John Gillies (C1800-c1875), was a shipwright, master mariner, timber merchant and harbourmaster in both Australia and New Zealand. He was a Catholic.[1]

He is first recorded on the Manning River, xx kilometres north of Sydney, New South Wales, in the mid-1830s operating as a shipwright, working on repairs and alterations to vessels, and building new ones.

In early 1841, he is seen moving and setting up a shipbuilding yard at Klywooticka, a few kilometres from Kempsey, NSW, over 250 kilometres north of Sydney. His shipyard was on the banks of the McLeay River. He built many vessels, up to 165 tons, at the Klywooticka yard. As well, he employed sawyers and rafters cutting and sawing cedar trees for his own yard and the Sydney market.

Amongst others, he built the brig Tryphena, which the present-day bay of Tryphena, Great Barrier Island, north of Auckland, New Zealand, is named after when it traded there in the mid-1840s.

In late October of 1842, fire devastated his shipyard and accommodation. At the same time, large quantities of cedar timber that he had accumulated some way up the McLeay River could not be rafted down and taken to the Sydney market for sale. This was because of a drought that persisted for over a year, keeping the river levels too low for river transportation. It finally broke in late February of 1843, but by this time he had difficulties brought about by the fire. The difficulties must have persisted because by December of 1843 he was bankrupted, as were thousands of others in the recessionary times.

In late February of 1844, he and his wife departed Sydney for Auckland which they reached a month later.

In September of 1844, he was living at Coromandel Harbour, east of Auckland across the firth of Thames, building vessels and acting as the local harbourmaster.

In February, 1846, he moved to Nagles Cove, Great Barrier Island, where there was a shipbuilding yard and where the biggest sailing ship ever built in New Zealand had been under construction ever since sometime in 1841.

He was evidently tasked by the owners to finish off the barque. At the same time, he built a 30 ton cutter.

The barque Stirlingshire was eventually launched in late 1848 and Gillies returned to Coromandel at the end of January, 1849, where he continued building vessels. His wife, Anne, died in 1858, aged 54.

He is thought to have died in 1875 aged about 75 years of age.

2  Shipbuilding on the Manning River

The very first mention of John Gillies so far found, (November, 2009), is a mention in a Sydney newspaper of July, 1836, where an unsatisfied owner of a vessel who had contracted Gillies to do work on it, complains about his lack of action.  

If John Gillies, Shipwright, of the Manning River, does not complete the work he has contracted to do to the Schooner Nancy the undersigned will employ others to do it, and charge the same to the said John Gillies.

              John F.Barrett[2]

Gillies, a young man in his mid-thirties, had set himself up as a shipwright with a shipyard on the banks of the Manning River where ship-building had got under way only shortly before in the early 1830s, utilising ancient and abundant Red Cedar trees in the adjacent rainforests. At times these trees reached over 35 metres tall and could be more than a thousand years old. Convict labour was readily available. Although there is no evidence of it, he may also have been employing cedar cutters, sawyers, and rafters, as he did a few short years later.

There is record of him building several vessels while at the Manning River shipyard. Although there may well have been others, the first one definitely known is the single-masted sloop ‘Hero’, 36 tons, which was launched on 24^th April, 1837. It was later wrecked by being driven ashore south of Cape Campbell, in New Zealand in November 1848.[3] Gillies was named as the builder, owner and captain when registered in Sydney on 25^th May, 1837.

The next known vessel he built was the 25 ton ‘Fairy’ launched on 10^th July in 1838. It had two masts and was 36.7 feet long, 13.6 feet breadth and was registered in Sydney on 18^th July, 1838. Once again Gillies is given  as the builder, owner and captain. ‘ The schooner 'Fairy' was wrecked on the bar of the McLeay River during May 1839, apparently becoming a total wreck - so far as is known there was no loss of life. … It is not known if he was in command of her when she was wrecked’.[4]

Thirdly, there was launched on 20^th September, 1839 a schooner called the ‘Echo’ of 70 tons and two masts. It was 51.1 feet long, 15.8 feet in breadth and depth of hold of 8.4 feet.

