The Governor's Bathing House - Royal Botanic Gardens - Sydney - New South Wales 

The Governor's Bathing House, also known as the Government Bathing House, is a historic structure located in the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia. It played a significant role in the city's history and the leisure activities of early governors. Here's an overview of its history:

Construction and Purpose:

• The Governor's Bathing House was constructed in the early 1830s during the tenure of Governor Sir Richard Bourke.
• The purpose of the structure was to provide a private and convenient place for the colonial governors and their families to bathe in Sydney Harbour.

Location:

• The Bathing House is situated along the waterfront of the Royal Botanic Garden, offering direct access to the harbor.

Design and Features:

• The Bathing House was a simple yet elegant structure, designed in the Georgian architectural style.
• It had two floors, with the upper level serving as a changing room and a space for relaxation.

Governor's Domain:

• The Bathing House was part of the larger area known as the Governor's Domain, which encompassed the government house, gardens, and other facilities used by the colonial governors.

Private Retreat:

• The Bathing House provided a secluded and private retreat for the governors and their families, away from the public eye.
• The governors could enjoy leisurely baths in the harbor waters and then relax in the upper-level room.

Usage and Changes:

• Over the years, the Bathing House saw changes in ownership and usage. It ceased to be exclusively reserved for governors and their families.
• In the mid-20th century, it was briefly used as a storage space for garden equipment.

Restoration and Preservation:

• In the 1980s, the Bathing House underwent a restoration project to preserve its historical significance and architectural features.
• It now stands as a heritage-listed structure within the Royal Botanic Garden.

Historical Significance:

• The Governor's Bathing House is a testament to the lifestyle and leisure activities of early colonial governors and their connection to the waterfront.
• It provides a glimpse into the social history of Sydney during the 19th century.

Today, the Governor's Bathing House stands as a reminder of Sydney's colonial past and the recreational pursuits of its early governors. It offers visitors a glimpse into the city's history and the significance of the Royal Botanic Garden as a hub of both natural beauty and cultural heritage.

150th Anniversary of Settlement in Australia – Sydney Morning Herald

These pages are a Sydney Morning Herald liftout for the 150th anniversary of the First Fleet — the 1938 sesquicentenary, not the 1888 birthday party and not the 1988 Bicentenary. The paper itself is older than the anniversary it was selling: the Sydney Herald began in 1831 and took the Morning Herald name in 1851. What you are looking at is how Granny Herald packaged a century-and-a-half of British settlement for readers on the eve of another world war.

Official Sydney and national celebrations that year ran hard on progress, re-enactment and Anglo inheritance. The same Australia Day, Aboriginal organisers marked a Day of Mourning — the anniversary was never one story. For a paste intro you don’t need a thesis; you do need the year right so this set doesn’t bleed into the 1888 centenary scrapbooks elsewhere on the blog.

Read the mastheads and page dates on the photos before captioning. Keep the twelve liftout images; this is a newspaper scrapbook, not a second Federation essay.

 

 150th Anniversary Liftout From The Sydney Morning Herald 

The Sydney Herald was first published in 1831 and adopted the name The Sydney Morning Herald in 1851. The 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet was marked in 1938. This newspaper liftout records how that anniversary was presented to Australian readers.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938, page 5 – Dangar, Gedye & Malloch advertisement (close-up))

Close-up of part of the Dangar, Gedye & Malloch centenary advertisement. The full advertisement is transcribed after the full-page photo further down.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia")

GOVERNORS of the Young AUSTRALIA
By GEORGE MACKANESS,
Author of "Admiral Arthur Phillip," etc.

[Section headings visible on the page:] Reign of the Rum Officers. / The Arrest of William Bligh. / Macquarie the Nation Builder.

[Caption under Bligh portrait:] (Above.) A portrait of Governor Bligh, and (left) a drawing made to illustrate the allegation that Bligh was hiding under a bed when he was arrested.

[Most of the body text is too small to read in this photo; the readable parts are transcribed after the close-ups below.]

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – top of the page spread)

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD SESQUI-CENTENARY SUPPLEMENT, MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1938.

