Page 21 - 1977 NAB CalendarMaritime Life in early Australia Part One
P. 21
MOORE’S WHARF AND WAREHOUSES, MILLER’S POINT
(SYDNEY)
SEPTEMBER
Captain Joseph Moore, in partnership with his son, Henry, bought a wharf In all probability, Miller’s Point was so named by Governor Phillip in honour of
and warehouses in 1840 from Messrs. Wright & Long. It was from Moore’s Andrew Miller, the Governor’s Secretary, who was also the first Government
wharf that the major part of the colony’s gold was shipped to England Commissary of New South Wales. However, according to some historians,
during the gold rush days. It was here also that the first P. & O. steamer Miller’s Point did not take its name from Andrew Miller, but was originally
‘Chusan’ was berthed after its arrival in Sydney with the first mails brought named Jack the Miller’s Point, in honour of a flour miller named John Leighton.
out under contract. Moore was the agent of the line. Leighton had three windmills on that point to catch the westerly breezes for
Some idea of the state of the working man in those days can be got from grinding corn.
an advertisement put out by Wright & Long in 1832 for ‘forty stout Frederick Garling: see Front Cover note
labourers’ for their wharf. The wages were six shillings per week with
rations 12 1b. flour; 12 1b. fresh beef; 2 1b. sugar; V� lb. tea and V� lb.
soap.
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