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male calves, 286 cows, 60 heifers, 112 female calves, a total of 822 head of horned cattle, 5 horses and 5 wether sheep. He was very satisfied with their conditon. He recommended to Macquarie the building of a new station along the Campbells River and suggested that the herd should be enhanced with more cattle from Emu Plains. He commented on destruction to foliage by caterpillars at the foot of Mount York, the same kind of destruction as he had observed at Emu Plains. He also ordered the removal of privately owned herds on land set aside for government stock. There was a nasty accident when some of his party attempted to swim horses across the Fish River to go to the Plough Inn on the other side and one of the horses was swept away. The horse was not recovered but the man was rescued with great difficulty.82
On 17 July 1819, George Johnston (Junior) was appointed to succeed Hassall as Superintendent of Government Stock.83
In political matters Hassall had aligned himself with the supporters of Bligh and was a signatory to petitions in Bligh's support. He deplored Johnston's treatment of Bligh and the subsequent unrest in the colony, particularly the increased lack of law and order - even the ''present Chief Constable carts his firewood out of roads close to the church doors during Divine Service''.84 During the period of the rebel regime Hassall was concerned that honest merchants would be discouraged from importing goods into the colony. He was distressed at the treatment meted out to Robert Campbell by those in power. Hassall held Campbell in high regard and said that ''those who have suffered through the revolution met with a humane friend in Robert Campbell, esquire, who is always foremost to help the distressed and rejected''.85
He welcomed the arrival of Macquarie as the new governor and wrote ''I do not know whether the colony could have had a better man for Governor''.86 His loyalty to the established order was evident when he attended ceremonies to mourn the death of George III and signed a proclamation on the accession of King George IV in 1820.87
Hassall engaged in many other activities. In March 1804 he was a sergeant in the Loyal Parramatta Association of Volunteers. He was elected in 1814 as a committee member of the New South Wales Philanthropic Society for the Protection and Civilization of such of the Natives of the South Sea Islands who may arrive at Port Jackson. In 1816 he was on the committee of the Institution for Civilisation, Care and Education of Aborigines.88 In December 1814 he was appointed to the committee of the Native Institution which had been started by his friend and fellow
82 Colonial Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6048, 4/1742, pp.310-22. 83 Colonial Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6038, SZ1044, 72-3. 84 Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. VI, p.708. 85 Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol.48, Pt.5, December 1962, p.356. 86 Burcher, Honour C., Pioneers and their Better Halves'', Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, 1985. 87 Colonial Secretary's Correspondence, Reel 6007, 4/3502, pp.137-8 and Reel 6049, 4/1745, p.129. 88 Ibid, Reel 6046.
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missionary, William Shelley. Thereafter he was involved with the Institution as manager of the government allowances and he supported Mrs Shelley when she took on the Institution after her husband's death.89
Hassall served many times in the public interest. He gave evidence at the inquests into the deaths of George Patfield, William Sneed and Thomas Flannigan. He was used by the Governor to read General Orders at the various stations at which he preached. He was on a committee to survery and value lands occupied by Captain Kemp at Parramatta. He built a drain and tunnel from George Street to the river at Parramatta. He acted as surety for James Smith for the completion of the church and tower at Liverpool.90
In November 1818 some citizens expressed disquiet that a recently arrived convict ship had carried as well as convicts, goods which were to be sold in the colony as an investment by the shipowners. The goods had been prohibited entry because convict ships were not allowed to carry such cargo which would take space better employed for bringing convicts. The concerned citizens of whom Rowland Hassall was one, argued that there was a need for British made goods in the colony. They suggested that vessels of 150 tons burden should be permitted to trade with the colony and bring in British made goods. The ships could then be used to take wool back to England. Macquarie was asked to convey this request to the mainisters in England.91
One of his decendents, the distinguished historian, Professor Manning Clark, wrote of Rowland Hassall ''There he quickly won a reputation for religion and piety by preaching the gospel in all the districts of the colony; he began, too, to aquire property, both of which activities won him the esteem of the Reverend Samuel Marsden. When Marsden was dejected by the fate of the soul of a negro convicted of rape in November 1804, Hassall comforted him. When Marsden left for England in 1807, Hassall acted as his agent. By 1808, Hassall had aquired one thousand three hundred acres of land, including a grant of four hundred acres on the Nepean at Camden. Despite his high calling neither of his charity nor his loving kindness were very fully developed, and for the lack of these qualities he was oftern reproved by the convicts to whom he lectured on Christian qualities''.92
Nevertheless others thought of him as pious and benevolent and a worthy preacher although his friend and fellow missionary, William Shelley, in a letter to the London Missionary Society wrote that he had noticed that ''Bro Hassall still continues to preach, and I am sorry to add with as little appearance of success''.93 It is not clear whether this is a reflection of Hassall's skills or a comment on the citizens of the colony. Whatever the case Hassall had not set himself and easy task.
