The Riversdale Tragedy

As alluded to in my post Where did it all go? I have dealt with the topic of murder in relation to the Barwon before. These cases (which received media coverage at the time) were within living memory, however  the case which recently caught my eye dates to a much earlier period and at least indirectly involved the Roadknights. Well, to be more precise it involved the property Barwon Crescent, the home of William Roadknight from the 1840s and by 1876 owned by his son Thomas.
In the mid 1840s, William built a large brick home for the family to replace the more modest "Barwon Cottage" in which they had previously lived.  His eastern neighbour on the opposite side of Pakington Street was the lawyer, pastoralist and politician Charles Sladen Esq. whose residence - known as Sladen House - was built only a few years after Barwon Crescent in 1849/1850. To the west was the one-time property of Captain Foster Fyans, known as River(s)dale and it was from this that the Bendigo Advertiser took the title for its article of 15th February, 1876. The title which I have also used for this post.
William also established an orchard which from later context, I believe was located on the low-lying land between the river and the bottom of Pakington Street. Today, this area of river flats forms part of the park lands along the river trail. It has been revegetated with native plantings and Barwon Water has recently made several changes, removing a boardwalk which ran from the stairs at the bottom of Pakington Street.

Looking west from below Pakington Street across what may have been the
Roadknight orchard. The chimney of the Austral Paper Mill is in the
middle distance

In 1876 however, it was an orchard which the Roadknights had leased out to a market gardener by the name of William Stenton and his family. According to newspaper reports, on 11th February, 1876, Stenton and his adult daughter were picking fruit in the orchard at about 2:30pm. The pair returned to the house in which they were living (by implication I am thinking this may have been the older Barwon Cottage, as Thomas and his family were living at Barwon Crescent at the time).
On her way back down to the orchard, the daughter heard cries of "murder!". The report posted in various newspapers including the Queenslander of 26th Feb described the events which then unfolded thus:

She [the daughter] rushed up there and found her father standing over her mother and holding her by the hair, battering her head on the stone door-step. He then took off his boots and struck her a terrific blow on the temple. The daughter screamed and ran to Mr. Roadknight's house, but there were no men about. The alarm was sent to Sir Charles Sladden's(sic) residence, which is opposite, and that gentleman's groom, named Hinchcliffe, rushed over to Stenton's and saw him. Stenton seized a log of wood and made at Hinchcliffe, who ran for the police, informing several of the neighbours on the road, several of whom ran down, and the first man there found Stenton lying on his back a few yards from the house, with his throat cut from ear to ear, and still grasping a razor in his hand.

This image, held by the State Library of Victoria was first published on 19th
February, 1876 in the Police News

The Colac Herald of 17th February and Bendigo Advertiser of 15th February give broadly similar accounts, but have Stenton attacking his wife and chasing his daughter before once again setting upon his wife who returned inside against the daughter's advice. The mother then died in her daughter's arms in the bedroom where she had taken her after the first attack to dress her wounds. Stenton it seems then grabbed a razor and slashed his own throat before staggering outside. He was still alive when concerned neighbours began arriving, however by the time a doctor was summoned it was too late.


Current path leading from the river flats up to the bottom end of Pakington Street

But what drove him to such lengths? According to the same articles, some months prior to these events, much of Stenton's crop had been damaged by flooding. Whilst there is little in the papers which indicates a significant flooding event in the months prior to Stenton's death, there was mention of sheepskin sales being low in early June as a result of flooding along the Barwon. Perhaps it was at this time his crop was damaged. Furthermore, according to the Queenslander, at about this same time, one of Stenton's three sons ran away to sea.
The resultant stress, it was believed, so unhinged his mind as to render him a "dangerous lunatic". As a result, in December, 1875, the local magistrate's court committed Stenton to be confined at the Kew Lunatic Asylum.

The Kew Lunatic Asylum in its early years, image held by the State Library
of Victoria

One can only imagine the stigma associated with having an "insane" relative in the 19th century and one who furthermore was the family's chief bread-winner. This is not to mention the inconvenience of having their father and husband incarcerated in Melbourne. Why he was not committed to a local facility is not made clear, however perhaps Kew - opened only five years earlier - was seen as the state-of-the-art facility at the time.
Likewise, Geelong Hospital had its own "lunatic ward" which was first mooted in 1867 and finally established in 1872. Ironically in view of the events at Barwon Crescent, an article appearing in The Argus of 15th March, 1869, quoted Charles Sladen as saying that the hospital trustees did not have the power to approve the erection of such a ward on hospital grounds as this was outside the scope of the original intention for their use. Eventually it seems, his opinion was overruled and the ward built. Prior to this time, Geelong's mentally ill patients were housed at the Geelong Gaol about which I have blogged previously.
However the question remains as to why Stenton was sent to Melbourne for treatment. An article published in The Argus on 16th February - after the deaths of William and his wife - indicated that William had been admitted to the asylum suffering from depression and insomnia on 9th December, 1875, but that he was neither "dangerous nor destructive". After a week or two his symptoms were greatly alleviated and his physical health -which had not been good- improved. He was keen to return home.