In September 1839 Gillies sails into Sydney on the Echo, [5] and in January 1840 he is back there again, this time advertising it for sale.[6] It was presumably sold, but had a short life, being wrecked around 27^th August 1840 between Cape Raoul and Wedge Bay, Tasmania with the loss of all hands. 

3  Shipbuilding and Cedar cutting on the McLeay River

It is not known exactly what induced Gillies to move away from the Manning River to set up business on the McLeay River, an area inhabited by the Ngamba-ngagu Aborigines, but the first indications of him moving into the area is the following newspaper report in February of 1841:

 Kempsey and the River M’Leay

…..So soon as this important advantage to the M’Leay shall have been secured, there is every reason to hope and believe that a number of wealthy and respectable families will be induced to fix themselves upon the banks of the M’Leay, or upon some of the many other fine rivers in the neighbourhood of Port MacQuarie, upon which, besides hundreds of others, the following gentlemen and their families have recently settled:-

Mr McLeod…Captain J.B. Campbell,…Mr Gillies….[7]

Gillies set up a shipbuilding yard at Klywooticka, later called Frederickton, located up the McLeay River and over 250 miles north of Sydney. This was possibly to take advantage of relatively more secure supplies of the valued red cedar, despite two decades of cedar-cutters working the area.

Frederickton was named after an early entrepreneur in the area, Frederick William Chapman who wrote ‘Early Days on the Macleay 1836-1908’, “I decided to subdivide a small portion of my property into township lots and call it Frederickton….they sold very well and a nice little village had soon formed.” But before the subdivision, Gillies had his shipyard under way. He had a lease of 50 acres on the banks of the river, where present day Lawson Street is. Today, Frederickton forms a northern suburb of Kempsey. ‘Major Henry Oakes, Commissioner for Crown Land noted in his logbook in 1837 [sic- should be 1841] that the settlement was well-conducted and the ‘proprietor was engaged in ship-building’. The name of the settlement was Klywooticka and that it was 2 miles from Yarrabandini Station.’[8] Co-incidentally, Major Henry Oakes had been at the Bay of Islands in New Zealand and had returned to Sydney, with his son, on the brig Stirlingshire on 5^th January, 1837.[9] The Stirlingshire was not only associated with the Abercrombies, it was also the name of the subsequent barque built at Great Barrier Island from 1841-9, and which was the largest sailing vessel ever to be built in New Zealand. John Gillies worked on her from 1846 to 1849, but that’s getting ahead of ourselves.

The first vessel made in the Klywooticka yard known of is the Glenmore built for either one of the Abercrombie brothers (William nor Charles) or Abercrombie & Company. Gillies arrives in Sydney on the Glenmore on 25^th August, 1841, and despite it being built for the Abercrombies it is put up for sale.

The Glenmore is 150/165 tons, and built of cedar.[10]  It is also the first indication of Gillies’ association with the Abercrombie brothers William, Charles, Peter and Robert.

He also built around the same time a brig called the Thomas Lord. The only indication of this is the following newspaper report from August 1842:

The Thomas Lord from Port Phillip brings 16 bales leather, 37 chests, 6 ??, 16 casks molassas, 628 bars iron and 137 bags salt. The brig built by Gillis [sic] at the M’Leay River, arrived on Saturday with a full cargo of cedar.[11]

But prior to this, in 1841, Gillies must have had a brig on the stocks that was to become known as the Tryphena. A shipwright, Robert Menzies, who worked for or with Gillies at that time is recorded in 1886 as saying  “…a vessel which gave the name to Tryphena Bay, Great Barrier, was built by the late Mr Gillies and myself in 1841. We built a brig which was called the Tryphena, after the daughter of one of the owners, and I came over to the bay, now called Tryphena at the Barrier in her in 1842.”[12]  (Menzies continued to have a shipbuilding association with Gillies throughout his life at Coromandel and Great Barrier Island). The Tryphena was originally built for an unknown owner, and that owner evidently couldn’t follow through financially so Gillies ended up auctioning it off on 12^th August, 1842..

  To close a Partnership account Peremptorily.

