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As dark as Australia's
history may be concerning it's native inhabitants,
the fact remains that Australia’s first European
colonization in more or less 40,000 years began
with it’s “discovery” by Captain James Cook
during his voyage aboard H.M.S. Endeavor in
1770. With the loss of it's American Colonies,
England became anxious to find another place
to banish its so-called “undesirables”. On May
13, 1787, eleven ships, soon to be known as
the “First Fleet”, began an eight-month journey
from Southampton, bound for Botany Bay. Arriving
on January 18, 1788, they found Botany Bay highly
unsuitable, lacking a safe, deep harbor but
just as important, no fresh drinking water.
A longboat dispatched to search for an alternative
settlement site, soon returned with news of
the discovery of one of the great harbors of
the world. Captain Cook, had noted the location
of Port Jackson but sailed past without entering
the harbour. On January 26, 1788, in Sydney
Harbour, Governor Arthur Phillip was rowed ashore
from the flagship H.M.S "Sirius” to raise
the Union Jack and lay claim to Australia in
the name of "Mother England". After
much controversy it has now been firmly established
that the first person actually ashore to secure
the longboat on that historic day, was able
seaman Owen Cavanough, Col Noble’s great-great-great-great-great
grandfather.
The
small colony struggled to establish a foothold
in an abundant but foreign environment and its
population nearly starved, which is ironic,
considering the richness of marine life in Sydney’s
magnificent waterways. After two years, an additional
colony was established on Norfolk Island to
accommodate the more “wayward” of convicts and
the promise of fertile soil for agriculture.
Owen was onboard the “Sirius” when it was wrecked
on Norfolk Island on March 19, 1790. (The anchor
from the “Sirius” was recovered in the 1980’s
and holds place of pride and predominance at
the entrance to Sydney’s Maritime Museum). Owen
returned to Sydney in February 1791 and journeyed
again to Norfolk Island on May 16, 1791, where
he was given a grant of 60 acres to farm on
the southern side of the Cascade Stream. On
November 5, 1791, Owen and Margaret Darnell
(Dowling) herself a “First Fleeter” transported
on the “Prince of Wales” as a convict were married
by First Fleet reverend, Richard Johnson.
For the theft a dozen knives and forks valued
at six shillings, Margaret was convicted in
the Old Bailey on April 18, 1787 and sentenced
to seven years imprisonment and transportation
to Botany Bay, as the soon-to-be established
colony was then known. Awaiting transportation
in a prison hulk in Southampton, she gave birth
“illegitimately” to a son “fathered” by British
Marine, Private Green. In a strange twist for
those times, Green later sought custody of that
child, after Owen and Margaret had been married
for several years and had further children of
their own. There remains documentary evidence
of that challenge, however it seems Green may
have lost interest as the “paper trail” ceases
after several years.
The newly married Cavanoughs remained on Norfolk
for six years and had they stayed another few
years they would have “run” into Jimmy Buffett’s
ancestors who had abandoned Pitcairn Island
as being too arid and overcrowded. Pitcairn’s
original Buffett, John, traveling the southern
seas from Nova Scotia aboard the whaler "Cyrus",
volunteered to remain on Pitcairn in the capacity
of schoolteacher for the “Bounty” mutineers.
To this day, over one hundred “Buffett’s”, carry
that surname on Norfolk Island and one has to
wonder at the "coincidence" of the
two ship's names, "Sirius" and "Cyrus"!
Upon their return to Sydney, Owen was given
a grant of 100 acres on a tributary of the beautiful
Hawkesbury River in the Windsor district, adjacent
to land granted to Australia’s farming pioneers,
wheat farmer James Ruse and "opportunist",
James McCarthur, Australia’s first wool-grower.
Owen became a successful “small-vegetables”
grower and to market his produce, he would load
up a small 14’ skiff and make a long, hazardous
journey down the Hawkesbury, into Broken Bay
and Pittwater and then down Sydney’s northern
coastline into Sydney Harbour. On one such journey
he and his craft were “commandeered” by two
escaped convicts fleeing the brutal conditions
of Sydney’s penal system. After two days on
the open seas, Owen convinced them of the futility
of attempting escape in such a small boat and
they returned to Sydney and surrendered themselves
to the authorities, where, subsequently they
were hung!
Owen and Margaret lived out a peaceful existence
and had in all, six children. Their original
homestead had to be relocated several times
as the Hawkesbury periodically flooded. In return
for his grant of land, Owen donated a four acre
portion, where now stands Ebenezer Church, Australia’s
longest practicing church. After a thirteen
thousand mile sea journey from Southampton to
Sydney and countless miles in his small skiff,
ironically, Owen met his demise while trying
to traverse a flooded creek on horseback. It
is probable that he didn't know how to swim,
just as his fellow First Fleeters didn't know
how to fish and nearly starved themselves to
death.
In remarkable pioneer style, one of Owen’s sons,
James Cavanough and his wife Mary made an eight
hundred mile, two-year journey from Windsor
to South East Queensland. They traveled on foot
behind a bullock dray with two small children
in what were then, extremely hazardous and dangerous
conditions. At the time of their journey, the
mid 1800’s, Australia’s “blacks” had not been
brought under submission and the writer can
only speculate that it may have been the presence
of the small children and the Cavanough’s peaceful
nature that allowed them safe passage through
Aboriginal occupied land. They were the first
Caucasian settlers in the St. George district
where they established the first post office,
general store and pub. Today there are literally
hundreds of Cavanough ancestors in the St. George-Darling
Downs district of Queensland.
It is not surprising in such a “remote” location
and with such a short history of white settlement
that most Australians can trace their ancestry
back to one of the 160,000 "transportees"
who formed the backbone of the new nation. However,
the descendants of Owen Cavanough and Margaret
Darnell, the Cavanough Society, lay claim to
a special position with Owen having been the
first man ashore on Australia Day, January 26,
1788. Unfortunately, English ‘classicism” flourished
for almost two centuries in Australia and it
is only since the celebration of Australia’s
Bicentennial that many Cavanough ancestors became
aware, or admitted that their ancestral grandmother
was a convict. These days, sensibly, most descendants
would prefer to be a “halfer”, that is, half
free-settler and half convict! One member who’s
“dark convict past” never held him back, is
former Australian Test Cricket medium pace-bowler
Geoff Lawson, who now does expert radio color
commentary for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Truly
the “son of a son of a son of a son of a son
of a sailor”*, Col, along with fellow First
Fleeter Lionel Aitken and ABC radio announcer
Rita Montebello, formed “Parrotfan(austr)alia”,
the first Jimmy Buffett charity-based fan club
in the southern hemisphere. On 26 January 1995,
they held their inaugural fund raising show,
which carried the wordy but inescapable tag
of “Parrotfanalia’s PHirst, PHirst PHleet Parrot
Head Party”. The club flourished and floundered
for over seven years and raised several thousand
dollars for its benefactor, the Australian Volunteer
Coast Guard.
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