[Headlines visible:] …of the Young AUSTRALIA (see above) / "Time rolls its… (see the advertisement below)

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia")

Transcription above (headline, byline and section headings; the body text is too small to read in this photo – the opening paragraphs are transcribed after the close-up below).

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938, page 5 – Dangar, Gedye & Malloch advertisement (close-up))

Close-up of the lower part of the Dangar, Gedye & Malloch centenary advertisement. The full advertisement is transcribed after the full-page photo below.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938, page 5 – advertisement)

"Time rolls its ceaseless course"

The centenary of Dangar, Gedye & Malloch Limited which occurs this year is invested with additional interest because it coincides with the sesqui-centenary celebrations.

1838
Closely interwoven with many important events in the development of N.S.W., the history of Dangar, Gedye & Malloch Limited forms a most picturesque and colourful story.

One hundred years ago there were three storekeepers carrying on business in the northern districts of New South Wales.

Richard Cary Dangar was in business in Muswellbrook in 1838; Jeremiah Brice Rundle was storekeeper in Page's River and Murrurundi in 1839; and James Gilchrist established himself in Armidale as storekeeper in the "forties." Each of these early colonial business men contributed in his turn to the foundation and development of the House known as Dangar, Gedye & Malloch Limited.

Richard Cary Dangar seems to have been the most enterprising of the three, inasmuch as he made several voyages between Australia and England—no small undertaking in those days—and he was the moving spirit in the partnerships that ensued. He first came to Sydney by the vessel "Florentia," in 1836, and, besides establishing himself in business two years later in Muswellbrook, he acquired pastoral interests, and seemingly took an active interest in the Church, since he was trustee of the Muswellbrook Church Fund.

Believing that Sydney offered greater scope for business than the country, Mr. Dangar and his storekeeper friend from Murrurundi, Jeremiah Brice Rundle, joined in partnership, and commenced trading as Rundle, Dangar & Co., Sydney. It was on one of his visits into the country that Mr. Dangar wrote from Gostwyck on the 13th October, 1853, to his partner, Mr. Rundle, advising that Mr. Gilchrist, storekeeper at Armidale, was "doing a very large business, especially in spirits and in gold buying;" and Mr. Dangar suggested various lines of merchandise which Rundle, Dangar & Co. might sell to Mr. Gilchrist. Evidently Mr. Dangar registered a high opinion of Mr. James Gilchrist's business ability, as he later dissolved his partnership with Mr. Rundle, and became associated with Mr. Gilchrist, trading under the name of Dangar, Gilchrist & Co., Sydney. In 1855, Mr. Dangar admitted his nephew, Mr. Frederick Holkham Dangar, into the firm.

1870
Eight years later (1867) Mr. R. C. Dangar died, and some time afterwards Mr. Gilchrist retired. Mr. F. H. Dangar, in 1870, admitted into the firm his senior assistant in the business—Mr. Charles T. Gedye—whose name was substituted for that of Mr. Gilchrist. It is of interest to note that Mr. Gedye was manager of the Meat Preserving works established in Newcastle in the "forties" by Mr. Henry Dangar, the surveyor. The firm thus became known as Dangar, Gedye & Co., and thereafter there was no change in the name for 67 years, although its activities were extended far beyond its original limits. In addition to their business as Stock and Station Holders and Financiers, Wool Shippers and General Importers, the firm had large shipping interests. They owned the sailing ship "Neotsfield," and were agents for many of the famous sailing vessels, including some of the crack wool clippers — the "Torridon," the "Brilliant," the "Halloween," and the "Cutty Sark." Incidentally, it was from the latter vessel that many of the trade names of the goods sold by the Company were derived.

Mr. F. H. Dangar went to London in 1882. It was about this time that the Company began to take an interest in Shearing Machinery. Years later, after the death of Mr. Gedye, he handed over the business to his partner, Mr. Andrew Johnstone Sievers, who carried it on until his death in 1916. In that year the business was acquired conjointly by Mr. Robert A. Malloch (then a partner of Malloch Bros., Perth, W.A.) and Mr. William H. Carver, who had been with the firm for 45 years. Mr. Carver died in 1919, and his share of the business was acquired by Mr. Malloch.