Mr Thomas Brennand will sell by public auction, on Friday next, the 12th instant, at twelve o’clock precisely an entirely new Brig of about 160 tons register (old and new measure). She has just arrived from the M’Leay River; she was built by Captain John Gillies, and in respect of model, finish, and fastening, she is equal to any vessel yet built in the colony.

Her dimensions are: length, eighty-two feet six inches; depth of hold, twelve feet; extreme breadth twenty-two feet; and is well found in sails, cordage,  two anchors, chains &c., &c.; there is on board a sufficient quantity of patent metal for coppering her, which will be sold with the vessel. The whole may be inspected on board the brig as she now lies, at Captain Thom’s Wharf.

                        Terms at sale.[13]

And less than a month later the first appearance of the named brig Tryphena appears in the shipping columns of a Sydney newspaper:   

Coasters Outward

September 7 - …..Tryphena, 131, Abercrombie, for Newcastle, in ballast….[14]

Evidently one of the Abercrombie brothers had bought her. Most probably Charles, as it is he that first  advertises the Tryphena for cargo and passengers. The first voyage of the Tryphena to New Zealand and the association with Great Barrier Island occurred less than a month later in October 1842.[15]

Shortly after the Tryphena departs Sydney for Auckland, fire breaks out at Gillies’ shipyard at Klywooticka in late October.

News from the Interior

M’Leay River…..

Oct 21 - Yesterday, during the middle of the day, a fire broke out in the dockyard of Captain Gillies, on the M’Leay.  For a very short period afterwards, the whole of the yard was on fire, which was spread by the high winds that had occasioned the whole bush to be in one blaze. Several turpentine trees were growing contiguous to the Captain’s dwelling, which was destroyed in consequence the sparks falling on the roof. With the exception of two buildings, every workshop and hut were burnt down. A great quantity of property was destroyed, but not so much as might have been expected. The greater part of the ship’s stores and building timber, together with furniture and boats, were fortunately saved. The loss will, however, be severely felt by Captain Gillies, especially just now, as he was about to re-commence ship-building again. He had just arrived at Trial Bay, from Sydney, when the fire took place and had he been present, the loss perhaps would not have been so great. The strong winds have continued prevalent all this day. The consequence is, that the whole face of the country is one complete blaze, threatening destruction to everything before it. Although no further damage has been heard of, yet it is to be feared much has been done.[16]

To compound his troubles, two other things beyond his control occurred. The first was that the colonies in Australia and New Zealand had entered a period of economic downturn, which was to become persistent through to 1844, and cause many to become bankrupt. The other factor was a drought, which interfered severely with Gillies’ ability to access cedar that he had employed cutters and sawyers to collect and accumulate up the McLeay River from Klywootica.

Flood-the noble waters of the M’Leay for fifty miles below the falls at Yarrawell to Trial Bay, which are generally brackish in seasons of drought, have at length happily turned into fine fresh water, by a deluge of five or six days heavy rain; ending on the 23rd of February. To say nothing of the great benefit that this fine fall of rain will be to grazing and agriculture, it will bestow a long-looked for blessing on some of our cedar merchants especially Captain Gillies, who has had between three and four hundred thousand feet of cedar locked up for the last twelve months or upwards in the upper part of the M’Leay for the want of a flood or rise in the river, which will now speedily bring it down for shipment to the Sydney Market: but unfortunately, in the absence of Captain Gillies, in Sydney, and his establishment be completely out of rations, his people have not the means of supplying the wants of or employing any rafters. This is certainly to be pitied.[17]

There was no respite from the bureaucrats who demanded licence fees to be paid on time. The following news item appeared in mid- April, 1843:

River M’Leay

Kempsey -

March 26….No tidings have yet been heard of the Vixen which left Sydney more than a month since for the M’Leay. It is feared that she is either lost or has proceeded to New Zealand. It is said, that Captain Gillies, the owner, is on board. This gentleman has recently been fined 10 by the Commissioner for failing in paying on renewing his license for her stock goods, which are to be sold by auction, in the course of fourteen days to defray the same, if he does not in the meantime arrive and pay the amount, £10 for the license and £10 as a fine.[18]

