OceaniaChronicle

Philip, Arthur

PHILLIP, Arthur (1738-1814)
admiral, and first governor of New South Wales

was born in the city of London on 11 October 1738. His father, Jacob Phillip, who came from Frankfurt, was first a steward and then a teacher of languages in London, his mother, originally Elizabeth Breach, had previously married Captain Herbert, R.N. It was possibly the influence of her first husband’s family that enabled Arthur Phillip to obtain entrance to Greenwich school, as strictly speaking only the sons of seamen were admissible. At the age of a little more than 15 he was apprenticed to William Readhead of the ship Fortune. Two years later he was released from his indentures and entered the navy on H.M.S. Buckingham. He fought at the action off Minorca on 6 April 1756, and in February 1757 was promoted midshipman on the Neptune. He served on various ships, but it was not until December 1760 that he became a master’s mate, and in 1762 lieutenant. He saw a considerable amount of active service, and, the war having come to an end, was placed on half pay in April 1763. He then married and spent some years farming near Lyndhurst in southern England. Between November 1770 and July 1771 he was serving in the navy again and in 1774, having obtained permission to fight on the Portuguese side in the war with Spain, was given a commission as captain in their navy. He remained in this service for three and a half years, and gained the reputation of being one of the best officers in the service. In 1778 England was again at war with Spain and Phillip was on active service as first lieutenant on H.M.S. Alexander. About 12 months later he obtained his first ship as master of the fire-ship Basilisk. He became a post captain in November 1781, and in December 1782 was given command of H.M.S. Europe, on which vessel was also Lieutenant Philip Gidley King (q.v.). He was on half pay again in May 1784 and in October 1786 was appointed captain of the Sirius and governor-elect of New South Wales. Great Britain was no longer able to send convicts to America, the jails were full, and it was decided to send them to New South Wales.
The reasons why Phillip was selected for this difficult task are not known, but possibly the fact that he knew something of farming was an influence. The choice was certainly a wise one and if some of Phillip’s ideas had been adopted his task would have been much lightened. His suggestion that ships with artisans on board should precede the convict ships by some time was an excellent one although not acted upon, and he had some very wise views about keeping the more vicious of the convicts on one ship, so that all might not be contaminated. Everything had to be thought of in advance, for if provisions, or indeed anything else, failed, they could only be replenished after long delay. The total number of persons involved was 1486, of whom 778 were convicts, and on 13 May 1787 the fleet of 11 ships set sail. The leading ship reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 and two days later the remainder arrived. A few hours stay satisfied Phillip that the site was not suitable, it was decided to go on to Port Jackson, and on 26 January some of the marines and convicts were landed. Phillip had taken great care of his people, he had given them liberal supplies of fresh meat and fruit at Rio de Janeiro and the Cape, and considering the difficulties and the state of health of some of the convicts, it was remarkable that there were no more than about 30 deaths during the voyage of eight months. After the landing there was much apparent confusion, everyone was busy, but there were few skilled artisans and real progress was slow. Sickness broke out and fresh vegetables were badly needed, it was long before a sufficient supply was grown. On 7 February, in the presence of the whole of the convicts and the military, Captain Collins (q.v.), the judge-advocate, read the commission appointing Captain Arthur Phillip as captain-general and governor in chief of New South .

The reasons why Phillip was selected for this difficult task are not known, but possibly the fact that he knew something of farming was an influence. The choice was certainly a wise one and if some of Phillip’s ideas had been adopted his task would have been much lightened. His suggestion that ships with artisans on board should precede the convict ships by some time was an excellent one although not acted upon, and he had some very wise views about keeping the more vicious of the convicts on one ship, so that all might not be contaminated. Everything had to be thought of in advance, for if provisions, or indeed anything else, failed, they could only be replenished after long delay. The total number of persons involved was 1486, of whom 778 were convicts, and on 13 May 1787 the fleet of 11 ships set sail. The leading ship reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 and two days later the remainder arrived. A few hours stay satisfied Phillip that the site was not suitable, it was decided to go on to Port Jackson, and on 26 January some of the marines and convicts were landed. Phillip had taken great care of his people, he had given them liberal supplies of fresh meat and fruit at Rio de Janeiro and the Cape, and considering the difficulties and the state of health of some of the convicts, it was remarkable that there were no more than about 30 deaths during the voyage of eight months. After the landing there was much apparent confusion, everyone was busy, but there were few skilled artisans and real progress was slow. Sickness broke out and fresh vegetables were badly needed, it was long before a sufficient supply was grown. On 7 February, in the presence of the whole of the convicts and the military, Captain Collins (q.v.), the judge-advocate, read the commission appointing Captain Arthur Phillip as captain-general and governor in chief of New South Wales. The power given to the governor was practically unlimited. Phillip addressed the convicts, pointed out that every individual must do his share, and that those who did not labour should not eat. Justice was promised, but they were warned that those who committed faults would be severely punished.

raising of the British flag at the founding of the convict settlement of Sydney
**Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales (a128112)**

