Gellibrand and Hesse

One of the most hotly debated tales of the early European settlement of the Barwon River is the story of "Gellibrand and Hesse". Over the years, much has been written about the disappearance of  Joseph Tice Gellibrand and George Brooks Legrew Hesse, somewhere near Birregurra early in 1837. From modern scholarly papers to the romantic but factually dubious accounts of the 19th century, the topic is well beyond the scope of a single or even a series of blog posts, however a general account may still be of interest.
 Gellibrand was born in London, England in about 1786 where he was admitted as an attorney in 1816. On 1st August, 1823 he was appointed the attorney-general of Van Diemen's Land and arrived in the colony to take up his post in March the following year, however his tenure in the position was short-lived. Within months of his arrival he came into conflict with Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur and by February, 1826 had been suspended from his position.

Joseph Tice Gellibrand

After his removal from office he continued to practise as a barrister, purchased land and in 1835 was one of the investors who formed the Port Phillip Association. It was Gellibrand who drafted the terms of what became known as the "Batman Treaty", signed by John Batman and elders of the Wurundjeri Tribe.

The "Batman Treaty"of 1835, also known as the 'Batman Land Deed'.
Item held by the National Museum of Australia

By early 1836 Gellibrand was in the Port Phillip District and undertook a number of exploratory trips before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In February, 1837 he once again crossed Bass Strait, this time accompanied by his colleague George Hesse. Like Gellibrand, Hesse was a lawyer. Born at Chichester, England on 1st July, 1798, he was a Cambridge graduate who was admitted to the bar in 1819. On 5th March, 1833 The Hobart Town Chronicle carried a notice declaring Hesse's intention to be admitted to practise law in Van Diemen's Land as a "Barrister, Attorney, Solicitor and Proctor" of the Supreme Court.
The pair, along with Mr John Sinclair from Launceston, landed at Point Henry, near Geelong on the 21st February, intending to spend a couple of days following the Barwon and then the Leigh Rivers upstream before turning east and passing behind the You Yangs to reach Gellibrand's own run on the Werribee River near present day Wyndhamvale. From there, they would return to the brig Henry which by then was expected to have finished unloading sheep and be waiting for them at Williamstown.

"Map of Port Phillip from the survey of Mr Wedge and others" 1836. This
image from the National Library of Australia produced from the work of the
surveyor John Helder Wedge gives an indication of the existing tracks around
the You Yangs and the extent to which the country was known at that time

From Point Henry, they headed to Dr Alexander Thomson's property 'Kardinia' on the south bank of the Barwon, however owing to an injury to his ankle, Sinclair was forced to turn back. Gellibrand and Hesse continued on to Pollock's, further up the Barwon where they obtained a guide, named variously as Akers, Akehurst or Aikers according to different sources. From Pollock's station, the party of three followed the Barwon with the intention of crossing the river at its confluence with the Leigh River and then following the latter upstream probably to George Russell's then outpost at today's Shelford. From there, they planned on returning east behind the You Yangs to the Exe (Werribee) River where both Gellibrand and Captain Swanston held land. As they only intended that their journey would be a short one, they carried very little in the way of provisions and equipment.
The confluence of the Barwon and Leigh Rivers today is a clear t-junction with high water levels and it is hard to imagine how a mistake was made, but this was prior to the construction of the various dams and weirs or the advent of water licences which today affect the flow of both rivers. In 1837 there clearly was not much to distinguish between the Leigh and the various other creeks which enter the Barwon from the north and so the party continued upriver throughout the day, despite Akers' protestations that they had missed the crossing point which they had expected to find around nine miles upstream of Pollock's station.

The confluence of the Leigh and Barwon Rivers at Inverleigh, 2017. In this
photo the Leigh flows from the left and the Barwon from the right and the
combined streams flow away from the camera towards Geelong

Instead, having travelled around 35 miles, the party camped for the night on the banks of the Barwon and the following morning, refusing to go further, Akers turned back, reaching Pollock's station the next day. Hesse it seems also shared some of Akers' concerns, but these were dismissed by Gellibrand who by that time was convinced that the Warrion Hills which lie to the north west of Lake Colac were instead, the You Yangs (George Thomas Lloyd, Thrity-Three Years in Tasmania and Victoria, Being the Actual Experience of the Author Interspersed with Historic Jottings, Etc, Houlston and Wright, 1862, pp 485-486). This was not the first time that Gellibrand had expressed a confidence in his own knowledge and abilities which proved unfounded. In The narrative of George Russell of Golf hill, with Russellania and selected papers (Russell George (1812-1888) and Brown, Phillip L, 1935) Russell claimed that "he [Gellibrand] was under the impression that he knew a great deal of the country and of the names of the different landmarks in the neighbourhood of Geelong". Subsequent conversation revealed to Russell that this was not the case.

This 1858 sketch by Eugene von Guerard shows the Warrion Hills which
Gellibrand most likely mistook for the You Yangs. Image held by the
National Gallery of Victoria

Despite Akers' untimely return, it was around a fortnight before those at Geelong who were in a position to help, learned of the non-arrival of Gellibrand and Hesse at their intended destination. At that point a mounted search party consisting of Captain Pollock, John Cowie, David Stead, Thomas Roadknight and Thomas Armytage along with Akers set off to begin the search. Their first day's travel saw them reach the point at which Akers turned back, after which they followed the tracks of Gellibrand and Hesse a further four miles upriver before their path turned westward across a plain, finally losing all trace of them about 50 miles from their starting point at Pollock's. After searching the surrounding area for a further day, they returned empty-handed. Not long after, on the 31st March, a second search party which included Gellibrand's son Thomas, the escaped convict William Buckley and two members of the local Wathaurong tribe set out (Launceston Advertiser, 13th April, 1837) but they also returned, unsuccessful.
By April, reports had begun to circulate that the missing men had been killed by "natives" (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 25th April, 1837), that they had been murdered and the bodies found (The Sydney Monitor, 19th April, 1837), that Buckley had returned from searching but no trace of either men or horses had been found (The Australian, 25th April, 1837) and so on. On 18th April, a third search party led by Joseph Beazley Naylor and Charles Octavius Parsons, with the backing of the men's families set off for the Lake Colac district, accompanied by native guides and armed with the information that two white men had been killed by Aboriginals in that area.

