By Ida M. Forsyth THE Lysander was a little ship of 475 tons. She arrived on September 8, 1840, bringing with her 220 passengers. Her commander was Capt. W. Currie. On the passenger list are Messrs. George and Charles Hawker, Thomas Waterhouse, Frank G. Wilt, Henry Cox. Thomas N. Barton, F. Smith, Thomas Stone, John Hill, T. W. Lloyd. Edwin Macklin. Richard Martin, James Gann. Walter Dalwood, Charles Smart, W. T. Dalwood, and Stephen Hall, Rev. J. Farrell, and Mesdames Charlotte Price, A. Biddle, and Eliza Pearce. An earlier trip had been made by the Lysander, which arrived in Adelaide on July 6, 1839. Those passengers, too, should be given, as many Adelaide people are interested. They include:-Aaron Cole, Mrs. Ann Dalwood, John Horsnell, G. W. Cole. John Dunn, Henry Goss. John Gregory. George Johnston, Alexander Kirk, John McDonald, John Newland, Frederick Sparshott, S. Whitmore, Charles Holmes. W. S. Hersey, John Edward Stone, William Whitmore. S. E. Davis, H. Hersey, Mary Burford, Isaac Dawson, W. D. Sanderson, Caroline M. Aichison, Charles F. Beaumont. John Gilmore, D. O'Leary, C. Holmes, W. G. C. Cole. Mr. and Mrs Bartley and Margaret, Sarah, and Thomas Bartlet, Mary M. Barney. PRECIOUS FIRST SHEEP Miss Ruth Hawker, who represents this ship, is a daughter of Mr. Walter Hawker. of Anama Station, and a descendant of Mr. George C. Hawker, from the Lysander. Mr. James Hawker, who had gone out to Australia in the Pestonjee Bomanjee on Governor Gawler's staff had, in spite of the early experiences quoted in a previous article, written so enthusiastically to his younger brothers about the new land that they, too, came to Australia. Sons of an admiral, they had the spirit of adventure that is in all seafaring men. After the three months' trip with the usual food and water difficulties of those early voyages, Mr. George Hawker found this land of boundless plains that he was soon to learn to love, so different from the busy world of London. His first sheep were too precious to kill for food so he lived on kangaroo meat, salt beef, pork, and damper. Inexperienced to a degree, his problem with his first cow was how to extract the milk. HAD TO BE VERSATILE Fighting through as other pioneers had to do, worried by natives, often troubled to find food and water for his flocks-having to be in turn shepherd, butcher, architect, builder, and stock man, he finally founded the stations of Bungaree and Cariewilloo, and the merino stud famous throughout Australia today. To his first house, a mud hut, with calico ceilings, he brought his bride- a little slip of an Irish girl, who shared the discomforts of his early life gaily and brought up a good old-fashioned family of 16. WOMEN PIONEERS We can only think with wondering admiration of those young women fresh from the drawing rooms of Dublin, and Mayfair, where they were treated as elegant dolls, who came out to the wattle-and-dab huts of the bush to bake in a bush oven and wash in an iron pot, and build so loyally with their husbands this future Britain overseas. Inspector Tolmer. in his "Reminiscences" relates how when he was engaged in scouring the country in search of offenders against northern pioneers he saw George and Charles Hawker giving the finishing touches to their homestead, in which operation Tolmer assisted by mixing the mortar while George did the plastering. This was a peculiar task to come the way of a Cambridge Master of Arts, but it showed the resourceful stuff of which he was made. POLITICAL, CAREER Mr. George Hawker had a distinguished political career. He entered Parliament in 1858, and was Speaker in 1860. He had a place in several Cabinets, serving for four years as a Minister. He was marked down for partitular distinction by his Sovereign, but died before it had been bestowed. The title of "Lady" was granted to his widow. Miss Ruth Hawker (Mrs. Gault) has, as her centenary work, written a book for the young people which she has named "Yesterday." This book is full of charm and interest for the children, and it interprets to them the events of 100 years ago, and with them the spirit of the pioneers. Present-day descendants in South Australia of the Lysanderpioneers include:- Messrs. E. W. Hawker. Chas. Hawker, M.H.R.. John Hawker, Richard and Peter Hawker. Misses Hawker. H. Seymour Hawker, Misses Hawker. Mrs. Richard Needham, Mrs. Roy Howard and family, Mrs. E. J. Loader, Mr. Henry G. Sparshott, Mrs. John Livingstone, the Misses Livingstone, Mrs. Fowler Stewart Mrs. Arthur Dobbie, Mrs. S. E. Amesbery, Mrs. Gardner, Misses Florence Hill, Paltridge. Leonora and Gertrude Dunn. and Messrs. W. Paltridge. Fred Dunn. Hedley Dunn, and Alf Dunn, Mrs. M. Hutchinson.