Phillip’s troubles soon began. The convicts would not work except under strict supervision, they would sometimes straggle from the camp, and the marines and seamen found the women’s quarters attractive. The wood used for building was hard, unseasoned and difficult to work, and an outbreak of scurvy was a serious hindrance. Various offences were at first treated leniently by the governor, but in the circumstances of the colony, stealing from the stores was a very serious crime, and for this severe floggings were given. On 2 March Phillip started in his long boat to examine some country to the north of Port Jackson. He had hoped to find better land than that surrounding the settlement. What he did find was Pitt Water, now one of the beauty spots near Sydney. He adopted the right attitude to the aborigines, and walked unarmed among them though they were armed. He had determined that he would never fire on them except in the last resort. He had trouble with the military officers who wanted grants of land which Phillip would not make, though each was allowed the use of two acres for growing grain. He also had trouble with the lieutenant-governor, Major Ross, which continued during the next two years. Explorations were made round Sydney, and Phillip showed great courage by walking unarmed up to about 200 apparently hostile aborigines. In October 1788 the Sirius sailed for the Cape of Good Hope for supplies, and in the meantime everyone was rationed. The situation was relieved to some extent when the Sirius returned seven months later, but in October 1789 rationing began again. By January 1790 everyone had been lodged in huts or barracks and vegetables had been grown, which had a good effect on the health of the community. On 2 June 1790 the first vessel of the second fleet arrived with 222 female convicts, and before the end of the month a storeship and three convict transports also reached port. But the shocking overcrowding of the convicts had resulted in the death of a fourth of their number, and the remainder in most cases were so ill that they had to be helped ashore. There were 86 more deaths in the next six weeks. Phillip was quite unprepared for this influx but he faced the position bravely. In September he was seriously wounded by a spear thrown by a native, but fortunately recovered six weeks later. Though Phillip himself had shown great forbearance and tact in dealing with the aborigines, some of the convicts had undoubtedly misbehaved in their relations with them and several convicts had been killed. In December 1790 a punitive expedition was ordered, but the natives prudently kept out of the way. There was a partial drought, the crops at Sydney failed, and operations were largely transferred to Rose Hill. Phillip showed himself to be a good town planner in his original design of Sydney, but unfortunately his plan was never carried out and for a time the town grew in an almost haphazard way. He was much troubled by the fact that many men claimed to have completed their sentences, but as he had not been supplied with proper records, he could only keep them working on rations. In December 1790 Lieutenant King reached London with dispatches from Phillip and was able to give the government full particulars about the position at Sydney. In reply to his dispatches Phillip was informed that the government intended to send out two shipments of convicts annually, and that there would be no danger in future of a shortage of supplies. Some of the officers had complained against Phillip, but he was supported, and his sending of Major Ross to Norfolk Island was approved. Phillip had applied for leave of absence to do urgent private business in England, but was requested to continue in his position until his presence in the colony could be better dispensed with. In March 1791 James Ruse (q.v.) the first successful farmer in Australia, advised Phillip that he was able to maintain himself on the land he was farming and was granted 30 acres at Parramatta, the first grant of land in Australia. This, however, was exceptional, in April the settlement was running short of food again, and Major Ross was in the same position at Norfolk Island. Matters continued to grow worse until July, when the vessels of the third fleet began to arrive, but Phillip had to make arrangements for housing and feeding nearly 2000 more people. The food available was limited, and he immediately sent one of the transports to Calcutta for provisions. Other problems kept arising such as the question of currency. The Spanish dollar was the most common coin and Phillip decided that its value should be five shillings English. The beginnings of a whaling industry was made, men whose sentences had expired were encouraged to settle on the land, and a certain amount of live stock was brought from the Cape of Good Hope. Vine cuttings were also procured from the same place and did well. The great needs were practical farmers who could properly develop the land and live stock, and overseers for the convicts, who continued to give great trouble. Trouble was also brewing among the military officers who were already forming the military caste that was to cause so much mischief in later years. Phillip was again faced with famine early in 1792, and there was great mortality among the convicts. Vegetables were fortunately plentiful and the vines and fruit trees were beginning to bear, but there was a shortage of everything else. On 26 June the first of three store ships arrived from England, and the new colony was never again in such straits for want of food. Articles of merchandise began to come from England, but the “rum traffic” gave much trouble. The issuing of a licence for the sale of wine and spirits did not improve matters, and drunkenness and debauchery showed no signs of diminishing. Phillip would not allow his optimism to be quenched, and one of his last acts before leaving was the giving of what government live stock could be spared to the settlers. On 11 December 1792 he sailed for England in the Allantic taking with him two aborigines and many specimens of plants and animals. The population of the settlement was then 4221 of whom 3099 were convicts. The death rate had been very high, but the worst was past. Phillip had done his work well, and it must have been a great satisfaction to him to know that his administration had the approval of the king’s ministers. He arrived in London on 22 May 1793.

Gosford Glyphs

Never known for being particularly peripatetic, it would be remarkable indeed if there was genuine archaeological evidence for the presence of ancient Egyptian travelers in, of all places, Australia. Nevertheless, if the so-called Gosford Glyphs are genuine, the implications would be staggering, proving absolutely that Egyptians had visited Australia in antiquity. However, the Gosford Glyphs are transparent fakes, poorly done and providing further proof for the assertion that an archaeological fraud need not be well conceived, well thought out, or well executed to garner a following among the gullible who wish to believe in its legitimacy.First noticed in 1975 in Kariong, a rural district about 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of Sydney (on the southeast coast of Australia), the Gosford Glyphs are a series of about a hundred Egyptian hieroglyphs in an area replete with Aboriginal petroglyphs of giant kangaroos and men with spears. Some of the hieroglyphs appear to be genuine in the sense that they appear to be fairly true copies of actual Egyptian written symbols, but none of them are authentically ancient. None were seen before 1975 despite the fact that a local surveyor, Alan Dash, had been visiting the region since 1968. Dash further reports that, after his first encounter with the hieroglyphs in 1975, for the next five years, each time he visited the area new glyphs had appeared. During a visit in 1984, Dash actually discovered the culprit (or perhaps he was one of several) inscribing hieroglyphs into the rock face.

Though within the boundaries of an Australian national park and blatantly illegal,the perpetrator was not arrested, as he appeared to be mentally ill.