In reality, Gillies was at Newcastle busily turning to using his vessel the cutter Vixen of 45 or 6 tons to transport coal to Sydney in order to keep the wolf from the door.[19] Apparently the last, or one of the last times that Gillies traded, was to have cedar from the McLeay River brought into Sydney for sale on the Vixen.[20] We next hear that a Christopher Lawson has bought his shipbuilding yard. Lawson is the person after whom Lawson Street is named in Frederickton and where the shipbuilding yard was located. However, business pressures must have overwhelmed Gillies, for an order for sequestration shows up in the New South Wales state records archives as being signed on 1^st December, 1843.

John Gillies   Carters Barracks   Master Mariner    Sequestration 1-12-1843 file no. 01090[21]

(A sequestration order was made by the person concerned, in this case, Gillies, going before a Judge, Federal Magistrate or Registrar and agreeing to being made bankrupt. The Judge, Federal Magistrate or Registrar will check the Creditor’s Petition. If it is correct he or she will make an order to declare you bankrupt. This is called a sequestration order). It is of interest that his address is given as Carters Barracks, because that was the old Debtor’s Prison, established in 1835 converted for the purpose. But by 1842, financial distress ‘had become so common in the colony due to widespread drought and economic downturn that it became necessary to suspend imprisonment for debt to prevent overcrowding and in the following year imprisonment for debt was legally abolished’ by the Insolvency Act (No.19, 1843).[22] Nevertheless, it was a big comedown to be in a recent Debtors Prison and bankrupt. His cutter, the Vixen was sold and may also have been bought by one of the Abercrombies. He decided to move to New Zealand, and evidently his association with the Abercrombies became important.

4  The move to New Zealand

Gillies and his wife departed Sydney on the Vixen on 28^th February, 1844. The vessel was commanded by Captain Winter who continued to become a familiar visitor to the Great Barrier Island in the following years.

Departures

For Auckland, yesterday, the cutter Vixen, Captain Winter, with sundries. Passengers - Mr and Mrs Gillies, Mr Thomas Jones, and Mr John Richards.[23]

On board they had three asses and a foal, as well as what could well have been Gillies’ tools for his trade. There were 13 casks of hardware, 15 bags flour, 2 tierces of beef, 2 bundles of hoops, 10 ton coal, 36 bars, 3 sheets and 3 bundles of iron, 6 iron pots, one case of hardware, 2 bales of leather, one bale of blankets, a bale of slops, a cart, 4 tables, 3 chairs and 53 half-barrels of gunpowder.[24]  The Vixen is not recorded as arriving in Auckland until 30^th March, 1844[25], an extraordinary long time to be crossing the Tasman. This makes me think that the vessel must have called in somewhere before arriving at Auckland, and the main association that Gillies had was with the Abercrombies and they were active at both Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. The copper mine was under way at the Great Barrier Island and this could well have been the destination of the gunpowder that they carried.

We will probably never really know for sure.

The Gillies next show up living and working at Coromandel, where he pursues his trade building vessels and also has taken on the role of local harbourmaster. I found a 51-page harbourmaster’s log in the Auckland Museum library filed under ‘author unknown’, but as soon as I read it I recognised it as being by John Gillies. It runs from September 26^th,1844 to February 8^th, 1846 when he leaves Coromandel and arrives at Nagles Cove, Great Barrier Island, on the vessel Hazard three days later on the 11^th. (it then follows him departing Nagles Cove in 1849 back to Coromandel and finishes in March of 1858). At Nagles Cove, he was engaged in finishing off the barque Stirlingshire which had been on the stocks since 1841, but suffering setbacks in progress since 1842 due to the recessionary times. Money advanced by Captain Arthur Devlin and his brother Patrick in 1846 had enabled the work to continue. Gillies still had time to build another small cutter for himself however.

