Elizabeth Throsby
Elizabeth Throsby | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Throsby byRichard Read,1814 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Isabella Broughton 4 February 1807 |
| Died | 14 January 1891(aged 83) |
| Resting place | Bong Bongcemetery |
Elizabeth Isabella Throsby(néeBroughton;4 February 1807 – 14 January 1891) was an Australian survivor of the 1809Boydmassacre.
Born onNorfolk Island,Throsby was two years old when she and her mother leftSydneyon theBoyd,bound for England via New Zealand. During the voyage, a dispute broke out between the ship's English captain and aMāoripassenger, the son of a Māori chief who was returning to his home atWhangaroa Harbour.Once there, his tribe learned of the captain's ill-treatment of him, and sought revenge by murdering and cannibalising most of the 70 passengers and crew, including Throsby's mother. Throsby and three other survivors were rescued a few weeks later by merchant and explorerAlexander Berry,who took them to South America. Throsby remained there for almost a year until a whaler took her to Sydney to be reunited with her father.
She went on to marry in her late teenage years and raise a large family atThrosby Parksouth of Sydney, where she remained for the rest of her life.
Birth and family
[edit]Elizabeth Broughton was born on 4 February 1807 onNorfolk Island—then a satellite penal station ofNew South Walesand now anexternal territoryof Australia—as the youngest of five children to EnglishmanWilliam Broughtonand hiscommon-lawwife,London-bornconvictAnn Glossop, of Welsh descent.[1][2]Born inChatham,Kentin 1768, William travelled to New South Wales in 1787 aboard theFirst Fleetconvict transportCharlotte,as a free servant ofJohn White,the colony's first Surgeon-General.[3]Upon arrival inBotany Bay,Sydneyon 20 January 1788, Broughton and White commissioned a convict on the ship,Thomas Barrett,to strike each of thema medallionto commemorate the voyage. Broughton supplied Barrett with the metal and engraving tools, as well as the ship's coordinates for recording.[3]Both medallions are regarded as the first works ofAustralian colonial art.[4]
In 1792, while working as a store-keeper inParramatta,Broughton met Glossop, who had been transported to the colony that year aboard thePitt.[5]They moved to Norfolk Island in 1800 when he became its acting deputy-commissary. In the wake of theRum Rebellionof 1808, they returned to Sydney, where Broughton replacedBlighloyalistJohn Palmeras commissary of New South Wales.[6]
Boydmassacre and rescue
[edit]TheBoyd,a convict transport captained by John Thompson, arrived in Sydney from Ireland in August 1809, and two months later was chartered by ex-convictSimeon Lordto take seal skins to England. On the way, theBoydwas to call at New Zealand to complete the cargo withkauri spars,[7]and also drop off several youngMāoriatWhangaroa Harbour,among them Te Ara, the son of aNgāti Uruchief.[8]Among the passengers bound for England were theemancipatedGlossop and two-year-old Elizabeth, possibly to visit her siblings who had been sent there for their education.[9][1]During the voyage, Thompson, fresh from England and apparently ignorant of Māori customs, treated Te Ara like a common crew member and demanded that he work his passage as a seaman. When Te Ara failed to comply either due to illness or out of a belief that, as arangatira,such work was beneath him, he was deprived of food and flogged—common punishments meted out to British sailors at the time. This slighted his "mana"(dignity), which in Māori culture is met with the expected response of"utu"(revenge).[10]
TheBoydreached Whangaroa in December and Te Ara's tribe soon learned of his punishment. This only deepened their desire for "utu", for they had grown suspicious of Europeans since another ship's visit in 1808 resulted in a deadly outbreak of disease among Māori, which they believed to be a curse.[11]Oblivious to local feelings, Thompson and several crew members disembarked and went in search of kauri up the harbour, where they were murdered and cannibalised by local Māori.[11]Then, as night fell, Māori assaulted theBoyd,murdering and later cannibalising most of the 70 remaining passengers and crew, including Glossop. Elizabeth was one of only four passengers to survive the massacre.[11]The next day, theBoydburnt to the water after its gunpowder magazine was accidentally ignited, causing a massive explosion that killed a number of Māori who were pillaging the ship, including Te Ara's father.[11]The ensuing chaos triggered a civil war in Whangaroa.[12]
