Rose, first wife of William Snell Brown Chauncy and mother of Philip and his sisters Martha and Therese, died in 1818.
William (as William Brown) remarried in 1819, to Anne Curtis (1791–1868). William and Anne had five children. William Snell Chauncy né Brown, born on 11 August 1820 in Addlestone, Surrey, was the oldest. On 16 August 1820, William junior was baptised with the name William Brown at St Peter’s, in Chertsey, Surrey.
About 1834 William junior’s half-sister Martha painted his portrait. This small work on ivory, is in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.
William Snell Chauncy about 1834: watercolour on ivory painted by his sister Martha Maria Snell Berkeley. In the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia Dimensions 12.3 x 9.7 cm Credit line J.C. Earl Bequest Fund 1993 Accession number 936P43
The portrait seems a good likeness. He is rendered very much like a later portrait of him.
William Snell Chauncy
In 1840 William Chauncy junior, while working as an architect and surveyor on a grandstand for Ascot racecourse, met Anna Cox, whom he married at St Michael & All Angels, Sunninghill, Berkshire, on 7 July 1840.
On 23 July the newly married couple and William’s brother Hugh (1823–1900) sailed from Liverpool to Adelaide on the ‘Superb‘. William’s two older half-sisters Theresa and Martha had settled in Adelaide in 1837 and his half-brother Philip had joined them in 1839. (Their father had sailed on the Appoline to South Australia a month earlier.) William and Anna, with William’s younger brother Hugh, arrived at Port Adelaide on 22 November 1840.
In 1844 William returned to England and Ireland via South Africa. In 1849 he came back to Australia. As a surveyor he spent much of his career in northeastern Victoria. He later worked for the New South Wales Government. In 1861 he supervised the construction of the first road bridge to span the Murray River between Wodonga and Albury, New South Wales. In 1868 he was appointed road superintendent at Goulburn, New South Wales; his responsibilities being improvements to the main Sydney to Melbourne road (now the Hume Highway).
In 1878 William Chauncy died in Goulburn at the age of 57..
THE LATE MR. W. S. CHAUNCY. (1878, October 9). The Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864 – 1881), p. 2. Retrieved June 5, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100874718
On 17 May 1838 at Launceston, Tasmania, one of my fourth great aunts, Theresa Susannah Eunice Snell Chauncy (1807-1876), married John Walker (1796-1855), a retired officer of the Royal Navy. He was forty-two; she was thirty-one.
At the age of ten or so, he entered the Royal Navy on 9 May 1806 as a First class volunteer [cadet] on theSwallow sloop (387 tonnes, 121 men) under Captain Alexander Milner. The Swallow patrolled the Channel and the coasts of Spain and Portugal. He attained the rating of midshipman in early 1809.
In August 1809, five months later, he was transferred to HMS Norge, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. The Norge was commanded as follows:
1808 – 1809 Captain Edmund Boger
1810 – 1811 Captain John Sprat Rainier
1811 Captain William Waller
1812 – 1814 Captain Samuel Jackson
1814 – 1815 Captain Charles Dashwood
Walker served on the Norge off Lisbon, at the defence of Cadiz, in the Mediterranean, in the North Sea, and on the North American and West India stations. From late 1813 held the rank of Master’s Mate, a midshipman who had passed the exam for Lieutenant, and was eligible for promotion when a vacancy became available. In 1814-15 he took part in the operations against New Orleans. HMS Norge was paid off in August 1815. On leaving the Norge Walker was presented with a commission bearing the date 17 February 1815. He was on half-pay from 1815.
In 1821 the crew of the Norge and other members of an 1814 convoy shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked “14 Dec. Boat Service 1814” to survivors of the boat service, including the crew of the Norge, who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.
When John Walker married Theresa Chauncy on 17 May 1838 in Launceston, Tasmania, the Launceston Advertiser of 24 May 1838 reported:
MARRIED.—At St. John's Church, on the 17th inst., Lieut. JOHN WALKER, R.N., to THERESA, daughter of W.S. CHAUNCY, Esq., of London.
John and Theresa Walker moved to Adelaide, where John Walker carried on business as a general merchant and shipping agent. The Walkers established a farm called Havering on the banks of the River Torrens.
Havering about 1839 pastel on paper by Theresa Walker. Havering was a farm established by the Walkers on the banks of the River Torrens, Adelaide.