The above image shows the likely route through the lands of the local indigenous
tribes taken by Gellibrand and Hesse after leaving Point Henry. Image taken from
Donovan, Paul Michael F, Clark, Ian D and Cahir, Fred , 'The remarkable
disappearance of Messrs Gellibrand and Hesse'. What really happened in 1837?:
a re-examination of the historical evidence, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 87,
No. 2, Dec 2016: 278-297

At this point, inter-tribal politics came into play when two members of the Lake Colac Guldijin Tribe were murdered by armed members of the Wathaurong Tribe from the Winchelsea area who had joined the search party and were known to be in conflict with the former. The Wathaurong tribesmen captured a Guldijin tribesman by the name of Tanapia  on the shores of Lake Colac from whom, they claimed to have extracted a "confession" for the killings. The bodies it was claimed, had been disposed of in a lake. Upon receiving this information the search party returned to Geelong (Rogers, Thomas, 'Friendly' and 'hostile' Aboriginal clans: the search for Gellibrand and Hesse, History Australia, (2016),Vol. 13, Iss. 2, pp 275-285). Tanapia was later found to be innocent of murder, however he did admit to having speared the horses and other members of the tribe were found with some of the men's belongings.
And there perhaps, things rested until 10th July, 1844 when the Geelong Advertiser published the recollections of a squatter by the name of Henry Allan who - along with his brother - had settled on the Hopkins River. Allan claimed that a group of natives had shown him the location of a grave near Moonlight Heads a few months earlier. The description of the man fitted that of Gellibrand and the tribe claimed that he had lived with them for around two months after stumbling upon them, starving and exhausted, saying that his companion had died about 20 miles further upriver. Their horses it was presumed had been turned loose as they entered the thick bush some 20 miles or more to the north where presumably they were then found wandering by the Guldijin tribe of Tanapia.

This image of logging in the Otways during the 1890s shows how heavily
wooded was the forest to the south of Lake Colac through which Gellibrand
and Hesse struggled. Image from a collection of lantern slides by Roger
Holdsworth, image held by the State Library of Victoria

A similar article published in The Dispatch on 27th July, 1844 (taken from the Port Phillip Herald) gave a corroborative statement provided by John Allan, brother of Henry in which he claimed that an indigenous woman married to a tribesman who lived near the Allans remembered the killing of Gellibrand which had been perpetrated by members of a rival clan which lived a few miles to the east of Cape Otway. He sought the woman out, heard her story and arranged for Henry to travel to the site
where he exhumed the body and took with him the skull and and some personal effects which had also been buried. The general location of Hesse's body was indicated but the weather did not at that time permit travelling to the site. The same information, along with the opinion of a medical practitioner was sent in a letter to Captain Foster Fyans. The letter and details of the report were published in the Geelong Advertiser, 24th June, 1844 and as far as the Advertiser was concerned, solved the mystery of what had become of Gellibrand and Hesse.
Then in 1846, whilst on his third expedition attempting to reach Cape Otway (Clark, Ian D., Scars in the landscape: a register of massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859, Canberra Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 1995) Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe noted that the Allans showed him what they believed to be the burial sites of Gellibrand and Hesse (Donovan et al., 'The remarkable disappearance of Messrs Gellibrand and Hesse'. What really happened in 1837?: a re-examination of the historical evidence, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 87, No. 2, Dec 2016: 278-297).
This however, was far from the end of the story. For about three years following Allan's discovery, the skull is said to have hung from the roof of his hut (The Colonial Times, 25th August, 1846) and it was not until that time that it was sent to Tasmania for further examination. Furthermore but somewhat at odds with this account is another, earlier description given by a traveller who met the Allans in September, 1839 and claimed that he was shown a skull with fractures - supposed to be from a tomahawk - which they believed to be that of one of the missing explorers (The Austral-Asiatic Review, Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser, 8th October, 1839).
In The Argus of 13th November, 1909 Donald Macdonald published several letters he had received all purporting to give some information on the fate of Gellibrand and Hesse. Mrs Jones indicated that she was shown a box containing Gellibrand's body during a visit to the Allans in 1846 whilst George Somerville recalls hearing that Joseph Gellibrand's son had arrived from Tasmania in 1847 and with the assistance of Allan and the local indigenous tribe had located the body which he was taking back to Tasmania.
And from there, things continue to get muddier, with differing reports of bodies being shipped to Tasmania or remaining some time with the Allans and with some even claiming that numerous skulls were sent for examination with no conclusive proof being found. Of course, Gellibrand and Hesse were not the only white settlers to have disappeared in the area over the years so it is not unlikely that other Caucasian skulls may have been discovered in the district.
It would seem however that by the end of 1837 it was generally accepted that the pair had perished as on 27th November notice was given of the intent to apply for probate of George's will in the Supreme Court (The Austral-Asiatic Review, Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser, 12th December, 1837). Things were a little more difficult in the case of Gellibrand whose life was the subject of an £10,000 insurance policy - the first in Australia it is claimed according to Asteron Life (formerly Alliance Assurance). It was also the first life insurance policy paid out - albeit after a three year wait as no proof of death was available. The payment was eventually made however, to Gellibrand's widow Isabella.

