Squattocracy - life on the run!

The first Europeans to settle on the plains surrounding the Barwon River and its tributaries were squatters and many of their names would still be familiar to us today: names such as Armytage, Roadknight, Russell, Swanston, Austin, Learmonth, Fisher, Bell, Mercer and Morrison to name a few.

And they are with us still! Street signs from the
suburbs of Geelong, Geelong West, Manifold
Heights, Belmont  Newtown and Corio.

They can be found in the names of our streets, parks and suburbs and towns. In addition to the above street names (and a few besides such as Highett Road, Highton and Clyde Road Bannockburn, McLeod and Read Streets, Meredith), the suburbs of Manifold Heights, Newcomb, Thomson, Highton, and the towns of Drysdale, Batesford, Bells Beach, Bellbrae, Stieglitz, Pollocksford and Sutherlands Creek are all named for original squatters in the district as are Point Roadknight near Anglesea, Cowies Creek, Austin Park, Stead Park and then of course, Fyansford - named for Captain Foster Fyans who arrived in the district as police magistrate at the request of these squatters and himself tried his hand as a squatter in the coming years.
These first settlers arrived in the region in 1836 following John Batman, keen to find pasturage for their stock. With this in mind, various groups set out to investigate the area - in particular the explorer and surveyor John Helder Wedge and the ill-fated Hesse and Gellibrand. From early 1836, stock was landed at Williamstown, Point Henry and Indented Head and left in the care of shepherds, whilst the squatters made their own explorative journeys in search of suitable runs. At the same time, some travelled overland with their flocks from New South Wales.
Amongst the very earliest settlers were representatives of the Derwent Company. Formed from the remains of John Batman's Port Phillip Association they were a group of Tasmanian settlers who had set out in 1835 to acquire land in the Port Phillip district from the indigenous occupants. Despite the government in New South Wales declaring Batman's transaction with the Wurundjeri people invalid, they came anyway.
By the late 1830s the Derwent Co. held 26,000 acres of land extending across the "Portland Bay" region including the Barwon, Moorabool and Leigh Rivers. Its members included Captain Charles Swanston, Major William Drumond Mercer and his son George Duncan Mercer, Thomas Learmonth, George Armytage and David Fisher.

"Barwon Falls" 1848 as painted by Charles Norton, artist, civil servant and
squatter on the Barwon River. Image held by the State Library of Victoria

Another group of investors formed the Clyde Co. which was established in 1838 by seven Scottish investors. They selected land along the Leigh and Moorabool Rivers, which was managed first by Philip Russell and then by his half brother George who eventually settled at Golf Hill near The Leigh (later Shelford).

George Russell, 1852. Pioneer, settler and manager of the Clyde
Company. Image held by the Victorian State Library

In addition to the big companies, individual families such as the Austins of Barwon Park, established large holdings on the Barwon whilst properties such as Moranghurk and Borhoneyghurk on the Moorabool and Narmbool on the Leigh were established by individuals or partnerships.
By 1842 however, the Derwent Co. was being wound up, with various founding members purchasing leases in their own right. The Clyde Co. survived until 1857/1858 at which time George Russell bought the freehold of Golf Hill, an area of 8,500 acres which he eventually expanded to 28,000 acres.
Today, through the foresight of Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe, a record remains which details many of these early settlers and their holdings. During his governorship on 29th July, 1853, La Trobe wrote to Victoria's pioneering settlers asking them if they could in turn reply to him, describing what they remembered of the dates and places in which they and their contemporaries had settled in the 1830s. His request generated some 58 replies from across the newly-declared colony - several of them dealing with settlement along the Barwon, Moorabool and Leigh Rivers - they were eventually compiled by Thomas Francis Bride and published in 1898 titled: Letters from Victorian pioneers: being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the aborigines etc.

Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe. Photo held by
Ballarat Heritage Services

From this and other sources, including the various newspapers of the day and government gazettes it is possible to build a fairly good picture of who these pioneering settlers were and where they held their various squatting runs.
The following table - whilst no doubt incomplete - shows who many of the initial landholders were and when they took up their runs. In each case I have attempted to identify the original occupant, however in some cases there may have been an earlier squatter on the land whom I can't identify through online records. If I find further information I will update accordingly.
As time has progressed, it has seemed appropriate to add some early properties to the list below which were not original squatting runs, but were rather the next generation of estates, established once land was opened up for sale. Examples include the Hope brothers at 'Darriwill' and 'Lynnburn' as well as Dr John Learmonth at 'Lawrence Park' all on the lower reaches of the Moorabool River.