News Saturday 15 August 1936 page 6
BAKER John, wife, 2 sons, dau BIDDLE Mrs A BROCK John BARTON / BURTON Thomas N CLANS John COLLS Ann COX Henry DALWOOD Caleb, Hannah TREVETT / TRIVETT, Sarah Ann, Wm Trevett/Trivett, Eliz Jane, Achsah My (Annie Eliza?), Theophilus (b@sea) DARLEY John, Elizabeth (wife), Mary DEAN Benjamin, Elizabeth (wife), My, Joshua, John, Ann, Eliz, Em, Thos DOLLING Robert, Jane JACKMAN, Wm (b@sea)
DUNN John, Ann ROWE, John, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Eliza
DUNN, John
DEATHOF MR. JOHN DUNN. IN HIS NINETY-THIRD YEAR. SOMETHING OF THE OLD DAYS. The venerable and highly respected colonist, Mr. John Dunn, of Mount Barker, died as his residence, The Laurels, in that town, on Saturday afternoon, October 13, in the ninety-third year of his age, after an uninterrupted association with the colony of more than half a century. The passing away of the aged pioneer was not unexpected, for Mr. Dunn's health had been in a precarious state for a long while ; indeed a year or two ago there was every sign of his end approaching. He rallied, but his feebleness unmistakably indicated that he could not last long, and on Saturday he peacefully expired. Thus, full of years, he has been gathered to his fathers, leaving a name for integrity, for benevolence, and for good works that will remain on the histories roll of our honest and sturdy independent old pioneers. Until within a comparatively recent date the patriarch of Mount Barker moved about with an alacrity and ease that were really marvellous considering his advanced age. His faculties were preserved to a remark able degree, and though he lived in comparative seclusion from the public gaze for some time after his retirement from business he manifested a deep interest in matters pertaining to the colony's welfare and particularly in his care of the aged poor of the district in which he spent the greater part of his life. Mr. Dunn may be said to have been a pioneer among the pioneers. The name of John Dunn— familiar throughout all these colonies — will be best remembered from the fact that he founded the milling firm of John Dunn & Co., now said to have the largest connection in the Southern Hemisphere, and that he built the first windmill in South Australia — it is reckoned the first ever constructed in Australia. That name will also be remembered because Mr. Dunn was tho first in this province to grind corn into flour by a systematic and scientific process. South Australia had not long been proclaimed a British colony when Mr. Dunn arrived here from England. He was born in the Parish of Bondleigh, Devon, on February 13, 1802. His father was a small farmer with nine sons and two daughters. Father and mother were both frugal and hardworking, as indeed they had to be, for those were hard times. Having received very little schooling at the age of ten he was a farm servant earning 6d. a week. Milling, however, was his fancy, and after seven years' apprenticeship he became manager of a steam mill at Bideford, Devon, at 15s. a week. In 1831 he married ; in 1836 he owned a flourmill and added farming to his pursuits, and in May, 1S40, he sailed in the ship Lysander for South Australia, where three of bis brothers had settled— Charles, who founded Charleston, and died at the age of eighty-six, and George and James, who settled on the Onkaparinga. A fourth brother, William, came out in 1841, and a sister, the late Mrs. Paltridge, arrived in 1846. Mr. John Dunn's parents followed their children very soon, and died, the father, Mr. Charles Dunn, at eighty two, and the mother at eighty-three. The Lysander anchored in the waters off Glenelg on September 6, 1840. Mr. Dunn first worked in South Australia for Messrs. Borrow &. Goodiar. Next he purchased land near his brother's property at Hay Valley. In 1842 he was an agriculturist and dairy farmer, and walked over the hills to the primitive city with butter, returning with goods purchased with the money he obtained for the produce. At Hay Valley he erected his first flour windmill. 'But I soon saw,' he remarked, ' that waiting for the wind was not a profitable occupation, and so I ordered a small steam-engine from England.' While waiting for this he engaged himself to the late Mr. Ridley, whom he helped to construct the famous Ridley reaper, which he worked on Mr. D. McFarlane's land at Mount Barker. Mr. Dunn waited about eighteen months before the engine he had ordered arrived, and then he erected it at Mount Barker and had a pair of millstones fixed. 'It was not all smooth sailing in those days,'he said. 