James Collins Hawker | |
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| Born | 10 April 1821 Catsfield, England. |
| Died | 15 May 1901 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation(s) | explorer, surveyor, aide-de-camp, diarist, author, settler |
| Notable work | Early Experiences in South Australia |
James Collins Hawker (1821-1901) was an English-born explorer, surveyor, diarist and pastoralist [1] of South Australia, aide-de-camp to Governor George Gawler, [2] and subsequently Comptroller of H.M. Customs at Port Adelaide. [2]
Hawker was born in Catsfield, England. He was a son of Admiral Edward Hawker, R.N. After an educational career in French, Swiss, and Italian academies, his education was completed at the High School in Tavistock Square, London. [3]
He had two brothers, George Charles Hawker and Charles Hawker, with both of whom he settled in Australia in 1841.
Hawker sailed to South Australia in 1838 with George Gawler, who was an old friend of his father, and who was to succeed Captain Hindmarsh, R.N., the first viceregal representative in the colony. Gawler had made an offer to Hawker's father to take one of his sons to South Australia with him when he took up his new post. They arrived in Port Adelaide, described as a "wretched mudhole", in October. There he met harbormaster (and his future father-in-law) Capt. Thomas Lipson, R.N., accompanied the new Governor on his official entry into the city, and witnessed the swearing-in at the viceregal residence. [4]
In December 1838, Hawker joined the party which conducted a survey on the Sturt River, led by J. W. McLaren who became Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia. [4] Hawker was the fourth officer in that party, and subsequently led a survey party on the Onkaparinga River. Among the officers was draftsman John McDouall Stuart, later noted as an explorer. Hawker executed surveys in other parts of the colony, before resigning and returning to Government House to assist in the Private Secretary's office. He was present at the public dinner given to Colonel Gawler in 1840, and later in that same year he left for England in the ship Katherine Stewart Forbes. [4]
Finding that his two brothers, George and Charles, had themselves only just left for Australia, Hawker returned almost immediately to join them, sailing on the barque Siam. Leaving England in December 1840, he arrived back at Holdfast Bay in South Australia on 25 April 1841. [4] [5]
Within ten days of arriving, Hawker had volunteered to accompany a party which went out to retrieve 5,000 sheep left near Chowilla by overlanders Henry Inman (his future brother in law), Henry Field and nine others after being attacked by local Aboriginal people. One attacker was shot dead before Inman, Field and the other overlanders escaped, the fate of the sheep unknown. The retrieval party found themselves opposed by about 300 warriors, and fired at the attackers, killing eight, and wounding several more before they retreated. They returned without the sheep, Field slightly wounded, and his horse badly speared. [3] [6] Hawker subsequently went out as commissary under command of Police Commissioner O'Halloran, their force succeeding in protecting other settlers who had been attacked and in retrieving their animals.
Hawker soon settled down with his two brothers, and all three engaged in sheep-farming, initially at Mount Dispersion, near Anlaby Station, north of Nuriootpa. On 22 December 1841 he discovered a permanent water supply in the Mid-North of South Australia at Bungaree, which was improved by sinking a well, and transferred his stock there. [3] In 1843, James Hawker sold his share in the Bungaree Station to his brother George, and relocated to Moorundie on the River Murray. He, along with E. J. Eyre (explorer and later Governor of Jamaica) plus E. B. Scott (one-time superintendent of Yatala Labour Prison) were the first three settlers on the Murray. However, his speculation proved unsuccessful, in 1847 Hawker took up a post with H.M. Customs at Port Adelaide, [3] becoming tide surveyor and eventually comptroller in 1862. [7]
In 1860 Hawker founded Port Adelaide's first rowing club, called the "Pelican Club", of which he was captain and an oarsman for many years. Their Patron was Lady MacDonnell, whose name graced one of their two boats. [8]
Hawker compiled diaries over much of his life, originally publishing them as articles that appeared in the South Australian Register and the Adelaide Observer . He subsequently published them in two books:
The 1899 series gave detailed accounts of his journey to Australia on board the Pestonjee Bomanjee, his years there, the many acquaintances he met, including assisting the renowned ornithologist John Gould during his studies in 1839, and of his return to England on board the Katherine Stewart Forbes. The second series recounted his experiences for the years immediately after his return to Australia in 1842, including the establishment of the Bungaree station. [9]
On 24 October 1850 at Trinity Church, Adelaide, Hawker married Louisa Lipson (1829 – 5 August 1918), youngest daughter of Capt. Lipson R.N., Harbourmaster at Port Adelaide. [3]
In August 1872, Hawker retired from the customs branch, and went into private commercial life, establishing the business of land and station agency and surveyor. He also became a respected Freemason. At the time of his death in 1901, his business was continuing under the name of James C. Hawker & Son. [3]
In his later years Hawker lived a quiet life at Strangways-terrace, North Adelaide. [4] He died on 15 October 1901 and was buried at North Road Cemetery. He left a widow, three sons, and five daughters. [3]
Boyle Travers Finniss was the first premier of South Australia, serving from 24 October 1856 to 20 August 1857.