John Walker chaired a local landowners meeting and in 1839 the village of Walkerville was named after him.
WALKERVILLE.-At a recent meeting of the proprietors of the preliminary section on the Torrens, immediately adjoining North Adelaide, purchased from Governor Hindmarsh for 1100l,. and now laid out by Messrs, Hindmarsh and Lindsay, surveyors, as a village, containing 100 acre allotments, it was proposed that the name of Walkerville should be given to the property, in compliment to our excellent colonist, Captain Walker, R. N., who is also a considerable proprietor. The proposal was agreed to unanimously; and Walkerville promises speedily to rival Hindmarsh Town, and become the most delightful suburb of Adelaide. Allotments, we are informed, are selling in both villages at from 25l. to 50l. each, according to situation
During the 1840s, John Walker fell victim to overspeculation in land value and a South Australian financial depression. He was imprisoned briefly for debt in 1841. In 1849 he left the colony with wife Theresa to take up a government position in Tasmania.
On Monday, the 8th of December, at Government Cottage, Launceston, LIEUT. WALKER, R.N , Port Officer, aged 58 years, deeply lamented by a large circle of friends, whose esteem he had gained by his affability of manner, and his undeviating rectitude in the discharge of his duty The funeral will leave Government Cottage on Wednesday, the 10th instant, at 4 p m. [Should be January but misreported in newspapers.]
DEATH OF LIEUT. JOHN WALKER, R.N.
The death of this gentleman, who was formerly a well known merchant of this city, is thus recorded in the Launceston Cornwall Chronicle of the 10th inst. :—
It is our painful duty to record the death on Monday evening, of Lieutenant John Walker, who for some years past has filled the appointments of Port Officer of Hobart Town, and Harbour Master of this port. Lieutenant Walker, as will be seen by the following extract from O'Byrne, has been on half-pay since 1815. He commanded in the mercantile marine, trading to India and these colonies, until about the year 1839, when he removed to Adelaide, and entered largely into mercantile transactions, in which not being successful he returned to this colony, where he has since been employed in the Port Office department. Lieutenant Walker was of amiable temperament, and accommodating and courteous in the discharge of his official duties. In private life he was the warm hearted friend and excellent companion. He lived respected and died lamented. O'Byrne furnishes the following brief sketch of Lieutenant Walker's naval career :—
WALKER (Lieut. 1815, F-P., 10 ; H-P., 31.) — John Walker, (a) entered the Navy 9th May, 1806, as Fst-cl. Vol. on board the Swallow sloop, Capt. Alex. Milner, employed in the channel, and off the coast of Spain and Portugal. In August, 1809, five months after he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he removed to the Norge, 74; and in that ship commanded by Capts. John Sprat, Rainer, and Chas. Dashwood, he continued to serve off Lisbon, at the defence of Cadiz, in the Mediterranean, and North Sea, and on the North American and West India stations, until August, 1815 —the last 19 months in the capacity of Master's Mate. He took part, in 1814 15, in the operations against New Orleans, including the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1815. On leaving the Norge he was presented with a commission bearing date 17th February, 1815. He has since been on half-pay.
John Walker and his wife had no children, and he appears never to have made a Will. After his death his widow lodged a claim for oustanding half-pay from the navy. She received 28 pounds 5 shillings.
One of my third great grandfathers, Philip Chauncy (1816 – 1880), was educated as a surveyor.
In 1839 he emigrated from England to South Australia. Two years later he married Charlotte Kemmis, a fellow emigrant, and moved to Western Australia to take up a government appointment as assistant surveyor. Charlotte died in 1847.
In 1848 Chauncy remarried, to Susan Mitchell, second daughter of the Reverend William Mitchell, a chaplain of the Colonial Church Society in Western Australia.
Philip Chauncy 1878Susan Chauncy nee Mitchell
In June 1853 the family, which then included three young children, left Western Australia for Victoria. On their arrival in Melbourne the Chauncys stayed with Philip’s brother William in Sandridge, now known as Port Melbourne. Within a month Philip bought a small cottage and allotment in the suburb of Prahran “at a very high price”, took an office in the city, engaged a clerk, and went into business as a land surveyor and commission agent. This venture was unsuccessful, however, and he “soon discovered the only thing I could do well was spend money”.
Rescue came soon in the form of an offer of appointment as Surveyor-in-Charge of the McIvor district, present-day Heathcote. This he accepted in August 1853. His yearly salary was was £400, the equivalent of several hundred thousand Australian dollars today, with an additional £200 annually for travelling expenses and equipment, rations for himself and five men, forage for one horse, and firewood.