A mahogany and rosewood writing case belonging to Joseph Tice
Gellibrand. Item and photo from the Joseph Tice Gellibrand Collection,
National Museum of Australia

So, despite or perhaps because of the many claims to have found the remains of the two men in the years following their disappearance, the general impression developed that Gellibrand and Hesse vanished without trace and their bodies were never found. Whether deliberately or not, various researchers have contributed to this impression and in the process created one of the most enduring legends of the 19th century Victoria.
One such was Isaac Hebb who, styling himself as IZAAK, in November, 1888 wrote an account of the disappearance of Gellibrand and Hesse which appeared in consecutive editions of the Colac Herald. Dramatically titled "ROMANCE OF THE OTWAY--MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF MESSRS GELLIBRAND AND HESSE", it made the claim that no reliable evidence existed that the bodies were ever found, however more recently, there have been scholarly articles which cast the events surrounding the disappearance in a different light, particularly with respect to the role played by the various indigenous tribes of the region, whose oral testimony was of course not considered admissible evidence (Rogers, Thomas, 'Friendly' and 'hostile' Aboriginal clans: the search for Gellibrand and Hesse, History Australia, (2016),Vol. 13, Iss. 2, pp 275-285). Likewise, Donovan et al., 'The remarkable disappearance of Messrs Gellibrand and Hesse'. What really happened in 1837?: a re-examination of the historical evidence, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 87, No. 2, Dec 2016: 278-297 re-examines the available sources through modern eyes, concluding that there is significant evidence to suggest that the mystery of Gellibrand and Hesse is not as much of a mystery as we have been led to believe.

Hesse St, Queenscliff, January, 2018

Whilst most may not realise it today, there are still many reminders of this episode in Victoria's colonial past, from the towns of Gellibrand and Gellibrand Lower; the Gellibrand River which rises in the Otway Ranges near the Barwon River, flowing west and south where the Barwon flows north and east; Mounts Gellibrand and Hesse on the plains west of the Barwon between Inverleigh and Winchelsea and the 19th century squatting runs of the same names which surrounded them; the town of Hesse; the Australian Electoral Division of Gellibrand incorporating many of the western suburbs of Melbourne; Point Gellibrand at Williamstown where the earliest European settlers landed their sheep and the associated Fort Gellibrand; to numerous Hesse and Gellibrand Streets including those in Colac and the coastal town of Queenscliff. The men themselves may be long gone, but their names live on.

Thomas and Ellen

The starting point in researching my previous post about 'Ingleby' was Thomas Armytage, the eldest son of George Armytage and Elizabeth Peters of Bagdad, Tasmania. Thomas was born at Hobart on 17th January, 1820 and baptised just over two months later on 20th March (Register of Baptisms in Tasmania). 

Baptismal record of Thomas Armytage taken from the Register of Baptisms in
Tasmania online

He spent his early years in Tasmania - or Van Diemen's Land as it was then known - but in May, 1836 he and his father were amongst the earliest settlers to land at Point Gellibrand (Williamstown) with sheep, intending to establish a squatting run in the Port Phillip District. Following the abandonment of an earlier settlement at Mt Cottrell the Armytage sheep were moved to the banks of the Barwon where they were put in the care of John Charles Darke who held land in the Barrabool Hills. As mentioned in my previous post, when the explorers Joseph Tice Gellibrand and George Hesse went missing somewhere along the upper reaches of the Barwon early in 1837, Thomas Armytage was one of a number of settlers to mount a search party to look for the men. It was during the course of their search that Thomas first saw the land - not far from the present day town of Winchelsea - which he would occupy as a squatting run on his father's behalf.
By 1838, Thomas was advertising for shepherds willing to travel to Port Phillip to tend his flock on the newly established run, giving his address as Bagdad (The Austral-Asiatic Review. Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser, 16th July, 1838). Two years later in mid-1840 Thomas was advertising once again, this time seeking general staff to work on his grazing run (The Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen's Land Gazette, 10th April, 1840) and in July he was granted an official licence by the government to depasture his stock (Port Phillip Gazette, 29th July, 1840).
During this time as he established his base, Thomas travelled between the station and his father's property at Bagdad. It was presumably during one such visit that he made the acquaintance of a widow by the name of Ellen Richardson. Ellen was an English immigrant who had arrived in the colony on the 9th March, 1841 aboard the ship Laura. It was later stated that her late husband was a businessman who had died, leaving her impoverished and with no option but to take a post as a governess and it was in this role that she accompanied the merchant George Borrodaile and his family to Van Diemen's Land. (Note: whilst I have seen no suggestion of a relationship to the Borrodaile family, I did discover that this family were related to Richardsons through a maternal line.)
Soon after her arrival, Ellen was employed by George Armytage at Bagdad as governess to his younger children and it was during this time she met Thomas (Colonial Times, 19th June, 1844). By all accounts, Ellen was an attractive woman - a point which was mentioned many times in the media - and despite an age disparity of perhaps 10 years or more - Thomas being around 20 and she possibly in her 30s - the couple undertook a secret affair. It was later revealed that a number of "letters" passed between the pair, arranging assignations in the garden or for Thomas to slip up to Ellen's room ("mind the stairs do not creek"(sic)) whilst the rest of his family were still in bed.
Whilst it later transpired that some servants were aware of the liaison, it is not clear whether Thomas approached his father or the other way around, but he soon made it clear to his parents that he wanted to marry Ellen. Unsurprisingly perhaps, George Sr did not view the match favourably. Ellen was significantly older than his son and a widow of limited means; not an appropriate match for the son of a man who no doubt saw himself as a gentleman of note (his own convict ancestry notwithstanding). Eventually however, he agreed to the match, with several conditions.