'On one occasion I had to work from morning till night, from daylight till dark, snatching a few hours' sleep in tho engine boiler and then back to work again in the early morning. When I had got the engine partly together the pair stones were found to be furrowed the wrong way. I had to remedy this. I did not spend one hour of daylight in doing so, but after ordinary hours I worked by the light of a lump of grease stuck in a bit of wood.' These were some of the experiences of the old days at Mount Barker. Mr. Dunn ground the first grain and established the well-known firm which bears his name. Then South Australia was the only wheat- producing colony in the Australias, and Ridley's, Dunn's, Hart's, Magarey's, and other brands of flour were sent to the other colonies. The milling and grain business grew with the advancing colony, until the firm have now eleven steam flour mills, five of which are fitted with the most modern roller machinery, and they export to all parts of the world. Messrs. Dunn and Co. have between sixty and seventy agencies for the purchase of grain. Directly and indirectly 400 employees in the colony are engaged by Dunn & Co., to say nothing of the numerous agencies doing business outside South Australia. About 60,000 tons of wheat and flour is exported in a good season by Dunn & Co., whose flour finds a ready sale in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, the Pacific Islands, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and elsewhere. In time Mr. Dunn admitted his two sons (both of whom are dead) into partnership. In 1852 he was joined by his elder son, the late Mr. John Dunn, jun., who retired in 1862 to engage in mission work in the South Seas. Two years later, however, the son returned and resumed partnership, and at about the same time the second son, the late Mr. W. H. Dunn, the late Mr. W. Hill (son-in-law), and the late Mr. G. Shorney (brother-in-law) joined the firm. Mr. W. H. Dunn left about 1875 to farm in the North, and the remaining partnership was continued until it was disturbed by the death of Mr. Hill in 1885 and of Mr. Shorney in 1891. The founder of the firm, however, retired from the business in 1889. Mr. John Dunn, jun., was thus left as head of the firm. He died in February, 1892. Three of the present members of the firm— Messrs. F. W., A. C, and E. A. A. Dunn—grandsons of Mr. John Dunn, sen., were admitted towards the end of the eighties, and they have since been joined by Mr. H. A. Dunn, another brother, who represents the firm in Brisbane. The founder of the business stated not long ago with considerable pride that the firm had 'always been known as John Dunn & Co., and not one shilling of outside money has ever helped on the business. No one outside of my own family has ever had a share in the concern as partners, although, of course, as its dimensions increased we took into our employ gentlemen whom we consulted on matters of trade.' This is the jubilee year of the foundation of the firm, which was started on April 30, 1844. The jubilee was fittingly commemorated by a demonstration at Mount Barker on August 1st last, when the final act of shutting off steam from the machinery in the mill started fifty years before was touchingly symbolical of the practical close of the nonogenarian's connection with the sordid affairs of life. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday Mr. Dunn was presented by the employees of the firm with a congratulatory address, which he very highly prized. After forty-five years uninterrupted connection with the enterprise he retired from the firm in May, 1889, and was again presented with an address by his employees, who journeyed to his home at Mount Barker specially to honour their former chief. That address was expressive of their regret at his leaving them and of their appreciation of the fairness and liberality which had always characterized him as an employer. It was intended to celebrate by a public demonstration Mr. Dunn's attainment of the anniversary of his ninetieth year, but in consequence of the lamentable deathof his son the function was postponed until April 2 of the same year. On that date Mount Barker's nonagenarian townsman fulfilled a long-expressed wish of making monetary gifts to a number of his employees who were with the firm when he retired, and also of presenting to the townspeople the land near the railway station known as Dunn Park for public recreation purposes. Mr. Dunn handed cheques to his employees, the amounts varying according to the recipient's length of service. Accompanying each cheque was a letter worded as follows : — Dear Sir- Providence having this day permitted me to celebrate in health and strength my ninetieth birthday, I think it a fitting occasion as one of my last public acts to acknowledge that any success I may have gained while at the head of the firm of John Dunn & Co. was to a considerable extent, due to my having had at all times many faithful co-workers in the business. In recognition of your valuable services and as a token of my esteem I ask you to accept the accompanying cheque, and I trust that your future will be brightened by this acknowledgment, of the successful endeavours you have made to do your duty.