In “Memoirs of Mrs Chauncy”, a biography of his wife Susan which Chauncy wrote in his retirement, he describes their 72 mile journey from Melbourne to Heathcote. It took ten days, nine of them rainy. The axle of their wagon broke, they became bogged, they were robbed, and their servant abandoned them.
At that time the McIvor diggings had about three thousand diggers and storekeepers. The Commissioner’s camp housed some 150 Government employees, all living under canvas. Philip, fortunately, had brought four tents of his own.
Philip laid out the town of Heathcote, and conducted other surveys in the district, notably a survey of the Murray River settlement which became the town at Echuca. His office was also responsible for land sales in the district. Chauncy’s staff included four assistant surveyors and their subordinates.
Living and working under canvas was uncomfortable and Philip wrote often to the Government authorities in Melbourne asking to be provided with better accommodation. He recorded in his diary that on Christmas Day 1854 the temperature in his tent was 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45°C).
The Government provided £1546 (roughly $AUS 1.5 million today) towards the construction of a stone building on the main street in the centre of Heathcote. This was to serve as the Survey Office, with living quarters for Chauncy and his family. The Chauncys lived in the Government camp for over a year; their new house was completed in February 1855. It was the Chauncey’s home for five and a half years. Philip made a garden with vines and fruit trees. This was extended into an adjoining block he purchased in 1854 (now occupied by a house at 49 Wright Street).
Philip also bought land in the district, including a farm six miles from Heathcote, which he name Datchet after his birthplace in Buckinghamshire. As well, he built a brick house, ‘Myrtle Cottage’, in Heathcote’s High Street (probably at about 152 High Street, since demolished).
From a map of Heathcote township drawn by Philip Chauncy in 1853 showing the survey office (red *) and blocks of land bought by Philip Chauncy (blue *) Note the spelling of present-day Chauncey Street is Chauncy Street on this map Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 8168/P0002, DIST65; HEATHCOTE TOWNSHIP; CHAUNCY P
In 1860 Philip was transferred to the Dunolly Survey District, sixty miles west of Heathcote. He moved there in 1861.
The Survey office and Chauncy residence (where my great great grandmother Annie Frances (1857 – 1883) was born) still stands. When I first saw it on a visit to Heathcote in 2007 it was very run down.
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in 2007 viewed from Chauncey Street
Renovations in progress on the Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in March 2020
The restored former Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in March 2022
Extensive renovation since then has considerably restored its colonial mid-Victorian character and charm. It now operates as a fine restaurant, named Chauncy.
Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy. Lowden Publishing Co, Kilmore, 1976.
Conservation management plan 2011 for the Former Survey Office, 178 High Street, Heathcote, https://www.vgls.vic.gov.au/client/en_AU/search/asset/1147925 The documentation and the photos of the state of the building before restoration highlight the enormous work done by Ron and Elva Laughton in bringing the building back to life
In 1856 in West Tamar, Tasmania, one of my fourth great aunts Theresa Walker nee Chauncy (1807 – 1876) married George Herbert Poole. He had been a teacher in the Royal College of the British Indian Ocean possession of Mauritius; she was an artist and sculptor.
In a memoir of Mrs Poole, Theresa’s brother Philip Chauncy wrote:
Theresa had for some time fallen in with the religious tenets of Mr. George Herbert Poole (1806-1869), who was the founder of “The New Church” [Swedenborgian New Jerusalem Church] in Adelaide. He [Poole] had returned from Mauritius, where he had been a professor in the Royal College, to Sydney in January 1850, had left Melbourne for England in 1852, and returned to Launceston in 1856, where they [George Poole and Theresa] were married.
From the Hobart Colonial Times of 19 September 1856:
MARRIED. On the 15th instant, at the Manse, West Tamar, by the Rev. James Garrett, GEORGE HERBERT POOLE, Esq., late professor in the Royal College, Mauritius, to THERESA SUSANNA, widow of the late John Walker, Esq., Lieutenant, R.N.
It appears that Poole may have had a connection with Truro, in Cornwall, for a notice in the Cornish West Briton on 16 January 1857 states he had resided there:
At the Manse, West Tamar, Australia, of the 15th of September last, Mr. George Herbert POOLE, formerly of Truro, to Theresa Susana, widow of the late John WALKER, Lieutenant, R.N.
