John Pascoe Fawkner
Encyclopedia
John Pascoe Fawkner was an early pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne
, Victoria
, Australia
. In 1835 he financed a party of free settler
s from Van Diemen's Land
(now called Tasmania), to sail to the mainland in his ship, Enterprize
. Fawkner's party sailed to Port Phillip
and up the Yarra River
to found a settlement which became the city of Melbourne
.
London
in 1792 to John Fawkner (a metal refiner)and his wife Hannah née Pascoe, whose parents were Cornish
. As an 11 year old, he accompanied his convict
father, who had been sentenced to fourteen years gaol (jail) for receiving stolen goods, being transported
as part of a two ship fleet to establish a new British colony in Bass Strait
in 1803. The colony landed at Sullivan Bay
, near modern day Sorrento
. For several months the colony struggled to survive. There were some 27 convict escape attempts, including that of William Buckley
. Lack of wood and fresh water eventually persuaded Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to abandon the colony in 1804 with the settlers and convicts departing for the new town of Hobart
in Van Diemen's Land.
In Hobart the young Fawkner assisted his father (who had obtained a conditional pardon) in his bakery, timber business and brewery and soon afterwards fell into trouble. A letter dated 19 October 1814 from Lieut.-governor Davey
to Lieutenant Jeffreys instructs him that he is to receive on board John Fawkner, This gives a misleading account of what had occurred. Fawkner's account of this incident, which appears to have been true, was that "a party of prisoners, determined to escape, sought his assistance and that in a moment of foolish sympathy he undertook to help them". (J. Bonwick, Port Phillip Settlement, pp. 281–2).
In December 1819 transported convict, Eliza Cobb, and John Pascoe Fawkner loaded up a cart and moved to Launceston
. They were married on 5 December 1822, with a permit from Governor George Arthur
. They established a bakery, timber business, bookshop, a newspaper The Launceston Advertiser in 1829, nursery and orchard. Soon after Eliza had received a pardon, Fawkner obtained a licence to run the Cornwall Hotel.
In April 1835, John Pascoe Fawkner purchased the topsail schooner, Enterprize
, to search for a suitable settlement site in the Port Phillip District.
John Batman
led an exploring party to Port Phillip District in May 1835, on board the schooner Rebecca
. He explored a large area in what is now the northern suburbs of Melbourne, as far north as Keilor
, and saw it as ideal country for a sheep run, before returning to Launceston.
When the Enterprize was ready to leave in August 1835, at the last moment creditors prevented Fawkner from joining the voyage. On board the Enterprize as it departed George Town, were Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary
, under Captain Peter Hunter.
On 15 August 1835, Enterprize entered the Yarra River
. After being hauled upstream, she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables.
The Fawkners arrived in the Port Phillip District, on Friday, 16 October 1835, on the second trip of the Enterprize. Fawkner's diary reads: 'Warped up to the Basin, landed 2 cows, 2 calves and the 2 horses.'
on 1 January 1838 which was the district's first newspaper. The Advertiser's first nine or ten weekly editions were handwritten in ink. An old wood press and some type were eventually obtained from Launceston
and the first printed edition appeared on 5 March 1838. It was to last for a further 17 editions when it was closed down on 23 April 1838 for want of a newspaper license from Sydney
. The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser was commenced on 6 February 1839 by newly licensed John Pascoe Fawkner. It was published daily commencing on 15 May 1845.
Fawkner acquired a property in 1839 as one of eleven lots in the subdivision of the Coburg
district by the government surveyor, Robert Hoddle
. The property was called Pascoeville, and was bounded approximately by the Moonee Ponds Creek
, Gaffney Street, Northumberland Road and the western prolongation of Boundary Road. He lived at his farmhouse and at his townhouse in Collingwood
between 1840 and 1855.
In 1851 Fawkner was elected to the first Legislative Council of the Port Phillip District (Talbot electorate), and in 1856 he was elected to the first Parliament of the self-governing colony of Victoria, as MLC for Central Province, the seat he held until his death on 4 September 1869.