One might have thought that Dash’s eyewitness testimony would have put the nonsense entirely to rest. It hasn’t. Claims have been made that the glyphs exhibit too much erosion to be recently made, for example–though geologists deny this,pointing out that the local sandstone is a very soft rock that, in fact, erodes very quickly. The visible weathering of the hieroglyphs belies any notion of great age when compared to the 250-year-old Aborigine petroglyphs in the same area, the erosion of which is far more substantial than is the case for the faux hieroglyphs.

The hieroglyphs themselves, though some look like actual Egyptian writing, make no sense at all, according to Prof. Nageeb Kanawati, the head of the Macquarie University Egyptology department in Sydney. Some of the glyphs are reversed, and some in the same panels are from entirely different periods of Egyptian history.

Then there are the entirely un-Egyptian hieroglyphic carvings that include bells, a dog’s bone and, it pains the author to report, suspiciously like flying saucers.

The Gosford Glyphs are a transparent fraud, at least some of which were produced by a mentally handicapped man whose motives are obscure, and others of which have been recently produced by people whose time might be better spent in other pursuits. Ancient Egypt was a remarkable culture, very advanced in architecture, construction, and engineering, but there is no evidence that they made any transoceanic voyages at all and certainly not to Australia in particular. The only conclusions that can be drawn from the Gosford Glyphs are that some folks need to find a better outlet for their creative expression and that the gullibility of some people is boundless.

📚 Excerpts from

Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum
Book by Kenneth Feder

Albert (Tibby) Cotter

Albert (Tibby) Cotter (1883-1917), cricketer, was born on 3 December 1883 at 132 Phillip Street, Sydney, sixth and youngest son of English-born John Henry Cotter, butcher, and his Scottish wife Margaret Hay, née Pattison. When he was 6 his family moved to Glebe. He was educated at the Forest Lodge Public School, where fellow-pupils included the cricketers Charles Kellaway and Warren Bardsley, and at Sydney Grammar School in 1899-1900. In the annual matches between the Sydney and Melbourne Grammar schools in Melbourne in 1899 he took 6 for 53, including the wicket of S. M. (Viscount) Bruce twice, and next year in Sydney took 7 for 57.

Known as ‘Tibby’, he joined the Glebe District Cricket Club in 1900 and established himself as a fine pace bowler and hard-hitting batsman. Successful for New South Wales against the English tourists in 1903-04, he enjoyed moderate success in the fourth and fifth Tests; he toured England with Joe Darling’s team in 1905 where in all matches he took 124 wickets at 19.83 apiece, including 12 for 34 against Worcestershire. His tour batting average was 17.6. On the 1909 tour of England he obtained 64 wickets at 24.09 runs each, including 5 for 38 and 6 for 95 in the third and fifth Tests respectively. He took 22 wickets at 28.77 against the touring South Africans in 1910-11 but his Test career ended when he, Victor Trumper, M. A. Noble and others split with the Board of Control in 1911.

In 21 Tests Cotter took 89 wickets, seven times taking five in an innings, at an average of 28.64 each, and in all first-class matches 440 wickets for 24 apiece and 2450 runs at an average of 16. In the Sheffield Shield he took 123 wickets at 23.45 each. Among his best performances for Glebe were 4 wickets in 4 balls and his highest score of 156 which included 16 sixes. He was also a very fine Rugby three-quarter for Glebe, the ‘Dirty Reds’, in his younger days.

Cotter was employed as a bookkeeper by the Riverstone Meat Co. when in April 1915 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He served at Gallipoli with the 1st Light Horse; with the 12th Light Horse from February 1916, he was promoted lance corporal in May next year but soon reverted to trooper at his own request. While acting as a mounted stretcher-bearer he was killed on 31 October 1917 at the third Battle of Gaza. Cotter had just taken part in the most famous mounted action of the war, the Light Horse charge to capture the wells at Beersheba; he was dismounting when shot dead at close range by a Turk. Cotter, who was unmarried, was buried two miles south-east of Beersheba.

Cotter, Albert (Tibby) (1883–1917)

by G. P. Walsh

Bibliography

▪A. G. Moyes, Australian Bowlers: From Spofforth to Lindwall (Syd, 1953)
▪D. Frith, The Fast Men (Lond, 1975)
▪Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, 1919, 1978

Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804

The Castle Hill rebellion, which occurred in Sydney in 1804, originated in the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland. This rebellion has been described as one of the most concentrated episodes of violence in Irish history, with a death toll on all sides estimated at 30,000. In turn it grew from the seeds of the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. It was the first nationally organised rebellion in Ireland, and is generally considered the startof the modern phase of Ireland’s struggle for self-government. The 1798 Rebellion culminated at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, outside Enniscorthy in County Wexford, although military and legal mopping-up operations continued until 1801. In the aftermath of the rebellion, 400 or more participants were transported to New South Wales.

The impact of the 1798 exiles in their destination was profound. In 1800, when the Minerva and Friendship arrived from Ireland, Sydney Town was a 12-year old settlement with a population of some 2,500, of whom 43 per cent were convicts. The combined population of Parramatta and Toongabbie was slightly under 1,500, of whom over two-thirds were convicts. The Hawkesbury was predominantly a free settlement, with convicts comprising only 13 per cent of its 1,100 residents. The military were mainly concentrated in Sydney, with small garrisons at the other settlements.

The Irish could scent the vulnerability of their place of exile, and as a result their rebelliousness continued. In New South Wales it was coupled with the desire to escape, return to their homeland and assist in the anticipated renewal of rebellion. There were disturbances throughout 1800: in February a seditious gathering was broken up in Sydney, and in May another plot was reported. In September and October further conspiracies were investigated, and supposed participants flogged or sent to Norfolk Island. In December, a plot on Norfolk Island was forestalled by the execution of two of its leaders.