Following their marriage the Pooles began a farm in Tasmania, bought, her brother notes, “with Theresa’s money”. Two years later they sold the farm and moved to Victoria, where George, with no great success, tried gold mining. In 1861 the Pooles became partners in a vineyard near Barnawartha on the Murray near Albury. Among others in this arrangement was Theresa’s half-brother William Chauncy (1820-1878), who at that time lived in Wodonga. George Poole “was supposed to be a thorough vigneron, as well as a connoisseur of the best methods of tobacco growing.” (Although in 1843 Mr G.H. Poole wrote about the cultivation of the vine for the South Australian Register, unfortunately Poole was accused of plagiarising this piece. The Geelong Advertiser reported Poole had 20 years experience of growing vines in southern Europe but I am not sure this fits with the facts of his life.)
Poole was appointed local manager of the vineyard.
The scheme was successful for a couple of years but in 1864 it collapsed. George Poole returned to Mauritius in November and Theresa followed in April 1865.
Port Louis, Mauritius. This scene was recorded by the British naturalist Charles Darwin, who visited this island in April and May 1836 during the five years of the second survey voyage of HMS Beagle.
In late 1866 both husband and wife became ill with an epidemic fever. They shifted to India, then after a brief return to Mauritius, in February 1868 moved back to Adelaide.
George Poole gained a job as a teacher of a school at Finniss Point near Riverton, about sixty miles (80km) north of Adelaide. In 1869 he became ill and died.
From the Adelaide Evening Journal 2 August 1869:
Deaths: POOLE.—On the 29th July, at Finniss Point, near Kapunda, George Herbert Poole, Esq., aged 63 years.
From The South Australian Advertiser 7 August 1869:
The remains of Mr. George Herbert Poole, licensed teacher of Finniss Point, were interred in the Riverton Church burial-ground on Saturday, the 31st ult. The deceased gentleman had been ailing for some time past, but suffered severely during the last month of his earthly pilgrimage from disease of the liver.
Finniss Point, also known as Finnis Point, is a few miles south of Riverton. The settlement no longer exists.
Finnis Point is about 10 km south of Riverton and about 85 km north of Adelaide. From Google Maps.
When I planned this series of posts about my Irish forebears I had in mind S for Snell, my 6th great-grandfather William Snell, born Ballymoney, County Antrim, the son of William Snell of Coleraine, County Londonderry.
Ballymoney and Coleraine are in the north of Ireland
S for Scanty might have been better. I didn’t expect to find so few documented facts about him. But that’s genealogy, I suppose: sometimes we’re overwhelmed by information, sometimes there’s almost nothing.
The source for William Snell’s place of birth – and his father’s name – is Stephen Isaacson Tucker (1884), ‘Pedigree of the family of Chauncy’, privately printed, with additions, p. 25. (This can be read at Google Books.) I have been unable to locate any other records of my Snell family in Ireland.
Sometime during or before 1749, William Snell moved to London, and from this point his story is comparatively well-documented. On 12 December that year he married Martha Chauncy, at St Margaret Lothbury, in the City. They had three sons: William, Charles, and Nathaniel. Martha died in 1765. On 8 November 1766, William married a second time, to Mary Snell, daughter of Reverend Vyner Snell, at St George’s Bloomsbury. William and Mary had a son John.
William had been left property in Liffey Street Dublin by his uncle Robert Shaw. This he passed on to his own son William.
While his later career is interesting, it has been frustrating not to be able to find a William Snell associated with Coleraine, County Londonderry, nor a marriage of a William Snell to the sister of Robert Shaw, and although I have found some deeds from the right period mentioning Robert Shaw of Dublin I cannot confirm that this Robert Shaw was William Snell’s uncle.
Earlier this year we were forced to flee from a catastrophic bushfire on the Australian east coast. It burnt out an area the size of England. Now, just a few months later, we’re self-quarantined against the COVID-19 plague, at home with the doors shut, permitted out only to buy food.
We Antipodeans, of course, got it the wrong way around. London had its plague first, from 1665, then its fire, in 1666. Whatever the order of events, of course, catastrophes are no fun for anybody.
In a year and half, the Great Plague of London – a rapid-spreading bacterial infection, rather than a virus – killed nearly 100,000 people, a quarter of the city’s population.