There is a record of a Thomas Ivison sheltering in Nagles Cove between the 23^rd and 28^th of March, 1847, where he comments on Gillies and the Stirlingshire:

The Vessel was so light that it was no use to try to beat: and we agreed to go off, and run down to the Great Barrier. We ran down, and passing a bold point of land, anchored in a sheltered bay, opposite the shipbuilding establishment. The wind freshened after we got in, and before night it blew a whole gale of wind in heavy squalls, and we considered ourselves lucky in being in snug anchorage. Next morning [Monday 27^th] we went ashore to see the big ship which stands in the stocks in a nook sheltered from nearly every wind by the high wooded shores of the Harbour. The Hull is all finished, decks laid caulked outside and ready for her spars; she is about 410 tons register. A small schooner about 30 tons was in the stocks alongside of her, and the builder, Gillies, was at work on her laying the deck. She was a beautiful model and will make a fine addition to our coasting craft - During the night it was again blowing in heavy squalls from the west and continued all next day until the afternoon when it shifted to the SW still blowing heavy.[26]

 

 … and with a light wind during the night reached Great Barrier Island and anchored in Nagles Bay by

7½ this morning. After breakfast we went ashore to Capt Nagle’s. I and Leonard Wms then took a stroll upon the high land at the back of their house which Mr Cotton has named Mount Prospect. On our way we had a Capital view of Rory Bay so named from a Schooner of that name having been lost there loaded with Copper ore. Reaching the highest land we saw Wellington Heads to advantage. I sketched them and returning was tempted to make a sketch of the “Deborah” with the beautiful hills in the background.   

Arrival at Great Barrier Island

We descended and went over the vessel which is being built near Capt Nagle’s by Abercrombie owner of the mine on the Great Barrier. She’s very strongly built and has as she lies on the Stocks walked away with nearly 5000 pounds. She is likely to be ready for sea in 4 months. Had a very agreeable luncheon at Capt N’s and at 3 went on board. About 4 we went off with a fine breeze…[27]

Gillies’ small vessel he’d named the Vivid, that he was building beside the Stirlingshire was launched on July 6^th, 1848. Here is a section of his harbourmasters logbook for that period:

 July       1       The Daring from Coromandel, passengers P.Abercrombie and Hunter on the 2nd the

                       Emma from Waikatu

              6       The Daring sailed for Coromandel with Mr Hunter this day the [vague word] Schooner

                       Vivid was launched      

Page 32                                                                                                                      

1848                                                                                                                               

July    15         Sailed the Schooner Vivid for Auckland, passengers Capt. Gillies Mrs Gillies, P.

                       Abercrombie

           26        The Schooner Vivid sailed from Auckland for the Barrier but owing to rough weather

                       were obliged to proceed to Tutecoca [Tutukaka?]  for shelter

            31       This day the Vivid arrived at the Barrier from Tuticoca, passengers Capt. Gillies, Mrs

                       Gillies, P. Abercrombie, Miss Twohey, and one carpenter

Nagles Cove was a busy place in those years, as is amply demonstrated if one reads Gillies Harbourmasters Logbook. On 11^th November, 1848, the Stirlingshire was launched during a full moon in order to get two full king tides morning and afternoon in daylight. It was a busy time, and included a visit by the survey steamer HMS Acheron, which no doubt assisted where it could, while pursuing its main task of surveying the Great Barrier Island coast.  

 1848

Page 33

Nov       1      The Vivid from Auckland via Coromandel passengers Mr Hunter and the Blacksmith

              2      The William for Auckland Nagle Master, passengers Capt Devlin, Mr and Mrs Gleister

              3      The Vivid for Wangari [Whangarei-dja]

              9      The Daring from the Southward, Mr Downing and Mr Cormack*

             11     Launch of the Ship Stirlingshire

             12     Sailed the Daring for Coromandel with Mr Downing and Mr Cormack

             13     The William Nagle Master from Auckland passengers Capt Devlin, Mr? Taylor, 

                      [name unclear?], and Cooper

             16     Sailed the William Nagle Master for the Fegees [Fiji Islands-dja]

             23     The Vivid for Auckland passengers P. Abercrombie, Mr Taylor and the carpenters. The    

                      Vivid arrived here on the 21st from Wangaree

Dec        3      Arrived the Vivid from Auckland passenger P. Abercrombie Esq                    

             11     The Deborah from poverty Bay bound for Auckland

             13      The Eliza from Tauranga

             14      Sailed the Deborah and Eliza for Auckland                                                                              

            16      Arrived the Steamer Acheron, Capt Stokes, from Auckland

             17      The Vivid for Auckland, passengers P. Abercrombie, Mrs Nagle, Miss Davies[?]

             23      The Vivid from Auckland, passenger P. Abercrombie

             24      The Acheron Steamer Capt Stokes for Auckland

             28      The Julia from Coromandel

             29      The Stirlingshire for Auckland, passengers

Page 34                                                                                               [Nagle’s Cove to Coromandel]

