James Collins Hawker (1821-1901) was an English-born explorer, surveyor,

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

and pastoralist of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, aide-de-camp to Governor

George Gawler Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler, KH, (21 July 1795 – 7 May 1869) was the second Governor of South Australia, at the same time serving as Resident Commissioner, from 17 October 1838 until 15 May 1841. Biography Early life Gawler, born on 21 ...

, and subsequently

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

of H.M. Customs at

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

Early life

Hawker was born in

Catsfield Catsfield is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located six miles (9.7 km) north of Bexhill, and three miles (5 km) southwest of Battle. The village was first documented in the Domesday B ...

, England. He was a son of Admiral

Edward Hawker Edward Hawker (7 November 1782 – 8 June 1860) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Born as the son of a naval officer in 1782, Edward Hawker was first entered in the books of a ...

, R.N. After an educational career in French, Swiss, and Italian academies, his education was completed at the High School in

Tavistock Square Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. History Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Francis Russell, 5th Duke ...

, London. He had two brothers,

George Charles Hawker Sir George Charles Hawker (21 September 1818 – 21 May 1895) was a South Australian settler and politician. Early life Hawker was born in London, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and his first wife, Joanna Naomi, ''née'' Poore. He was ...

and Charles Hawker, with both of whom he settled in Australia in 1841.

Australia

Hawker sailed to South Australia in 1838 with George Gawler, who was an old friend of his father, and who was to succeed Captain Hindmarsh, R.N., the first

viceregal A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

representative in the colony. Gawler had made an offer to Hawker's father to take one of his sons to

with him when he took up his new post. They arrived in

, described as a "wretched mudhole", in October. There he met harbormaster (and his future father-in-law) Capt.

Thomas Lipson Captain Thomas Lipson (ca.1784 – 25 October 1863) was an officer in the Royal Navy, who, after a successful if unspectacular career in the Royal Navy, was appointed by the Admiralty as the first Harbourmaster, Harbour Master at South Australia, ...

, R.N., accompanied the new Governor on his official entry into the city, and witnessed the swearing-in at the viceregal residence. In December 1838, Hawker joined the party which conducted a survey on the

Sturt River The Sturt River, also known as the Sturt Creek and ''Warri Parri'' (''Warriparri'') in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Adelaide region of the Australian state of South Australia. Course and features The Sturt River rises in Upper ...

, led by J. W. McLaren who became Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia. Hawker was the fourth officer in that party, and subsequently led a survey party on the

Onkaparinga River The Onkaparinga River, known as Ngangkiparri or Ngangkiparingga ("place of the women’s river") in the Kaurna language, is a river located in the Southern Adelaide region in the Australian state of South Australia. Rising in the Mount Lofty Ran ...

. Among the officers was draftsman

John McDouall Stuart John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...

, later noted as an explorer. Hawker executed surveys in other parts of the colony, before resigning and returning to Government House to assist in the Private Secretary's office. He was present at the public dinner given to Colonel Gawler in 1840, and later in that same year he left for England in the ship ''Katherine Stewart Forbes''. Finding that his two brothers, George and Charles, had themselves only just left for Australia, Hawker returned almost immediately to join them, sailing on the barque ''Siam''. Leaving England in December 1840, he arrived back at

Holdfast Bay The Holdfast Bay is a small bay in Gulf St Vincent, next to Adelaide, South Australia. Along its shores lie the local government area of the City of Holdfast Bay and the suburbs of Glenelg and Glenelg North European settlement on Holdfast Bay ...

in South Australia on 25 April 1841. Within ten days of arriving, Hawker had volunteered to accompany a party which went out to retrieve 5,000 sheep left near Chowilla by overlanders Henry Inman (his future brother in law), Henry Field and nine others after being attacked by local

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. One attacker was shot dead before Inman, Field and the other overlanders escaped, the fate of the sheep unknown. The retrieval party found themselves opposed by about 300 warriors, and fired at the attackers, killing eight, and wounding several more before they retreated. They returned without the sheep, Field slightly wounded, and his horse badly speared. Hawker subsequently went out as

commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...

under command of Police Commissioner

O'Halloran O'Halloran is the surname of the ultimate and at least two distinct Gaelic-Irish families, one in County Galway and another in south-east County Clare linked to the Dál gCais. On occasions it is translated as ''"stranger" or "from across the sea ...