George Armytage Sr. Image held by the University of
Melbourne Archives

Firstly, Thomas would to return to Port Phillip as planned and if upon his return to Van Diemen's Land, they still wished to marry, then they could do so. Even this stipulation however was conditional upon "satisfactory answers [being] returned to some letters which Mrs. Richardson had sent home to England" (Colonial Times, 19th June, 1844). Presumably the letters would confirm her widowed status and good character.
Lastly, George Sr stipulated that Thomas and Ellen were not to correspond whilst Thomas was away. This last condition, the couple ignored. And so after staying several months, Thomas returned to Port Phillip to tend his flocks. In the meantime, Ellen who had decided even prior to Thomas' arrival to leave George Sr's employment, branched out on her own and established a boarding school for young ladies.
Despite leaving his service, George Sr was impressed enough by Ellen's teaching skills, that he assisted her by providing a house from which she operated her school, known as 'Eleanora Cottage'. The syllabus included English and French, music, dancing, geography, history, writing, arithmetic, the use of globes and instruction in both plain and fancy needlework. Drawing, singing and Italian could be taken as extracurricular subjects. The cost per student was £50 per annum including washing (Colonial Times, 16th November, 1841).
At first, all was well and the school flourished. With George Sr's patronage and his glowing endorsements that she was "very clever, and fit to teach the Queen's children in the palace (The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser, 21st April, 1846) a number of notable citizens sent their children to be educated.
Meanwhile at Port Phillip, Thomas continued to establish his property which included around 3,000 acres adjoined by a sheep run. His home station consisted of a fenced 5 acre garden with a further 50 acres under cultivation and his stock included 10,000 sheep, 100 cattle and 10 horses as well as working bullocks (Colonial Times, 22nd November, 1842).
Life however, was far from easy as Thomas had to battle not only the elements and the isolation, but also disease and by June, 1842 he was struggling to control an outbreak of "scab" in his flock.
Scab in sheep flocks was the scourge of the Australian wool industry during the 19th century. It occurs when the animals become infested with the sheep scab mite which feeds on dead skin cells, causing intense irritation of the skin - dermatitis - which results in loss of fleece and the appearance of yellow scabs on the skin. It can cause death if left untreated. Strict control measures were introduced to stop the spread of scab and infected animals were treated by dipping in a sulphur and lime solution or some other compound which killed the mites. A second dipping was then required to kill any eggs which subsequently hatched.

Whilst not on the Barwon, this sheep wash on the Goulburn River gives an idea
of what was involved (1857). Image held by the National Library of Australia

Other control methods involved restricting the movement of animals between properties and on 11th July, 1842 Thomas posted a notice in the Geelong Advertiser warning others against driving scab-infested sheep across his property.

Sadly, it may have been this attempt to rid his flock of disease which resulted in Thomas' untimely death at the age of only 22 on 12th September, 1842 from what was described as 'typhus fever'. His final illness was indicated as being about ten days duration and later newspaper reports indicate that Thomas "died from going into water from sheep-washing after taking Calomel" (Cornwall Chronical, 29th June, 1844). Thomas was buried at the Eastern Cemetery in Geelong on the following day, the first burial in the austere Armytage-Hopkins family mausoleum. Later events reveal that upon receiving the news of Thomas' death, Ellen accompanied the family to church the following Sunday to mourn their loss (The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser, 21st April, 1846).

The Armytage-Hopkins mausoleum at the Eastern Cemetery, Geelong,
November, 2017

Following his son's death, George Sr travelled to the property which, under the name of 'Glenmore' (the name 'Ingleby' is not mentioned prior to 1848), was advertised for sale or lease in the Colonial Times on 22nd November, 1842. Despite this, history shows that the property remained in the Armytage family with Thomas' younger brother George Jr taking up the reins.
One consequence of Thomas' death was a flurry of correspondence between various parties in Van Diemen's Land and the Port Phillip District. Firstly, in the course of winding up his son's affairs, George Sr wrote to his overseer Edward Stockdale requesting that he forward Thomas' correspondence to him at Bagdad. Before Stockdale could do this however, he received a letter from George Jr instructing him to forward only those letters which were of a business nature, keeping aside personal correspondence which "might hurt his [George Jr's] father's mind" and specifically that from Ellen (Geelong Advertiser, 9th April, 1845). This Stockdale did and after reading portions of Ellen's letters, he put them in a box.
 Ellen, meantime was well aware that the letters she had written to Thomas may fall into the hands of her hitherto generous benefactor and former employer George Armytage Sr with whom she had had a falling out over upkeep of the cottage in which she ran her school (The Colonial Times, 19th June, 1844). Concerned no doubt for her reputation and that of her school, Ellen wrote a number of letters; one to Mr Harrison (presumably James Harrison, editor of the Geelong Advertiser), another to a Mr Lloyd, a third to Edward Stockdale and a fourth to Solomon Austin, whom she knew from her voyage to Australia.
She requested that Stockdale collect a letter from the Geelong Post Office which she had mailed on the very day news of Thomas' death arrived, however Stockdale discovered upon enquiry that Lloyd had already collected the letter. She also asked that Solomon write to his brother Josiah at Port Phillip where the Austins were neighbours of the Armytages and request that Josiah retrieve any correspondence Ellen had sent to Thomas from his personal effects.
And this presumably should have been an end to it, however whilst Stockdale passed most of the letters on to the servant of Josiah Austin, he held several back, placing them in a wooden box. Then, some 17 months after Thomas' death, whilst George Jr was in Port Phillip, Stockdale rediscovered the remaining letters whilst searching through boxes and handed them to George who in turn handed them, unread by him, to his parents (The Austral-Asiatic Review. Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser, 29th June, 1844). It was claimed by Stockdale that he retained the letters for his own amusement because he considered them "curious".
Reading between the lines however, the "missing" letters were just the beginning of Ellen's problems. By October, 1843 it seems that rumours were circulating about her character, many of them it was later alleged, traceable to George Armytage Sr. With the arrival of the letters carried by George Jr in February, 1844, his father perhaps felt justified in the claims he was making and spoke to a number of the parents whose children attended Ellen's school, which by this time she had moved to the town of Brighton. As a result of so much rumour swirling around the small community, unsurprisingly, Ellen's student numbers began to decline rapidly. George removed his own children during 1843 and by May 1844 the last of the students departed and what had been a thriving school closed finally in September, 1844 (The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser, 21st April, 1846).
By this time however, Ellen had been pushed too far and felt the time had come to take measures to obtain compensation for her loss of income. To that end, she took George Armytage Sr to court, suing him on eight different counts. Amongst the statements attributed to Armytage were comments such as [he] "could tell [witness] something about Mrs. Richardson...which would make her cap rise from her head", that Ellen was a "vile woman", that he had in his possession letters written by Ellen which "would be a disgrace to any woman upon earth" and that "the commonest prostitute would never have written such letters". He was also alleged to have shown the letters to a school parent saying "I hope that (meaning the letter) will convince you of the character of the woman" whom he claimed was "diabolical".
Most damaging perhaps to Ellen's reputation was the allegation attributed to George's wife Elizabeth, that "we lost our son through her". During a conversation it was indicated that Thomas died "from going into water in sheep-washing after taking Calomel". "Yes" replied Mrs Armytage "but it was she caused him to take the medicine" (Cornwall Chronicle, 29th June, 1844). What is perhaps not clear now, but was common knowledge in the 19th century was that "Calomel" was a mercury-based compound used to treat syphilis.

