Early Hunter, its Discovery, Exploration and Settlement

This article was included in the Maitland Centenary Articles in the Newcastle Morning Herald of the 17th August, 1929, it covers the discovery, exploration and settlement of Newcastle and Maitland

That part of the Hunter River District, lying between Newcastle and Maitland, is one of the oldest settlements in Australia, outside of the Sydney-Parramatta area.

Port Hunter was discovered by Lieutenant John Shortland, jun., on September 9th, 1797. He left Sydney a few days previously in pursuit of runaway convicts, sailed into the harbour, now known as Port Hunter, to escape the force of a gale, and later in the day discovered that a river was flowing into the port. He returned to Sydney on September 19, and reported that he had discovered the presence of coal lying near the waterside. Some samples of the coal found on the beach at the mouth of the port were taken by him to Sydney and given to Governor Hunter. Strange to say, Governor Hunter did not follow up Shortland's discovery by further investigation. Private enterprise was attracted by the prospects of procuring coal and timber, and occasional trips were made in small boats owned by Simeon Lord and others during the following four years.

In June 1801, Governor King decided to send a party under Colonel W. Paterson and Lieutenant John Grant to report on the possibilities of the newly found port for settlement purposes. The expedition left Sydney on June 10, 1801, and arrived at the port after sunrise on June ??. A camp was established on the present site of Newcastle, steps were taken to exploit the coal resources of the headlands, but Paterson, with some other members of the party, proceeded up the river on a voyage of exploration. On July 1 they reached the present site of Maitland, and named the locality Schanck's Forest Plains.

During the next few days they explored the river and its immediate vicinity as far as the present estate of Hillsborough, returned to camp, and started on the return journey to the port. On the way back they proceeded up the Williams River as far as a cascade, which was a few miles above the present town of Clarence Town. A few days later they arrived back in the port.

Paterson's reports were so encouraging that Governor King, decided to carry on with the getting of coal, and established a small guard, under Corporal Wixstead, in July of the same year, but a mutiny of the convicts, stationed there, led to Wixstead being superseded by Surgeon Martin Mason, in September. The new Commandant was a failure. His reign of the lash, his lack of knowledge of human nature, his idea that brutal methods alone would control the convicts under his charge, his innate selfishness in the discharge of his duties, led to mutiny, and he was withdrawn in December, 1801. Wixstead resumed charge of the little settlement, but, in February of the following year, Governor King withdrew Wixstead, the guard, and the convicts, and the settlement was abandoned. For three years the port was neglected, so far as the Government was concerned.

In March of 1804, Governor King decided once more to establish a settlement at Newcastle. Many causes contributed to his belated decision, but he had never lost faith in his original idea, and all the conditions were present on the river for a successful settlement. He selected Lieut. C.A.F.N. Menzies as the most suitable officer to carry out the venture. In his instructions to that officer, under date, March 15, 1804, King informed him - "That the settlement at the Coal Harbour and Hunter's River, now distinguished by the name of Newcastle, in the County of Northumberland, should be re-established without loss of time." In a Government and General Order issued on March 17, 1804, the Governor announced that "Lieutenant Charles Menzies is sworn in as a magistrate for the above settlement and county, which is hereafter to be distinguished by the name of Newcastle, on the County of Northumberland, the division between which and the County of Cumberland is to be the parallel line of ??deg, 20min, south latitude." On March 24 he issued a General Order respecting regulations for vessels going to the Coal Harbour and Hunter's River.

