John Pascoe Fawkner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Pascoe Fawkner
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Portrait of John Pascoe Fawkner, founder of Melbourne, by William Strutt, 1856: oil on canvas; 61.3 x 51.2 cm. National Library of Australia.
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| Born | 20 October 1792 |
| Died | 4 September 1869 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Businessman, pioneer, politician |
| Spouse(s) | Eliza Cobb |
| Parent(s) | John Fawkner, Hannah Pascoe |
John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail to the mainland in his ship, Enterprize. Fawkner's party sailed to Port Phillip and up the Yarra River to found a settlement which became the city of Melbourne.
Early years
John Pascoe Fawkner was born near Cripplegate London in 1792 to John Fawkner (a metal refiner) and his wife Hannah née Pascoe, whose parents were Cornish. As a 10-year-old, he accompanied his convict father, who had been sentenced to fourteen years gaol for receiving stolen goods, being transported on HMS Calcutta, alongside his mother and younger sister Elizabeth, as part of a two ship fleet to establish a new British colony in Bass Strait in 1803. His reminiscences describe the time leading up to departure, the voyage and their arrival at Sullivan Bay, near modern-day Sorrento, the day before Fawkner turned 11. For several months the colony struggled to survive. Lack of wood and fresh water eventually persuaded Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to abandon the colony in 1804 with the settlers and convicts departing for the new town of Hobart in Van Diemen's Land.
In 1806 the family obtained a farm, upon which he worked without horses, without capital, and with scarcely any other appliances than a spade and a hoe. At eighteen years of age he apprenticed himself to a builder and a sawyer, and laboured for some years in a saw-pit. In Hobart the young Fawkner assisted his father (who had obtained a conditional pardon) in his bakery, timber business and brewery, taking charge of the bakery in Macquarie Street.
In 1814 he fell into trouble, "aiding and abetting", in an attempted escape from Van Diemen's Land to South America, seven transported convicts; Antonio Martinio, Forteso De Santo, Patrick McCabe, Vissanso Boucherie, Antonio Janio, Montrose Johnson and William Green. The group secretly went to Recherche Bay to fell trees with which they built a lugger. When the lugger was completed, Fawkner was put ashore and made his way back to his farm. After sailing some distance out into the open ocean, the remaining men on the lugger returned to Van Diemen's Land because of leaks in the water tanks. The vessel was sighted at the entrance to the Derwent by a government ship, and taken in charge because of her 'singular appearance'. Fawkner and Santos were the only ones of the group tried and in August 1814 were each sentenced to 500 lashes and three years hard labour. Fawkner's account of this incident was that "a party of prisoners, determined to escape, sought his assistance and that in a moment of foolish sympathy he undertook to help them".
In December 1819 transported convict, Eliza Cobb, and John Pascoe Fawkner loaded up a cart and moved to Launceston. They were married on 5 December 1822, with a permit from Governor George Arthur. They established a bakery, timber business, bookshop, a newspaper The Launceston Advertiser in 1829, nursery and orchard. Soon after Eliza had received a pardon, Fawkner obtained a licence to run the Cornwall Hotel in 1826.
Settlement of Melbourne
Reading of reports back from the Hentys at Portland and Charles Sturts journeys further north and the good country to be found, encouraged Fawkner's resolve to head to Port Phillip and search for a suitable settlement site. In April 1835, he purchased the topsail schooner, Enterprize.
John Batman led an exploring party to Port Phillip District in May 1835, on board the schooner Rebecca. He explored a large area in what is now the northern suburbs of Melbourne, as far north as Keilor, and saw it as ideal country for a sheep run, before returning to Launceston.
When the Enterprize was ready to leave in August 1835, at the last moment creditors prevented Fawkner from joining the voyage. On board the Enterprize as it departed George Town, were Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner's representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner's servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary, under Captain Peter Hunter.
On 15 August 1835, Enterprize entered the Yarra River. After being hauled upstream, she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables. The Fawkners arrived in the Port Phillip District, on Friday, 16 October 1835, on the second trip of the Enterprize. Fawkner's diary reads: 'Warped up to the Basin, landed 2 cows, 2 calves and the 2 horses.' Only days later, these diary entries illustrate the energy and purpose he brought to Port Phillip. On 20 October he wrote: "My birthday this day I complete my 43 year – time too precious to be idle – employed battening the roof of house". "We set to work and in one month from the day of landing at Melbourne, I had a four roomed weather boarded house completely floored with deal boards, with pannel doors, and glazed windows ready and fit for use. Having no Bricklayer with us I in conjunction with my blacksmith as laborer built a good brick chimney".