Elizabeth Armytage, mother of Thomas and wife
of George Sr. Image held by the University of
Melbourne Archives

As mentioned earlier however, newspaper reports at the time of his death indicate that Thomas died of Typhus, a bacterial infection spread by the bite of some species of ticks, fleas, mites and lice, some of which may perhaps have been present on the sheep he was dipping/washing in the Barwon to treat the scab mite in his flock. Also unheard of now and perhaps not so well-known then is that Calomel was used in some cases to treat Typhus. Is it perhaps possible then that Thomas either contracted the typhus whilst dipping sheep, took Calomel and continued working, or (perhaps more likely) developed symptoms whilst working the sheep then went to Geelong where he was treated with Calomel for his typhus? I guess we'll never know, but after an illness of around ten days duration Thomas died at Geelong.

A bottle of Calomel

Finally on 17th June, 1844, over a year and a half after Thomas' death, the Court hearing got underway. It ran for three days, with multiple witnesses called for both sides and involved much convoluted legal argument, contradictory witness statements and much impassioned speech. In the lead up to the case however, things had turned nasty. On 5th June, notice of Ellen's death late the previous month, appeared in the Launceston Advertiser. It was of course false. At the same time, threatening letters were sent to some of the witnesses due to give evidence. The case attracted huge public interest and newspapers around the country were of course, keen to provide every sordid detail. It was the civil case of its time.
From their numerous accounts of proceedings it appears that Ellen's legal council - Mr Macdowell - gave a performance worthy of the best modern barristers, questioning motives, casting doubt upon defence testimony, inveigling information from witnesses and defending his client's reputation. It was suggested that Solomon Austin had been intimate with Mrs Richardson during the voyage from England, he later making offers of marriage which it was alleged Thomas had dismissed with a sneer saying that "he [Solomon] could not succeed while such a man as himself was in the way" (Cornwall Chronicle, 29th June, 1844).
Ultimately it was found that the infamous "creeking" letter (alluded to above) was not written by Ellen, but was rather a forgery perpetrated by George Armytage Jr. The jury found for the plaintiff (Ellen) on six of the eight counts and awarded her £1,250 damages. Armytage was ordered to pay costs.
Undeterred however, Armytage moved for a mistrial and a second hearing was set down for 19th March, 1845. Further evidence in the form of more letters (possibly those retained by Stockdale for "his own amusement") was presented and under cross-questioning by Macdowell, George Armytage Jr broke down on the witness stand and had to be taken from the court. Once again, the jury found in favour of the plaintiff, however damages were reduced to the much smaller total of £300 and it was found that the letter in question was not a forgery but was written by the plaintiff herself. By August, the matter remained unresolved and this time it was Ellen's council who moved for a third trial on the basis that the verdict was defective on several points. It was also alleged during the course of the trial that one of the jurors had expressed biased views prior to the case commencing (The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review, 22nd May, 1845).
The third hearing finally concluded on 20th March, 1846 with two counts found in favour of the defendant but a further three in favour of the plaintiff with Armytage required to pay damages of £500 and there, finally, the matter rested (The Observer, 24th March, 1846).
It would be tempting at this point to imagine that Ellen Richardson was able to salvage her reputation and her career, settling down to a life without further controversy, however this was far from reality. Whilst she did once again establish a seminary for young ladies in Hobart Town, in 1848 she was once again in the papers when she and an auctioneer by the name of John Charles Stracey (with whom she had stayed during her previous court appearances) absconded to Sydney under false names. Posing as man and wife they boarded a ship for London. They were apprehended at the last minute and Stracey was charged with attempting to abscond with £6,000 - the proceeds of sales. Ellen was also arrested and in true form, once released had the arresting officer charged with false imprisonment (The Britannia and Trades' Advocate, 16th March, 1848).
Whilst her companion was deported back to Hobart to face charges (and his deserted wife), Ellen appears to have remained in Sydney where she continued to pursue various legal matters before - as far a I can tell - disappearing from the record by 1849. Whilst there was no happy ending to this tale, it is tempting to wonder what might have ensued had Thomas lived to old age.