1916

1938 And so now, after one hundred years, we proudly announce our Centenary!

Dangar, Gedye & Malloch Ltd.
Malloch House, Young Street, Sydney
—1838 – 1938—

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938, page 5 – advertisement (close-up))

Transcription above

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938, page 5 – advertisement (close-up))

Transcription above [below the rule, part of a large script heading on the next item: "…l Tasm…" – cut off]

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia" (close-up of the opening))

GOVERNORS [of the Young Australia]
By GEORGE MACKANESS,
Author of "Admiral Arthur Phillip," etc.

WHEN Miss Fanny Chapman wrote in her Bath diary that Admiral Phillip combined in him the three essential elements that go to the making of a great man, "the gentleman, the scholar, and the seaman," she epitomized in a phrase the predominant qualities of our first Australian Governor. The stamp of merit, intellectual and moral, was undoubtedly impressed on him, a merit, as Viscount Wakefield put it, "that was revealed in the three qualities essential to creative work — vision, faith, and courage."

These qualities were so equally combined in Phillip that, to-day, we can confidently place his name high in the ranks of Empire-builders, a man, who, upon what in his day appeared to be but rotten and insecure foundations, built far better than he knew.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia" (close-up, later in the Phillip section))

[…] Wales, Phillip was charged with the transportation of more than a thousand persons to a land that was almost unknown, and across uncharted seas. If anything was overlooked in the preliminary arrangements, at least six months must elapse before the oversight could be remedied, and then only by a dangerous voyage to the Cape or Batavia. It was Phillip's own industrious and exact foresight, combined with importunity, which enabled him, in spite of much official neglect and stupidity, to establish the colony, and provide his charges with most of the essentials of life.

As a public administrator, Phillip was immeasurably superior to some of the men who succeeded him. A modest, self-[illegible] [illegible] he made few complaints [illegible] his letters about the difficulties he encountered, and no boasts at all of his success in overcoming them. His despatches show him to have been of an exact and precise mind, one who believed in the virtues of a plain tale plainly told.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia" (close-up, continues from the opening above))

[…better than he knew.]

Though several suggestions have been made to explain why Phillip was chosen to lead the expedition to New South Wales, the precise reason that led Lord Sydney to select him for the post is still uncertain.

Lord Howe confessed that Phillip's name was not very familiar to him. The appointment may have been due to the influence of Sir George Rose, Treasurer to the Navy, a near neighbour of Phillip, who at the time was farming at Lyndhurst in the New Forest of Hampshire, or was possibly just another example of eighteenth century patronage by some unknown nobleman.

Be this as it may, prior to his appointment, Phillip had proved himself to be an active and zealous officer, possessed of "habitual prudence," and with a sound knowledge of men and their manners, qualities that were revealed during his service with the Portuguese navy. The Marques do Lavradio was able to pronounce him "an officer of education and principle, clean-handed, of great truth, and very brave, saying what he thinks, but without temper or want of respect." In an age of quarter-deck martinets, Phillip, though endowed with autocratic powers, never during his governorship exercised them without tact and forbearance.

Transcription (Sydney Morning Herald, Sesqui-Centenary Supplement, Monday 24 January 1938 – "Governors of the Young Australia" (lower part of the page))

[Caption, top, partly readable:] "If Phillip was the founder of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie may rightly be called the [illegible]."—A study of Macquarie.

[Caption, right:] (Above.) A portrait of Governor Bligh, and (left) a drawing made to illustrate the allegation that Bligh was hiding under a bed when he was arrested.

[End of the article, right-hand column:]
[ob]tained Bathurst's permission to retire, but did not leave Sydney until December, 1821.

His successor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, was faced with the task of putting into operation the reforms suggested by Bigge, but as an administrator he was not a success, for, being peace loving and a little deficient in energy, he was unable to prevent his best intentions from being thwarted by officials. Nevertheless, he effected many important changes.

