Richard Willis senior, was an early settler to Van
Diemen’s Land. He hailed from Kirkoswald, Cumberland, England. His origins were
surprisingly humble if it is true that he was originally a shoemaker by trade. He
married Anne Harper, the daughter of a West Indian colonist in 1800 and the
couple migrated to the colony in 1823 with their eleven children. Based on a
favourable recommendation from the colonial office, considerable assets and independent
income, the well-connected Willis senior was awarded the maximum grant of 2000
acres with an additional reserve of another 1000. He further impressed on his
arrival with a hundred head of pure merino stock. Willis senior named his
property ‘Wanstead’. (1) During
a visit to the island in 1839, Merchant J. J. Macintyre of Sydney described the
Willis homestead as a ‘well finished’ three story mansion adorned with a garden
and a large orchard. (2)
Despite his material success in the colony, from the
outset Richard Willis senior appears to have proved himself to be quarrelsome. On 20 January 1826, Willis senior was found
guilty on two counts out of three charges of libel against businessman
Alexander Charlton. (3) Perhaps, at least at that point, his behaviour should be considered within the
context of an embryonic, yet hostile, colonial society. Indeed, one of the
witnesses called was fellow settler Andrew Barclay, whose own conduct was
questioned by the military officers comprising the jury. (4) In
contrast to Willis, Barclay was generally regarded as being a modest,
unpretentious man who was well remembered in his community long after his death.
But clearly, even Barclay could not completely escape the mire of competing
interests, expanding egos and high emotions. (5)
Overtime, Willis senior gained a reputation not just
for being difficult but for also being unjust and even cruel. One example
occurred when he failed to recuse himself from the trial of an absconded
convict David Turner in April 1834. Turner had been assigned as a servant to
his son, Richard Willis junior. (6) Turner had absconded in early March – possibly significantly at the tail end of
peak harvest on the island. (7) He
was subsequently apprehended in early April. (8) Along with another magistrate, Willis senior sentenced Turner to three years
hard labour at Port Arthur despite Turner’s overall favourable record as a
prisoner during the preceding four years. The decision caused an outcry to the
extent that representations were made to Governor Arthur, who in turn mitigated
what was generally regarded as being ‘…such a dreadful and cruel sentence, for
such a trifling offence…’. (9) This
decision was made despite the fact that Arthur is on official record in the
period as stating that any mitigation of a sentence to secondary transportation
‘should be exercised with the greatest discretion.’ (10)
His own family were also victims of Richard Willis
senior’s capricious behaviour. By 1837 Willis senior had driven at least three
of his sons out of his household and into the next colony. That April, James
Lewis Willis along with two brothers transported 650 sheep to Port Phillip. They
established a homestead of their own at the junction of the Yarra and Plenty Rivers.
Over the five-month period James maintained his diary, he made numerous
references to Willis senior, at one point describing him as an ‘…unreasonable
and unfeeling father…’. James laments their reduced circumstances in life and
attributes it directly to his father’s own distracted conduct:
This state of things cannot last long. Some fearful
crisis is at hand. Some impending calamity awaits our family. I dread to
conjecture when my father’s unnatural conduct with have an end – he has driven
out all his sons from his roof and by heaping indignities and unjust reproaches
upon his wife seems either to wish her to follow them, or seek rest in another
world being resolved that in this world she should find none.
Even if this account is exaggerated, it’s likely
strong evidence that Willis senior was at least to some degree financially and
psychologically abusive to his family. Indeed, James claims to be measured in
his appraisal of his father noting that ‘I could say a great deal more. I could
explain the cause of this infatuation prompting in his heart hatred towards his
family.’ But he does not. His father’s conduct is lastly and concisely
described as being ‘unkind and inconsistent’ when a previous promise to lend his
brother Edward assistance was not realised. (11)
Although Governor Arthur had made Willis senior a
member of the Executive Council and he had gained the favour of his successor Governor
Franklin, he was still at war on his departure from the colony; planning to
appeal a lost case over a land dispute directly to the colonial office, he and
his wife sailed for England in February 1839. Perhaps because Willis senior had
burned most of his social bridges, the couple never returned. (12)
- - Dr.
