Who is Online

We have 68 guests and no members online


Pascoe Fawkner


Elizabeth Fawkner

b. 7 Feb 1795 in East London, England

Emigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1803 (age 8) when her father (John Fawkner) was indicted in

London for melting down stolen jewellery and transported for Life. Elizabeth, her brother (John Pascoe Fawkner) and mother (Hannah Pascoe) accompanied the voyage as free settlers on board the 'Calcutta'.

m. 1809 (age 14) to Tom Green (age 24) former convict, who had been transported on the same ship as Elizabeth and her parents. He died leaving her a 16-year old widow with two children (one of whom died shortly after)

m. 1816 (age 21) to Richard Lucas (age 21)

d. 23 Apr 1851 (age 56) in Hobart. Her brother ultimately became renown as the eminent politician and founder of Melbourne, John Pascoe Fawkner. He bequeathed part of his substantial estate to her children when he died in 1869.

 

John Pascoe Fawkner

Brother of Elizabeth Fawkner, uncle of Amelia Sophia Lucas. He bequeathed part of his substantial estate to her children when he died in 1869. He was only 5 foot 2 inches tall. b. 20 Oct 1792, in East London, England

Emigrated to Hobart, Tasmania in 1803 (age 12) when her father (John Fawkner) was indicted in London for melting down stolen jewellery and transported for Life. His mother (Hannah Pascoe) and sister (Elizabeth Fawkner) accompanied the voyage as free settlers on board the 'Calcutta'.

1814 convicted of aiding convicts to escape. Sent to Newcastle for three years.

m. 5 Dec 1822 (age 30) to Eliza Cobb. The Ceremony was said to have been performed in a Blacksmith's Shop with the anvil used to support the bible.

 

Many convict ships brought with them the arrival of women in the Colonies and was cause for great excitement.  Men rushed to the ships to choose a 'wife'.   According to John’s memoirs one such ship arrived in Hobart on the 11th October 1818. Johnny was amongst the men waiting for the vessel to disembark its female cargo and he chose the handsomest girl on board. She was willingly accompanying him when they came upon another fellow who laughed at Johnny’s intentions, knocked the little man aside (he was only 5 foot 2”), walking off with the woman.  Johnny strutted back to the ship and chose the homeliest looking girl onboard said to have had a pock marked face and a caste eye, Eliza Cobb.  

She had been sentenced to 7 years transportation for kidnapping  a four-month-old baby boy.  At her trial it was stated that on apprehension she had told the constable that the child was her own.  It is considered that Eliza in fact did have an infant child at that time and it had died.  In her grief she had sought another to take its place. 

 

Founded the 'Launceston Advertiser'.  Obtained a license and built the 'Cornwall Hotel'.

1835 Purchased topsail schooner, Enterprize, which arrived in Port Philip 26 Aug 1835 – which was to be the future Melbourne. More info at www.enterprize.org.au

d. 4 Sep 1869, buried at Carlton, Melbourne

image023
John Pascoe Fawkner and the ship Enterprize

 

Hannah Pascoe

b. 1774 in Cornwall, England

m. 13 Jan 1792 to John Fawkner in Cripplegate, London

Children John Pascoe Fawkner and Elizabeth Fawkner

In 1801 her husband was convicted for melting down gold and silver from stolen jewellery. He was to be transported to Australia as a convict.

1803 Hannah was intent on keeping her family together and gained permission to travel on the same ship with her two children, John Pascoe Fawkner and Elizabeth Fawkner, as a 'free settler' together with several others who had also arranged passage on the 'Calcutta' [2nd voyage to the Colony]. Hannah was said [memoirs] to have been displeased with her allocated sleeping quarters and 'paid the boatswain Wyatt, 20 guineas for his cabin in the forecastle'. 

Upon arriving at Sullivan Cove Hannah ‘was again not happy with her allocated accommodation especially in sharing a small tent with two other families and John built a rough hut.' 1806 Hannah undertook a three-year return trip to England, to claim her father’s inheritance. d. 7 Mar 1825 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

 

 

No comments

Travel

Bridge over the River Kwai

 

 

In 1957-58 the film ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai‘ was ground breaking.  It was remarkable for being mainly shot on location (in Ceylon not Thailand) rather than in a studio and for involving the construction and demolition of a real, fully functioning rail bridge.   It's still regarded by many as one of the finest movies ever made. 

One of the things a tourist to Bangkok is encouraged to do is to take a day trip to the actual bridge.

Read more: Bridge over the River Kwai

Fiction, Recollections & News

The First Man on the Moon

 

 

 

 

At 12.56 pm on 21 July 1969 Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) Neil Armstrong became the first man to step down onto the Moon.  I was at work that day but it was lunchtime.  Workplaces did not generally run to television sets and I initially saw it in 'real time' in a shop window in the city.  

Later that evening I would watch a full replay at my parents' home.  They had a 'big' 26" TV - black and white of course.  I had a new job in Sydney having just abandoned Canberra to get married later that year.  My future in-laws, being of a more academic bent, did not have TV that was still regarded by many as mindless.

Given the early failures, and a few deaths, the decision to televise the event in 'real time' to the international public was taking a risk.  But the whole space program was controversial in the US and sceptics needed to be persuaded.

Read more: The First Man on the Moon

Opinions and Philosophy

The Chimera of Clean Coal

The Chimera - also known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) or Carbon Sequestration

 

 


Carbon Sequestration Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Whenever the prospect of increased carbon consumption is debated someone is sure to hold out the imminent availability of Clean Coal Technology; always just a few years away. 

I have discussed this at length in the article Carbon Sequestration (Carbon Capture and Storage) on this website. 

In that detailed analysis I dismissed CCS as a realistic solution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions for the following reasons:

Read more: The Chimera of Clean Coal

Terms of Use

Terms of Use                                                                    Copyright