Gazetteer of Historical Australian Places
SORT: Placename | State | LGA | Feature_term | Latitude | Longitude | Start Date | End Date |
"Why the Hunter was not discovered earlier is amazing as there was an amount of traffic between Sydney and Port Stephens. As early as 1790 five escaped convicts, stole a boat from South Head Signal Station after escaping there from Parramatta in a punt. They were successful in reaching Port Stephens, where, upon putting in, their boat foundered and they were forced to live with the aborigines. According to the diary of Secretary of the Colony, Mr Collins, they were recaptured when Captain W.R. Broughton, of H.M.S. "Providence", put into Port Stephens because of bad weather on the 23rd August, 1795.
Port Stephens was visited officially in 1795 when a party, under the direction of Lieut. Col. Paterson, reached there on 21st February. This party was to spend a week exploring the area, during which time the Deputy Surveyor General, Charles Grimes, was to survey the port and to write that he could see no reason why anyone should visit there again.
The escapees who were then living at Port Stephens, missed recapture on this occasion as they were inland at the time."
Transcribed from: Deamer, Ross M Houses erected on original land grants in the Lower Hunter, Paterson and Williams River Valleys between 1800-1850 [manuscript] / Ross M. Deamer. University of Newcastle 1971. Location Auchmuty - THESIS 309 [pp.2-3]