After Brisbane came Sir Ralph Darling, a distinguished soldier and a man of high administrative ability, whose main services to the colony lay on the reorganisation of the administrative departments, the encouragement of explorers, and the opening up of the Moreton Bay district.

The administration of the next Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, was marked by much colonial progress, for his tact and sympathy ensured the adoption of many necessary social and political reforms, some suggested by the home authorities, others initiated by himself. Most important of them all was the inauguration of the "squatting" system, a device which gave room for the development of the wool industry, without disposing irrevocably of valuable Crown lands.

With the coming of Sir George Gipps, Bourke's successor, in February, 1838, we reach the end of half a century of the history of New South Wales.

Proclamation – Sir Richard Bourke – King William IV’s Death – Queen Victoria as Sovereign – 27 October 1837

 

Proclamation - Sir Richard Bourke - King William IV Death - Queen Victoria As Sovereign
27th October 1837

PROCLAMATION

"Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to his mercy our Late Sovereign Lord King William The Fourth; of Blessed & Glorious memory; By whose decease the Imperial Crown Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain & Ireland, & all other dominions; is solely & rightfully come to the High & Mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria; saving the rights of any issue of His Late Majesty King William IV, which may be born of his Late Majesty's Consort:

"We, the Captain-General & Governor-in-Chief Of The Territory of New South Wales & its Dependencies, The Chief Justice, The Members Of The Executive Council, The Puisne Judges Of The Supreme Court, the Members of The Legislative Council, The Clergy, Magistrates, Civil Officers of The Government, & The Naval & Military Officers of Her Majesty's Service, with numbers of other principal Inhabitants of The Colony,

"Do now hereby, with one full voice & consent of tongue & heart, Publish & Proclaim that The High & Mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria, is now, by The Death of our late Sovereign; of happy & Glorious memory, become our only lawful & rightful Liege Lady Victoria, by the Grace Of God, Queen of The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, Defender of the Faith, saving as aforesaid, Supreme Lady Of The Territory of New South Wales & its Dependencies, To Whom, saving as aforesaid, We Do Acknowledge all Faith & Constant Obedience, with all hearty & humble affection, beseeching God, by Whom Kings & Queens do Reign, to bless the Royal Princess Victoria with long and happy years to Reign over us 

Given At Government House, Sydney, this twenty seventh day Of October 1837
God Save The Queen
(Signed) Richard Bourke 

Governor In Chief 

---

The Day Sydney Learned It Had a Queen – The Story Behind the Proclamation

Above is the proclamation itself, as Sir Richard Bourke signed it at Government House on 27 October 1837. It reads like dry legal language now, but for the people of Sydney that spring it meant something big: the old sailor king they had toasted for seven years was gone, and the colony now belonged to an eighteen-year-old girl most of them knew only from engravings. Here is how the news got to us, what happened on the day, and what sort of town Sydney was when it heard.

Timeline

• 20 June 1837 – King William IV dies at 2:12 am at Windsor Castle. His niece, Princess Alexandrina Victoria, becomes Queen.
• 15 June 1837 – Five days before the King dies, the ship Lord William Bentinck leaves London for Sydney.
• 21 June 1837 – Passengers hear guns fired off Plymouth as the ship heads down the Channel.
• 5 July 1837 – Off Madeira, the captain speaks a Jamaica-bound ship and has the King's death confirmed.
• 8 July 1837 – William IV is buried in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
• Sunday 8 October 1837 – The Lord William Bentinck arrives in Port Jackson in the evening.
• 9 October 1837 – Sydney's papers rush the news into print.
• 25 October 1837 – A Government Gazette Extraordinary publishes Lord Glenelg's official despatch of 21 June announcing the King's death.
• 27 October 1837 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed in Sydney between twelve and two o'clock, at Government House and at the Police Office.
• 29 November 1837 – Bourke is made colonel-in-chief of the 64th Regiment.
• 5 December 1837 – Bourke's term as Governor ends, and he leaves the colony that month to a cheering crowd.
• 28 June 1838 – Victoria is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

King William IV, painted by Sir Martin Archer Shee in 1833. He was the King in whose name Bourke governed until the news came. Martin Archer Shee, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Sailor King Dies – Windsor, 20 June 1837

William IV was the "sailor king". He'd served in the Navy as a young man and only came to the throne in 1830, already in his sixties. By June 1837 he was failing. His wife, Queen Adelaide, sat with him for more than ten days without going to bed herself. He died at Windsor Castle at 2:12 in the morning on 20 June 1837 and was buried in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel on 8 July.