More ships arrived from Ireland – the Anne in 1801, followed by the Atlas I , Atlas II and Hercules in 1802. Each of them brought more veterans of the 1798 Rebellion, and more news of continuing unrest in the Irish countryside. On Sunday 22 January 1804 a whaling ship arrived in Sydney: the Ferret, five months out of London, with newspapers as recent as 22 August 1803. These brought first reports of the new uprising in Dublin, led by Robert Emmet.

Rebellion at Castle Hill
Exactly six weeks after New South Wales first heard of Emmet’s failed insurrection, on Sunday 4 March 1804, the Irish prisoners at Castle Hill staged a rebellion. The sun set at 6.28 pm, and the rebels made their move at seven o’clock as darkness fell. The house of one of the leaders at Castle Hill was set alight as a signal that the rising had begun.

The 200 convicts at Castle Hill were guarded only by a few convict constables, most of whom joined the rising. Led by Philip Cunningham, a former United Irish captain and recruiting officer, now overseer of Government stonemasons, the convicts raided all the houses in Castle Hill for weapons. Then Cunningham gathered them together and gave a rousing speech: he assured the prisoners that Sydney and Parramatta were ready to be taken, and that after scouring the settlements for arms he would lead them to the Hawkesbury, where they would form a combined force of 1,100 men. This army would return to Castle Hill on Tuesday morning for breakfast, and then proceed to capture Parramatta. After planting a Tree of Liberty at Government House, the rebels would go to Sydney where they would embark on the ships which would be waiting for them. He ended with the rallying cry, ‘Now, my boys, Liberty or Death!’ Cunningham then led them to the top of a nearby hill, where they divided into parties to raid the surrounding settlements for more arms and volunteers.

Shortly after 9 pm, word of the rising reached Parramatta. The settlers believed their plan was to draw most of the garrison of 50 out of the barracks and enable the rebels to take the arsenal it contained. Instead the main group of rebels assembled on Constitution Hill at Toongabbie. The crest of the hill, three and a half kilometres north-west of Parramatta across the Government Domain, provided a panoramic view, enabling the rebels to see anyone approaching with torches from Sydney or Parramatta. Equally, any fires on the hill were visible from a great distance. It was a spot well chosen to create an intimidating presence and ensure the rebels had early warning of any large-scale troop movements overnight. In addition it dominated the road between Parramatta and the Hawkesbury.

The authorities respond
The general alarm was given in Sydney town at 11.30 pm with the firing of cannons and the beating of drums. At midnight Major George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps was awakened by a trooper at his home in Annandale and told that the governor was on his way. Shortly afterwards Governor King rode up with word that 500 to 600 Croppies were in arms and that troops were on their way from Sydney. At 1.30 am a company of 55 soldiers arrived at Annandale, where Major Johnston took command and led them to Parramatta. The Governor arrived at Parramatta at four o’clock and announced the imminent arrival of Major Johnston and 100 soldiers. The sun rose on 5 March at 5.46 am, so it was not long after five o’clock when Major Johnston reached the Parramatta barracks ‘at the dawn of the day’.

The troops then divided. Lieutenant Davies led half of them north towards Castle Hill. The other half under Major Johnston headed west to the rebel camp at Toongabbie. When he reached the camp, Johnston was told that 400 rebels were on the top of Constitution Hill. He sent an advance guard of five soldiers and six or eight settlers armed with muskets along the Hawkesbury Road to flank the rebels, while he and Quartermaster Laycock led the remaining 20 troops and nearly 40 armed volunteers up the hill. They found that the rebels had retreated towards the Hawkesbury. After a forced march through the night, the troops now faced a pursuit on a day which was ‘intensely hot’. Johnston and Trooper Thomas Anlezark rode ahead while the main party proceeded on foot. After a chase of 16 kilometres Johnston finally received word that the rebels were less than two kilometres ahead. It was about 10.30 am on Monday 5 March.

Demands and defeat
Johnston and Anlezark galloped after the rebels and asked to speak to their leaders. The estimated rebel force of 250 called to Major Johnston to come among them. He replied that he was within pistol shot so was no threat, and their commanders should come out and speak to him. Eventually after some delay Philip Cunningham and William Johnson advanced from the rebel lines. Major Johnston told them he wanted to avoid bloodshed and offered to bring Father Dixon to speak to them. Their response was a modification of the usual slogan: ‘Death or Liberty, and a ship to take us home’. Major Johnston rode back to the advancing troops and returned with Father Dixon to the rebels who were forming into a line on the ‘second hill this side of the last Halfway Pond’ under the command of Johnson and Cunningham. Major Johnston called for the two men he had spoken to earlier to come forward again. Major Johnston, apparently unarmed, renewed his call for them to surrender, Father Dixon adding his own appeal to avoid bloodshed. The reply was the same as before.

At that moment, however, Quartermaster Laycock and his force came into view. With the rebels distracted, Major Johnston produced a pistol he had concealed in his sash and clapped it to the head of one of the rebel leaders, telling him he would ‘blow his soul to hell’. Trooper Anlezark did the same to the other. Retreating with his captives, Johnston ordered the troops to open fire and charge. Firing commenced on both sides, although the rebels offered little resistance and soon scattered and ran. In the initial stages, nine rebels were killed at the Last Pond, many wounded and seven prisoners taken. Soon after, three more were killed and another 19 captured. There is no report of any deaths or injuries among the soldiers and their volunteer supporters. The rebels were pursued in all directions until an ‘excessive dark’ night fell.

