Eliza More HUME

HUME, ELIZA MORE (née KENNEDY) (b. Kent, England, c. 1760; d. Gunning, NSW, 15 Aug 1847). Public servant, landholder, mother of Hamilton Hume, and friend of the Aborigines.

Eliza Kennedy was the younger daughter of the Rev John and May (Gascopodi) Kennedy who, in 1789, became vicar of Teston and Nettlestead in Kent. This church had a strong evangelical tradition, involvement with the anti-slave movement associated with William Wilberforce, and one of the first Sunday schools in England. Eliza’s middle name most likely came from the parish’s link with the founder of the Sunday school movement, Hannah More.

Following the emigration of her brother-in-law, Matthew Pearce, to Australia, and unable to get on with her stepmother when her father remarried late in life, she decided to accompany her widowed brother, James Raworth Kennedy, and two of his three children, to the new colony. On 5 Nov 1795, they arrived as free settlers on the ‘Royal Sovereign’. She married Andrew Hamilton Hume, who had come out from Ireland five years earlier, at St John's, Parramatta in September of the following year. At first, they lived near Parramatta during Andrew's unsuccessful tenancies as an official storekeeper and later superintendent of livestock. In 1806 they moved to the Hawkesbury district, losing everything three times by fire or flood. Only after he was granted land in Appin in 1811, did the family settle down.

Eliza was a well-educated and cultured woman, whose wisdom and equable demeanour affected all who came in contact with her. In several respects her contributions to the fledgling colony were noteworthy. She was the first woman appointed to a public position, in 1801 as Matron of the newly established Orphan School for Homeless and Unwanted girls in Parramatta, at a salary of £40 pa. Key figures in the founding of the school were the governor, Philip King and his wife Anna, Elizabeth Paterson, married to the head of the NSW Army Corps, and colonial chaplain Samuel Marsden. The basis of Eliza’s appointment may well lie in her prior experience in the Sunday school for the poor and uneducated in Teston. The Orphan School grew out of a deep ‘pity for the poor children of the colony’ who had been abandoned and it’s goal was to produce ‘future workers’ who were ‘good Christians and faithful servants’. The school opened with around thirty girls and within a year their number had grown to nearly fifty.

As head teacher, Eliza taught the girls reading and writing, needlework and spinning. The success of her efforts, and her influence on the character of the school, soon made it a showpiece in the colony. Officials in England kept aware of its development and overseas visitors were brought to see its activities. Unfortunately, Eliza felt she had to resign from her position after a relatively short time because of ‘unpleasant circumstances’ connected with her husband’s behaviour. Andrew was twice charged with ‘irregularities in his administration’ of the Government stores in Parramatta, though ultimately acquitted. She was, however, also taking the main responsibility for looking after a ‘growing family’.

Several years later, in 1807, Eliza took up work again at the Orphan School. She remained there until she received a 60 acre land and cattle grant at Prospect Hill, one of the first women in the colony to do so. Since, at this stage, her husband was not always dependable, she helped manage their middle-sized property. The Humes felt at home in the district, which was populated mainly by emancipists whose liberal attitudes, sometimes infused with Christian values, were often at odds with the colony’s social and military elites.

Eliza’s main contribution, however, was through the influence she had upon her own children. She had four sons, one of whom died in infancy, and one daughter. All of these were educated by her at home. The eldest son was Hamilton Hume, the first native-born Australian explorer (b. 1797). His recognised ability to get on with and learn from Aborigines stemmed largely from her influence, which can be traced back to her involvement in the anti-slave trade movement in England. Apart from Hamilton's explorations, two other sons helped open up land to the south and west of Sydney, viz Francis Rawdon Hume and John Kennedy Hume. Her daughter Isabella married George Barber, another early explorer. Through marriage, they and her niece also developed links with other influential early families, eg the Dight's of Richmond, and the Howe's of Windsor.

In her later life, Eliza founded a home on a station in NW Vic for the last of the Waradgery tribe. A few years before her death, she suffered the loss of her third son, Francis, who was killed by a bushranger in 1840. Eliza herself survived until her 86th birthday, and died at Gunning in 1847. She lived long enough to see Hamilton regarded as a ‘living legend’ by his fellow countrymen. If, as has been said, the most significant family in the early colony in terms of its overall influence was the Kennedys, a prime place must be given to Eliza alongside its better-known members.

J Severn, The Teston Story: Kent Village Life Through the Ages (Teston, 1975); R H Webster, Currency Lad: The Story of Hamilton Hume and the Explorers (Sydney, 1988); B.Bubacz, ‘The Female and Male Orphan Schools in New South Wales 1801-1850’, Ph.D Thesis (Dept of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, 2007); Robert Macklin, Hamilton Hume: Our Greatest Explorer (Sydney, 2017); ADB 1, 'Hume, Andrew Hamilton' and 'Hume, Hamilton’.

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