'Ingleby'

George Armytage was born in 1895 at Ticknall in Derbyshire, England and migrated to Sydney in 1815 before moving to Tasmania the following year where he established a farm at Bagdad about 30km north of Hobart. George continued to increase the size of his property and also worked as a blacksmith. His community standing was such that he held minor government posts such as pound keeper and district constable, expanding his business interests with the purchase of a hotel.By 1835 when John Batman landed at Port Phillip and signed his historic "treaty" with elders of the Wurundjeri Tribe, George was looking to expand his land holdings. According to his own later recounting of events, in the first week of May, 1836 he sailed aboard the brig Henry to Point Gellibrand (Williamstown) in the newly settled Port Phillip district where he landed a small flock of sheep. Upon  his arrival, he established a partnership with Charles Franks (Bride, 1898, Letters from Victorian pioneers: being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the Aborigines, etc.) who it seems arrived soon after. Whilst the newspapers do not record the passage of Armytage, they do show that the Henry departed for Port Phillip on 27th April with 700 sheep (30th April, 1836, Bent's News and Tasmanian Three-Penny Register) and again on 11th of May (12th May, 1836, The Sydney Herald). The papers also show that Franks sailed from Launceston aboard the Champion on 16th May (The Cornwall Chronicle, 21st May, 1836), with a flock of his own sheep and his overseer George Smith.

An early view of Point Gellibrand from Brighton Beach showing shipping
in Hobson's Bay, by Charles Norton. Image held by the State Library
of Victoria

Whilst Armytage returned to Hobart, Franks along with Smith and Armytage's shepherd (probably named Flinders), travelled overland with the stock to establish a sheep run at Mt Cottrell on the Werribee River. By 2nd July they had reached the intended site of settlement and began erecting yards to hold the stock. Within days, Smith returned to Point Gellibrand to collect extra supplies. Upon arriving back at the run on 8th July however, he found an upturned cask of flour, no campfire and no sign of Franks or Flinders. Unwilling to remain, he rode for help, informing other settlers in the region of his fears (Rogers, Thomas, 2016, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol 87, pp117-133).The following day, a party of 23 men including Thomas Armytage, the 16 year old son of George and other recognisable names such as Gellibrand, Wedge, Thomson and Batman arrived at the campsite to begin a search (Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country, Bruce Pascoe, 2007). A letter from Thomas Armytage to his father confirmed the deaths and indicated that the men had been killed by blows to the back of the head, inflicted it was thought by tomahawks. He also  stated that he and a Mr Malcolm had found the bodies of the missing men  (The True Colonist Van Diemen's Land Political Despatch and Agricultural and Commercial Advertiser, 22nd July, 1836). These accounts are somewhat at odds with George Armytage's own description in which he indicated that his son Thomas upon arriving to help build the yards on the day the killings occurred, was the sole discoverer of the bodies (Bride, 1898, Letters from Victorian pioneers: being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the Aborigines, etc.). News of the deaths reached Hobart within days. On 21st July, the Launceston Advertiser reported that confirmation of the deaths of Franks and Flinders had come with the arrival of the Adelaide that same day, following earlier reports they were missing. While they decided what to do, the Armytage flock was combined with those of Judge Pedder and Mr Darke. Sir John Lewes Pedder was the first Chief Justice of Van Diemen's Land (1824-1836) who oversaw the establishment of an independent Supreme Court in that colony. In addition to his official role, Pedder also joined the speculators investing in Port Phillip where he held the lease to a 15,000 acre squatting run in the Western Port District (Australian Dictionary of Biography). Mr Darke was John Charles Darke, an English settler in Van Diemen's Land, an explorer and surveyor who, upon failing to find secure a permanent position with the survey department, moved to the Port Phillip District where his uncle (John Helder Wedge) was surveying land for the Port Phillip Association.

Upon his arrival, Darke took up land along the Barwon River in the Barrabool Hills, however he did not remain long in the district and by 1838 had moved on to South Australia. During his brief occupation of land along the Barwon, rather than run his own stock, he grazed the flocks of a number of Tasmanian speculators as they, like the Armytages, searched for land on which to establish their own runs (Australian Dictionary of Biography).

View of the Barrabool Hills from Fyansford Hill, May, 2016. Looking towards
the land probably occupied by John Darke

The next significant event in the eventual establishment of the Ingleby run was the disappearance of the explorers Joseph Tice Gellibrand and George Hesse whose deaths and final whereabouts have been the topic of much discussion over the decades since their disappearance and which I will look at in a future post. Suffice to say, that by the end of March, 1837, grave fears were held for their safety. Several search parties were mounted in an attempt to find them, one of which was a group of five which included John Cowie, David Stead, Captain Pollock, Mr Roadknight and Thomas Armytage. It had been the intention of Gellibrand and Hesse to follow the Barwon to its confluence with the Leigh and then follow that river upstream to a station belonging to Captain Swanston, however it appears their guide - a man by the name of Aiker - missed the crossing point and in doing so, led the party further up the Barwon. Realising his mistake, Aiker informed the others of his suspicions, but they refused to heed his advice to turn back. Aiker left them and returned to Pollock's station. Gellibrand and Hesse were never seen again.The search party, including Thomas Armytage, traced the course of the river to the point where Aiker had left the two men and followed their tracks for a further few miles before all trace was lost. In doing so, Armytage formed a favourable impression of the land through which they were passing and upon his return it was decided that a run should be established near the spot which the group camped on the first night of their search. It was this sequence of events which led to the establishment of the run which the Armytages named 'Ingleby'. Unlike some of the early speculators in the district, the Armytage family were successful in their squatting endeavours and by 1849 their run was estimated to extend to some 26,840 acres on which the Armytages grazed 100 head of cattle and 10,000 sheep (The Argus, 19th January, 1849). Life for the settlers however could be difficult. In June 1842, Thomas was battling an infestation of the parasite responsible for sheep scab in his flock (Geelong Advertiser, 11th July, 1842). Ten weeks later, he was dead (see my next post). His next eldest brother - George - took over the management of 'Ingleby' and for the time being, their father remained in Van Diemen's Land, making trips back and forth at intervals to visit his son and his land holdings at Port Phillip. At 'Ingleby', George faced his own battles. In early November, 1845 it was reported that gale force winds destroyed huts and part of the woolshed (Geelong Advertiser and Squatters' Advocate, 8th November, 1845). Despite such setbacks however, in 1846, George sent 112 bales of wool to London (Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser, 17th February, 1846) and by 1847 according to the Victorian Heritage Database, things were going well enough that his father decided to relocate from Bagdad to 'Ingleby', although the Colonial Times of 18th May, 1849, shows George Senior, his wife Elizabeth and children Eliza, Sophia, Emma and Felix taking passage aboard the steamer Shamrock for Port Phillip, so perhaps the family were a little later in following.