Three weeks after the massacre, merchant and explorerAlexander Berrycalled in at theBay of Islandson his ship theCity of Edinburgh,also in quest of spars.[13]Berry happened to have met Elizabeth as a baby and befriended her father in 1808 when he moved the family from Norfolk Island to Sydney on theCity of Edinburgh.[1]After learning of the massacre, Berry successfully procured the release of the survivors by capturing and ransoming two Māori chiefs.[12]Elizabeth, the last survivor to be rescued, was in a Māori chief's (possiblyTe Pahi's[14]) possession and found to be "greatly emaciated", dressed only in a linen shirt and with white feathers ornamenting her hair "in the fashion of New Zealand".[15]Although the Māori promised Elizabeth's safe delivery to Berry, they seemed reluctant to give her up, and did not bring the two-year-old to him until after a "considerable delay".[15]When Elizabeth was carried by Berry to the ship, she began crying for her "mamma".[15]
TheCity of Edinburghleft for theCape of Good Hope,viaCape Horn,in early January 1810 with Elizabeth and the three other survivors as passengers.[16][13]In February, the ship lost her sails and rudder in a storm, then drifted about the southern ice and nearTierra del Fuegountil she limped into the Chilean port ofValparaísoin May.[17][13]After receiving repairs, the ship reachedLima,Peru in August, where for almost a year Elizabeth lived at the home of a Spanish family while Berry recovered financially from the perilous voyage. The Spaniards grew attached to Elizabeth and made many requests to keep her, but Berry felt duty-bound to return her to Broughton.[13]They set sail forRio de Janeirolate in 1811; by then, Elizabeth only spoke Spanish, and did not speak English again for some time.[13]In Rio de Janeiro, Berry found a South Seas whaler, theAtlanta,on the eve of sailing forPort Jackson.The whaler's captain volunteered to take Elizabeth home, and on 19 March 1812, she was reunited with her father in Sydney.[13]
Richard Read portrait
[edit]
William Broughton hadRichard Readpaint a portrait of Elizabeth as a gift for the family who had cared for her in Lima.[18]Read was an English-born artist who was transported as a convict to New South Wales for 14 years for possessing forged banknotes.[19]Within two months of his arrival in Sydney in October 1813, he was granted aticket of leave,and went on to establish Australia's first drawing school, inPitt Street,in 1814, the year he painted Elizabeth's portrait.[19]It is regarded as one of the earliest such commissions in the colony[20]and is one of the earliest extant portraits of an Australian-born European.[12]
The portrait was rediscovered in England in the early 1950s by art collectorRex Nan Kivell,who found inside the back of the frame a letter from Broughton to Elizabeth's adopted family in Lima, thanking them for "nobly distinguishing themselves by their humanity in their protection and benevolent treatment of the child".[20]Kivell gifted both Read's painting and Broughton's letter to theNational Library of Australia.[20]
Later life
[edit]Back in Australia, Elizabeth grew up on Lachlan Vale inAppin,south of Sydney, Broughton having received the first land grant in the area in 1811.[21]Also during Elizabeth's absence, and after the death of Glossop, Broughton married and had children with widow Elizabeth Charlotte.[22]In 1814, the murder of aGandangaraboy by a soldier on Lachlan Vale triggered a series of reprisals that culminated ina massacreof at least 14Aboriginal Australianson and around Broughton's land.[23]Broughton subsequently drew the ire of colonists who sought peaceful race relations in the area, includingCharles Throsby,a vocal champion of Aboriginal people since meeting them while exploring theSouthern Tablelands.[24]The Broughtons and Throsbys reconciled in 1824 when Elizabeth, aged 17, married Charles Throsby's nephew, also named Charles Throsby.[25]Elizabeth moved toMoss Valeto live with her husband atThrosby Park,granted to Charles Throsby after his retirement as surgeon of theCoal River penal colony.[24]Throsby Jr. took over the management of the estate after the death of his uncle in 1828.[24]
The Throsbys became successful farmers and bore a large family of seventeen children.[24]In 1836, they completed the original Throsby Park homestead, now listed on theNew South Wales State Heritage Register.[9]In 1839, Alexander Berry visited Throsby Park to see Elizabeth and her children. He wrote, "I may be almost considered as the constructive grandfather of the little imps".[24]Berry also witnessed Elizabeth answering the "cruel but interesting" question if she remembered the death of her mother:[15]
Her counternance,... assumed the appearance of the deepest melancholy; and, without uttering a word, she used to draw her hand across her throat. On further questions, she would say, with every appearance of the most painful feeling, that [the Māori] afterwards cut her up, and cooked and ate her like victuals.
