19th Century News
Newspaper articles and advertisements that offer insights into life in Bothwell during the 1800s.
Sources Used: TROVE. Images. National Library of Australia. https://trove.nla.gov.au; FamilySearch: Australia, Tasmania, Government Gazette, 1833-1925. Images. https://www.familysearch.org.
LETTER TO MR PHINEAS MOSS - 3 January 1840
Bothwell, November, 1839. To Mr Phineas Moss, Bothwell.
Sir, We, the members of the Bothwell Literary Society, and inhabitants of this district, beg you to receive the assurance of the high sense we entertain of your conduct since you have resided among us; we have had the opportunity of witnessing for the last four years your unremitting exertions to promote the interests of our limited society, in connection with an institution of which we have all reaped the benefit. We have no doubt your integrity in, and attention to, the duties of the department with which you are connected, will ultimately ensure for you that promotion and regard which your merits deserve. Your demeanour in private life has secured for you the esteem of your friends; and we are happy to have the opportunity of offering you this testimony of our approbation of your conduct. Wishing you every success in your future prospects, we are, Sir, your obedient servants, Robert Barr, Charles Haines, Archibald McDowall, Henry M. Cockerill, John Clark J.P., Philip Russell, John Hunter Patterson, Archibald McDowall Jnr, Alexander Anderson, William Anderson, James Macdonald, William Moyes, Jonathan Watson, William Allardyce, Thomas Wilkinson, James Fisher, William Dykes, Roderick McKenzie, John McKenzie, Edward Nicholas Jnr, Edward M. Horne, Thomas Gaby, Humphrey Morgan Howells, Roderick Forbes, Duncan McRae, John Tod, Robert Whiteway, George Larkins, Frederick Patterson, George Bisdee, John Donaldson, Edward Bowden, Walter Synnot, John Vincent, George Worthy, John Ibbott Jnr, George Ibbott, Edward Andrews, Robert Blake, Richard Allen, Edward Sharbach Hall - D. A. Surgeon, William Clark J.P., Anthony Fenn Kemp J.P., James Garrett - Minister, George Sherwin, John McRa, Hector McRa.
Bothwell, December 28, 1839. To the Members of the Bothwell Literary Society, and other Inhabitants of the District.
Gentlemen, I have the honour to acknowledge the very flattering testimonial which you have this day placed in my hands. It affords me no ordinary gratification to receive this expression of the estimation in which you regard my humble efforts; such a manifestation from so large a portion of the community of the district in which I reside, will ever be to me a source of the most agreeable emotion. To engage in the promotion of Science and the Arts has at all times afforded me considerable pleasure, but I feel that the handsome manner in which you have noticed my services in connection with the Literary Society here, has not only enhanced that pleasure, but will contribute to stimulate me to further exertion. It will always be my highest ambition to merit approval by the faithful discharge of the duties of the department with which I may be connected. Be assured, Gentlemen, that wherever fortune may direct my steps, your welfare will be the object of my most sincere desire. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your much obliged, obedient servant, Phineas Moss. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8747630
MR WHITEWAY'S CASE - 13 November 1840
We find that the conviction in this case was quashed by the Bench at Oatlands, not of its merits, which were not gone into, but upon an informality. Now surely here is a something not correct, for if Mr Whiteway wilfully did wrong he ought to have been fined, and if not where is the justice of levying twenty pounds upon him besides sundry expenses? Thus then stands the case, Mr Whiteway is fined twenty pounds at Bothwell - he appeals. Before the appeal day, the Magistrates grant the licences for the district, and without any reservation in reference to the result of the appeal case refuse his licence. The conviction is quashed - the fine returned, but it is not returned to Mr Whiteway, for he has to hand that amount over to his legal adviser, and he is therefore minus his licence, his twenty pounds, and all other extra expenses. Neither the Governor or the Magistrates can now assist him, and such is the justice of this case. There is one feature in it more especially deserving notice, - it is the objection made to more than two licenced houses at Bothwell, the Assistant Police Magistrate having stated that no houses could be conducted more creditably than Mr Cockerill and Mr Macdonald's, and that he should oppose any third licence being granted.