Colin Woollcott Mallett, 19 January 2024.
(1) P.
R. Eldershaw, ‘Willis, Richard (1777-1855)’, Australian Dictionary of
Biography online, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/willis-richard-2798,
accessed 3 July 2023.
(2) Mitchell
Library: James J. Macintyre - Notes and diary 1839-1840, MLMSS 1721, p 12.
(3) Tasmanian
Archives: Supreme Court (Register’s Office); Minutes of Proceedings, Various
Centres, including Norfolk Island, SC32-1-1 1826, entry 131, https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-1$init=SC32-1-1P137JPG,
accessed 3 July 2023.
(4) ‘Launceston
News’, Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 27 January 1826, p3,
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2447063,
accessed 3 July 2023.
(5) Karl R. von Stieglitz, A History of Evandale, Birchalls, Launceston,
1967, pp 17, 20.
(6) ‘Our Correspondent at Norfolk Plains’, The Colonist and Van Diemen’s Land
Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser, 29 April 1834, p 3, Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201159321,
accessed 3 July 2023.
(7) ‘Absconded’,
Hobart Town Courier, 7 March 1834, p 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4186622,
accessed 3 July 2023.
(8) ‘Apprehended’,
Hobart Town Courier, 11 April 1834, p 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4185580,
accessed on 3 July 2023.
(9) ‘Our
Correspondent at Norfolk Plains’. David Turner’s conduct record (police number
522) was not spotless as he had previously served one week in irons for
insolence and at another time was reprimanded for uttering a falsehood.
Additionally, Turner was suspected of being ‘connected with runaways’
during his flight. Refer to Tasmanian Archives: Convict Department; Assignment
system – male convicts, CON
31-1-43 1803-1843, https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-43$init=CON31-1-43P19, accessed 7 June 2023. At the very
least the incident indicates there was a growing perception that Willis senior
abused the application of his authority as a magistrate although the sentence
was passed in conjunction with another magistrate: William Gray. This is likely
the William Gray first appointed as magistrate in July 1828. Refer to: Hobart
Town Courier, 12 July 1828, p 1, Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4221781, accessed 3 July 2023. While Willis
senior is also listed, he was first appointed in 1825. Refer to: Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land
Advertiser, 29 April 1825, p 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1090707,
accessed on 3 July 2023.
(10) Tasmanian Archives: Supreme Court
(Register’s Office); Minutes of Proceedings of the Executive Council, EC4/1 as
quoted in Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates the death of a
convict station, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2008, pp 263, 290, 293.
This ‘mitigation’ then strongly suggests that at least in this instance there were
genuine grounds for a genuine miscarriage of justice having occurred.
(11) James L. Willis, ‘A Pioneer
Squatter’s Life’, in Michael Cannon and Ian Macfarlane (eds), Historical
Records of Victoria, Foundation Series, Volume Six, The Crown, the Land and the
Squatter 1835-1840, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1991, pp 182-200.
The young Willis’ diary which has been retained by his family to the present
day, remained unpublished until this volume. James L. Willis comes across as a
rather endearing character as much concerned with the wellbeing of his mother
and siblings as himself.
(12) Eldershaw, Biography.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Archival material
Mitchell Library: James J. Macintyre - Notes and diary 1839-1840, MLMSS 1721.
Tasmanian Archives: Convict Department; Assignment System – male convicts 1803-1843, CON31-1-43.
Tasmanian Archives: Supreme Court (Register’s Office); Minutes of Proceedings, Various Centres, including Norfolk Island, SC32-1-1.
Newspapers
Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser
The Colonist and Van Diemen’s Land Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser
Hobart Town Courier
Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser
Secondary Sources
Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, Closing Hell’s Gates the death of a convict station, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2008.
Stieglitz, Karl R., A History of Evandale, Birchalls, Launceston, 1967.
Willis, James L., ‘A Pioneer Squatter’s Life’, in Historical Records of Victoria, Foundation Series, Volume Six, The Crown, the Land and the Squatter 1835-1840, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1991, pp 182-200.
Online Sources
‘Eldershaw, P. R., Willis, Richard (1777-1855)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography online, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/willis-richard-2798, accessed on 03 July 2023.
