Richard CHEERS (Part 1)

Story

Richard CHEERS (aka CHEAR) was born in Abingdon, Berkshire, England 12 Aug 1759, the sixth of eight children. He & his elder brother John had clashed with authorities on a violent suspicion of having, on 22 October 1787, lead away from Hampstead Norris in Berkshire, to Walton-upon-Thames in Surrey, two horses, which apparently had been passed on to them to deliver to the market sale near London, as part of their normal duties. They subsequently were convicted of Horse Stealing in 1788 at Surrey Assizes & sentenced to death. The sentence for Richard was commuted on 18th April 1788, and he was moved to a Hulk on the 24th of that month. It is assumed his elder brother was hanged. Being well trained in husbandry and the land, Richard qualified and was selected, as one of 25 special ‘transportees’ to accompany Lieutenant Edward Riou, Commander of H.M.S. Guardian, to relieve the serious agricultural famine which beset Governor Arthur Phillip, R.N., soon after the establishment of the New Colony. Richard was separated from his first wife, Mary Pratt and their daughter Ann from the time of his committal on 7 December 1787 to the date of the ‘Guardian’s’ departure from Spithead on 12 September 1789, a period of 21 months (Ann would have been almost 4 years).

After departure from Cape Town the extra livestock onboard depleted the ships water supplies quickly & in an attempt to replenish the water, Lieut Riou decided to go south in search of icebergs. The ‘Guardian’ was almost wrecked when it accidentally hit an iceberg in fog in the southern Indian Ocean on Christmas Eve 1789, but managed to get back to port many weeks later with Lieut Riou, a small crew and most convicts. The remainder of the crew and passengers had abandoned ship after the accident & took to the boats. Most were lost except for one small boatload picked up by a passing ship. ‘Guardian\’ was finally wrecked in a fierce gale on 12 April 1790 & beached at Cape Town. Twenty (of 25) convicts survived. Twelve of them were put on board the ‘Neptune’ & eight (including Richard) sailed on the ‘Surprize’, departing Table Bay on 29 April 1790 to continue their journey to NSW as the 2nd Fleet.

When these ships arrived & the prisoners disembarked. Rev. Richard Johnson, the settlement chaplain wrote, “I beheld a sight truly shocking to the feelings of humanity.” Of the 1039 prisoners embarked, 273 had died on the voyage, 486 were landed sick (of which 124 died in the hospital in Sydney). In a later letter Captain Hill, a marine had written, “The slave trade is merciful compared with what I have seen on this fleet, in that it is in the interest of the masters to preserve the health and lives of their captives.”

On arrival (28 June, 1790) Richard was given his freedom (a Warrant of Emancipation) ‘for his fortitude & fidelity to Captain Edward Riou R.N. in helping the few other physically capable & loyal members of the crew to pump and bail, in two-hourly relays, day and night, under extremely difficult weather conditions’. Richard & thirteen other transportee-husbandmen’ were given conditional pardons by Lieut. Riou and confirmation followed from the authorities in England to Governor Arthur Phillip. ‘The Warrant of Emancipation was granted to Richard Cheer, William Careless, John Chapman Morris & James Weaver on condition they did not return to England within the period of their respective sentences.’ In the colony Cheers seems to have worked as a game hunter. On 15 August 1792 he was settled on 30 acre grant at Kissing Point [fronting the north shore of Parramatta River on a site bounded roughly by modern Belmore & Church Streets, at Ryde near Ryde Bridge – known as Cheers Farm at Eastern Farms, & as further acknowledgement of his character was granted two town leases, where he established the first butchering business in the New Colony, running his animals on the area bounded by George, Pitt, Hunter & Bridge Streets & watering them from the Tank Stream. His shop was situated on the corner of George & Hunter Streets. His slaughterhouse was situated at the tip of Dawes Point, where the south pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge now stands. His other property was at the corner of George Street north & Middlesex Lane. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie decreed, in 1810, that the first turnpike road was to be built from Sydney to Windsor, via Parramatta, the proclamation stated that it was to start from ‘Cheers Corner’ in George Street, which was previously known as High Street.

On the day Captain Macquarie took office – 1 January 1810, he officially signed various Crown Grants of land. These included Cheers Farm, the first area of land granted within the Municipality of Manly.The document read: (see PART 2)

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