Now this might or might not be a very proper determination to come to; we have at present nothing more to do with that than to give our opinion, such considerations should be entertained before granting new licences, and not after the applicant has expended perhaps a considerable sum in extra accommodations, &c. Surely some kind of notice might be given at any rate. But, in this case, how came it that at the same time as Mr Whiteway is refused a continuance of his licence, a new one is granted to a Mr Fisher, who, as we are informed, has no sort of accommodation, no bedrooms, parlour, stables, or other such as are required by the Act? There appears here to be a sort of favouritism not exactly founded upon justice. It is very properly complained of by those who know the localities. The newcomer, or rather new Licensed Victualler, not content with rising on the comparative ruin of Mr Whiteway, commences underselling the others, and so introducing discord, where if more careful law had been administered, he could not have had a chance of so doing. If a third licence was necessary, and in justice it ought not to have been unreservedly refused to the other party, it would not now be a subject of general complaint that one should have been granted to Mr Fisher.
There is evidently something decidedly wrong in the Bothwell district - something which requires the strong hand of the Government to put right. A stipendiary Magistrate, to do his duty, justly and honourably, should be in every sense of the word independent of those amongst whom he lives. If he is not, however correct may be his intention - whatever may be his desire to do well - a suspicion of something wrong - of undue influence - will follow him; and under such circumstances, no man, suited in his nature to hold so responsible a situation, can be at ease. We desire to touch this Bothwell subject as tenderly as possible, but we have a duty to perform toward the free and the bond and having heard so much of its whereabouts, we can do no other than say that Major Schaw, the Assistant Police Magistrate, ought long since to have exchanged to some other district. That he has not done so is, to us, astonishing. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233619850
BOTHWELL - 23 February 1841
We noticed in our last the receipt of a communication from Bothwell, which we had not then time or space to insert; it consists of the following correspondence, to the lost letter of which we are not aware that Mr Nicholas has yet received any reply. (Copy of a Note to Major Schaw).
Mead's Bottom, February 5, 1841. To C. Schaw, Esq., Bothwell.
Sir, Your cattle, together with the township herd, are very troublesome here, and some of them are never off my land. I have a great rent to pay, and a large family to support, and if I lose my grass I shall not be able to do either. There are some of your young stock in my yard; I wish you would send for them today, and beg you will keep them off altogether. Yours obediently, E. NICHOLAS, Jnr.
Schawfield, February 5, 1841. To Mr Nicholas, Mead's Bottom.
Sir, I am sorry my cattle should annoy you; as I said before, nothing but fences will keep them out, but in absence of fences, I think you must see the necessity of give-and-take, and I know your cattle run on the government land; consequently, you must expect ours will do the same with you. I should be sorry to put the Government Order in force, but if you cannot let my cattle alone, I must retort upon you. The fault, you must know, lies on yourself, or landlord, in not having fences. I am, &c., &c., CHARLES SCHAW.
(Copy of a Letter to the Colonial Secretary.)
Mead's Bottom, February 15, 1841. To the Colonial Secretary.
Sir, I direct you the enclosed note of Major Schaw's, for the Lieutenant-Governor's notice (to be returned to me afterwards). I wish to know if it is to be permitted for Police Magistrate to execute the law in the partial manner he threatens. Let him administer the law, whatever it may be, without favour or partiality, and I shall not grumble; but surely the Police Magistrate cannot be allotted to wield the power the law gives him, only when it suits the interests of Major Schaw. My boundary joins the government land, at the back of the township, at about two miles from the back of the town. Major Schaw keeps a great deal more stock of every kind, cattle, goats, pigs, &c., &c., than the regulation allows him to run on the township land. This would be nothing to me if it was not done at my cost, and to the injury of all around him. There will be no peace here until we have some other Magistrate. I do not wish to injure him, though his hand is against every man; but surely he might be sent to some other district, and another person sent here, which I humbly pray His Excellency to take into consideration. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, E. NICHOLAS.
