Lady Franklin Visits Stamford Hill

On December 25, 1840, the schooner Abeona 120 tons, Captain Blackbourne, arrived at Port Adelaide from Hobart Town, which was left on the 12th. The passengers listed were Lady Franklin, (wife of Sir John Franklin), Miss Franklin, Lieutenant Bagot of the 51st Light Infantry, aide de camp to Sir John, and Mr. J. P. Gell, principal of the new college at Hobart Town. The Abeona had been chartered and fitted up tor her Ladyship's use.

The party stayed at Government House for a few days. Her Ladyship took a tour of the southern district, visiting Willunga, Encounter Bay, the Goolwa and Yankalilla, accompanied by the Surveyor-General. To make room at the new Government House for the large party, Governor Gawler found it necessary to remove some papers and documents into the old house. This building was set on fire by an incendiary, and many papers of the very early days were destro ed. Many heroic efforts were made to save the papers from destruction, but all without avail.

It will be remembered that Colonel Light had died the previous year (October 5, 1839) and that almost immediately steps were taken to collect subscriptions to place a monument over his grave in Light Square. It was not until 1843 that the foundation stone was laid, but in the meantime, the subject of the erection of the monument was kept prominently before the public.

And that was the position when Lady Franklin arrived in Adelaide on a friendly visit, and it was then that the idea of erecting a memorial to Flinders on the scene of his greatest exploring triumph first suggested itself. No doubt she would discuss the matter with Governor Gawler, who with the knowledge gained seven or eight months earlier was able to suggest Stamford Hill as a suitable site. At that time Port Lincoln had the appearance of becoming the hub of a prosperous settlement and might also become the port of call for the ports to the north. There were not many prominent places on the mainland on which Flinders had landed : Memory Cove, Port Lincoln, the head of Spencer's Gulf and Kangaroo Island, so what more suitable place could be suggested than some prominent hill at Port Lincoln, and what more naturally than the hill from which Flinders had surveyed the surrounding country.

It is most probable that Captain Blackbourne would also be able to give her Ladyship some advice, for no doubt he knew Port Lincoln well. It will be remembered that at the dinner given to Governor Gawler at Port Lincoln in May, 1840, that a Capt. Blackbourne was present, it seems reasonably certain that these two captains were one and the same.

LADY FRANKLIN VISITS STAMFORD HILL

However Lady Franklin decided to see the suggested site for herself, and the daily papers advise that the schooner Abeona sailed on January 9, 1841, for Port Lincoln and Hobart Town carrying as passengers Lady Franklin and suite. It was stated that the boat's stay at Port Lincoln would not be more than 48 hours. Mr. Traill in his biography of Sir John Franklin gives a long account of the selection of the site and as this is not widely known, the extract will be given in full. After travelling from Port Adelaide to Port Lincoln (actual y Traill gives the reverse) "the pro ject," said Lady Franklin, " had become an absolute mission in her eyes." To follow Trall's words : —

"For in the near neighborhood of the port, rising in an insulated and conical form to a height of some thousand or twelve hundred feet from the shore, stood the rock which the explorer had ascended and named by him after the town of Stamford in his native country This obviously the very spot designed by nature and history for a monument to his (Flinders) memory. There was, however, a difficulty about the appropriation of a site. Land could not be purchased in anything smaller than 80 acre lots; and to purchase such an extent of mountain, all stone and scrub, for the sake of securing an area of only a few feet, seemed a rather imperfect adjustment of means to ends. Colonel Gawler, however, the then Governor of South Australia, obligingly disposed of the difficulty by promising to make the site of the monument a Government reserve. Thus sanctioned and aided, Lady Franklin and her party started from Adelaide, in a small schooner of about 100 tons and having landed at the foot of Stamford Hill, they ascended it, identified Flinders' bearings and marked the spot."

Looking up the plan of the Hundred of Flinders, County of Flinders, to see the size of the reserve, it was found that quite a large area of ground was, or is now reserved (about 20 by 60 chains) right from the shore of Spalding Cove to the mount. According to plan there are two peaks about 40 chains apart, the monument being placed on the most northern one.