89 Ibid, various reels. 90 Ibid, various reels. 91 Historical Records of Australia, Vol.X, pp.21-2. 92 Clark, C.M.H., A History of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1962, Vol. 1, p.250. 93 Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol.4, p.215.
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Rowland Hassall did very well in the colony and when he died he owned considerable propety. He had achieved this by receiving grants and then as he prospered he purchased and leased farms. Most of it was around Parramatta and Camden and it is estimated that his holdings ranged from 1290 acres to 3000 acres.
Land was a measure of his status as a free settler and later as a government official. Owning a lease or grant did not mean that the principle actually worked the land. It may well have been managed or rented out. Rowland Hassall obtained his land during the period of a fundamental revolution in land tenure when land began to be traded as a commodity.
His first grant was received on 20 April 1799 of 100 acres in the Dundas area. The rent was two shillings a year, beginning five years from the due date of the grant. This block is now in the parish of Field of Mars, portion 47, now bounded by Copeland Road, Burns Road South, Pennant Hills Road and Mahers Road. It was called Hoom Farm and later Kerby Corner. Today this is Pennant Hills Golf Course.
In 1804, a 100 acre grant in the district of Prospect Hill was leased by Hassall at two shillings and six pence a year commencing after five years. The grant was originally issued to William Smith on 24 October 1799, but it was cancelled and re-issued to Rowland Hassall's eldest son, ten year old Thomas Hassall, on 11 August 1804 by Governor King. The land is now just south of the parish of Prospect in the parish of St. Luke, portion 171, very close to Prospect Reservoir. It is now an industrial area in the suburbs of Wetherill Park and Hassall Street forms the northern boundary of the block.
Rowland Hassall also had land in the township of Parramatta. On 1 August 1806 he leased a four acre block between George Street and Macquarie Street immediately to the east of Charles Street known as Allotment no. 45. The lease was for 14 years at five shillings an acre. South of Macquarie Street, Hassall had another area of about six acres in 1808. All this must have grown from the one-acre area originally leased on 18 October 1799 ''on the north side of the creek in the township''. The creek is Clay Cliff Creek, now a storm water drain which runs between Hassall and Kendall Streets. The block is between Macquarie and Hassall Streets, with Lancer Barracks to the west and the Rowland Hassall School to the east. These grants and other references firmly place his principal residence in Parramatta township. The land was later held in the name of his son, James Hassall, and then Reverend Thomas Hassall.
In 1812, Rowland Hassall was granted 400 acres in the general area of the Cowpastures, but now in the parish of Narellan. This farm was called Macquarie Grove, after the governor. The farm occupies a u-shaped bend in the Nepean River and is directly across the river to the west of the town of Camden. Today it is the Camden aerodrome.
Also in 1812 Hassall received 200 acres at Bringelly. This farm was called Coventry, after his birthplace. The farm is a few kilometres south of Bringelly to the east of the main road to Narellan between Northern Road and South Creek. Lowes Creek runs through the farm. Today it is in the parish of Cook, portion 52, south of an area once called Cowpastures Farms.
In 1816 Rowland Hassall obtained another grant for himself and grants for three of his sons. Adjoining and to the east and north of Thomas Hassall's Pomare Grove, was his 470 acre grant
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called Stake Farm or Stoke Farm. This grant, parish of Cook portion 40, is listed against his name in 1816
In the same district, but a little further away, to the north of Cobbitty Creek, were three grants side by side. They were Jonathan Hassall's Mataval Farm (200 acres), Samuel Hassall's Bosworth Farm (200 acres) and James Hassall's farm (230 acres). These were worked together as Mataval.
There were two further grants at Parramatta, both on the Great Western Road to the west of the township. One, near Mays Hill, can be seen as 70 acres in the Parish of St. John, portion 71. It may have begun as ''the Paddock'', reffered to in the ''Supplementary List. no.3''. The whole portion is bounded on the north by the main road, on the east by Burnett Street and on the west by Coleman Street. One corner is now Freams Park and the centre of this grant is under the freeway. The second area was 120 acres, also in the Parish of St. John, portion 68, south of the junction of the Great Western Road and Prospect Road. It was known as Burder Park, after the minister at West Orchard Chapel in Coventry. There were stables on this farm. A small branch of the Toongabbie Creek ran north through the land. Finlayson Street and Centenary Avenue, South Wentworthville are now in the middle of this grant.
