Broadening Horizons to Lady Bay |
In the spring of 1848, only four months before James Chard reached Belfast, Thomas Osborne's Portland Gazette reported that:— |
“a plan for the settlement of the new harbour 15 miles east of Belfast has been registered with the post master.” |
This new deep water harbour — an ambition and ‘pet project’ of Governor Charles La Trobe, which attracted attention both locally and in Melbourne, was named Lady Bay [1]. |
The local indigenous group, the Kuurn Kopan Noot aboriginals, commonly referred to the area as Wornabull — a term that roughly translates [2] to ‘water between two rivers’, ‘two swamps’, or ‘ample water’. By 1848, the anglicised version of the name, Warrnambool, had become widely used for the new settlement. |
Richard Osburne (not to be confused with the Portland Gazette editor Thomas Osborne) was a correspondent [3] for the Melbourne Argus from the first days of Warrnambool's settlement in 1848. One of his first articles (below) provides a valuable insight into the prevailing conditions of the area and, in particular, the number of people and their occupations. |
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The settlement proceeded slowly – the principal reason being the lack of government funding for a road between Belfast and Lady Bay. Two years later, in March 1850, he revealed to the Argus readers that he had sighted [4] an unofficial census showing that:— |
“there were 232 persons in the community — including 5 fishermen at the hummocks (the sand hills protecting the Hopkins river mouth) and 4 men at the jetty — living in very trying conditions and that the number had increased by a mere ninety seven by year's end.” |
Although this figure didn't include the surrounding squatters and their labourers, this comparison would suggest that Governor La Trobe’s grand plan [5] for Lady Bay to become a thriving deep water trading port was fanciful. |
As a carter and constant wayfarer, James' frustrations reflected the dreadful conditions experienced by all the colonists. Concerning the weather conditions that Richard Osburne mentioned in his newspaper report (above), James remembers:— |
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Angered by Governor La Trobe's apparent inaction, an article penned by Belfast's resident newspaper correspondent was published in the Melbourne Argus newspaper [2] stating that:— |
“roads – if you could call them roads – had become wretchedly bad. Essentially they were merely rough tracks which in winter could only be traversed by bullock-dray.” |
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| The major road network (mail routes) in the colonial county of Villiers. Sketch by F.F. Bailiere dated around 1865 for the Victorian Post Office, courtesy of the National Library of Australia. |
The initial land passage cut out by bullock drays between Belfast and the Lady Bay settlement traversed the low lying coastal sand hills (known locally as the hummocks). It was a most circuitous route through William Rutledge grazing land and it came to an abrupt halt upon reaching the Merri River at Dennington. Here, as James Chard states in his reminisces that fording the river was a tiresome and sometimes quite hazardous exercise. The travel situation got a bit better for James and his fellow wayfarers once a punt started running at the Dennington bottleneck. In the area, an inn called Lindsay’s place operated The Queen’s Ferry to serve the needs of travellers. Of this latest convenience The Belfast Gazette newspaper editor made his thoughts well known to his Melbourne Argus readers on the 8th May, 1849. |
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Journeymen travelling from Belfast northwards to Mortlake and Ballarat, or south-eastwards to Warrnambool and beyond, did have an alternative route. This route, which also crossed Rutledge land, was longer and passed over higher terrain through Tower Hill (Koroit), but it did have its advantages during the wet winter months. Similar to the coastal track, it ended at the Wood Ford on the Merri River. Because this part of the river was shallow and had gentler banks, it became a favored resting place for travellers and carters. Although Rutledge's Farnham Estate was officially bounded by the Merri River to the west, he “unofficially” laid claim to significant tracts of territory on the east bank as well, much to the chagrin of Governor La Trobe. Quickly the area developed and became a settlement named Woodford. |
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| Left: William Rutledge (1806 — 1876). Right: Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801 — 1875). Pictures courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. |
These two protagonists locked horns on many occasions during the district's development. William Rutledge, nicknamed "Terrible Billy" for his fiery temper [6] and involvement in many disputes, frequently clashed [7] with authorities. His most notable quarrel occurred in January 1849 at a public meeting [8] in Belfast, where he criticized Governor La Trobe for favouring Warrnambool over Belfast as a mercantile port and for neglecting infrastructure projects like bridges over the Moyne and Merri Rivers. Rutledge had personal interests in the Moyne River area, owning warehouses on both banks and funding a bridge there. At Woodford, despite disputes over riverbank claims with fellow squatters and authorities, he secured control by building an inn [9] and facilitating a toll bridge, thus monopolizing access to Warrnambool. However, flooding in 1848 destroyed his Woodford bridge, and he failed to rally support for its reconstruction. |
An article written by Richard Osburne and published in the Warrnambool Examiner at the time reported that:— |
“the attempt of Mr Rutledge to levy a toll, so disgusted the parties really interested in the re-construction of the bridge, that notwithstanding his utmost exertion he could not procure a single subscription for the purpose.” |
Government indifference persisted despite Rutledge's complaints, and a new bridge was built in 1851, more likely due to goldfield traffic demands than any of Terrible Billy's protestations. His confrontations with Governor La Trobe and officials ultimately left him isolated and without support. |
James Chard's carting contract with Rutledge & Co spanned the period of these bridge disputes and he certainly became a frequent user of the new Woodford crossing. The next period of his life however saw him more centered around Warrnambool and his farming ambitions. |
References
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