In the aftermath, nine rebels were executed and some 30 were exiled to the Coal River (Newcastle) chain gang. Many were also flogged or placed in irons.

The location of Sydney’s Battle of Vinegar Hill remained contentious until research by local historian Kevin Moore was confirmed by a Commission of Inquiry in 1982. The site in Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill, is marked by a memorial designed by Vladimir Sitta and Ivan Polak and unveiled in 1988.

References
Kevin Moore, ‘Behind Vinegar Hill’, Blacktown and District Historical Society Quarterly Journal, March 1982

Kevin Moore, ‘The Road to Vinegar Hill’, Blacktown and District Historical Society Quarterly Journal, vol 2, no 4, December 1981

Objections made to the proposal to make a permanent conservation order in respect of land in the vicinity of Windsor Road at the Second Ponds Creek as being a site associated with the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Proposed Permanent Conservation Order No 192, report by Commissioner of Inquiry Charles O’Connell, Sydney, 1982

Laycock, Thomas (1756–1809)

Thomas Laycock (1756?-1809), quartermaster, was enrolled as a sergeant in the New South Wales Corps in 1789. He was promoted quartermaster in January 1791 and arrived in Sydney in H.M.S. Gorgon in September. Governor Arthur Phillip recommended Laycock for a vacant ensigncy in April 1792, but this was refused because he already held a commission. When Deputy-Commissary Thomas Freeman died in November 1794 Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose appointed Laycock to the vacant office. In 1796 Laycock was involved in the shooting of John Boston’s pig and was ordered to pay damages along with other members of the corps charged with the offence.

He resigned as deputy-commissary in December 1800 but retained his position as quartermaster. He had been granted 80 acres (32 ha) at Parsley Bay, later the site of Vaucluse House, in February 1793; 100 acres (40 ha) by the upper part of the harbour in September 1795; 160 acres (65 ha) at Liberty Plains in May 1799; and two other grants of which no record survives. By 1802 he held 448 acres (181 ha) by grant and had bought 900 (364 ha) more; by 1807 his total acreage was 1655 acres (670 ha). He was praised for his part in putting down the Castle Hill uprising in March 1804, when he led the detachment of soldiers to Major George Johnston’s aid in his encounter with the rebel leaders, and was afterwards a member of the court martial which tried the rebels.

Laycock’s wife, Hannah (1758-1831), who arrived in the Gorgon in September 1791, left again for England about 1805. After her departure Laycock came under severe censure for his indecent behaviour and next year was found guilty of using mutinous language. In February 1808 he was replaced as quartermaster by the War Office but not entirely disgraced. In April Lieutenant-Governor Johnston appointed him to assist in making a survey of the government store, but John Macarthur advised against appointing him a magistrate and police officer. In October 1809 members of Laycock’s family made representations to a Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson that he was labouring under mental derangement and unable to manage his affairs. After a report on his health by D’Arcy Wentworth, Paterson appointed Laycock’s sons William and Thomas, his son-in-law Nicholas Bayly, William Broughton and D’Arcy Wentworth to manage his estates and effects. He died on 27 December 1809.

In September 1810 Hannah Laycock returned to the colony and settled at King’s Grove, the 500-acre (202 ha) grant she had received in 1804 from Governor Philip Gidley King and which she had named after him. The present suburb of Kingsgrove includes the estate. The Laycocks had three sons and three daughters, including Sarah who married Nicholas Bayly, and Elizabeth who married a pioneer of the Hawkesbury district, Thomas Matcham Pitt, a relation of the earl of Chatham and Lord Nelson. Thomas Pitt’s daughter Mary married her cousin, Thomas William Eber Bunker Laycock.

Select Bibliography
Historical Records of New South Wales, vols 2-5
Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 1-6
manuscript catalogue under T. Laycock (State Library of New South Wales).

Laycock, Thomas (1786–1823)

Thomas Laycock (1786?-1823), soldier and explorer, was the son of Thomas Laycock and his wife Hannah, and came to Sydney with his mother in 1791. He entered the New South Wales Corps, was commissioned ensign in December 1795 and promoted lieutenant in 1802. After serving in turn at Sydney and Norfolk Island, he was sent to Port Dalrymple in 1806 under Captain Anthony Fenn Kemp. He was entrusted with dispatches for Lieutenant-Governor David Collins in Hobart Town, and made the first journey across the island, with the object of obtaining relief for the famine stricken northern settlement. With a party of four men and three weeks provisions, Laycock went by way of the Lake River on 3 February 1807 and reached Hobart on 11 February, after penetrating the mountains past Wood’s Lake (first known as Laycock’s Lake) and descending the valley of the Clyde to the Derwent. After four days rest they made the return journey in less than a week but without help for the northern famine, as Hobart was equally short of food. For this service Laycock was rewarded with a cow, then greatly prized because of the shortages of food and livestock.

He returned to Sydney and in January 1808 was a member of the Criminal Court assembled to try John Macarthur whose behaviour led to the arrest and deposition of Governor William Bligh. Laycock was the only casualty in the Rum Rebellion; while searching Government House he fell through a manhole on to his ‘principal joint’. Partly because of his support for the new administration and partly as a reward for his exploration, he was granted 500 acres (202 ha) of land at Cabramatta by Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Foveaux, but like all the rebels’ grants it had to be surrendered when Governor Lachlan Macquarie assumed office.

Laycock, newly married to Isabella, daughter of Eber Bunker, returned to England with the corps in 1810, was promoted captain in the 98th Regiment in September 1811 and served in the American war. When his regiment returned to Britain Laycock sold his commission and in March 1817 reached Sydney in the Fame with his wife and two children. His wife died in May, and in July at St Philip’s Church he married Margaret, daughter of John Connell, merchant, who bore him two more children. He set up a store, opened a hotel and was soon a large supplier of meat to the commissariat. In 1819 he was one of the leading citizens applying for trial by jury in the colony. He died on his estate at Bringelly on 7 November 1823, aged 37.