Rowland Hassall controlled farms at the Hawkesbury. A 55 acre farm at Mulgrave Place which paid some rent to him was in dispute about its ownership in 1823. William Vale of Caddie Creek, Wilberforce, rented 25 acres of the farm at an annual fee of £12, payable to Rowland Hassall and later to Thomas Hassall. Vale discovered that Matthew Brady and Samuel Carr paid no rent for their respective parts of the farm so in a memorial he claimed that the grant had been cancelled some time in the past. The outcome of the dispute can only be inferred. Perhaps in an exchange for the farm near Windsor, Thomas Hassall received 50 acres at Bringelly. This may correspond to his small farm at Cobbitty to the west along the road from Pomare Grove.
Rowland Hassall's farms supported his family and his missionary society interests. From a small beginning on Hoom Farm with two horses, five sheep, two goats and one hog running on 20 acres of cleared land his property grew. He was helped by a major economic factor, the valuable contribution of labour made by convicts to all landed operations in the colony. In 1800 he had two convict servants at Parramatta one of whom was Thomas Asprey. By 1814 he had 15 men and two women convicts.
He was a large landholder in the early colony. His estimated 2150 acres were significant and placed him in the ranks of free settlers which included Captain Edward Abbott (4200 acres), Captain John Macarthur (6475 acres), Samuel Marsden (3595 acres), John Blaxland (8000 acres), Garnham Blaxcell (2395 acres) and Alexander Riley (7520 acres). Hassall's lands were significant and provided a great basis for his family's future.94
Rowland Hassall died at Parramatta on 28 August 1820 and was buried in St John's Cemetery. His will was written on the day he died of catarrhal fever, an epidemic which carried away two of his grandchildren as well, when he was ''weak in body but of sound disposing mind
94 Hassall, David J., The Hassall Family, pp.163-166.
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and memory thanks be unto almighty God''. Hassall left to his sons, Thomas, Stoke Farm of 400 acres, Arkills Farm of 100 acres and Hearnes Farm of 65 acres, all situated in the District of Cook, and Rosseter Farm of 36 acres, McGlades Farm of 30 acres on the Hawkesbury River at Mulgrave Place. To his second son, Jonathan, he left Cubbady of 500 acres in the District of Cook. To his youngest son, James he left Wards Farm of 300 acres and Apseys Farm of 100 acres, James Blackman's Farm of 40 acres and George Carr's Farm of 60 acres all in the District of Cook. To his eldest daughter Mary Clover Lawry he left Kerby Corner Farm of 100 acres and Hoom Farm of 200 acres and Dondell's Farm of 40 acres both in the District of Bringelly. To his wife, Elizabeth, he left their house at Parramatta with the garden, orchard, premises and paddocks attached to it for her to occupy for the rest of her life and after her death he said it should go to his eldest son, Thomas. Also he left to his wife, Burder Park of 170 acres, Hassall's Farm of 20 acres, Bolger's Farm of 95 acres and Davis Farm of 80 all situated in the District of Parramatta and after her death these lands should be divided between their children in the proportions decreed by her. To his daughter, Ann, Hassall left Brown's Farm of 50 acres at the foot of Prospect Hill. To Samuel he left one of his town allotments in Liverpool. To his son, Jonathan, he left also a town allotment in Liverpool. To his daughter, Mary Ann Lawry, he left a house and premises on the north side of George Street, Parramatta which were occupied by John Pitchers. To his daughter, Susannah, he left the house and premises on the south side of George Street, Parramatta, which was used as a place of divine worship and occupied by Edward Howe. He left all his considerable numbers of stock to be equally divided between his wife and eight children. All his plate and household furniture was left to his wife. All the rest of his estate was to be shared equally between his wife and his children. He also made provision for his wife by declaring that an annuity of £100 be obtained from the Macquarie Grove estate which he had willed his son Samuel Otoo, because it was the most valuable of all his lands. He also left a sum of money, £200, to his son, Jonathan, for the development of his farms. He appointed as executrix and executors, Elizabeth Hassall, Thomas and Samuel Hassall and his friend, Edward Eager, a merchant of Sydney. He directed that his wife should be guardian of their children who were minors at the time of his death and that they should live with her, being provided for from income from his estate. The will was witnessed by Major West, J. Harris and F. Oakes, a long time friend and fellow missionary.95
Whatever else he did Rowland Hassall certainly prospered in the new colony!
A notice in the Sydney Almanack referred to Hassall's death: ''...Mr Rowland Hassall, a gentleman universally beloved as a pious, benevolent and valuable member of society, and who had been a resident in the colony for over twenty years, died... August 30th, 1820. Two lovely babes, from the same cause, quickly followed their honoured and lamented Grandsire, having just looked at this lower world to bid it an eternal farewell''.96
95 Will from Probate Division of the Supreme court of New South Wales. 96 Hassall, James, In Old Australia, R.S. Hews & Co, Printers, Sydney, 1902, p.185
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