Closer to the river, the land has been revegetated and the Barwon River Trail
runs through it, however further back a creek or drain runs below the steep drop
from Pakington Street and the area is choked with reeds as well as ash, elm
and poplar which no doubt date back to the 19th century

Regardless he remained there a few weeks longer until his family, learning of this improvement in his condition, successfully secured his release on a two month trial on 12th January, 1876. However, upon returning home, some reports claimed he would often fly into a rage, threatening his family with violence whilst others indicated that he was quiet and refused to see guests, but until the afternoon of his death, he used no force and caused no physical injury.
In a sad adjunct to the whole affair, it was indicated that Stenton's eldest son was soon to be married, the banns due to be posted a third time only two days after the death of his parents. The wedding, it was stated, would have to be postponed.

Where did it all go?

I started this blog post by researching the rather gruesome topic of murder on the banks of the Barwon - a topic which I have addressed before and which continues to be one of my most popular posts: A Murder on the Barwon. However it wasn't long before I once again found myself reading about one of Victoria's pioneering families. This time it was the Roadknights - a familiar name to anyone acquainted with the coastline near Anglesea.
So who were the Roadknights?  Well, they certainly weren't convicted murderers - let's get that straight! But their name did crop up in association with some unfortunate events, one of which will form the basis of another post.
The founding father of the Roadknights in Victoria was William. Born in 1792 at Warwickshire, England, he and his brother Thomas migrated to Tasmania in 1820. They were accompanied on the voyage by their father - also named Thomas - who died at sea only a day from Hobart Town. With William was his first wife Harriet and their four children.
Upon their arrival in Tasmania, the brothers were each allotted 1,000 acres of land but soon moved away from farming, instead establishing themselves as persons of responsibility in the colony. By the late 1830s, William and his son Thomas were looking further afield to the opportunities presented by the opening up of land in the Port Phillip District and in 1836 William and his sons landed in the Port Phillip District with sheep from Tasmania.


I believe this photo to be Thomas Roadknight as captioned, however he would have been much
younger in 1836 than this photo appears. The photo is held by the Victorian State Library which
gives a publication date of 1896 for the photo - five years after Thomas' death.

Between them, the family proceeded to establish properties totalling almost 100,000 acres around the Barwon River and beyond. They held land at Yan Yan Gurt, Deans Marsh, Gerangamete, Cape Otway and at Ceres in the Barrabool Hills. Other stations belonging to the Roadknights included Cherry Tree Hill near Beeac, River Station and Stony Rises Station.
 Testament to the extent of their landholdings  are names such as Point Roadknight, Roadknight Street in Birregurra and Aireys Inlet as well as a street of that name in the township of Forrest and nearby Roadknight Creek.
However, in the early days after their arrival, the Roadknights took up land closer to Geelong in the Barrabool Hills "near the Ceres Bridge". In 1838 William returned briefly to Tasmania to marry for a second time, taking his new wife (Elizabeth nee Twamley) to live at Barrabool. Research for the National Trust names them as living at "Berromongo" where their son Zachariah was born in 1839. I believe this later became Berramongo Vineyard eventually owned by John Belperroud who from 1842 initially leased, then purchased the land from Charles Swanston to whom William sold it. John was one of a wave of Swiss immigrants who brought their wine-making skills to the region, encouraged by Governor LaTrobe and his Swiss wife.
The land taken up by Roadknight in 1836 was located on both sides of the Barwon very near the "Ceres Bridge". One contemporary map shows the bridge to be a few hundred metres upstream from today's Merrawarp Road bridge and the Victorian Heritage Database shows a house "Berramongo" located in this area on Crooks Road.

Merrawarp Road bridge today looking from somewhere near the probable
site of the old Ceres Bridge

That same year, as the land around Geelong was opened up for sale, William purchased 22 acres overlooking the Barwon River at Chilwell. His property was situated on the north bank, opposite and a little upstream from Kardinia House - the property of Dr Alexander Thomson - and just across Pakington Street from the house of Charles Sladen Esq. (Sladen House). The land stretched from the banks of the river, back to the government road which became known as West Fyans Street. Today, the site is occupied in part by the former Returned Sailors and Soldiers Mill buildings which date from 1922.
Initially, Roadknight built a small house known as Barwon Cottage, then in 1845 he built a larger home on the property which he called Barwon Crescent. It was constructed from locally made bricks and it is interesting to note that in 1849 land immediately north of his property was advertised as being "first rate brick earth". He also established an orchard garden on the land near the house and it was here that the family lived.
Meanwhile, his ambitions as a squatter saw him establish stations on land to the west of Geelong as mentioned above. However, this venture was not without controversy. Unsurprisingly, the spread of European settlement caused the displacement of the local indigenous tribes. In the 1840s with Governor LaTrobe realising the need to erect a lighthouse at Cape Otway to ensure the safety of the shipping routes, it became necessary to find a land route to the Cape - a task which LaTrobe himself eventually achieved.