After our readers have perused the foregoing correspondence, we ask whether Mr Nicholas' letter deserves such harsh and indifferent treatment, at the hands of Major Schaw. If the boundaries of the township is too limited for Major Schaw's stock, or if he cannot spare a herdsman to keep them within such bouudary, we apprehend he should call upon the Government to have the township land enclosed, and if refused by the Government, call upon the inhabitants to do it, but we contend it should be done by some body, and perhaps if the Major has an exclusive right to the township pasturage, by lease or otherwise, it may have been a condition that he should enclose it, but until we hear the purport of his brother officer, the Colonial Secretary's, answer to Mr Nicholas' letter, we cannot enter further into the merits. We shall, therefore, wait another week. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8751465
BOTHWELL - 2 March 1841
In our last number we published a letter from Mr Nicholas, of the Bothwell district, complaining to the Government of the loss, insult, and inconvenience he had been subjected to from Major Schaw, the Assistant Police Magistrate. We will refer to this and other communications, received this morning, relative to the subject in our next.
Colonial Secretary's Office, February, 25,1841. To Mr E. Nicholas, Mead's Bottom, Bothwell.
Sir, I am directed to inform you that the Lieutenant-Governor has had before him the explanation of Major Schaw upon your representation of the 15th instant, in which you have forwarded his note to yourself of the 5th of this month; observing that he should be sorry to put the Government "Order in force - but, if you cannot let his cattle alone, he must retort upon you." The conduct of the Assistant-Police Magistrate of Bothwell, in this matter, has caused the Lieutenant-Governor very serious displeasure. He has no right, in virtue of his office, to depasture on the township lands more than his fair proportion of cattle, with his neighbours. Neither is he justified in employing his office, for the purpose of improperly advancing his own interests. The Chief Police Magistrate has been instructed so to inform Major Schaw, and to caution him against a repetition of such conduct, as that you have brought under His Excellency's notice. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, M. FOSTER. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8751479
BOTHWELL - 16 March 1841
A fortnight since we published the Governor's answer through the Colonial-Secretary, to Mr Nicholas' letter, in reference to the treatment he had received from the Assistant Police Magistrate of Bothwell, because he had requested that gentleman to restrain his cattle from depasturing on his land. If the reproof conveyed in this official letter does as much good to Major Schaw, as it has done credit to His Excellency, the Police Magistrate of Bothwell will become a very improved public officer, which we however very much doubt, because when military men get advanced in years, and confirmed in habits of absolute authority, it is almost impossible to counteract them. The case complained of, and the reproval, are ample illustration of this. When a public officer so far forgets himself, as to use the influence of his official situation, to accomplish his own private purpose at the expense of his neighbour's interests, and convenience, and that too accompanied with a threat, we have no hesitation in saying, that he is too far gone to be put right by any reproof. When this case is added to the various other acts of official imbecility, so well known to the public, together with others known to His Excellency, and not a few of us (for we have a copy of Roadknight's fifteen charges, correspondence agency, and bill transactions with a certain party, which it may be yet necessary to bring forth), we do say, that it is no longer a matter of consideration, whether or not, something else more than a mere reproof is absolutely neccessary. We feel confident His Excellency, will no longer hesitate to complete what he has so well begun. It is a measure which every person who is at all conversant with Colonial affairs, cannot but be well aware, would restore peace and prosperity to the long mismanaged and ill-used district of Bothwell. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8751521
THE BUSHRANGERS - 24 March 1843
