William Lawson, (2 June 1774 – 16 June 1850) was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician who migrated 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 ...

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 ...

in 1800. Along with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, he pioneered the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by British colonists.

Early life

Lawson was born in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

, Middlesex, England to John Lawson and his second wife Hannah Summers. His father owned a successful

chandler Chandler or The Chandler may refer to: * Chandler (occupation), originally head of the medieval household office responsible for candles, now a person who makes or sells candles * Ship chandler, a dealer in supplies or equipment for ships Arts ...

business and was a descendant of the aristocratic Scottish Lawson family of Cairnmuir House in the Pentland Hills. Lawson was educated in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and trained as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. He decided to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and purchased a commission in the New South Wales Corps as an ensign for £300 in 1799. He received orders to transfer to

, arriving there in November 1800.

Officer in the 'Rum Corps'

Norfolk Island

Shortly after his arrival in Sydney he was posted to work at the penal colony at

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 ...

under Major

Joseph Foveaux Joseph Foveaux (1767 – 20 March 1846) was a soldier and convict settlement administrator in colonial New South Wales, Australia. Early life Foveaux was baptised on 6 April 1767 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, the sixth child of Joseph Fove ...

. At this time, a planned insurgency of Irish convicts and soldiers on the island was discovered with Foveaux hanging two alleged ring-leaders without trial and punishing others with 500 lashes. Lawson became trusted by Foveaux and was appointed to adjudicate in the island's military court. This court was accused of corrupt practices and in one high profile case which Lawson helped preside over, an appointee to a government position who Foveaux did not like was found guilty of incest. In addition to his military duties on Norfolk Island, Lawson also acquired land and raised sheep. He also obtained a convict mistress named Sarah Leadbeater, who had been sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing clothes. He developed a long term relationship with Sarah, eventually marrying her in 1812 and having eleven children with her.

Involvement in the Rum Rebellion

In 1806, Lawson returned to Sydney and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps. Here he became a close associate with the leading officers including Captain

John Macarthur John MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to: *J. Roderick MacArthur (1920–1984), American businessman *John MacArthur (American pastor) (born 1939), American evangelical minister, televangelist, and author * John Macarthur (priest), 20th-century pro ...

and Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston. These officers controlled a very profitable monopoly in the colony that centred on the trading on rum, and the New South Wales Corps was called the 'Rum Corps' as a result of this corrupt racketeering. Lawson became an integral part of this clique. In January 1808, when

Governor Bligh Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...

had John Macarthur arrested on charges of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

against the colonial government, Lawson was one of six officers appointed to help oversee his trial. Colluding with Macarthur, Lawson and the other officers refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the presiding judge, took possession of the court documents and removed Macarthur from the custody of the court. When Bligh ordered Lawson and the other officers to halt their interference in the trial, they refused, resulting in Bligh charging them with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Macarthur, Johnston, Lawson and the other officers and soldiers of the 'Rum Corps' then proceeded to collaborate in a full armed

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

against Governor Bligh known as the Rum Rebellion. This military coup resulted in the detainment and removal of Bligh from power, and the installation of a military junta headed by Macarthur and Johnston. For his assistance in the rebellion, Lawson was given the role of Johnston's aide-de-camp and received a 500 acre land grant at

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

Commandant of the Newcastle convict colony

In 1809, Lawson was appointed by the rebel administration as Commandant of the Newcastle (Coal River) penal settlement at the mouth of the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

. He had previously held the position of acting commandant there during a brief period 1807. At Newcastle, Lawson was in charge of several high profile political prisoners who had been arrested and transported to the penal settlement for being supporters of Bligh. These included

Henry Browne Hayes Sir Henry Browne Hayes (1762–1832) was an Irish-born convict, transported to New South Wales. Hayes was born in Ireland, the son of Attiwell Hayes (d.1799) a wealthy brewer and miller. Henry Browne Hayes was admitted a freeman of the city of Co ...

, a wealthy emancipist who owned the

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019. When Hayes was transferred to house-arrest at Vaucluse for health reasons, Lawson had him violently re-arrested and ordered the ransacking of his house for not meeting the conditions of his parole. Hayes was sent back to Newcastle and Lawson published a notice threatening 200 lashes to anyone who assisted Hayes.

Removal from office and sent to England

With the arrival of Governor

Lachlan Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie se ...

in late 1809, the rebel administration of Macarthur and Johnston was dissolved. Macquarie ordered Lawson to release the political prisoners at Newcastle that supported Bligh, and on 10 January 1810 Lawson was replaced as Commandant by Lieutenant John Purcell. Upon his release, George Crossley took civil legal action against Lawson and several other 'Rum Corps' officers for false imprisonment. At a trial in April 1810, Lawson was found guilty of wrongfully imprisoning Crossley and was ordered to contribute to costs and a payment of £500 (reduced to £300 on appeal) to Crossley. Macquarie then had Lawson sent to England to act as a witness in the court-martial against Johnston for his leading role in the mutiny and treason against Governor Bligh. Lawson remained in England until 1812.