Select Bibliography
Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 6-7, 9-10, series 3, vol 1
Sydney Gazette, 17 Oct 1812, 30 July 1814, 4 July 1818.

Male, Arthur (1870–1946)

pastoralist and businessman, was born on 2 March 1870 at Bridport, Dorset, England, second son of Thomas Male, accountant, and his wife Martha, née Guppy. After attending Bridport Grammar School he worked in the family rope-works. About 1890 he migrated to Perth where he worked on a farm at Guildford. In 1894 E. W. Streeter, a London jeweller with pearling interests in south-east Asia and at Broome, visited Male’s employer. Streeter’s vessels had been on the west coast since 1884; he had a pastoral station at Roebuck Plains and a general trading business and a butcher shop at Broome where pearling boats spent the ‘lay-up’ season. Male was taken on to manage E. W. Streeter’s Broome pearling business with Streeter’s son George. A partnership was later formed—Streeter & Male Ltd—and when George Streeter returned to London, Male became sole manager; he was a harsh employer. On 18 January 1900 at Albany he married Constance Cox from Bridport.

The pearling trade grew following the success of Japanese divers and Male was joined by his youngest brother Archie (1877-1923). By 1912 Male’s partner had only a half-interest in the pastoral station and the original Broome businesses. The Male brothers also owned Hill station, between Broome and Beagle Bay; Arthur later bought Ida Valley station, between Menzies and Leonora, where cattle from the north were fattened for sale at Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie and Perth. The firm was agent for Dalgety & Co. Ltd, and the Blue Funnel Line. In 1905-14, every alternate year, Male and his wife visited England where their three eldest children were educated.

After 1918 economic conditions became less favourable; demand for pearl-shell fell and Japanese divers were staying away. Two incidents further affected Male’s pastoral interests. For years he had shipped cattle to Java where a reciprocal trade developed in sugar and rice to provision the Asian indentured labour. In 1921 the Federal government prohibited importation of sugar and rice, to protect the Australian industries, so the Javanese merchants refused to purchase Male’s cattle and sheep. In 1929, after an outbreak of ‘pleura’ among cattle in the North-West, a ‘pleura line’ was established running eastwards from La Grange to the Northern Territory border. Since no cattle north of this line could be sent overland to southern markets, Male could not sell his stock.

In 1905-17 he had represented the Kimberley district in the Legislative Assembly. A Liberal, he spoke infrequently in the House but showed his knowledge of the North-West; he resisted the migration of Japanese or Asians, except divers, to the area. In 1910-11 he was a minister without portfolio. From 1919 he was a member of the Broome Road Board and honorary consul for Japan from 1928.

The management of Male’s Broome interests was taken over after 1930 by his eldest son A. S. (Sam) Male; Arthur retired to Perth and the Weld Club. Predeceased by his wife and survived by two daughters and four sons, he died on 20 January 1946 and was cremated with Anglican rites. His estate was sworn for probate at £29,116.

Select Bibliography

▪J. S. Battye (ed), Cyclopedia of Western Australia, vol 1 (Adel, 1912)
▪Dalgety and New Zealand Loan Ltd (Perth), Dalgety’s Review, 18 Apr 1963, p 12
▪M. A. Bain, Full Fathom Five (Perth, 1983)
▪Western Mail (Perth), 24 Sept 1910

Valentin Andreevich Antonieff

Valentin Andreevich Antonieff (1877-1962), Russian Orthodox priest, was born on 4 March 1877 in the Ekaterinoslav region of southern Russia (Dnepropetrovsk region, Ukrainian Soviet Republic), son of Andrei Zahar Antonieff, priest, and his wife Alexandra Grigorievna, née Stadnitzky. A brilliant student, Antonieff attended Mariupol Church Seminary and the Ekaterinoslav and Ardon theological seminaries; he graduated from Ardon as dux in 1905. He won a scholarship to the Caucasus Theological Academy, but in 1908 he was obliged to discontinue his studies there.

Antonieff had joined the Imperial Russian army in 1899 and in World War I, as chaplain to the 1st Siberian Infantry Division, was twice wounded and three times decorated, once by the Tsar. On the outbreak of the civil war in 1918, he joined the White Russian army and was appointed dean of Steppe Corps (3rd Division) under General Verzhbitsky. Later, as principal chaplain to the 2nd Siberian army, he had command over 108 priests and 4 deans. He left Russia through Vladivostok in 1922 and, after a year in Shanghai, sailed for Australia in the St Albans, landing in Townsville, Queensland, on 20 November 1923. He worked briefly as a labourer on construction of the Cairns-Innisfail railway, then in the mines at Mount Mulligan for three and a half years.

Antonieff had married Maria Mikhailovna Mikhaelsky at Ekaterinoslav in 1907. She and their four children stayed in Russia until he was able to bring them to Australia in December 1924. The family moved in 1927 to Brisbane, and for a time Antonieff served as a stoker on the coastal steamer, Canberra.

The 1920s had seen a great influx of Russian immigrants to Queensland, and the work of the Russian Orthodox Church had to be expanded. Father A. Shabasheff had established the Church in 1921 among Brisbane families and, when newcomers settled in the rural areas, particularly in the Callide valley and the Childers district, another priest was clearly needed. Antonieff resumed his ministry, and the successful establishment of the Church outside Brisbane was due largely to his missionary zeal.