Barwon River
Borongoop	Caroline Newcombe and Anne Drysdale	1841
Geelong	Derwent Co. (David Fisher)	1837
Kardinia	Dr Alexander Thomson	1837
Highton	John Highett	1837
Barrabool Hills	John Charles Darke	c1837
Berramongo	Roadknights	1836
Pollocksford	Captain Pollock	1836
Murgheboluc Flat	Yuilles	1836
Weatherboard	Derwent Co (David Fisher)	1837
Barwon Park (Toolun, St Leonards & Waterloo Plains)	Thomas Austin and Brothers	1837
Wormbete	Henry Hopkins	1837
Ingleby	Derwent Co (Thomas Armytage)	1836
Yan Yan Gurt*	Roadknights	1838
Deans Marsh*	Roadknights	1848
Wesleyan Church (Rev Francis Tuckfield)	Buntingdale Mission Station	August 1839
Paraparap	Frederick Dewing	1838
Gerangemete	Roadknights	1839
Ricketts	Thomas Rickett	<September 1837
River Station	Roadknights	1840
Mt Hesse (Incuding Eurack, Mountside & Mt Hesse)*	William Harding (with John Highett)	1837
Murdeduke (originally part of Mt Hesse)	John Highett (with William Harding)	1837
St Stephen	John Stephens	<1841
Long Water Hole/Barrunah Plains*	Derwent Co. (James Austin)	1837
Warrambine*	Derwent Co. (Prentice)	<1842
Moorabool River
Bell Post Hill	John Anthony Cowie & David Stead	March 1836
Lynburnn	George & Robert Hope	1846
Batesford	Alfred & John Bates	1837
Manifold’s Ford (aka Dog Rocks/Batesford)	Thomas & Peter Manifold	1836
Lawrence Park	Thomas and John Learmonth	1839
Sutherland’s Creek*	Joseph Sutherland	1836
Darriwill	George, James & Robert Hope	1846
Russell's Bridge	Clyde Co. (George Russell)	1836
Moranghurk	William Taylor & Dugald McPherson	1840
Durdiwarrah	Robert von Stieglitz	March/April 1838
Borhoneyghurk	John Norman McLeod	1837
Lal Lal	Blakeney & George Airey	1840
Moreep	John Norman McLeod	October 1837
Ballark	John Wallace	1838
Bungal	George Egerton	1838?
Bungeeltap	John Anthony Cowie & David Stead	1838
Bungletap East/Emly Park	David Stead	1838
Hunterston	William Patterson?	1840s
Peerewerrh	Fairbairn & Gardner	<1849
Borambeta	Charles & Joseph Bradshaw?	<1849
Bolwarra	James Clarke?	1837?
Ballan	Robert William Stieglitz	1838
Leigh/Yarrowee River
Weatherboard	Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)	April 1837
(Native Creek No. 1)*	Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)	April 1837
(Native Creek No. 2) (later Woolbrook)*	Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)	1837
Golf Hill (including Upper Leigh & Tall Tree Creek Stations)	Clyde Co (George Russell)	1839
Native Creek No. 3 (later Barwonleigh)	Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)	April 1837
Woodbourne  No. 2	Alexander, Charles & John Wilson	1844
Cargerie	George Frederick Read Jnr	January 1838
Mount Mercer	Derwent Co. (David Fisher)	March 1838
Mount Mercer Cattle Station	Derwent Co. (Major William Drummond Mercer)	1838?
Narmbool (including Larundel)	Hugh Niven	January 1839
Warraneep	Levitt brothers and one other	1840
Waverley Park (later Bonshaw)	Henry Anderson	1838
Boninyong	Thomas & Sommerville Learmonth	1838
Ballarat	Archibald B & WC Yuille	February 1838

*These properties whilst not lying directly on any of the three rivers, were an integral part of the district and each did have at least one creek which flowed to either the Barwon or the Moorabool.
It is worth remembering also that runs often changed hands repeatedly (sometimes within a matter of months) and areas of land could be transferred in part or wholly between settlers meaning that the boundaries of properties shifted over time as squatters expanded or consolidated their holdings, forming and dissolving partnerships on a regular basis.
During the 1850s and 60s, following the dispersal of the Clyde and Derwent Companies, leases changed hands and the pre-emptive rights to various properties were purchased. The era of the squatter had well and truly reached the three rivers.

