West Hobart is an inner suburb west of the city of Hobart in Tasmania. Originally it was farming land like hops, orchards, market gardens as well as poultry and dairy. But being on the foothills of kunanyi (Mt Wellington), there was also coal mining, quarrying and a brick works.
Nowadays the suburb has many artists and musicians living there. It has changed from the working class suburb from the 1960’s.
How does West Hobart relate to my family?
My father lived in Goulburn Street and went to school at Lansdowne Primary School in West Hobart.
My grandmother lived in Warwick Street while married to my step grandfather. He was a keen gardener and as a family we would often go at Christmas where he decorated a huge tree in the backyard. They also had lots of small birds and a great vegetable garden.
The state I live in is now called Tasmania but was once called Van Diemen’s Land.
The Palawa or Aboriginal Tasmanians were first on this island. When the rising sea level cut off the island from the mainland of Australia, the Palawa were isolated from contact with the aborigines on the mainland.
Their first knowledge of Europeans was when Abel Janzsoon Tasman landed in 1642 and planted a Dutch flag near what is now the town of Dunalley on what was then called Blackman Bay. There was no contact with the aborigines though.
It was at this time the island was named Anthoonij van Diemenslandt (Anthony Van Diemen’s land). This was in honour of the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.
During the early colonisation of Australia the name Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) was used and it was part of the colony of New South Wales. But in 1825, VDL became a colony in its own right. Then on 1 January 1856, it was renamed Tasmania.
The new name was to celebrate Tasman as the early explorer but also to get rid of the notorious convict past of VDL.
How does VDL relate to my family?
Nearly all my ancestors first arrived when the colony was known as VDL.
Convicts:
Francis Colgrave – 1832 – ship Circassian
Isabella Watkins(on) – 1841 – Garland Grove
John Holliday Boyd – 1836 – Henry Porcher
Martha Virco nee Hearn – 1839 – Hindostan
John England – 1846 – Pestonjee Bomanjee
Rebecca Jackson – 1847 – Waverley
William Dawson – 1850 – Maria Somes (2)
Catherine McKay – 1848 – Cadet (3)
Mathew Sutton – 1840 – Mandarin
Mary McCrewney – 1848 – Kinnear (2)
Free settlers:
John Davey – 1854 – Wanderer
David and Mary Dixon nee Pickering – 1841 – Andromeda
William Chandler – 1855 – Fortitude
Caroline Bryant – 19 Jan 1856 – La Hogue – would have arrived during celebrations of new name Tasmania
This post is written especially for ANZAC Day, when I post about service members in my family. Henry George Dawson is my great granduncle. The biography is also on WikiTree.
Henry George Dawson was born on 3 March 1891 at Gladstone, Tasmania. He was the 5th child born to Alexander Dawson and Hannah Sutton. 1
Henry’s father was a miner in Gladstone and in 1899, the family moved from Gladstone to Queenstown which is also a mining town but on the west coast of Tasmania.
Unfortunately in 1901, Henry’s father passed away from inflammation of the lungs. He had done a double shift at the mine as his family had a misfortune from a bush fire in Queenstown in the area where they lived. They lost their belongings which they had moved to what they thought was a safe place and then a few days later they also lost their house. 2
In June 1903, Henry must have been visiting Zeehan and had two of his fingers crushed by a cart wheel. He was taken to hospital and released after the fingers were dressed. 34
With many young children to look after, Henry’s mother Hannah remarried in 1905 to Michael John Carey and had one child with him.
Henry survived the North Mt Lyell mining disaster on 12 October 1912. He was rescued 4 days later at 3.30pm. Two of his older brothers also survived. 5
Henry no longer wanted to be involved with mining so he headed to Melbourne instead. His marriage to Florence Augusta Albrecht was registered in 1913 in Victoria, Australia. 6
In 1915, Henry’s younger brother John McKay Dawson, was killed in Egypt. 7
The birth of Henry and Florence’s son John (named after his uncle who had passed) was registered in 1915 in Victoria, Australia. 8
On 14 January 1916, Henry enlisted in the army in Melbourne. According to his attestation papers, he and his wife were living at 136 Prince’s Street, Port Melbourne. His medical history mentions the second finger on his right hand was missing. Maybe from the accident in Zeehan in 1903. 9
Henry had served 2 years in senior cadets and 6 months in the Citizen Forces in Queenstown but resigned voluntarily because of business. Henry was put in the 22nd Battalion, 11th Reinforcements and service no 4409.
On 29 March 1916, Henry departed Australia heading to England on H.M.A.T. Orontes. On 5 September, they moved across to France from England. On 20 September he joined the 22nd Battalion from the 2nd Australian Divisional Base at Etaples, France.
On 13 October, Henry was killed in action and buried at the Railway Dugouts 1.5 miles SSE of Ypres. 10
From 3 January 1917, Florence received 2 pounds per fortnight and their son Jack received one pound per fortnight from the pension of a deceased soldier.
As Henry’s widow, Florence received the Memorial Plaque and Scroll as well as the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
A descriptive memoriam poem was put in the local paper by Henry’s mother, stepfather and siblings. 11
== Sources ==
<references />
1901 ‘THE VICISSITUDES OF LIFE.’, The Mount Lyell Standard and Strahan Gazette (Queenstown, Tas. : 1896 – 1902), 16 April, p. 2. , viewed 22 Apr 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232837433 ↩