CLIMB TO THE SUMMIT

To resume Traill's account : "The captain of their little vessel; himself a Lincolnshire man, was much in terested in the expedition and 'bore on his back up the rugged ascent the heavy box containing the azimuth compass required for the identification of the spot' on which Flinders (from whose ponderous quarto— page 282 — we were provided with the necessary extract) fixed his theodolite.' The captain's wife played an in voluntary, though to her not an unpleasant part in the ceremony, as Lady Franklin thus amusingly relates : — 'Poor Mrs. Blackbourne's pocket handkerchief was seized by me in mistake, for when I found a white rag was wanted, I put back my hand without turning my head to the person close to me, who I thought was Eleanor, saying 'Give me your handkerchief, my dear,' and did not discover my mistake till the tittering and looks around me made me turn round. Mrs. Blackburn's blushes and pleased looks convinced me that I had committed a very venial mistake, and I therefore made no difficulty in retaining my spoil. Since my return to Hobart Town, I have sent the young person, who was then a bride of three weeks old, a cambric handkerchief of surpassing fineness, trimmed with deep lace, in place of the one she so obligingly allowed to be raised upon Stamford Hill and in remembrance of that pleasant visit.' "

Traill quotes the height of the hill as a thousand or twelve hundred feet, apparently that was the impression gained after the arduous walk up, but the South Australian Institute's Journal (1934) quotes the height as only 474 feet. Mr. J. W. Bell, who wrote of the early experience of South Australia in 1878 has given some further particulars. It has not been gleaned where he got his information, but the tale is sufficiently picturesque to stand repeating. He said, that the lack of suitable accommodation did not deter Lady Franklin from prosecuting the work she had undertaken. Her object was to "search for the spot on Stamford Hill from the highest point of which Captain Flinders — under whom her gallant husband was an officer — had taken his observations," and to have erected a suitable work as a memorial to commemorate that visit. Captain Blackburn (nearly every writer spells this name different ly) with some of the inhabitants, accompanied Lady Franklin and her daughter on foot to fulfill this arduous duty. After the foot of the hill was reached the steep and rocky range had to be climbed and the summit "of the beautiful, but barren, sandy, stony, dense bushy and spider-webby Stamford Hill" being attained, the exact spot had to be worked out and discovered by observations, trial and error, until a correspondence with Captain Flinders record was obtained.

ESTIMATED COST— £250

The range was found to have such a large amount of metallic ore in its body that it was necessary to work the instrument placed upon the bent back of one man resting upon another to give steadiness. Mr. T. N. Mitchell had the honor of supporting the instrument, whilst he was supported by one of the Hawsons. After many trials a correspondence was obtained and the spot marked. Flinders had a theodolite for taking angles ashore, Blackbourne had only the azimuth compass, so there may be some truth in Bull's picturesque method of getting bearings.

Unfortunately Bull stated that a Mr. Kellet of Adelaide subsequently erected a monument. It was Samuel Lewis who did so in 1844 and it was J. Kellet who repaired it in 1866, as will be narrated later on.

What happened to the party is not known, there is no record of the Abeona returning to Adelaide, so the assumption is that Lady Franklin returned to Van Diemen's Land as was the intention when she left Adelaide.

Mr. J. P. Gell, as a result of this trip to South Australia got a copy of the vocabulary of the Adelaide tribe of natives and on his return to Van Diemen's Land, read a paper on the subject before the Tasmanian Society of National Science, Agriculture and Statistics for 1841. The published report was reprinted in the proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, Vol. VII, 1903-4. The author of the reprint did not mention that Mr. Gell became the son-in-law of Sir John Franklin, nor that he visited South Australia with Lady Franklin. When her Ladyship returned to her husband she had to report what she had done, and afterwards she said that "Sir John is extremely well satisfied with my doings, and has not even asked me what the memorial is to cost, which indeed, I am not able to tell till I get the opinion of Mr. Frome (the Surveyor-General) on its dimensions, but I hope it will not be extravagant, if the stone on the spot is made use of." The biography states that the cost appears to have been £250.