— Yours faithfully, John Dunn. Like both his sons, Mr. Dunn served in the Legislature of this colony. Mr. John Dunn, jun., represented Barossa in the House of Assembly from 1875 to 1877, and from 1880 to 1888 he sat in the Legislative Council ; the younger son sat throughout the eighth Parliament for Onkaparinga. For some years Mr. John Dunn, sen., was Chairman of the Mount Barker District Council, and on March 9, 1857, he was returned with Mr. F. E. H. W. Krichauff, lately of the Legislative Council, to represent Mount Barker in the Assembly at the first elections after the granting of responsible government. Mr. Krichauff and his colleague used to trudge on foot from Mount Barker in those days up wards of twenty miles to attend the sittings of tho House. Mr. Krichauff resigned his seat on March 12, 1858, and was succeeded by Mr. William Rogers (still living), who was elected on September 16. There are now only about a dozen survivors of those who served in the first House of Assembly, and only ten of the members who constituted the first Assembly on April 22, 1857. In the second Parliament (assembled April 27, 1860) Mr. Dunn had the late Hon. B. T. Finniss as his colleague. On November 24, 1862, he was returned head of the poll at the third general elections, with the late Mr. Allan McFarlane as junior member. Mr. McFarlane died in March, 1864, and Mr. Rogers was once more elected. In the fourth Parliament, assembled March 31, 1865, and dissolved March 26, 1868, Mr. James Rankine sat with Mr. Dunn, who was, however, out of the fifth Parliament upon its meeting on July 31, 1868, the elect of Mount Barker being Mr. John Cheriton and Mr. W. Rogers. Both these members were unseated by the Court of Disputed Returns on August 12. A fresh election took place on September 3, when Mr. Cheriton was re-elected, and Mr. Rogers had to make way for Mr. Dunn, but only for a very brief period, as on October 13 Mr. Dunn's election was declared void, and he was again superseded by Mr. Rogers. The charge was brought against Mr. Dunn that he paid the election expenses of railway workmen electors of Mount Barker who were out of the district, and were brought to vote for him. Mr. Dunn denied to his dying day that he or any of his people paid the electioneering expenses. On March 19, 1869, the Father of Mount Barker was sent to the Upper House by the whole colony voting as one district. The late Hons. John Baker, J. H. Barrow, and T. English (previously in the Council), Sir William Milne, and Messrs. A. B. Murray and Augustine Stow were elected to the Legislative Council on the same day. After nearly eight years' useful and faithful service Mr. Dunn retired from the Legislative Council by rotation on February 2, 1877, and from public life. Altogether he represented his country in Parliament about twenty years. South Australia cannot forget its early legislators — intelligent, shrewd, practical, honest men, with plenty of backbone most of them. Mr. John Dunn was one of this class. He may not have distinguished himself by originating any striking reforms, but as in commercial life so in politics, he was always trusted, and the colony was all the better for his service in tho legislative halls. As a speaker and a worker he was quiet and sensible. It was said of him—' He gave his practical advice and was done with it.' His retirement even at the age of seventy-five, while enjoying the confidence of the electors, was regretted, for he brought a ripened experience and an irreproachable character to bear upon his dealings in the Senate. He, how ever, disapproved of a monopoly of political service, and retired in favour of younger men. Most of his Parliamentary contemporaries have long since joined the great majority. Of the present Parliament the Hons. G. C. Hawker, J. Martin, R. C. Baker, and H. R. Fuller are the only members who sat with the late Mr. Dunn when he was in the Legislature. It fell to his fortune to assist in the passage of Torrens's Real Property Act, and proud indeed was the venerable colonistof the fact of his being in Parliament at that time. He also endeavoured with others in the early Parliamentary days to sanction the reading of the Bible in the public schools. Ever since his arrival in the colony Mr. Dunn had been identified with the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was essentially a Godfearing man, and gave many practical proofs of his earnest piety. The Wesleyan Church at Mount Barker, which bears his name and was opened in September, 1884, was his free gift to the denomination, it having been built at a cost, including a handsome organ, of about £4,000. Truly his services to the Methodist and other Churches cannot be forgotten. A row of eight cottages which he built and endowed to accommodate the poor and give comfort to the aged at Mount Barker, and situated not far from his own home, where in affluence he spent the later years of his life, is a lasting monument of his care for others. Shortly before his death Mr. Dunn ordered the erection of additional Salem cottages, which are now being built. Mr. Dunn leaves a widow (his second wife), who is a daughter of the late Mr. John Williams, of Archer-street, North Adelaide, and sister of the widow of the late Mr. John Dunn, jun., of Hackney, and of the widow of the late Mr. G. Shorney, of the Semaphore. Among the other relatives of Mr. John Dunn, sen., who survive are the following : — Mrs. William Paltridge, of Mount Gambier, and Mrs. W. Hill, of Glenelg, daughters ; Mrs. W. H. Dunn, living at North Adelaide, daughter-in- law ; Mr. Samuel Dunn of Devon, England, who has twice visited South Australia, brother; nineteen grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.