Expedition crossing the Blue Mountains

Lawson returned to Sydney in 1812 as a lieutenant in the NSW Veteran's Company and was placed in charge of the detachment stationed at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He started work on building a mansion at his land grant in Prospect which was eventually completed in 1821 and which he named Veteran Hall after his commanding role in the Veteran's Company. Lawson also took interest in becoming a wool-producer and became active in exploring for land to acquire for sheep farming. Lawson commenced the exploration of the Blue Mountains alongside Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth on 11 May 1813. He kept a journal of the expedition titled, 'W Lawsons Narrative. Across Blue Mountains ic. In his first entry he writes:

Mr. Blaxland Wentworth and myself with four men and four Horses- Laden with Provisions etc- took our Departure on Tuesday the 11th May 1813. Crossed the Nepean River at Mr. Chapman's Farm Emu Island at four o'clock and proceeded SW. Two miles. Encamped at 5 o'clock at the foot of the first Ridge of Hills-.

On 31 May 1813, the party reached the most westerly point of their expedition, recorded as

Mount Blaxland Mount Blaxland, actually a hill, is located about 15 kilometres south of Lithgow. It was the furthest point reached by Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth on their historic 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains.

, and looked out onto what was to become known as the Bathurst Plains. On this day, Lawson writes:

...this Country will I have no doubt be a great acquisition to this Colony and no difficulty in making a good Road to it, and take it in a Political point of View if in case of our Invasion it will be a safe Retreat for the Inhabitance with their Familys and that for this part of the Country is so formed by Nature that a few men would be able to defend the passes against a large body.

First British pastoralist west of the Blue Mountains

In February 1814, Governor Macquarie offered land grants of 1,000 acres to each of the three explorers for their work. The grants were to be allocated in the Bathurst Plains region that they had journeyed to. In 1815, Lawson accepted the offer and took 100 head of cattle across the Blue Mountains and established his property on the south side of the Fish River, near to its junction with the Macquarie River. By doing so, Lawson became the first British pastoralist west of the mountains. He named the property ''Macquarie''.

Commandant of the Bathurst region

By 1819 Lawson was the most prominent stock-owner and land-holder in the newly colonised region westward of the mountains. Only a handful of other colonists had been allowed to take up land in this area around the government outpost of Bathurst. In that same year, Charles Throsby guided by local Aboriginal men had formed an easier trail to Bathurst from Sydney that approached from the south. Governor Macquarie recognised that more settlers would now travel to the region to take up land and a more formal administration would be required at Bathurst. He consequently made Lawson, who was still a lieutenant in the army, commandant for the Bathurst region in September 1819. With the British increasingly taking land in the area, violence with the local resident Wiradjuri people became apparent. In 1819, four

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

people were shot dead in the vicinity of Lawson's property, while one of Lawson's horses was speared. As commandant, Lawson was in command of all the troops stationed west of the Blue Mountains, but it appears these soldiers were not utilised at this stage of the conflict.

Pioneer colonist of the Mudgee region

Whilst Commandant of Bathurst, Lawson undertook four expeditions in 1821 and 1822 to find good pasture land to the north of this outpost. Following information from James Blackman and being guided by a local Aboriginal man named Ering (Aaron), Lawson became one of the first white men to travel along the Cudgegong and Talbragar Rivers. He met with around 40 Aboriginal people gathered at Mudgee, writing that the area was some of the finest grazing land in the world. He also named the nearby Goulburn River. Lawson later took up 5,000 acres of land to the northwest of Mudgee and formed another large property on the Talbragar River.

Bathurst War

As the British expanded their taking of land, conflict with the local Aboriginal population continued. Near Mudgee in 1822, George Cox led a fight resulting in around six Aborigines being shot. One of Lawson's own stockmen was also killed at Dirty Swamp in the same year, but Lawson chose not to mobilise the military. However in 1823, after an Aboriginal raiding group led by a man named 'Jingler' got hold of muskets and ammunition and successfully stalled British expansion, Lawson decided to order the formation of a patrol composed of armed settlers and four soldiers of the 40th Regiment. He also placed soldiers at the properties of the most regarded colonists. Lawson still took a conciliatory stance with the Aboriginal population and appears to have had good relations with at least one local clan. However, with the escalation of violence, the authorities decided in late 1823 to replace Lawson as Commandant of Bathurst with a veteran of the Peninsula War in Major James Morisset. In mid 1824, conflict with the Wiradjuri soared, around a hundred Aboriginal people including women and children had been murdered, while twenty-two whites had been killed. Lawson's properties in the region had been attacked, hundreds of his sheep destroyed and another four of his employees were dead. His son, William Lawson Jnr, admitted the situation had become a war and wished that the Wiradjuri could be exterminated. This war has become known as the

Bathurst War The Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst War (1824), was a war between the Wiradjuri nation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the successful Gregory Blaxland, Blaxland, William Lawson (explorer), Lawson, and William Wen ...