The paddle steamer Shamrock, 1841. Image held by the National Library of
Australia

Newspaper records also indicate that George Senior and his family spent some years living in Barwon Tce, South Geelong, between about 1850 and 1853. It was at this address in August, 1850 the announcement of the marriage of his eldest daughter Eliza Ann to John Rout Hopkins was made. Hopkins held the lease for 'Wormbete', the run neighbouring 'Ingleby' on the Barwon (The Argus, 5th August, 1850). A shadow was cast over the family however, when only a few days after Eliza's marriage, her youngest sister Emma died at the age of ten. She was buried in the family grave at the Eastern Cemetery, Geelong with her older brother Thomas.

By 1859/60, George Senior had built an impressive new home on the site of a property he had purchase from former police magistrate Nicholas Alexander Fenwick. The building, which still stands in Pakington St, Newtown, he called 'The Hermitage' and probably warrants a post of its own.

At 'Ingleby' meanwhile, George Junior was also in a position to build a new residence, replacing an earlier stone house with a two-storey bluestone construction, designed by Geelong architect Edward Prowse.

 

Ingleby homestead, 1970. Image taken from the John T Collins Collection
Held by the State Library of Victoria

George Junior remained at 'Ingleby' and along with his father, began purchasing the land on which they squatted. The squatting license for the Ingleby run was cancelled on 29th October, 1861 (Spreadborough & Anderson, 1983, Victorian Squatters) and the following year, substantial land purchases were made in the names of father and son as well as other family members. In 1882-3 significant additions were made to the property in the form of a large woolshed and other outbuildings which were designed by the architect AT Moran (Victorian Heritage Database).

The break up of the Ingleby Estate began with the death of George Junior in London on 22nd January, 1892, leaving a large inheritance to be divided between his four sons. The section including the Ingleby homestead passed to his son Oscar Ferdinand Armytage who also held nearby 'Ripplevale' at Birregurra.

 Ingleby stables, 1970. Image taken from the John T Collins Collection
Held by the State Library of Victoria

Oscar remained in the district and in addition to running 'Ingleby', served long stints on the Winchelsea Shire Council, however in the five years leading up to 1911, he spent much of his time managing business interests in England. He also reduced the size of the estate with land sales occurring in 1910 and - more successfully - in 1911 when 'Ripple Vale' and parts of 'Ingleby' were sold at auction (The Horsham Times, 23rd May, 1911). In May that year, along with his family, Oscar made another extended trip to England, taking up residence at Sparkford in Somersetshire. 'Ingleby' was leased for three years to EH Lascelles (The Horsham Times, 9th May, 1911). By February, 1912 however Oscar had been struck down by a terminal illness which led to his death around five months later on 3rd July.

Following Oscar's death, the family remained in England for some time. Edward Oscar, the only son of Oscar and his wife Louisa, served with the Black Watch Regiment at Flanders during the First World War where he was seriously injured (The Colac Herald, 10th July, 1916). Following the war, Edward and his mother returned to 'Ingleby' at the beginning of 1920 (The Australasian, 24th July, 1920) however their tenure was short and on 19th April, 1923, The Argus reported having sold the property, consisting of the homestead, outbuildings and 4,150 acres of land fronting the Barwon River to Mr Phillip H. Lock of 'Airlie', Warrnambool. Less than a month later however, Lock had on-sold the property to W.O. Read of Colac (The Age, 17th May, 1923).

Google Earth with overlays showing the approximate area of the original
squatting run (white); land purchased from the crown by the Armytage
family (pink);  the current extent of 'Ingleby' and 'Ingleby Woolshed' (yellow).*
The line of the Barwon River is shown in blue.

Following the Second World War, like many of the other original squatters' properties in the district, 'Ingleby' was compulsorily acquired by the government and subdivided under the soldier settlement scheme, designed to provide employment for soldiers returning from the war. The block including the homestead was sold to Harold Fowler (descendant of Dan Fowler and previous owner of the Sunnyside Wool Scour at Breakwater). At this time, the woolshed and outbuildings, located on the opposite side of the Barwon, became part of a separate property.

The land including the Ingleby homestead on about 339 hectares (840 acres) then passed through the hands of a number of owners over the years. According to various real estate websites, it sold most recently in 1997 for a figure of a little over $1 million. By contrast, on the opposite side of the river, the woolshed and almost 80 hectares (196 acres) of land, now known as 'Ingleby Woolshed' sold as recently as 2014 for $1.8 million. The realestate.com.au website shows a number of photos of the buildings here.

