William HUNT
| Town/City | Mount Waverley |
|---|---|
| First name | William |
| Last name | HUNT |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | c. 1805 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1837 |
| Submitted by | Anne REID |
Story
Little is known of William HUNT’s life before Australia. Although his second son Vere was baptised in a Liverpool ENG Catholic church in 1836, and William and his wife Eliza Margaret HUNT nee Daley were listed on arrival in Sydney as being from England, they were probably Liverpool Irish who married in Ireland c.1833. Inconclusive Irish records and family lore from 1865 indicate that William was most likely one of many generations of descendents of an officer in the Cromwellian army who settled in Ireland in 1657. The officer Vere HUNT was descended from the English aristocrat John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford who died c. 1539.
Who knows why William decided to emigrate to Australia: the Irish Potato Famine hadn’t happened yet; perhaps he was one of a large Irish/English labour surplus encouraged to emigrate by the British Government’s attempts to portray New South Wales as the Garden of Eden to remedy the acute shortage of non-convict labour and women; perhaps as a ‘secret’ Catholic in a country where this religion prevented education and progress to government or high office he was attracted by Governor Bourke’s liberal views about religious equality for all in NSW.
William, his wife Eliza HUNT, their two young sons William Augustus HUNT aged 2 and Vere John HUNT aged 1 left Liverpool ENG on 11 January 1837 travelling aboard “John”, a bark of 464 tonnage armed with two guns. The little family sailed as steerage passengers via a week’s stop in Hobart Town, Tasmania, leaving there on 8 June 1837 to finally arrive in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 20 June 1837 as part of the 20-odd passenger complement, 10 of whom embarked “John “‘ in Hobart Town.
The Sydney Monitor newspaper of 21 June 1837 gives a picture of an eventful voyage for the little family:
‘The ‘John’ put back after leaving Liverpool, through stress of weather, and was detained a few days. She also experienced rough weather from the Cape, and a heavy gale off Storm Bay, which lasted 12 days. During the storm she carried away her main and main top gallant yards.’
Among the mixed cargo of the John were listed
’24 pipe staves; 200 boxes of soap; 12 chests liquorice; 140 casks gunpowder; 35 hogsheads stout; 14 cases hats; 22 barrels brandy; 1 case Lucifer matches; a cast iron steam-boat; intended for the Parramatta River’.
It must have been a great voyage for Eliza trying to keep her two little boys occupied, healthy and alive aboard ship for 5 months without them getting loose into that little lot !
What did a free settler with a young family do to feed, clothe and house them in the Sydney that was still a small, somewhat chaotic town in 1837? William and Eliza’s early life in Australia is obscure, however, through the 1840’s several Sydney-born children added to their family. On William’s death certificate in 1873 his occupation is described as bookkeeper. William and Eliza’s children’s baptism records track the family through Sussex Street and Parramatta Street in Sydney to the villages of Chippendale and Redfern. Their male children mostly became NSW public service employees. Eliza lived until 1870 in Sydney. She and William were both buried in a vault in the Petersham NSW Roman Catholic Cemetery, however, their migration was not yet over because their remains were removed from Petersham and interred at Rookwood Cemetery in 1934 when the Petersham Cemetery was removed to make way for the Lewisham Hospital.
Their eldest son, the child immigrant William Augustus HUNT joined HM Customs in colonial Sydney at age 18 years, becoming successively 5th Locker, 4th Locker, 10th Landing Waiter, 9th, 8th and 7th Landing Waiter in Sydney and ultimately [Sub-] Collector of Customs at the NSW Murray River port of Howlong from 1873-1902. His 2 marriages and an unwed liaison produced crops of children in Sydney and in Howlong before his death in 1907.
The youngest son, the child immigrant Vere HUNT lived until 1914, with his occupations being variously stated as articled clerk, government clerk, writing clerk, clerk and clerk (Public Works Department). He and his wife Rebecca HUNT nee Cohen changed address with almost every birth of their 15 young Australians,addresses included Bishopsthorpe. Duke Street Sydney, Petersham, Dowling Street Sydney, Newtown, Kingston, Woolloomooloo, Paddington, Redfern, Burwood, Forest Lodge, Marrackville and Stanmore. Of their 15 children, 8 did not survive their first year.