John Wall HARDEY

HARDEY, JOHN WALL (b. Barrow upon Humber, Lincolnshire, England, 19 March 1802; d. Perth, WA, 14 May 1885). Methodist settler in WA.

First son of Robert Hardey MD of Hull and brother of Joseph Hardey (q.v.), John Hardey married Elizabeth Davy shortly before leaving England for WA in 1829; their marriage produced 3 daughters and a son.

Like his brother, John Hardey was a Methodist and a regular local preacher in the colony. John Hardey received a substantial land grant at the same time as his brother Joseph and their properties were adjacent to each other on the peninsula. He went on to become a large property owner in WA. In August 1830 he participated in a vital second expedition over the Darling Ranges which opened up the fertile Avon Valley. Michael and James Clarkson were also included in the expedition party. Hardey forthwith applied for a large tract of land on the right bank of the River Avon. The Hardey brothers were assigned this land, 16 342 acres in all, in Dec 1830 just 2 months after the expedition returned to Perth. John wrote home enthusiastically to England about the Avon Valley and likened it to the kind of land around the family home in Yorkshire. He soon acquired extra land in Perth across the River Swan from Peninsula Farm which became known as Grove Farm, and later he acquired the adjoining property known as Belmont Farm.

John Wall Hardey was exceptionally active in civic affairs. At various times he was president of the Agricultural Society of WA, a JP, and later a magistrate, a commissioner of the Children's Friend Society, a body that looked after minors sent out from the UK to the colony. He was active in the formation of the WA Chamber of Commerce. At the time of the building of the first bridge across the Swan, known as the Causeway, he was chairman of the powerful General Roads Trust and exerted all his influence and energy to see the project completed.

Hardey and his family returned to England at the end of 1836, returning to the colony 2 years later. He was apparently one of several landowners who went to England to voice their criticism of land allocation in the colony.

In 1855 the governor appointed Hardey to the Legislative Council and he developed a close relationship with several governors, and especially Governor Hampton. When Legislative Councillors were elected by the people he was not elected gaining only a few votes. His lack of popular support was no doubt due to his deep conservatism and open support for the governors.

It appears that Hardey took a less active part in the life of the Methodist Church as his other interests grew and demanded more of his time and energy. However he was always a liberal supporter of the Methodist Church and at times displayed great interest in its Sunday schools and foreign missions. In his declining years he was attacked by paralysis and was nursed and cared for by Mr and Mrs George Lazenby in whose home he died in his sleep. At a memorial service in Wesley Church, Perth, the Rev R V Campbell said of him, '... he was a faithful Methodist who though called to pass the ordeal of extreme old age, the eye of his faith never dimmed'.

His wife, Elizabeth, although 10 years his junior died in 1873.

Ronald E Turner, Foundations Not Made with Hands (Perth, 1984); Wesley Lutton, The Wesley Story (Perth, 1970); Joseph Hardey, Diary (Battye Library, Perth) Ruth Johnston, The Tranby Hardeys (Perth, 1987)

JAMES H CAIN