The Cape Otway lighthouse was eventually built by 1848

However, during a subsequent surveying expedition in 1846 lead by George D Smythe, a white seaman named Conroy was killed by members of the Gadubanoot tribe. He was alleged to have raped several of the tribeswomen - a capital offence according to Aboriginal law.
Smythe returned to LaTrobe and requested a party be put together to make an arrest. Permission was quietly granted and Smythe - armed with a warrant and a group of trackers from the Barrabool tribe of the Wathaurong - returned. He was joined en route by a group of heavily armed men lead by William Roadknight. According to a 2007 publication by Bruce Pascoe (Convincing Ground: learning to fall in love with your country) a massacre resulted. Smythe claimed to have "lost control" of the Barrabool tribesmen, however surviving members of the Gadubanoot tribe said they were shot down by white men whilst a later report indicates that there was only a single Barrabool man with Smythe's party.
Pascoe also claims that this was not the first time Roadknight had used tribesmen from one district in an attack upon another and that there may have been as many as three more massacres between 1846 and 1848. Each was part of a wider campaign to ensure the safety of the few families who would come to the Cape to man the lighthouse when it was built. He also notes that Roadknight was running stock on the Cape prior to 1846, presumably without interference from the Gadubanoot. The implication is perhaps that he had already employed measures to protect his stock. Unsurprisingly, some descendants of the family have disputed this version of events and there is certainly ample evidence to show that in other parts of his life that William was a genial and kindly man.
Interestingly, with the centenary of the settlement of Melbourne approaching, the Hobart Mercury of 3rd October, 1934 reproduced in part an earlier article indicating that both Thomas and William were present at a meeting of Port Phillip settlers on 1st June, 1836. Amongst the unanimously carried proposals was one stating that:
"all subscribing parties pledge themselves to afford protection to the aborigines to the utmost of their power, and, further, that they will not teach them the use of firearms, or allow their servants to do so, nor on any account to allow he aborigines to be in possession of any firearms."
It was also unanimously carried that:
"all parties do bind themselves to communicate to the arbitrator any aggression committed upon, or by, the aborigines, that may come to their knowledge, by the earliest opportunity, and that he be empowered to proceed in the matter as he may think expedient."
Despite their early acquisitions and prominence in the settlement of the Port Phillip district, the Roadknights did not retain the majority of their acreage. Their holdings were significantly reduced as a result of bad business deals and a move by the government to reclaim a significant amount of land for a Wesleyan Mission to "maintain and civilize" the local Aboriginal population. Again, Pascoe states that Roadknight worked to thwart the intentions of the missionaries whose venture ultimately did not succeed. In the end, the land was sold off, but the Roadknights did not reacquire any of their forfeited acres and by 1870 little of their holdings remained.
Meanwhile, after the death of his second wife Elizabeth, in 1857, William married for a third time in 1860 to Helen Buchanan, however the marriage did not last long as William died on 25th November, 1862.

William Roadknight is buried in the Eastern Cemetery
with his second wife, Elizabeth

Barwon Crescent then passed to his son Thomas who with his son Alfred Hill Roadknight became a noted stock and land agent in Geelong. Thomas and his wife Caroline (nee Hill) lived at "The Crescent".
Their son and heir Alfred was also one of the earliest crop of students produced by the recently-established Geelong Grammar, by that time located in Maud Street, Geelong. Thomas died on 28th October, 1891, leaving the house to Alfred who leased the nearby property Barwon Grange for the next couple of years until his mother vacated Barwon Crescent.


Thomas and his wife Caroline are also buried in the Eastern Cemetery and their
headstone notes that Thomas died at "Barwon Crescent"

Alfred then lived at The Crescent until its eventual sale in 1907. Alfred himself lived a further 14 years. He died in 1931 and is also buried in the Eastern Cemetery with his wife (Emily Harriet Carr) like his parents and grandparents before him.

Grave of Alfred and Emily Roadknight in the Eastern Cemetery

Finding photographic material for this post has proven hard to come by. Whilst the Roadknights' holdings were extensive in the middle of the 19th century, it seems that nothing other than the odd place name here and there remains of their "empire". Barwon Crescent is long gone, demolished to make way for the woollen mills of the 1920s and I can find no (online) photos dating to that period, nor can I find their name on the early maps of Victoria.
There are however, quite a number of Roadknight descendants today and the Roadknight name did crop up fairly regularly in the national newspapers of the 19th century, usually with respect to appointments to committees and land transactions however, during Thomas' tenure at Barwon Crescent in the 1870s, the orchard was leased to a market gardener by the name of William Stenton and it was in 1876 that trouble arose....