Page 12 - 1978 NAB Calendar Early Australian Maritime Life Part Two
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WATSON’S BAY & NORTH HEAD FROM SOUTH HEAD ROAD.
MAY The first land grant at Watson’s Bay was of 20 acres to Edward Laing on
Watson’s Bay in New South Wales appears to have been named after Robert May 28, 1793, by Lieut. Governor Grose. It was known as Roddam Farm.
Watson, a seaman of the ‘Sirius’, who after that ship was lost, became a An obelisk at Watson’s Bay records the construction of an eight mile road
signalman and pilot at South Head. Later he was harbourmaster and also first from Sydney initiated by Governor Macquarie. It was built by subscription
keeper of the Lighthouse, Macquarie Tower. He died at his residence “The and was completed in ten weeks from the 25 March 1811 by 21 soldiers of
Rocks” in November 1819 and was buried in Devonshire Street cemetery. His Majesty’s 73rd Regiment. Gill was one of the most important artists of
The view shows North Head and, opposite it, Inner South Head with Hornby the early period of Australian art. He is said to be the first artist whose work
Light. This beacon was erected in 1858 after the tragic losses of the ‘Dunbar’ expressed a distinctly Australian attitude to life. In addition to his fine
and the ‘Catherine Adamson’ in 1857. Its purpose was to light the southern artistic qualities, his work was of great documentary value as it records the
headland of the ocean entrance to the harbour, and to mark the South Reef life, manners and architecture of the period. According to the Australian
— a ledge of submerged rocks extending approximately a hundred yards Encyclopaedia, he did little work in later years and drank heavily. He
from the tip of Inner South Head. It was named in honour of Admiral Sir collapsed on the steps of the Elizabeth Street Post Office in Melbourne and
Phipps Hornby, who in the 1860’s was commander-in-Chief of the British was buried in a public grave, but in 1913 the Historical Society of Victoria
Pacific Fleet. organized a subscription to have the artist’s remains interred privately and
a tombstone erected.
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