Highway Robbery!

Whilst I'm on the subject of bushrangers - and in particular Owen Suffolk - his autobiography describes one other story of derring-do which falls within the broader auspices of this blog. Like the exploits of the previous post (BAIL UP!) this escapade involved horse-theft and robbery at gunpoint however if the author is to be believed, it also involved a police chase and a daring escape.
And that, at the moment, is the problem. I can find no mention of the affair - at least as described by Suffolk - in the local papers or indeed from any source other than Suffolk's autobiography (Owen Suffolk: days of crime and years of punishment).

The face of a bushranger: Owen Suffolk, 1829

The tale begins a short time before the Portland Mail Coach hold up when Suffolk and his two compatriots (Christie Farrell and Harry Dowling) were teaching themselves the "bushranger's trade". According to Suffolk, he and Dowling were both well educated and of a somewhat romantic bent, so the mystique of a bushranger's life appealed to them as much as the pecuniary potential.
Rather than paraphrase, I will give Suffolk's version of their first foray into highway robbery:

Before parting that night, Christy, Dowling and I had agreed to meet in three days, each armed with a pair of pistols, and properly mounted at a place called the Back Creek, distant some dozen miles from Geelong. I had sufficient money by me to purchase the pistols. Disguised as an old man, wearing false grey whiskers and large goggle-spectacles, I made a purchase at a gunsmith's shop in Geelong for "that dear boy of mine who would go to California."
The mayor of Geelong's stable furnished me with a saddle and bridle, and a grazing paddock near Bates' Ford provided me with a tolerable steed.
I was first at the rendezvous; but I had not long to wait, for very soon Harry and Christy, splendidly mounted, galloped up.
They had been more thoughtful than myself, and had brought with then a flask of brandy, a couple of cold fowls, &c. I left them to the brandy, but I appropriated a whole fowl by way of a set-off.
We were not long inactive, for shortly after we had finished the fowls and their concomitants, a gig, driven tandem fashion, taking an up-country direction, passed by us. We were soon in pursuit, the gig was quickly overtaken, our pistols were presented in the true Turpin style and with a courtesy worthy of Macaire the gentlemen were requested to resign their valuables into our safe keeping. They had the good sense to comply without giving trouble; but unfortunately they travelled with very little cash in their possession and their watches were silver and antiquated. Politely returning to them their cheque-books, and promising to keep their watches by way of memento, we permitted them to proceed upon their journey. After this valorous exploit we separated, agreeing to meet in Geelong the next day.
It so happened, however, that I was very far from being satisfied with such a poor commencement, and I formed the resolution of doing something singlehanded before returning to town. Towards the evening I stopped a horseman and obtained from him about thirty-three pounds in notes. I hadscarcely finished searching his clothes (for I had made him take off his outer garments) when up rode two mounted police. They were not more than one hundred yards distant when I first saw them, as a bend in the road had prevented me from seeing them before. I was in my saddle in a minute, galloping swiftly across the plains. The police followed, and the "swell" whom I had robbed joined in the pursuit. I looked back every now and then, but the horses seemed well-matched. If I could not leave my pursuers behind, neither did they seem to gain upon me. Once they fired at me with their carbines, but ineffectually. After about an hour's gallop I came full upon the Moorabool River. It was a perfect torrent; and the bridge had been swept away by the fury of the stream. My horse was beginning to flag; and I saw at a glance that if I attempted to follow the course of the river my pursuers would be able to cut me off. Cross the stream I must. The bank was quite precipitous, and about six feet above the level of the stream. My horse at this made a dead stop, and then, maddened by severe spurring, plunged with a bound into the seething waters. We were carried rapidly down the river, and before I had reached the middle of it, the police, too frightened to follow, were firing upon me. Night by this time had well set in, and it was the darkness tat proved my safety. With daylight they could not have missed me as often as they did, for as I was at least a quarter of an hour in reaching the opposite bank, they each fired several shots - the exact number I could not tell. As it was, both myself and my horse escaped unhurt. On reaching the opposite bank I waved my hat, gave a shout of defiance, and galloped off with the full assurance that they would not risk crossing the river. Before daylight I made my way into Geelong, and was snug in bed while the Geelong police were riding all over the country after me. I met my two brother knights the evening after this adventure, and for some time Harry Dowling and myself amused the public and tantalized the police by writing letters and verse to the papers, assuring the former that they would find us zealously industrious, and inviting the latter to catch us if they could.