In the meantime Lieutenant Menzies had been preparing for his new office as Commandant at Newcastle. With a party of soldiers and convicts he arrived Coal Harbour on March 30, 1804, and selected a site for the new settlement on the southern side in the vicinity of the east end of Newcastle. In a letter to the Governor, Lieut. Menzies wrote on April 19, 1804 - "Previous to the vessels entering the harbour, I went in a small boat to examine the situation of the mines, and fix on a place, the most suitable for the settlement, which I found to be a most delightful valley, about a-quarter of a mile from the entrance and south head, and close to the mines. I immediately ordered the disembarkation to take place and began to unload the three vessels." He proceeded to explain that Chapman's Island (now Carrington) would neither answer as a place of settlement nor as a place of confinement of refractory convicts; it was too far from the mines for settlement purposes, and the water between it and the mainland was too shallow to prevent the escape of convicts. He also suggested the possibility of convicts being taken to the mainland in canoes by the natives. His preferences for convict detention purposes was Coal Island (Nobbys) from which, in his opinion, they could not possibly escape.

Whilst referring to the possibility of the use of the island for such purposes, he was hopeful that there would be no necessity for him to take advantage of it. He referred to an excellent mine that had been opened, showing a seam 42in thick, but deplored the fact that the mines had been dug in a most shameful manner, no proper supports having been left, so that there had been many falls. He suggested that 50 more convicts be sent to the settlement, as he was desirous of keeping a quantity of cedar and coal on hand, in order that vessels sent by the Government might not be delayed in the harbour. He did not require an increase in the number of soldiers, as he considered that his guard was strong enough to control the situation. The convicts at the settlement were made to work hard, but were most cheerful, and so well conducted that he had caused the irons to be removed from most of them, as their legs had been very sore, and he did not wish to be deprived of their labour. It was his practice to issue food rations only twice a week, as that reduced the possibility of any of the convicts absconding. He suggested that a few guns be sent to the settlement and placed on a commanding site, so as to prevent any vessel, in case of seizure, while up Paterson's River (the present Hunter River above Raymond Terrace) from getting away from the harbour.

Menzies, during his administration of about one year, proved himself to be a firm but humane disciplinarian. Contrary to his hopes, he had to cope with several mutinies among the convicts, but he succeeded in quelling all. The work in the little mines was well carried out, and the timber industry assumed fairly large proportions. Under his regime the cedar grooves about Maitland, especially those of Bolwarra and Oakhampton, were worked extensively. In addition to small parties of convicts , under military guards, timber-cutters were sent from Sydney by Underwood, Kable, Lord and Campbell, to exploit the forests along the river. The New

River (now known as Paterson River) was another source of the timber supply. The logs were rafted down the stream to Newcastle, where they were either loaded into boats, or sent to the sawmill on the south side, now Stockton. Menzies constructed a stone wharf at Newcastle, 186ft long, 12ft wide, and 8ft 2in deep at high water. It remained in use for many years. He also caused a coal fire to be established on Collier's Point (Signal Hill) as a beacon for mariners, and built huts for the soldiers and convicts. Conditions were primitive, but Menzies made the best of them.

The vessels of the expedition which established the settlement at Newcastle on March 30, 1804, were the Lady Nelson, which had on board Lieut. Menzies, Surgeon James Mileham, Mr. F. Bauer, natural history painter, Mr. John Tucker, storekeeper, one overseer, two carpenters, three sawyers, a gardener, a salt bailer, and 18 convicts, the colonial cutter, Resource, with one sergeant, four soldiers, Superintendent Knight, and 12 convicts, and Mr. Thomas Raby's sloop, James, with Mr. George Caley, botanist and explorer, three miners, with stores and provisions for six months. The total population of the first settlement was 50. The three vessels returned to Sydney with cargoes of coal and timber, but in a gale during the voyage, the sloop James was wrecked on the north head of Broken Bay, but the crew of five was rescued by the crew of the Resource.

If September 9, 1797, is to be regarded as Discovery Day, so far as Newcastle is concerned, it is clear that March 30, 1804, the day of the first permanent settlement, must be regarded as Foundation Day.

Other commandants followed Menzies, but in this review leading up to the settlement along the river, there is no necessity to follow their work at Newcastle, as but little was accomplished by them, largely because of restrictions imposed on them by the Governors.