, their force succeeding in protecting other settlers who had been attacked and in retrieving their animals. Hawker soon settled down with his two brothers, and all three engaged in sheep-farming, initially at Mount Dispersion, near

Anlaby Station Anlaby or Anlaby Station is a pastoral lease located about south east of Marrabel and north of Kapunda in the state of South Australia. History The locality was first explored by Europeans in March 1838 by the party of Hill, Wood, Willis, ...

, north of Nuriootpa. On 22 December 1841 he discovered a permanent water supply in the Mid-North of South Australia at

Bungaree Bungaree, or Boongaree ( – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Guringai people of the Broken Bay north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader.Barani (2013)Significant Aborig ...

, which was improved by sinking a well, and transferred his stock there. In 1843, James Hawker sold his share in the Bungaree Station to his brother George, and relocated to Moorundie on the

River Murray The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

. He, along with E. J. Eyre (explorer and later

Governor of Jamaica This is a list of viceroys in Jamaica from its initial occupation by Spain in 1509, to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. For a list of viceroys after independence, see Governor-General of Jamaica. For context, see History of Jamai ...

) plus E. B. Scott (one-time superintendent of

Yatala Labour Prison Yatala Labour Prison is a high-security men's prison located in the north-eastern part of the northern Adelaide suburb Northfield, South Australia. It was built in 1854 to enable prisoners to work at Dry Creek, quarrying rock for roads and con ...

) were the first three settlers on the Murray. However, his speculation proved unsuccessful, in 1847 Hawker took up a post with H.M. Customs at

, becoming tide surveyor and eventually comptroller in 1862. In 1860 Hawker founded Port Adelaide's first rowing club, called the "Pelican Club", of which he was captain and an oarsman for many years. Their Patron was Lady MacDonnell, whose name graced one of their two boats.

Diaries and publications

Hawker compiled diaries over much of his life, originally publishing them as articles that appeared in the ''

South Australian Register ''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and f ...

'' and the ''

Adelaide Observer ''The Observer'', previously ''The Adelaide Observer'', was a Saturday newspaper published in Adelaide, South Australia from July 1843 to February 1931. Virtually every issue of the newspaper (under both titles) has been digitised and is availabl ...

''. He subsequently published them in two books: * ''Early Experiences in South Australia'' (1899), Adelaide: E.S. Wigg and Son. * ''Early Experiences in South Australia, Second Series'' (1901), Adelaide: E.S. Wigg and Son. The 1899 series gave detailed accounts of his journey to Australia on board the

Pestonjee Bomanjee The ''Pestonjee Bomanjee'' was a wooden sailing ship built in 1834 by James Lang of Dumbarton, Scotland. She was a three-masted wooden barque of 595 tons, 130 feet in length, 31.5 feet in breadth, first owned by John Miller Jnr and Company, Glasg ...

, his years there, the many acquaintances he met, including assisting the renowned ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

during his studies in 1839, and of his return to England on board the ''Katherine Stewart Forbes''. The second series recounted his experiences for the years immediately after his return to Australia in 1842, including the establishment of the Bungaree station.

Family and later life

On 24 October 1850 at

Trinity Church, Adelaide Trinity Church Adelaide, formerly known as Holy Trinity Church and later Trinity City, is an Australian evangelical Anglican church located at 88 North Terrace in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1836, it is one of th ...

, Hawker married Louisa Lipson (1829 – 5 August 1918), youngest daughter of Capt. Lipson R.N., Harbourmaster at Port Adelaide. In August 1872, Hawker retired from the customs branch, and went into private commercial life, establishing the business of land and station agency and surveyor. He also became a respected

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. At the time of his death in 1901, his business was continuing under the name of James C. Hawker & Son. In his later years Hawker lived a quiet life at Strangways-terrace,

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

. He died on 15 October 1901 and was buried at

North Road Cemetery North Road Cemetery is located in the Adelaide suburb of Nailsworth, approximately 5 km north of the central business district. It is 7.3 hectares (18 acres) in size and there have been over 26,000 burials since its foundation in 1853. Th ...

. He left a widow, three sons, and five daughters.

References

External links

Newspaper articles mentioning "James Collins Hawker"
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