John Terry (miller)
Encyclopedia
John Terry was an early settler and pioneer farmer in New Norfolk, Tasmania
New Norfolk, Tasmania
-References:5. Fellowship of First Fleeters.6. New Norfolk's History and Achievements by Joe Cowburn and Rita Cox 1986-External links:* has extensive local information, history, photographs, resources and attractions...

.

Born in Askrigg
Askrigg
Askrigg is a small village and civil parish in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is part of the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England...

 in the Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...

, he was the eldest son of John Terry of The Mill, Redmire
Redmire
Redmire is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 4 miles west of Leyburn in Wensleydale at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.It is the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway...

 and Grace Green. The Terrys also had milling and other interests in Bedale
Bedale
Bedale is a market town and civil parish in the district of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Leeds, southwest of Middlesbrough, and south west of the county town of Northallerton...

, Forcett
Forcett
Forcett is a village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, near the border with County Durham. It lies on the B6274 road about 8 miles south of Staindrop...

 and Askrigg
Askrigg
Askrigg is a small village and civil parish in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is part of the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England...

.

He married Martha Powell on 12 July 1797 and continued in the family milling business until, in October 1818, John and Martha, their eight daughters, three sons and two millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...

s sailed from Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 on the Surrey, the only "free" settlers on a convict
Convictism in Australia
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...

 ship to 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...

, 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...

.

Possibly unhappy with the terms of the lease and the size of the allotment at Liverpool
Liverpool, New South Wales
Liverpool is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool is located 32 km south-west of the Sydney central business district, and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Liverpool...

, south west of 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...

, Terry moved his family and business to 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...

. Arriving in Hobart Town
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...

 on the Prince Leopold on 6 December 1819, the family proceeded to build the mill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

 on 100 acres (40 ha) at Elizabeth Town (soon to be renamed New Norfolk), where the Derwent
Derwent River (Tasmania)
The Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....

 and Lachlan Rivers met.

By the end of 1820 Terry was grinding wheat on what was now known as the 'Lachlan River Mill'. Further to this he took up a grant of 1,400 acres (567 ha) at nearby Macquarie Plains (later renamed Gretna). This property he called 'Askrigg', named after the village of his birth. In 1827 he purchased 'Slateford', a property at Hayes.

In about 1822, on the 'Lachlan River Mill' estate, Terry built a granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...

; circa 1830 the family built the house that was to later be named 'Tynwald'; and, after introducing hops to the estate in the 1860s, John's youngest son Ralph built an Oast house
Oast house
An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture...

. All three buildings still stand to this day.

Terry's letters back to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 provide an insight into thoughts many early migrants must have experienced, looking with wonder at a land very foreign to them. In a letter written in 1822 he described some of his first impressions.


'Wild duck in great numbers as many as 200 or 300, rise at once. Black swans and land quails, wild pidgeons coloured like a peacock, and fish in great plenty … Trees here cast a shell of bark, not leaves. Wood, when cut green, sinks in the water like a stone. Your shortest day is our longest, so you summer when our winter. The cuckoo cries in the night, and mostly in our winter the man in the moon is with his legs upwards'.


John Terry died at his home on 8 July 1844. The millstones that accompanied him from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 now sit outside St Matthew's Close in New Norfolk. A window dedicated to John and Martha Terry appears amongst the impressive stained glass windows of St Matthew's Anglican Church in New Norfolk. It bears a line from the letter quoted above. The line he wrote next suggests confidence that the effort was worth it.


I threw off my coat and rose with the sun wrought all that came to hand. I now thank God and consider myself and my family in a very comfortable position'.
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