Once a house was built, on to provisioning the colony - in November: "Commenced ploughing for a garden near the falls on the South side of the Yarra. found the leg of an iron pot about 8 inches below the surface – think it was left there by the runaway man from Point Nepean in 1803 who returned and described the Yarra his name was Dd G. Planted potatoes, set out beans and peas, sowed radishes and cabbage seeds". Fawkner was active in the first land sales in Melbourne. On 1 June 1837 he bought the No 1 Block corner of Bourke and William Street for [£32], and another on the corner of Market and Flinders streets. His early home (built on the Bourke Street site) appears in this work by Robert Russell, taken from the south side of the Yarra River, from the Falls, near the present day Queen Street.
Melbourne businessman and politician
Fawkner did much to secure his place in the early history of Melbourne. He opened the first hotel on the corner of Market Street and Flinders Lane. He played a central role in the early newspaper scene of Melbourne, publishing two of the first papers. Through these, and an active public life he voiced his passions for equal access to participation in government, support for small business owners and landholders; and the rights to independence for Port Phillip and a "strenuous opponent of transportation to these shores."
He published the Melbourne Advertiser on 1 January 1838 which was the district's first newspaper. The Advertiser's first nine or ten weekly editions were handwritten in ink. The old wooden printing press brought to Tasmania by Lt. Governor David Collins in 1803, and some worn typeface were eventually obtained from Launceston and the first printed edition appeared on 5 March 1838. It was to last for a further 17 editions when it was closed down on 23 April 1838 for want of a newspaper licence from Sydney. The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser was commenced on 6 February 1839 by newly licensed John Pascoe Fawkner. It was published daily commencing on 15 May 1845. In association with the newspaper he ran a bookselling and stationery business.
Fawkner acquired a property in 1839 as one of eleven lots in the subdivision of the Coburg district by the government surveyor, Robert Hoddle, in the present day Pascoe Vale. The property was called Belle Vue Park or Pascoe Vale Park. and was bounded approximately by the Moonee Ponds Creek, Gaffney Street, Northumberland Road and the western prolongation of Boundary Road. There were two other lots to the east of Moonee Ponds Creek. He lived at his farmhouse and at his town-house in Collingwood between 1840 and 1855.
In 1842 Fawkner was elected one of the Market Commissioners, and in 1843 a town councillor, an office which he held for many years. On 18 September 1851 Fawkner was elected to the first Victorian Legislative Council for Talbot, Dalhousie and Angelsey, and held the seat until the original Council was abolished in March 1856. In November 1856 Fawkner was elected to the first Parliament of the self-governing colony of Victoria, as a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Central Province, a seat he held until his death on 4 September 1869. Perhaps anticipating his life was drawing to a close, he sold his collection of books the year before. His library contained 1,266 volumes and the titles listed in the sale catalogue indicates he was well read.
In Melbourne as in Launceston, Fawkner made many enemies, before dying as the grand old man of the colony on 4 September 1869 in Smith Street, Collingwood at the age of 77. At his government-appointed public funeral over 200 carriages were present, and 15,000 persons were reported to have lined the streets on his burial day, 8 September 1869. He was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery. He and Eliza did not have any children.
Legacy
Many sites in Melbourne have been named in honour of John Fawkner including the John Fawkner Private Hospital as well as the suburbs of Fawkner, Pascoe Vale and Fawkner Park and the Fawkner Beacon weather station in Port Phillip.
In 1979 a statue of Fawkner, commissioned by Melbourne City Council and produced by sculptor Michael Mezaros, was unveiled on Collins Street, where it stood outside the National Mutual building, alongside a statue to John Batman, for almost 40 years, before being removed to make way for the CBUS Collins Arch development.
A replica of the Enterprize, the ship he purchased to form the settlement of Melbourne, was built at the Melbourne Maritime Museum and was launched in 1997 and sails with tourists aboard from various places around Port Phillip Bay.