In Melbourne as in Launceston, he made many enemies, before dying as the grand old man of the colony on 4 September 1869 in Smith Street, Collingwood at the age of 77. At his funeral over 200 carriages were present, and 15,000 persons were reported to have lined the streets on his burial day, 8 September 1869. He was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery
. He and Eliza did not have any children.
, Pascoe Vale
and Fawkner Park
and the Fawkner Beacon weather station in Port Phillip.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In 1835 he financed a party of free settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s from Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
(now called Tasmania), to sail to the mainland in his ship, Enterprize
Enterprize (1829)
The topsail schooner, Enterprize, was built in Hobart, Tasmania in 1829 by William Pender. It was used for coastal transport of cargo such as coal, livestock, and supplies....
. Fawkner's party sailed to Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
and up the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
to found a settlement which became the city of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Early years
John Pascoe Fawkner was born in CripplegateCripplegate
Cripplegate was a city gate in the London Wall and a name for the region of the City of London outside the gate. The area was almost entirely destroyed by bombing in World War II and today is the site of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1792 to John Fawkner (a metal refiner)and his wife Hannah née Pascoe, whose parents were Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
. As an 11 year old, he accompanied his convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
father, who had been sentenced to fourteen years gaol (jail) for receiving stolen goods, being transported
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
as part of a two ship fleet to establish a new British colony in Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
in 1803. The colony landed at Sullivan Bay
Sullivan Bay, Victoria
Sullivan Bay lies 60 km due south of Melbourne on Port Phillip, one kilometre east of Sorrento, Victoria. It was established as a short-lived convict settlement in 1803 by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins. The site was chosen because of its strategic location near the entrance of the Bay...
, near modern day Sorrento
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...
. For several months the colony struggled to survive. There were some 27 convict escape attempts, including that of William Buckley
William Buckley (convict)
William Buckley was an English convict who was transported to Australia, escaped, was given up for dead and lived in an Aboriginal community for many years....
. Lack of wood and fresh water eventually persuaded Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to abandon the colony in 1804 with the settlers and convicts departing for the new town of Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
in Van Diemen's Land.
In Hobart the young Fawkner assisted his father (who had obtained a conditional pardon) in his bakery, timber business and brewery and soon afterwards fell into trouble. A letter dated 19 October 1814 from Lieut.-governor Davey
Thomas Davey
Thomas Davey was the second Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemens Land.-Early life:Few details are known of his early life, but Thomas Davey was serving in the army or navy in 1777, and went to Australia as a lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Marines with the First Fleet 10 years later...
to Lieutenant Jeffreys instructs him that he is to receive on board John Fawkner, This gives a misleading account of what had occurred. Fawkner's account of this incident, which appears to have been true, was that "a party of prisoners, determined to escape, sought his assistance and that in a moment of foolish sympathy he undertook to help them". (J. Bonwick, Port Phillip Settlement, pp. 281–2).
In December 1819 transported convict, Eliza Cobb, and John Pascoe Fawkner loaded up a cart and moved to Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
. They were married on 5 December 1822, with a permit from Governor George Arthur
George Arthur
Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet KCH PC was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras , Van Diemen's Land and Upper Canada . He also served as Governor of Bombay .-Early life:George Arthur was born in Plymouth, England...
. They established a bakery, timber business, bookshop, a newspaper The Launceston Advertiser in 1829, nursery and orchard. Soon after Eliza had received a pardon, Fawkner obtained a licence to run the Cornwall Hotel.
Settlement of Melbourne
Enterprize (1829)
The topsail schooner, Enterprize, was built in Hobart, Tasmania in 1829 by William Pender. It was used for coastal transport of cargo such as coal, livestock, and supplies....
, to search for a suitable settlement site in the Port Phillip District.
John Batman
John Batman
John Batman was an Australian grazier, businessman and explorer who is best known for his role in the founding of a settlement which became Melbourne and the colony of Victoria.-Life:...
led an exploring party to Port Phillip District in May 1835, on board the schooner Rebecca
Schooner Rebecca
The 30-ton sloop Rebecca was launched in 1834, built by Captain George Plummer at his boatyard on the banks of the Tamar River at Rosevears, Van Diemen's Land ....
. He explored a large area in what is now the northern suburbs of Melbourne, as far north as Keilor
Keilor, Victoria
Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Brimbank and Hume...