Data concerning the early settlement in the Maitland district is very scant and obscure. Tradition has it that the early timber getters, operating on the cedar trees, established headquarters on a site between the present towns of East and West Maitland, along the banks of Wallis Creek, in the vicinity of the river, and the locality became known as "The Camp". In 1812 "The Camp" assumed larger proportions, but the population did not reach 50. During the next six years attention was directed to the possibilities of an official settlement, and under the regime of Captain John Wallis, as Commandant at Newcastle, a few officials started some small farms, and the settlement became known as Wallis Plains, a name which survived for many years. In 1818 Governor Macquarie paid a short visit to the locality and decided that it be thrown open for settlement. In that year, John Eckford, John Smith and William O'Donnell arrived and took up land on sufferance, but subsequently received grants. Others followed during the next few years, and then came Mary Hunt better known as Molly Morgan, a woman of such a dominant personality that her name was applied to the place which was known for a few years as "Molly Morgan's Plains" though officially it remained Wallis Plains. Eckford's land was on the East Maitland side of the creek, while Smith & O'Donnell settled on the banks of the creek, Smith on the east side and O'Donnell on the west. Gradually settlement moved along the route now occupied by the Great Northern road, in the direction of the present town of Singleton. Dangars, Blaxlands, McLeods and other families established homes in that direction, and the bullock teams made the present crooked highway to these settlements, notably on the site of West Maitland.

In the year 1828, the attention of Governor Darling was directed to the settlement, and he conceived the idea of establishing a town at the junction of Wallis Creek with the Hunter River. In the following year, 1829, under his instructions, Surveyor G.B. White surveyed the proposed town which had been planned by Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell, and the town of Maitland, named after Lord James Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale, in the Scottish Peerage, was proclaimed. Unfortunately, the date of the proclamation is not available, but from some evidence it must have been made early in the year. In June, 1829, in a list of the towns of the colony, the Sydney "Gazette" has the following reference - "Maitland: A town to be laid out at the head of the navigation of Hunter's River. 127 miles from Sydney."

The population of Maitland in 1829 was about 150. The settlers were not impressed with the proclamation of the new town of Maitland, their preference being the track cut through the alluvial flat for the land along the river on the opposite side of the creek, then known as Wallis Plains. The settlement followed by the bullock teams. Already two inns the Angel and the Rose, were in existence, and in 1830 the building of the Albion Inn, nearly opposite Galton's Ltd. site, was entered upon. Such progress was made by Wallis Plains that Governor Bourke acceded to the wish of the settlers and on November 9, 1835 renamed the old town of Maitland, East Maitland, while the area on the opposite side of the creek, along the southern bank of the river, was named West Maitland, from that date West Maitland developed rapidly and became the emporium of the Upper Hunter and Liverpool Plains and later of the whole of the northern and north-western parts of the colony. Its business was even extended into the southern parts of Queensland.

Among the prominent storekeepers in the thirties and forties were P.J. Cohen, David Cohen, and a number of others who did not last very long in competition with David Cohen. The Vindin family established an extensive business in the western part of West Maitland and operated on an extensive scale. Other houses were established, but changed hands very frequently, but the prosperity of the town continued. Bullock teams came to and fro, from the north and the north-west, and the teamsters made the place a hive of industry and pleasure. One result was the opening of many inns at East and West Maitland and Morpeth. At one time there were over 50 inns in the three towns. In the vicinity of each inn provision was made for the accommodation of the teams in vacant paddocks. One of the most popular camping grounds was about the Spread Eagle Hotel, on the Great Northern road, outside of Maitland, nearly opposite the present Rutherford Military Camp. Other camping grounds were at Morpeth, where produce of all kinds from the interior was loaded into the little vessels trading to Sydney and Newcastle.

Wheat and maize were brought to Maitland in large quantities, and the building of flour mills followed. One mill in Sempill-street, opposite the Courthouse, was erected by Henry Sempill in the early thirties. There were over a dozen mills in operation in the forties and fifties, but gradually opposition in other districts caused some and eventually all of them to cease operations. The rust in the wheat contributed largely to this result. A few survived into the eighties but only limited lines.