William Nibbs Part 4 -A New
Life.
What happened to William from
his release in 1836 until his marriage in 1845. I can only assume he remained
in the Westbury district being there at the end of his sentence.
William purchased an acre of
land at Westbury in 1842 and probably continued to work as a farm labourer in that
District. He possibly found employment with Rev. John Bishton. When Rev. Bishton
came to Westbury in 1841, William was amongst the first 12 members of his
Church. Rev. Bishton and his family went on to purchase land at Pardoe, near
Torquay Reserve and Latrobe Reserve. It is recorded that William was his
overseer here in the mid 1840’s.
Marriage:
On 22nd September 1845
William married Mary Ann Timoney at the Westbury Church of England. Rev.
Bishton, being the officiating Clergy.
The Hobart Gazette on the 1st September 1845 records an approval of a
marriage application for William and Mary Ann. That day the Convict
Department issued nine approvals of marriage, one being: "William
KNIBBS, free, and Mary Ann TUMENY, ‘East London’, in private service, both
parties residing at Westbury"
Pioneers of the North Coast.
William purchased an acre of
land in Westbury, in 1842 and worked as an agricultural labourer before and after his marriage to Mary Ann.
By 1856 the NIBBS family, now
blessed with five children, had relocated to the newly established district of
Port Sorell in Northern Tasmania. I have conflicting information as to
when the relocation actually took place, as the following points illustrate:
a) Mary Ann was the informant for birth records of their children
born in 1846, 1849, 1850 and 1852 and stated her residence as Westbury,
indicating she was still living at Westbury until at least 1852.
b) The Devonport Historical Society noted that William was
the overseer of a large primitive property at Torquay (now East Devonport)
owned by a Rev. John BISHTON in the mid 1840's and the 1850's.
c) Local history book "With the Pioneers" by
Charles RAMSEY states that a Frank NIBBS was the overseer of Rev. John
BISHTON's property at Pardoe (which would be classed as part of Torquay) during
the 1840's and 1850's. The Corrigenda at the front of this book corrects
the above Christian name to William.
I now know the reason Mary
Ann remained in Westbury whilst William established himself at Pardoe.
She did not receive her Certificate of Freedom until 29th January 1850, and
therefore was forced to remain there until that time. Mary Ann and her
young family were to join William, between 1850 and 1856
Their sixth child, born in
1856, was registered in the Port Sorell District, William being the informant
and stating his occupation now as farming and residing at Folly Farm. Records
of 1857 and onwards show William as a farmer (probably a tenant farmer) living at Pardoe.
1867 MacPhails Directory of
Tasmania, Port Sorrell District Directory.
Nibbs, William, farmer, Pardoe
William
and Mary Nibbs continued to live in the Pardoe District [near Devonport,
Tasmania]. They had 12 children and were involved in the local community.
William was one of the 11 members of a committee setup in 1865 to develop the
land and erect a bush chapel at Wesley Vale in Tasmania. Later he became one of
13 members who were the original trustees of the Wesley Vale Methodist Church.
In
a quote from the Centenary Booklet for the Wesley Vale Church “When Mr Andrew
offered the land for the building of the Church between Northdown and Wesley
Vale, a committee was formed for the purpose, comprising Messrs Isaaac Scott,
James Scott, Joseph Scott, William Clarke, William Banfield, John Piper, Eli
Clark, Robert Lock, William Nibbs, Alexander Findley and James Spurr.
This committee with the help of others cleared the land on Christmas Day in
1865 and the little bush chapel was opened in May 1866 by the Rev G. T.
Heyward.”
Encounter with Bushrangers
Historian Charles RAMSEY, in
his book "With the Pioneers", retells an account of four bush rangers
who made an uninvited stop at Pardoe in 1848. It gives a wonderful
glimpse into William as an individual:
In January 1848, four bush
rangers named John RILEY, Micheal ROGERS, Peter REYNOLDS and Patrick LYNCH, who
were supposed to have absconded from the Fingal Depot, made their appearance in
the neighbourhood of Port Sorell, their intention no doubt being to seize some
vessel and effect their escape from the colony.