William and Adelaide had no living children. Their two daughters both died as babies. So the Crown passed to Victoria, the daughter of his late brother Edward, Duke of Kent. She had turned eighteen only that May, just old enough to reign without a regent. The London papers that reached Sydney noted that her eighteenth birthday had been celebrated with great rejoicing in an illuminated London. That is why Bourke's proclamation carries the curious clause "saving the rights of any issue of His Late Majesty … which may be born of his Late Majesty's Consort". In law, a child born to Queen Adelaide after the King's death would still have come before Victoria.

William IV after Sir William Beechey. He reigned from 1830 to 1837. After William Beechey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The interior of St George's Chapel, Windsor, at the funeral of William IV, where he was laid in the Royal Vault on 8 July 1837. After: Harry Willson Printed by: Day & Co Published by: Welch & Gwynne, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first image of Queen Victoria as reigning monarch, by Sir David Wilkie, 1837. David Wilkie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

"The First Council of Queen Victoria" by Sir David Wilkie. The young Queen meets her Privy Council in the days after William IV's death. David Wilkie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sixteen Weeks at Sea – How the News Reached Sydney

In 1837 there was no telegraph and no steamer service, so news moved at the speed of a sailing ship. The ship that brought it was the Lord William Bentinck, under Captain Doutty. She had left London on 15 June with 39 passengers, a hold full of cargo and English newspapers dated up to the 14th. When she sailed the King was still alive, and the papers aboard were full of hopeful bulletins from his doctors.

On 21 June, as she worked down the Channel, people aboard heard guns fired off Plymouth. Everyone guessed what they meant. It was not until 5 July, off Madeira, that Captain Doutty spoke a ship bound for Jamaica and heard it confirmed: the King was dead, and Victoria was Queen.

She reached Port Jackson on the evening of Sunday 8 October 1837. The Sydney Herald was already printing Monday's paper, and the presses were stopped so a notice of the King's death could go in. The Sydney Monitor ran the news too. The Herald was careful to tell readers that it all rested on the captain's word, the guns and a shouted exchange at sea. It said it had no doubt the King had "ceased to live", but it would wait anxiously for the next ships from England. More detail followed on 12 October, once the editors had worked through the English papers.

The official word took a little longer. On Wednesday 25 October a Government Gazette Extraordinary printed, "with extreme sorrow", Lord Glenelg's despatch from Downing Street of 21 June. It announced the death of King William IV at Windsor Castle and the proclamation of Queen Victoria, and the Colonial Secretary, Edward Deas Thomson, signed it for the Governor.

Fort Macquarie and Sydney Cove in 1836, painted by Conrad Martens. This was the harbour where the Lord William Bentinck dropped anchor in October 1837. Conrad Martens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Edward Deas Thomson, Colonial Secretary, painted by William Nicholas. His name is on the October 1837 Gazette notices announcing the King's death and the proclamation. William Nicholas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proclamation Day – Friday 27 October 1837

Two days after the despatch was published, the colony made it official. A Colonial Secretary's notice issued the same day says Her Majesty Queen Victoria was "this day proclaimed between twelve and two o'clock at Government House and the Police Office, Sydney." Government House was then the old house near Bridge Street, on the site of today's Museum of Sydney. The Police Office stood in George Street, so the proclamation was read before the vice-regal circle and then again where ordinary Sydneysiders gathered.

The proclamation names who was meant to be there, and it was the whole colonial establishment. That meant the Governor, the Chief Justice, the Executive Council, the puisne judges, the Legislative Council, the clergy, magistrates and civil officers, the naval and military officers, and "numbers of other principal Inhabitants". The Gazette copy carries the signatures of James Dowling, "W. G. Australia" (the Bishop of Australia signed by his see), W. W. Burton and John Kinchela. Together they declared, "with one full voice & consent of tongue & heart", that Victoria was now their "only lawful & rightful Liege Lady".