Sir George Strickland Kingston was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light, engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia. He arrived in South Australia on the Cygnet in 1836. Kingston was also the first Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly.
Sir George Charles Hawker was a South Australian settler and politician.
Sir John Morphett was a South Australian pioneer, landowner and politician. His younger brother George Morphett was also an early settler in South Australia.
Stephen King was an English sketcher, surveyor, and explorer. He was part of the last John McDouall Stuart Expedition (1861–1862), successfully crossing Australia from south to north, and was appointed Surveyor of the Overland Telegraph party sent out by Darwent and Dalwood in 1870. He was called Stephen King Jr. during the lifetime of his father, a pioneer of Gawler, and to a lesser extent continued through his life. His father has been called here and elsewhere Stephen King JP.
Henry Inman (1816–1895) was an English cavalry officer, pioneer of South Australia, founder and first commander of the South Australia Police, overlander and Anglican clergyman.
Adelaide Educational Institution was a privately run non-sectarian academy for boys in Adelaide founded in 1852 by John Lorenzo Young.
He avoided rote learning, punishment and religious instruction, but taught moral philosophy, physiology, political economy and mechanical drawing ... (and) surveying on field trips.
Edgar Smith Wigg was a South Australian bookseller and stationer, founder of the Adelaide firm E. S. Wigg & Son. It still operates under that name as of December 2020, with branches across Australia.
Bungaree is a locality in the Mid North of South Australia, situated north of Clare, along the Main North Road.
Captain Thomas Lipson was an officer in the Royal Navy, who, after a successful if unspectacular career in the Royal Navy, was appointed by the Admiralty as the first Harbour Master at South Australia, arriving there with the pioneer settlers. Serving from 1836 to 1855, based at Port Adelaide, Lipson also superintended many of the initial maritime surveys of that new colony.
Edward William Hawker was a politician in colonial South Australia.
Alexander Borthwick Murray was an Australian sheep breeder and parliamentarian in the early days of South Australia. He married his business partner Margaret Tinline after they had established a successful sheep business.
John Murray and his son also named John Murray (1841–1908) were breeders of merino sheep in South Australia.
Allan McFarlane was a Scottish pastoralist and parliamentarian in The Murray and then Mount Barker districts of the Colony of South Australia.
Maria was a brigantine built in Dublin, Ireland, and launched in 1823 as a passenger ship. On 28 June 1840, she wrecked on the Margaret Brock Reef, near Cape Jaffa in the Colony of South Australia, somewhere south-west of the current site of the town of Kingston SE, South Australia. The wreck has never been located.
William Spence Peter was a pioneer pastoralist of South Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from 1868 to 1891.
The Rufus River Massacre was a massacre of 30–40 Aboriginal people that took place in 1841 along the Rufus River, in the Central Murray region, after three consecutive ambushes with "overlanders" on the recently opened overland stock route, which followed an old Aboriginal route. The massacre occurred after an official party, including Protector of Aborigines, Matthew Moorhouse, along with police, was sent out by the Governor of South Australia, George Grey.
Sir John James Duncan was a politician in the colony and State of South Australia.
Maynard Boyd Dawkins was a sheep breeder, choirmaster and politician in the State of South Australia.
Early Experiences of Colonial Life in South Australia is a book by John Wrathall Bull originally published as "Early Experiences of Colonial Life by An arrival of 1838" as weekly instalments in The Advertiser, repeated in its associated Chronicle and Weekly Mail.
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