Police officers on the Ballarat goldfields making an arrest

A grand tale indeed, but one which may owe more to Suffolk's oratory skills than to fact. Having read his version of events, I naturally went looking for corroborative evidence. I hit my first stumbling block when I could find no sign of a Back Creek within the general vicinity of Geelong. There is a creek of that name however, about 12 miles from Ballarat, near the town of Scotsburn on the Midland Highway. Maybe he got his towns muddled.
Next, I searched the newspapers of the day for any reports of highway robbery which fitted the description given by Suffolk. Nothing. Nor was there mention of the mayor (at that time, Dr Alexander Thomson, resident at Kardinia House on the south bank of the Barwon in Geelong) having lost a saddle and bridle or of a horse stolen from Batesford (quite a distance to carry that much equipment before acquiring a horse on which to place them!).
My third approach was to check for reports of a flood at about this time - the Moorabool was, he claimed, "a seething torrent" and the bridge had been "carried away by the fury of the stream". Which bridge? None that I could find were reported as flood-damaged. In fact the papers claimed that two periods of rain in early and mid-March had saved the district from a severe drought, there was certainly no discussion of a flood.

Russell's Bridge over the Moorabool River possibly during the 19th century,
a bridge at this point dates to the early 1850s.

As for a six foot leap into the Moorabool, well that was possible, the riverbanks are quite steep in places. Taking 15 minutes to cross the stream, coming out in one piece and still in control of his mount? That I'm not so sure about. Granted, the Moorabool had not at that time been dammed and may have flowed more strongly than today, but it is not a big river.
A little more rifling and I finally came across a report of robbery on a public highway leading from "Mr Yuille's property" (the vicinity of Lake Wendouree in Ballarat) and Buninyong on 28th March, 1851, in which Mr Michael Cavenagh was held up at gunpoint by two assailants and relieved of his horse, its tack and his other valuables. One of his assailants it later transpired, was Suffolk.
 I also found an article in the Geelong Advertiser published after his trial for the mail coach robbery which, in part, included a letter written by him (but not named as such) in which he boasted about robbing Cavenagh, much as he described in his book. The Advertiser it seems had not deemed the content worthy of publication until Suffolk's notoriety had been revealed.
So, was this robbery the basis of Suffolk's writings? It is the only likely event I can find on record but there is no mention of an escape from the law or a daring river-crossing. Dramatic licence? Perhaps. Or maybe the second hold up and subsequent chase didn't come to the attention of the press, however if it was anywhere near as dramatic as Suffolk describes then that seems unlikely.
Assuming for a moment that such a chase did take place after the robbery near Ballarat and that Suffolk as he claimed, galloped for an hour before coming upon the Moorabool, he must have been riding either south or south west towards Geelong (his eventual destination).
But where was the missing bridge? In 1851 there were significantly fewer bridges across the Moorabool than there are today. In fact within about 30 miles of Buninyong there were only one or two bridges which I can tentatively identify. One, described as a "hand bridge" over the Moorabool near Lal Lal Falls on the way to Corduroy Bridge (Clarendon) was reported as swept away in 1855. Another was Sharps Bridge on the road of the same name a few miles past Meredith.

The current version of Sharp's Bridge

Either way, this would still have left a relatively lengthy ride (25 miles or more) back to Geelong before dawn with a rather tired horse. Not impossible I guess.
Well at this point I have to admit defeat. I have tried everything I can think of but am still not convinced that the events described above occurred at least in some form. I will continue searching, but for now, this blog needs to be posted.
Either way you have to admit that the Convict Poet spins a darn good yarn!