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1. Hiram Telemachus MILDRED was born 28 Apr 1823 in Portsea, Hamphire, England and died 21 Aug 1892 in North Adelaide, SA.
He married (1) Helen Jane ELLIS 08 Nov 1855 in Woodforde, SA. She was born ABT 1823 and died 31 Jul 1859 in aboard Marion.
He married (2) Susanah CHEETHAM 09 Mar 1864 in Kensington, SA. She was born 19 Oct 1841 and died 29 Jan 1879 in North Adelaide, SA, daughter of Henry CHEETHAM.
He married (3) Sybil Mary EDLIN 21 Apr 1883 in North Adelaide, SA. She was born 04 Oct 1859 in Adelaide, SA and died 05 Sep 1929 in Victoria.
Other events in the life of Hiram Telemachus MILDRED
Burial: North Road Cemetery, SA
Baptism: 03 Jul 1823, Portsea, Hampshire, England
Immigration: 20 Aug 1836, Rapid
Children of Hiram Telemachus MILDRED and Sybil Mary EDLIN:
i. 2. Lindsay MILDRED was born 22 Jul 1887 in North Adelaide, SA and died 13 Sep 1974 in Malvern, Victoria
Children of Hiram Telemachus MILDRED and Susanah CHEETHAM:
ii. 3. Amy Bowyer MILDRED was born 03 Dec 1864 in Port Augusta, SA and died 28 Oct 1921 in North Adelaide, SA
iii. 4. Laura Edith MILDRED was born 25 Feb 1867 in Port Augusta, SA and died 18 Aug 1930 in Medindie, SA
iv. Florence Amelia MILDRED was born 11 May 1870 in Port Augusta, SA and died 12 Aug 1950 in Glenelg, SA
v. 5. Clara Augusta MILDRED was born 21 Jun 1873 in Port Augusta, SA and died 24 Oct 1951 in Adelaide, SA
2. Lindsay MILDRED was born 22 Jul 1887 in North Adelaide, SA and died 13 Sep 1974 in Malvern, Victoria. He married Margaret Annie (Peggy) MacFARLANE 1931 in Sydney, NSW. She died 23 Mar 1973 in Malvern, Victoria.
Other events in the life of Lindsay MILDRED
Residence: 1929, Blairholme, Armadale, Victoria
Burial: 18 Sep 1974, St Kilda Cemetery, Victoria
3. Amy Bowyer MILDRED was born 03 Dec 1864 in Port Augusta, SA and died 28 Oct 1921 in North Adelaide, SA. She married Martin Charles HOCKING 20 Dec 1883 in North Adelaide, SA. He was born ABT 1858 and died 06 Jan 1927 in North Adelaide, SA.
Children of Amy Bowyer MILDRED and Martin Charles HOCKING:
i. 6. Mildred Cheetham HOCKING was born 22 Apr 1886 in North Adelaide, SA and died 13 Oct 1962
ii. 7. Maxwell Edith HOCKING was born 30 Jan 1888 in Adelaide, SA and died 1988 in New Zealand
iii. 8. Keith Bowyer HOCKING was born 17 Jun 1891 in North Adelaide, SA and died 1967 in Yallourn, Victoria
iv. 9. Sidney Helston Stuart HOCKING was born 07 Mar 1900 in North Adelaide, SA and died 28 Mar 1999
4. Laura Edith MILDRED was born 25 Feb 1867 in Port Augusta, SA and died 18 Aug 1930 in Medindie, SA. She married Frank William HODGE 02 Dec 1902 in Hackney, SA. He was born 12 Jul 1867 in Norwood, SA and died 19 Feb 1946 in Adelaide, SA, son of Francis Daniel HODGE.
Children of Laura Edith MILDRED and Frank William HODGE:
i. Mary Mildred Bowyer HODGE was born 30 Dec 1911 in North Adelaide, SA and died 24 Dec 1987
5. Clara Augusta MILDRED was born 21 Jun 1873 in Port Augusta, SA and died 24 Oct 1951 in Adelaide, SA. She married Frederick Alexander JAMIESON. He was born ABT 1870 and died 07 Aug 1944 in Adelaide, SA.
6. Mildred Cheetham HOCKING was born 22 Apr 1886 in North Adelaide, SA and died 13 Oct 1962. She married Royden Stuart RIDGWAY 02 Apr 1908 in North Adelaide, SA. He was born 08 May 1884 in Wirrabara, SA. They divorced .
7. Maxwell Edith HOCKING was born 30 Jan 1888 in Adelaide, SA and died 1988 in New Zealand. She married John Raymond CORNFORD 31 Dec 1909 in North Adelaide, SA. He was born 07 May 1879 in New Zealnad and died 1977 in New Zealand, son of Henry Arthur CORNFORD and Clara DOUGLAS.
Children of Maxwell Edith HOCKING and John Raymond CORNFORD:
i. Josephine CORNFORD
ii. John Maxwell CORNFORD was born 26 Jul 1910 in Camperdown, Victoria and died 1985 in New Zealand
8. Keith Bowyer HOCKING was born 17 Jun 1891 in North Adelaide, SA and died 1967 in Yallourn, Victoria. He married Gladys Vera NORTH 17 Dec 1921 in North Adelaide, SA. She was born 17 Feb 1896 in North Adelaide, SA and died 1965 in Mildura, Victoria.
9. Sidney Helston Stuart HOCKING was born 07 Mar 1900 in North Adelaide, SA and died 28 Mar 1999. She married Albert Gordon BENDA 16 Sep 1930 in North Adelaide, SA. He was born 13 Feb 1900 in Adelaide, SA and died 24 Aug 1966 in Daw Park, SA.
Last updated : 25 Aug 2021
WITH COLONEL LIGHT.
Mr. Hiram Mildred says: — " I claim to be a pioneer of Adelaide City and some few miles beyond. At an early age of boyhood my schooling was broken into during the first week of January, 1836, with that joyful news that I was going from London to Portsea to bid adieu to my grandmothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins, and on my return to London I should be packed off on board the Rapid for the new colony of South Australia, the foundation of which had for a year or more been worrying the mind of my paternal's head. What was an anxious undertaking to him was fun to me. I was at this particular time of my life undergoing some studies in connection with Euclid, globes, geometry, scales, "plane, transverse, oblique, middle latitude, and Mercator" - sailing, with use of the quadrant. I forget what became of my dear old fashioned quadrant, companion of the voyage out. Possessing slightly the spirit of adventure, the getting dear of school and lessons, and utter ignorance of life having any troubles outside of school inherent in all boys, was a happy, epoch in my life's history, perhaps more so than any I have experienced since.
Well, it was a cold winter morning early in January, 1836, that I took my place inside the now ancient conveyance - a four-horsed coach. The fog waa dense at 5.30 a.m., and the red-coated guard blew his horn as we drove out of the yard in Cheapside, round St. Paula, down Ludgate-hill, past the bridge at Kingston on the Thames. A kind old gentleman took some interest in me, describing the various places we passed, the most thrilling of which, to my mind was the murder of a travelling Jew pedlar at a roadside inn by the Devil's Punch-bowl, the culprit being one Edward Loombe.
"I sailed for South Australia in the ship Rapid. About September, 1834, I accompanied my father on a visit to the Nile, steamer, 1,000 tons, then the largest of her class afloat. She was lying off Blackwall, and I think, a present to the Paha of Egypt; was going out under the command of Sir John Hindmarsh, Colonel Light, and a Mr. Reid (first lieutenant). From a recent comparison of notes I have found that my friend and shipmate in the Rapid to South Australia, Mr. John Thom, of Plympton, Bayroad, was also on board the Nile on that occasion.
However, Lieutenant Reid, a Portsea man and neighbor of my father's, draw them together with Colonel Light and Sir John Hindmarsh. Shortly following this the colonisation of South Australia was moved. My father took an active interest in watching its development, this resulting in March, 1836, in a renewal of his friendship with Colonel Light and Sir John, who had both returned from Egypt, and my forming one of the little party in the surveying brig Rapid to South Australia.
On a fine Sunday summer morning, May 1st, 1836, the dock gates were opened. We went into a little black tug boat, the Nelson, made fast, and not a few friends waved their adieus as we were towed away past the Brunswick Pier, bound on what was then a long voyage of 16,000 miles to a strange land in a craft of 162 tons, about the size of a gentleman's yacht. Nothing but harmony reigned throughout the voyage.
On August 17 land oh! on the north was reported from the royal yards; soundings at midnight in 40 fathoms, and on the 18th we anchored in Antechamber Bay, 32 fathoms of water - a rocky spot. Next day we anchored in the eastern part of Nepean Bay, when we were honored by a visit from Mr. Samuel Stephens, the manager of the South Australian Company's setttement at the island. Our large hatch boat was hoisted over, and on the 22nd we moved about two miles further up off Kingscote. From August 23 to August 27, the weather being wet and squally, but little progress was made beyond generally observing the bay and its surroundings.
During this time I had a holiday ashore with my respected young friend, Mr. W. L. Bean, whose father with mine had been intimate before leaving the old country. I well recollect his tent with table on tressels outside. Our bed was a tarpaulin on the ground, half under us and half over us for counterpane and blanket in one; but we were young, full of spirits, tired with our daily explorations, and slept soundly even in this rude style of bedding.
"Nepean Bay having been thoroughly examined during the first week in September preparations were made for leaving for the mainland, and about the 8th we anchored in Rapid Bay. From this date our programme was a general inspection of the eastern shores of St. Vincent's Gulf upward. This has already been described by various writers, and does not need repetition. We had an interpreter, Wm. Cooper, and his native women, Doughboy and Sall, whose services were secured by Colonel Light as a go-between us and the native tribes. From him I obtained a tooth of the first kangaroo we caught. I extracted it from the jaw of the animal while he was skinning it, and by lucky accident have preserved it ever since, and recently had it mounted as a relic.
In the latter end of October we returned from our inspection of the coast, and a survey party under the command of the Hon. B. T. Finnis was landed at Rapid Bay. Here we resumed until the breaking up of the camp early in January to proceed again to Adelaide. The only matter of importance that occurred was the at first assumed loss of one of our men, Joseph Finch, who is, however, now still alive. He had gone away shooting about three days before camp breaking, and up to the dispatch of the last of our plant on board all the search parties, Cooper, natives, and others, had been unsuccessful in finding him. He was supposed to have perished in the bush. Such, however, was not to be his fate; for at the last moment, when all were on board, anchor hove short ready for tripping, and topsails ready for swinging, signs from the shore were made by the natives, a boat was lowered, and lying on the beach we found our lost Joe. Poor fellow! his first days out shooting ended disastrously. He lost himself, and in his endeavors to kindle a fire shook his powder-flask over a spark from his matches. The consequence was a sad blowing-up. He was brought on board in due course.
We again arrived at Adelaide's city of tents and reed huts or houses; and here I may say hardly a happier group or community could be found. Tents and reed huts were going up in every direction.
"The morning bath in the deep cool pools of the Torrens, the return to tents and breakfast at 7 o'clock off fried salt pork and kangaroo, the friendly recognitions of each and everybody, the absence of want or crime, and a glorious atmosphere and clime free from disease, all tending to the best of health and heartiest spirits, were indeed happy times. During this month the Rapid was ordered to Sydney for stock, and to charter the Royal George in addition. I became a passenger by her. We had a delightful passage of 10 days down and a poor one of 28 days on returning, unfortunately losing through bad weather much of our stock.
Returning to Adelaide after a time — my father and family having arrived from England— I joined them at Kangaroo Island in the early part of May, about which I may write hereafter, if these notes and scraps of life are worthy of your paper. I make no pretensions to he an author, but as I explained at first my schooldays were broken into; I have had no opportunity of regaining a position to which I might have aspired, and with the Old Colonists' Association honorary secretary's work just now heavy on my hands, I feel if I had time a better digest might have been forwarded. All I can say in conclusion is that if rough it is truthful from memory as far as can be relied on.
TO THE EDITOR.
Sir — At this season of our approaching jubilee I should very much regret raising a controversy as to who are entitled to be called the pioneers. Mr. Hersey surely could not have read my letter as it was intended. In it I merely desired a reply to the question "Who are the pioneers ?"
I would not for a moment deprive Mr. Hersey or anyone else of the honor that is due to him or them. He is evidently laboring under a mistake as to the meaning of the word "pioneer" as applied to the early settlement of South Australia, and like some others wishes to claim the honor of being a pioneer.
I may premise I was one of those who landed at Rapid Bay, and the honor of being the first man who landed I believe belongs to Colonel Light, and next to him Admiral Pullen. We left Kangaroo Island at the end of August, 1836, to explore St. Vincent's Gulf for the 16 mile creek harbor, and put into Yatagolinga Bay, subsequently called after the surveying brig Rapid Bay.
John Thorn, now living at Plympton, was coxswain, John Duncan, William Tuckey, William Bell, and others were in the first boat, which they pulled ashore and grounded. She was pushed up high and dry as far as her bows were concerned, when our commander was observed from the brig to be the first to jump ashore followed by Mr. now Admiral Pullen ; the rest of the crew followed. These were the first to land.
The handful of "pioneers" (Mr. Hersey will excuse my calling them pioneers), that arrived up to Governor Hindmarsh's landing on December 28 after he had visited Port Lincoln were 552 individuals in the ships Duke of York, Lady Mary Pelham, John Pirie, Rapid, Cygnet, Emma, Tam O'Shanter, Africaine, and Buffalo. All honor to the in trepid and gallant Captain Sturt, who came down the Murray in the early part of 1830 to Encounter Bay, returning up tbe same course, more arduous still.
But long before him or his time history gives us Guide Zeepard in 1627, Captain Abel Jam Tasman on August 14, 1642, and in 1644 discovering the great south land, as published in Dirk embranz's
journal of 1776; again Captain Thevenot in 1663, Dampier 1688 and 1699, and 1703; in 1696 William de Vlaming, Captain Cook in 1769-1770, Captain Marrion in 1772, De Bougainville in 1791, Tobias Furneaux in 1773, Brune D'Entrecastreux (the cape still bearing his name); La Perouse'; Sir John Franklin, Baudin, and Flinders, who met in Spencer's Gulf in 1802, including King, Wickham, Stokes, Blackwood, Stanley, Brenner, Chambers, Heywood, Hobson, and others. I repeat, all honor to these gallant adventurers who discovered the great southland of New Holland; but far going before and preparing the way for the reception of Governor Hindmarsh on his landing at Holdfast Bay on the 28th December, 1836, when he proclaimed South Australia a British colony under the authority and auspices of the Colonisation Commission of South Australia, I submit the honor is due to the hand ful of 552 individuals who had arrived, and not so much to those who arrived subsequently. I have never been able to come across any record of Captain Sturt taking possession of South Australia in the name of his Majesty, I shall be glad to see it.
As regards the established homes at Kangaroo Island by the South Australian Company's party they had only been there a few days, at the outside under three weeks, and were living in tents. I slept in one about 21st August, 1836, when the colonisation commissioner's first vessel arrived and crossed over to the main land. I can tell Mr. Hersey who drove the first dray to embryo Adelaide, and how one of the bullocks scared us. I know it was not himself who drove. I think I can tell him the name of Mildred, also Pollard is closely associated with the first wells of any depth in Adelaide as well as fencing a block. I watched with some interest the erection of Buffalo-row, Coromandel-row, Emigration-square, and Gilbert's iron stores, where the first white execution took place, and can tell him how we used to lower our trucks by a block and rope into the bed of the river at Hindmarsh, hauling it up on the other side when we wanted to carry goods to the Port or back, and a great deal more which I trust will linger in memory of the past ; but there is one thing more I would like to add, that it is with no spirit of antagonism or self-praise that I repeat the question in my former letters, "Who are the pioneers?" Trusting that he will excuse any part of this letter that may appear to him hard or offensive, I subscribe myself one of the pioneers who arrived before December 28, 1836.
— I am, &c, HIRAM MILDRED.
THE late Mr. Hiram Mildred (Jnr).—
After & short illness Mr. Hiram Mildred passed away peacefully at an early hour on August 21, at the age of seventy years. The deceased hailed from Portsea, England, and his father was the late Hon. Henry Mildred, a pioneer colonist, who came out with his family in August, 1836, with Colonel Light in the Rapid [sic], and made his mark as a member of the Legislative Council. [Henry Mildred arrived on the 22 Apr 1837 on the South Australian.]
Mr. Hiram Mildred who was the eldest of the family, did not stay long in South Australia after his arrival in 1836, for in the beginning of the following year he made a trip to Sydney, mainly to purchase stock. He decided to stay in New South Wales for a while, and entered into business as an agriculturist. This did not appear to satisfy him, and he returned to South Australia to start a Customs and general agency business.
Like many others he caught the infectious gold fever in 1852, and went to Ballarat and Bendigo with congenial spirits who wanted to take fortune at the flood. Not finding gold so plentiful as the glowing predictions of the period indicated he decided to settle down in South Australia, and took up a farm at Goolwa, but finally engaged in a general agency business.
This not proviug sufficiently satisfactory he accepted the appointment of Sub-Collector of Customs at Port Augusta, and also undertook the duties of Harbour master, Superintendent of Mercantile Marine, Clerk of the Local Court, Chairman of the Destitute Board, District Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Secretary and Accountant of the North District Road Board — in fact, he was a provincial Pooh Bah according to the needs of the times. Although his energies were so much occupied with these multifarious duties he found or rather made time to interest himself in Church matters, and was one of the leading spirits in raising the first Episcopal Church and Sunday-school at Port Augusta, in which work he was ably assisted by the late Mrs. Mildred, who was a daughter of the Rev. Henry Cheetham, a Waterloo hero.
He left Port Augusta in 1877, and took up his residence in Adelaide, establishing a brokering and agency business in the city. He sat as a Councillor for Robe Ward in the City Corporation in 1882 and 1883, and was distinguished by his business aptitude. He took an abiding interest in the Adelaide Children's Hospital, of which he was the Hon. Treasurer, and was devoted to the Old Colonists' Association, of which he was the Hon. Secretary. In connection with that institution Mr. Mildred worked with characteristic energy, and was regarded as a living repository of information concerning early settlers and their history. He took a very important part in getting up the Old Colonists' Association demonstration in the Jubilee year (1887), which was so successful in every respect.
Mr. Mildred not only enjoyed a reputation as a strict, shrewd man of business of high commercial standing, but was a wit and a most entertaining conversationalist. He had an inexhaustible store of anecdotes and colonial reminiscences, which, with a happy knack he possessed of saying the right thing at the right time, made him very popular. He was fond of introducing these recollections at suitable times and seasons, and consequently he was a great favourite with old and young, the old revelling in the revival of past experiences, and the young feeling a pride in the exploits of the first settlers, with whom they were in a greater or lesser degree connected.
Mr. Mildred had a brother, the well-known lawyer. The late Mr. Hiram Mildred in the earlier days took great interest in Freemasonry in the colony, and was a Past Master of the Order. Latterly he held office as Treasurer in the Lodge of Harmony in Adelaide. The funeral of the late gentleman will take place at half-past 3 this afternoon.
Hiram Mildred, J. P.,
BORN at Portsea, England ; eldest son of the Hon. Henry Mildred, M.L.C., and one of the four remaining old colonists who arrived in South Australia with Colonel Light in the surveying brig Rapid, August 18th, 1836. After visiting Sydney he spent his early years in pastoral and agricultural pursuits. In 1844-5-6 he was in the Customs and agency business at Port Adelaide with the late W. R. S. Cooke, and joined in the exodus to the Victorian gold diggings in February 1862.
Returning to Adelaide at the end of the same year, he spent some time in farming ; but finding this unprofitable he settled at Goolwa in the milling and general agency business. In 1858 he received an appointment under the S. A. Government as Sub-Collector of Customs at Port Augusta, to which were afterwards added those of Harbour Master, Superintendent Mercantile Marine, Clerk of Local Court, Chairman of Destitute Board, District Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Secretary, Cashier, and Accountant of the North District Road Board, and several other subsidiary offices.
These he resigned in 1877, after close upon twenty years service, and now resides in North Adelaide. As one of the surviving quintette of the party who pitched the first tent where Adelaide now stands, and who has "borne the heat and burden of the day," Mr. Mildred deserves more than a passing notice. Few officials in the S. A. Civil Service have held at one time and conducted satisfactorily so many appointments as he. In addition to this, he, with his late wife (daughter of the Rev. Henry Cheetham), was instrumental in raising the first established church and Sunday-school in Port Augusta. In 1881 Mr. Mildred contested an aldermanship for the city, but was beaten by a small majority. In 1882-3-4 he was elected for two years as councillor for Robe Ward. Standing again for alderman, he was defeated a second time. At an advanced age, he possesses more activity than many younger men, and his physique, after an almost continuous residence of forty-nine years, is indicative of the healthy character of our South Australian climate.