Nemehiah Bartley (10 May 1830 – 10 July 1894) was an Australian merchant primarily active in the
Colony of Queensland
The Colony of Queensland was a colony of the British Empire from 1859 to 1901, when it became a State in the federal Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. At its greatest extent, the colony included the present-day State of Queensland, t ...
. He arrived in Australia from England at the age of 19, and also lived for periods in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, and
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. His diaries and published books of his reminiscences provide detailed observations on colonial life in Australia and its personalities.
Early life
Bartley was born in
New Cross
New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...
, London on 10 May 1830.
He was orphaned as a young boy and brought up by his aunt. He attended the
City of London School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Boys' independent day school
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Alan Bird
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chair = Ian Seaton
, founder = John Carpenter
, speciali ...
.
[
]
Tasmania
In 1849 he left England for Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, sailing in the ship Calcutta for Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
. At that time there were discoveries of gold in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and soon after his arrival in Tasmania he made a trading voyage to San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, touching at Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
, Caroline Island
Caroline Island (also known as Caroline Atoll or Millennium Island) is the easternmost of several uninhabited coral atolls comprising the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean nation of Kiribati.
The atoll was first sighted by Eu ...
, and Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
en route, and entering the Golden Horn in May 1850. Returning to Launceston he had a glimpse of Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
, where the worst of Tasmanian convicts were confined.
New South Wales
In 1851 Bartley went to Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
with the intention of gaining experience on a sheep station
A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...
west of Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
. Circumstances cut his stay in Victoria short, and he was soon back in Launceston, only, however, to quickly travel to Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. Experiences on the Turon goldfield, where he ran a store and bakery, were followed by a period during which he was a teller in the Bank of New South Wales
The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway, New South Wales, Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches ...
in Sydney. Then he went travelling with sheep, and he was at Paika and Canally in November 1853, when the first navigation of the Murray River
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 r ...
took place. He visited Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
in December of that year but had returned by Christmas 1853 to Sydney.
Queensland
In 1854, Bartley was attracted to "the outdoor life of a commercial traveller and agent in the new land of Moreton Bay s Queensland was then known doing the rounds of the Darling Downs
The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...
and Burnett districts overy six weeks or so." In February 1854 on the steamer City of Melbourne, he arrived in Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, which was described as the "prettiest country town in New South Wales" (this was prior to the Separation of Queensland
The Separation of Queensland was an event in 1859 in which the land that forms the present-day State of Queensland in Australia was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and created as a separate Colony of Queensland.
History
European sett ...
in 1859) . From that time onward, he resided in Queensland, and led an active life in various occupations, seeing a good deal of the country, and gathering together a wealth of information on its pioneers, its characteristics, and its resources, particularly its mineral wealth. His writings told of his knowledge and of his varied experiences. On 5 January 1858, Bartley married Sarah Sophia Barton, the daughter of stockbroker William Barton and the sister of Edmund Barton
Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton, (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician and judge who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903, holding office as the leader of the Protectionist Party. He resigned to ...
, the first Prime Minister of Australia. They had two sons and three daughters together.[
In the 1860s Bartley built a house on the highest point in ]Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
which had unrivalled views of Brisbane and the Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...
. However, as the house was surrounded by dense bushland, his wife refused to live in it fearing attacks by Aboriginals leading to its nickname of Bartley's Folly, a name which persisted long after Bartley had sold the property. In 1879, Bartley objected to the continued use of the nickname, as he felt the "folly" implied a financial misjudgement on his part, whereas, taking all costs into account, he had actually made a profit of on the house.
In 1892 in Brisbane, he published the book "Opals and Agates" which was based on his diaries and provided chatty sketches of people and events.
On 10 March 1894 Bartley, who had previously resided with his son for two-and-a-half years, left Brisbane for Sydney to secure subscribers to a second book to be entitled "Pioneers of Queensland," which he intended publishing shortly.
However in early July 1894 in Sydney, he suffered from an internal pain which he blamed on bad baking powder in a scone that he had eaten and it was suggested this may have contributed to his death from heart failure on 10 July 1894 at his residence Richmond House, 1 Richmond Terrace, Domain
Domain may refer to:
Mathematics
*Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined
**Domain of definition of a partial function
**Natural domain of a partial function
**Domain of holomorphy of a function
* Do ...
, Sydney. He was survived by his wife, one of his two sons, and by three daughters. He was buried on 11 July 1894 in Waverley Cemetery
The Waverley Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on top of the cliffs at Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in 1877 and built by R. Watkins (cemetery lodge, 1878) and P. Beddie (cemetery office, 1915 ...
.
His book "Pioneers of Queensland" was published posthumously in 1896 under the title "Australian Pioneers and Reminiscences" after being edited by John James Knight.
Legacy
Bartley's Hill () in Ascot, Brisbane is named after him. Bartley had owned the hilltop.
Bartley's Folly was demolished in the 1920s to create a water reservoir on the top of the hill.
Richmond Terrace was demolished in 1935 to allow the State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...
to expand.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartley, Nehemiah
Australian writers
1830 births
1894 deaths
Burials at Waverley Cemetery
British emigrants to Australia
Australian bakers