, and saw it as ideal country for a sheep run, before returning to Launceston.
When the Enterprize was ready to leave in August 1835, at the last moment creditors prevented Fawkner from joining the voyage. On board the Enterprize as it departed George Town, were Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary
Mary Gilbert
Mary Gilbert was the first European woman to live in the Port Phillip settlement of Melbourne, Australia. She was the daughter of one John Duff, and was married to James Gilbert, blacksmith. The Gilberts were pioneer settlers who disembarked on the banks of the Yarra River and set up camp on 30...
, under Captain Peter Hunter.
On 15 August 1835, Enterprize entered the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
. After being hauled upstream, she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables.
The Fawkners arrived in the Port Phillip District, on Friday, 16 October 1835, on the second trip of the Enterprize. Fawkner's diary reads: 'Warped up to the Basin, landed 2 cows, 2 calves and the 2 horses.'
Melbourne businessman and politician
Fawkner was keen to secure his place in history. He opened Melbourne's first hotel on the corner of William St and Flinders Lane. He published the Melbourne AdvertiserMelbourne Advertiser
The Melbourne Advertiser was Melbourne's first newspaper. It was published by John Pascoe Fawkner, a co-founder of Melbourne. The premier edition appeared on 1 January 1838 handwritten in ink by Fawkner himself and displayed at his hotel....
on 1 January 1838 which was the district's first newspaper. The Advertiser's first nine or ten weekly editions were handwritten in ink. An old wood press and some type were eventually obtained from Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
and the first printed edition appeared on 5 March 1838. It was to last for a further 17 editions when it was closed down on 23 April 1838 for want of a newspaper license from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser was commenced on 6 February 1839 by newly licensed John Pascoe Fawkner. It was published daily commencing on 15 May 1845.
Fawkner acquired a property in 1839 as one of eleven lots in the subdivision of the Coburg
Coburg, Victoria
Coburg is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland, although a handful of properties on Coburg's Eastern boundary are located in the City of Darebin...
district by the government surveyor, Robert Hoddle
Robert Hoddle
Robert Hoddle was a surveyor of Port Phillip in the 1830s, and the creator of the Hoddle Grid, the street grid system upon which inner city Melbourne is based. He was also an accomplished artist and depicted scenes of the Port Philip region as well as New South Wales...
. The property was called Pascoeville, and was bounded approximately by the Moonee Ponds Creek
Moonee Ponds Creek
The Moonee Ponds Creek is a creek and major tributary of the Yarra River running through urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from northern to inner suburbs...
, Gaffney Street, Northumberland Road and the western prolongation of Boundary Road. He lived at his farmhouse and at his townhouse in Collingwood
Collingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
between 1840 and 1855.
In 1851 Fawkner was elected to the first Legislative Council of the Port Phillip District (Talbot electorate), and in 1856 he was elected to the first Parliament of the self-governing colony of Victoria, as MLC for Central Province, the seat he held until his death on 4 September 1869.
In Melbourne as in Launceston, he made many enemies, before dying as the grand old man of the colony on 4 September 1869 in Smith Street, Collingwood at the age of 77. At his funeral over 200 carriages were present, and 15,000 persons were reported to have lined the streets on his burial day, 8 September 1869. He was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery
Melbourne General Cemetery
The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.-History:...
. He and Eliza did not have any children.
Legacy
Many sites in Melbourne have been named in honour of John Fawkner including the John Fawkner Private Hospital as well as the suburbs of FawknerFawkner, Victoria
Fawkner is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland...
, Pascoe Vale
Pascoe Vale, Victoria
Pascoe Vale is a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland. At the 2006 Census, Pascoe Vale had a population of 13,558.- History :...
and Fawkner Park
Fawkner Park, Melbourne
Fawkner Park is a popular park in Melbourne's South Yarra and part of the City of Melbourne. It provides recreational areas for teams playing Cricket, Softball, Soccer, Australian Rules Football, Tennis and Rugby.-History and Layout:...
and the Fawkner Beacon weather station in Port Phillip.
External links
- Enterprize - Melbourne's tall ship
- Fawkner, John Pascoe at the Parliament of Victoria