As it spread, a system of quarantine was introduced. A house where someone had died from plague would be locked, with no one allowed to enter or leave for 40 days. A plague house was marked with a red cross on the door and the words “Lord have mercy upon us”, and a watchman stood guard in the street.
Nine images of the Great Plague of London in 1665 from The great plague in London in 1665 by Walter George Bell From the Wellcome Trust CC-BY-4.0, retrieved through Wikimedia Commons
Then came the fire, a huge conflagration which burned for four days in September 1666, completely destroying the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. The homes of 70,000 people, more than three-quarters of the population of the city, were burnt to ashes. There were officially only six deaths; many went unrecorded.
Great Fire of London by an unknown artist about 1675 retrieved from Wikimedia Commons. “This painting shows the great fire of London as seen from a boat in vicinity of Tower Wharf. The painting depicts Old London Bridge, various houses, a drawbridge and wooden parapet, the churches of St Dunstan-in-the-West and St Bride’s, All Hallow’s the Great, Old St Paul’s, St Magnus the Martyr, St Lawrence Pountney, St Mary-le-Bow, St Dunstan-in-the East and Tower of London. The painting is in the [style] of the Dutch School and is not dated or signed.”
After the fire, London was rebuilt on essentially the same street plan. About three-fifths of the City of London had been destroyed: 13,200 houses, most great public buildings, St Paul’s Cathedral and 87 parish churches. Rebuilding housing took until the 1670s. Public buildings took longer, with St Paul’s finished only in 1711. This program had a modernising effect, for the city was now less dense, with only 9,000 houses rebuilt and not all churches and public buildings replaced.
Map of central London in 1666, showing landmarks related to the Great Fire of London. Drawn by Wikipedia user Bunchofgrapes and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
It is interesting that despite being separated from the events in London by 355 years and half way around the globe, we are experiencing similar catastrophes and coping along the same lines.
In June 1839, at the age of twenty-three, Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880), one of my 3rd great grandfathers, sailed from London for Adelaide in South Australia on the “Dumfries“, arriving in October 1839. On the passage Philip made the acquaintance of Charlotte Kemmis (1816 – 1847). They married two years later, in 1841. Neither Philip nor his wife ever returned to England.
The “Dumfries” From an original watercolour by John Ford F.A.S.M.A. 2004 and reproduced with permission. The “Dumfries” was a barque, sometimes spelled bark, a square-rigged ship with the aft (mizzen) mast rigged fore-and-aft. Barques were easier to handle than fully square-rigged ships and so required a smaller crew. At some points of sail they were almost as fast. However, John Ford has let me know that according to his records the “Dumfries” was shipped rigged not a barque.
On 14 June Philip did some sightseeing around London, visited the famous Tower, then went aboard the “Dumfries” moored immediately downstream of it at St Katherine’s Dock. There he shared a bottle of wine with his father, a brother and two of his sisters to celebrate his coming departure.
from page 75 of London Volume III: Knight, Charles, 1791-1873, (editor), London Volume III . London Charles Knight & Company, 1842. Retrieved from archive.org
St Katherine’s Docks marked with an x is just downstream of the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.
On 15 June Philip went to the zoo, and later he visited his various Snell and Chauncy relatives. He spent 17 and 18 June packing and getting his goods on board. On 19 June he visited his father at his home in Clapham. On 20 June he slept on board, where he had, he said, a bad bilious attack. He went ashore again the next day, his 23rd birthday, and dined with his family. They later came on board with him and bid him farewell.
The “Dumfries” set sail on 22 June at 5.45 pm and drifted 30 miles down the Thames to the Nore, a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames, where they anchored near the lightship.
Philip, of course, was sorry to be leaving his family. But he was joining his two sisters, Martha and Theresa, who had already emigrated and he believed his father would follow him out to Australia shortly. Everybody except for his sister Eunice did indeed emigrate as he had hoped. On the whole it appears that Philip left England without regret, looking forward to a new life in a new country.
On 23 June the “Dumfries” sailed from the Nore and anchored off the North Foreland, a chalk headland on the Kent coast. Philip wrote to his father and amused himself by fishing.
1848 chart showing the position of the Downs off the coast of Kent. (depths are in fathoms). From Admiralty Chart No 1895 England south coast sheet 7 Dungeness to the Thames including Dover Strait, Published 1848. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
On 25 June they anchored in the Downs off the Kent coast. The next morning Philip and six fellow cabin passengers went ashore a mile below Deal. They walked through the town, made some purchases, and returned on board with a cat.