South Australian Register Monday 15 October 1894 page 7
DUNN, Ann nee ROWE
DUNN, John
DUNN, Mary Ann
DUNN, Elizabeth
DUNN, Eliza
EAMES Edwin Thomas EATWELL George EVANS Daniel, Mary (SHORT?), Thos, Dan, My, Sam FARRELL James FLINT Daniel, Elizabeth GENDLE (2nd wife), Dan (1st wife), (Sarah) GIBB William GOODWIN Mary
GOSS, Henry, wife, Ann, Elizabeth, Mary Grace, Eliza, William Henry
GOSS, Henry
GULEY Isaac, Mary Ann HORTON, Tymoir [f], Thos, Eliz GUNS James GWILT Frank HALL Stephen HANCOCK / HANDCOCK Charles, Hannah (wife), Sarah, dau, Hy, Martha, Thos, Eliz HANCOCK John, wife (Ann?), dau, (child b@sea?) HARVEY Edward, Susan (wife)
HAWKER, Charles Lloyd
HAWKER, George Charles
HIGHLAND Thomas, Miriam Louisa STANIFORD, son HILL John (d aft arr), wife HOAD Alfred HOAD William Twynam HUGHES Robert, wife, Eliz, 4 dau JACKMAN James LAMBLE Henry, Elizabeth (wife), Wm Hy LLOYD Samuel, Mary/Maria TURBILL nee BERRY, John Isaac TURBILL, Eliz TURBILL (d@sea), Chas, Geo, Thos Wm, Rd (d@sea) MACKLIN William, Hannah WATTS, Eliza, Ed W MALPAS John, Elizabeth CHAPLAN, Ed, (Geo, Eliza), Ann, Hy, Em, Eliz
MARTIN, Thomas, Mary EVANS, Mary Ann, Charlotte, Richard, Catherine, Elizabeth
MARTIN, Thomas
MARTIN, Mary nee EVANS
MARTIN, Mary Ann MARTIN, Charlotte
MARTIN, Richard
MARTIN, Catherine MARTIN, Elizabeth
MCDONALD William John PACKER Albert John, Charlotte ANDREWS, dau, Hy Job, Albert John PEDLER D PENGILLY John, Grace SQUIRE, Wm, Sarah, John, Thos RICHARDSON Henry, Sarah COLLS, Hy Colls, Thos Gimber RYDER Thomas
SANDERS, Richard (d aft arr), Mary, 2 dau, William, 2 dau
SANDERS, Richard
Richard Sanders and his second wife Mary Brock were from Devon, England. They travelled with children Grace, Maria, William, Sarah, and Elizabeth. Unfortunately Richard died three months after arriving in South Australia.
SANDERS, William Edward Born c1834 - died 19 March 1904 at Payneham, SA
Occupation Railway Employee Resided McLaren Vale and Kent Town William Edward Sanders was aged 7 when he travelled to the colony with his father, step-mother and sisters. He eventually settled in McLaren Vale and married Susanna Harris. They raised 13 children, living in a house next door to the McLaren Flat Methodist Church before retiring to Payneham. A photograph of William is included in the Old Colonists Banquet Group collage of 1871 which is on display at the State Library. Courtesy of Kate Hubmayer
SERVAR / SIVIER / SIVIOUR, Richard, Sarah (wife), Henry, Fanny, Richard, Elizabeth, Moses, William
SMART, Charles, Elizabeth ROBINS, Ann, Thomas
SMART, Charles
Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia
SMART, Elizabeth nee ROBINS
SMART, Ann
SMART, Thomas
SMITH John, Elizabeth GOUGE, son (Aaron?/Moses?), Eliz, Jabus, Sarah, Jesse SMITH William, Mary Ann BROOKER, son SOUTH William, Mary GOVUS, My Ann, Alf, Thos Hy STACEY Henry, Sarah NORRIS, dau, 2 sons, 2 dau inc Hannah/Anna, son (inc Hy) STEVENS William (Stockford?), wife (Amy ACHUST?) STONE Cornelius, Ann WELLBELOVE, John A SWIFT F/S WAKEHAM Samuel, Ann (wife), Samuel WARING Harriet WATERHOUSE Thomas Greaves WEBB George, Sarah (1st wife), Mary A, Chlt, Avice/Avis, Elisa, Chas, Fanny/Sarah, Alencon/Alcon Hy, Fdk WHITBREAD James, Charlotte EATALL / EATWELL, Josiah, Alf, Hester, 2 sons (inc H?), son Lysander Marina (b@sea, d aft arr) WILCOCKS William, wife WILLIAMS Mary WILLIAMS William, wife, Eliza, Ann, son, 3 dau, son