous fissures in the walls of which admitted much air', but 'fires were allowed, to keep out the frost'. The men had 'only one blanket each, in which they slept, on large sheets of bark, put up like berths in a ship'.

Placename

Cockfighter Bridge, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 395

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'proceeded by the steamer Ceres' from Maitland to the 'mouth of the Williams River, and walked from thence to Raymonds Terrace'. At Raymonds Terrace they inspected 'a manufactory of superior, brown earthenware' which was 'one of the most successful of the few attempts that have been made to manufacture pots in the Australian Colonies'.

Placename

Raymond Terrace, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Objects

Earthenware pots

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 398

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C A 'boat belonging to the Australian Agricultural Company' conveyed Backhouse & Walker 'from Sawyers Point on the south-west of the estuary of Port Stephens, to Tarlee House, the residence of Henry Dumaresq, the Company's First Commissioner' whose family received them kindly.

Placename

Tahlee, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

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Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Henry Dumaresq; Australian Agricultural Company

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 399

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'visited the little village of Carrington' which was 'on the north shore of Port Stephens', and was 'composed of a few weather-board cottages, occupied by officers and servants of the Agricultural Company'. Backhouse reported that the few Aboriginal people who lived in the village of Carrington were 'kindly treated'.

Placename

Carrington, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

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Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal people; Australian Agricultural Company

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, pp. 399-400

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C On their way to Stroud, Backhouse & Walker passed 'a small settlement called Alderley' where they 'were hospitably entertained by an intellegent medical man, having the superintendence of the stock' of the Australian Agricultural Company. Backhouse & Walker reported that the population of Stroud was 'considerably greater than that of other stations, and that the number of Aboriginal people was 'considerable on the territory of the Company; and if its object had been as much to do justice to the people whose lands they have occupied, as it has been to enrich themselves, they would doubtless have made more effort than they have done for their civilization'.

Placename

Stroud, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal people; Australian Agricultural Company

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, pp. 400-401

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C At Wallarobba, Backhouse & Walker 'were very cordially received by a settler and his wife' who had 'maintained a kindly feeling' toward the local Aboriginal people, who lived 'about them in quietness and confidence, but who have been reduced in this neighbourhood, by various causes, among which has been the Small Pox, from about 200 to 60'.

Placename

Wallarobba, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Aboriginal people

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 402

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C On 23 July 1836 Backhouse & Walker left the Hunter Valley to return to Newcastle by the steamer Sophia Jane.

Placename

Maitland, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Objects

Sophia Jane

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 403

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C On the afternoon of 24 July 1836 Backhouse & Walker 'had a religious interview with about 120 prisoners in the jail', and found that it was 'a very considerable building, but very badly arranged, for the complete separation of the male and female prisoners'. They reported that between the jail and the town there was 'a sandy hill that was once covered with brushwood' but that this had been 'cut down when Newcastle was a penal settlement, to prevent the concealment of prisoners' and ever since the drifting sand had 'bid defiance to all oppostion, burying walls and all other impediments raised to obstruct its course'.

Placename

Newcastle, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 403

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C Backhouse & Walker 'visited a detachment of fourteen men, belonging to a bridge and road-party, at the Iron-bark Creek, about eight miles from Newcastle, toward Maitland'. This group 'were gathered up' and 'at length collected in an overseer's hut' where Backhouse & Walker 'were strengthened to extend to them an invitation to turn to the Lord.'

Placename

Ironbark Creek, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

People

Convicts

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 403

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources

C On 30 July 1836, Backhouse & Walker 'embarked on board the steamer 'William the Forth' which left Newcastle for Port Macquarie where they arrived the following day.

Placename

Newcastle Harbour, New South Wales

Type

Other

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Details

Description

Extended Data

Journey_Title

Newcastle & Hunter Valley

Objects

William the Forth

Source

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit, p. 405

Link

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10371634

Sources