John Parkes

Story

John Parkes was born in Halesowen, near Dudley, England, in 1768, son of Isaac and Esther Parkes. An ironworker, he was convicted at the Worcester Lent Assizes, 1797, of stealing a Beaver great coat valued at 16/- from shopkeeper John Grimestone and transported to Sydney, Australia. He sailed from Plymouth into the fledgling colony of New South Wales aboard the “Barwell” on 18th May 1798, the first ship to arrive in 12 months. Its cargo of food, clothing and convict-tradesmen was soon and gratefully unloaded. John, thereafter, served his time boat-building under the appellate of “Perks the Nailor”. He continued to work at the dockyards under Thomas Moore, a supervisor at the Government Dockyards even after his sentence expired and only bothered to apply for his Certificate of Freedom on 20/2/1811.

Margaret SOUTHERN was born in Manchester in 1783. In 1803 she was apprehended for stealing a linen shift worth 1d., a shift worth 1d. and a linen apron worth 1d. which were the goods of Jane Eastwood. She was sentenced at the Lancaster Quarter Sessions to seven years transportation to Australia. She arrived in Sydney Cove on the “Experiment I” on 2nd January, 1804 after an eventful voyage. The ship, having run aground in a gale near the Bay of Biscay, had to return to Cowes for repairs. On arrival in Sydney, she was sent to work as a servant for a family who lived in the Rocks area. During this time she met John Parkes, a convict working on the dockyards. The first of their 12 children was born 1807, but none were baptised until 1812.

By 1814, John was leasing a farm on part of Thomas Moore’s property at Petersham and two years later petitioned Governor Lachlan Macquarie for a fifty acre land grant and was promised approval. When Sir Thomas Brisbane became the new Governor, still nothing had been done but, in 1831, fifteen years after the initial application, Governor Ralph Darling officially issued the grant. The Parkes family had in fact moved onto the land in 1829. The actual plot fronted William Street and stretched from Earlwood Avenue to Woolcott Street including Earlwood Park.

“The land straddled the mountain ridge high above the South Bank of the Cook’s River. From here the panoramic views were magnificent and the ridge and nearby valleys were covered in a dense forest of towering virgin timber of extremely good quality. A small creek of crystal clear water ran across one corner of the land and there was an abundance of wildflowers. There were ironbarks, blue, blood and red gums, turpentine, and big casuarina trees”. By 1841, Parkes’ Camp had become Parkestown.

The family operated as timber-getters, providing timber for housing, ship building, fences, shingles and firewood.

As the children grew and married most of them settled on plots of John’s grant, establishing a small community. The boys were all sawyers like their father but one, young Bill, was an athlete. He established himself as a sucessful runner and later came under the tutillage of the negro boxing champion, Bill Perry. William “Fighting Bill Sparkes”, Isaac “Cook’s River Boomer” and Tom “Sprig of

Myrtle” all became champion bare-knuckle fighters, but William quickly rose to world class. He was the first Australian-born sportsman to represent Australia overseas. Being undefeated in Australia, he went to New Zealand where he beat Dave Gibson and was crowned Australian Champion after defeating Bill Davis. In 1846 he went to England to challenge Nat Latham. The fight lasted 62 rounds and only ended when in a “close” they both fell and William suffered a broken arm.

The match was:

“A wonderfully hard battle… the gamest and best efforts that stands on record, in connection with, what may be termed modern fistic battles.” – The Evening News

“A gamer or more fearless boxer never entered the ring” – The Old Historian

Isaac married Sara Dent, daughter of James Dent, convict, and Margaret Hood, free. Their daughter, Frances Caroline married William Cary, grandson of Judge Henry Cary

(Information from Ron Hunt)

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