HAWKESBURY HISTORY
with Michelle Nichols & Jonathan Auld
A visit to the Hawkesbury in 1832
Backhouse and Walker were humanitarians who visited the Hawkesbury on their nine-year travels of the Antipodes, during the 1830s.
James Backhouse was a naturalist, born in Durham in 1794, into a Quaker business family. He was employed at a Norwich nursery, working with some Australian plants and became interested in the penal colony, prison reform and transportation. With an interest in social conscience Backhouse met up with businessman and humanitarian George Washington Walker, born in London in 1800. From his Quaker employees he learnt integrity and honesty and joined the Society of Friends.
In 1831 the two men set off on a financed trip to observe the colonies, arriving in Hobart in 1832. Lieutenant- Governor Arthur was keen to co-operate and they were given unlimited access to the penal settlements. On completion, reports of their findings and suggestions for improvements were given to Arthur. They visited NSW in 1835, spending two years touring Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, Port Macquarie penal settlements and the Aboriginal Station at Wellington.
Governor Bourke and authorities in England, were given detailed reports, which contributed to improvements and development of penal reform and promoted charitable organisations.
While travelling, Backhouse kept a diary. In 1834 they travelled from Penrith to the Hawkesbury. The following is a transcription of some of their reflections of the district.
View of bridge at Windsor, NSW by Walter George Mason. National Library of Australia.
21 October 1834 We walked by way of the little village of Castlereagh to Windsor, a town of about 1500 inhabitants, beautifully situated on the Hawkesbury, and of very English appearance, where we found pretty good accommodation at an inn. 23 October 1834 We went to Richmond, another little town on the Hawkesbury, 4 miles distant from Windsor. The country here is very fine and productive, with extensive grassy flats along the sides of the river. On these, people continue to build and reside, notwithstanding that there have been floods at intervals of a few years that have risen far above the tops of their houses. A respectable Wesleyan at Richmond told us that he had heard of our visit to Wellington Valley several days ago from [ an Aboriginal ] who had had the particulars detailed to him … Our persons costume, and many other particulars, including our manner of communicating religious instruction, had been minutely described … The scattered [ Aboriginals ] of Australia communicate information rapidly, messengers being often sent from tribe to tribe for great distances. In the evening we returned to Windsor. 24 October 1834 Accompanied by a thoughtful military officer, we walked to the villages of Pitt Town and Wilberforce. At Pitt Town we were helped in obtaining a place to hold our meetings by the Episcopal Minister. 25 October 1834 We had meetings at Richmond to the forenoon, and at Windsor in the afternoon. There was a painful feeling in both meetings on behalf of such as profess to be awakened, but do not maintain an inward exercise of the soul. 26 October 1834 Had a temperance meeting in Government School-room at Windsor, ninety members being present. 27 October 1834 Visited the jail, and addressed the prisoners. Afterward
walked to Wilberforce, and had a meeting in the school house with a congregation consisting chiefly of Australians of European extension with whom I had an open time in preaching the Gospel, to which as regards its powers, the auditors seemed much of strangers. 28 October 1834 At 6 this morning had a religious interview with a party of 24 employed in replacing a wooden bridge over South Creek, close to Windsor. In the afternoon visited the hospital and had a meeting of about 40 patients assembled in one of the 4 wards. In the evening met 120 persons in the schoolroom at Pitt Town. The district of Pitt town contains about seven hundred inhabitants, many of whom have been prisoners and are notorious for their drunkenness, profligacy and neglect of public worship. 29 October 1834 We returned to Richmond and made call upon several persons for the purpose of furnishing them with tracts. In the afternoon we held a meeting at Currajong, a scattered settlement on the ascent of the mountains near the confluence of the Nepean and Grose Rivers, which uniting, form the Hawkesbury. The land here has been cleared and numerous cottages erected, but the inhabitants, who are chiefly Anglo-Australians, seem very uncultivated. In the evening we returned again to Windsor. The country in this neighbourhood was settled at an early period of the colony. Some of the alluvial flats on the Hawkesbury, which is navigable to Windsor for small craft, are very rich, and the people are now busy planting maize or Indian corn. Crops of this useful grain are often obtained after wheat has failed from frost, drought, or hot winds. 30 October 1834 At 6 o’ clock in the morning we mounted a 4-horse coach which stopped for breakfast at Parramatta and arrived at Sydney in 4½ hours the distance being 38 miles. Between Windsor and Parramatta there are a few large orange orchards, which are said to yield very profitable produce to their owners.
Quakers traditionally encouraged education and Backhouse and Walker were optimistic about the British and Foreign School Society distributing material and text
Lantern slide of James Backhouse 1794-1869. Walker Collection © University of Tasmania.
books on their journey.“ They encouraged savings banks, benevolent societies, and ladies’ committees for prison visiting on Elizabeth Fry’ s model. They inspected hospitals and recommended humane treatment for the insane and asylums.”
They visited Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide and returned home via Mauritius and South Africa. Throughout their journey, Backhouse collected and recorded botanical specimens which were sent to Kew Gardens.
The genus of a myrtaceous shrub was named Backhousia in his honour. Walker returned to Hobart in 1840 and married. He maintained his concern for those less fortunate and passed away in Tasmania in 1859.
Backhouse returned to England in 1841. He kept up with his nursery business and travelled the British Isles collecting botanical specimens. He published‘ A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies’ in 1841 which contained important material relating to conditions of both the penal settlement and the Aboriginals of the time. Backhouse died in York in 1869.
These two men had concerns for humankind and resolved to bring about change by practical means.
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10 ISSUE 181 // JUNE 2025 theindependentmagazine. com. au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT