“The Leaving of Liverpool”
Charles Hazell celebrated Christmas of 1833 with his family in Bristol, knowing that it would probably be the last they would share together. The young boy of just 12 years of age was about to set out on a huge adventure, alone, to a distant and “new” land (apologies to the first nations people for whom this land was indeed an ancient one).
On the 8th January the following year (1834), the 374 ton barque ship “Vestal” set sail from Liverpool for Sydney via Hobart, under the command of Thomas Taylor, with 34 passengers comprising men, women, and children
There were no other passengers with the same surname as Charles, so it appears he was the only member of his immediate family to set out. His age was listed on the ship’s log as “14 years of age” although he was actually only 13 at the time. I can only speculate that, due to his young age, perhaps one of the other adults on the ship was a member of Charles’ extended family, or a family friend or perhaps a member of his church community. Perhaps he was travelling alone to join a family member or friend who had emigrated earlier to Australia.
His occupation is not given on the ship’s log, and one can only assume that he was unskilled and would be expecting to gain work as a labourer. Indeed, labouring and other farm-related work was the only kind of work that he ever undertook during his long life.
The colony of New South Wales had been established only fifty years earlier, and immigration agents in England were very active in recruiting young and strong people who were keen to try for a good future in the new land. Charles was about to join one of the many youngsters who saw the possibility of a better future, as well as one of excitement and challenge.
Charles first set foot on Australian soil at Sydney Harbour (Port Philip) on 24th August 1834. He would have started some kind of employment straight away, but where and in what capacity I am not sure.
Indeed, I have no record of what Charles did in the period between his arrival in Australia and his marriage to Anne (Nancy) Laheen, which took place at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Scone on the 7th May 1845.
This leaves eleven years of his life yet to be accounted for. However, given that he obviously met his wife in the Scone area, and that he and his family lived the remainder of their lives in the Upper Hunter Valley, it is reasonable to assume that at some stage he must have travelled to that area, and that he was living there before 1845.
The Upper Hunter Valley Settlement
Around the time that Charles was born, the first white explorers, assisted by Aboriginal guides, found their way across the Great Dividing Range (chain of mountains along the eastern coast of Australia) to the Hunter Valley at Wollombi. The path they travelled was one long used by Aboriginal people as they visited and traded with other tribes on the Hawkesbury and Sydney areas.
By the time Charles arrived in Australia the Great North Road (which followed this route) had almost been completed. The road commenced at Five Dock, west of Sydney, and passed via Dural to Wiseman’s Ferry. The road continues on the other side of the Hawkesbury along the ranges through Bucketty to Wollombi. At this point the road split to the north-east towards Newcastle and to the north-west towards Singleton, Denman and then from there to the Upper Hunter.
Prior to this time travel to the Hunter Valley was via ship to Newcastle and then up the Hunter River to Morpeth and thence by road. Sailing ships were used until steam-assisted sailing vessels were introduced in May 1831. The first such ship was the Sophia Jane. Shortly she was joined by the vessel William the Fourth, a wooden paddle steamer, which was the first oceangoing steamship built in Australia (at “Erringhi” which was later named Clarencetown on the Williams River).
Although settlement in the Upper Hunter Valley had commenced earlier, the opening of the Road meant that settlers and supplies for building and farming would now be much easier, as would the transport of produce to the markets in Sydney.
Muswellbrook (then called “Muscelbrook”) became a township in 1834. In 1837, the Segenhoe Inn (still standing) was built at Aberdeen to support travellers to nearby stations and further north-west to Scone and beyond.
The village of Scone was so named in 1831 and was gazetted in 1837. The area was renowned for its large pastoral properties, in particular “Segenhoe” and “Belltrees”.
It was at “Belltrees” that Charles Hazell was working at the time of the birth of his first child, and may well have been where he met his future wife and her family (The Lahenes).