Dec      29      Capt Devlin, Mrs Devlin, P. Abercrombie Esq and Carpenters.

                      The Vivid for Auckland passenger Capt Gillies

 On February 2^nd, 1849 the Gillies departed the Great Barrier Island to return to their home at Pata Pata, Coromandel. On July 6^th 1849 Gillies advertised the Vivid for sale.[1]

There is no information presently available between this time and two and a half years later when a schooner is launched at Coromandel by Gillies called the Adah, 37 tons, on 10^th November, 1852,

 [Nov]        10    Launch of the schooner “Adah”[28]

and by the end of the month is loading it in Auckland in preparation to send it off under a Captain Lilliwall to Melbourne.[29]

Shipping Intelligence

Adah, schooner, Captain Gillies, loading for Port Phillip.

Brown & Campbell agents.

The Adah had departed Auckland for Melbourne on December 15^th, 1852.[30] (It sprang its foremast and jib-boom and had to call at Twofold Bay, south of Sydney).

The schooner Adah, Captain Lilliwall, from Auckland, for this port, is reported by the Adelaide to have put into Twofold Bay on the 12^th instant, [January], having sprung her foremast and jibboom.

The next event known about is Gillies contracting to repair an American whaling ship, the Lalla Rookh, 323 tons, that had arrived in December, 1852 very leaky from being at sea for over four years.[31] The Lalla Rookh discharged her cargo in Auckland and proceeded to Coromandel with Gillies and his wife on board, along with Miss Anderson, Miss Twohey, a daughter of William Twohey who was Captain Nagle’s brother-in-law, and Robert Menzies. They arrived on December 14^th, 1852.[32] However, the Lalla Rookh’s hull, on being examined by Gillies, must have proved beyond repair, for by May, 1853, the vessel’s spare parts, food, etc are put up for auction, and the hull itself as it lay on the beach at Coromandel, is advertised for sale.

On 4^th September, 1853, John Gillies goes into partnership with Robert Menzies, (if he wasn’t already in partnership with him) whom he has worked with on the McLeay River shipyard previously, and start up a shipyard in Auckland. An advert appears in late November, 1853:

Mechanics Bay

4 Sept 1853

To Merchants, Shipowners and others.

The undersigned beg to intimate the removal of their  Shipbuilding business from Coromandel to this Port [Aiuckland]. They will be glad to undertake the building of vessels of any tonnage as well as the repairing of shipping generally.

                                                Gillies and Menzies

                                                Brickfield Bay

Six shipwrights required - also four or five lads, as apprentices.

                                Apply to

                                Gillies and Menzies

                                Shipbuilders

                                Brickfield Bay

Auckland, 24^th Nov 1853[33]

Brickfield Bay in Auckland now no longer exists because it is all part of reclaimed land, but it was situated about where the bottom of Wyndham Street meets Fanshaw Street. The population of Auckland at the time was probably no more than 10,000 because an 1857 census, four years later, has Auckland’s rapidly growing population at 18,000. A jury list published for 1856/7 has Gillies living in Nelson Street,[34] which is close to his shipyard, and co-incidently nearby where Captain Nagle had recently sold a house in 1850.

By December 1853, Gillies and Menzies have a vessel of 100 tons laid down in their yard, but similar orders from Sydney they had received they had had to decline because of a great difficulty they had in employing shipwrights.[35]

Gillies is seen during June, 1854, advertising warning about trespassing onto land, cutting firewood and stealing stock on Wanganui Island that Abercrombie & Company owned.[36] Wanganui Island is at the entrance to Coromandel Harbour, and across a shallow isthmus from Gillies home at PataPata.