I'd love to tell you about the redcoats in the square, the band and the guns from Dawes Point. The 50th Regiment, the Queen's Own, was in garrison in Sydney in 1837 and its band played at vice-regal occasions. But I haven't been able to find a first-hand report that sets out the troops and salutes on the day, so I won't make them up. If anyone has the Herald, Monitor or Gazette reports of 30–31 October 1837, I'd be glad to add them.

Government House, Sydney, in 1836, painted by Charles Rodius. Queen Victoria was proclaimed here on 27 October 1837. Charles Rodius, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The royal arms of Queen Victoria as used on a proclamation in 1837. unnamed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Same Day in Parramatta

Out at Parramatta, the reading fell to the town crier, a little hunchbacked man everybody called "Lord Dunn" (his wife was "Lady Dunn"). Years later John Taylor remembered standing at "the corner" of Parramatta as a boy, holding his uncle's hand. Lord Dunn had been lent a fine horse of seventeen hands for the occasion, and he read out that Victoria was "Queen of Great Britain and Ireland" and, as Taylor put it, "half a hundred other things about her" that he didn't understand. Taylor wrote that the proclamation "was made in every town and hamlet in the colony".

Sir David Wilkie's study for "The First Council of Queen Victoria". David Wilkie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mourning and Rejoicing

The Gazette of 25 October had more than the proclamation in it. It printed the Queen's own proclamations, including one requiring people in authority to carry on in their posts despite the "demise of the Crown". It also printed the old royal proclamation "for the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue". An Order of Her Majesty in Council set out changes to the Book of Common Prayer for the Demise of the Crown, so the prayers for the sovereign in Sydney's churches now named Queen Victoria instead of King William. So the colony mourned a king and welcomed a queen in the same issue of the Gazette.

Queen Victoria in 1837, by Alfred Edward Chalon, painted for her first speech in the House of Lords. Alfred Edward Chalon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Princess Victoria in 1836, the year before she became Queen, by Henry Collen. Henry Collen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A popular print of "Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1837". Engravings like this were how most colonists first saw their new Queen. Printed by: Maclure, Macdonald & Macgregor After: Edmund Thomas Parris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sir Richard Bourke – A Governor on His Way Out

There's an irony in the date. When Bourke stood up to proclaim the new Queen, he had already resigned. He sent in his formal resignation on 30 January 1837 after a long fight with the "exclusives". It came to a head over Colonial Treasurer C. D. Riddell, whom Bourke had dropped from the Executive Council. London ruled that Riddell must be restored. Lord Glenelg urged Bourke to stay, but he felt his honour was at stake and confirmed his resignation.

Bourke was an Irishman, born in Dublin on 4 May 1777 and a distant relation of Edmund Burke. As a young officer in the Netherlands in 1799 he was shot through both jaws. He governed New South Wales from 1831 and gave the colony some of its most liberal laws. He limited the number of convicts any one master could hold and allowed emancipists to sit on juries. His Church Act of 1836 put the main Christian denominations on an equal footing. In 1835 he issued his proclamation on terra nullius, and in 1837 he visited Port Phillip and named the new town there Melbourne, after the British Prime Minister.

His term ended on 5 December 1837, and he left the colony that month. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says the crowd gave him an ovation as he went, and a fund for a statue of him filled quickly. He went home by way of South America, crossing the Andes in 1838 rather than sailing round Cape Horn. In 1837 he was also made lieutenant-general (10 January) and colonel-in-chief of the 64th Regiment (29 November).