Whilst the association of the Armytage family with 'Ingleby' may have ended, a number of family members can still be found to the present day.

*Measurements for the squatting run taken from Spreadborough & Anderson, 1983, Victorian Squatters; purchased land taken from Victorian Survey maps, current property boundaries from the land.vic.gov.au website

Wormbete Estate

After looking at Wormbete Creek and the associated Wensley Brae coal mine, I thought it might be time to add to the list of squatting runs I've looked at for this blog by seeing what I could discover about the history of Wormbete Station.
As European settlement stretched out beyond the shores of Port Phillip Bay in the late 1830s, large squatting runs were taken up, often along the region's watercourses. Many runs were selected along the Barwon River and its tributaries, including Wormbete Station which was first established as a sheep run by Henry Hopkin who it is believed took the word from a local indigenous term meaning "lake with a black fellow's mound".

Henry Hopkins c1860s, Image held by the
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts

Hopkins was a business man and wool buyer, born in Deptford, Kent, England in 1787 who had migrated to Tasmania in 1822 with his wife (also his first cousin) Sarah Rout where he was responsible for that colony's first wool exports in that same year. Over the following years, he continued to prosper, travelling to the Port Phillip District from Tasmania in 1836 before returning to Tasmania to buy Merino sheep which he then sent to stock his newly-acquired Wormbete run.
Despite his pastoral interests on the mainland, Henry spent little if any time there. In 1840 he travelled with his entire family to England where they stayed until 1842 before returning to Tasmania. By 1845 it appears that Hopkins had retired from most forms of business, spending the remainder of his life in Tasmania, leaving his second son John Rout Hopkins to take over his Victorian interest.

John Rout Hopkins c1890, Image held by the State Library of Victoria

Having served his apprenticeship as it were, learning the wool trade in Tasmania John was well-positioned to step into his father's shoes. He arrived in the Port Phillip District in 1845 and spent a period of time as manager - as far as I can tell - of St Stephen's Station, the licence for which was held at that time by John Stephens.
In August, 1851 Henry formally transferred Warmbete Station to John, at which point it was estimated at 31,000 acres and capable of carrying 3,000 head of sheep. The bluestone homestead which still stands today had been erected in the 1840s, with other outbuildings added in the two decades following. The Victorian Heritage Database notes that the property is laid out as a farm court, a formal style typical of the early years of settlement in New South Wales and Tasmania and English in style. The building's north-facing aspect is considered unusual for the period as are other features of its construction.


Wormbete homestead 1985, image copyright held by the Department of the Environment

John made a success of his pastoral activities. During the 1850s he acquired the pre-emptive right to 1,000 acres of Wormbete land as well as 640 acres of the neighbouring St Stephen's Estate to which he also took up the lease in 1857. Later he also acquired the lease to River Station which adjoined Wormbete and St Stephen's to the north west.

Out building at Wormbete Estate 1970, image from the J.T. Collins Collection,
La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria

In addition to his pastoral pursuits, John was closely involved with his local community. An active sportsman and supporter of his church, he spent many years as a councillor with the Winchelsea Shire (and its predecessor the Winchelsea Roads Board), serving several terms as shire president as well as becoming the first shire president of Barrabool Shire. In addition to local politics, John was also a member of the Victorian parliament, holding the seat of South Grant in the legislative assembly (lower house) from 1864-1867 and then again from 1871-1877. In 1892 he was elected to the lower house seat of Geelong, also taking up the position of mayor of the town in the same year.
John married three times during his life but his first - and longest marriage - was to Eliza Ann Armytage, the daughter of his squatting neighbour George Armytage from Ingleby Estate to the south west of Wormbete. The couple were married in 1850 and before Eliza's death in 1885 raised a family of seven daughters and six sons at Wormbete.
John died on 20th December, 1897 and was interred the following day at Geelong's Eastern Cemetery with his first wife Eliza, two of their young children and a number of her relatives in the Armytage family mausoleum.


The Armytage family mausoleum, Eastern Cemetery, Geelong

Neighbours in life and death. The Austin family vault (back left) and the
Armytage family mausoleum at Geelong's Eastern Cemetery

Upon his death, Wormbete passed to his eldest son Walter who married Margaret Were, grand daughter of Victoria's longest-standing businessman Jonathan Binns Were in 1904. The couple raised the next generation of the Hopkins family on the estate, however life however was not always rosy. In 1896 Walter was declared insolvent due to a fall in cattle prices in Queensland and his inability to get a release from a mortgage held on the property. In 1901 a small bushfire broke out on the property, burning 100 acres of pasture land and some fencing.

The property and the Hopkins family however survived. Walter died in 1944 and is buried at the Winchelsea Cemetery. Following his death, the property was divided between his sons Henry - who retained Wormbete - and John whose portion of the estate was named Burong Station.

The end of an era came for Wormbete during the 1980s when the property was put on the market. The purchaser was millionaire businessman Alan Bond, however the property was soon returned to the ownership of the Hopkins family, only to be sold once again in 1997. The current owners of Wormbete are the Blakely family who run sheep, cattle and thoroughbred horses on the property.

The property is often host to a variety of community events including the Barwon Hunt Club who hosted children's day at Wormbete in 2014 whilst in a rather modern twist, Wormbete Station featured on a 2014 episode of Channel Ten's MasterChef with the contestants competing in a challenge.

*The name JW Rout later appeared listed as property manager of Wormbete Station in 1867 when he gave evidence before a parliamentary select committee, inquiring into the best route for the proposed train line from Geelong to Colac. History indicates that the "Black Line" - supported by Mr Rout and very  favourably aligned to service Wormbete Station, was eventually chosen. In fact, an 18km Wensleydale branch line with four stations (including Wormbete) was eventually opened in 1890 to further service the area.