Cash, Kavenagh & Jones. On Wednesday last, 22 March 1843, they paid a visit to the farm of Mr John Sherwin, of Sherwood, about seven o'clock in the evening. Mr Sherwin was taking his tea in company with Mr Propsting, of Hobart Town, Mr Henry Propsting, and a young man named Paine, when a servant of Mr Sherwin's, named Smith, came into the room, followed by Cash with a double-barrelled gun, who immediately presented his piece and threatened them with instant death if they stirred. In a few minutes after Jones appeared driving in some of the assigned servants, who were ordered to sit down, and ten minutes after this Kavenagh drove in the rest of the men, together with a stranger from one of the farms in the neighbourhood. They were all tied together with cords and handkerchiefs. The bushrangers then demanded the keys, which Mr Sherwin took out of a drawer and delivered up. One of them (supposed to be Jones) went out with the keys while the other two kept guard, and soon after Jones returned, bringing several articles which he had collected, and placing them in a corner of the hall. Cash enquired what fire-arms there were, and also demanded Mr Propsting's money, who delivered up ten or twelve shillings, having, during the time occupied in bringing in and placing the servants, managed to conceal his watch and other cash, which thus escaped notice. Jones took Mr Sherwin's watch from his pocket, but returned it to him again. The freebooters took also a few shillings out of a desk. One of the bushrangers then asked for spirits, and made the servant Smith proceed with him to the cellar, from which he returned with a bucket full of wine, some of which they drank and gave the remainder to the men. The three bushrangers then gathered up the articles thrown by Jones in the hall, and went off with the usual threat of shooting any one of the party who attempted to stir. Kavenagh came back in a few minutes with a shawl belonging to Mr Propsting, which he said he had taken away by mistake. They carried off several shirts and pairs of stockings, a duelling and a pocket pistol, a single-barrelled rifle, a black hat, a pair of boots, some tobacco, bread and butter. Previously to their robbing Mr Sherwin's house, the bushrangers had fallen in with one of Mr George Sherwin's assigned servants, the man mentioned in the above account as named Smith, whom they questioned closely as to the premises, and whether or not there were any constables, as they had been given to understand, lying alongside of the fences. The bushrangers are described as each being armed with a double-barrelled gun and a brace of pistols. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2953002/635599
INSOLVENCY - 13 July 1843
In the matter of the Insolvency of John McRa, of Abyssinia, in Van Diemen's Land, farmer. To the several Creditors of the said insolvent, or their agents. NOTICE is hereby given that the above-named John McRa, having this day presented his petition to Valentine Fleming, Esquire, the Commissioner of Insolvent Estates for Hobart Town, under the Act of this Island, entitled "An Act to make provision for the more effectual distribution of insolvent estates," alleging his insolvency and praying for relief pursuant to the said Act; and the same having come on to be heard before the said Commissioner, the said John McRa was declared insolvent, and Alfred Garrett, of Hobart Town, Gentleman, was thereupon appointed provisional assignee of the estate and effects of the said insolvent. And notice is hereby further given that the said Commissioner has appointed Wednesday, the second day of August next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the Court of Requests Room, in Hobart Town, to be the time and place for the first meeting of the creditors of the said insolvent, in order to the proof of their debts, the election of a permanent assignee, the examination of the insolvent, and for otherwise proceeding in the matter of such insolvency. Dated this tenth day of July, 1843. JAMES GILL, Solicitor to the Insolvency. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8477010
BOTHWELL - 6 March 1844
A very large portion, if not the whole of Bothwell, is said to have been built upon land granted to a Mr Alexander. That gentleman proceeded to New South Wales, never foregoing his claim to the soil he had fairly acquired in Van Diemen's Land. He is said to have died in the sister-colony some years since, leaving a question, in which a large amount of property is involved, open to his successors.
There are many excellent houses in Bothwell, the most conspicuous of which is the extensive and expensive superstructure reared by Major Schaw (late twenty-first infantry), the assistant police magistrate of the district.
Bothwell boasts a very neat hewn stone church, partly erected by subscription of its inhabitants, but being more favoured than their Hamilton brethren, their edifice did not cost them a fifth the amount which was drawn from the pockets of the Hamiltonians. Service is performed by the Rev. Mr Garratt, a clergyman in connection with the church of Scotland. The church, however, was distinctly built for episcopalian purposes, so that Mr Garratt is liable to removal when the local authorities shall demand.
Bothwell also possesses a small military barrack, gaol, police office, and several good inns. There are, likewise, some important estates, whose proprietors' residences are within a short distance of the town; among the most conspicuous are, Dennistown, the seat of Captain Wood; Fordell, that of Robert Barr; Ratho, of Alexander Reid; Logan, of Walter Macdowall; and Grassy Hill, of Philip Russel, Esquires.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66021579