General Sir Richard Bourke, Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837, by Sir Martin Archer Shee. Martin Archer Shee, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sir Richard Bourke, painted in 1874 by Arthur Levett Jackson. Arthur Levett Jackson (1834-1888), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A stereoview of Governor Bourke's statue in Sydney, 1858–1860. Powerhouse Museum from Sydney, Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Governor Bourke's statue at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, about 1870–1875. State Library of New South Wales from Australia, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Bourke's statue today, outside the State Library of New South Wales on Macquarie Street. Wikipedia calls it the first public statue erected in Australia. Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

New South Wales in 1837

The Sydney that heard of Victoria's accession was growing fast. The colony's population roughly doubled under Bourke, from about 51,000 in 1831 to over 97,000 in 1837. Convict numbers had also climbed, from some 21,000 to about 32,000, but free settlers were arriving faster under the new bounty immigration scheme. Revenue rose from £122,855 to £354,802 and exports from £324,168 to £760,054. Squatters were taking their flocks far beyond the old limits of location under the 1836 Crown Lands Occupation Act.

Water was a problem in town, and Busby's Bore was being finished that year to bring water from the Lachlan Swamps to Hyde Park. In Parramatta, John Taylor remembered a full regiment quartered in the town and passenger steamers to Sydney taking about two and a half hours. He also remembered the governor's Christmas distribution of blankets to the local Aboriginal people. Down south, Hoddle was laying out the streets of Melbourne, including one named Bourke Street after the Governor.

Robert Hoddle's 1837 survey of the town of Melbourne, which Bourke named that year. Robert Hoddle, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William IV as Duke of Clarence, by Sir Martin Archer Shee, before he came to the throne. Martin Archer Shee, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Where the Sources Disagree

• When the news "arrived". The Sydney papers, as reported by Histoires Royales, have the Lord William Bentinck arriving on the evening of 8 October, with the news in print on 9 October. John Taylor's Parramatta memoir says the news came by that ship "a few hours previously" to the proclamation, which was on 27 October. The likely answer is that Taylor's memory ran together the ship's arrival and the proclamation, which followed the official despatch printed on 25 October.
• The Gazette dates. The Colonial Record indexes the proclamation and the Colonial Secretary's notice under Gazette No. 300-a of 25 October 1837, but the notices themselves are dated 27 October. They seem to have been printed as a supplement to the Gazette Extraordinary of Wednesday 25 October.
• Bourke's statue. Wikipedia says a statue of Bourke by Edward Hodges Baily was "erected" in 1837. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says the fund for it only opened after he left in December 1837, so it can't have been standing that year.
• The year. The date is 27 October 1837, not 1887, which was the year of the Golden Jubilee fifty years later.

My Earlier Posts

• Proclamation - Sir Richard Bourke - Governor Of New South Wales - Terra Nullius 1835
• The Police Offices - George Street - Sydney - New South Wales
• Museum Of Sydney - Phillip Street - Site Of Original Government House
• First Government House - Bridge Street & Phillip Street - NSW
• Governors Of New South Wales From 1788 To 2016
• Busby's Bore - A Tunnel From The Lachlan Swamps To Hyde Park
• Queen Victoria – Golden Jubilee – 1887
• Queen Victoria - Diamond Jubilee - 1898
• Governor Macquarie - Proclamation - 1816
• The Proclamation Of A Colony - 7th February 1788

Sources

• Colonial Secretary's notice, Sydney, 27 Oct 1837 – The Colonial Record (NSW Government Gazette No. 300-a)
• Proclamation of the accession of Queen Victoria in New South Wales – The Colonial Record
• Gazette Extraordinary, 25 Oct 1837 – The Colonial Record
• NSW Government Gazette No. 300-a index – The Colonial Record
• Nicolas Fontaine, "Les habitants de Sydney apprennent que Victoria est leur Reine…", Histoires Royales, 18 Oct 2024 (drawing on the Sydney Herald and Sydney Monitor, October 1837)
• "Memories of Parramatta in 1837" by John Taylor – Remembering the Past Australia
• Hazel King, "Bourke, Sir Richard (1777–1855)", Australian Dictionary of Biography
• "Richard Bourke" – Wikipedia
• "William IV" – Wikipedia
• "Coronation of Queen Victoria" – Wikipedia
• "Busby's Bore" – Wikipedia
• Western Australian Government Gazette, 18 Nov 1837 (the Perth proclamation, for comparison)