Mr. Traill gives the wording of the inscription as from the pen of Mr. Gell, which differs slightly from that actually on the marble tablet. Mr. Gell when wording the inscription did not contemplate that it was going to take three years to erect the obelisk, and in consequence he stated the historic spot was "in the first year of the Government of Capt. G. Grey adorned with this monument." As Capt. Grey arrived in South Australia May 15, 1841, the obelisk should have been erected prior to May, 1842. No doubt that was the intention of Lady Franklin and her willing assistants when the marble tablet was engraved.

It is apparent that it was found that the local stone would be too soft and it is thought that the stone was sent from Van Diemen's Land.

MONUMENT STONES IMPORTED

I cannot trace any proof of this statement ; but Hailes in his recollections states that the stone came from Tasmania. However, on October 22, 1842, the schooner Waterwitch, 99 tons, Captain Talbert, arrived from Van Diemen's Land, but the newspapers of the day do not record any stone forming part of her cargo. The stone, if on board, would be consigned to Port Lincoln and therefore would not be shown as Port Adelaide cargo. She sailed for Hobart Town on November 5, 1842, on the same day as it was advertised that the King Henry would sail for Port Lincoln in 10 days time. On Thursday, November 17, 1842, there is a notification that the brig King Henry, 138 tons, R. W. Long, master, had sailed for Port Lincoln with a Mr. Thompson as a passenger and a cargo of 15 tons of stone for Flinders' Monument. It can therefore be safely assumed that the Waterwitch carried the stone and transferred it to the King Henry.

There is no doubt about the accuracy of the cargo of the King Henry, for our friend Nathaniel Hailes, Clerk of the Court, recorded in the Criminal Court Case Book, kept at Port Lincoln, "Tuesday the 22nd day of November, 1842, arrived the King Henry brig, with Mr. Henderson and stones etc. for the monument to be erected at Stamford Hill in memory of Captain Flinders." There seems a little uncertainty regarding the passenger, Thompson leaving Port Adelaide and Henderson arriving at Port Lincoln. However Dr. J. B. Harvey, who was also Customs Officer, in a report for the period ended December 31, 1842, quotes the arrival of the brig with Thompson and Henderson as passengers, and stone for the monument as the cargo.

Under date November 4, 1842, the Government Resident was advised that Captain Frome the Surveyor General is about sending to Port Lincoln the stones and tablet for Flinders Monument to be erected at the cost of Sir John Franklin."The Government Resident was instructed to render every assistance without sub-jecting the Government to any cost." On the same day the Commissioner of Police was advised that the stone was being forwarded and that "Capt. Frome had requested that you may be allowed to carry them to the spot where the monument is to be erected, with the Government horses now at Port Lincoln." His Excellency directed the Commissioner to render any assistance on that occasion which would not interfere with the particular service he was then engaged upon.

It will be remembered that Major O'Halloran had been sent to and arrived at Port Lincoln on November 10, 1842, to attempt the arrest of the murderers of Brown, Biddle and others. Beyond Mr. Driver's acknowledgement there appears to be no further correspondence relating to this matter at the time. It may be jumping at conclusions, but it is most probable that Mr. Henderson was a surveyor and probably had come to Port Lincoln to set out the boundaries of the land for the monument. Dr. Harvey in the aforesaid report records Mr. Henderson's departure from Port Lincoln on December 19, 1842, in the King Henry. On the same boat were Mrs. Bishop and child. (Mr. John Bishop married Miss E. E. Kemp August 18, 1840.)

There is now a hiatus in the narrative. Possibly the impending departure of Sir John Franklin from Van Diemen's Land may have delayed matters, or it is just possible that Mr. Samuel Lewis, who was building the Light Memorial, Light Square, Adelaide, may have been chosen to do the Stamford Hill obelisk and arranged to finish the Adelaide erection prior to starting the other.