The ship “Dumfries” had been built quite recently. This was her second or third voyage. Philip notes that there were 16 cabin passengers including 3 children, 29 adults and 15 children in the intermediate class, 23 in steerage. There were 22 in the ship’s company, a total of 105 persons on board. (An Airbus A380 can carry 868 passengers.) Philip took a cabin with Henry Kemmis, his future brother-in-law, and they each paid 70 pounds. A school teacher’s annual salary was then about 80 pounds. An air ticket from London to Adelaide is for most people less than a weeks wage, and even a first class fare is a fraction of the annual salary of a school teacher.
The wind had been blowing a gale from the west. It finally moderated and veered to the east and at 3pm on 26 June they sailed from the Downs, tacking between Beachey Head and the coast of France. The “Dumfries” finally cleared the Channel on 1 July. During the stormy weather most of the passengers, including Philip, were seasick.
Map showing the places on the journey of the “Dumfries” as it left London. The ship sailed from St Katherine’s Dock on 22 June 1839 and anchored at the Nore sandbank. On 23 June they anchored off the North Foreland. On 25 June they sailed to near Deal and on 26 June Philip and some of his fellow passengers went ashore. In the afternoon of 26 June they sailed from the Downs near deal and it took them til 1 July to clear the channel tacking between Beachey Head and the coast of France.
On page 91 of the memoir Philip wrote he was persuaded by his brother William to take out as a servant a man named Lowerburgh (or similar, MS unclear) and his wife and daughter. Philip wrote, “William had known them at Ascot, I did not want them but this was a cheap way for them to emigrate under the Commisr’s regulations.” I assume that the Lowerburgh’s are among the unnamed 27 in steerage mentioned in the South Australian Register‘s report of the arrival of the “Dumfries” on 19 October 1839. However, I have found no trace of them in South Australia under that surname or variants of it.
In later life Philip Chauncy expressed no regret about leaving England. He had made sure to do some sightseeing of London before emigration. He was consoled by the fact that his family intended to emigrate too (and that intention was indeed mostly fulfilled).
P is for phthisis (tuberculosis) concerning the emigration of the Plaisted family:Sally Plaisted (1826 – 1900), one of my 3rd great grandmothers, left London on 27 November 1849 on the barque “Rajah“. Sally, twenty-three, was travelling with her parents John Plaisted (1800 – 1858) who was ill with tuberculosis, and Ann Plaisted née Green (1801 – 1882). With her were her five brothers and Ann Plaisted’s sister Abigail Green (1797 – 1880). The family arrived in Adelaide South Australia in April 1850. Sally never returned to England.
Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 – 1883), one of my 3rd great uncles, joined his parents and siblings in Australia. On 17 August 1875 he sailed from London on the iron clipper ship “Melbourne“, her maiden voyage. He arrived in Melbourne on 16 November 1875, twenty-five years since he had seen them. Con returned to England shortly before his death from tuberculosis.
T is for Theresa : one of Philip Chauncy’s sisters who had emigrated to South Australia with her sister Martha in 1836 arriving 1837.
In 1852 there was a large rush to a newly-discovered gold field at McIvor Creek, sixty miles north of Melbourne.
The following year, Philip Chauncy (1816 – 1880), my 3rd great grandfather, was appointed surveyor-in-charge of the McIvor district. He laid out the town there, naming it Heathcote. The origin of the name is unclear. The town may have been named after named after Sir William Heathcote, a British member of Parliament 1854-68, or after the prolific wild heath in the area.
The Victorian government provided Philip Chauncy with funds to erect a stone house in the main street. This served as both the Survey Office and his residence. The Chauncys – Philip and his wife Susan (1828 – 1867) and their children- lived there for six and a half years.
Philip Chauncy 1878, image attached to my ancestry.com family tree
After 167 years the Survey office and Chauncy residence is still standing. We visited it yesterday. The last time we saw it, in 2007, it was overgrown and falling down. Now the main structure is being renovated and an extension added. A wooden two-storey 1897 add-on at the front has been demolished.
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office 2007 from Chauncey Street
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in 2007 – this building was added in the 1890s and had been demolished by 2020
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office March 2020
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office from High Street in 2020 – the two storey wooden building built in te 1890s has been demolished
Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office from the corner of High Street and Chauncey Street. There is a new fence around the property since 2007.