When Shabasheff departed for the United States of America in 1929, Antonieff became acting head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Queensland for three years. In 1932 he was confirmed in the appointment of archpriest and incumbent of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Brisbane. As archpriest he travelled extensively throughout Queensland, visiting Russian communities. A bearded patriarchal figure, he consolidated the rather sparse foundations left for him by his predecessor, and founded Sunday schools and a library. He was naturalized in 1939. Faced with a further post-war increase of Russian migrants, the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad appointed Antonieff protopresbyter of the Church in Australia on 17 December 1951. This position, equivalent to monsignor in the Roman Catholic Church, gave him the primacy of his Church. He held it until a bishop was appointed from overseas, then ministered in Queensland until ill health forced him to retire from full-time duty in 1961. Survived by five children, he died at his Brisbane home on 26 August 1962 and was buried in Toowong cemetery.

A portrait of Antonieff, painted by A. J. Martin in 1970, is held by the Antonieff family. His private papers, including a number of treatises on aspects of the Russian Orthodox faith, were transferred to the mother church in the United States.

Select Bibliography

Brisbane Courier, 27 Aug 1962
Russian Truth (Melbourne), 28 Aug 1962
Unification, 7 Sept 1962
A659-40/1/289 (National Archives of Australia).

Sergij Vasilevich (Theodosy) Putilin

Sergij Vasilevich (Theodosy) Putilin (1897-1980), Russian Orthodox archbishop, was born on 18 August 1897 at Voronezh, Central Russia, son of Vasilij Putilin, priest, and his wife Darija, née Putilina (no relation). Sergij graduated from the Voronezh Theological Seminary in 1918. Opposed to Communist ideology and the October 1917 revolution, he joined the White Russians and fought as a volunteer in southern Russia. His toes were frostbitten and later amputated. On 14 October 1921 he married Olga Posen, whom he had met while in hospital; they were to have two daughters Zoja and Ija.

Persuaded that it was too dangerous to be ordained in post-revolutionary Russia, Putilin worked as an accountant in several enterprises while living with his family at Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov. He was imprisoned by the secret police in 1931 and again from 1936 to 1940. During World War II the Putilins were deported to Germany as forced labour. Sergij toiled as a welder. Remaining in the Federal Republic of Germany after the war, he was ordained priest on 14 October 1948 at Wildflecken.

The Putilins emigrated to Western Australia in the Anna Salen, reaching Fremantle on 31 December 1950. Settled in Perth, he became priest for the Orthodox community, which consisted of displaced people of Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian and Latvian origin. A sympathetic, tolerant, eloquent and educated man, he promoted peace and harmony in his parish. He was an able administrator who organized the building of the Orthodox Church of St Peter and St Paul, Meltham. On 18 June 1959 he and his wife were naturalized.

After Olga died in 1968, Putilin made his monastic vows. He was consecrated on 30 November 1969 as bishop of Melbourne, taking the religious name of Theodosy. In the following year he was transferred to Sydney as bishop of Sydney and Australia-New Zealand (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia). On 29 September 1971 he was enthroned as archbishop.

Theodosy took charge of the Russian Church in Australia in troubled times. A long-lasting conflict in the parish of the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, Sydney, had split the community. His firmness of principle, wisdom, kindness and ability to forgive helped him to resolve the situation. Archbishop Theodosy gave his attention to all things great and small. Remaining simple, approachable and just, he was involved in a variety of pastoral duties, such as the education of children, the care of the elderly, and fund-raising for victims of the Darwin cyclone (1974). He personally oversaw the construction of the Orthodox Church of St John the Baptist in Canberra, drawing the whole eparchy into support of the project. Survived by his daughters, he died on 13 August 1980 in his home at Croydon, Sydney, and was buried in Karrakatta cemetery, Perth. His sermons had been recorded and were published in Russian by Fr Michael Protopopov in Archbishop Theodosy Putilin (Melbourne, 1995).

John Hutt

John Hutt (1795-1880), public servant and governor, was born in London, eldest son of the thirteen children of Richard Hutt and Gilly, the daughter of John and Anne Flower. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital and in 1815 inherited Appley House, Ryde, Isle of Wight. By 1813 he was a clerk in the service of the East India Co. in the presidency of Madras, where he soon became register (registrar) of the district court at Nellore, and from 1818 to 1821 registrar of one of the four provincial courts at Chittoor in North Arcot. He then returned to England and retired from service in 1826.

In 1829 his brother William (1801-1882) became closely associated with Edward Gibbon Wakefield and other theorists of systematic colonization. As M.P. for Hull, William gave powerful parliamentary support, served on the 1836 select committee on the disposal of colonial lands and took a prominent part in all the proposals that led to the foundation of South Australia. John Hutt was also drawn into these movements, and was appointed superintendent of emigration for the South Australian Colonization Commission, of which William was a member. In 1838 both brothers applied unsuccessfully for appointment in South Australia in place of Governor (Sir) John Hindmarsh, but John was rewarded with the governorship of Western Australia.

An eligible bachelor, he arrived at Swan River in the Brothers on 1 January 1839. He found the colonists suspicious of his close association with the Wakefield critics of their early settlement. Some of this hostility was disarmed when he promptly made the overdue appointment of four non-officials as members of the Legislative Council. However, he also brought unpopular orders to insist on the surrender of land grants which had not been improved within the time limit imposed by the Colonial Office regulations of 1829-31. Governor (Sir) James Stirling had attempted half-heartedly to deal with absentees and other defaulters but Hutt, by proclamation ten days after his arrival, called for full satisfaction of the regulations. Although like all systematic colonizers he was opposed to dispersed settlement, he was so impressed by the unfulfilled hopes and long privations of settlers that he adopted a plan which allowed the retention of a quarter of an unimproved grant and, for the surrendered portion, the gift of a remission certificate at 1s. 6d. an acre, to be used for buying crown land elsewhere. Grantees of town lands were allowed to avoid resumption by payment of a fine in fixed proportion to the sum required for a clear title. Hutt also hesitated to apply his permissive instructions to raise the price of crown land from 5s. to 12s. an acre, until the British government forced his hand in 1840. During the boom of 1841 he raised the price to £1 an acre. Rural acres continued to sell and land revenue increased, though a large portion of it came from fines on town land. Land revenues collapsed in 1842, the small areas sold being paid for by remission certificates.