On 18^th April, 1855, a customers’ partly finished vessel, keel 56 feet long and ready for planking, that Gillies and Menzies had been building at their Brickfield shipyard is auctioned off as a result of a partnership squabble.[37]

In a diary of David Burns,  'A Diary of Passing Events By Land And Sea Volume the Tenth', the shipping reporter for the New Zealander newspaper, Burns mentions meeting Gillies in Auckland on Monday, 11th February, 1856:

"Sunday: 10th: Up at seven: fine morning: found the Pioneer in from the Bay, and at anchor. Went to morning service – Lloyd preached – Governor present. Dined, and strolled down to the pier. Went to Evening service, at which crying Wilson preached. Kitty and I had a saunter.

Monday: 11th: Turned out betimes. Wrote a paragraph or two. After dinner went to Gillies to see and obtain information about his new schooner. Passed up Victoria Street a crowd looking on at the erection of the gallows. George and Wing spent the Evening with us; and George paid me the half year’s rent (£10.10/-) for allotments.

Tuesday: 12th: Got up a little before 7 oclock.

 Went down town, and witnessed the last sentence of the law carried into effect upon Marsden. The execution was bunglingly performed; the hangman received £20 for his work, and was hooded and cloaked in black. Found Williamson at home on my return. Went on board the Pandora with Wing, who accompanied me home to dinner. Over to the Prov.Council but there was not a quorum in Council.."

In the opposition newspaper there appears the following item referring to the launch of this vessel:

Shipping Intelligence

Launch - On Friday morning, at 9 o’clock, a beautiful fore and aft schooner, not yet named, was launched from the building yard of Messrs Gillies & Co., Brickfield Bay. She is 57 tons, builders measurement, and her dimensions are - length overall, 59 feet; depth of her hold 7 feet, breadth of beam 15 feet. This pretty craft is now moored off the building yard, and was built, we understand, to the order of Mr. Black, East Coast, for which trade she is intended. The launch was a magnificent one, the vessel having glided off the stocks without check or accident.[38]

It seems Gillies, and presumably Menzies also, moved back to Coromandel (after a period at the Brickfield yard of just over two years) sometime between February and March, 1856, because he is next seen building a vessel in Coromandel:

Shipping Intelligence

The land-locked harbour of Coromandel is about to be the birth-place of another clipper schooner - a worthy compeer of the ‘Zillah’ and the ‘Adah’. She  is now on the stocks, in the yard of Mr McGregor, and is being built by him and Mr Gillies. She is a beautiful model: is about 90 ton, builders measurement, and is intended to be rigged as a fore-and-aft schooner. Her lower masts are alongside, ready to be taken on board, and a prettier pair of kauri spars it would not be easy to select. This pretty craft is expected to be launched in about three weeks from the present time.[39]

It seems that John Gillies’ wife Anne became sick, possibly suffering from cancer, but it is not known for sure, and this became a factor in his movements over the next year or so. On 4^th November 1857, his harbourmaster’s log records the Gillies family moving from Pata Pata to a new house[40] somewhere else in Coromandel, presumably closer to a doctor or other people and work.

Shortly after, on December 3^rd, 1857, Gillies’ log records him starting on another vessel for Mr. Beeson.[41] The last entry in Gillies’ harbourmaster’s log was on March 23^rd, 1858.

On Friday morning, 20^th August, 1858, Anne Gillies passed away. 

GILLIES..
On Friday morning, August 20th at Coromandel Harbour, Anne the beloved wife of J Gillies, after a long and painful illness, aged 54 years, deeply regretted by her friends.[1]

The 1866 Coromandel electoral roll shows John Gillies had a dwelling at Coromandel, and a house and premises at Patapata. The latter property and premises is also recorded in the 1875 Coromandel roll.

At the National Archives in Auckland is John Gillies’ probate dated 1875, and I will be getting a copy of that shortly, which will no doubt show more information about the rest of his family and circumstances.

Don Armitage -  © last updated November 2009.