Chauncy’s oldest child Philip died less than week after the family moved into their new stone house. He was 3 years and 2 months. The death was put down to ‘croup’.
Philip was the first interment at the Heathcote cemetery. As District Surveyor Chauncey had selected the site, and as a trustee held helped to lay laid out the fencing, divisions, and walks.
drawing by Philip Chauncy of his son’s grave
to the memory of PHILIP LAMOTHE CHAUNCY the eldest and beloved Son of PH. L. S. & S. A. CHAUNCY Obit. 19th May 1854 aged 3 years & 2 mos. He died for Adam’s sin He lives for Jesus died
In a memoir of his wife and his sister, Philip wrote that while they lived in Heathcote Susan visited the child’s grave every Sunday. On a drawing of it, she wrote, “The last earthly dwelling place of my much-loved child, and the grave of my chief earthly joys.”
Philip and Susan had nine children. The other eight all survived childhood. Three of the children were born at Heathcote, including my great great grandmother Annie Frances Chauncy (1857 – 1883).
Source
Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy. Lowden Publishing Co, Kilmore, 1976.
Martha arrived in Adelaide South Australia in February 1837 on the John Renwick with her husband and her unmarried sister Theresa (1807 – 1876). They landed just six weeks after the Proclamation of the Province on 28 December 1836 when, by Vice-regal proclamation, South Australia was established as a British province
Martha was an artist. Several of her works are held by the Art Gallery of South Australia. One of the more notable is a watercolour of The first dinner given to the Aborigines 1838.
A notice appeared in the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register on October 27 announcing a conference with the Aborigines of the Province with a dinner to be given to them.
Advertising. (1838, October 27). South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (Adelaide, SA : 1836 – 1839), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750198
Martha’s watercolour was:
Her major work … a large watercolour, The First Dinner Given to the Aborigines (AGSA), depicting the three Adelaide tribes being entertained by Governor Gawler on 1 November 1838. The Aborigines sit awaiting the distribution of biscuits, meat, tea and blankets, while their three chiefs, dressed in new jackets provided by the settlers, stand together at the inner edge of the circle surrounding the Governor, the Protector of Aborigines and their wives. Behind the Aborigines is a standing ring of settlers, which includes obvious portraits. Berkeley added a pencil description of the event on the back of the painting in 1847, which confirms her aim of recording an important historical event for posterity. (Kerr, Joan. “Martha Maria Snell Berkeley.” Design & Art Australia Online. Design & Art Australia Online retrieved from http://www.daao.org.au/bio/martha-maria-snell-berkeley/biography/ )
This description aligns with a newspaper account of the event in the Southern Australian of 3 November 1838.
THE ABORIGINES.—On Thursday last, in pursuance of an advertisement issued by the Governor, a dinner was given to the natives, and the occasion excited much interest in the town. Soon after the hour appointed for the assembling, a vast concourse of the inhabitants had collected on the ground, and were enjoying the fineness of the weather in promenading for upwards of two hours before the ceremonies commenced.
About two o’clock a band of about 160 natives were assembled, and their appearance was certainly highly pleasing and orderly ; their huzzas would have done great credit to the lungs and voices of English-men, and their general, demeanour upon the occasion was very orderly. The native men were dressed in gaudy coloured cottons and the women had new blankets and rugs; and the tout ensemble of the group had a very striking effect.
Soon after they arrived, His Excellency said a few words, which were translated by Mr. WYATT, expressive of his desire that they should imitate the good qualities of the whites, learn to fear and love God, learn English, cease from quarrels with each other, and pay respect to the property of the whites.— Whether they understood what was said, we know not, but the vacant stare and senseless faces of many evidently bespoke utter ignorance of the meaning of His Excellency.
Immediately after, they squatted on the ground in a series of groups, and were regaled with roast beef, biscuit, rice, and sugar water, and if we may judge of their enjoyment of their repast by the quantity consumed, we should say they certainly did enjoy it. Trials of throwing the spear followed, and at a late hour in the afternoon the company dispersed. The Governor had very politely provided a luncheon on the ground, for the ladies and gentlemen visitors, which was also rather numerously attended, but whether with the same effect we have not the means of ascertaining ; however, every one appeared highly to enjoy the holiday.