The Throsbys managed to weather the depression of the 1840s, and in 1845, Throsby Jr. funded the construction ofChrist ChurchinBong Bong,near Moss Vale.[9]They also suffered a number of personal tragedies during this period with three children dying in quick succession.[24]Charles Throsby Jr. died in 1854, making Elizabeth a widow at the age of 47.[24]Her two eldest sons died in 1859 and 1860, and by 1866, only twelve of her children were still alive.[24]Around this time she decided to lease Throsby Park to, among others, theEarl of Belmore,Governor of New South Wales, whose residence in the area saw it flourish as a popular holiday spot.[24]
Being very pious, Elizabeth cherished and regularly attended the church built at the behest of her late husband, and in 1884 she paid for renovations of its interior.[9]After a few months of ill-health, Elizabeth died at Throsby Park on 14 January 1891, aged 83, and was buried in the cemetery next to the church.[26]Her funeral service had fifty vehicles in the cortege and was conducted by three clergymen with mourners from throughout New South Wales in attendance.[9]One obituary remembered her as "a very active woman and until a very recent date always enjoyed her daily drives in and around Moss Vale".[26]She is the only survivor of theBoydmassacre known to have living descendants.[27]
References
[edit]- ^abcDawson, Bee (2001).Lady Travellers: The Tourists of Early New Zealand.Penguin Books NZ.ISBN9780141004150,pp. 20–21, 33.
- ^Glossp, Ann (1766–1809),People Australia, National Centre of Biography,Australian National University.Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- ^abBarlass, Tim (17 November 2013)."Medal struck by First Fleet surgeon expected to fetch $500,000",The Sydney Morning Herald.Retrieved 8 August 2020/
- ^"What is the Charlotte medal and why is it of such immense significance to Australia?"(5 December 2013), Perth Mint. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
- ^Parsons, Vivienne (1966)."Broughton, William (1768–1821)",Australian Dictionary of Biography,Australian National University.Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^Beckett, Gordon (2012).Guiding the Colonial Economy: Two Studies on the Role of Funding and Servicing the Colonial Finances of NSW.Trafford Publishing.ISBN9781466927711,p. 273.
- ^Hainsworth, D. R. (1967).Lord, Simeon (1771–1840),Australian Dictionary of Biography.Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^Jose, Arthur William (1928).Builders and Pioneers of Australia.J.M. Dent & Sons Limited, p. 170.
- ^abcde"Christ Church, Churchyard & Cemetery".New South Wales State Heritage Register.Department of Planning & Environment.H01383.Retrieved2 June2018.
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC-BY 4.0licence.
- ^Petrie, Hazel (2015).Outcasts of the Gods? The Struggle over Slavery in Maori New Zealand.Auckland University Press,ISBN9781775587859.
- ^abcd"A frontier of chaos? The Boyd Incident",nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^abcWilliams, Nat (12 November 2015)."Elizabeth Isabella Broughton (1807–1891)"Archived12 April 2020 at theWayback Machine,National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^abcdefBertie, C. H. (1 October 1931). "Pioneer Families of Australia. No. 21. The Throsbys",The Home.Vol. 12 (10), p. 32, 62.
- ^Edmonson, Richard (25 November 2009),"Descendants remember Boyd incident",stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- ^abcdCraik, George Lillie (1830).The New Zealanders.C. Knight,Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.p. 73.
- ^Jervis, James (1941). "Alexander Berry, the Laird of Shoalhaven",Journal and Proceedings.Royal Australian Historical Society.27(1), p. 23.
- ^Anderson, Janet (1993)."Guide to the Papers of Berry, Woolstonecraft and Hay Families",Mitchell Library,State Library of New South Wales.Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^Holden, Robert (2000). "First Children: Pre-colonial—and Colonial to c. 1849". In Cliff, Paul (ed.).The Endless Playground: Celebrating Australian Childhood.National Library of Australia. pp. 1–10.ISBN9780642107244.
- ^abPicturing Australia(2009).National Library of Australia.ISBN9780642276667,p. 14.
- ^abc"The Girl Who Survived"Archived24 July 2020 at theWayback Machine(18 May 2018), National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^Whitaker, Anne-Marrie (2005).Appin: The Story of a Macquarie Town.Kingsclear Books Pty Ltd.ISBN9780908272846,pp. 5–7.
- ^Parsons, Vivienne (1966)."Broughton, William (1768–1821)".Australian Dictionary of Biography.Australian National University.Retrieved23 July2020.
- ^Turbet, Peter (2011).The First Frontier: The Occupation of the Sydney Region, 1788 and 1816.Rosenberg Publishing,ISBN9781922013002.pp. 240–242.
- ^abcdefghiCrockett, Gary."Throsby Park: A Comfortable Residence,Sydney Living Museums.Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^Macklin, Robert (2016).Hamilton Hume: Our Greatest Explorer.Hachette UK,ISBN9780733634062.
- ^ab"Death of Mrs. Throsby".Bowral Free Press and Berrima District Intelligencer(New South Wales). 17 January 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^Swords, Meg (1978).Alexander Berry and Elizabeth Wollstonecraft.North Shore Historical Society.ISBN9780855871284,p. 9.