. In July 1824, Lawson with 12 other major colonists around Bathurst signed a petition requesting a large military force to be sent out to subjugate the "natives". In August, Governor Thomas Brisbane obliged the settlers by announcing martial law in the Bathurst region and ordered Commandant Morisset to implement measures to control the situation. In September, Morisset organised a large military punitive expedition containing soldiers of the 40th Regiment and armed settlers, to sweep the area around Bathurst and Mudgee. Lawson provided the horses for the group and commanded one of the four divisions within the expedition. Officially there was no death toll recorded from this military campaign, but witness reports from the time and oral evidence indicate that multiple massacres of Aboriginal people were carried out. The Bathurst War ended later in 1824 with martial law being revoked and Wiradjuri leader Windradyne suing for peace.

Member of the elite squattocracy

After the Bathurst War, Lawson retired from the British Army and became focused on acquiring land. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s he obtained further large parcels of land especially along the

Coolaburragundy River Coolaburragundy River, a perennial stream that is part of the Talbragar catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Orana district of New South Wales, Australia. The river rises on the south-western slopes of the Liverpool ...

and at Kurrajong. By the 1840s, he had become one of the largest landholders in the colony, a powerful

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

with 150,000 acres, 84,000 sheep and 15,000 cattle to his name. He became an importer of thoroughbred horses and an important identity in the horse-racing and fox hunting industries. He completed his mansion, Veteran Hall, at Prospect, but was still very active in the running of his properties out west. Conflict between Lawson's employees and Aboriginal people during the process of taking this land was at times reported, with serious violence occurring during the seizure of land along the Barwon River. His sons, William Junior and Nelson, also became extensive landholders. The Lawson family cemented their association within the elite

squattocracy Squatting is a historical Australian term that referred to someone who occupied a large tract of Crown land in order to graze livestock. Initially often having no legal rights to the land, squatters became recognised by the colonial government a ...

with the marrying of William Junior to Caroline Icely, sister of the wealthy squatter Thomas Icely. The wealth Lawson obtained from the pastoral industry was built upon the utilisation of cheap convict labour. Convicts were assigned to Lawson as virtual slave labour, those that absconded were sometimes punished with 100 lashes before being returned to his properties. With the end of transportation of convicts to New South Wales in the 1840s, Lawson strongly advocated for the importation of cheap foreign coolie labour. In 1841 he obtained labourers from Chile but was prohibited from bringing "hill coolies" from India. Lawson also chaired meetings in support of the resumption of convict transportation and also employed imported Chinese coolies, who absconded due to poor rations and underpayment.

Political career

Lawson had become one of the highest profile colonists and in 1843 he chose to enter politics, and was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

for the County of Cumberland as a representative of the Aristocratic party. He remained a member of parliament until 1848, rarely contributing to discussion but often voting in the interests of protecting the privileged status of the squattocracy. He died at his estate, Veteran Hall in Prospect on 16 June 1850 and was buried at St Bartholomew's cemetery.

Legacy

The town of

Lawson Lawson may refer to: Places Australia * Lawson, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Lawson, New South Wales, a town in the Blue Mountains Canada * Lawson, Saskatchewan * Lawson Island, Nunavut United States * Lawson, Arkansas ...

in the Blue Mountains is named after him. Following Lawson's death, Veteran Hall was eventually acquired by the Metropolitan Water Board and most of the granted property is now submerged by the waters of

Prospect reservoir The Prospect Reservoir is a heritage-listed potable water supply and storage reservoir (water), reservoir created by the Prospect Dam, across the Prospect Creek (New South Wales), Prospect Creek located in the Western Sydney suburb of Prospec ...

. The house was demolished in 1926. His son

Nelson Lawson Nelson Simmons Lawson (1 May 1806 – 3 February 1849) was an Australian politician. He was born at sea on the '' Lady Nelson'', the son of William Lawson and Sarah Leadbeater. His first wife was Honoria Mary Dickinson whom he married o ...

succeeded him in his seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council. His daughter Susanna Caroline Lawson married John Rendell Street, founder of the Street dynasty. In 1963 Lawson was honoured, together with Blaxland and Wentworth, on a postage stamp issued by

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

depicting the Blue Mountains crossing.Australian 5''d'' postage stamp showing Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth's mountain crossing
australianstamp.com

References

Additional resources

* ''Historical Records of New South Wales'', vols 4–7 * '' Historical Records of Australia'', Series I, vols 3–8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 * H. Selkirk, ‘Discovery of Mudgee’, ''

Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society The Royal Australian Historical Society, formerly Australian Historical Society, is a voluntary organisation founded in Sydney, Australia in 1901Helen Doyle, "Royal Australian Historical Society" in Graeme Davison, John Hirst and Stuart Ma ...

'', 8 (1922) * C. H. Bertie, ‘The Lawsons’, ''Home'' (Sydney), 1 January 1932 * E. C. Lawson, ''Lawson of Veteran Hall'' (microfilm,

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 ...

) * * Bonwick transcripts, biography, vol 3 (

External links

– William Lawson crossing the Blue Mountains – State Library of NSW
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, William 1774 births 1850 deaths Explorers of Australia People from Finchley English emigrants to colonial Australia Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council History of the Blue Mountains (New South Wales)