Hutt was far from popular, for few colonists seemed to realize that he was acting on instructions from London. Nevertheless his plans worked well. By 1846 he could note with some satisfaction that more than one million acres (404,690 ha) were held by clear titles, that three-quarters of the deeds carried his signature and that the area under cultivation had doubled. Although dwindling land revenue reduced the funds for assisted immigration the population had made its first forward move since the early settlement, and risen from 2000 in 1839 to 4500 in 1846, mostly by immigration.

One source of migration was the Western Australian Co., founded in London with William Hutt and Wakefield among its directors. It planned a settlement, Australind, on some 190,000 acres (76,891 ha) at Port Leschenault bought for 5s. 3d. an acre in July 1839 from Stirling and Colonel Peter Lautour. The plans advanced in October when the Colonial Office published bounty regulations which provides compensation to land buyers who took out their own labourers. Shares sold freely; Marshall Waller Clifton, retired secretary of the Admiralty Victualling Board, was appointed chief commissioner; surveyors were sent to Australind in the Island Queen, and settlers prepared to follow in the Parkfield. All was thrown into disorder when news arrived that Governor Hutt had resumed Lautour’s grant for failure to satisfy the improvement conditions. Hope was restored when the crown law officers, despite Hutt’s vigorous protests, ruled that the resumption was in error, a decision which was soon reversed in favour of Hutt’s opinion. Further panic arose in September 1840 when George Grey reached London with a proposal to establish Australind 300 miles (483 km) north of Perth on pastoral country found in his 1839 exploration. Many of the company’s shareholders withdrew their investments and many settlers cancelled their agreements, but Clifton and a large party sailed in the Parkfield and arrived at Port Leschenault in May 1841. Clifton went immediately to Perth to consult Hutt. They both decided against the northern site, but the uncertainty created by Grey had caused fatal delays. Instead of the anticipated 1000 immigrants a year, only 476 were brought out before applications dried up in 1842. Although the company was compensated for spending some £6000 on introducing these immigrants, it ceased operations in 1844, dismissed Clifton and engaged one of his sons to sell its land.

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

When the Land and Emigration Commission was established in 1840, Hutt persuaded it to permit an agent in Britain to act on behalf of settlers who wanted to take advantage of the bounty regulations. As a result the Ganges left Liverpool in 1841 with 110 passengers for Fremantle. When land revenue increased in 1840-41 Hutt was able to transmit £3500 to the commission, which sent out 219 migrants in the Simon Taylor in April 1842 and 135 in the Success in November. The British government also sent 73 delinquent boys from Parkhurst Prison to be pardoned and indentured on arrival. During 1841 and 1842 nearly 950 assisted immigrants, mostly labourers, were introduced into the tiny colony. Their unplanned dispatch caused much anxiety to Hutt, who agreed with local opinion that the colonial employers could only absorb 300 a year. The scheme for assisted immigration collapsed with the onset of economic depression in the early 1840s. Hutt was pleased to note that the wholesale bankruptcies of other Australian colonies were not repeated in Western Australia, although falling prices caused local distress. Though commended by British officials for his handling of financial problems Hutt was too optimistic about an early end to the colony’s troubles, while settlers insisted that the major cause of distress was the high price of land.

Hutt gained general support in the colony for his treatment of Aboriginals. He opposed segregation although he insisted that they should be permitted to observe their own code when not directly in contact with settlers. For the protection, education, training and reformation of Aboriginals he initiated schemes which later failed for want of sufficient finance, of competent officials and of patient understanding. Hutt was also responsible for placing religious organizations on a firmer foundation with grants for Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Wesleyans and Independents. Small education grants were made to pay the rent for schoolrooms. He also attempted, by a bargain with the Bank of Western Australia, to reduce reliance on the credit notes of individuals but was not very successful.

When his term ended on 19 February 1846 Hutt returned to London, where he became an active member of the Western Australian group. Like his brother William, he retained a lively interest in systematic colonization and invested freely in South Australia and New Zealand. Wakefield’s A View of the Art of Colonization (London, 1849) was dedicated to him with protestations of affection and admiration, but in 1850 Hutt, because of his inertia, was displaced as chairman of the managing committee of the Canterbury Association. He died unmarried in 1880 at Chelsea Hospital, where he had resided with his brother, Sir George, who was its secretary.

Hutt seems never to have pursued any occupation earnestly enough to gain the public recognition accorded to his brothers, who were both knighted. Although a radical idealist, he was singularly capable of learning by experience, to the embarrassment of his colleagues and the relief of his opponents. As governor he bowed neither to the Colonial Office nor to the colonists unless their demands seemed reasonable to him. After he left, the Swan River settlers remembered him with respect echoing the opinion of his private secretary, ‘I cannot but admire the Governor’s unwearied attention to every department of the colony from the most minute to the highest, and I may say the strict impartiality of his conduct looking to the well being of the community and disregarding individual interest, but at the same time he is too austere a turn of mind, brought on by too much solitude and study, wanting the kindlier feelings, sympathies of our nature and as he himself has stated without generosity he is too much inclined to stretch the law to the utmost’.