Four police constables who
were in pursuit of them incautiously entered a hut occupied by a man named
STARKEY on the 20th, and were immediately fired upon by the bush rangers, who
shot one of the constable’s dead and wounded another. The other two
constables, after a vain endeavor to discharge their pieces, which were wet,
escaped in the bush, and with the wounded man reached Port Sorell.
On the 21st at about 3am
these outlaws entered the "Plough Inn" at Moorlands (near Pardoe)
which was owned by John MOORE, and they stated that they were constables from
George Town. Upon gaining admittance, three of them presented their guns
at Mr MOORE, and ordered him in his bedroom, where they tied him up, and they
also rounded up both house and farm servants, and had them tied up as well.
They ransacked the house, but only got about 3 pounds in money, and
after carousing a considerable time, they seized two horses and carried off a
quantity of clothing, one gun, two watches, wine, spirits, etc.
They then went to Rev John
BISHTON's farm. His men were in the fields and were chased by the bush
rangers. NIBBS, the overseer, sent a man off to MOORE's and then went
towards the house with a fork in his hand. He was met by a man who told
him to lay down the fork, which he did, but went up to the man and seized his
gun and tried to take it from him. He had nearly succeeded when the bush
ranger pulled out a pistol and told him to let go. A man named HART,
coming to NIBBS' assistance, was snapped at four times, so he took to his heels
and escaped. The bush rangers entered the house and had tea, and when
six men came up from MOORE's, they were seized, tied up, and the outlaws swore
they would go back and shoot MOORE. After brutally abusing NIBBS and others,
they returned to MOORE's but not finding him there they proceeded to SMITH's.
The bush rangers moved on
along the North-West Coast causing more havoc and late March made their escape
to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, aboard an American Whaling ship.
The Rev. John BISHTON
purchased his Pardoe property of 500 acres in 1843. In 1850 records show
that he also leased large areas of land in the vicinity of, and including
"The Torquay Reserve", and in the vicinity of Latrobe Reserve.
It appears that William Nibbs was involved in the management of these additional
areas also. John BISHTON died in 1856 and that would probably have been
about the time William took up tenant farming. Many farmers had to lease
land in the hope of one day being in a good enough financial position to
purchase their own land. William leased 100 acres at Pardoe from
approximately 1862 to 1878. The owner of this property was an H. REED of
England. Harold THOMAS' publication on "Northdown" shows this
property to be situated on the coastline, opposite Moorlands Beach. I
have not yet delved into land records to see if William was ever able to
purchase his own land.
Advertisement - IN: The North-West Post (Formby) Monday 31 May 1915
Tender to lease for 7 years - The Pardoe Estate
Under Instruction from Mr Hart, Messrs Alfred Harrap and Son Launceston, invite
tenders returned by Wednesday June 9, for lease of the well-known Pardoe Estate
for seven years. The property has been divided into three lots and tenders can
offer for the whole estate or for a separate block. The total 800? Acres,
subdivided as – 1. Homestead block, 500
acres 2. Nibbs block, 265 acres 3.
Frontage to Northdown Road, 13
Death:
William died13 August 1884 in
Launceston and was buried in the Charles Street Cemetery.
In: Daily Telegraph (Launceston) Thursday 14 August 1884,
p.2.
NIBBS: On the 13th inst. At his son’s residence, Lawrence Street,
after a long and painful illness, Mr William Nibbs, late of Pardoe, in his 76th
year. His end was peace.
'Torquay
Tasmania Pardoe June the 11th 1879 - I am this day 70 years old having been
born June the 11th 1809 at Flackwell Heath Little Marlow Bucks England.
Mine has been a chequered life, but it has been one of much Mercy from a Merciful
god and to him more than all his due'.
CREDITS
Much of the background research into William NIBBS and the Machine Breakers was done by
others, namely Jill CHAMBERS, British Historian, Geoff SHARMAN, Tasmanian
Historian and Bruce BROWN, Australian Historian. Fortunately, over
recent years the Machine Breakers of the 1830's and their part in British and
Australian History has been recognized and much research undertaken by
historians as to the causes of the riots, their lives before and after, etc.
Geoff SHARMAN's
website is well worth a visit for anyone interested
in the Swing Rioters.