Of the usefulness of this ceremony we have some doubts, but we trust it may be productive of good. To some part of it we most decidedly object—that was, rewarding and cheering those who could throw the spear with the greatest accuracy. An hour before, the Governor had told them to respect the white man’s property, and not to spear his sheep and his cattle, and immediately afterwards they were regaled with fine fresh beef, and exercised in the art of throwing the spear! Surely we should induce them to abandon a practice so dangerous to the peace of the colony, and the very source of all broils, and not encourage them in perpetuating their knowledge of such an art.
In May 1838 there had been another dinner of about 200 ladies and gentlemen assembled to farewell Governor George Gawler who was leaving London for South Australia. In Gawler’s speech he spoke of the Aborigines:
There is one interesting circumstance connected with the colony on which I can –
not help remarking; it is with regard to the aborigines. A great many here perhaps are acquainted with a report of parliament on the subject of the aborigines, in which it appears that colonization has been almost every where (I believe there is not an exception save South Australia) either the cause of the destruction or demoralization of the aborigines. I hope South Australia will continue to be an exception to that rule, and I hope I shall never forget towards the aborigines of South Australia, what I never forget to any other men, that as children of one common parent, they are “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” I never yet heard of a man so wild that judicious Kindness did not in some degree succeed in taming, and I hope that this particular case will not prove an exception. (DINNER TO GOVERNOR GAWLER AND THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COLONIZATION COMMISSIONERS. (1838, May 9). South Australian Record (SA : 1837 – 1840), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245932046 )
Gawler arrived in South Australia on 12 October 1838 after a four month journey. One of his early gestures as a Governor was the Dinner for the Aborigines. It is a great pity that colonisation in South Australia did not become the exception but also led to the destruction and demoralisation of the South Australian Aboriginal people.
Philip Chauncy 1878, image attached to my ancestry.com family tree
The photograph above, “Philip_Chauncy 1878”, first shared by me on 27 March 2012 on my online public tree at Ancestry.com, has been saved and added by at least 13 people to their public Ancestry trees.
Yesterday someone asked me how I knew the subject was really Philip Chauncy, an excellent question. To able to substantiate your facts is the foundation of every sort of history.
Over twenty years ago, before Greg and I moved from Canberra to Ballarat, we spent an evening with one of my third cousins once removed, like me a descendant of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880), my 3rd great grandfather. My cousin and his wife very generously shared the results of their family history research with me, including a copy of “Philip_Chauncy 1878”, which I remember they said came from the Anglican Cathedral in Ballarat.
Philip Chauncy was appointed Registrar of the diocese of Ballarat in August 1878. He had lost his position as Government surveyor in January 1878 when around 400 public servants were sacked by the Victorian Government. He resigned as Registrar in late 1879 and died the following April. He had held the Registrar’s position for just over a year. The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat published an obituary on 7 June 1880.
THE LATE MR. PHILIP CHAUNCY. (1880, June 7). The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat (Vic. : 1876 – 1889), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197135316
Three years ago Greg and I went to the Anglican Cathedral in Ballarat in search of “Philip_Chauncy 1878”, naturally expecting to have to make an appointment to view the archives. To our surprise the gentleman who met us at the door was able to take us directly to the photograph, which was hanging on the wall close to the entrance of the Diocesan offices. The photograph was captioned “Philip Chauncy Esq. Registrar of the Diocese 1878”, and signed “Richards & Co Ballarat”. It was indeed the image passed on to me by my cousin.
Anglican Diocese of Ballarat: Cathedral and Diocesan Offices Lydiard Street September 2016
Portrait of Philip Chauncy hanging in the Diocesan Offices of the Anglican Diocese of Ballarat in September 2016
It is one of only two photographs of Philip Chauncy that I have come across, the other being a family portrait taken shortly after the death of Philip’s wife Susan in 1867.
Philip Chauncy and children shortly after the death of Philip’s wife Susan Chauncy nee Mitchell in 1867. From left to right Auschar Philip (1855–1890), Amy Blanche (1861–1925), Theresa Snell (1849–1886), Frederick Philip Lamothe (1863–1926), Philip (1816 – 1880), on Philip’s lap Clement Henry (1865–1902), William Snell (1853–1903), Constance (1859–1907), Annie Frances (1857–1883)
Sources
Notes. (1878, September 13). The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat (Vic. : 1876 – 1889), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197135877
THE LATE MR. PHILIP CHAUNCY. (1880, June 7). The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat (Vic. : 1876 – 1889), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197135316
Photographs taken by Anne Young 15 September 2016.
Anne's Family History 